AGEOD Forums

Hello All,

I'm a newbie to AACWII, though I do have some experience with AGEOD in the form of BOA-WIA2. My interest in history and gaming attracted me to AACWII, but my ACW knowledge is admittedly spotty. So while I was able to work through the tutorials fairly easily (helped by CC's nice videos) and have a fair grasp of the building blocks of the game (from poring over posts here and elsewhere), I'm a bit of a deer in the headlights as I sit staring glassy eyed at the map on turn one of the Western scenario !

Perhaps I can at least organize my random thoughts into some cogent questions:

1. I see that there are units under Grant, Pope, and Buell in the general area. Should I bring them all together so that I can break things down and build up divisions and corps so as to give Grant the best Army, redistributing the leftovers back to Pope and Buell? I imagine I need to leave them in charge of armies due to the cost of demotion if I tried to incorporate them into one large army under grant as corps leaders, correct? Any specific recommendations regarding reorganization?

2. I see the Mississippi Fleet and Cairo squadron in Cairo, and the Ohio Squadron in Cincinnati. How do I employ these fleets? Are they best suited to transport land units for an attack (or staging area), or used as an attack force on their own (would I split off and reserve transports beforehand)? What is appropriate posture if transiting or ending in enemy territory?

3. How, exactly, does one "drop" transports/frigates/merchant ships into blockade/shipping boxes? Looking at my naval force list, the only units of those types I have are already in those boxes. I've seen reference to existing units being dropped into the boxes - is that just in Grand Campaigns? When I go into construction mode and filter for ships, I see nothing but river units. Perhaps also due to the limitations imposed by the scenario (or time)?

4. I'm clueless looking at the construction box as to what do I need, how much do I need, and when do I need it?! I have a faint idea of sketching out ideal divisions, comparing to what is existing, and raising units to fill in the holes. Beyond that I've no good ideas. Also, if I understand correctly, these assets can serve either as replacements for casualties, or as new troops, correct? For the former, is their availability limited geographically by where I drop them to be raised? I presume it is in the latter case, and once ready you have to plan to transport them where they are needed, yes? How do training leaders fit into this paradigm?

5. Those are my main initial questions. Of course I've also no firm plan on what to actually do with my armies, but that is something I think I can learn via AAR study and playing against Athena, although suggestions are surely welcome

Thanks!

Scott

Hopefully others will chime in, my thoughts:
1. You are correct, but no reason to not put as many troops as you can under Grant.
2. They attack forts and block enemy movement. Posture must match purpose, escape, blue, attack orange.
3. Take the unit and drop it. But in this scenario, you are right, no option.
4. Who knows?? I build most expensive infantry.
5. Yep, move the armies and see what happens.

1. You have the right idea. The initial organization is sub-optimal. Be sure to leave one or two elements open in each division, though, since many brigades are not at full strength and will receive extra elements drawn from the replacement pool (see below) on the first several turns. They will not receive them if their division does not have room for them. Whether you want to put everybody in with Grant or leave some troops with Buell and Pope is something to experiment with, but it certainly won't be worth demoting them unless you do not have enough Corps commanders for the divisions you put under Grant.

2. A Union player could answer this better.

3. If you can't build any ocean-going ships then you don't have any in this scenario. If you did, you would just drag-and-drop an order to go move to a sea-box, and the first full turn they are there they would provide their benefit. In a few months you will have a scripted amphibious force come on the map in the Gulf, which may or may not be large enough to take New Orleans. You could move those ships into sea boxes after your troops are landed (unless the intervening regions are darkened out), but they will probably be more useful supporting your invasion force.

4. You should spend everything you can at all times, your opponent certainly is. Replacements are different from new troops (reinforcements). You build new brigades using the gear icon, you build replacements in the War Production (F2) screen in the ledger by clicking on the NATO icons of the appropriate type. New troops will take several turns to build in the locations you choose, and then you must move them to where you want them. Replacements replace hits (hearts) that you have incurred in combat or through attrition. You buy replacements into a global pool that gets drawn down as elements "heal" in the field wherever they happen to be. See this page of the Wiki for more info. Buy plenty of replacements early, understrength units draw on replacements to fill themselves out and you will soon have battles with Corps sized stacks and will suffer a lot of hits.

Reinforcements (freshly built troops) take a while to get into play but are essential because you do not start with a huge numerical advantage over the CSA in this scenario. You will probably build most of them in Bowling Green or Cairo. I concentrate on the infantry with the shortest build times in order to get them into the field quickly enough to matter in the 24 turn timeframe. You may want extra artillery, but these take many turns, so start them early if you want them. Don't bother with naval builds in this scenario (IMO) unless you need transports, you will win or lose on the ground.

