Army of northern Virginia question

[1stvermont]

When the ANV has already 3 good corps generals, do you give the rest of the men to lee, or find a lower 3-1-1 corp general if that is your only option?

[Durk]

You know, this is an excellent question for many reasons. Most often I try to play historically, so I keep the corps leaders near Lee who where with him. I do send Longstreet to the West.

If I understand your question, I keep a few, three maybe, 3-1-1 leaders with Lee in case of a leader death. I keep an additional one in each corps.

My other thought of what you are asking is how many men should Lee have? If this is the question, he should have a force almost equal to each corps. This helps with coordination, especially March to the Sound of Guns. As long as no corps and Lee's army do not have command penalties, give them to Lee.

[Rod Smart]

I use Lee as a fighting stack, and fill out his stack with divisions.

If you don't have enough good 2 star generals, consider using a three star general.

Make sure that you put the 1 stars with promotion eligibility in a place to fight. Jeb Stuart, Kirby Smith, and obviously Jackson and Longstreet.

As Durk said- keep a 3-1-1 2 star around in case of a leader death. Or the need to split a division off with the ability to march to the sound of the guns, like a reconnaissance in force north to Gettysburg, or plugging a hole in the line at Leesburg or South Mountain.

[Cromagnonman]

Lee's Army stack is a good reserve/center force, able to crushingly reinforce the rest of his army, and should have enough strength to be decisive. Clearly this is not an historically accurate option, since army commanders generally did not directly command division-sized units. However, in the context of the game it is advantageous.
If you are also trying to win in other theaters, you may want to spread out your most capable generals for independent command. Lee will give substantial bonuses to the corps in his army, and can make slackers into decent fighters. Conversely, you can put high-ranking deadbeats in command of divisions within his stack, and thus make them better via experience without aubjecting their soldiers to totally ineffective leadership. This is also a good recourse for people with bad traits when in command (but good traits in a stack) - think a guy like French who is a slow-moving artillerist

[1stvermont]

Great advice guys. Question, how do I get a 3 star commander to become a corps commander without the loss of national morale and vp's?. Say Johnson to be a third corp general.

[Cromagnonman]

Most LtGens are happy to be corps commanders. The only reason you would lose NM/VP is if a) you strip them of army command or b) they outrank Lee (by seniority) when he receives army command (and they do not command an army). So those are lost due to promotion or army command issues, not corps command

[Durk]

Hopefully Cromagnonman's reply makes sense. No NM issue with corps command, ever.

[Captain_Orso]

Lee's Army stack is a good reserve/center force, able to crushingly reinforce the rest of his army, and should have enough strength to be decisive. Clearly this is not an historically accurate option, since army commanders generally did not directly command division-sized units. However, in the context of the game it is advantageous.
If you are also trying to win on other theaters, you may want to spread out your most-capable generals for independent command. Lee will give substantial bonuses to the corps in his army, and can make slackers into decent fighters. Conversely, you can put high-ranking deadbeats in command of divisions within his stack, and thus make them better via experience without aubjecting their soldiers to totally ineffective leadership. This is also a good recourse for people with bad traits when in command (but good traits in a stack) - think a guy like French who is a slow-moving artillerist

With Stack Abilities like Artillerist, it's enough to have the leader with the ability in the stack. He doesn't have to actually have any units directly under his command. So, with French, I always just put him in an Army Stack*. With Gibbon, since he's a good leader as it it, I always give him a Division and then a Corps.

* You have to watch out with French when putting him into a Corps stack, because he has political backers and gets promoted by event to having rather high seniority. You can suddenly have French leading an important Corps with his mediocre skills while your excellent corps commander hast to sit back and watch.

Great advice guys. Question, how do I get a 3 star commander to become a corps commander without the loss of national morale and vp's?. Say Johnson to be a third corp general.

There are no restrictions on who my be a Corps commander other than Maj.Gen. and higher, and unlocked. You can even make a Lt.Gen., with higher seniority than the Army Commander, a Corps commander, without penalty. See the historical case of Reynolds and Meade. Only forming army commands looks at the seniority and political ratings of all Lt.Gen.'s without an army command, and assess possible penalties.

Most LtGens are happy to be corps commanders. The only reason you would lose NM/VP is if you a) strip them of army command or b) they outrank Lee (by seniority) when he receives armycommand. So those are lost due to promotion or army command issues, not corps command

b) No, see above.

Hopefully Cromagnonman's reply makes sense. No NM issue with corps command, ever.

Correct.

[1stvermont]

How do you get a 3 star to have the option to create a corps?

[Cromagnonman]

To give a 3-star general corps command, he should be
a) in command of his stack
b) not personally commanding a division
c) not personally commanding an army
d) within the command radius of an existing army commander
E) after the creation of the corps system

[1stvermont]

To give a 3-star general corps command, he should be
a) in command of his stack
b) not personally commanding a division
c) not personally commanding an army
d) within the command radius of an existing army commander
E) after the creation of the corps system

Thanks, how do you make him not in command of a army? just drop him by himself?

[Cromagnonman]

Thanks, how do you make him not in command of a army? just drop him by himself?

If the bottom part of his unit card is silver, then yes, put him by himself. If he is already commanding an army, you have to remove army command. Select his card, go to the tent tab, and click the red-X-ed icon that says remove army command. This is when you will pay NM/VP

[ArmChairGeneral]

You have to think twice before you start creating armies; usually you cannot undo them without paying some cost. If you have not assigned them an army (Beauregard starts as an Army commander IIRC). You don't need many, and having more than one in northern VA tends to clutter things, since they will not MTSG to each other. If he is not already anarmy commander a three star can be put in command of a corp exactly like a two star.

I usually go ahead and create anArmy with JoJo for the CPs right off the bat and then rotate him to a command in the West once corps are allowed. Then I consolidate Northern VA under Lee and decide where i want PGTB to go (either west, or south to Richmond or to a reaction force along the coast). He can usually assume command of ASJ's Army in Tennessee for free since he outranks him.

[Gray Fox]

It might also be possible to put two Army commanders together in one stack. The senior General stays in command of his Army and the second 3-star is freed up. Make him a Corps commander and see if the next senior 3-star can command an Army without any penalty.

P.S. I tried this at home and although you can strip the junior 3-star of his Army and make him a Corps commander, you will get a penalty if you then try to make another junior General into an Army commander.