Slick Wilhelm wrote:Hi guys,
So it's early April 1862, and Farragut has slipped past forts St. Philip and Jackson, and deposited John Fremont and his division sized invasion force into the coastal province just SE of the city of New Orleans. Farragut was congratulated on his accomplishment and promoted.
As things stand, I have Farragut in the river sector just below N.O. with USS Hartford and 6 other Steam Frigates, along with 8 or so transports. I'm able to see that in N.O. there is about a division's worth of Rebel brigades and garrison troops.
Slick Wilhelm wrote:Btw, I wasn't sure whether selecting "Long range unload" would create a default path to N.O. all the way from New York City, so I manually created a path to the Gulf, and then selected the long range unload the turn before it occurred. Was that the correct process?
Slick Wilhelm wrote:Now, onto my questions:
Slick Wilhelm wrote:1. Can I use Farragut's fleet to capture N.O., the way he did in the real war?
Slick Wilhelm wrote:If not, how do I select N.O. for naval bombardment?
Slick Wilhelm wrote:2. Fremont's invasion force has just landed and they are at ~50 cohesion. Can I afford to wait for that cohesion to improve before I try to capture N.O.?
Slick Wilhelm wrote:3. Does Fremont's invasion force gain any supply via the sea as long as it's on a coastal region? He does have multiple wagons of supply with him.
Slick Wilhelm wrote:4. Does any and all free space remaining on the transports constitute supply and get off loaded with the landing force? I know that the landing force took up only about 30% of the transport capacity of the fleet.
Slick Wilhelm wrote:I'm hesitant in trying to capture N.O. with Fremont's force right now until it's been reinforced, due to the size of the forces that I can see in N.O. right now. The defenders seem to be equal to my strength, if not a little more powerful. But if I can use Farragut's fleet to help bombard the defenders, then I'm going to give it a go.
Slick Wilhelm wrote:If Farragut's fleet can't make N.O. surrender like it did in the real war, then I'm afraid that I may have been afflicted with a case of wishful thinking.
Captain_Orso wrote:
Wait just a minute there, this is really your first question, you can't fool me oke:
Yes, Farragut's fleet can, if the situation is the same as historical]
Alright, I'm trying to get the acronyms down, so is the "Land Sailors RGD" the cards that are played via F12? Since N.O. definitely seems to be NOT abandoned, I'll set Farragut's fleet to bombard, then move it to the river region directly adjacent N.O., and hope that the defending troops are in the city itself, or in a fort.I hope Fremont has brought a supply unit with him, otherwise he wont draw as much supply from the adjacent fleet!
He did bring three transport wagon units with him, so from your statement I assume that means that the fleet acts as a depot and the wagons pull supply from the transport ships of the fleet. Right?Of course, if Fremont isn't strong enough to take NO, you might look for a close-by location which is not so well protected with for example an harbor, which would work well as a supply base, like a nearby fort *cough*cough*Pike*cough*St. Philips*COUGH*Jackson*COUGH*HACK*COUGH*
Slick Wilhelm wrote:Alright, I'm trying to get the acronyms down, so is the "Land Sailors RGD" the cards that are played via F12?
Slick Wilhelm wrote:Since N.O. definitely seems to be NOT abandoned, I'll set Farragut's fleet to bombard, then move it to the river region directly adjacent N.O., and hope that the defending troops are in the city itself, or in a fort.
Slick Wilhelm wrote:He did bring three transport wagon units with him, so from your statement I assume that means that the fleet acts as a depot and the wagons pull supply from the transport ships of the fleet. Right?
Slick Wilhelm wrote:Excellent idea! So as long as I have control of a port, the port draws supply towards it just as a city/depot would. Got it.
If the worst happens, and I decide to bravely run away from a fight at N.O....can I reembark my troops onto the transports even without controlling a port? Is it possible to do a Dunkirk-esque re-embarkation?
Rod Smart wrote:Better, more thorough answers are above.
What I would do- use that strong division to capture something in the area, which will supply the reinforcements that will eventually capture New Orleans later. I prefer the fort to the Northeast of NO, but where your troops are now you may want to head southwest to get that level 1 town with a port, or reload the transports and take the forts at the mouth of the river.
