Reflections on the American War of Indipendence Scenarios

[Offworlder]

Inkeeping with my usual self I'm starting a thread regarding the American War of Indipendence scenarios.

The American side:

Very finely balanced. My only gripe is that Continental Army regiments are disbanded like normal militias. As far as I can remember, they were enlisted for the duration of the war rather than for a few months. Therefore Continental Regiments should not disband.

Also, American generals who should be promoted do not really get promoted. Ex with the arrival of Washington several generals should get promoted yet nothing happens even though the promotion tab was clickable. On the other hand British generals do get promoted.

The British Side:

My principal gripe here is the AI use of the navy. Such a potent force is literally run down with constant use. The AI doesn't dock its ships for repairs and revictualling, thus frittering away such a resource. The AI should be tweaked to allow for repairs etc.

The merchants in the shipping boxes should be unlocked. Again these ships vanish over time due to attrition. Since they basically represent British off map imperial resources, these should be allowed to repair and refit (like in ACW). Besides their removal from the map really negates the importance of American commerce raiders since they have very few targets to hit in the long run.

Both sides:

A few more replacement options should be made available. For the Americans this is mostly in terms of elite and normal reinforcements. For the British a few such reinforcements and naval ones (maybe by event or like the German mercenary reinforcements) should be considered. The British did send occasional drafts of men to America and they also periodically sent fresh ships to the theater.

Please contribute other ideas to further enhance such a magnificent game!

[GShock]

I haven't arrived here just yet, am still tackling the annus mirabilis scenario for i start with the shortest and then play them all one by one according to their lenght to finally land to the big campaign.

This engine is so elastic everything is possible and the game mostly relies on the input of the users. The team is generally very interested in rebuilding scenarios with the highest possible historical accuracy and history pros are very rare so their suggestions are more than welcome.

Therefore, keep those suggestions coming not only for this but for all scenarios.

[FM WarB]

The American side:

Very finely balanced. My only gripe is that Continental Army regiments are disbanded like normal militias. As far as I can remember, they were enlisted for the duration of the war rather than for a few months. Therefore Continental Regiments should not disband.

The Continentals signed on only through 1775 to start and Washington had to re enlist the army in January 1776. This enlistment was also only for one year. In 1777 the Continentals signed on for three years or the length of the war.
Having Continentals subject to disbandment is historically accurate.

[lodilefty]

The Continentals signed on only through 1775 to start and Washington had to re enlist the army in January 1776. This enlistment was also only for one year. In 1777 the Continentals signed on for three years or the length of the war.
Having Continentals subject to disbandment is historically accurate.

Correct. If they become 'trained' Infantry they are no longer subject to disbanding.

Now, I wonder who would do the training?

[Offworlder]

Correct. If they become 'trained' Infantry they are no longer subject to disbanding.

Now, I wonder who would do the training?

Interesting... are you sure about that? All four elements? I'm asking because several units include a light infantry unit that doesn't become trained...

So I'll have to put to use Wayne, Kelb, Steuben to make sure that my Continentals remain with the army. Good to know!

And now for my shipping concerns...

[lodilefty]

Interesting... are you sure about that? All four elements? I'm asking because several units include a light infantry unit that doesn't become trained...

So I'll have to put to use Wayne, Kelb, Steuben to make sure that my Continentals remain with the army. Good to know!

And now for my shipping concerns...

The unit should assume the characteristics of the 'majority' model [element], so once 3 are 'trained' it should be OK.

...don't forget to train your militia

[Offworlder]

Initially training militia is feasable but with so many continentals awaiting training, Its almost impossible to cater for the militia too. I end up using them as cannon fodder.

BTW does the same apply for the rifle units? You know there are 3 or 4 element rifle units that seem to be regulars too. I noticed that the 3 element units can be trained to elite riflemen status. So maybe they remain with the army too.

Looks like my training centres of Charlston, Richmond and NY are going to work overtime...

[lodilefty]

Yes on 'regular riflemen' training

I only train militia when no regulars nearby

[GlobalExplorer]

A review of my first 2 campaigns was very much what I also wanted to do, so I will sum it up in my comments!

Very finely balanced. My only gripe is that Continental Army regiments are disbanded like normal militias.

In the beginning I absolutely hated that every winter my carefully placed garrisons get disbanded, but now got used to it.

Also, American generals who should be promoted do not really get promoted. Ex with the arrival of Washington several generals should get promoted yet nothing happens even though the promotion tab was clickable.

They do!! But if you promote a 1star leader he only advances from Major to Colonel Major (?ranks?), but he stays a 1star. The essence of this is, that I got 1star generals with 4CP which I could perfectly use.

My principal gripe here is the AI use of the navy. Such a potent force is literally run down with constant use. The AI doesn't dock its ships for repairs and revictualling, thus frittering away such a resource. The AI should be tweaked to allow for repairs etc.

In my game the british navy virtually dissappeared, and I could move troop transports to the south at leasure. This might have been aggrevated by the fact that I controlled all big ports, including Boston.

The merchants in the shipping boxes should be unlocked. Again these ships vanish over time due to attrition. Since they basically represent British off map imperial resources, these should be allowed to repair and refit (like in ACW).

When I played the British, my merchants dissappeared from the boxes after some years, even with the reduced micromanagement option.

**
I have some important things to add, that the devs should really look into, and which I think could improve the AI drastically:

1.) The AI does not rest it's troops like the players!! The player will usually follow the maxim:

MOVE -> REST -> ATTACK X -> REST in X

AI units I always found to be under strength and can thereby be disposed of!

