New Player and completely Lost

[zar]

I am an avid gamer, love wargames including historical but I dont get this game. I have run the tutorials, read the rules twice and have played Bull Run 3 times but nothing happens. I cant move most of the troops, when I march out of manasas I lose. The Yanks wont attack me! What am I doing wrong...

[exar83]

First off this is a very intricate game to understand. I've been playing for years and I still learn more stuff. I have found that you must be truly dedicated to play this game. I remember how frustrated I was when I first began but I stuck with it and then it just all clicked one day and ever since then I replay this game more than any other that I have. Once I "got it" it was just flat out amazing how much there really is to this game.

Check your options and play around with the aggressiveness of the AI. If you set it aggressive enough then I promise you the AI WILL attack! And yes many units are "locked" in their region since they are militia raised for the local defense. You can raise more units that you can control as well as the active units that you are given. Also don't necessarily try to play the game historically. The AI sure wont so you will have to react to her. Other than some of the regions where my units are raised and some of the places where armies and leaders become active, not a whole lot works out historically.

Basically keep in mind your supply lines and cohesion of your units. Learn to read all the stats and numbers for your units when they are on the move or digging in or the combat and move orders for your forces. Probably the single most important thing, and most difficult, is learning how supply moves around your lines and how to get it to where it needs to go.

It sounds like if the Union isn't attacking then you need to check your options. Usually I have Manasass occupied and by late June the Union has already launched a decent attack. Like I said, check your options. There are more than just 1 or 2 settings you can change that will effect how the Union behaves. If you have everything shut off then the Union will literally not move.

If your only problem is getting the Union to do anything then it has to be in your settings.

[Ethan]

First, welcome to the Ageod Forums, zar! I hope you enjoy your stay here.

Be patient. This game has a very slow learning curve, so take a look at the manual and this Dixicrat's link which will be very useful for you. I'm sure.

With respect to what you say that you can not move your troops, it will probably be because your generals are not activated. Another thing to consider is that sometimes there are stacks which are fixed to a position for a few turns.

In any case, here I show you information about activation.


Strategic rating and activation Important

Each turn, each force’s commanding officer makes a test based on his strategic rating. If he fails (indicated by a brown envelope icon on the force), the leader is deemed inactivated and will suffer the following penalties:

Reduced movement (-35% speed)

Combat penalties in hostile regions (up to –35%)

Offensive posture prohibited (not applicable for admirals)


A leader, which is not activated, can represent delayed orders, over cautiousness, or even incompetence at the operational level or above.

Note: A very cautious army commander can even impact negatively the activation Check of subordinate corps commanders.

Technical Note: You may de-activate this rule in the Options Menu, if you want.

Leaderless troops are always activated, as they don’t have leaders, but suffer from movement and combat penalties (by lack of CPs). They are not prohibited from assuming offensive posture (the commanding, unknown colonel is willing to take action but is not the best man for the job).

Specifically: A Leader that is NOT Activated receives a 35% speed penalty to all movement but a combat penalty equal to enemy military control of region, to a maximum of 35%. (Not applicable to Forces in Passive Posture).

I think it is a very a attractive part of the game to reflect the ineptness of the USA generals to attack to the Confederacy.


Good luck!

[zerothehero]

This may help...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V33eKwj1F18&feature=g-upl&context=G2b15c49AUAAAAAAAJAA

[MagnumPT]

There is a lot of good advice in this thread.

Lets see the union not attacking could be the AI turned off or on a low aggressiveness.

As to the tutorials I hated them, matter of fact kept me from buying the games for a few years.

I second zerotheheros link on youtube. The vids are done by a forum member Zerotasker who has a thread in the AAR forum here. They are long 10 minutes or so and 37 of them I believe but are worth the time. Much better than the tutorials.

Supply was mentioned but is crucial to keeping your armies from disappearing. The old military adage of amateurs study tactics, professionals study logistics never has rang truer or so poignantly illustrated as this game does.

I am on my 7th campaign and finally am getting the hang of this monster game. I have not taken all to the end as at some point my lack of knowledge made the games untenable but learned a little each time.

Also the AI is pretty good. It took me to school on my 3rd campaign. I had Richmond under siege in mid 62. Stonewall went and took Pittsburgh. I surrounded him, kept the siege on Richmond. Eventually encircled Jackson in Pittsburgh built an new army around the city and eventually crushed him.

While redeploying the Army of Pennsylvania to West Virginia to hit the Rebs Army of the Potomac under Beauregard in the left flank old PTB blasted through forces cutting off my corp besieging Richmond, crushing 3 divisions between Manassas and DC and laying siege to DC! He had 50,000 troops with him. It felt like a Stalingrad scenario to me. At that point I said to myself, check and mate. If I had put the Army of Penn at DC area I would have saved myself a lot of pain! I lost 27 NM’s in 3 turns trying to relief the capital. I did do it but never recovered and lost the game with the dreaded defeat message in Jan 64.

I love this game. Keep at it the fun is amazing.

[charlesonmission]

You can also take a look at this AAR I did; there is a rather detailed introduction to the F1-F9 screens and other game mechanics.

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?22871-Charles-(CSA)-vs-Mortar-(USA)-Nov-1864

[Stauffenberg]

You can also take a look at this AAR I did; there is a rather detailed introduction to the F1-F9 screens and other game mechanics.

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?22871-Charles-(CSA)-vs-Mortar-(USA)-Nov-1864

Yes AARs are great to learn from.
The Banks vs Soundoff AAR is also a classic.

Also focus on tooltips as never before...

[zar]

Thanks for the ideas. I have turned the aggressiveness to the highest level. I started the main campaign early 1961 but the Union AI is still passive. I have Fort Monroe, Wash DC and Cairo under siege and the union still is not attacking.
Am I missing anything?

I just loaded the game as the USA player to see what is going on. The AI has not done anything. There are 4276 war supplies! Is this normal? Please help.

[Jim-NC]

That's not normal. Do you have the AI on? You can turn if off or on. It's one of the options you can choose from the main menu screen (don't recall at the moment where it is - probably under options).