Newby Questions

[poobah_1]

So I have three questions that I would like a little bit of clarification...

1) How do the replacements really work - I get that you can have the replacement be more or less "automatic", but what are the mechanics behind the replacements. If you have the options set to "auto", and yet you start "buying" replacement, will that have any effect? What is the effect of being behind enemy lines have on replacements. Or landing an amphib assault on Mobile for instance. Can you "replace" troops via sea? Would they have to fight through coastal batteries?

2) How does training really work. Is there a link between armories and building powder mills, and the like have on training (I am thinking technology here I guess)? Is there a top line for the training/tech for each infantry brigade i.e. can some units just not be higher than a certain level no matter what.

3) How can you plot movement to arrive simulatanously. I.E. can you delay for a day the start of a march to coordinate the arrive of corps or divisions. I know things may get delayed or it may not work, but you should be able to say. Ok Corp I start marching April 2 - Corps II start marching April 4 - you should arrive if things go well at the same location April 7. Maybe only a 25-50% chance of pulling that off according to starting cohesion and leaders, but can you at lease try?

I would put these in requested improvement, but for all I know, I am such a newb that these functions or info is out there and I just cannot find it......

thanks

PooBah

[Captain_Orso]

So I have three questions that I would like a little bit of clarification...

Let's see if I can help you out a bit.

1) How do the replacements really work - I get that you can have the replacement be more or less "automatic", but what are the mechanics behind the replacements. If you have the options set to "auto", and yet you start "buying" replacement, will that have any effect? What is the effect of being behind enemy lines have on replacements. Or landing an amphib assault on Mobile for instance. Can you "replace" troops via sea? Would they have to fight through coastal batteries?

First, let's get on the same page so that we're talking about the same things. Before we talk about replacements, we should understand what we're replacing. Pick a stack in the game and click on it. The Stack Display will open at the bottum of the map and the unit(s) in the stack will be displayed in it. If you now click on a unit in the Stack Display the Unit Display Box will open on the right edge of the map. This shows the elements of the unit. I you now click on a NATO symbol in the Unit Display, the elements Detail Display will open above the Unit Display. I the bottom left square of the Detail Display there is some information, among which is are "Hits: xx/yy" and "xxx/yyy Men" and possibly also horses and cannons, depending on the type of element you are looking at. For infantry units there are 30 men per hit. The Men and Horses are actually a kind of flavor-abstract, because in the game actually uses hits for doing its calculations.

Each element can lose hits through combat or through attrition. Attrition is losses through disease, desertion and straggling. Depending on how you have attrition set in your game, you may notice that if you march a unit around, the more you do that the more hits it will lose, especially if you do not have enough supply, the unit is low on cohesion and in poor weather, which exacerbates losses.

If you have an element missing hits, you can bring it back up to full strength, but you will have to meet some conditions to do it. First you need to have Replacements of the type of element in your Replacement Pool. For each type of element there is one replacement type. Line and Conscript infantry and sailors share the same pool, but Militia and Elite each have their own pool.

When you click once on a pool you are ordering a given number of Conscript Companies (look at the top of the map to where the supply indicators are, the one with three soldiers is your pool of unallocated Conscript Companies). A tool tip on the pool will tell you the exact number of CC plus money and WSU (War Supply) one replacement "Chit" will cost. You are actually buying replacement Chits. Each chit is enough to replace 20 infantry hits and a line infantry element has 20 hits.

How many replacements you should keep in each pool can be a matter of great debate. Some say as few as 4% of the number of that type of element you have in the game, some say as high as 10%. If you are planning a major offensive in which you expect to take a lot of losses, it may be a good idea to have your replacement pools stacked up in advance. If you do very well in battle, generally there is a bonus to gaining replacements in the next turn.

Some of the things that will help you to have hits replaced is if the unit needing replacements is in a large city (I don't remember how large, but I think size 5 or larger), inside a fort or sitting in a region with a depot. Even if your unit does not meet those conditions, it can still take replacements, but slower. Being under supplied and in a region with low MC (Military Control) will exacerbate the situation further. If you have a unit missing an entire element (generally through combat) the missing element can be replaced all at once IF you have at least 1 full chit in the necessary pool AND your unit is either in a fort or on a depot.
[INDENT]Hits that have been take out of a chit are not noted anywhere that can be seen by the player, but if you have more than 1 chit in a pool, only the "top chit" can have any hits missing from it. So if there are at least 2 chits in the pool in question, it will be enough to replace one missing element, if no other hits are replaced from that pool.[/INDENT]

I've never used Auto-Replacements, but I imagine if you click on a pool to buy a replacement chit it will work normally. Auto-Replacement automatically buys replacements to keep each pool at about 10% of the number of elements of that pool type. So if you have bought more than 10% of a pool-type, auto-replacement will not buy any more chits until you are down to below 10%.

