Conscripts Issue w/ 1.5 RC4

[richfed]

Playing as the CSA, 1861 Full Campaign. New Beta Patch RC4. This is my second try with the patch. Results were similar first time through.

There are not enough conscripts generated and/or tabulated to field my armies. Please see saves and image. The turn before that which is pictured I declared partial mobilization and free premium for volunteers. Mustered up equivalent of 1 division and a few other things and I am nearly out of men. This is after nearly a year and that was the first division I mustered other than the free units that appear on map. I did create garrisons, batteries, and the like, but nothing excessive. Behavior is not what has been in previous builds/versions. I have auto-replacements set at 10% - usually, I set it to 15%. Historical attrition.

In the first game - sorry, deleted files - I played till April, 1862. Used every raising of troops option that I could [including Draft RGDs]. Unable to build much at all ... AI must be experiencing the same, because I was not yet overrun.

Another note: the two forces in Manassas, VA have been going at it for 4-5 turns now ... Confederate defeats, but tremendous Union losses ... no one retreats. I thought that this had been fixed, but I think not after playing.

[richfed]

As I am playing the next turn, uh-oh - nothing is recruitable!?!

[richfed]

Severely broken. I thought maybe it was graphical, but when I try to place a unit on the map, I am informed that I don't have enough resources to build the unit. That's it for this build.

[Durk]

Hmm, some of this is individual play, not game engine. My suggestion, reboot your computer and replay. These issues do not enter my game play.

[richfed]

I don't think that it has much to do with what I am doing ... some weird stuff going on. Anyway, I did take your advice & rebooted, but it did no good. Is anybody having issues at all like these?

[HidekiTojo]

yeah I apparently picked a bad time to start playing CSA bc I thought this was normal at first but the paucity of conscripts seems much closer to what I think would be 1864-5

[HidekiTojo]

I can maybe build two divisions before 1863 at best.......

CSA armies may not have been big but they were by no means this small either at the start of the war!

[Captain_Orso]

I would have to look into it closer, but I suspect that some variable used in determining where units may be built has been incorrectly changed. There appear to be enough CC, Money and WSU to build, just no viable locations, and thus no way to build.

[Highlandcharge]

Ah bugger I have started a pbem, any chance of a hotfix once the problem has been found correctly?

Thanks

[HidekiTojo]

Yes that would be fantastic

[richfed]

I would have to look into it closer, but I suspect that some variable used in determining where units may be built has been incorrectly changed. There appear to be enough CC, Money and WSU to build, just no viable locations, and thus no way to build.

Captain, in that 2nd image I posted that may very well be the case, but before that happened - and, in a previous game I tried - I just plain couldn't keep enough conscripts in my pool for replacements and new units. It is way off ... either not drawing enough from cities and options, or adding up incorrectly, or perhaps using too many conscripts for units. I don't know. I am trying the 2-theater 1862 campaign now to see if that makes any difference.

[HidekiTojo]

I for one am very interested in seeing this get fixed then I can actually try CSA for the first time!

[AndrewKurtz]

Has this been confirmed as an issue with the current RC4?

[richfed]

I don't know, Andrew. Not too much feedback. It IS confirmed by me ... I'm just not sure of the cause ... I'm just trying to do the usual things I do when trying the betas, and I can't. Perhaps it is WAD and I just have to adjust, but I rather doubt that. There is a major difference in he amount of troops that can be built compared to other builds. I've tried starting over, playing the 1862 game [that's another issue - lots of units are there that are not in 1861 game], I uninstalled the whole thing and tried anew. I even bought Forge of Freedom so that I could get my fix. BIG MISTAKE. That game rather sucks [on 8.1, at least]. Really made me appreciate the AGEOD graphics and game system!!! Trying for a refund on FoF. 2 features, though, would be nice to see in CWII Governors for each state influencing local decisions and the tactical battle option.

Off track ... hope these issues are fixed because it takes a lot of choices away from the player ...

[Captain_Orso]

Nothing has changed in the game files (..\{installation-directory}\CW2\*.*) which might affect this.

I loaded a saved scenario (started previous to RC4) at mid-'64 and saw no issues with building units.

I've never used auto-replacement and don't really know how it works in detail, but if I'm not mistaken, the percentage setting is in reference to the total if each pool of replacements, and tries to keep these at, for example 10% of the total-in-field. If there were a lot of losses during the previous turn, that could easily use up the 76 CC available, if for example they are being reserved to reach the 10%. But I'm just guessing.