And send a better general with the reinforcements. Freemont sucks.
Gray Fox wrote:It is possible to gauge the level of entrenchment from the defending unit icon. I recall that in ACW, if cannon were present in the sandbagged icon, well, then cannon were present. Perhaps this is no longer the case. It is also possible to get unit ID's from the enemy stack if he has enough MC, cavalry or land detection cabability from the ships. Loose artillery batteries might be revealed. If this doesn't seem to be the case, then a blind attack is not on my list of advice.
Gray Fox wrote:The great thing about advice is that he doesn't have to take mine.
It is possible to gauge the level of entrenchment from the defending unit icon. I recall that in ACW, if cannon were present in the sandbagged icon, well, then cannon were present. Perhaps this is no longer the case. It is also possible to get unit ID's from the enemy stack if he has enough MC, cavalry or land detection cabability from the ships. Loose artillery batteries might be revealed. If this doesn't seem to be the case, then a blind attack is not on my list of advice.
I realise that the rules were nurfed to allow defeated armies to reteat from a disaster rather than be stuck. However, I still believe that an army without a retreat path gets whacked. Perhaps I have misunderstood this, Herr Hauptmann?
Slick Wilhelm wrote:Agreed, Rod. I was thinking about reembarking the troops and turning this from an invasion of NO to a relief expedition of that fort in the panhandle of Florida that has been under siege for so long. Fort Whipple? I can't recall the name right now off the top of my head, but that may be a viable option.
Actually, as Captain_Orso has pointed out, I seem to have a few decent options right now, with capturing NO not being one of them. That being said, I might gamble and attempt the capture of NO anyways. This is my first attempt at playing the full Civil War campaign, so it's mostly a learning game for me.
Rod Smart wrote:You can have a lot of fun with an 800 power division and a complement of transports.
Fort busting, raiding Texas, resupplying Fort Pickens and fooling around in Florida.
Have fun
Gray Fox wrote:Captain_Orso wrote:I personally find what we have now to be a great improvement over the former way things worked. Of course your mileage may very.
So is the following no longer the case?
http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/Retreat_and_Routing
"Each stack check separately for a retreat, but if some already retreated, then the others get a bonus. Routing is always a success. Finally, there is an auto-retreat threshold, if the losses reach a certain %, then retreat ensue at the beginning of the next round, automatically.
NOTE: As retreat (or routing) is only checked at the start of each round, then a force can still be annihilated or suffers extremely high losses far above the auto-retreat threshold, if the opposing side has a
devastating firepower compared to the resistance of the retreating stack." (my italics)
and
"A Force that is surrounded by enemy controlled regions (i.e. all adjacent regions are at least 95% enemy-controlled) will never attempt to withdraw from battle.
Forces conducting an Amphibious Assault may not withdraw."
From battlelogs I've read, after your force takes 20% casualties it routs, even if set to Hold At All Cost. A force that withdraws gets to stay in the region by the new rule. However, a routing force must retreat from the region to a controlled region, or perish.
Successful Withdrawal from Battle
A Force that passes a Withdrawal check is considered to immediately withdraw from the battle—thus ending the battle before the start of the upcoming combat round. A Force that withdraws from battle is moved to a friendly-controlled adjacent region on the game map. If the Force has a ‘Seek Shelter’ Special Order and there is an unbesieged structure in the region where the battle took place, the Force is moved into the structure. Depending upon the level of enemy control, a withdrawing Force may be forced into another battle in the region it withdrew to.
ArmChairGeneral wrote:Slick Wilhelm,
If you can tell just by looking that a direct assault will fail, unfortunately bombarding will be enough to tip the battle in your favor, even if they do not have guns. As I understand it, (and I may be wrong, I don't usually bombard much) if there are not sufficiently emplaced guns (of any kind, not just coastal artillery) to return fire, your ships only bombard combat troops in support of an actual battle by your ground forces. In other words, you cannot "soften them up" with naval bombardment for a few turns. If there are guns there, but no actual battle, you bombard each other in the same way you would if you were trying to run past them, but don't interact with land forces otherwise. Even if I am wrong about the exact mechanics, I can say with confidence that the Bombard special order is not going to be decisive enough to carry the city if you are evenly matched, and may cost a lot of expensive hits to your fleet.
