MarkCSA
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:35 pm
Location: In a safe place, they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance

Naval Combat: Ironclads vs. Wooden Ships and other questions

Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:00 pm

Hello everybody,

Long time lurker, now posting some questions, hope you guys can help me out.

I've started a grand campaign game with the latest patch as them good ole boys of the Confederacy and am doing quite well as it is mid 1862, I'm holding in the West, with my forts stopping any Yankee invader, and several of my stacks slowly moving forward, about halfway through Kentucky and trying (with mixed results) to grab St. Louis and complete my liberation of Missouri.

In the East, I am holding about halfway though Virginia with the Union outnumbering me about 3:1 in sheer troops, but all my guys are behind rivers and dug in quite deep. That ought to keep the Northern Invader busy for a while. I am also about to encircle (and hopefully destroy/starve) a MASSIVE 200+ units stack led by one of the early, bad Union generals.

Now here come the questions:

1) After some unsuccesfull skirmishes with my Ironclad the CSS Virginia, I decided to group all four off them (the 3 southern ones too), put them in a stack with a leader and park them just outside Norfolk, thinking that they should be able to seriously do some damage to all the northern fleets I see coming by. This turned out to be not the best of plans, as after 1 turn a Blockade Fleet swooped in a killed them all with ranged fire, giving me a around 5 NM hit. Not good, what am I doing wrong?

2) I have tons of 1 star generals that I have running around with a stack, but when I team them up with some troops, and make a division, they seem to be stuck in 'locked'/'not activated' mode forever, unable to move or do anything. In the end, I just undivision them and move the troops to stacks that are moving. Again, what am I doing wrong? Note that I form these divisions in the middle of nowhere where they are needed (Texas, SC etc.).

3) I have several Raider/Steam Raider (not at home now, so I don't know the exact name) ships, that I am trying to cause as much damage with, how do I do this? Is it possible to have them on a 'Search and Destroy' mission along my coast?

4) Sharpshooters, what to do with them? They obviously make bad front line troops (got three of them wiped out by a Union stack in hilly terrain, where I thought they would be cool).

5) Why does the Union try to sneak past my fortresses all the time, only to get completely killed by the artillery inside?

Hope you can answer some of these questions, all in all, really cool game, enjoy it!

P.S. Rafiki, are you the Rafiki from Paradox Entertainment Victoria?

Bertram
Posts: 454
Joined: Thu Jan 31, 2008 8:22 pm

Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:17 pm

Pretty new here to, but I got some answers :) .

1) No idea, I am pretty bad at the wet side of things (and against the AI, as Union, you can manage wel enough with minimal fleet involvement).

2) Locked or not activated? Locked (with a padlock on the troop picture, or a padlock blinking on the enveloppe), means there is a unit in the stack that is locked. Disband the division, view the individual units, and make sure not to add any that are locked. Not activated means the leader has an initiative rating lower then his initiative "die roll" for this turn. Happens quite often to the Union :fleb: , but should not be so much a problem for the CSA.

3) See 1.

4) Sharpshooters can be added to a stack (like one in a division, or one in a unit) to give that unit a +1 initiative in battle.

5) Because artificial intelligence is like artificial flavour, it approaches the real thing at best, and leaves a bad taste at its worst.

User avatar
arsan
Posts: 6244
Joined: Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:35 pm
Location: Madrid, Spain

Wed Feb 27, 2008 4:29 pm

MarkCSA wrote:Hello everybody,

Long time lurker, now posting some questions, hope you guys can help me out.

I've started a grand campaign game with the latest patch as them good ole boys of the Confederacy and am doing quite well as it is mid 1862, I'm holding in the West, with my forts stopping any Yankee invader, and several of my stacks slowly moving forward, about halfway through Kentucky and trying (with mixed results) to grab St. Louis and complete my liberation of Missouri.

In the East, I am holding about halfway though Virginia with the Union outnumbering me about 3:1 in sheer troops, but all my guys are behind rivers and dug in quite deep. That ought to keep the Northern Invader busy for a while. I am also about to encircle (and hopefully destroy/starve) a MASSIVE 200+ units stack led by one of the early, bad Union generals.

