Confusion on changing corps/division leaders

[penlin]

I want to do some shuffling of corps and division commands, but several things are confusing. There seems to be no way to "replace" one leader with another. For example, to replace a division commander, it appears I have to disband the division and then re-form it with a new commander. This changes the unit name, etc. Awkward but not the end of the world. I tried to do the same thing with a corps recently, dismissing the corps and then reforming it under a new leader. The problem is that I cannot re-form the corps under the new leader. Examining the tooltip, I'm not quite sure why that is, but here are my ideas. This is the Eastern war scenario from Bloody Road South, and I'm trying to make Kearny the 3rd Corps commander.

1) No army in range. 3rd Corps is in York, PA and McClellan and Army Potomac are in DC, 3 regions away. When I click on McClellan and hold down shift, the blue command radius includes York, so I think this should not be the problem.

2) All armies are at corps capacity. Maybe this is the problem? I cannot tell as no further details are given, and it's not in the manual (frustration). Army of the Potomac starts the scenario with 6 corps, which seems like a lot. When I dismissed the previous leader, it was down to 5. Now it won't allow me to go back to 6 corps?

[GraniteStater]

* AFAIK, there is no limit to the number of Corps in an Army, neither in AACW nor CW2.

* To be a Corps Cdr, the Leader must (a) be a 2*, (b) be the stack commander, (c) not be a divisional commander, I. e., integrated with a Div. Nor can he be integrated with a Brigade, either pre-set, like Jackson and Longstreet, or Meagher's Irish Bde, or by player's actions (any single unit can integrate with a single Leader).

* And within range of an Army Leader who is actively designated as such.

That's it, AFAIK. I'll bet you are not meeting one of the criteria. If you are meeting all the criteria, report it as a bug.

[John S. Mosby]

Along these lines, is it wiser in the Fall of 1861 if you "earmark" a particular general for an army or corps assignment later in 1862, to not assign that general to.a division?

I know the ratings seem to take a hit with every new assignment. Will the disbanding of the division then the reassignment cause his rating to go down? Is there an administattive cost to assigning commands? Seems like a read that somewhere.

Any startegy on assignments?

[ArmChairGeneral]

Forming and disbanding divisions seems to be cost free in this version (unconfirmed, but no cost is listed in the tooltips) and you have an effectively unlimited number of divisions. Newly formed divisions have a one turn penalty to the leader's stats (usually making them 1-0-0 depending on how good they were) but it wears off after a turn. If they are by themselves (not in a stack commanded by someone else) they will use the 1 strategic rating for the following turn's activation roll so are often inactive/fixed on the turn(s) after formation.

Newly formed corps do not suffer ratings penalties (although they probably should) but don't receive a stat boost from their army (if any) until the next turn. There is a limit to the number of Corps you can form, but it is relatively large and I have never reached it as the CSA (not enough two stars).

I tend to earmark the two stars and extra three stars and send them to where they will need to be so that I can form the Corps where I want them on the first turn available. In the mean time I use them as division commanders (if needed), breaking them apart and reforming under different leaders as April 62 approaches so the 2*s are free for Corps command. I usually spend a turn or two in early 62 shuffling the leaders and reforming the divisions to get everyone where I want them if they are not already in place from earlier planning. I try to do the reforming within an Army or a new Corps stack so that the Divisions will not go inactive on the following turn (the A/C stack still can be inactive, but it is the stack leader's activation roll not the new division commander's that determines this).

I believe it is possible to break a 2*'s Division, move him into a separate stack, form the Corps, bring all the loose elements into his stack and reform the division under him (or something like this, there is a way) all in the same turn. He keeps the CPs for the Corps command, but (I think) does not pass his ratings on to his other division commanders if you do this (there is some kind of drawback though, even if this isn't exactly right; the workaround is allowed but not encouraged). If you let a turn go by without reforming the division his divisional command status goes away and cannot be clicked on because he is now a Corps commander.

Note: the stat penalty only happens when you form an entirely new division (click the division command button in the tent menu). If you have two divisions that you break, and reform with the elements from the other division (effectively swapping leaders) neither division will suffer stat penalties as long as neither leader went a turn without having some troops in their division.

[GraniteStater]

I believe it is possible to break a 2*'s Division, move him into a separate stack, form the Corps, bring all the loose elements into his stack and reform the division under him (or something like this, there is a way) all in the same turn. He keeps the CPs for the Corps command, but (I think) does not pass his ratings on to his other division commanders if you do this (there is some kind of drawback though, even if this isn't exactly right; the workaround is allowed but not encouraged). If you let a turn go by without reforming the division his divisional command status goes away and cannot be clicked on because he is now a Corps commander.

You're saying you can have a Leader exercising both Corps and Div command at the same time?

Wow, it's a floor polish and a dessert topping!

Actually, I have seen this, but only 'by accident'. Most typically, when a 1* Div Cdr gets promoted 'automatically' and becomes the Corps Cdr. I always break these up - they offend my sense of propriety.

[Gray Fox]

@penlin-Rail Kearney to the region where McClellan is and make him a Corps Commander. Then rail him back out. Remove the old Corps Commander and replace him with Kearny.