Corps and Divisions

[jhnbaker41]

I am a new player and wanted to ask a few questions. I know these are probably self explanatory but please bear with me. When is it most advantageous to develop Divisions and Corps? Is it to strenthgen the Army by joining individual forces that are not in the chain of command and thus strenthgen the Army? Is there a time when I need to leave out of chain of command forces or should I always combine them all into Divisions then into Corps? Is there an easier way to form Divivsions and Corps than the tutorial illustrates? Also the Confederates had Departments until 1863 so when and how is that illustrated?

[cmdrsam]

Welcome aboard. Divisions will allow you to form a large unit of I beleive 17 smaller units. The forming of divisions will drastically reduce any command points penalty that will occour during a battle. Corps will do the same as they can have multiple divisions in it therefore allowing for more troops to be in command with out suffering the penalty. I do not think there is a limit to the ammount of divisions in a corp. Hope this helps. And good gaming.

[GraniteStater]

In effect, there is a limit to the number of divisions in a corps - it's the CP limit of the corp's commander. Divisions do cost CP, they're not free or zero CP.

If you exceed the CP limit (in any situation) you suffer penalties to movement and combat. Can you stuff people in ad infinitum? Yes, you can, but you suffer penalties when you exceed CP limits.

IOW, the game does not rule out stacking to the moon by a rule; instead, it penalizes such formations.

[soloswolf]

Any group of units will suffer a 5% combat penalty per cp over it's allowance. So an out of chain division with just a 1* in command will suffer a 10% penalty in all of it's fights.

As far as having a number of stacks vs collecting them in corps: You obviously need to judge based on the situation, but an important point is that cp aside, each stack will have to check separately to see if it takes part in a fight. This can lead to some pretty lopsided fights if you are not careful.

[Jim-NC]

Divisions and Corps add so much to your ability to strategically do things in the game. Their biggest advantage is CP penalty removal. You can stack 4-6 brigades with supporting units, and have only 4 CPs (for a division), vs. 12-16 CP for loose units. See the attached thread to learn more about divisions. There are many more threads and posts about how they can benefit you.

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=13926

Corps allow marching to the sound of the guns (see the Wiki)

[Rondor]

Note that the judicious use of units formed outside the command chain can be very useful. Units outside the command chain are capable of being activated when you need them to be. This is not always the case with units in the chain.

[HMSWarspite]

Note that the judicious use of units formed outside the command chain can be very useful. Units outside the command chain are capable of being activated when you need them to be. This is not always the case with units in the chain.

This is IMHO, a gamey exploit... I would always play that uncommanded units are never activated. 'President Lincoln, McClennan isn't ready to move, and his Corps commanders agree with him. But we have moved the 3rd New York Foot and Mouth halfway across the country with 2 batteries of artillery and a Marine unit, assaulted Fort Woebegon and generally whupped a$$, because the senior Colonel in the group appears to be on some sort of stimulant that we cannot give our Generals because of concern on their human rights, or a convention that will be signed in 40 years time, or something...'

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[HMSWarspite]

I read that he was using the permenant activation of leaderless stacks to cover for the lack of activation of his main leaders. I ahve nothing against use of independant stacks with leaders (div/corps, random groups of regiments...)