Im having trouble engaging the Indians in Minnesota and similarly some small confederate cavalry units north of my lines.
I have a couple stacks tasked with hunting these units down but cannot seem to engage them. Now I have been putting them in attack posture whenever possible and still no results.
Are there any tricks or obvious maneuvers that I am missing out on?
I know the Sioux uprising isnt really that big of a deal but I'm from Minnesota and had a great great Uncle killed in the uprising.
It probably won't help any game in progress, but you can plan ahead for it. The event, if it starts, will be in the same time frame every time. Here's the conditions and time frame:
By then as the Union you should be able to produce some extra cavalry units, which you'll need for any chance to catch them. I can't remember what leaders on the Union side have Indian fighter as an attribute, that are also available by July 1862. McCook has it, but he's kind of weak sauce as a cavalry leader. Good to have him leading stationary infantry in that area, though. So far as I can tell, the event doesn't have a conditional command for unit spawn location. Even if the Indian units don't spawn at the same time every time, they will spawn in the same place every time the event fires. You could plant units in and around those regions. That's gaming the system a little, but the only alternative to giving them a chance to avoid the power play would be to rewrite the event.
It's not the presence of Indians in the area or if you've defeated any of them, it's the presence of Union troops, so it's a pretty easy event to counter anyway.
Code: Select all
SelectFaction = USA
SelectRegion = $Richland_ND
StartEvent = evt_nam_USA_GreatSiouxUprising1862|1|2|evt_txt_USA_GreatSiouxUprising1862|Event-img_USA_GreatSiouxUprising1862|$Richland_ND|122
Conditions
MinDate = 1862/07/17
MaxDate = 1863/01/01
Probability = 50By then as the Union you should be able to produce some extra cavalry units, which you'll need for any chance to catch them. I can't remember what leaders on the Union side have Indian fighter as an attribute, that are also available by July 1862. McCook has it, but he's kind of weak sauce as a cavalry leader. Good to have him leading stationary infantry in that area, though. So far as I can tell, the event doesn't have a conditional command for unit spawn location. Even if the Indian units don't spawn at the same time every time, they will spawn in the same place every time the event fires. You could plant units in and around those regions. That's gaming the system a little, but the only alternative to giving them a chance to avoid the power play would be to rewrite the event.
It's not the presence of Indians in the area or if you've defeated any of them, it's the presence of Union troops, so it's a pretty easy event to counter anyway.
The ability of Indian Fighting skill applies to the stack the General is in, so he doesn't need to be the commander. This is also true of the Cavalryman skill. So you could have a General with Fast Mover commanding a force of cavaly sufficient to defeat the Native Americans, with a Cavalryman and an Indian Fighter along for the boost. Just drop the stack on the enemy force and they should move to pursue and intercept them. Be careful not to do this if the enemy stack may retreat to a large nearby stack and thus pull your unit into an ambush.
I'm the 51st shade of gray. Eat, pray, Charge!
Actually, there are a lot of questions here and I don't know the answer to any of them. Is the technique the same for the Sioux uprising as it is for catching Morgan or even Quantril? What stat is useful to counter a stack with high evasion and/or hide? Should my brigade/division/stack have high patrol or should it also have high evasion and/or hide? Is two cavalry under a single general and a balloon the best stack for this? If I use two or three stacks with two cavalry and a general and a balloon in each one, would each stack get its own roll (assuming active)? Does the risk of an inactive general outweigh the CP benefit for catching irregular units? Should I use irregulars, early cav, conscript cav, late cav, cav+horse artillery, mounted infantry, zuaves or elite infantry, or sharpshooters?
Across the South, we have a deep appreciation of history -- we haven’t always had a deep appreciation of each other’s history. - Reverend Clementa Pinckney
This is probably a solution to both your problems .. ahistorical but within the mechanics of the game
For the Sioux uprising
1. Build a MN militia unit in Mankato during May 62 .. so that it is fully formed by late June
2. Move the militia unit to Yellow Medicine, MN so that it is in position before late July (it will take a couple of turns to get there)
3. Once the Sioux uprising event triggers immediately play the Subvert Indian RDC on the 2 Indian units that spawn (keep the third one as a backup in case one fails)
4. More often than not you will be successful and you will now have Little Crow and 2 Indian units working for the Union!
5 Combine them into a division under Little Crow and move them down Missouri way .. add in the 2 Lippan Indian units and a ranger unit or 2 if you have moved any east
6 You now have an ideal raider/partisan killing division as well as a unit well suited to putting Stand Waite and his Cherokees in their place
A bit cheesy but effective
The other solution I find works is building a militia or two in the towns north of the Missouri .. get them in place early so they are formed and settled, a militia unit still forming is an easy kill for even partisans.
This will stop most basic raids from taking towns and burning them. A heavier raid force will require a cavalry force or the Indian force but the militia will typically hold the raid in check till those reinforcements arrive. Two Militia is probably best for the depots and the towns with strategic resources like farms, one Militia each for the rest if you have the forcepool.
