Newbie

[brandonk]

I just bought the game, I am having massive problems trying to get my forces to attack anything, I also am having trouble with millions of generals and commanders and no forces for them to lead, and when I buy forces they seem to come in randomly and everything is always scattered everywhere. I lost Washington DC as a Northern player in one Year, even though I never even moved any forces and couldn't seem to get troops to leave the cities to reinforce them, which is weird, because I could select some other forces and they move fine.

Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

[thewick]

ok this depends on when you start your campaign but generally there are two kinds of troops in this game.

Game Created Troops: These appear at towns and regions each turn and is a due to events triggers in the game. There is a list on the forums about what appears where and when. These brigades are sometimes locked for a number of turns, this means you cant move them until a certain point.

User Created Troops: These are the brigades, regiments, Artillery, Calvary, Ships that you purchase on the Reinforcement screen. These also take a number of weeks to make representing the time it took to equip and train these troops. Militia appear at any town where as regular troops will be created at strategic cities.

The to this is to buy troops by the Division, Have a leader in mind then create the troops you need from a single state if possible, or at least bordering states. The optimum division is Leader, 11 Infantry regiments, 4 Artillery, Cavalry, Sharpshooter for a total of 18 elements. This way you prevent scattering and will be able to mobilize your troops quicker and get them to where you need them at the front.

I hope this helps you a bit. We all had these questions when we first started this game takes a lot of attention to detail to be good at it.

[Rafiki]

Hi Brandonk, welcome to the forums

It sounds to me that you have dived right into the full campaign and gotten a bit overwhelmed? If so, I recommend taking a step back and try the tutorials and a couple of the smaller scenarios before "going off the deep end"

I just bought the game, I am having massive problems trying to get my forces to attack anything,

For a stack to attack an enemy stack, it needs to be in the same region, and be in either offensive or assault posture. To attack a city or fort (and the forces within), it needs to be in assault posture. You can still get attacked if you're in defensive or passive posture, but then it will depend on the enemy being in offensive/assault posture

I also am having trouble with millions of generals and commanders and no forces for them to lead,

You do indeed receive a large number of them at times. I usually keep them dispersed between some "collection" points, so that whenever I have need for one (to command a stack or to become a divisional or brigade commander), I know where to look. In time, you'll get a feel for how many commanders you have and how that number matches up with the tasks you can set them to.

and when I buy forces they seem to come in randomly and everything is always scattered everywhere.

When you buy land units, you decide which state they should appear in, but you can't control where in that state they appear.

If you aren't familiar with them, I highly recommend the E/R-keys, which cycle through idle land units (= units that aren't sentried and that are without orders). This will bring the various new units to your attention as they become available for service, and you don't need to search through your cities to keep track of them.

(Naval units use T and Y for the same type of cycling)

I lost Washington DC as a Northern player in one Year, even though I never even moved any forces and couldn't seem to get troops to leave the cities to reinforce them, which is weird, because I could select some other forces and they move fine.

Some units are "fixed", i.e. they won't moved for a given number of turns, till they are attacked or perhaps even never at all. when you hover your mouse over each unit in a stack, the tooltip will tell you whether or not that unit is "fixed" in some way.

Hope this provides some help In any case, keep those questions coming. It's a deep game which requires a small effort to get into, but once you start getting the hang of things, you'll uncover a gem of a game

[brandonk]

Yes, I kinda jumped in, I took a step back and read through the manual, and the online docs and tutorial, I was confused about the units being locked, and had to basically create new units, I was playing the North, was doing decent, I turned down the difficulty to easy.

I was still getting kinda beat, mostly because I was having massive issues trying to get my logistics in place to mount an assualt, and I had all these partisans or one off units or officers of the CSA running around in my rear areas, and they were tearing up the countryside and ruining my rail roads, I didn't seem to be able to do the same. I love this game, my only gripe is unit organization and the sheer amount of stuff going on and being able to manage it.

Also, tons of officers, not sure what happens if you have more than one officer in a stack, for example, I have a level 2 officer and like 5 level 1, and a few units of artillery and line infantry.

Its 1863, I have mostly been on the defensive, I have lost like 40,000 men and they have lost like 450,000 men, I am guessing attacking causes more losses.

Thanks for the responses!

Brandon

[stars&bars]

I have had the game for a long while, and just about know most of it now(with manuals & help from the forum too). I am playing on Hard difficulty, and managing to beat the USA AI as CSA more comfortabley now. Defending is easier as the CSA, as its the USA that have to be offensive. I'm in mid 1863 and have lost 80,000 men, while USA have lost closer to 300,000, as I have mainly been defending, and only attacking with superior numbers.

Understanding the game basics is only the begining. Once you get past that, you can concentrate on tactcis, by learning to read the map and pulling off tactical victories apy: