Leadership

[pgr]

Ok, simple question. How does leadership affect combat?

I get that the strategic rating helps with activation and army control radius for corps. I'm assuming a division commander's attack and defense ratings modify the elements combat effectiveness ( but by how much per level). According to the manual, the stack commander boosts all combat effectiveness in the stack by 5% per skill level.

I'm wondering what the unattached, non-commanding leaders do in a stack. Do they provide benefit , or are the commanding leaders and division leaders the only ones impacting combat performance?

The manual says that a non-commanding leader with a strategic level of 4 acts as an aide-de-camp, but what does that do for a stack? Raise the CP limit?

Finally, army commanders. Do they have to be in the fight to provide benefit? I know Granite Stater talks about leaving army HQ as minimal, and sometimes leaving it well behind the front, while the corps do the dirty work. But does that mean one forfeits the command effectiveness boost when the army commander isn't on the field?

At the end of the day, I'm trying to figure out if I should keep commanders attached to elements in a stack, or have them free floating in stacks.

[GraniteStater]

Finally, army commanders. Do they have to be in the fight to provide benefit? I know Granite Stater talks about leaving army HQ as minimal, and sometimes leaving it well behind the front, while the corps do the dirty work. But does that mean one forfeits the command effectiveness boost when the army commander isn't on the field?

Last point - I don't think so. I had G B McClellan under Grant as a Corps Cdr a few times, in AACW. Woo hoo, 3-2-2!

I fight with McDowell a lot in VA (I'm a lazy cuss) and live with the 2-2-2s (CW2) until Hooker can take over.

I keep the odd extra Leader in a Corps or stack very often, as 'death insurance'. Other than that, I truly don't know if they help in a fight or not.

I think ADCs improve Strat Rating, unsure about other benefits.

Strat Rating also helps with Detection, AFAIK, but could be wrong. In effect, Lee 'sees' better than most.

[moni kerr]

Leaders with certain traits can benefit the whole stack even if they don't have a command. The one trait that is of most use is Artillery officer.

The aide-de-camp type leader gives 2 cp to a solo division, so it will operate without command penalties. John B Hood (3-0-0) makes a good aide-de-camp for example.

The benefit of army commanders in battle is their rank. See Frontage.

Army leaders leaders like Grant or Lee have a big command radius and it often makes sense to keep them back in a central location where they can command Corps over a far ranging front. Grant's command radius allows him to exert control over corps that are operating from Chattanooga to Memphis and beyond. Corps within that command radius will gain the bonuses of having Grant as their commander (I'm not sure if MTSG works outside this radius). You can thus split his command and carry out multiple missions on divergent axis using a large number of corps.

[GraniteStater]

John B Hood (3-0-0) makes a good aide-de-camp for example.

Don't you have to be a 4 Strat Rating to be an ADC?

[moni kerr]

Don't you have to be a 4 Strat Rating to be an ADC?

I always thought the ADC was the supporting cast, just lending the 2 cp to give the division the 4 cp needed to operate without penalty.

Is there something I'm missing here?

[GraniteStater]

Yeah, an ADC has to have an SR of 4.

Oh, I see - you['re confusing Extra Guy Who Helps with CPs Available with an ADC.

First, I think an Aide-de-Camp has to be with an Army Commander (unsure). I am real sure he has to have a 4 for an SR. I think he helps with the Army Cdr's SR, but whatever he does, it's good.

What you are describing is the Extra Leader, particularly in a straight lone Div - just a Div. Another 1* tagging along with the Div's leader gives a CP available of 4 - so you'll see Smith (128th Division)/Jones: 4 needed / 4 available.

Cheap mini-Corps, kinda, not really. You can do the same for slightly larger stacks (6/6, 8/8), but this tops out at some point, which I think is 8. Four Leaders max (YMMV) can contribute to the CP allocation, at least 1*s, I'm pretty sure.

Anyhow, if I'm off on the details, that's the gist. I use tooltips a lot anyway, and if I don't like something, I re-arrange it until I'm happy.