There are two types of Training leaders, Training Masters and Training Officers. Masters give extra XPs each turn to every element in their stack. As they gain XP it increases some sub-stats like firepower, detection, etc. Elements that have gained milestone levels of experience show a bronze, silver or gold star. Once they get a star, conscripts, militia and volunteers have a small chance chance each turn to upgrade to the next better element type, so over time conscripts can become regulars which happens sooner under a Training Master (because they get experience stars quicker). Taining Masters do not need to be in command; the HQ unit also has this ability. Place them in your largest stacks with plenty of conscripts.

Training Officers upgrade two elements per turn in a stack they command. Volunteers and conscripts become regulars, which is is a major jump in power, the equivalent of several experience stars, so in some ways Training Officer is the more powerful of the training abilities. Elements that upgrade lose some or all of their experience, though this is inconsequential. Training Officers are often placed in the rear to upgrade conscripts in newly built brigades or anywhere there are a lot of volunteers, militia or conscripts. A common tactic in the GCs is to purchase volunteers in a region with a Training Officer who then upgrades them to regulars saving you the difference in cost.

5. Your objectives are listed in the F9 and F10 screens. Controlling these cities gives you immediate NM and per turn VPs. Memphis is an obvious target, but most of the CSA's forces are nearby to defend it (Shiloh). If you can defeat them decisively you can take Memphis. You will need to take other objective cities to win on VPs, you start at a big per turn deficit. A series of big victories and captured objectives might get you to 150 NM, but it is most likely that you will play out all 24 turns shooting for a VP win. The Far West, while still not decisive, is more important in this scenario than the GCs because you will need all the VPs you can get and El Paso is reasonably vulnerable.

You must attack as the Union in this scenario, which is disadvantageous in combat resolution. You will rarely win offensive battles against evenly matched opponents, so concentrate your forces before going into battle. You have good leaders (for once) but you will definitely need a numbers advantage to win battles. Try to catch the enemy on the move or force them to attack you to negate their entrenchments. The CSA's position will largely collapse if you can take Memphis and control/destroy the depot at Corinth.

Thanks so much for the excellent advice!

I clearly misunderstood replacement - thought it drew from the same pool I created using the gear icon. I see now that they are 2 distinct processes.

I greatly appreciate the help - this will get me started experimenting.

Scott

Hi all.

Since this is about the Western Scenario, although I play it as the CSA, I might aswell post it here. I don't want to step on petdocvmd's toes, from a Confederate busting in on his thread, so I hope that's ok with you.

I'm new to AGEOD games in general, I was in doubt to buy CWII or EAW, but went for this one first. Played through the tutorials fairly easy aswell, also with the help of CC's videos, did some 2 star campaigns and then started up the Western Scenario as the CSA.

Right from the start I reshaped my armies, the eastern one build into 2 Corps, the western one I just made divisions and put them into the Army because I couldn't make a Corps there due to the lack of leadership. Not sure if that was the right thing to do, but didn't know what else to make of it. I tried to make my divisions with about 3 arty each, but noticed I had a bit more left in my eastern Army so 1 division contained 6 or 7 arty. Is that ok? Should I spread them out more or something else?

During my playthrough I noticed(the hard way) that I was lagging behind in replacements, I did build some new units(not enough I guess) but forgot about replacements. So when I figured that one out I was already starting to get pushed back.
I had a hard time keeping the Union out of the gap between the Mississippi river and Nashville, took Nashville with my eastern Army and my western Army was busy with a bigger Union stack most of the time around it's original starting point. I used some loose elements for running around taking territory or defending them from alot more loose elements of the Union, this was probably the thing I had most trouble keeping up with. One time I left Nashville with my Army to defend Memphis from a big stack, tiny Union unit moves into Nashville quick and recaps it before I can move some elements in.
In the south coast I stationed a (350ish power) unit in New Orleans that didn't had much to do for a long time untill it got severly beaten by an invading Union stack, after that I basicly lost control there and juggled back and forth with losing and retaking cities/territory.
The far West was basicly a disaster right from the start, totally no clue what to do there when I played this campaign and was getting pushed around. That's why I'm now playing a far West Campaign to get an idea what to do there.
For the Naval part I made 1 big river stack and used it up and down the Mississippi and around Nashville, lost a decent chunk when I moved past a big Union stack+fort, so learned that the hard way.

This campaign ended with 450ish VP for me and 750ish VP for Athena, although it was a draw according to the results screen, it felt like I got my ass handed to me. But the important thing is I still enjoyed it.

If my grammar is lacking here and there, excuse me, it's not my native language. But I try to make the best of it.