Being "behind enemy lines" will affect replacements as I stated above.

Replacements do not travel per se. If you are in a area where you can receive supplies from a source, you should be able to also gain replacements.

So if you invade, for example, Florida and take Fort Marion, as long as the fort is not blockaded and you have Transports and/or Merchantmen in the Shipping Box Fort Marion will take on supplies and pass on replacements. Your units do not have to be inside Fort Marion to get replacements, but that would speed things up.

2) How does training really work.

It depends on what kind you are taking about. There are 5 leaders with the Training Officer ability, McClellan, Halleck, Sigel, Taylor and Bragg. They will train up to 2 elements of conscript infantry or cavalry stacked with them each turn to line infantry or normal cavalry, as the case may be.

Rufus King has the Training Master ability. Every element under his command will gain 1 Experience Point (XP) per turn when under his command in his stack. He must be the highest ranking officer in the stack. HQ Support train the same way, but the units to be trained only have to be in the HQ Support unit's stack.

Training through XP is more complex. Each type of unit has value which when reached in XP the element gains an Experience Level (EL) denoted by an either bronze, silver or gold start on the bottom left of the unit. Looking at an element's Detail Display with show the exact EL and the tool-tip of the EL will tell you the exact XP of the element and how many XP more are needed to gain the next EL. This is the ProgRate and can also be read in the model files of the game found in "..\CW2\GameDate\Models\*.mdl".

Some ProgRates are:
Normal infantry and militia: 10
Volunteers: 15
Artillery: 20
Cavalry: 5

Elements can also gain XP in combat; 1 XP per 2 hits an element scores.

Each element in the game as a 75% chance per turn of gaining 1 XP, but only up to EL1.

Gaining EL will not cause a unit to train-up to a better class of unit directly, but it will increase the chance of it happening.

There are also a number of event that run each turn that can upgrade a unit by giving it better equipment. The Union is far more likely to upgrade like this than the South. 6lb-ers will be replaced by 12lb-ers, early war cavalry by late war cavalry, and infantry unit's in general can change models giving them better characteristics representing better rifles etc.

Is there a link between armories and building powder mills, and the like have on training (I am thinking technology here I guess)?

No. Both are basically just types of factories. Armories only produce WSU and money. Powder Mills only produce ammo and money.

Is there a top line for the training/tech for each infantry brigade i.e. can some units just not be higher than a certain level no matter what.

Yes, 1000 XP is the max, but you will never see it in a game.

3) How can you plot movement to arrive simulatanously.

You can't. If the terrain matches up so that two stacks arrive on the same day in a third region, it is a coincidence. Don't forget, weather can change and enemy units can arrive along the way, even if you couldn't see them beforehand. Also, depending on how your battle-delay is set and the leaders involved, combat will not start right away. Any units arriving in a region where a battle could be fought after the first units have arrived, have a pretty good chance of taking part in a battle.

I.E. can you delay for a day the start of a march to coordinate the arrive of corps or divisions. I know things may get delayed or it may not work, but you should be able to say. Ok Corp I start marching April 2 - Corps II start marching April 4 - you should arrive if things go well at the same location April 7. Maybe only a 25-50% chance of pulling that off according to starting cohesion and leaders, but can you at lease try?

No, there is no movement delay option. Each stack which has marching orders will start marching on the first day of each turn.

The delay has been requested for a number of years now, but hasn't been put in yet. Remember, it was Napoleon who said, the most difficult maneuver is to converge two separate force on one target so that they arrive at the same time. He thought it nearly impossible.

I would put these in requested improvement, but for all I know, I am such a newb that these functions or info is out there and I just cannot find it......

thanks

PooBah

I hope you are a bit more informed now. Have fun

[Durk]

Hi,
Captain_Orso has provided you a very thorough answer, however, with regard to arriving the same day there is a bit more to add.

If you are leaving the same region to arrive in a different region and one of your forces is an army and the other units are subordinate corps, use the coordinate movement option in the movement panel and they arrive at the same time.

While you cannot delay when a unit moves (they all move day 1), you can march them to other regions first or you can force march one force to arrive more quickly. Some options exist to get them there on the same day.

[Z74]

Huge answer by the Cap'n.
He's da man.