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OK, sorry for asking a question that I'm sure gets asked all the time but I'm getting very frustrated. I've read through the guide in the Strat section, went to the wiki page and went through the tutorials but I still don't understand how this whole command points/stacks/corps works. O.K. I'm the CSA and I've got the Army of the Potomac with a couple 2 stars and a 1 star in the area. I can move the 2 star guy out of the group and make him a corps if I seperate all his units first. Crap, it's confusing just talking about it.

OK, in the guide it says that if we put a bunch of generals in the stack we can increase our CP right? But this doesn't work. How can you stack generals? The little + sign won't work to stack them. I know this doesn't make a lot of sense. Is there a reeeeeallllly basic FAQ? The FAQ here has a lot of good info I'm sure but I need to know the basics.

Thanks

Also, why can't I stack up more than 1 or 2 units with a general? I thought we were supposed to be able to have a bunch of regiments(brigades?awwwwwwww). Sometimes I can't even get 1 unit to stack with a general. For instance right now I'm looking at Benjamin Huger and no units will stack with him.

Hi! and welcome!

Don't worry, its easier than it seems once you get the basics.


Your problem is that you are mistaking stacking with merging.
Forget the + button!! (for now )
To stack all you need to do is drag and drop one unit or stack on top of another.
The easiest way is using the tabs each stack has just over the unit panel. Drang one unit from the panel to another tab and... voila! you have put it on another stack.
If you what to create a new stack just drop the unit or units to an empty place on the region or to another region if you want the new stack to move there.
Its difficult to explain with words, but vety easy to do with the mouse.

Now, the + button is for merging. You only need to use it to put units inside a division (divisions work like unit containers) or to merge a leader with another unit (and only one, as you said).
You will not need to do the later very much. Is just a way to give a little combat bonus to a brigade using a a one star leader which have no division to command. For the moment, left it alone, as its not really important.
Stacks and Divisions are important!
Hope it helps!
Regards

Hi!

This is a stack:

You see it gets 4 Command Points:
The 2-star General generates 8 Command Points. The stack is no Army or Corps: Command Points are reduced by 50% (Out of Command Chain penalty)


I add another general to the stack now:

You see, the stack receives 8 Command Points now.

OK, that does help (I hope, at my laptop now, will try later). I think I'm understanding.

So, all those guys in the window at the bottom of the screen are in the stack, right?

That makes more sense. So is one of the units a division? If so can we always merge units to make bigger divisions?

OK, say I've got 3 generals in the stack and there's 4 or 5 units with them. Who's commanding who then? Or doesn't it matter?

Primasprit wrote:Hi!

This is a stack:

You see it gets 4 Command Points:
The 2-star General generates 8 Command Points. The stack is no Army or Corps: Command Points are reduced by 50% (Out of Command Chain penalty)


I add another general to the stack now:

You see, the stack receives 8 Command Points now.

GREAT!!! Thank you so much.

aargh57 wrote:OK, that does help (I hope, at my laptop now, will try later). I think I'm understanding.

So, all those guys in the window at the bottom of the screen are in the stack, right?

That makes more sense. So is one of the units a division? If so can we always merge units to make bigger divisions?

OK, say I've got 3 generals in the stack and there's 4 or 5 units with them. Who's commanding who then? Or doesn't it matter?

Yes, the guys in the window are in a stack.

None of the units in the example is a division. You possibly could make a division out of stack. T. Holmes is inactive (brown envelope in the upper right hand corner) and therefore can not form a division. Click on Bonham. If his envelope is white, you are in business.

The commander of the stack is the first general, i.e. T Holmes. Also you can use only two generals to increase CP's. Additional generals do not add any more CP's to the stack.

aargh57 wrote:OK, that does help (I hope, at my laptop now, will try later). I think I'm understanding.

So, all those guys in the window at the bottom of the screen are in the stack, right?

That makes more sense. So is one of the units a division? If so can we always merge units to make bigger divisions?

OK, say I've got 3 generals in the stack and there's 4 or 5 units with them. Who's commanding who then? Or doesn't it matter?

Yes, on the unit panel (the window) you see all the units of a stack.
Divisions have gray/silver colour on the name of the leader band.
As you can see, Holmes and Bonham names are over white, so they are not divisions now, just lone leaders. You can make them division leaders if you want, and form a division with them. Check the tutorials for that.
Also a division will have power number (like the 67 you see on Evans brigade unit) because they will have combat troops "inside".
Besides, when you hover your mouse over a division unit on the panel his "contents", the units forming the division, will appear above the panel.

The stack is commanded always by the higher ranking officer (number of stars). If two generals has the same number of stars, like on the screen, the one with the most seniority will command (Holmes on this case) even if he has worst stats. The commander will always be on the left of the panel.
And, yes, it matters a lot who command.
As i said, your higher ranking may be a fool but still will command a stack above other much better generals.
As in life, the boss usually is not the smartest guy on the company...
Regards

Thanks for the help guys. Just a few questions about divisions. This is from Runyon's 101 guide in the strategy section:



[color="Blue"]Concept #3 - The Division

As I said, AACW is a game of planning, organization and execution, and part of that organization is raising troops and forming them into effective fighting formations.

The key to making effective armies is first to create proper divisions. Divisions are important, because they incorporate 4 brigades or more into a single fighting unit, which cost fewer Command Points as a division than they would as seperate brigades in the same stack.

Consider a stack of units with 4 brigades and a one star leader. Each brigade requires, for example, 2 Command Points, so our stack requires a total of 8 command points. With only one leader, this stack will fight at a 30% penalty, because our leader will only be able to provide 2 command points. We are short 6 command points in this stack.

Since we pointed out last topic that AACW is a game about putting your generals in the best situations to win battles and succeed, we obviously want to avoid going into battles with big command penalties.

The most efficient way to cut down on Command Point penalties is to form all the brigades into a single division. Every division costs just 4 command points. If we merge our 4 brigades from the example above into one division, we cut down the Command Point requirement for the stack from 8 to 4, and the combat penalty for the stack going into combat will be cut down from 30% to 10%. This is clearly much better.

So, what does a division look like? Most of the best players will agree that the ideal division looks like this:
(click for larger view)


Here we have a full strength blue division. It consists of
1 Leader
11 Infantry Regiments
1 Sharpshooter Regiment
1 Cavalry Regiment
4 Artillery Batteries

The total is the maximum of 18 elements allowed. You can substitute other specialty regiments such as sailors, marines, etc instead of the regular infantry regiments in some cases. You could use a few more cavalry regiments if you are so inclined.

Pocus has stated that the frontage rules do not allow for more than 4 artillery units to fire in combat at a time, so using more than 4 artillery batteries is not advantageous, and an all artillery division will not fight well.

You can also use cavalry regiments and horse artillery to form cavalry regiments if you wish. Using regluar or light artillery may (or may not) slow down the movement of a cavalry division.

Keep in mind in all cases that the purpose of the division is to cut down on Command Point requirements. You should only contemplate forming a division for stacks with more than 4 Command Points. If a stack only requires 2, 3 or 4 command points, you are BETTER OFF leaving it as a stack of individual brigades/regiments.

Keep in mind also that a few large divisions make more efficient use of Command Points than forming several small divisions. Don't try to form little divisions with all of your leaders. Pick your best leaders, and them form divisions as large as possible around them.[/color]

Questions:

1. Is division synonymous with brigade?
2. He says that "If a stack only requires 2, 3 or 4 command points, you are BETTER OFF leaving it as a stack of individual brigades/regiments." Why is this? Why not have them together?
3.Arsan said earlier
"Now, the + button is for merging. You only need to use it to put units inside a division (divisions work like unit containers) or to merge a leader with another unit (and only one, as you said).
You will not need to do the later very much. Is just a way to give a little combat bonus to a brigade using a a one star leader which have no division to command. For the moment, left it alone, as its not really important."

But I thought that we were supposed to make dision leaders. And Runyon says that an ideal division consisted of 1 leader, 11 infantry, etc... So, well I'm confused about this.

aargh57 wrote:1. Is division synonymous with brigade?

No. A division consists of brigades, which in turn, consist of regiments.

aargh57 wrote:2. He says that "If a stack only requires 2, 3 or 4 command points, you are BETTER OFF leaving it as a stack of individual brigades/regiments." Why is this? Why not have them together?

The CP penalty for a loose stack will be less than or equal the CP penalty for a division. Since you are limited to a certain number of divisions you are better off leaving them separate.

I don't see a question to answer for three. Could you rephrase?

Barksdale, sorry.

