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Here is a result that I found rather unbelievable:


Lee is trapped in Washington with an Army 10 times as powerful. The Potomac is blacked by 4+ naval elements and Union has all the neighboring regions with more than 50% MC other than Alexandria across the Potomac.

Attacked by an Army 20x as strong with more than 2x cavalry elements and he is able to retreat before combat? Where to I would ask?

Given this kind of result, it seems it would be difficult to replicate March/April 1865 where Lee was forced to surrender at Appomattox.

If "trapped" (ZOCed so that no retreat is possible) should you be able to "retreat" before battle?



Note: Version 1.13b PBEM. Not hosting so complete save would have to be provided by the host

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Gray_Lensman wrote:Another meaningless post without the saved game files.

Thanks for the commentary Gray.

Since I am not hosting, I have asked my opponent to take a look provide the complete save as required.

I assume that just the USA turn would be of no use, so it is hard to post what I do not have.

Gray_Lensman wrote:Another meaningless post without the saved game files.

Gray, you have given all of us so much of your time and energy. I am sure I can safely speak for the lot of us when I say that we are playing a much better game today due to your diligence and your efforts to improve upon a game that is great even out of the box. We all greatly appreciate everything you have done and continue to do.

Having said that, you have been rather harsh lately. Many of these responses of yours go to newer members of the forum and can start them off with a rough first impression of things to come. New member or old, there needs to be a basic level of respect.

Your frustration is obvious, but further, understandable. Maybe we could create a sticky with the optimal post set-up for issues like this. Many folks seem to not attach the files right away (or at all). A thread listing the info we need to help them could help both sides problems. I know, a sticky would not solve every case, but at least it would be a sign to point to and the expectations would be clear moving forward.

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So what can we do that will be a proactive measure in getting folks to realize what the appropriate post would look like? There is an incredible amount of info for a player (new or old) to digest. They come to us looking for answers. We often look to you for those answers. Having someone we lean on so heavily be so rough is not good for anyone involved.

So, how can we help fix this?

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Hi Denisoh!

Some comments about the screens.
- For what i see Lee is not "trapped". You need to have 95% plus Military control on all adjacent regions not 50% more. As you can see the "can't retreat" icon (yellow square with a human figure with an arrow left and right) does not appear on the battle report.
- Not sure how many men you have around there (seem like a lot ) but on the battle you only attacked with 58,000. Less that a 2x1 against Lee. He seem to be very low of cohesion, that's true!
- For the look of it Lee did not retreat before but after combat. He could have retreated to some of the surrounding regions with less that 95% USA MC but it seem he skillfully just broke off contact (tricky Lee! :wacko and remained of the region. IMHO this is better for you that to have to chase him around Maryland!
If in the next turn you manage to really block him on Washington (with +95% MC regions all around) you will have him bagged. As he will not be able to scape he will have to fight to the dead.
On this cases, from my experience is very usual to have a long series of battles until the trapped army is completely destroyed. Maybe he is lucky enough to have Grant to fail to seek and destroy him completely after some engagements, but he can't be that lucky always.

For what i see there is no bug there. Just an unusual situation where Grant failed his roll to engage again and Lee rolled to remain on the region instead of to retreat somewhere else.

Regards!

I think his real complaint is that Lee has been behind enemy lines for some time fighting one battle each turn and is still a viable force. He has either not retreated after the battle or one turn he actually retreated towards the enemy in DC where he sits now.

Here are the last few turns back up.

Gray_Lensman wrote:Quite simple. When posting something like the above post and obviously wanting an explanation of some sort, POST the saved game files if you expect to have any real action taken into looking into reasons/explanations as to why something occured. It's been stated quite frequently throughout the forum that saved game files are necessary. denisonh has been a member since April 2007, so I'm reasonably sure he's seen this request often enough.

The point about saved game files is that if posted, we can generally reproduce, on our own installations, the entire set of circumstances leading up to whatever the initial post is about along with the various other log files that may contain information as to why the circumstance(s) might have occured. Without the saved game files, reproducing the exact circumstances can be so complicated that it's generally not worth the effort.