[richfed]

OK - here are my latest 3 turns. I used Full Mobilization, Partial Mobilization, & offered a free enlistment premium ... also played the 4 Draft Cards ... my conscripts raised to 1000, or so. One turn later, after mostly just adding manually to my replacement pool [my on the field units were VERY depleted and not enough replacements were being created - set to auto %15]. Now I'm down to what you see in the .jpg That will be gone in an instant and I'll have no options left for quite awhile to raise troops.

Note Simon Buckner's 33rd "Division". All I have been able to give him is one brigade, so far. Same for the 27th Division. Now, one of those 2 was completely RED before I raised my troops the previous turn. So was the 15th Div. - or, nearly so- and that is a full Division. Now, they are all fully fresh with replacements, yet, the Stack was at 650 power BEFORE the turn, and I am STILL at 650 power after. Obviously, if you add up all those numbers, they should be well above 650.

I don't know what is going on here ... is anyone actually trying to play a game with this patch? Oh ... note at the top of the screen ... there is no dollar amount next to the money icon. Never recall that happening.

By this point in the game, in Virginia alone, I would have 5 full divisions created centered around the 5 large VA brigades, plus another 4 or 5 built up with the free units .. Floyd, Magruder, etc., and would have new divisions either completed or in process centered around the Georgia, LA Tiger, Mississippi, Texas, and South Carolina free brigades. Nowhere near that now ... can't build enough AND my replacement level is very poor.

I am running a fully patched version of Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit I have an i7 processor and 16 GBs of RAM, dedicated AMD video card w/ another 2 GB of RAM. Game settings and my play are pretty much what I usually use. Results are way different.

OK - will give this thread a rest and wait for the next patch. Thanks for enduring my rants!! ;-)

[Highlandcharge]

Hi Richfed, I loaded up the backup1 save game from your first post and processed 1 turn, in my game installation all the infantry units are recruitable, I had the auto recruit option turned off...


[ATTACH]32859[/ATTACH]


My advice would be to totally uninstall the game, delete the game folder and reinstall

[richfed]

Appreciate that, but I have already done that. Have a fresh install with new game & save folders. Still having conscript issues.

PS - RE my latest save posted just above, after reloading the game, AS Johnston's Army reflected more accurate numbers.

[Highlandcharge]

Very strange, when I load up your April campaign game AS Johnstons stack has 1246 PWR like it should...

This is a long shot but could your copy of the patch be corrupted, have you tried downloading a fresh copy of the patch?

[Ironclad]

Another opponent of mine thinks it is the patch. The game has reached July 64 and although the south has lost considerable territory including Richmond there are still a number of large CSA cities held with few replacements appearing even after playing six draft cards.

[richfed]

Yesssssssssssssssssssssssssss! Finally! I was beginning to think that perhaps I was hallucinating or dementia was rapidly setting in.

Let me be clear ... the graphic from post #2 above was some sort of weird anomaly. Like Highandcharge, once I closed the game and restarted it, all those red lines in the unit panel had disappeared. That is not the main issue.

The issue is that somewhere in the calculations, or in the drawing of troops from cities, there is some kind of bug. I am quite sure of this. In the full campaign - at least - and as the CSA - at least - not enough conscripts are available to maintain/create troop levels to that of previous builds. The difference is quite noticeable if you actually play the game. I guess that the only way to prove this is to play 2 games simultaneously, making the same decisions, using 1.4 in one, and this beta build in the other.

For the record, despite my frustration and previous decision to cease playing until a new build is out, I uninstalled the game yet again. I deleted all leftover folders, saves, etc. I rebooted. I installed the game - version 1. ---> 1.03 BRS ---> updated in-game to 1.04 ---> REDOWNLOADED patch 1.05 RC4 & installed that. After nearly a year, same problem.

OK -- I've said my piece. :-)

[Highlandcharge]

Fair enough , it must be a bug, Richfed I bet you are glad you are not going mad :-)

[Captain_Orso]

Hi richfed,

I've downloaded you last upload and imported just the current turn into my installation of patch level 1.05-RC4PB--I left the Backup directories alone as it should make no difference.

Tool-tip of the scenario



Tool-tip of the scenario description when the scenario is selected


The scenario loads without issue. When I open the open the Military Recruitment panel I get the same thing as you show through your illustration; every unit is (red) and none available to build.

Up in the resources display at the top of the screen I see however no display of any money, not even a "0". It's just blank. The tool-tip however speaks volumes:

Cash too-tip


It says that you are spending $CS 1087 on replacements.