I guess my question for 3 is, Runyon says that the perfect division consists of:
1 Leader
11 Infantry Regiments
1 Sharpshooter Regiment
1 Cavalry Regiment
4 Artillery Batteries


But Arsan says that you don't really need to merge leaders with the units. This seems contradictory. Anyway, I find the division concept a little confusing, although I think I'm getting it. For example, I just made Polk (a 2 star) into a division leader (bad idea?) I then combined the Brewer battalion with some infantry to bring the command cost down to 4 instead of 5 so I don't have a penalty. However, I thought that 2 stars get 8 CP's but I'm only showing Polk getting 4. What gives?

aargh57 wrote:I guess my question for 3 is, Runyon says that the perfect division consists of:
1 Leader
11 Infantry Regiments
1 Sharpshooter Regiment
1 Cavalry Regiment
4 Artillery Batteries

But Arsan says that you don't really need to merge leaders with the units. This seems contradictory.

I believe Arsan is referring to brigade command. This is done by merging a leader, with no divisional command, with a brigade.

aargh57 wrote:However, I thought that 2 stars get 8 CP's but I'm only showing Polk getting 4. What gives?

I believe * produces 2 CP. ** produces 4 CP. *** produces 8 CP.

You should let your * generals form your divisions, leaving ** to form your corps.

1 star general 4 CP
2 star general 8 CP
3 star general 12 CP
To get all CP the stack needs to be in the Command Chain. This means the stack needs to be an Army or Corps. If this is not the case you get only half of the CP.

ok got a question. how come some generals can command 4 or 4 brigades in a division and others only 1? i have a few 1 star generals whom i dont remember enabling as generals but the + button is active when i click them with another brigade so they must be divisional commanders right?

You haven't enabled them as division commanders. They aren't commanding a division, they are commanding a brigade. Any leader (activated or not), can command an eligible brigade . Eligible brigades will have at least one regular infantry or cavalry element. The CP cost will be less for a brigade, unless it is very large (contains lots of regiments); but you have a limited number of leaders, and lots of troops. So this can come in handy for some situations, but it is not as efficient in the long run as creating divisions.

Primasprit wrote:1 star general 4 CP
2 star general 8 CP
3 star general 12 CP
To get all CP the stack needs to be in the Command Chain. This means the stack needs to be an Army or Corps. If this is not the case you get only half of the CP.

You might as well just restate it as 1 star has 2 CP, 2 star has 4 CP, and 3 star 6 CP. The original numbers never come into play. In a corps, they don't matter because extra leaders don't add to a corps command points. In an indepdent force, its always half the "original", so I find it less confusing to just think of the "halved" CP as the real CP provided.

Coffee Sergeant wrote: <snip> The original numbers never come into play. In a corps, they don't matter because extra leaders don't add to a corps command points. <snip>

Yes they do, up to the stack max [base is 16, adjusted by certain attributes]

Sorry if I'm being dense here, but... What's the advantage of making a general a division leader? If their in the window with the other units or divisions isn't he commanding them anyway?

aargh57 wrote:Sorry if I'm being dense here, but... What's the advantage of making a general a division leader? If their in the window with the other units or divisions isn't he commanding them anyway?

You make divisions because they can hold up to 17 elements (exluding the diviosn leader), and still use only 4 command points. Most other units are approximately 1 CP per element. Thus in any given stack, whether its a corps or an independent stack, you can have a much larger force at a much lower command penalty.

In a stack, all units are commanded by the stack commander, if present. The stack commander is the leader with the most stars, and highest seniority (a 2-star general with less seniority than a 1 star would still command the stack, for instance) The offensive and defensive ratings of the stack commander are added to the units at the rate of 5% per point. In addition, if a unit is under direct command of a division or brigade leader, the unit gets an additional 3% per point for their immediate commander.

aargh57 i like your username, ive had at least 57 "aargh" moments while tryin to play/learn this game leure:

im gettin there though

OK, how do I find out how many dision leaders I can have? Still having trouble with this.

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Hi
If you mean divisions, you can have 24 as CSA and 48 as USA max
This numbers has been increased on the last patch to 30 and 60.
If you mean division forming capable leaders (1 star): don't worry, you will have much more leaders than possible divisions.
The max number of divisions increases progressively, but by end of 61 or so (i think) you must have the total max number already allowed
Anyway, check the tooltip over the form division button to know how much you have, how much you have to pay for this turn and what is your max number at the moment.
AGEod tooltips are very informative. Read them always!
Regards

OK, so I want to make Windsor a division leader but it's whited out. I know I don't have 24 division leaders already. It says (0 divisions are requiring the form up cost) when I hover the cursor over the tab (this means nothing to me btw ).

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Is he activated? The leader needs to be activated the turn you make him divisional commander.

You are always faster than me Gray!

OK, in a post I saw that there's supposed to be a little envelope or something to signify if he's active or some other way to tell. I still can't tell.

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