Oh, the ADC can't be commanding any units directly - pretty sure.

[Keeler]

According to the manual, a non-Army commander leader with a Strategic Rating of 4 provides is a "capable" ADC and provides +1 CP. This must be in addition to 2 CP generated by a second leader in independent stacks. So an leader with a 4 Strategic rating would provide +3 CP as an ADC.

Edit: This is what the manual says about ADCs

Units in the region are part of a Corps or attached to an Army which includes
a capable Aide de Camp (i.e., A non-Army commander leader with a Strategic
Rating of 4+ who is in a the Stack): 1

Aide de Camp: A non-Army commander leader with a Strategic Rating of 4+
who is in an Army Stack. He provides a bonus to the Stack.

[moni kerr]

Yeah, an ADC has to have an SR of 4.

Oh, I see - you['re confusing Extra Guy Who Helps with CPs Available with an ADC.

First, I think an Aide-de-Camp has to be with an Army Commander (unsure). I am real sure he has to have a 4 for an SR. I think he helps with the Army Cdr's SR, but whatever he does, it's good.

What you are describing is the Extra Leader, particularly in a straight lone Div - just a Div. Another 1* tagging along with the Div's leader gives a CP available of 4 - so you'll see Smith (128th Division)/Jones: 4 needed / 4 available.

Cheap mini-Corps, kinda, not really. You can do the same for slightly larger stacks (6/6, 8/8), but this tops out at some point, which I think is 8. Four Leaders max (YMMV) can contribute to the CP allocation, at least 1*s, I'm pretty sure.

Anyhow, if I'm off on the details, that's the gist. I use tooltips a lot anyway, and if I don't like something, I re-arrange it until I'm happy.

Oh, the ADC can't be commanding any units directly - pretty sure.

I have no idea about ADC for an Army commander, this is really the first time I've heard of ADC in this context. Some specifics about what benefits there are would be nice.

[GraniteStater]

I really hate to ask, O He Who Reads the Manual, but could you kindly recast that just a little bit as a couple of shorter statements?

Thanks.

I told ya, I learn from you guys.

[GraniteStater]

I have no idea about ADC for an Army commander, this is really the first time I've heard of ADC in this context. Some specifics about what benefits there are would be nice.

Well, it seems some people here actually read the manual and my recollections are hazy. I thought, I cudda sworn ADCs (a true Aide-de-Camp -IRL, that's where you find them, with generals) went with Army Commanders...

this machine does not have the game on it, so, no manual for me right now. I'd have to fire up the laptop.

[Keeler]

I really hate to ask, O He Who Reads the Manual, but could you kindly recast that just a little bit as a couple of shorter statements?

Thanks.

I told ya, I learn from you guys.

If you have a leader with 3-1-1 stats and put him in a corps or army stack, he creates 0 CP. (Edit: I am unsure if this is 0 or 2)
If you have a leader with 3-1-1 stats and put him in an independent stack, he creates 2 CP.
If you have a leader with 4-1-1 stats and put him in an independent stack, he creates 2 CP.
If you have a leader with 4-1-1 stats and put him in a corps or army stack, he creates 1 CP. (Ok: I am unsure if its 1 CP or 3 in this case)

That's what the manual, which isn't always up to date, says about ADCs.

According to the AACWI wiki:

An army headquarters that includes a capable aide de camp (A leader with a strategic rating of 4+ in the army stack who does not command any troops): 1 + 1 to all subordinate corps .

So, in the first game if you put a 4-1-1 leader in an army stack, he created one extra CP in the army stack and one in each corps. We'd have to have the devs confirm this is still true for AACWII. So it's better to be in an army stack GS, but there is a bonus in both corps and army level stacks.

[GraniteStater]

I just looked at the PDF for CW2 & it is definitely not the most clearly stated concept. It's in a couple of places, one of which, the Glossary, is the clearest, imo, though still a tiny bit lacking.

