Some things I have not figured out

[donagel]

Been playing for a couple weeks and enjoying things, however there are few things I have not quite figured out. Any help would be appreciated:

• Some towns have little blue and/or green dots under them. What do they represent?
• Same with the little box with a number sticking out to the left of the city ?
• As the union, should I have a use for all the leaders I get by mid-1862? Am am I not building enought forces? Are my forces too consolidated?
• ON the replcament screen, is the number above the NATO symbol actually the number of needed replacements? If true, is the fact that it is over 200 a sign that I am not buying enough replacements?
• If I put a artillery IN a city along of river, will it fire at passing ships? Or does it need to be outside and entrenched at a certain level? Likewise, if there is no city, can I build/place something that will hinder or fire upon passing ships?

Thanks!

[Smitzer52]

Ok let´s put what I learned so far to the test :-)

ad1) green and blue dots means land and naval forces and how many there is in a town, i think it´s measured by forces relative strength.

ad2) represents either naval or land stack present inside the city (garrisoned) + there is a number for a fort and size of a city.

ad3) actually I been overwhelmed by this too, but hey to get a working command limit you need to use a lot leaders, so either attach those generals a brigade or use them in a division, for union I usually use 2 brigadiers for effective CP per division. Funny fact as CSA you won´t have that problem. About the forces...I keep it very consolidated as long as CP limit allows. After all generals can die.

ad4) Didn´t get that as well, but one replacemnt "chip"(lower number) will "heal" more then just one hit (upper number). Not sure how much but when I invest 10 chips to heal 200 hits than it´s enough, progress of replacing men is gradual not instant though. Rough estimate for me is 10%-20% of replacements available in a pool + buying more after a bloody battle. For CSA it´s tough to uphold this, as UNION you don´t care.

ad5) now here I am not 100%, but I know forts always fire up on passing traffic but they have coastal guns. If you have a stack with arty, then for me works leaving it outside the city,entrench and activate land-bombardment button in the action menu. Leaving it inside a city wont help here. (it´s the same as leaving a stack inside a city even on offensive posture)
Unless and I am unsure here it´s inside a fort or a redoubt(basically fort), so if you build a fort put a stack inside it should bombard passing traffic on-auto if not activate it through actions menu. This way I lost half a fleet when I closed on Richmond or vice versa Ft. Monroe.

Hope it helps.

[Captain_Orso]

Been playing for a couple weeks and enjoying things, however there are few things I have not quite figured out. Any help would be appreciated:

Okay, I'll give it a shot.

Some towns have little blue and/or green dots under them. What do they represent?

The size of the force you have inside those locations. Green dots are land forces, blue dots naval. I'm not sure about how the number of dots relates exactly to the size.

Same with the little box with a number sticking out to the left of the city?

The number of stacks you have in a location. The green (I think it's green, but I'm colorblind :blink box is land stacks, the white box is naval stacks.

They are kind of redundant with the bar(s) under the location name, but you can click on a box to open the stacks inside the location in the Stack Panel.

As the union, should I have a use for all the leaders I get by mid-1862? Am am I not building enought forces? Are my forces too consolidated?

The more important question is, are you using all of your best leaders. Remember, you can use 2 *gen's to lead an independent division providing the all CP's (Command Points) needed. You can also use leaders in important locations to provide a few CP's even if the defending unit are locked and cannot be put into a division. Even if the CP malus is at 35%+ a leader will still provide a small advantage in combat vis-a-vis having not leader at all.

You don't have to use all you leaders, but you can. Just remember where you have put them when you need them to build new divisions or bolster CP for independent stacks.

ON the replcament screen, is the number above the NATO symbol actually the number of needed replacements? If true, is the fact that it is over 200 a sign that I am not buying enough replacements?

No, it's the number of hits missing from all of your on-board elements of that type. For example if you have 200 in the line infantry box it means that 200 hits are missing from all of the line infantry elements you have in the game (units being built not included).

If you click on a unit in the Stack Panel the Unit Detail Panel will appear on the far right. Each of the NATO symbols displayed there is an element of that unit (an infantry regiment, cavalry regiment, battery, etc.).

If you click on a line infantry element NATO symbol in the Unit Detail Panel the element detail window will open for that element. There in the lower left box you can see the status of that element. For a line infantry element you will see that it has an TO&E (Table Of Organization & Equipment) of 20 hits and the actual number of hits it currently has: "Hits 19/20", which means that it has 19 of 20 possible hits, and 1 hit is missing.

Each replacement you purchase can replace an entire element of that type, but there is an element of chance to this. For each hit replaced there is chance that that replacement chit will be expended. For example, for a line infantry replacement chit, each time it is used there is a 1//20th chance of the chit being expended. So on the average you will be able to use each chit 20 times.

If you lose an entire element, 1 chit will be used to replace that element. Depending on your attrition settings, the parent unit must be in a region with a fort, a depot or a city of size 7 or larger I believe.

The number of replacements which can be allocated forces in one region during a turn is dependent on the location. Depots are the best, but check the rule book under "Losses & Replacements" for the list of modifiers for they are cumulative.

If I put a artillery IN a city along of river, will it fire at passing ships? Or does it need to be outside and entrenched at a certain level? Likewise, if there is no city, can I build/place something that will hinder or fire upon passing ships?

First, for artillery to bombard passing ships, the artillery must:

• Be
  • inside a fortification with an harbor at any entrenchment level, or inside a city with an harbor at entrenchment level 3+,
  • in the field at entrenchment level 3+.
• Not in PP (Passive Posture).
• Not lead by a leader which is not activated.
• Not without ammo. Having a supply unit with ammo in the artillery stack will improve bombardment by 10%.

Being able to bombard will automatically block enemy supplies from moving through neighboring water regions. It will not prevent supplies from moving over them-from one side of a river to the other.

Bombardment depends on the DAR--Double Adjacency Rule. If the above are met bombardment will take place if enemy navel units move from one water location directly into an adjacent water region if both of those region are adjacent to the bombarding artillery.

Hold the mouse pointer over your region and press the <shift> key to see the 'adjacency rays'. If two adjacent water regions both have rays going to them, if enemy naval units move from one to the next, they can be bombarded per above.

Thanks!

Bitte!

[donagel]

Thanks for all the answers, as your reward, a few more questions..

• For training master and HQ benefits, if I have a Corp with a milita "inside" a division and a training master leader at the Corp level, will it train them up? Or do they need to "loose" in the stack?
• In the early game, before divisions, is there a benefit to having a single unit "merged" to a leader without any traits?? Or is just the same to have several of them in the stack with the general?
• Early game, my army of the shenadoah(pow 800) has watched a Union army (pow 600)besiege Harpes Ferry. I don't have perfect intel but i don't see any other large union forces nearby. I finally order the army to attack the Union Army. During turn resolution, I see that as my army approaches, the Union numbers start going up in increments. By the time of the battle, They have gone from 600 to 1200 power, and I get stomped. Is this a case of poor intelligence, Ai cheating, or pure bad luck? We were the next area over and I had calvary so I had thought I would have a fairly good idea of what I was up against.
• Last, Playing my first game as the South and am already sick of not having massive resources . What are the most efficient ways to boost War Supply? It seems as if naval raiding works well, but then again I haven't lost a raider yet. Blockade running is consistent but provides low amounts. I haven't built any industry yet, largely because I lost a ton of artillery at Harpers Ferry and the replacement cost are killing me.

[Gray Fox]

An HQ will add experience to all elements in its stack if they don't move. A training master IIRC must be in command to do this. So they don't have to be loose, just under the command of the training master.

A leader merged to a brigade gives that brigade a combat bonus equal to his Offensive/Defensive stat. If you were to have a brigade commander(s) and a stack commander, then both would add this bonus. You'll see the power number change as you do this.

The Union stack may have previously moved to HF and thus been low on cohesion. As your stack moved the Union stack regained cohesion/power each day. Sorry, time waits for no General.

Naval raiders don't capture resources for you, they just sink Union merchants. Blockade runners bring in cash/WS.

However, as a sort of exploit, if you build the ocean transports in the CSA pools and add them to the shipping lanes box, then they will bring in cash/WS just like the Union merchants do. The Union ships don't do anything about this and the blockade doesn't seem to make a difference.

