AGEOD Forums

I'm interested in PBEM, and have a few questions.

How good does one need to be to be a worthy PBEM opponent?

Do people throw in the towel when they fall behind, or are games usually played to the bloody end?

How slow is PBEM allowed to be? I live in the UK am married, and work 40+ hours. I could imagine playing one or two turns a day, which means a game should take over a month. Is this normal?

I like to think I play with some historical accuracy, but I do some gamey things. My favorite is to give a 2* general a corps, and then give him to fixed defenses - that way nearby corps will MTSG if he's attacked, very useful at Cairo and in the east. Is this against house rules? Looking through other house rules, I think I play by them anyway.

And let me provide a preamble to my last question. Reading through AARs, it seems that humans play much more similarly to Athena than I expected. My favorite strategies against Athena are conservative - so the game plays longer, so I don't lose too many fights before I have divisions and corps, and so I can follow history more. Athena seems to be more aggressive in the East, following ideas that some had that the war could be quick. Against Athena I rely on knowing her strategies and occasionally replaying early turns if I miss a lane that she can blitz down and find myself in an untenable/unwinnable position after spending a few game-months putting together an army. I know I'm not so aggressive, and I'm wondering how to protect myself to an attack like Gray Fox discussed recently.

With this in mind, how can one prepare for a human opponent? One thing I'm trying is that I'm playing a game on both sides so I can get a feel for the optimal early game movements?

May I suggest that you play someone you consider a friend. Lots of very polite people post here. Just don't worry about it and maybe try to pick up some lessons along the way.

The Civil War was a train wreck of poor leadership, so a history book won't help much. I read a book, "From the Jaws of Victory" about poor leaders throughout history that devoted a whole chapter to Burnside alone. A good leader has to see the truth in a situation. What must I absolutely accomplish right now? Then do everything you can to accomplish that and minimize anything else. If you burn the steaks, the rest of the meal won't matter.

Have at least one force with the best of your leaders, line infantry, a good dose of cavalry and artillery with pontoons and an HQ unit. Let this be your terrible, swift sword. Send single cavalry elements in passive mode out to spot what your opponent does. Know your foe. Let the brash exhaust themselves attacking you. Exploit the cautious with a lightning strike. A good plan violently executed right now beats a great plan in two weeks.

Above all else, just have fun!

tripax wrote:I'm interested in PBEM, and have a few questions.

How good does one need to be to be a worthy PBEM opponent?

Do people throw in the towel when they fall behind, or are games usually played to the bloody end?

How slow is PBEM allowed to be? I live in the UK am married, and work 40+ hours. I could imagine playing one or two turns a day, which means a game should take over a month. Is this normal?

I like to think I play with some historical accuracy, but I do some gamey things. My favorite is to give a 2* general a corps, and then give him to fixed defenses - that way nearby corps will MTSG if he's attacked, very useful at Cairo and in the east. Is this against house rules? Looking through other house rules, I think I play by them anyway.

And let me provide a preamble to my last question. Reading through AARs, it seems that humans play much more similarly to Athena than I expected. My favorite strategies against Athena are conservative - so the game plays longer, so I don't lose too many fights before I have divisions and corps, and so I can follow history more. Athena seems to be more aggressive in the East, following ideas that some had that the war could be quick. Against Athena I rely on knowing her strategies and occasionally replaying early turns if I miss a lane that she can blitz down and find myself in an untenable/unwinnable position after spending a few game-months putting together an army. I know I'm not so aggressive, and I'm wondering how to protect myself to an attack like Gray Fox discussed recently.

With this in mind, how can one prepare for a human opponent? One thing I'm trying is that I'm playing a game on both sides so I can get a feel for the optimal early game movements?

In answer to your questions:
You only have to think your ready. All of us are at different levels, and you can generally find someone to be at a similar level. Even if you don't you will learn a lot from your opponent.

Everyone is different, I personally try to go to the bitter end. I have faced others who "threw in the towel" in 1862. I have also had people who quit for RL issues (1 got deployed mid game for example).

You and your opponent must agree to the timeline of the game. For example, in the Banks/Soundoff AAR, they are averaging about 1 turn every couple of days, maybe even 1 turn per week. I have played people who want to do 5 turns a day. As part of the house rules, you should decide how often you will submit (be realistic), and who will host (you can even alternate hosting duties). AS to house rules, you and your opponent will need to decide them between yourselves. For example, do you limit cavalry raids, or let them go wherever they will?

To protect yourself from an attack such as Gray Fox's, I offer 2 suggestions: 1. Outlaw it in house rules, or 2. Learn how to defend against it. I am being serious about the outlawing. For example, if you and I were to play a game, you might ask for a "no charging enemy capital in 1861" rule. I would say yes or no. In this case, as I believe I am more familiar with the game than you (this may or may not be the case, but that is another story), I would agree to it. But I would only agree during the 1st or maybe even 2nd game we play. After that, I would say no, you will need to learn to defend your capital. For option 2, play against yourself to build a large force and charge into the other capital, then try to build a force to defend against that.

I am sure that some of us forumites would be willing to play a training game, and allow you to learn the ropes. Some others would not be so nice, but in either case, you will learn a lot.

As someone on the forum said recently, I'm 0-4 in PBEM, so maybe next time I will win.

That's the whole thing, I learned a lot from losses. Two were narrow. One was me as a sub in the tourney, playing the CSA and frankly, my predecessor had left a mare's nest. The tourney games also stopped in July 63.

But I had fun & that's all that counts. I'm a proud 0-4 and I mean it.

I think I'll win as the Union against havi, but he has shown improvement during the game, if I may be so bold to say. He has pulled some imaginative and resourceful moves and is very, very far from a Bad Position - we're just coming to the EP right now.

I've evolved a playstyle as the Union and it seems to work and I'm comfortable with it. I definitely need to play CSA more.

And be flexible - what I prefer to do & what is called for are two different things - right now, I have Grant getting his hands dirty near Nashville as an Army Cdr - he's needed and a 6-6-4 mixing it up sure doesn't hurt.