Forts and River Crossings

[Winfield S. Hancock]

Two quick questions:

First, what percentage levels of control, both military and political, are required to build a fort in a region? I can't find an answer to this in the manual. I have been trying with no success as the Union to build a fort in Frederick, MD to thwart the non-stop Confederate raids that launch through that region and generally dont end until the Canadian border months later. My military control is 100 percent there, my political is 47%, and I cant build a fort.

Second, about river crossings. The manual states land units can cross shallow waters at a cost, major rivers at a severe penalty, and minor rivers/ferrys/bridges at a moderate cost. Yet rebel raiders seem to be able to cross the Mississippi and Ohio at will, even though I have gunboats all over the place attempting to block their movement. Are the major rivers crossable everywhere? Also, what is the best way to interdict movement besides gunboats? As the Union, I am growing tired of chasing down ahistorical confederate cavalry raids all over the Midwest, that last for months at a time.

Finally, one rules change suggestion based on these raids. Can the game be changed in some way whereby cavalry units alone cannot change the possession of a town to their side, and thereby restock and resupply themselves infinitely on an ahistorical, 6 month raid through enemy territory? I think that some kind of modification here would make the game better and more historic.

[Johnny Canuck]

IIRC, Pocus mentioned in a thread a while back that you can only build forts in provinces that have at least a level 1 city in them.

[Stonewall]

Typically, Confederate cavalry raiders DID supply themselves from captured stores in towns that they raided. This is not ahistoric at all. Also, when those raiders leave the town, it should revert to Union control in a few turns anyway as the loyal population takes it back.

[Winfield S. Hancock]

I would agree that they replenished themselves on foodstuffs and the like in towns, but what about combat essentials such as ammunition? It would seem to me that they would need to replenish themselves of those types of stores, which would be harder to come by in hostile territory, and if they were low on combat stores, the strong incentive would be to turn back rather than raid on hoping for the best.

Also, I believe Morgan's raid was the longest sustained Confederate Raid during the war, and it was over in a matter of a few weeks. I would have no problem with raids like that, but I have seen far too many raids that last months, with a unit starting out in Tennessee ending up at the Canadian border capturing towns up there. I would think that impossible in historic terms.

The one thing that a cavalry unit could not replenish along the route of a raid, regardless of length, would be men. They simply were not going to be recruiting volunteers in upstate New York to fight with the rebel cavalry. However, in the game, a raiding unit can sit in a town, and rebuild itself to full strength from the supplies there. Even if you allow that it could recover sufficient food and ammo from the town, it is ahistoric to allow it to reconstitute to full strength, as it would have no ability to recruit from the local population, and would be facing constant attacks from Bushwhackers and local militia that if any thing should reduce its strength further.

[pasternakski]

I think there has been some discussion on another thread or two about cavalry raids being out of control. I don't know if Pocus and company have planned any changes.

Personally, when I see Confederate cavalry raids running up to Michigan, New Jersey and New York, I think something needs to be done, as that is just silly.

[Carrington]

Perhaps the "something" that needs to be done is player-side: do what the Union did historically: garrison all the major towns....

[pasternakski]

I do. Then I see Reb cavalry standing around in Queens.

Is it just me, or are the horses' legs too long and skinny?

[swang]

I dunno, I start a union game every week or so (I don't think I've ever gotten past '62...) and this is the second game in a row that I have lost at least 1 town in NY or Conn. CONNECTICUT! Since when can Reb cav get that far? Mind you, this is all rather early on in the war, so my front line more resembled a sieve than a line, but still...

[Winfield S. Hancock]

Garrisoning all the major towns still does nothing to stop the cavalry ravaging through the countryside tearing up railroad tracks from Pittsburgh to Albany. Plus, early in the game, there simply isnt enough troop density nor gunboats to provide an effective screen or fence against the raids. I am especially frustrated because in my most recent game, I lost two leaders who will killed when being train transported from DC to Cairo, when their train was intercepted in Northern Pennsylvania by a previously unseen Rebel Cavalry unit hiding somewhere in the Northern mountains.

Look, I am all for raids and the need to garrison rear areas, but there has to be some kind of a limit on how far they can go without bordering on the ridiculous. Raids occured into enemy territory, sometimes deeply, but only so far as was reasonably thought the men could eventually get back to friendly lines. No one was volunteering to go on suicide missions that could only conceivably lead to death or captivity.

[aristoteles]

I try to garrison all my cities with militias (they are cheap) but repairing all those broken railroads it´s annoying...Don´t know if it´s too realistic to have my own cavalry regiments following them and reapiring the railroads one after another for 105 turns,... Did the Confederates have cavalry brigades to raid deep in Ohio or Illinois? Some kind of pre-WW2 kamikazes then, I guess,...Moreover,their evasion capability is too big maybe?

[Childress]

Interesting read: The Great Raid of 1863
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan's_Raid

[Adam the VIth]

Concur with the complainers here. I love to raid with Cav and think it should be part of the game, but it does seem to get out of hand sometimes.

[Pocus]

I have revised the cohesion loss and stragglers losses, they will be augmented in hostile territory only. This should do some goods, as the AI will want to return home sooner because of that.

[jhdeerslayer]

Good news!

[gbs]

Just so you guys will know it's not all one way. I am getting yankee cavalry popping (literally) up in NC.

[Winfield S. Hancock]

Thanks Pocus, I look forward to seeing how the change works.

Keep up the great work, this is clearly the best new game in recent years.

[Adam the VIth]

I have revised the cohesion loss and stragglers losses, they will be augmented in hostile territory only. This should do some goods, as the AI will want to return home sooner because of that.

Fix sounds simple but effective.

Thanks!