The other entries seem to be conflating 'extra' Leaders with an actual ADC, or just slinging the term around rather loosely, in my humble and professional opinion. I could be misreading or reading too fast, but it is foggy.

Thanks for the breakdown, Keeler.

[Really Out of Place Imploration]

Dear Powers That Be:

Just hire me, OK? One time deal, we can do it remotely. First, I don't write documentation the way I write here. I break things down into bite-size nuggets and use simple declarative sentences. I use access aids, charts, illustrations, tables, etc. I am the Real Deal. I can send you my resume. I have formal certificates in Technical Communications, Information Mapping and Project Management. I have well over ten years experience. I can use the stipend, believe me.

I would be happy to do this, especially for your fine organization. I have thought about doing it anyway, on my own time, just to do it, but to do a proper job, I need to email developers, SQA, and other people who are SMEs. I can run the application and dissect it most finely, but really need to be able to email people, ask some questions and confirm facts and figures. There's only so much I can do just by running an application, bereft of SME input and the 'paper trail' of the project.

I am entirely serious. It would be an excellent resume item and portfolio item. For a truly modest investment, you would get an outstanding manual and, if desired, online Help. I can even write rtf files by hand, if I had to.

I could even do a rough draft in German.

I can start with the present manual and go from there - this needn't be long or overly involved. A preliminary edit for clarity, grammar and usage is most probably a good starting point.

Most sincerely,
John E. S. Lee

[ArmChairGeneral]

The ADC is a 4+ strat leader who is #2 in his Army stack and the manual is vague about whether a Corps can have an ADC, I don't THINK it can. He provides an additional CP to the stack that CAN push the stack above its maximum. Pass-through needs confirmation, but don't see why it would have changed.

ADC sounds great, but I never bother because I have better uses for a high strat leader, and signal corps/HQs provide a bigger effect (definitely does not pass to Corp though). The ADC bonus is on top of a sig bonus but two sig bonuses don't stack with each other: Army with ADC, Sig Corps and HQ give +3 CP above the maximum, not +5. Balloon uses a separate ability, so you could get to +4 total.

Like GraniteStater, I often use small Army stacks, so they have CP's to spare anyway. Later in the game it is more important. I was not aware that they help their commander's strategic rating, but if so the ADC becomes more useful.

pgr,

I'm wondering what the unattached, non-commanding leaders do in a stack. Do they provide benefit, or are the commanding leaders and division leaders the only ones impacting combat performance?

They provide CPs and certain special abilities, and will not become fixed through inactivity if their leader isn't fixed. That's it, no combat effects that are not special ability based.

On hard activation, keep all your spares in Army and Corps stacks so they don't fix themselves (leader-only stacks shouldn't become fixed in my opinion, but I guess you could micro- your way around the penalty otherwise). Most ability buffs apply to the whole stack, most nerfs do not, only the best buffs require the leader to be in command (the cohesion ones for example). OTOH, leaders with buffs usually have good ratings anyway, and might be better commanding something; game-time decision.

Keeler,
All leaders provide their CP's to the stack they are in, but there are caps based on rank and stack type, (but with a global cap of 16 modified by stats and abilities of leaders and units) so your spare 3-1-1s appear not to be adding anything because the other leaders already have the stack at the max.

Technically, 3-1-1s provide 4 CPs, but leaders "outside-the-chain-of-command" (i.e. not in an Army or Corps) are -50% to CP, so the effective max for a stack led by a 1* is 6.

[GraniteStater]

After some rereading, it looks like I'm entirely off base about any SR boost from an ADC.

[moni kerr]

Thanks. I'm learning something new all the time.

[ArmChairGeneral]

The 1* stack-cap could be confirmed in-game by looking at a Division General Pool, but I have already split mine up and don't have more than 3 1*s anywhere that I can check on. If anyone has a Generals Pool handy in-game, or just has a bunch of 1*s hanging around, this is an important number to be sure of. It may be 16 like anything else, but I could have sworn there was a cut off somewhere smaller than that based on commander rank. Heck, I thought it was only 4 but I have Holmes, Longstreet and Bonham showing 6 CPs so now I am uncertain....

