How is one to determine replacements needed?

[Captain_Orso]

[INDENT](All these question are in reference to patch 1.14c)

In these questions I refer to what is placed into the replacement-pool after left-clicking on a unit-type 1 time on the replacement-screen as a 'Replacement' and any sub-division of that as a 'Replacement-Point'.

For all questions 'Historical Attrition' is NOT activated.
[/INDENT]

1. Can replacement be received by a unit even if they are cut-off from supply by enemy forces and/or weather?

2. The manual states that to receive replacements the unit in question may not move during that turn. I've read some contradictory statements in the forum that the unit must also be in 'Passive Posture' or not in 'Offensive-' or 'Assault Posture'. Which is correct?

3a. Gray stated somewhere in the forum that each 'Replacement' is equal to almost two unit elements. An elements is relative, because looking at the different infantry units, some regiments when full have only '15 strength'/'450 men' and others have '25 strength'/'750 men'. Is there a definitive amount of 'Replacement-Points'/'men' in each 'Replacement' bought in direct reference to the missing 'Strength' points/'men' of an element?

3b. Since not all of the 'Replacement-Points that one buys of one type will be used up at the same time, is there any way to see how many 'Replacement-points' of a specific type are still in the replacement-pool?

The manual states on pages 49-50:

The replacement rate per turn, as a percentage of a unit’s full complement, is:
· Base land unit recovery rate: 5%
· Irregular: 10%
· Depot: 20%
· City: 10%
· Fort: 10%
· Indian Village: 5%
Note: Union troops divide this rate by two, as field replacements were not a common practice for them.
· Naval unit: 5%/port level

4a. Are the references to Irregular, Depot, City, Fort and Indian Village modifications to the 'base land unit recovery rate' of 5%?

4b. If yes to 4a, is the modification additive? Eg. If the element in question is a militia regiment (land unit 5% and irregular 10%) 5% + 10 = 15%, if on a Depot another +20% making it 35%?

4c. It yes 4b, does the city size make a difference? City and Depot together?

5a. Militia improve over time and/or though training (McClellan, Halleck and Siegel). In the 'Unit Panel' they always still have the 'M' in their NATO designation, though this is probably just because the graphic doesn't have an over-lay, but in the 'Elements Panel' it is exchanged for the normal NATO infantry symbol (rectangle with crossed diagonal lines) and the 'Elements Panel' detail window then states '(Line Infantry)' instead of '(Militia)'. Are they then no long considered to be irregular?

5b. Once they have been improved, do they then draw replacements from the Line-Infantry pool?

[INDENT]Bonus Queston[/INDENT]

If I combine two 3-1-1 Brigadier Generals, do I get a 6-2-2 Lt Gen? No? Didn't think so.

[Aurelin]

1: No

2: Both. Passive has the best chance to get them, Assualt the worst. Of course, if you move them, you don't get any.

3a: Don't know.

3b: Look at the replacement screen. Unused replacements are not lost.

4: They are not cumulative.

[enf91]

5: yes. Militia are somewhat weird; I've seen cases in my current PBEM game where an upgraded militia unit will have one or both units have an M in the NATO symbol, but if I put the unit in a division, it has just the normal infantry symbol. Militia were never irregulars; you are probably talking about those 2M/1 LightI brigades that each side has a few of; the first listed element is usually the light infantry, which is irregular. Militia by themselves can't ambush, which is one of the few benefits irregulars get (shorter frontage is the other I can think of).

[soloswolf]

The percentages are absolutely cumulative. Passive stance will give those stacks a priority over other stacks requiring replacements.

With regards to your 3a question, Gray was referring to the fact that a replacement 'chit' will only actually be used up about 50% of the time it is called upon. As far as the relative strengths, etc of these 'chits', the differences in unit types are reflected already in their costs.

5b, yes. If you look at their element panel you will see that their unit type changes to line infantry. Once there, that is the pool they will draw from.

[Aurelin]

So an irregular in a city with a depot and a fort gets a 55% chance? Never knew that.

But then again, I wasn't, for some reason, considering sharpshooters as such.

Ah well.....

[DaemoneIsos]

Overall, I have found the system to be more generous than I expected. This is most noticeable in the early turns as the Union when both your early armies are ragged.

Patterson's army militias seem to re-man much more quickly than my calculations would expect. On the other had, Harper's Ferry replacements seem low in the crucial first two turns waiting for the Winchester militia to visit.

And if you "count up" the missing hits for any of the big armies, and provide 1-for-1 replacements for them as they build back up, you will have lots of extras left over (even excluding the free replacement units you occasionally get). You can run this exercise pretty exactly with those early turns if you want to try it. Be sure to add the missing regiments for some of the starting brigades, in addition to the missing hits of the existing regiments.

Note: Depending on your replacements setting in the game setup, missing regiments may only appear when at a depot. (This is a drag for Alexandria at the beginning of the game.)

