Help! Frustrated with amphibious landing.

[BrianW]

Hello all,
I am pleading for help here.
I am playing the Invasion of England 1804-1805 scenario as the French (the bigger challenge for naval warfare).
I have been successful in gaining victories over the British at sea - and consequently raising the quality of my naval forces...but I cannot manage the final stroke of loading the Grand Armee into the Bolougne (if that is how it's spelled) flotilla and get it over to Kent!

It says drag and drop, but I cannot manage doing that unless I take each unit individually - and then at the next turn they are all unloaded again (not to mention that the corps structure is gone)...even when I padlock the flotilla after loading.

Clearly I am doing things completely wrong (shame on me)...But how do you do it???

Thanks in advance -
Brian

[Ebbingford]

If you leave the army loaded on transports in dock without a move order, then the army will be disembarked for the next turn.
Make sure that the weight of the stack you are trying to load is less than the transport capacity of the fleet. Hover the mouse over both units and the tooltip will tell you the weight of the stack and the transport capacity of the fleet. If its too heavy you will have to take supply wagons out, they weigh the most, until you "fit" on the ships. Try to drop the army in one stack onto the fleet tab, that way when they disembark they will remain in one stack. If you load them one unit at a time then they will be unloaded as a seperate units.

[BrianW]

If you leave the army loaded on transports in dock without a move order, then the army will be disembarked for the next turn.
Make sure that the weight of the stack you are trying to load is less than the transport capacity of the fleet. Hover the mouse over both units and the tooltip will tell you the weight of the stack and the transport capacity of the fleet. If its too heavy you will have to take supply wagons out, they weigh the most, until you "fit" on the ships. Try to drop the army in one stack onto the fleet tab, that way when they disembark they will remain in one stack. If you load them one unit at a time then they will be unloaded as a seperate units.

First of all - thank you very much for the quick response.

Secondly, a couple of questions:
1) Does the 'weight' issue imply that the Grand Armee may be too large for the Flotilla?(if you are familiar with the scenario).

2) Do I have to eliminate the Corps structure of the Grand Armee to get them all in one stack? That would be a pain to fight once landed if the unload as one entity without their Corps structure (a minor point perhaps).

Thanks again
Brian

EDIT: Ok, I see what you mean about weight vs transport capacity. By the scenario description I assumed (assuming is bad) that the flotilla at Boulogne was large enough to transport them all, but the flotilla is 300 while the Grande Armee is close to 500!
Ok then, I guess I don't need them all in England...or else I better find a way to build more transports...

Can I build more transports?

[BrianW]

Sorry but I am really frustrated now.
I took Ebbingford's advice above. I only loaded 298 weight on the Boulogne Flotilla's transports (which hold 300)....and gave them an immediate sail order to Dover/kent sea area.

They DID load, and they took the army with them. But they wouldn't land!
Not for 3 turns straight - in every way I could order it....which was only by individual unit.

I am not a winer who yells "BROKEN"....I just am missing something and I don't understand it.

In the mean while my Franco-Spanish combined fleets are master of the English Channel around Dover...so the RN is not getting through to break up the landing?

This is what puzzles me - I own the sea, My forces embark now and set sail, and arrive where I tell them....but the buggers still refuse to get off their bloody boats and go ashore! Should I shoot Napoleon for cowardice? I assume not, ...so I'm still doing something wrong - but I just can't see what I am missing?

Sigh....

[OneArmedMexican]

Sounds weird. But I have never expierenced nor heared of any bug responsible for an error like this.

What exactly did you do? I presume, after having followed Ebbingford's advice your flotilla is now positioned in a sea territory adjacent to the English coast. And you selected a land unit and dragged it over a land territory in England. As a result of this you should have seen the silhouette of said land unit on English soil connected to your flotilla by a blue line. If that has happened, the order was given correctly and should be executed during the next turn.

1) I have one possible explanation left: In ACW there was something called "crossing under guns": naval units on a river would block a land unit trying to cross. However, I am unsure of two things: First, if the concept applies to amphibious landings. Second, if it exists in Napoleon (not many amphibious operations in Napoleon). But if I am right, some leftover English vessels operating in the same sea zone might be the reason for your trouble.

2) A hint: use "ctrl" to select several units at the same time. This will enable you to land your army in one piece. However, you will still loose your corps structure. As far as I know, there is no way to preserve it.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[BrianW]

Hi all,
Thank all of you for reading and responding.

Here's how it all finally ended.
After reading everyone's advice - I got the game to work. I landed at Kent with most of the Grande Armee.
I took Kent, Winchester, and advanced to London where a great battle was fought.

The game works...as I assumed all along.

However, I would strongly suggest - IF any further work is being done on this game - that a new feature should be developed that allows a player to load armies and corps on to transports WITHOUT loosing army/corps structure.

It doesn't sound like too much to ask - and it would make the game SO much more enjoyable.

Again thank you all.

Brianw.

PS... I assume no more work is being done on this game (pity that), BUT IF any more development is being done...a longer scenario of England OR Austerlitz would be sooo nice...about 24 months would be it - so a player could actually develop and put into action a strategy to improve his naval/land situation?...

[Gray_Lensman]

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[BrianW]

Glad you got the amphib landings to work, but changes to the Corps structure rules are not going to happen. A corp that gets far enough away from it's parent army HQ in effect becomes an independant command and loses the mutual support capability of that HQ and other Corps until reassembled at the debarkation point. ALL of the AGE games are based on this premise. Sorry, if it causes you more work to reassemble new Armies/Corps after an amphibious landing but that's the way the game design is supposed to work. In a way, this rebuilding effect simulates the disruption that would occur to such an organization involved in amphibious assault. Do you think that all the attendant Corps attack advantages including March to the Sound of Guns should apply IMMEDIATELY upon landing. I don't think so and neither do the designers.

No, I don't mind that badly, but having been in the army in real life - and having participated in real amphibious operations, I know that my squad was still a part of my platoon... and company...and battalion...and Brigade/Division, etc.. We still had the same guys in charge of us - even if we were separated by the landing. The first hours were messy but everyone in charge got in contact with their subordinate units and put them on track to what they were about....we couldn't get rid of our officers THAT easy even though we may have wanted too! LOL.

Please understand - I mean no offense. I do not mean to challenge you. I'm just saying as the public player who buys your product - it would be a nice feature, that's all.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Omnius]

Let's remember that Nappy and gang didn't have radios for instant communications like we do nowadays. I think the moral of the story about Army Cohesion is that if you want to have your Corps remain under Army control for an invasion is to have an Army leader running the invasion show.