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I've noticed that it incurs no time penalty to cut the rail, unlike fixing the broken rail which can take many days. So I had always assumed that because there was no penalty that the cut occurs on the 1st day and so any rail movement into that region would be canceled and any units would then go by foot instead. I had thought this was confirmed by watching the turn unfold and seeing the destroyed rail icons appear before any movement started.

That assumption just got stood on it's head in a pbem turn. In northern Virginia I had a unit in Shenandoah and one in Culpepper, both of which were ordered to cut the rail and leave, and both did as ordered. However, Magruder somehow manged to go from Richmond along the rail all the way to Shenandoah and fight my unit there, on day 3. Yes day 3. So additionally I'm busy trying to puzzle out how it is possible to go from Richmond to Shenandoah in 3 days.

I saw something odd in a single player game. I had cut the rail and moved on but during the turn two trains passed the spot carrying reinforcements .

It must not become effective until the turn after the cut is made.

Any idea why?

Ol' Choctaw wrote:I saw something odd in a single player game. I had cut the rail and moved on but during the turn two trains passed the spot carrying reinforcements .

It must not become effective until the turn after the cut is made.

Any idea why?

I am the opponant in the PBM game he is talking about.

It was my contention that since the turns are simultanious as long as the rails were good when you plotted your turn you get to use them. In other words I am willing to live with the game play aspect that the cut does not take place until the following turn and that seems to be the way it is.


However my opponant is right regarding Magruder moving much faster than he should have been able to. He did not move farther in the turn than he was able to; just that he was arriving at his particular way points 3 days early along the route I had plotted allowing battles to take place much earlier. This could conceivably have a major impact in a far more critical situation where one, or both sides are sending reenforcements to a major engagement. It can change the tide of battle allowing one sides reenforcements to get there much earlier than they should have been able to.

My opponant insists the game engine is programmed in such a way that it takes a full day to travel an entire region no matter what, but in this case even though when I plotted the move the brown circle in Shenedoah said (6) days to reach it from Richmond the in-game log said I arrived and had a battle in Shenendoah with his troops on day 3.

Magruder then went on to carry out his assault order all the way to Harpers Ferry which he should have arrived at on Day 15 based on my movmemt plot, but the log again said he arrived and had a second battle at Harpers on day 12.

Somehow the movement log where it tells you who gets where and when listed the events with a 3 day earlier discrepency between what my movement order plot said it would be before we ran the turn.


My opponant is concerned one, or both of us may have corrupted files; while I am of the opinion that is is just merely an abstract discrepency working as designed having to do with the way the program was written in order to make things work without causing a fault error, or something like that.

I am OK with the abstract aspect and dealing with movement orders not neccessarily corresponding exactly with the timing your orders phase suggests. Bad weather and Good weather as well as other abstract factors could conceivably account for these kinds of unknowns.

However, it would be nice to know and hear what other more experienced players have to say about these issues.

Maybe the troops scooted across where the line was cut and made haste to the battlefield, fired a few shots had a hot meal and high tailed it to the next area where they were told they would get some whiskey and a good smoke

Rather unusual, sounds like a corrupted file or something.

It sounds like it ends up working as Dauphin describes: you get to use the movement speed you plotted during the orders phase, even if the RR is cut on day one. Interestingly, though, you can be blocked by, say, ships in a river that arrived after you started crossing, and have your plotted movement denied. I have not tried it with movement using the river transport pool.
If it does work like this, it's a shame, because you could speed engineers by rail to the region on the turn the raiders appear and begin repairing it next turn, leaving only a single turn of lost rail use. Also, the entire supply distribution is likely executed before the rails are cut.

Or else the file corruption had him jump over the cut

Cromagnonman wrote: Interestingly, though, you can be blocked by, say, ships in a river that arrived after you started crossing, and have your plotted movement denied. I have not tried it with movement using the river transport pool.

Or else the file corruption had him jump over the cut

From our last PBM game that we just finished I can verify that enemy riverboats do indeed seem to prevent plotted movement by river transport points.

I had my Army Commander AS Johnston in Cincinnati and tried to move him for two turns in a row and both times he got stuck. Once trying trying to simply cross the river arround his blockade outside my port over a river area where he did not even have boats stationed, but he was moving his boats up and down the river through where I was trying to cross and the second time I simply tried to move by river points starting from my port. I even had my river boat fleet move with him out of port at the same time (not in the same stack of course) to fight his blockaders, but it did not help even though I won the battle and forced his bloackaders to move. I had no innate fleet transport capacity as it was Ironclads and gunboats only.


Then again the fact that both turns there were major battles going on either in the region North of Cincinatti, or in Cincinatti and his being the Army Commander he may have just been having his river crossing and river movement orders cancelled due to MTSG. I did have him plotted to move with full green and avoid combat, but obviously that did not stop his being the leader in both battle screens for both turns. Jeb Stuart was his Corp Commander.

Come to think of it the first turn it happened when there was a battle North of Cincinatti I had a division reenforce Cincinatti by crossing the river from the region directly South of Cincinnatti and it was not blocked.

I guess I can't verify it one way or the other after all.

I can say one thing. Shiit happens very often in unexpected ways.

Originally Posted by Cromagnonman

Or else the file corruption had him jump over the cut

A few things are for certain. The move I had plotted with Magruder used up all 15 days he had to get to Harpers Ferry according to my pre turn movement plot.

Magruder did not miss a step and did everything I wanted him to along the way including assaulting and taking Winchester which was not garrisoned as he was passing through into Harpers.

He was not plotted with forced march, so that was not a factor.

He showed up in a total of three battle screens in three different regions that turn.

The only factor I know of that might have come into play is the fact that his force was as well rested as one can get having just sat in one place turn after turn. He was not exceeping his CP allowence either.

I've experimented with cutting rails and every time the effect does not take place until the following turn. This is counter intuitive since the icon appears before any movement takes place and there is no movement delay unlike the repair rail function. Consider that a fast raider could be 6-7 regions distant by the time the rail cut becomes effective in the region it started in. That's just weird. But I suppose that is WAD.

As for the phenomena of moving 6 regions in 3 days I have to agree that this is due to a corrupted file, nothing else makes sense. So I've reinstalled the game and the 1.116rc4a patch.

What you describe is very strange. I was sure the railroad cutting occurs immediately and that any force outside the region have to pay the full cost to enter and leave it.

Which version are you using ?

Mickey3D wrote:Which version are you using ?

1.116rc4a

You should report your problem on this forum.