Now here come the questions:

1) After some unsuccesfull skirmishes with my Ironclad the CSS Virginia, I decided to group all four off them (the 3 southern ones too), put them in a stack with a leader and park them just outside Norfolk, thinking that they should be able to seriously do some damage to all the northern fleets I see coming by. This turned out to be not the best of plans, as after 1 turn a Blockade Fleet swooped in a killed them all with ranged fire, giving me a around 5 NM hit. Not good, what am I doing wrong?

2) I have tons of 1 star generals that I have running around with a stack, but when I team them up with some troops, and make a division, they seem to be stuck in 'locked'/'not activated' mode forever, unable to move or do anything. In the end, I just undivision them and move the troops to stacks that are moving. Again, what am I doing wrong? Note that I form these divisions in the middle of nowhere where they are needed (Texas, SC etc.).

3) I have several Raider/Steam Raider (not at home now, so I don't know the exact name) ships, that I am trying to cause as much damage with, how do I do this? Is it possible to have them on a 'Search and Destroy' mission along my coast?

4) Sharpshooters, what to do with them? They obviously make bad front line troops (got three of them wiped out by a Union stack in hilly terrain, where I thought they would be cool).

5) Why does the Union try to sneak past my fortresses all the time, only to get completely killed by the artillery inside?

Hope you can answer some of these questions, all in all, really cool game, enjoy it!

P.S. Rafiki, are you the Rafiki from Paradox Entertainment Victoria?


Hi and welcome!
Lets try some answers...

1) Seem starnge that all get killed :8o: Was the union fleet massive?? Are you sure you were not fighting/sailing under Fort Monroe guns? Fort guns can be pretty devastating. I´m not sure if in a fleet combat on an area near a fort the fort guns can participate... :bonk:

2) It sounds like you have put a locked unit on your divisions (probably some of the militias you get for free to garrison cities but who cannot leave the area. Check the unit tooltip wich must say if a unit is fixed/static.

3) You should put them on the shipping box to hunt union transports. And use the evade combat button!
You can use them also along the coast, as regular combat ships, but with the super strong USA navy i fear they will not live for long. :p leure:

4) Thet are very cool! :coeurs: But don`t use them alone. Put one of this inside each division and the whole division will get a very nice combat bonus.

5) The Ai is not bad, but still have to learn some tricks... :innocent: On some of my campaigns the USA navy is very carefull avoiding my coastal forts, but on others they do the same you see. Don't know why... :bonk:

PS: yes he is! :niark:

Regards!

User avatar
Rafiki
Posts: 5811
Joined: Thu Aug 24, 2006 9:19 am
Location: Oslo, Norway

Wed Feb 27, 2008 8:02 pm

MarkCSA wrote:P.S. Rafiki, are you the Rafiki from Paradox Entertainment Victoria?

Indeed Image

[SIZE="1"](Nothing to add to the answers already given)[/size]
[CENTER]Latest patches: AACW :: NCP :: WIA :: ROP :: RUS :: PON :: AJE
Visit AGEWiki - your increasingly comprehensive source for information about AGE games
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]
[/CENTER]

User avatar
LMUBill
Lieutenant
Posts: 141
Joined: Thu Dec 28, 2006 5:01 am
Location: Cumberland Gap, Tennessee
Contact: Yahoo Messenger

Wed Feb 27, 2008 11:59 pm

Rafiki wrote:Indeed Image

[SIZE="1"](Nothing to add to the answers already given)[/size]


Maybe we need a Rafiki Wiki to answer those queations.... :innocent:

MarkCSA
Posts: 403
Joined: Wed Feb 27, 2008 3:35 pm
Location: In a safe place, they couldn't hit an elephant at this distance

Tue Mar 04, 2008 8:59 am

Many thanks guys!

My 'locked' stacks have now left the locals behind and are whooping Yankee butt all over the place!

As for Naval Combat, yes, just staying the hell away from massive Union fleets sounds like a good idea.

Now back to the game to completely liberate Missouri and Kentucky from the unholy Yankee scum!

Return to “AGEod's American Civil War”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 27 guests