[Keeler]

Keeler,
All leaders provide their CP's to the stack they are in, but there are caps based on rank and stack type, (but with a global cap of 16 modified by stats and abilities of leaders and units) so your spare 3-1-1s appear not to be adding anything because the other leaders already have the stack at the max.

Thanks. That's why it was unclear to me.

[ArmChairGeneral]

GS,

I guess the * or for that matter ** not-in-Corps cap is 8 like you say. 16 max, but out-of-chain, so 8 is how it works?

[GraniteStater]

Really just a hazy recollection, but I think that might be right.

I really try to avoid authoritative statements and try to qualify what I say. I just play by the basic outlines from AACW, the manual of which I did read at one point, and what I'm seeing on the board. Tooltips are my friends, that's for sure. A lot of rules of thumb in my head. Then I'll go refresh myself once in a while, like rereading the old Frontage topic in the AACW wiki.

I do not have loose Divs running around a lot once Corps kick in. I'm not against them, but I prefer MTSG support as much as possible. Now that Divs are unlimited, I'll build a Div with just two units - the guy's Active, use him, you can stuff more units in later. Armies are capped at nine now, so I can't indulge myself as much as before, but I'll have a small two Corps Army in NO under Butler, each Corps maybe 350, 450 PWR - not uncommon for me. If I use loose Divs, I'll find a buddy for the Div commander to get 4/4. 'Extra' Leaders I keep in the rear.

I usually have no more than four, maybe five Big Armies - those Corps get VIP treatment and all the toys. Most of my efforts are with these and MTSG operations.

I don't worry too much about Game Stuff - I just play, learn from you guys and go by instinct. Anything I've posted about that I've been strong about is just me going "Huh?" - doesn't make sense to me, rhyme or reason, that sort of thing.

I'm probably a pretty sloppy player, when you get down to it. We should have fun, before all else.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Humility noted and appreciated, at least by me, but don't sell yourself short. You have a lot of experience and have provided a lot of good posts and answers over the years. (I have been reading your posts for a long time now.)

My major character flaw is that I always sound too authoritative, both written and in person. Just ask my wife. (She would add laziness and excessive video-game playing, but I think those are my good qualities:wacko

[ArmChairGeneral]

Getting back to some of pgr's other questions, I am basing these statements on Narwhal's AJE Combat Explained posts, the AGE Wiki and the Game Logic file in the CW2 game folder (guess I'm gonna have to change my sig; bummer, it wasn't that helpful). Most of the stuff is for a different game, and the Wiki is several years old, but these are the best sources I could find.

According to the manual, the stack commander boosts all combat effectiveness in the stack by 5% per skill level.

In some of the other games the unit leader's % bonus is smaller than the stack leader's, but leader combat bonuses vary significantly among AGEOD games, so it is unclear whether it is 5% for both in CW2 or is less for the unit commander like in ROP.

By "combat effectiveness" it specifically means ranged-hit rolls and assault-hit rolls carried out by the individual units, not pursuit, damage or anything else, just the to-hits (based on Fire and Melee posts by Narwhal and pursuit retreat and rout pages on the AGEWiki). The stack leader and unit leader numbers add together, and from what I can tell (Game Logic file, but the comments are not entirely clear and could have meant something different) there is a roll to determine if the Army leader's combat bonus also passes down, so is not always applied. It appears that the combat bonuses are opposed by the enemy leader's ratings (you have a 3, he has a 2, total bonus for you is 1, bonus for him is -1 or something close to this, it is kinda confusing).

Finally, army commanders. Do they have to be in the fight to provide benefit? I know Granite Stater talks about leaving army HQ as minimal, and sometimes leaving it well behind the front, while the corps do the dirty work. But does that mean one forfeits the command effectiveness boost when the army commander isn't on the field?

I think the Army leader does not have to participate for this effect, since the Battle Result shows his picture as commander even when he is several regions away.