2.) Retreat into town with supply > 15 to rest: obvious
3.) Retreat into town with supply > 15 when winter approaches and stay there until weather improves

4.) Concentrate on the strategically really important objectives:

[INDENT] Ft Ticonderoga, Albany -> as a required bases for any strategy in the Northwest

Boston, New York -> have extreme supply level to sustain large armies and the harbours that can repair huge fleets

Richmond, Norfolk -> to control the complete road / naval transport between North and South. This alone can completely ruin the AI.

Charleston, Savannah -> the only real supply bases in the south[/INDENT]

5.) If you have them, keep them!! The Ai most of the times makes the mistake of offering me hard won objectives by either leaving no garrison or only a single unit. Every offensive will fail if I can take Boston or Montreal behind their backs!

6.) keep single unit garrisons in every town along the "front" and if possible in some depth behind the front. It's surprising how often the AI sieges and then achieves nothing because I left 1 militia unit there. So the 1 unit defensive strategy pays off. I will then often have taken their base so they will be lost in 1-2 turns.

7.) Use the assault command before you retreat. Any broken off siege is a big setback (because if you follow the principle you will have to REST), so it is usually worth the risk to assault (I took many towns that way).

8.) Stack optimization: obvious, but maybe the player will alway have the upper hand here ..

Thats all I can think of now, all unforgiveable mistakes that experienced players will punish severely.

[lodilefty]

The merchants in the shipping boxes should be unlocked. Again these ships vanish over time due to attrition. Since they basically represent British off map imperial resources, these should be allowed to repair and refit (like in ACW). Besides their removal from the map really negates the importance of American commerce raiders since they have very few targets to hit in the long run.

Somehow I overlooked this.

Is this happening with 1.01b?
Merchants consume 0 supply, so I'd like to see a save showing the deteriorated state. Is the weather doing it? 'Storms at sea' event? Static [advanced] attrition option "on"?

I guess I thought that the 0 supply consumption fixed this, but maybe we need more.

IIRC, it was an issue with AI that precluded unlocking them...

[Hohenlohe]

I find something irritating.I got a recruiting officer,Colonel S.Nicholas in Philadelphia.As I do not know if he bring me something useful I changed him in the mdl-file to Training Officer and Master Driller aka Training Master and sent him to NY where my Continental Army under G.Washington resides and therefore have the training of militia to Regulars.The normal Continentals were sent to Philly to be trained by Wayne.So I got a good stock of regular troops for my upcoming offensives.
I often get interesting results from sieges by the Brits.A single militia unit withstood often enough the attack of two damaged British regular regiments with a leader.The results for me are even better with a leader in position.
In my American Campaign I took Ft.Oswego and even Augusta and hold some strategic cities in the south.The British have only Boston,Petersburg,Norfolk,Ninety-Six and Wilmington.The last one lost all militia troops and was not garrisoned as the Brits invaded.But I have the advantage of more VPs and can hold out until the French arrives.I now assemble most of my ships in NY.I plan to take Ft.Detroit and in the long run Vincennes with a single good regiment.I have decent regular regiments in Albany and Oswego and even in Norwich and Ticonderoga.
I have played the British campaign before and won in 1778 by advantage of VPs and because I got most of the objectives and strategic cities.I was on my way to NY and Philadelphia with my best armies as I got the Victory screen.I was amazed about the numbers of enemy troops in Philly because I assumed there won't be enough for my bleeded armies.I am playing still with version 1.00 because I got some ctds with the last patch installed.
All in all the gameplay is similar to BOA1 with only the disadvantage of having a high attrition rate during the summer and even in clear and civilized areas.This must be changed.Also there is something that disturbs me.In the Montreal area there is the southern river part that blocks any further movement to the lakes.Is that WAD???
Fazit:a wonderful and good game done by wonderful people,congratulations...

heartly greetings

Hohenlohe,who will be always your fan dear AGEOD-Team...

[Rafiki]

I'll let others comment on the rest of your post, but as for:

I am playing still with version 1.00 because I got some ctds with the last patch installed.

Sorry to hear you're having problems, but we'd be very interested in hearing any and all information you can provide about these CTD's, so as to address and fix the causes of them

[Offworlder]

Somehow I overlooked this.

Is this happening with 1.01b?
Merchants consume 0 supply, so I'd like to see a save showing the deteriorated state. Is the weather doing it? 'Storms at sea' event? Static [advanced] attrition option "on"?

I guess I thought that the 0 supply consumption fixed this, but maybe we need more.

IIRC, it was an issue with AI that precluded unlocking them...

Yes its still happening unfortunately. After a few years they simply vanish. Also when American privateers engage them, they never seem to inflict any damage (ie in the post battle report) and the merchants do not unlock either. Do I need to concentrate most of my force to inflict real harm? But this may be just my impression.

BTW storms do happen in the boxes because I nearly lost a privateer force under JP Jones because of storms.

[Offworlder]

BTW on the merchant issue. I noticed that there is a slow degredation of the units, like they are loosing strength to attrition. They never seem to lose supply and ammo ratings though.

[Offworlder]

On some other naval issues...

Could we have some free reinforcements for both the English and Americans? Presently the British are precluded from having extra naval reinforcements. Its too expensive for the Americans to really consider buying with any sort of frequency.

BTW would it make sense that once the French intervene, the Americans get some extra EPs? As far as I know, once the French openly entered the field, they poured resources in abundance. I may be wrong and this may be a far fetched idea...

[Hohenlohe]

I'll let others comment on the rest of your post, but as for:

Sorry to hear you're having problems, but we'd be very interested in hearing any and all information you can provide about these CTD's, so as to address and fix the causes of them

To provide any information about the CTDs I have to reinstall the last patch,but that would disturb my ongoing campaign with the Americans.
After finishing the campaign I would do so.


heartly greetings

Hohenlohe

[Rafiki]

No worries