So I am not surprised at Gray's note of approximately 2-for-1 value on replacements.

[Captain_Orso]

Many thanks for all the replies.

In the end, what I'm try to figure out is mainly how many of which replacements I need to buy at the beginning of a '61 April Campaign to bring Patterson's Command and the Army of North-Eastern Virginia up to full strength as quickly and economically as possible, while not having historical attrition turned on.

Each regiment/battery has a strength and a man-power assigned. The man-power seams to be the strength x 30, which coincides with something I read about that the man-power is just 'flavor' and only the 'hit-points' really count; strength-points? I guess. Also, the replacements seam to arrive in steps of one strength-point (30 man-power). But there is now way of seeing what part of a 'Replacement' 'chit' that is.

But when buying replacements, the pseudo-tool-tip (what is shown at the lower edge of the window, when the pointer hoovers over a replacement-type on the replacement-screen) shows the cost of purchasing said replacement in money, conscript-companies and WS. money and WS are certain, and I believe that I read somewhere that conscript-companies are 100 men each, but because the factor of 'men' seams to be just 'flavor' it leaves a big hole in trying to calculate out how many of what I need to buy.

Even with an absolute calculation, the whole process is a huge exercise in micro-management. One that I'd like to do once and never again.

[Big Ideas]

I'm pretty sure units can draw from the replacement pool in foul weathers- even if there isn't a city or depot- you just receice them at a slower rate.

2) All units with hits can receive replacement chits regardless of posture. It is just weighed in favour of passive units. BUT what they might have been referring to is that to replace a missing element from brigades you need to be in passive posture inside a city or depot. Some of the starting units begin understrength and you should place them inside their city while they are still locked. eg Polk's regular bde in Memphis or Johnston in Stradbourg Depot should be placed inside their depots to get maxed out. also Beaureguard, Magruder, TX Rangers too.
Some other confusion may arise as units in passive will recover cohesion quicker than defender or attack modes.

3a) I think if a unit needs an element replaced then it is traded 1:1 (as long as you are inside city/depot in passive mode as above). But if you are replacing hit points then a replacement chit will last about 40HP.

3B) Replacement chits are stored on your ledger screen F3.
the tool tip says:
line 1 line replacement chits in reserve ie saved from previous turns
line 2 replacements requested ie purchased this turn NB not requested as in "how many are needed over the maps by our damaged units."
line 3 elements on map of this type

4a) I'm pretty sure it is accumulative

5a) Yes once militia have upgraded to inf they will draw apon the inf replacement pool. Don't forget that a militia has 15HP and inf has 20HP- so once the upgrade has triggered you have to pay for 5HP inf replacements

6 I don't think leaders can merge

I think most people on the forum say a general number of replacements to hold in your pool should be 10% of your elements on the map. I normally try to keep fewer elite, line, cav chits in reserve as they have high conscript points requirements and sometimes I might run out of cav chits and have many infs so I keep more unused conscript points to buy want I need- just need to remember not to spend them on units while I'm waiting.

[enf91]

The thing with keeping a 10% replacement reserve is that later in the game it is not uncommon for each side to have around 250-300 Line Inf elements, so 10% would be 25-30 replacements. That's a lot of manpower.

[Chaplain Lovejoy]

And IIRC, you don't want to run your replacements down to zero, because your ships will need some, although these are not "purchased" like infantry replacements. Right?

[Mickey3D]

The thing with keeping a 10% replacement reserve is that later in the game it is not uncommon for each side to have around 250-300 Line Inf elements, so 10% would be 25-30 replacements. That's a lot of manpower.

My rule of thumb is 10% replacement but I won't go over 10/12 replacements for an unit type. Two exceptions : raiders and heavy artillery that I buy only if needed.

Note : it's easy to keep this reserve with the North and more difficult with the South.

[slimey.rock]

My rule of thumb is 10% replacement but I won't go over 10/12 replacements for an unit type. Two exceptions : raiders and heavy artillery that I buy only if needed.

Note : it's easy to keep this reserve with the North and more difficult with the South.

That's pretty much the code I follow. After a big battle, I'll usually buy a few replacement infantry and cavalry in anticipation of replacements being used.

[Captain_Orso]

Someone once told me 1 for every 25, which is 4%. When your Armies are getting sizable, you probably need a reserve of replacements for unplanned battles, so I suppose 10% sounds okay for unit-types that you expect to take losses heavily in battle, line-infantry, cavalry and light- and medium-artillery.

But how much do you buy as the Union at the beginning of the '61 April Campaign to get Patterson's Command and the Army of North-Eastern Virginia up to full strength as quickly as possible?

[enf91]

It won't matter. They replace at a rate independent of how many replacements you have. If you want both to replace as quickly as possible, put them on depots; build one in Alexandria with a supply wagon you bought and move Patterson to Grafton or something.