At the end of the day, I'm trying to figure out if I should keep commanders attached to elements in a stack, or have them free floating in stacks.

I can't think of any good reason to have them free floating if you have something they could command, unless the ADC can't be a unit leader, which is what I thought was the case but can't find confirmation for.

[GraniteStater]

Just when I see some light, I get all confused again.

Game Logic? Where? I looked & looked in the directories and if it's not under that parsley, I'll just die.

COMMAND STRUCTURE

At first, you have no Command Structure. You have Leaders and Units. Use the tooltips. Find your style. Learn.

I just learned against Athena, again, yesterday. I usually break out Hunter & Heitzelmann (whoever - the German) and Runyon as my Preliminary 'Stack' Leaders, send Tyler and the Other Old Guy off to get drunk with the Baltimore garrison when it spawns (methinks, from the dim mists, that there is a little bit of Historical Personality attached to some of the Leaders - Tyler and Old Guy were morons, so off they go) and take all their Units and stuff them in the NE VA Army with McDowell. Well, I sent Hunter to Leesburg & crossed my fingers. I had two stacks in Alexandria - McDowell (strong) and Runyon (without the NJ militia, they go back to Jersey).

Well, PGT attacked. Runyon got creamed; he was wounded and sent to Nurses Town. His stack was wiped out entirely. Betcha I don't do that again, even though I hadn't seen it before. McDowell retreated to DC - lucky I had just gotten four Naval Elements in the river, so that cooled PGT's jets for a bit.

The moral seems to be, 'Stack 'Em High' until you can make Divisions. Do the best you can. Break out Cav & scout. Prep. Get ready.

Oct 61

Now you can make Divisions. You still have no Command Structure. Make some Armies if you want, all they can do is CP relief, afaics. Might as well, if these fit in to your plans. Better than nothing.

Mar 62

Now we get to the meat & potatoes.

ARMY [Army Commander and HQSupp (if desired/needed)] -> I Corps; -> II Corps; -> III Corps, etc.

I, II, II can mutually MTSG. Must be in the same Army. Army commander spreads bonuses (& penalties) all around. AFAIK, this applies directly to Corps Commanders only, not Divisional Commanders. More in a second.

CORPS

Typical Union corps for me:

CorpsCdr / Div / Div / Div / Arty / Arty / Supp / Supp / ... / Supply / Supply

CorpsCdr spreads his benefits to DivLdrs (I think). This includes 'extra' benefits (indirectly) from Army Commander, if applicable and capable of trickling down (I think). I am now persuaded not to include loose Cav, but have Cav integrated in Divs, for a total of at least four Cav, for screen/scout, etc. Once in a while, a CavDiv, but usually this is ad hoc for limited times, places & purposes. Usually two long rifle batteries in CorpsArty, maybe three, rarely more. All the Support Units I can squeeze in, the whole spectrum, especially if an important Corps. At least two Supply wagons.

#####

I am not dogmatic about anything. I usually eschew Army Cdrs getting too 'involved', but if that is what it takes, then tally ho. A one Corps Army I treat a bit differently from multi-Corps Armies, the single Corps Armies I usually have different missions for and are usually not Front Line Fighters.


I will have smaller & specialized Armies for dedicated missions - heck, I'll even use Butler in the Peninsula if that looks viable.

When I play the CSA, the program for the night is different, but the essentials & principles of the whole Structure are merely Variations on a Theme.

CSA: in the early game, especially very early game, look at all those lovely integrated 'Brigades' married to TJ, Bee, Longstreet...use them. Advantageous for the South. Also, the CSA can build Monster brigades & save on CPs. Pedal to the metal, I say. Win Now & Win Big. This is probably a lot tougher against a good Union player than Athena.

***

And I usually have 'extra' Leaders in Corps & selected stacks, for death insurance/easy Div reconstitution. Extra Leaders for CP relief should be obvious to the student.

***

Don't let the CSA fanboys know, but the Union is hurtin' for leaders until Jan 62.

I do like playing the CSA - quite a bit. It's wicked fun. If you like to brawl, it's a blast.

2* leaders are positively scarce for the CSA in the early going. Haven't played enough CSA in CW2 yet to know if this is a Problem come Mar 62. Well, one can always attack, attack, attack with TJ & Longstreet and some others to get promos, I would think.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Yeah, I definitely try to structure mine almost exactly like that, but you know how it is, most of the stacks I have are just thrown together bits and pieces of whatever could make it to the battlefield in time, organized as best I can on the fly.

2* leaders are positively scarce for the CSA in the early going. Haven't played enough CSA in CW2 yet to know if this is a Problem come Mar 62. Well, one can always attack, attack, attack with TJ & Longstreet and some others to get promos, I would think.

No, it doesn't get any better. You end up needing to use TJ and Longstreet a lot and TJ's going to script to 2* and loses stats and abilities at 3*, so promotions are wasted on him anyway. (Can't remember if Longstreet scripts or not, he's already promoted by then anyway, he's my main man). Initial Western commanders are poor, so I send the best of my pool generals out there when they show up and I can sometimes get two or three good corps commanders that way. A lot of the best guys lose stats at 3* (although I think Longstreet stays good, only done it once), so the command advantage by mid game is definitely with the Union. Pretty historical outcome in my book.

I end up having to fight most of the map with 1 Corps armies and independent divisions, there just aren't enough 2*s to go around unless I am winning a lot of battles in 62. Getting more Corps in the East is a priority of course, but I still never have enough.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Just when I see some light, I get all confused again.

Game Logic? Where? I looked & looked in the directories and if it's not under that parsley, I'll just die.

Parsley?

CW2>Settings>GameLogic

The text:

// ********************************************************
// ***** COMMAND AND LEADERS *****
// ********************************************************

.
.
.
ldrGHQBonusMaxIter = 4 // Max number of iterations to pass a bonus to a subordinate
ldrGHQBonusRollBaseStrat = 0 // Base modifier to the Army Commander Strat rating to pass one pt of bonus to a subordinate
ldrGHQBonusRollModStrat = -2 // Additional Modifier added for each iteration beyond the first (cumulative, [color="#FFD700"]ie iteration 3 is a Roll at -4 under the Strat Rating[/color])
ldrGHQBonusRollBaseOff = 2 // Base modifier to the Army Commander Offensive rating to pass one pt of bonus to a subordinate
ldrGHQBonusRollModOff = -2 // Additional Modifier added for each iteration beyond the first (cumulative, ie iteration 3 gives -2 to Off here)
ldrGHQBonusRollBaseDef = 2 // Base modifier to the Army Commander Defensiverating to pass one pt of bonus to a subordinate
ldrGHQBonusRollModDef = -2 // Additional Modifier added for each iteration beyond the first (cumulative, ie iteration 3 gives -2 to Def here)

.
.
.

This is puzzling to me; everything else in this file made sense.

By iteration, I think it means command levels down the chain, so everyone in the Army stack is the first iteration, the Corps commanders are the second, their Division commanders are third and fourth is I guess just not used. Dunno about that.

But what I really don't get is the reference to Roll in the highlighted text and in the object names (or whatever they are called in whatever language the game uses). This implies that there is some kind of random element to the Army leader passing bonus to his subordinates, and that it might not occur. That's all I could find about it in the files too, these are the only references to Army bonuses.

If it weren't for that, I would interpret it one of 2 ways:
2 less than the rating to Corps and 4 less to their Div Commanders
(Rating/2) to Corps commanders, (Rating/4) to their Div Commanders

But I really wouldn't care about what the actual value was, as long as I knew it passed EVERY time, and that there isn't some chance that it won't pass at all.