You're not going to out-produce the Union. From the first turn on, challenge yourself to build those units you will need to assault the Union capital and do so at the earliest possible turn. I've done it in October '61 causing a crushing NM loss to the Yankees. Good luck!

[donagel]

Thanks for the reply. Interms of regaining choesion, is there a way to see what the max power of th stack could be, or is it a matter of getting a feel for the game and knowing based on unit type what you might be up against.

[Gray Fox]

It's more of an experience thing. A Division can vary widely in power from a few hundred for a militia Division to 700+.

[Captain_Orso]

8<
However, as a sort of exploit, if you build the ocean transports in the CSA pools and add them to the shipping lanes box, then they will bring in cash/WS just like the Union merchants do. The Union ships don't do anything about this and the blockade doesn't seem to make a difference.
8<

The Union can however also send 'raiders' after Southern shipping, the same as the Confederacy does, with the goal of sinking them more than just causing the occasional loss of income. Also, raiders reduce the amount of income per turn in general simply by their presence.

[Gray Fox]

I've never got a "Union raiders caused X amount of loss..." statement, even when I manually set Union ships in the shipping box to offensive mode. The CSA transports can bring in almost 100 in cash/WS per turn. Is this intentional or an exploit?

[Rod Smart]

Thanks for all the answers, as your reward, a few more questions..

• For training master and HQ benefits, if I have a Corp with a milita "inside" a division and a training master leader at the Corp level, will it train them up? Or do they need to "loose" in the stack?
• In the early game, before divisions, is there a benefit to having a single unit "merged" to a leader without any traits?? Or is just the same to have several of them in the stack with the general?
• Early game, my army of the shenadoah(pow 800) has watched a Union army (pow 600)besiege Harpes Ferry. I don't have perfect intel but i don't see any other large union forces nearby. I finally order the army to attack the Union Army. During turn resolution, I see that as my army approaches, the Union numbers start going up in increments. By the time of the battle, They have gone from 600 to 1200 power, and I get stomped. Is this a case of poor intelligence, Ai cheating, or pure bad luck? We were the next area over and I had calvary so I had thought I would have a fairly good idea of what I was up against.
• Last, Playing my first game as the South and am already sick of not having massive resources . What are the most efficient ways to boost War Supply? It seems as if naval raiding works well, but then again I haven't lost a raider yet. Blockade running is consistent but provides low amounts. I haven't built any industry yet, largely because I lost a ton of artillery at Harpers Ferry and the replacement cost are killing me.

- the one that trains from militia to conscripts to regular must be in command. Create a separate stack. The one that gives experience (including Army HQ) trains everyone in the stack.
- same as in the stack with the general
- as others said, it may have been rest. It also could have been additional units arriving there before you did.
- build industry and blockade runners. And create your build plans accordingly: when I know I'm going to have money but not war supplies, that's the time I build flatboats and create my supply network.

[Captain_Orso]

I've never got a "Union raiders caused X amount of loss..." statement, even when I manually set Union ships in the shipping box to offensive mode. The CSA transports can bring in almost 100 in cash/WS per turn. Is this intentional or an exploit?

No, those are events the fire. What I'm talking about is a simple question of the raiders being in the shipping box.

I had one game where there were around 10 raiders in the Atlantic Shipping box and I was getting about 80-$85 each month from shipping. I sent Farragut with a fleet out to have after them and after a couple of battles--nobody lost any ships or really had that many hits, but cohesion went down heavily--the raiders were sent off to port to recover and suddenly my income from shipping went up again to about $120.

[Captain_Orso]

8<

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• In the early game, before divisions, is there a benefit to having a single unit "merged" to a leader without any traits?? Or is just the same to have several of them in the stack with the general?
  8<

One experience I have had was with brigades combined with a leader was with the various pioneer brigades the Union gets starting around mid-62. I used to just drop them into army and corps stacks, mostly in Grant's army.

I noticed in really hard fighting that they took an unproportional number of losses. In fact, a few times they were completely destroyed. For neat unit which can't be replaced it was kind of disappointing.

At some point I came up with the idea of taking a random 3-1-1 general and combining them. Since then I haven't lost a single one of them. The unit power display does go up about 5% when you combine them, but the stack's power never goes up at the same time, what ever that means. The important thing is that they were less likely to be destroyed.