Now, I don't have your game settings--they are not stored in the .hst file, only in the files of the ..\Settings directory--and I have auto-replacement turned off. So I can only assume that replacements are auto-purchased at the end of the previous turn execution.

One other odd thing is that when I open the War Production (replacements) panel I see no replacement ordered.


But I do see that you are missing 89 hits from Elite Infantry elements with a total of 51 Elite elements in the field


And 556(!!) hit from Line Infantry elements with 214 in the field


Also, your last illustration in post #16 also shows $CS "" and 369 CC in your conscripts pool, which is the same as I am seen when your scenario is loaded.

Your issue is not having to few CC's, it's that auto-replacement is spending all of your money on replacements.

[richfed]

Please re-read my post, #16, above ... I actually used every option available to raise conscripts ... I don't think I have ever used Full & Partial mobilization together ... in fact, I maybe have used full mobilization only once or twice ... ever. My units were ALL turning red, so, on that turn, I DID, in fact manually purchase all those replacements. Didn't last long and I just gave up. Auto-replacements, set at 15% always worked out OK for me. Not perfect - I have had to manually add to it - but never anything close to what I did there. Auto-replacements could, possibly, be at least art of the problem. I am not sure. All know is that my units turn red and I can't build enough new units. BTW, I invested heavily - for me - in that game, as well [earlier in that game]. Never have seen the money total missing before this.

In the new game I am playing, with a fresh download & install, I have something like 2000+ $$ and 4 conscripts, at the moment ... after about a year's worth of playing.

I think I will try a game without auto-replacements and see what, if any, difference that might make. What a mess. Good thing I have a lot of hair to pull-out!

[Smitzer52]

Things you are describing in this thread also happened to me while playing CSA, I actually thought that not seeing money,conscript values means I am in -0 numbers. And yeah after few turns it got back up again. But while I was using automated replacements the numbers were not ading up at all. So switched it off as well, can´t say if works or not.

But yeah with cost of replacements + units and income values I barely build few brigades as CSA. Don´t know if that´s how it´s supposed to be, learning a lot here.

[Captain_Orso]

I have no ideas anymore. I have no idea what auto-replacement is actually doing.

Where you purchase replacements, nothing is recored of what auto-replacement is doing, so it's impossible to see how many the game is buying for you.

In the AIlog file I can see that the AI purchases replacement for the CSA, but not how many.

In the late Jan turn after getting the replacements from mobilization you should have 1033 CC's. After your own purchases of replacements and new units you have 544 CC's.

If I delete all the replacements you purchased manually you have 867. After rescinding the 5 units you purchased you then have 1033, exactly as many as you should.

Basically what I'm hearing is that you feel you don't have enough CC's to do what you want. That may be, but that doesn't mean that the game isn't WAD.

[richfed]

True. It's just that it is noticeably different than before. I used to be able to build up more AND keep replacements. It wasn't easy, and it shouldn't be, but one could mange. As the game moves on, if things are going well for the Union, then, yeah you might expect this. As it is right now, unless the Union side s experiencing the same thing, the CSA has no chance at all against a human player. Something is different -- I don't know what -- I hope Pocus can jump in and explain, if he can. In fact, I think I would get mauled by the AI right now if I were to turn up the settings to the Yankees liking!!

[Ironclad]

Another opponent of mine thinks it is the patch. The game has reached July 64 and although the south has lost considerable territory including Richmond there are still a number of large CSA cities held with few replacements appearing even after playing six draft cards.

Just to be clear the above comment relates to a game with manual selection of replacements.

[AndrewKurtz]

Where you purchase replacements, nothing is recored of what auto-replacement is doing, so it's impossible to see how many the game is buying for you.

Sounds like a good enhancement for troubleshooting would be to log the AI replacement purchasing activities.

[Pocus]

Hi,

About Richfed bug(s).

Currently there is a display bug, where too long numbers in the resources panel don't show, the true money amount is -440 and is thus not showing. I'm fixing that.

The loss in hits for line infantry this turn is indeed 556 hits, which is quite big. Now back up one turn and you will see that the auto-replacements AI is doing its job: the loss were twice as big to 1174 hits (!) and that 15 replacements were ordered. If you don't see them in the current turn, this is because they have been instantly used up.

I'll provide soon with another patch where you can see all numbers, but for me there is only a display bug. I'm still chasing the bug happening to some on a new turn, something about the message panel.