Hello-
I'm still kind of new to the game. I played through the Bull Run scenario on the Union side, and now I'm working on Shiloh, also from the Union side.
I own BoA, and have played a few of those scenarios, so I am familiar with this kind of AGEOD game.
I understand that it is important to have an active general at the head of each fighting force, and that each stack have enough CP. So I've been managing my stacks that way.
Then I find, after a battle, that I have units with lowered cohesion, so what I've been doing is swapping out the units with lowered cohesion for units with 100% cohesion. So now the general has a fresh force to fight with. This seems a little odd to me, to swap units back and forth like this, and I'm wondering if I'm missing something, or micro-managing too much.
Also, I find that a division might have depleted cohesion, so I disband the division and place the division's general as the leader of some fresh units. And these units are just in a stack, not in a division. It's not clear to me what difference that makes.
I find that it's tempting to throw stacks which really aren't that strong into the fray, when it might be better to wait a turn or two and put together a stronger force.
Also, as a result of all this micro-management of stacks, I'm finding that I'm using the two corps actively, and I think that's to be expected. But the other army doesn't have any corps, so that army is just sitting there idle. I feel kind of sorry for that general! Maybe I'm supposed to create corps for that army, but the "create corps" button is greyed-out whenever I look at it.
I guess that's enough rambling for now. Thanks for your help.
-Scott
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ArmChairGeneral
- AGEod Grognard
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:00 am
- Location: Austin, TX, USA
You are on the right track worrying about cohesion, but the best thing to do to increase cohesion is to rest. You can certainly switch out better rested elements or units, but generally speaking it is easier and better to leave everything organized together into divisions and simply rest-as-you-go. While resting they entrench anyway, so you gain defensive bonuses, and recover cohesion and hits all at the same time.
Think of the division as the base combat unit. Combine all combat elements and brigades into divisions if possible. A BOA style stack of loose brigades is at a major combat disadvantage compared to a division of the same size, even if both are well-commanded. (Artillery are supply units and so do not necessarily need to be combined with divisions, but doing so will reduce their CP cost.) Splitting open divisions to micromanage at the brigade level might make sense in a few rare situations, but will mostly be more trouble than it is worth once you have your divisions set up the way you want them. You will often shuffle divisions between corps and armies in the way you describe, but there is no benefit to doing so on any smaller scale than the division.
I set up my divisions and the Army/Corp structure on the first turn. Not every division can get all of its elements right away, and I'm constrained by the generals I have active, but I make a plan for how I am going to build each division and what Corps/Army it is going into on the very first turn of a scenario, and then follow through on the second and sometimes third turns to complete the initial organization. When I get a breather later in the scenario I sometimes spend a turn or two making a wholesale re-organization of everything to address any issues I might have, and because over time things get out-of-whack.
Size matters big time in this game. Never let a smaller stack fight a significantly larger one unless it is defending and very well entrenched. Don't get into any battle where you are outnumbered more than 2 to 1.
Because you want your stacks as large as possible, your major fighting stacks are going to be Corps and Armies, since they have the most CPs. Each will be composed of several divisions, possibly some loose artillery, and some supply elements or special units. They will be led by a two or three star general. Two and three star generals can command a corps (they must be active to form one) which then automatically attaches to the closest army. The Corps and Armies have numerous special properties that make them superior formations to an equivalent number of loose divisions, so get as many divisions into these stacks as will fit, and then use those stacks to do the the major fighting. I shuffle divisions between different corps and army stacks fairly often.
Hopefully some of this helps answer some of your questions. Good luck, have fun, and keep asking when you have questions, this game has a steep learning curve but there are lots of people willing to help here!
Think of the division as the base combat unit. Combine all combat elements and brigades into divisions if possible. A BOA style stack of loose brigades is at a major combat disadvantage compared to a division of the same size, even if both are well-commanded. (Artillery are supply units and so do not necessarily need to be combined with divisions, but doing so will reduce their CP cost.) Splitting open divisions to micromanage at the brigade level might make sense in a few rare situations, but will mostly be more trouble than it is worth once you have your divisions set up the way you want them. You will often shuffle divisions between corps and armies in the way you describe, but there is no benefit to doing so on any smaller scale than the division.
I set up my divisions and the Army/Corp structure on the first turn. Not every division can get all of its elements right away, and I'm constrained by the generals I have active, but I make a plan for how I am going to build each division and what Corps/Army it is going into on the very first turn of a scenario, and then follow through on the second and sometimes third turns to complete the initial organization. When I get a breather later in the scenario I sometimes spend a turn or two making a wholesale re-organization of everything to address any issues I might have, and because over time things get out-of-whack.
Size matters big time in this game. Never let a smaller stack fight a significantly larger one unless it is defending and very well entrenched. Don't get into any battle where you are outnumbered more than 2 to 1.
Because you want your stacks as large as possible, your major fighting stacks are going to be Corps and Armies, since they have the most CPs. Each will be composed of several divisions, possibly some loose artillery, and some supply elements or special units. They will be led by a two or three star general. Two and three star generals can command a corps (they must be active to form one) which then automatically attaches to the closest army. The Corps and Armies have numerous special properties that make them superior formations to an equivalent number of loose divisions, so get as many divisions into these stacks as will fit, and then use those stacks to do the the major fighting. I shuffle divisions between different corps and army stacks fairly often.
Hopefully some of this helps answer some of your questions. Good luck, have fun, and keep asking when you have questions, this game has a steep learning curve but there are lots of people willing to help here!
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ArmChairGeneral
- AGEod Grognard
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:00 am
- Location: Austin, TX, USA
Oops, clarification:
I meant to say, artillery are SUPPORT units, not supply units. Supply units are support units, but not all support units are supply units. Artillery are (counterintuitively, because they DO shoot in combat) considered non-combat SUPPORT units.
(Artillery are supply units and so do not necessarily need to be combined with divisions, but doing so will reduce their CP cost.)
I meant to say, artillery are SUPPORT units, not supply units. Supply units are support units, but not all support units are supply units. Artillery are (counterintuitively, because they DO shoot in combat) considered non-combat SUPPORT units.
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