For the Sioux uprising
1. Build a MN militia unit in Mankato during May 62 .. so that it is fully formed by late June
2. Move the militia unit to Yellow Medicine, MN so that it is in position before late July (it will take a couple of turns to get there)
3. Once the Sioux uprising event triggers immediately play the Subvert Indian RDC on the 2 Indian units that spawn (keep the third one as a backup in case one fails)
4. More often than not you will be successful and you will now have Little Crow and 2 Indian units working for the Union!
5 Combine them into a division under Little Crow and move them down Missouri way .. add in the 2 Lippan Indian units and a ranger unit or 2 if you have moved any east
6 You now have an ideal raider/partisan killing division as well as a unit well suited to putting Stand Waite and his Cherokees in their place
A bit cheesy but effective
The other solution I find works is building a militia or two in the towns north of the Missouri .. get them in place early so they are formed and settled, a militia unit still forming is an easy kill for even partisans.
This will stop most basic raids from taking towns and burning them. A heavier raid force will require a cavalry force or the Indian force but the militia will typically hold the raid in check till those reinforcements arrive. Two Militia is probably best for the depots and the towns with strategic resources like farms, one Militia each for the rest if you have the forcepool.
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ArmChairGeneral
- AGEod Grognard
- Posts: 997
- Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2013 9:00 am
- Location: Austin, TX, USA
If you are attempting to run down stealthy stacks you need good mobility so you can catch them, and a high Patrol Value (which is opposed by the enemy's modified Evasion values) so you can bring them to battle. Patrol value is basically additive, so the more high Patrol elements in the stack (presuming everything is sufficiently commanded) the better chances of engaging. Detect, Hide and Evasion are irrelevant. Conversely, if you are running, you need to maximize Evasion while Patrol value is irrelevant (Evasion's effect and how to maximize it is a little more complicated, consult the wikis for the exact formulas). Mobility and activation are paramount because you must catch the enemy while you are in Offensive (Orange) posture so that you can force him to battle.
The most important quality in a leader when running down stacks is Strat: if they don't stay active they won't catch anything. Combat bonuses from Cav Leader or Indian Fighter are icing on the cake, but only kick in if you can actually overtake and force the enemy to battle. Fast Mover (et al.) is an extremely helpful trait so that you can overtake them, but you probably won't waste those leaders on this minor role. If you are defending against Indians, even low Strat Indian Fighters are strong, and don't forget that Indian Fighter DOES stack with Cav Leader combat bonuses.
When chasing stacks the Detection vs Hide contest (which is about being able to spot on the map and gather intel) isn't that important. It is trivial to keep an enemy stack you are actively chasing spotted since the stack you are chasing it with is probably made up of cav or cav-likes for their mobility, which all have high Detection. The enemy stack will probably be able to run to a safe position before it could get out of spotting range of fast moving pursuit.
The best way to defeat these types of forces is prophylaxis. Occupy regions, garrison towns, whatever needs to be done. If you can't destroy them right away or prevent them from spawning, determine whether it is worth spending the resources needed to hunt them down vs the mischief that they could potentially do.
The most important quality in a leader when running down stacks is Strat: if they don't stay active they won't catch anything. Combat bonuses from Cav Leader or Indian Fighter are icing on the cake, but only kick in if you can actually overtake and force the enemy to battle. Fast Mover (et al.) is an extremely helpful trait so that you can overtake them, but you probably won't waste those leaders on this minor role. If you are defending against Indians, even low Strat Indian Fighters are strong, and don't forget that Indian Fighter DOES stack with Cav Leader combat bonuses.
When chasing stacks the Detection vs Hide contest (which is about being able to spot on the map and gather intel) isn't that important. It is trivial to keep an enemy stack you are actively chasing spotted since the stack you are chasing it with is probably made up of cav or cav-likes for their mobility, which all have high Detection. The enemy stack will probably be able to run to a safe position before it could get out of spotting range of fast moving pursuit.
The best way to defeat these types of forces is prophylaxis. Occupy regions, garrison towns, whatever needs to be done. If you can't destroy them right away or prevent them from spawning, determine whether it is worth spending the resources needed to hunt them down vs the mischief that they could potentially do.
Hold your towns with militia units. If the enemy can't eat, the enemy will starve.
Use mobile troops to chase down mobile troops. Guys in boots can't catch guys on horses.
Drag and drop onto the enemy stack, rather than the region. Be advised this will chase them as far as they can go in 15 days.
Use the appropriate generals. Kilpatrick will catch a stack, Sickles won't.
Have the right strength. Don't waste 18 unit divisions chasing single regiments.
Use mobile troops to chase down mobile troops. Guys in boots can't catch guys on horses.
Drag and drop onto the enemy stack, rather than the region. Be advised this will chase them as far as they can go in 15 days.
Use the appropriate generals. Kilpatrick will catch a stack, Sickles won't.
Have the right strength. Don't waste 18 unit divisions chasing single regiments.
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