If your stack is primarily made up of the Ft Pickens contingent, it will usually not be sufficient on its own to take New Orleans unless your opponent fails to build a reasonable defense force. New Orleans only gets a 4 element brigade of scripted militia, which is not quite enough to prevent a New Orleans rush on its own, and has to be beefed up through actual spending. There is a limit to how much the CSA can spare for New Orleans, and human players may or may not commit enough to hold you off, especially if you shipped extra troops into the theater at the earliest opportunity. The AI will usually put together a force that can hold off the Ft Pickens crowd but not necessarily a stronger force.
You might have some luck by threatening strategic targets nearby to force them out of their entrenchments and into the field where they can be met on better terms. Taking Baton Rouge, for example, will likley provoke an AI reaction, which is when it often makes tactical mistakes.
Securing a supply base and establishing MC along a future attack axis into the city would be a good use of the Ft. Pickens forces as they wait for more troops to arrive from the East Coast. As Orso suggested, Ft. Pike is ideal. In general for an amphibious invasion you want to target a rail connected harbor with a depot (built yourself if necessary) to allow that sweet, sweet Ocean supply to flow. Ft. Pike works great because it is adjacent (via water crossing) to New Orleans, so troops and supplies can get there in one turn even without rail. Forts allow a pretty large amount of supply to flow on their own, coastal forts already have harbors, and a depot made with one of your transports will seal the deal. Berwick is another good staging point, the direct rail connection to New Orleans will move all the supply you need. Rail control along the final attack path is critical so that you do not have to march large formations through multiple regions of swampy terrain just to approach the city (again, Ft. Pike is adjacent, so you don't have to worry about all that). Make sure you bring a leader with a good strategic rating, as moving in this area is difficult enough without inactivity or becoming fixed in place.
If you wanted to change tacks, and do something else with your Gulf Army, then Mobile is usually lightly defended and a strategic city, while Pensacola is a fantastic gateway to the soft underbelly of the Confederacy with a direct path to Atlanta. Fort busting is almost always worthwhile. The Union AI likes to go after Texas if New Orleans is well defended, but except for Matagorda (Cotton Bale money) I never bother to oppose them because I don't think east Texas is worth either attacking or defending.
A couple of side points: When you travel by transport you lose cohesion, so on top of the direct combat penalties from amphibious attacks your men will not be in proper fighting condition if they arrive by ship. Better to land somewhere nearby to recover and then march to the attack, unless they are facing only token resistance. Also, too much activity in the area before you can bring a decisive formation to bear on a strategic or objective city will prompt the AI to build larger defenses, so you may not want to tip your hand too early.
Gray Fox wrote:Yes, I'm sure that I'll catch some flak for this innovation (pun intended).
Gray Fox wrote:Thanks Captain!
Gray Fox wrote:8<
[ATTACH]35416[/ATTACH]
Here two additional brig units carrying a balloon reveal even more info. The one-star's name is now known and that he commands the 3rd Division and the European militia brigade. The strength stat of these units is also revealed, and that the units are at full hits, supply and cohesion.
8<
Cromagnonman wrote:I invested a significant amount of time and manpower to surrounding the rebs' Clarksville Force with Federal 100% MC with a brigade or 2 in each county. When I finally sent in the regulars, the Clarksville Force retreated after a brief fight, crossing a river and driving off the brigade posted to the west. Eventually I just let them starve. But it seemed like the retreat rule wasn't working (1.06).
Cromagnonman wrote:Regarding New Orleans, it doesn't work historically, and you pretty much have to take Fort Pike first, then march overland. It can have the dreadful effect of allowing the CSA to rail reinforcements to New Orleans before you can march there. For best effect, you probably want to take a hospital and enough generals that someone will be active.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests