Teaser AAR

[ERISS]

I'm concerned about the microscopic font size too. PON can be painful to play at modern screen resolutions because of the tiny font. Can this at least be moddable?

It somewhat can. I had written some solution in Ageod PoN forum. I even there did a bigger window mod for the tutorial.
Found: http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?21412-Big-DPI-fonts

[arsan]

It's hard to tell from screenshots, but it's good to hear you guys are addressing the issue. My eyes thank you.

By the way, the AAR screenshots look reduced in the forum (at least in my computer) but can be opened in real size (much bigger) in another browser tab. (in Chrome, just left clicking over the image and choosing from the menu)
Great to see all the details about the new map, units and interface.

[Baris]

I think letters are much more readable(for my 1920*1080 res at least) and graphics looks fantastics. I also like detailed combat report; new interface.
No doubt, it will be fascinating game to play.

[Ebbingford]

Turn 8.
Grant arrives in Nashville and drives the rebel forces out of the region. The Cumberland fleet under Foote joins in the bombardment but loses some of the old unarmoured gunboats in the artillery duel. (Memo to self- Don't send non ironclads on support bombardment missions...)

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Grant then swaps his two weakest divisions with the two fresh ones in Nashville under Thomas. He will then set off to pursue the rebel army and engage it if possible.
Sherman is set the task of assaulting and taking Memphis. This is the last turn so he has to take it.

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[Ebbingford]

Last turn.
Sherman's force easily overwhelms the small garrison in Memphis while the remaining rebel forces manage to evade Grant's lunge.
I have done enough though. I have taken both of my objectives and while I haven't destroyed the rebel forces in the theatre, their power has been vastly reduced. I have inflicted losses on them which I don't think they will be able to recover from easily.

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[veji1]

Ebbingford, I would be most grateful if you could comment as to why did Beauregard retreat inside Corinth ? This is an absurd decision by historical ACW standards and it broke the balance of the scenario.

Also why do you think didn't the CSA army attack Nashville ?

[Ebbingford]

I don't know why the retreat into Corinth happened, I do know that there are two locked CSA divisions in the region though. Sometimes the engine retreats a force into a structure if it is vastly overpowered, it retreats from the attacking force. Sometimes this is into another region, sometimes it stays in the same region. It is an engine issue I think, I think Pocus needs to answer you.

They didn't attack Nashville I'm guessing because the power of the two stacks was about the same and mine was very well entrenched. I don't know if the engine does a rough calculation and thinks "I haven't got twice the number that I am attacking, so I won't attack...". I wouldn't have attacked if I was in the same situation. I wanted them to attack mind you

[veji1]

hmm.. I see 2 AI problems here :
- Corinth situation : if the divisions ar locked and he can't retreat before combat, there should have been a battle where Beauregard tries to break off as soon as possible and retreat. certainly not locking himself in an unfortified town, some mechanics might have to be checked.
- Nashville situation : The AI sometimes in AACW as well would get stuck in front of an objective, ie not attacking it because the odds are bad, but not willing to commit to anything else as this is the objective it has. You end up with an AI stack stuck in no man's land, on bad terrain, waiting for you to seize the initiative. The AI should assess that if an attack is not possible/desirable because of the odds, than he might need to to something else.

Honestly the way this scenario played out was not very reassuring in terms of AI capabilities, even though one issue might be more related to pure mechanics than AI.

[Generalisimo]

It's hard to tell from screenshots, but it's good to hear you guys are addressing the issue. My eyes thank you.

The screenshots are too big and so are re-sized to fit in the forum.

[fred zeppelin]

- Corinth situation : if the divisions ar locked and he can't retreat before combat, there should have been a battle where Beauregard tries to break off as soon as possible and retreat. certainly not locking himself in an unfortified town, some mechanics might have to be checked.

I had the same reaction. The new graphics are nice, but it will be a major disappointment if the AI can't keep itself from being annihilated.

[gekkoguy82]

For my small part, I really like the background behind the units that make up a division (when the cursor hovers over the unit in the units list at the bottom), whereas before they just appeared over the map. I think it makes it much easier to see what makes up your unit

[veji1]

I had the same reaction. The new graphics are nice, but it will be a major disappointment if the AI can't keep itself from being annihilated.

Exactly. I was almost exclusively an AI player in AACW and will probably be the same in the new one. I know of course that an AI is not super clever but my hope is that you can still get a decent enough game where it doesn't do egregious mistakes, just is not very intelligent.

And here the AI made an egregious mistake. It might be pure mechanics rather than AI, mind you, as in their was a check, and since the Union had lot more troops, the CSA decided to escape before battle, but having locked divisions the stack couldn't escape away and so retreated in the structure. But in that case the mechanics are wrong, the stack should have either been unlocked by the mere presence of the Union stack and run away, or it should have faced the Union in battle, but intent on breaking off as soon as possible.

I just this because it is the kind of thing that makes the difference between an enjoyable enough AI game and a game where even the appearance of balance is broken after just a few turns.

[Searry]

Are these really the final map graphics? Hire back the guy who made the maps for RoP!

[Floyd]

The new tooltips are indeed more easily readable with bigger fonts, and text in various colors

Yes, but dark blue colored text on a black background is too hard to read (for me).
Or, in posting #26, the tab for "W. Sherman Force" - grey on grey?!

And all windows/tooltips should have one consistend background - may it be
silver-grey or whatever.

[Canon]

How do Corps work?

I can't tell from the screenshots if Corps are directly attached and formed to an army (the original AACW) or are merely declared Corps if a 2-star general leads them (PON).

I am really hoping for a situation similar to the original...

[Ebbingford]

Same as in the original AACW.

[Gen.DixonS.Miles]

A most well done-and quick-AAR.

[Ebbingford]

Thank you

[veji1]

Exactly. I was almost exclusively an AI player in AACW and will probably be the same in the new one. I know of course that an AI is not super clever but my hope is that you can still get a decent enough game where it doesn't do egregious mistakes, just is not very intelligent.

And here the AI made an egregious mistake. It might be pure mechanics rather than AI, mind you, as in their was a check, and since the Union had lot more troops, the CSA decided to escape before battle, but having locked divisions the stack couldn't escape away and so retreated in the structure. But in that case the mechanics are wrong, the stack should have either been unlocked by the mere presence of the Union stack and run away, or it should have faced the Union in battle, but intent on breaking off as soon as possible.

I just this because it is the kind of thing that makes the difference between an enjoyable enough AI game and a game where even the appearance of balance is broken after just a few turns.

Pocus, not that I want to harass you or anything, but do you have any comments regarding the Corinth situation in this AAR ? AI mistake ? Mechanics ? I am saying this because this is really a very very very important issue to me as in an AI game, a silly mistake like this that deprives the AI of 20 000 men stupidly is a backbreaker for the AI. Looking forward to your views. Best.

[Pocus]

I'm not horrified by the AI decision at Corinth. Beauregard was facing a 1 vs 2 ratio against Grant, so a good way of limiting superiority in number is being in a structure. Also, only 4 turns left, and the AI takes as a supposition that if you can make lose precious time to a force superior to you, then you are doing good.
The decision might also have been influenced by the presence of another CSA force that could have been used as a relief force. It might have been interesting to check the AI logs to see if a 'call for relief force' was issued by Beauregard, but discarded by Johnston as he preferred to go to Nashville.

What should Beauregard (which is more a defensive leader than an offensive one) have done in your opinion, with 4 turns left, an inferiority in number and Grant being able to probably intercept him the turn after, in the open or light woods? I'm not so sure the AI gamble is a terrible mistake as you seem to imply. It was a gamble...

[Philippe]

In looking over the screenshots I'm surprised and a little concerned about what's being used for the Confederate flag.

Unless something is going to change in the next version, AACW 2 seems to be set on using a flag that is sometimes referred to as the 'bloodstained banner'.

This is problematic.

The bloodstained banner is not an appropriate choice for the flag of the Confederacy for the entire war, and makes the game look too much like Victoria II (where they made the same unfortunate choice).

That flag was a new flag and only authorized for use for a few weeks at the end of the war, and there weren't many copies of it actually made. One of them probably flew in front of Jefferson Davis' office for a couple of days before Richmond was evacuated, but because this kind of change took more time to put into effect in the 19th than the 21rst century, it was practically not used.

By way of background, countries tend to have distinct national and war flags. There were a lot of different war flags for the Confederacy (as for the Union), but the most well-known is the red flag with white stars on blue diagonal stripes that is commonly associated with the Nascar races, the Dukes of Hazard, and the Ku Klux Klan. This flag is sometimes referred to as Robert E. Lee's battle flag, and is the one that is traditionally used to identify the Confederacy in most wargames. It is also more appropriate to have it as the flag that appears on generals' portraits.

There were three Confederate national flags. The first one was called the 'Stars and Bars', looked, more or less, like the modern flags for Cuba, Puerto Rico, or the state of Texas.

The Stars and Bars was considered unsatisfactory at the time for the very good reason that it looked too much like the Union flag. In the early war this posed a real problem on the battlefield because uniforms were not very (if at all) distinctive, most states tended to have solid blue flags with some kind of a device, and unless the wind was blowing a unit from a southern state wouldn't look very different from it's northern counterpart.

After about a year of war the Confederacy started using a second national flag that was harder to confuse with the Stars and Stripes (the Union flag). This flag was a square version of the red battle flag in the upper left-hand corner of a white field. This flag, known as the 'Stainless Banner', was the national flag that was in use through the end of the war, except for a few days at the end of it when it was replaced by the 'Bloodstained Banner', the flag that AACW 2 seems to be set on using for the entire war.

The reason that the Confederacy adopted the Bloodstained Banner at the end of the war, by the way, is because with the destruction of the Confederacy in sight, Confederate soldiers were deserting and surrendering in droves, and it was felt that the Stainless Banner looked too much like a white flag of surrender if the wind wasn't blowing (hence the red stripe).

A game that covers the entire war has essentially two choices for what to use as a Confederate flag.

The first is to use all three historical flags, writing something into the program to make them chance at the appropriate moments in the war. This seems very complicated and is probably too much work.

A simpler choice would be to use the Robert E. Lee battle flag as the national flag. It may not be historically correct in that role, but it is more resonant that the Bloodstained Banner, which should only be in use at the moment of defeat. And it's what most people in North America expect to see being used to symbolize the Confederacy.

[Leibst]

in fact AGEOD is also using the same flag as in AACW, in the main screen, and in the replacement pool. Anyway seems easy to be changed just replacing a couple of files in the flags folder.
Thanks to Philippe today i have learned about the confederates flags.

[Boomer]

Philippe is right. The bloodstained banner hardly saw any use, much less combat use. The most fitting flags to use for the South would either be the stars and bars or the battle flag, otherwise known as the southern cross (which was in part based on the flag of St. Andrew which the Scots used long, long ago).

Stars and Bars flag...

Southern Cross flag...

[Franciscus]

The battle flag (Southern cross) gets my unconditional approval...

Lovely, and immediately recognizable to everyone

[veji1]

I'm not horrified by the AI decision at Corinth. Beauregard was facing a 1 vs 2 ratio against Grant, so a good way of limiting superiority in number is being in a structure. Also, only 4 turns left, and the AI takes as a supposition that if you can make lose precious time to a force superior to you, then you are doing good.
The decision might also have been influenced by the presence of another CSA force that could have been used as a relief force. It might have been interesting to check the AI logs to see if a 'call for relief force' was issued by Beauregard, but discarded by Johnston as he preferred to go to Nashville.

What should Beauregard (which is more a defensive leader than an offensive one) have done in your opinion, with 4 turns left, an inferiority in number and Grant being able to probably intercept him the turn after, in the open or light woods? I'm not so sure the AI gamble is a terrible mistake as you seem to imply. It was a gamble...

I respectfully disagree, force preservation should be a priority in the face of very bad odds, and with the way interception was modeled in AACW, there should have been good odds for Beauregard to escape direction Tuscumbia and Decatur, the nex turn he would have been in the province south east of Corinth which is light woods I think and the next province is hills already, so not caught flat out in the open.

For me a force locking itself in a structure without possible escape, ie not a coastal fort for example, is a big big mistake. Beauregard as a defensive leader should have retreated, simply that. Than Grant must leave some forces facing him instead of just letting units rest one turn and then turn on memphis. I don't know, maybe I am the only one but it seems like such a dumb move...

[veji1]

To be even more precise, the way it should have gone for it to make sense is that the cavalry force (Forest, Avery, Wharton, etc...) should have screened Beauregard's retreat east, allowing him a fairly safe escape. The presence of Forrest (which should have these screening abilities, ie see the actual retreat after Shiloh and his escape from Fort Donelson) would have given good odds of success to such a manouver.

This or the stack is entrenched outside of Corinth, accepts battle and then retreats after the first hours, covered agains by the cavalry. that retreat may fail and turn into a root, but in ACW context, such an outcome is not the most likely. Anyway, I don't want to sound aggressive, I loved AACW and want nothing more than to love and buy this game, it is just that this type of behaviour worries me as I am bound to be mainly an AI player again.

[aryaman]

In reality what happened was that Beauregard indeed retreated unmolested. That was considered in the Union as a shameful performance, despite taking Corinth and Memphis Beauregard´s army got away from a much stronger army without any loss. OTOH it was also considered shameful by the CSA government, Davis replacing Beauregard by Bragg

[veji1]

In reality what happened was that Beauregard indeed retreated unmolested. That was considered in the Union as a shameful performance, despite taking Corinth and Memphis Beauregard´s army got away from a much stronger army without any loss. OTOH it was also considered shameful by the CSA government, Davis replacing Beauregard by Bragg

true, but that was after 2 armies had been scathed by a horribly bloody battle !

Anyway my point was and remains, that force conservation and survival has to be a big big priority for the AI, just as holing one up in a city is a big mistake most of the time, same would be a foolish offensive without retreat path, what the AI tended to do in Virginia in AACW, going for a very long right hook to try to get to Richmond, risking complete isolation in the process.

[Canon]

Did you utilize the new battle planner or did you use classic settings?

[Ebbingford]

Normal AGE settings were used.