[Jim-NC]

In regards to army bonus/maulus calculations:
In AACW, the army to corps bonus was random. Mac with a 1 strat would either give +1, 0 or -1 bonus to his corps commanders (may have even been possible to give a -2 for him). Whereas Lee would give a 0, +1, or +2 bonus for his 6 strat rating. The bonus depended on the start rating of the army commander (there were different percentages for each outcome - so for example, a 4 rating had a 10% chance to give a +2, a 5 rating had a 25% for a +2, and a 6 had a 40% chance for the same). Those aren't the exact values (I don't remember them anymore). I believe it is the same logic for CW 2.

[Q-Ball]

Yeah, I definitely try to structure mine almost exactly like that, but you know how it is, most of the stacks I have are just thrown together bits and pieces of whatever could make it to the battlefield in time, organized as best I can on the fly.



No, it doesn't get any better. You end up needing to use TJ and Longstreet a lot and TJ's going to script to 2* and loses stats and abilities at 3*, so promotions are wasted on him anyway. (Can't remember if Longstreet scripts or not, he's already promoted by then anyway, he's my main man). Initial Western commanders are poor, so I send the best of my pool generals out there when they show up and I can sometimes get two or three good corps commanders that way. A lot of the best guys lose stats at 3* (although I think Longstreet stays good, only done it once), so the command advantage by mid game is definitely with the Union. Pretty historical outcome in my book.

I end up having to fight most of the map with 1 Corps armies and independent divisions, there just aren't enough 2*s to go around unless I am winning a lot of battles in 62. Getting more Corps in the East is a priority of course, but I still never have enough.

Lack of 2* leaders is a big problem for the CSA. Jackson and Longstreet do promote by event, as does GW Smith, Holmes, Ed Johnson. But without battles, you only have 7 2* leaders in early 1862 (Jackson, Longstreet, GW Smith, Holmes, Forney, Ed Johnson, Polk). Aside from Jackson/Longstreet, only Ed Johnson isn't a 3-1-1. So it's thin.

I have advocated for a leader modification that would auto-promote Hardee, Bragg, and Van Dorn. I would probably remove Forney and Ed Johnson from 2* status; historically, they just were not Corps commanders, not sure why they are in-game, but the Union also has a number of head-scratchers.

On the Union side, you get ample 3-1-1 2* types. In fact, in a leader mod, some of these guys can probably be culled, especially the ones that never actually commanded anything resembling a Corps or independent force in the field. I am thinking of Whipple, Berry, Dix.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Jim-NC,
Thanks for the explanation, that is exactly what I wanted to know.

The exact numbers passed and their percentages are not particularly important, but knowing that they do not automatically pass, and that it is not the full stat is useful.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Some confirmations based on research:

Four 3-1-1s DO give 8 CPs, the max for any stack not an Army or Corps.

ADC must have 4 strat, must be in the Army, automatically passes 1 CP to Corps commanders, does not have to be second in rank/seniority, and I have seen nothing saying he cannot be in charge of a division.

Army leader's command range is equal to the strategic rating and combat bonuses are not range dependent. Adjacent (or close enough) Corps of the same Army support each other normally, even if the Army stack is several hexes away.

[GraniteStater]

... but the Union also has a number of head-scratchers.

On the Union side, you get ample 3-1-1 2* types. In fact, in a leader mod, some of these guys can probably be culled, especially the ones that never actually commanded anything resembling a Corps or independent force in the field. I am thinking of Whipple, Berry, Dix.

If ya got a fort named for you, that's good enough.

[aariediger]

No, it doesn't get any better. You end up needing to use TJ and Longstreet a lot and TJ's going to script to 2* and loses stats and abilities at 3*, so promotions are wasted on him anyway.

Not sure if things have changed, but in AACW both Jackson and Longstreet auto promote to 2*, and keep their ratings. But, at three stars, Longstreet falls to 3-2-6 with no abilities, while Jackson stays the same 5-4-4 with the same abilities, but gains Quickly Angered, one of the most punishing traits in the game. He is still a decent army commander, probably your best non-Lee commander from '63 onward. Only other guys who can compete are maybe Forrest, Stuart, or Pat Cleburne. But good luck getting them to three stars and with seniority.