Understood Gray that the save files are necessary, but when not hosting a PBEM I do not have all the files ON HAND when I compose the post. Given I never play the AI and only PBEM, this is not an unusual situation for me. Just asking for some patience until my opponent posts or sends the files as approriate.

First, let me start by saying how sincerely impressed I am with AACW as a software game and with the programmers, modders, and gamers who participate in this forum. I am in awe of the work that Gray puts into this game.

My sense is that, because the demographic skews a bit older apy: the participants tend to be much less shrill and much more thoughtful/civil in replies than in other forums/blogs/etc. I have been waiting a LONG time for a successful ACW game and in my opinion this is a very nicely executed game with a very active modder/support community.

But I would respectfully suggest/remind folks that the current way that complex gaming software is developed/marketed is both exciting/innovative for its collaborative aspects and completely back-assward. For example, I (AKA "customer" ) paid $50 for a game with a somewhat useless and out-of-date game manual. That's as harsh as I am going to get because I've been software gaming for many years and know the drill when it comes to patches/updates, etc. Like most people, I choose to wear my "grognard community member" hat instead of my "customer" hat when I log in here.

But not everyone "knows the drill." Even younger players who, unlike me, grew up with the post-release mod/patch marketing model can get lost navigating forums. For example, the other day I had a question about corps synchronized movement and tried to search "simultaneous movement" because I didn't know the proper terminology. This is a complex game and a complex forum with thousands and thousands of threads/posts.

One suggestion I would make is to recruit experienced players to help create a series of very short (<10 sec) video tutorials uploaded to this forum or to YouTube under an Ageod AACW account. Cell phone/digital camera quality video is fine. Windows Moviemaker allows you to add an audio track so one video could be used for tutorials in Spanish, French, German, etc.

Video demos of basic land, river, and sea movement. Creating divisions, corps, armies. Battle results screen. What info tooltips provide.

In short, help beginner players access the basic game mechanics and terminology. There is a WEALTH of helpful info already here but I think it's just too much to ask of newcomers -- and sometimes even not-so-newcomers -- to always know/remember the "rules" of game forum posting. Taking that approach will just make everyone cranky and miserable and at worst it could turn some people off to a very fun hobby.

Gray, I hope there's a warm-weather vacation in your future, hopefully to someplace tropical.

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soloswolf wrote:Gray, you have given all of us so much of your time and energy. I am sure I can safely speak for the lot of us when I say that we are playing a much better game today due to your diligence and your efforts to improve upon a game that is great even out of the box. We all greatly appreciate everything you have done and continue to do.

Having said that, you have been rather harsh lately. Many of these responses of yours go to newer members of the forum and can start them off with a rough first impression of things to come. New member or old, there needs to be a basic level of respect.

Your frustration is obvious, but further, understandable. Maybe we could create a sticky with the optimal post set-up for issues like this. Many folks seem to not attach the files right away (or at all). A thread listing the info we need to help them could help both sides problems. I know, a sticky would not solve every case, but at least it would be a sign to point to and the expectations would be clear moving forward.

+1. Ease up Gray. With all respect, you may have been thinking what you said in your initial post on this thread, but I see it as rather glib to actually type it.

Yes, you're right...without the posted files...the initial question is technically useless...but terming it as such doesn't engender very much confidence in players curious to learn more about the game to ask questions.

When I ask a question...I certainly don't appreciate being spoken to as if I'm not intelligent.

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Gray_Lensman wrote:-1 Ease up yourself Banks... With all respect, read thru the entire thread including my followup replies before engaging in dogpile comments.

Alright man...whatever.

Hey guys, relax. Lets chill. I think we all need to stop chewing the testosterone pills . GL has apploogised over a day ago...

HMSWarspite wrote:Hey guys, relax. Lets chill. I think we all need to stop chewing the testosterone pills . GL has apploogised over a day ago...

No problem on this end. I'll just take my seat and keep on keepin' on.