How to place some stacks IN a fortress/city while keeping the rest OUT?

[LCcmdr]

I reading several AARs, I picked up an intriguing ideas: some of my defenders being placed in the city/redoubt/fortress; others, outside in countryside. Now, I do get the first one, place my troops in the garrison. But the second seems problematic--The Army of Tenn (180 men) besieged Munfordville (where I nearly 800). Theoretically, none of troops were in the city/fortress. On the second and third rounds, I upped the aggression of my troops but to no avail--they never attacked the CSA smaller stack. I would assume that the besieging army would be sitting ducks for a flanking attack by an Division not inside.

What am I missing, or doing wrong here?

[ifailmore]

if they were inside the city you need to click sortie out button. If they were outside the city do you have some cav cos the small stack maybe hiding and are hard to start a battle with hence you need a couple of cav units per stack to help them find the battle!

[Cromagnonman]

What are the respective MC %'s? Are there forces both in & out of the structure? Is the beseiged icon there?

[LCcmdr]

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=598180723

[LCcmdr]

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/543048106417355765/52CAC1FFE7167E19DA03C84241D2F0182884D72F/

Okay, this is the better screen shot.

There is Cav in the division. But none loose. Does that matter?

[Cromagnonman]

Ha, McClellan is probably in-theater and it's a phantom stack.

Actually, maybe FitzJohn Porter is inside the town (that's not clear from the screen). If so, you need another stack in the region outside the structure. You've got the tooltip up for the neighboring region (Grayson) with Thomas's stack, but he won't help lift the seige from there.

2 choices. Move Porter out of the city (same region) and he will fight. Or move Thomas to that region, and Porter will (probably) sally forth

[LCcmdr]

Ah, the phantom in the opera.....


Well, McClellan is in Cinci, training.

I have hit the sortie button, for two turns now.

I have cut off all avenues of retreat but have caught nothing.

I've upped the status from blue, to orange, and now to red. What does it take to have a battle. (Yes, I did read that section of the manual.)

Thanks, just my bad luck for commanders and activation, which I'm struggling to grasp.

[darioVMannstein]

Ah, the phantom in the opera.....


Well, McClellan is in Cinci, training.

I have hit the sortie button, for two turns now.

I have cut off all avenues of retreat but have caught nothing.

I've upped the status from blue, to orange, and now to red. What does it take to have a battle. (Yes, I did read that section of the manual.)

Thanks, just my bad luck for commanders and activation, which I'm struggling to grasp.

I am not expert of CV2 but yesterday I ve read that you should not overdoe your orange/red posture, means take good time to recover on blue/green and fight some little battles in non red posture otherwise you will burn alot men and material,
especially as CSA you cannot afford this. You prolly know this already.
Just wanted to mention this for some other guys

[Cromagnonman]

A beseiged force set to sortie will only sortie when another friendly stack is engaged in combat in the same region outside the structure. Porter can be set to sortie for eternity but never will if no relief force arrives. Probably a better solution (given the balance of forces) is to drag Porter's stack (you can leave a small unit behind to maintain the seige) and Porter will put ASJ to flight

[ArmChairGeneral]

Cromagnonman probably has the right of it, Porter is inside the structure. Click on his stack. Look at the unit panel at the bottom of the screen. There are tabs on the top edge of the unit panel that represent the other stacks in the region. Stacks inside the structure will have a house icon or a pentagonal fort icon next to their names. To leave the structure and go to the region just drag him into the space outside the structure. (Cities are one type of structure.)

If you are in a structure, you will not participate in battles in the region no matter your posture unless the sortie conditions in the previous post are met and the order is selected. Enemy forces in the region will only attack you if they are in Assault (Red) posture. Red posture tells your forces to attack the structure (although you will engage with hostiles in the region as well) Orange tells them to attack only enemies in the region. Neither posture is relevant to a stack in a structure, since they only enter combat when an opposing stack in the region is in Red posture.

If Porter is actually in the region and not the structure three possibilities spring to mind. First, a bug. These games are usually fairly stable, but bugs crop up, and if Porter is in the region he should be engaging. Another possibility is that the stack is made up of cavalry or other stealthy units, and that Porter is attempting to engage but is unable to bring them to battle. There are several mechanics which allow small stealthy stacks to avoid combat with large slow-moving stacks. Lastly, do you have Evade Combat special orders selected for Porter's stack? That might prevent him from engaging as well.

[LCcmdr]

On the fourth effort (turn), Gen. Thomas finally sent A Johnston running. Since I had hit every button imaginable and moved the stack all over the region (physically removing it from the city) and, as well, had split my force and sent a small bait stack out of the region, something finally worked--what, I'm unsure.

I thought it was a bug, too; but, now after your comment about Cav, that's probably explains why my Cav stacks and/or small stacks don't engage so often.

Thanks!

[Captain_Orso]

If when you do not have Porter's stack selected, it's not on the map in the field, it's inside the city and cannot initiate a battle.

You have to Drag-n-Drop™ his stack into the region outside of the city. Then he will attack. No need to put his stack in AP (Assault Posture); OP (Offensive Posture) will suffice.

The Sortie-Out SO (Special Order), as Cromagnonman stated, is only to send the stack with that order out to assist another stack already outside the city. But the battle has to last long enough for it to happen. I've had a small stack enter the region with a large stack inside the city with the SO-SO. The small stack lost the battle and retreated so quickly, the SO-SO stack never got a chance at fighting. In such cases, it's better to just Drag-n-Drop™ your fat stack out into the field and have it attack directly.