AGEOD Forums

Hi all. I'm wondering if there is an introduction to recruitment anywhere that goes beyond simply how to do it. I know how to recruit, but I'm less clear on exactly what to recruit.

While I am overwhelmed by the sheer variety of types of units I can recruit (e.g. Zouaves, marines, sailors... as the Union in early May 1861), what I want to know is more basic. What percentage of armies should be infantry/cavalry/artillery? For example, for each artillery or cavalry unit I recruit, how many infantry units should I recruit? I realize that the exact number will depend on specific military objectives at hand, but what is a good rule of thumb?

Also, for each infantry bge I recruit, how many volunteers should I recruit?

Stuff like this!

Thanks in advance for your patience with a brand new n00b...

Most of the recommendations I've seen say recruit in divisions. Now I think you can get a lot of discussion on what the best make up of a division is but whatever you settle on recruit a division at a time.

Welcome! I guess I can call you Al?

You get a lot of brigades to start with. I figure out how many Divisions I can form from these starters and then recruit a number of Sharpshooter units so that each future Division gets one. The Sharpshooter raises the initiative of all units in the same Division by 1. Then it is wise to recruit a Division at a time. The problem with that is some of the brigades take longer to train. After a while you'll know to train several of these long term brigades, then several of the quicker brigades so that all the Division's sub-units are ready the same turn. If you are the Union, a lot of transports can really boost your economy in the shipping lanes. I usually recruit mostly infantry Divisions with a couple cavalry regiments in the Division and an all artillery Division or two. A couple small cavalry units of 4 regiments are good to hunt down raiders. Good luck!

Each person has a different plan for how to recruit. I agree that I want a sharpshooter in each division. I would also say that I put 1 elite unit in a division, and 1 elite division per corps.

Try to get 17 elements together for a division (with a general). That way you get the best bang for the division.

AI Swearengen – you ask a lot of questions yet to be answered, but which have not actual answers. There are a lot of strategies and ideas about how to recruit to win, and so much depends upon your style of play and your plans. I am an overly aggressive player, so I recruit to attack.

The advice offered so far has been solid. You need to recruit to achieve balanced divisions with the pluses special units can provide. I suspect this does not address the full nature of your inquiry. The Union and the Confederacy have very similar recruiting goals: Maximize the army with some naval effort.

After playing many rounds of this game, I am still overwhelmed by all the units to recruit. I am, however, not a numbers cruncher nor a detail kind of player. I want to recruit in a sensible manner, but not with a clipboard or spreadsheet. So this is what I do.

I recruit the big units, basically, I start on the far right of the infantry selection menu. The infantry which cost the most I buy first with a balance between the West and the East. As the South, I recruit first in the areas which might be captured, but the elite infantry outweigh region. Any remaining money goes to some cavalry. If I have only a few conscripts, not enough for a cavalry unit, but money and war supply, I buy ships. Ironclads for both sides, brigs for the South and frigates for the north.

So I am not buying any artillery to start with as the big dollar infantry come with artillery and cavalry.

When I run out of the mega-units. I try to build to have a ratio of 8 infantry to 3 artillery and one cavalry and one specialist unit. I do try to buy one army support unit, one pontoon unit and one balloon for each army. Also, I selectively buy some supply units.

I typically only recruit volunteers for the areas which will not allow me to recruit normal units. For instance the Far West or an area of Missouri which my partisans captured. However, if you like to do a spreadsheet, volunteers shepherded by a training officer is a smart investment.

Welcome to the forums Al

I think the simples answer is, build divisions. They are the backbone of this game. If you look through the forums--also the AACW forum, because CW2 is the evolutionary child of AACW and nearly everything written there is still valid--you will find numerous threads on what a division should look like.

My quick take on divisions is:
You can start building division in October '61.
They contain up to 18 elements, including the division commander.
My personal mix is:
1 Commander
2 Cavalry
1 Rifled artillery (10lb-er)
3 Smooth-bore artillery (6lb and 12lb-er)
1 Sharpshooter
10 Line infantry[SUP]1)[/SUP]

Early in the war, before you can build divisions, if you build along these lines, once division can be built, you may have less of a task in building balanced division. Don't worry about it if in Oct. '61 your divisions are not immediately balanced out. Just work on balancing them as you go along.

You cannot form corps until March '62. Until them you have only your army stacks and probably some corps-like stacks with a either a *** or ** general in charge. Especially the army stacks should have at least a Field Hospital in it. A Signal company will add 1 CP to those stacks and an Engineer will decrease greatly the time needed to entrench. Pontooneers reduce the time to cross major rivers, so I find those the more important in the West than in the East, but it mostly depends on where exactly you are fighting.

