I think I'm going to give up on playing CW2 and switch to Grigsby's old game, but I wanted to ask one question after my experiences.
Commanders need to be active to form divisions, right? That means that to just start organizing your army, you need your leaders to get lucky and be active. And then if you want to do anything with them, they have to be active again (because they get a huge penalty on the turn they are forming a division).
If I turn off the need for a general to be activated in the game options, will that remove this requirement as well, or will a leader still need to be active for me to form divisions with them?
What is the justification for this requirement? In those days, division commanders were appointed, relieved, switched at the drop of a hat (Lee completely overhauled the entire ANV structure in a matter of days after he drove McClellan to Harrison's Landing during the Seven Days battles). You can't really simulate that unless you get lucky and a commander is activated at the right time.
I like the requirement that a commander be activated to actually undertake offensives. It simulates the feel of the Civil War. But requiring them to be active to form units makes the game super tedious. And it makes it very difficult to have the generals I want (ie, the historical ones) commanding my divisions in 1861 and 1862.