1) Loyalties in E Tennesse 2) Railroad/map error

[dduff442]

Hi,

1)

There were a great many mines in this area and the population was no more sympathetic to the Confederacy than that in West Virginia. Prior to the battle of Mill Springs/Logan's Cross, an entire brigade was tied down in this region trying (without great success) to suppress large bands of Union partisans.

See e.g. http://www.adena.com/adena/usa/cw/cw175.htm

Note the reference to "the few Southern men" in the area. My research on the Mill Springs battle also leads me to believe south-eastern Kentucky was also quite Unionion-leaning, maybe 60% - 65% pro-Union.

The main lateral rail line linking the Eastern and Western theatres passed though this area and numerous bridges were burned by the insurgents, events which caused great alarm in Richmond. The only other lateral RR line was not only much longer and slower, but also disjointed with sections involving non-standard gauges etc. The line through E Tenn was **the** principal communications route for the CSA armies.

This area was also the focus of much attention in Washington also, with Lincoln and McClellan continuously urging Buell to take to the offensive here during the autumn and winter of 1861. Buell tried vainly to explain that communications in the area were incapable of sustaining a large army. Despite his hesitant reputation, messages from his subordinates back him up in this. For example Albin Schoepf repeatedly complained that neither his (very large) allocation of wagons nor foraging were adequate to keep his brigade at Somerset (Pulaski Co) fed during the winter of 61/62. When Gen George Thomas finally got his attack going, he complained that the roads in this area were "the worst I ever seen".

2)

The railroad lines Lexington (KY) - Clinton (Anderson Co., TN) and Lebanon (Marion Co., KY) - Clinton did not exist until very late in the war (maps of 1863 do show them only as 'planned'). They were constructed by the Union precisely because of the strategic significance of the E Tenn region.

(In fact there weren't even telegraph offices in SE Kentucky at the start of the war.)

See, e.g. http://www.sonofthesouth.net/leefoundation/civil-war/1862/september/kentucky-war-map.htm


I hope you find time to make changes reflecting these facts in future versions of the game. The existence of a pro-Union enclave astride the Confederacy's main lateral supply route made this a peculiar and critical region for both sides.

Regards,
dduff

[Gray_Lensman]

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[dduff442]

Hi,

I see the railroad issue has been corrected. I'm impressed with the commitment to make user feedback in the game.

I don't see anything about E Tenn in the updates though. This was not a cotton area but rather a place where the workers would have felt their interests threatened by the institution of slavery, to say nothing of moral considerations. It bore much more of a resemblance to W Virginia than to any area in the Confederacy.

I can source plenty of primary source information on the insurgency there if this would be helpful. This area was of immense concern to both Confederate and Union leaders during the 1861-'62 period, and significant numbers of Confederate troops were tied down in attempting to keep order. A major rail bridge was burned at Chatanooga (which was a seccessionist-majority area, but with dissenters) and no less than five bridges were burned further east during a night of mayhem that drove war secretary J P Benjamin into a frenzy.

I think the game would be enriched if the sympathies of East Tenn were represented.

Regards,dduff

[ShovelHead]

The loyality is being discussed in this thread,

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=13203

The loyalities need to be adjusted in those regions.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[ShovelHead]

The documented effects of loyalty are;

· You don’t need to garrison Objectives in order to earn VP’s.
· The locals will provide you some intelligence as to the enemy’s whereabouts (see p. 34)
· The region will produce more Supply, Resources, and Money
· If the enemy occupies a region loyal to your side without leaving enough of a garrison, its Military Control will gradually
shift in your favor and there is a chance that Partisans will appear in the region
· If a region is very hostile to the occupant (10% or less Loyalty), non-garrisoned cities may even openly revolt, in which case
an enemy unit will appear and take control of the city

These effects seem to model the region's loyalty issues. It will force the Confederates to garrison the regions early in the war. A couple of questions;
Are there any undocumented effects of loyalty?
What loyalty percentages to be used?

[Gray_Lensman]

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[ShovelHead]

Maybe ShovelHead can produce a MOD to playtest changes.

I'll be happy to incorporate the suggestions in the other threads into a MOD and document the play effects. If you have any specific data you wish me to collect, please let me know. I'll attempt to monitor the document effects.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[77NY]

And realistically, since the Civil War was still being fought in the 1950s and 1960s in certain areas of the un-Reconstructed South, there should be regions which are largely immune to loyalty shifts in favor of the Union. Sections of Alabama and Mississippi should be all but impossible to shift to Union loyalty, occupier ability or not!

[Gray_Lensman]

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[77NY]

By current game design, it would be difficult to differentiate the loyalty shift rate by individual regions. Aside from a rather large memory hogging event file that would basically "pin" these loyalty settings in place by continuously sequencing thru the same resetting events, there would be no other way.

For what it's worth, I think you and the developers (Pocus et al) have done a great job "picking your battles" when it comes to tweaking/fixes.