Once corps formation is allowed I always try to have those 4 support units in each corps, but I think the Field Hospital is the most important to start with[SUP]2)[/SUP].

Beyond that, loose cavalry is very important in the Trans-Mississippi and Far West, but in those areas having stacks smaller than divisions with infantry will also be important. There's no rule of thumb on this other than that you should always try to have your stacks well lead, but will never manage to do way in the West.

Cavalry will also always be important for scouting and chasing pesky partisans, even in the East.

Where you can build which types of brigades you will learn pretty quickly. There aren't actually that many different types.

The rest is experience, which you'll pick up along the way. But never feel that you can't turn to the forum to ask questions.

[SUP]1)[/SUP] You get a number of Elite brigades during the game. Many contain only line infantry regiments with the Strong Morale ability, many also contain a sharpshooter and artillery. It is good to fit 1 of these in each division, because they add their Strong Morale ability to the entire division.

[SUP]2)[/SUP] I almost forgot, there are also HQ Support Units. These combine a Field Hospital element with a Signal Company element and have the Master Trainer ability added. The Mater Trainer ability gives each element in the stack 1 experience point per turn in which the stack does not move. Having them in your largest corps stacks is good.

The who is based on what makes a great division. See above for good answers, search the forum for great answers.

The where is also important. The Union gets three training officers, so in order to maximize them I utilize three 'muster zones' - St Louis for the west and down the Mississippi, Cincinnati for Kentucky and Tennessee, and either New York or DC for the East. You can also send someone out to New Mexico to train if you want to have fun in the far west.


Use the cheap volunteers to garrison. You'll realize the importance of having militia in Indiana after the south burns all your railroads and captures all the minor towns with a single weak cavalry brigade.

There are certain units in the ntw darthmod epic edition that I have no clue how to obtain. An Ex would be the Italian Chaussers. Is there a list on twc that would tell me how to obtain a specific unit?

Welcome to the AGEod Civil War II forum Charliener

You are however definitely in the wrong forum for this question. CW2 has nothing to do with Empire Total War. Maybe try in the Total War Center forums?

I never ever recruit in divisions. My troops are needed on the front, not in some town behind the front.
Training? Yes, try to avoid the bullets, shoot at the people who wear blue coats. If they have a funny hat, they are officers, get those first.
And try to storm the other side without getting killed, now off you go.
Run Forrest, run !

Seriously, depends on how many games you are playing at the same time. I only play 1 at a time, so I remember where brigade or troop x is going.
I send them, and in some cases I have a trainer along side some armies to train them, but most of the time I don't.

I'll often started building 3-4 divisions in 1 theater at the same time. If I am incorporating units I already have on hand--flavor units for example, but not only--or some unit types run out in the middle of purchasing, I can wind up taking units from 3-5 different states, and the unit-configuration of each division will be different.

Not seldom while these units are building I will receive some flavor units, which I then wish to incorporate into those division, so I have to reconfigure these divisions too and wind up with extra units which I then configure to another division for which I need a new set of units to complete.

You may be able to juggle all those units and division configurations in your head, but then your brain is far superior to mine; you are blessed and I bow to you good sir.

Captain_Orso wrote:
Not seldom while these units are building I will receive some flavor units, which I then wish to incorporate into those division, so I have to reconfigure these divisions too and wind up with extra units which I then configure to another division for which I need a new set of units to complete.

You may be able to juggle all those units and division configurations in your head, but then your brain is far superior to mine; you are blessed and I bow to you good sir.

I know I can't make the perfect divisions from one cycle of recruiting, so I keep an HQ unit in the recruitment stack. So while those over-purchased artillery and cavalry wait around for the money to purchase some infantry, they'll get trained up to bronze or silver experience.

I usually do the most building right after issuing bond, raising taxes or printing money. Then I have a sudden windfall in cash that is just sitting round uselessly unless I'm purchasing units.

Between these money collecting periods I often have a division or 2 by which I got started on building by starting with the units which take the longest to build, generally sharpshooters, 10lb-ers and brigades with embedded artillery. Knowing exactly which units I've already started to build and which I still need to start building at a glance saves a lot of time and effort which I'd rather use elsewhere.

What I hate is starting the game the next day and looking through all the units being built and trying to remember to where I wanted to send them. This can get even more confusing when I receive a flavor unit and want to fit it into a division which is already planned out with units already building.

Keeping track of all this in a spread sheet--once it has been brought up-to-date--makes everything much simpler. It's a rare occasion indeed if I have to send an incomplete division to the front because I've mis-planned building units.