Commanders Needing to be Active to Make Divisions

[jscott991]

I think I'm going to give up on playing CW2 and switch to Grigsby's old game, but I wanted to ask one question after my experiences.

Commanders need to be active to form divisions, right? That means that to just start organizing your army, you need your leaders to get lucky and be active. And then if you want to do anything with them, they have to be active again (because they get a huge penalty on the turn they are forming a division).

If I turn off the need for a general to be activated in the game options, will that remove this requirement as well, or will a leader still need to be active for me to form divisions with them?

What is the justification for this requirement? In those days, division commanders were appointed, relieved, switched at the drop of a hat (Lee completely overhauled the entire ANV structure in a matter of days after he drove McClellan to Harrison's Landing during the Seven Days battles). You can't really simulate that unless you get lucky and a commander is activated at the right time.

I like the requirement that a commander be activated to actually undertake offensives. It simulates the feel of the Civil War. But requiring them to be active to form units makes the game super tedious. And it makes it very difficult to have the generals I want (ie, the historical ones) commanding my divisions in 1861 and 1862.

[Teatime]

Have a look at Options > Game and the Activation Rule

There are options to set commanders always active but then you can also set various penalties if they fail their activation rule.

You can then organise your armies they though may not do what you want when you set commands. I find the game operates better that way

[jscott991]

Thanks!

[Teatime]

No worries

I personally play even my single player game on Veteran.

Like I said it doesn't stop commanders going into defensive mode and not making the attack when they get there but will allow you to organise.

A nice feature would be a delay in starting their move if they fail activation but I couldn't see an option for that

[jscott991]

I'm confused by what you're recommending now that I'm home from work and could try it.

If you turn on Veteran (the slider all the way to the right) it says that it shows all leaders as active, but that their actual activation roll won't happen until later. If they fail that roll, some orders will be cancelled.

If I form a division on Veteran and the general fails his roll, will the division fail to form?

What if I put the slider all the way to the left?

Will that mean all generals are active all the time or will it mean that active v. nonactive doesn't make a big difference?

I think I tried this and I still couldn't form divisions if the general wasn't active (it was just that he could move around and attack as though he was active).

[Teatime]

It means commanders are active all the time

You can organise Corps/Divisions/Brigades with those commanders

You can move

You can set commands like attack/assault but they may revert to defensive if they fail activation rule

[pgr]

Like said above, they always appear active, which allows for organizing without issues. The true activation status is shown when the turn processes.

Thus Mac looks active, and can build armys and corps...but will likely let you down when ordered to attack!