Leader Ratings vs Leader Traits.

[BruceASinger@gmail.com]

For Divisonal commanders, which provides more bonuses for the troops he is leading.

a 4 - 4 - 4 Leader or
a 4 - 1 - 1 Leader with the Infantryman trait
assuming both leaders are leading mostly Infantry unit?

[Khanti]

Manual says "(...) the commanding officer of a stack (i.e. most senior leader of the highest-rank in the stack) improves the capabilities of his subordinate units with his Offensive/Defensive Rating (+5% to combat for each point) and his Special Abilities. (...) Units in a Division not only benefit from the benefits just described, but also from their own Division leader's capabilities."

If that is +5% to combat in offence or defense, then leader 4-4-4 gives 20% to both offence and defense.

Manual says that:
Cavalryman gives 25% combat bonus for all cavalry units in the stack if in clear, prairie or desert terrain.
Artillerist gives 20% combat bonus for all artillery units in the stack.
Tooltip in game (nothing in manual) says that:
Infantryman gives 10% firepower and assault value for all regular infantry in stack.

So I assume in case of standard line infantry regiment (French line infantry, not veterans, not conscripts) it looks like that:
1) Firepower 8/8 Assault 7/6 with 4-4-4 is Firepower 9.6/9.6 and Assault 8.4/7.2
2) Firepower 8/8 Assault 7/6 with Infantryman is Firepower 8.8/8.8 and Assault 7.7/6.6

My assumption: rating in offence and defense gives bonus to both Firepower and Assault values. [color="#008000"]But I'm not sure![/color]

But what is most important? I don't know if Infantryman value (level 1) could rise to level 2 and so on. If not, the best solution is to use leader with Infantryman ability and rise his ratings through experience until you will have:
4-4-4 with Infantryman

Cheers.

[Ace]

Choose 4/4/4 any day of the week.

[Captain_Orso]

It's a complex issue, a very complex. The shortest coherent answer I can give is,

High Strategic / Offensive / Defensive ratings: Command large stacks

High combat ability: command limited size forces, especially in restrictive terrain like mountains or swamps.

The greatest advantage of high offensive value is not the combat bonus, it's the frontage bonus. But to take advantage of that, you need room to put your troops--clear terrain--and the troops--corps and army commands.

[lycortas2]

Ace's answer would be correct in other games but not in this or Civil War 2. For a stack commanding officer 5% per point is correct, but say a division commander in a corps stack gives what 2% per point? So high numbers on a corps commander but great traits on division commanders.

[BruceASinger@gmail.com]

Ace's answer would be correct in other games but not in this or Civil War 2. For a stack commanding officer 5% per point is correct, but say a division commander in a corps stack gives what 2% per point? So high numbers on a corps commander but great traits on division commanders.

I believe the stats you want for a Corp {Stack} commander and the stats for a Unit {Divisional} commander differ. In a previous post, I think someone said 5% * (Your Stack Commander rating - Opponents Stack Commander Rating) + 1% *( Your Divisional Commander rating - Opponents Divisional Commander Rating) {If this board had a good search function, maybe I could find it}.

From this info, the divisional commander is giving you a 1% bonus. If the Trait is giving you a 10% is on the same score as the divisional commader bonus, then the trait adds way more bonus than the divisional commander stat.

Now for the Corp {Stack} commander, the bonus is 5% per rating and the Trait is only active if you are leading the unit. Must Corp {Stack} commanders don't have units assigned to them so I don't think traits do much for them. Could be wrong which is why I am asking the question.

I think you are correct. Offensive/Defensive stats for Corp {Stack} commanders and Traits for Divisional {Unit} commanders.

[BruceASinger@gmail.com]

rise his ratings through experience
Cheers.

Stragetic, Offensive, and Defensive ablities go up with exp??

I never noticed or knew that.

[Ace]

Divisional commander give +3% per off or def rating. Big divisional offensive rating gives high chance for sucsessfull cavalry charge. Big defensive rating increases chance to form infantry square in face of cavalry charge.
Most traits give bonuses regardless if the commander comands the divisions, or the officer is only in the stack (acting as staff to the stack commander). Some traits work only if you actually lead the stack. And some only work to accompanying division (it all says in the tooltips).

And most important 4/4/4 * leader has the potential to be ecellent Corps leader when/if promoted, bigger potential than 4/1/1 leader with a single trait.

[BruceASinger@gmail.com]

Divisional commander give +3% per off or def rating.

On this board, I have seen values of 1, 2, and now 3% per off or def rating. Since I don't know how to look in the game files, I don't know which one is correct.

Big divisional offensive rating gives high chance for sucsessfull cavalry charge. Big defensive rating increases chance to form infantry square in face of cavalry charge.

Never seen this any where before, but good to know.

Most traits give bonuses regardless if the commander comands the divisions, or the officer is only in the stack (acting as staff to the stack commander). Some traits work only if you actually lead the stack. And some only work to accompanying division (it all says in the tooltips).

When I first got the game, I spent a lot of time looking at the traits of the leaders trying to figure out what they meant.
I was trying to figure out if the bonus applied just to the units they were leading or all units in the stack. If the leaders gave stack bonues, I want to make sure I got one into each stack. One of the key pieces of information I focused on was "This ability applies to all elements of the stack". If the trait had these wordings, I figured it was a stack bonus.

My original determination was
Infantryman - Leader only
Cavalryman - Leader only
Artilleryman - Stack
Irregular Fighting - Stack.
This decision was based primaily if "This ability applies to all elements of the stack" was in the tip. This was with the game as shipped.

I am now using the January 19th beta and all four of those traits now have "This ability applies to all elements of the stack" and almost the same exact wording {Except for the units they affect} They must of done some work cleaning up the tool tips and making them clearer.

And most important 4/4/4 * leader has the potential to be ecellent Corps leader when/if promoted, bigger potential than 4/1/1 leader with a single trait.

If I had a 4/4/4 leader for every Division, I would use him. At least for France in 1805, you have to use some 3/2/2 and even 3/2/1 leaders for your Divisions. I was trying to figure out if a 4/1/1 leader with a Infantryman/Cavalryman trait was better than a 3/2/2 leader. Now that I know that Infantryman/Cavalryman are stack traits, the 3/2/2 leader is better as long as another leader in the stack has the Infantryman/Cavalryman trait.

Thanks for the info.

[Khanti]

Stragetic, Offensive, and Defensive ablities go up with exp??

I never noticed or knew that.

1st experience star gives commander +1 defensive bonus. Hope more experience gives other bonuses.

[BruceASinger@gmail.com]

1st experience star gives commander +1 defensive bonus. Hope more experience gives other bonuses.

Cool. I will track it and see what happens.