Combating the Loyalty issue

[FightingBuckeye]

As the Union, I try to work to getting confederate loyalty in the border states down below 50% in order to deprive my of free Intel. I especially focus my attention around Maryland and Delaware. I like to use Wilmington to stage my naval invasions and would prefer that my opponent not know what forces I'm gathering and when they leave port. So how best deprive my opponent if this valuable Intel?

I play all the RGD cards that improve loyalty as often as I can but it's still a long process that is usually still in progress by the time I'm ready for my first naval assault. I know winning battles can have the biggest impact, but that's not always possible to just whistle up some victories early on.

So my question revolves around the police value of units and how it impacts loyalty. Cavalry and light infantry seem the best, but what do those values mean? Are unit police values all added up together and then rolled against what exactly? 100? If so, I guess you'd need at least a half corps sized force if you want to make an impact and for only one loyalty point a turn.

What exactly do the occupier and hated occupier traits do? Anything else besides police values, the above traits, the good admin trait, victories, some events, and RGDs that impact loyalty?

[Captain_Orso]

Pick a different staging area.

[FightingBuckeye]

Thanks for the response, I would have never thought of that on my own.



Aside from the many good reasons why Wilmington make for a good invasion point. The subject of increasing your region's loyalty is an important action with numerous benefits, especially as you drive deeper into opponent territory. I solely seek to inquire whether I was missing anything on the loyalty front. If it looks like I have hit all the highpoints on increasing loyalty, then I will strive to make the best of what tools I have. I can always use the cavalry screen and disinformation RGDs if need be.

[Mickey3D]

IIRC each police point in a force gives a 1% chance to raise loyalty by 1% .

But it will be very difficult (not to say impossible) to raise loyalty in all the regions you are going to conquer. So yes, you have to use your RGD cards and cavalry to try to hide your forces in the critical location.

[Captain_Orso]

Honestly, the only time I really am concerned with loyalty is with Saint Louis. If loyalty is too low, which with some bad luck can happen, you cannot raise troops there and Saint Louis is the only place I can raise the Missouri and Kansas artillery.

In AACW you could impose martial law state wide, but then you couldn't raise troops in that state at all, plus production would be reduced greatly, which with low loyalty it was already anyway.

You could put Fremont in to impose martial law in a city, but I'm not sure if he also imposes the above penalties along with it.

Personally, in a Saint Louis with very low loyalty I've always used Buell. He raises loyalty pretty well over time and with a couple of good victories in Missouri my Saint Louis problems were solved. Then I moved him to Baltimore to do the same.

You might try the same thing in Wilmington, but be aware that neighboring regions also 'spy' on Wilmington if loyalty is above 50% in those.

If you are conducting naval invasions with riverine transports, I could see why Wilmington might be of use. But if you are using high-seas fleets I don't see the great advantage over the work involved.

[FightingBuckeye]

You might try the same thing in Wilmington, but be aware that neighboring regions also 'spy' on Wilmington if loyalty is above 50% in those.

If you are conducting naval invasions with riverine transports, I could see why Wilmington might be of use. But if you are using high-seas fleets I don't see the great advantage over the work involved.

Usually the problem isn't Wilmington itself, it's usually the neighboring regions the might have some loyalty issues. I like to use Wilmington because it's close enough to the front that units there can usually get to the front pretty quickly even if a rail line is knocked out or if there's a delayed movement. Same with units getting to Wilmington from the front. I might keep gather my units at the front until I've gathered my invasion force and then move them to a port.

So, about those occupier and hated occupier traits? What exactly do they do and how does the police values effect loyalty?

[Gray Fox]

This is how it worked in AACW:

http://www.ageod.net/aacwwiki/Loyalty

Sum up the total police value for all units in a region. This is the chance to improve loyalty 1% that turn. So if you have enough units so that the police value is equal to 100%, then your loyalty will go up 1% each turn.

P.S. I use the region of Sommerset MD as a staging area for invasions. It is connected to the Union rail network so you can run units right into it. If you build a flatboat in the Salisbury harbor there, then you can have a cheap depot. There's even an unlocked Militia unit in DE that you can move down to garrison it. It starts out with 70% loyalty so you can suspend Habeas Corpus and then build defensive works to max out loyalty. You can also first sealift a force from there to Cape Charles and it is no longer detectable by the CSA at all. If you have taken the coastal forts along the Hatteras, then you can strike the Carolina Coast from this sea zone in one turn.

[Cardinal Ape]

The best way I have found to raise loyalty as the Union is to make a few police brigades. These brigades are made up of a commander with the Occupier trait (like Fremont, Pope or Butler) and three elements of line infantry. The Occupier trait will up loyalty to about 45%? in one turn, follow it up with a build defensive works RGD for another 10%. One should be able to get 55% loyalty in about 3 turns.

[FightingBuckeye]

The best way I have found to raise loyalty as the Union is to make a few police brigades. These brigades are made up of a commander with the Occupier trait (like Fremont, Pope or Butler) and three elements of line infantry. The Occupier trait will up loyalty to about 45%? in one turn, follow it up with a build defensive works RGD for another 10%. One should be able to get 55% loyalty in about 3 turns.

Thanks, that does answer some of my questions regarding that particular trait. I'll definitely have to try it out sometime. Does the occupier trait automatically increase loyalty to 45%? Or there some check or calculation on whether it happens or not? And how does the occupier differ from harsh occupier?

[Cardinal Ape]

Hmm, those traits don't work exactly like I thought they did... But I did find an old post from Ace with the answer:

Occupier
When commanding a stack, this leader will proclaim Martial Law in any rebellious city, raising or lowering the city loyalty by 5/trn up to 60% loyalty, if the city loyalty is below 90%.

Hated Occupier
When commanding a stack, this leader will enforce Martial Law with extreme severity in any rebellious city, raising or lowering the city loyalty by 5/trn up to 50% loyalty, if the city loyalty is below 60%.

[FightingBuckeye]

Hmm, those traits don't work exactly like I thought they did... But I did find an old post from Ace with the answer:

Occupier
When commanding a stack, this leader will proclaim Martial Law in any rebellious city, raising or lowering the city loyalty by 5/trn up to 60% loyalty, if the city loyalty is below 90%.

Hated Occupier
When commanding a stack, this leader will enforce Martial Law with extreme severity in any rebellious city, raising or lowering the city loyalty by 5/trn up to 50% loyalty, if the city loyalty is below 60%.

Oh yeah, that's the good stuff. I wasn't sure if the traits worked the same as the RGD card since the wording on the traits had Martial Law in it and there's a Martial Law RGD card. Thanks a bunch!