The most important 1 stars?

[Kiwinomad]

OK, so it's only my second game (first as the CSA) and I effed up by trying to march Jackson to Baltimore as winter hit, but otherwise I'm doing pretty well I think.

Anyway, Bragg and Hardee (I think) have the training master special ability which gives 1 pt of experience to each unit in the stack.

Maybe I'm gaming this ability, but so far, I have bought maybe two brigades of infantry. Instead, I buy as much militia as I can, put them in uber stacks in "training camps" and wait. I use New Orleans and Charleston (also means I have good entrenchments for if the Union try to land) and feed the units to the front as much improved infantry. Sure, they don't have the support elements a real brigade would have, but that's what divisioning is for, right?

Is there a cap on the level a unit can attain under a training master? I don't mind spending time to get militia to infantry, but at some point you need to see the elephant for a unit to become more experienced.

I mean a * with nice stats like Sherman is OK, if he does well with an independent command you can get a good corps commander out of it, but otherwise so what? As a * they'll always be in trouble vs even an average full-sized corps just because of size.

The entrentchers etc that don't need to be in command to benefit are handy, but right now I am a CSA with enough money to embargo cotton whenever it becomes available and not worry about it (well except when it backfires).

Sorry for the rant, I would like to hear who other people think are important *s, just got carried away with my little trick.

[Coffee Sergeant]

I've had Nathanial Banks in Baltimore for the past 8 turns it says he has special ability 'recruit master' or something like that, which seems to me that he can recruit units without having to spend conscription points/money, but so far he's come up empty.

[lodilefty]

I've had Nathanial Banks in Baltimore for the past 8 turns it says he has special ability 'recruit master' or something like that, which seems to me that he can recruit units without having to spend conscription points/money, but so far he's come up empty.

He has to be inside the city. Then look at the conscripts generated in the region (up at the top of the display). Move him in/out of the city to see the difference....

Took me a long time to spot this!

[Henry D.]

Also, the bigger the City, the bigger the the number of additional conscripts a Recruiting officer is generating each turn. Send You R-O's into the largest cities, like New York City, and with all three (Banks, Burnside, McClernand) You will raise the Union's conscript output per turn by about 30-40%!

Which always made me wonder why the South only gets one R-O ever, in 1864, while the North gets three within the first Year of the "April 61" Grand Campaign.

Regards, Henry

[marecone]

Hmmm... Great tips but they sound like game spoilers. Dunno what to think.

[Pdubya64]

Meh, sounds like they just need some adjustment and AGEOD TLC.

[Henry D.]

Well, I agree that the trait is a bit too advantageous, and gives the player a good use to three otherwise more or less useless leaders, but I like it in general. I see them as come kind of especially competent Adjutant Generals or something.

But balance-wise, the South would be in much greater need of Recruiting Officers than the North and I wonder, since at least two of the three northern R-O's are popular "political generals", why the trait hasn't been slapped on some of their early southern counterparts as well...

Regards, Henry

[arsan]

OK, so it's only my second game (first as the CSA) and I effed up by trying to march Jackson to Baltimore as winter hit, but otherwise I'm doing pretty well I think.

Anyway, Bragg and Hardee (I think) have the training master special ability which gives 1 pt of experience to each unit in the stack.

Maybe I'm gaming this ability, but so far, I have bought maybe two brigades of infantry. Instead, I buy as much militia as I can, put them in uber stacks in "training camps" and wait. I use New Orleans and Charleston (also means I have good entrenchments for if the Union try to land) and feed the units to the front as much improved infantry. Sure, they don't have the support elements a real brigade would have, but that's what divisioning is for, right?

Is there a cap on the level a unit can attain under a training master? I don't mind spending time to get militia to infantry, but at some point you need to see the elephant for a unit to become more experienced.

I mean a * with nice stats like Sherman is OK, if he does well with an independent command you can get a good corps commander out of it, but otherwise so what? As a * they'll always be in trouble vs even an average full-sized corps just because of size.

The entrentchers etc that don't need to be in command to benefit are handy, but right now I am a CSA with enough money to embargo cotton whenever it becomes available and not worry about it (well except when it backfires).

Sorry for the rant, I would like to hear who other people think are important *s, just got carried away with my little trick.

This training militia strategy /exploit seems to contradict this info on the wiki FAQ:

Are training officers able to change militia into conscripts?
No, training officers train conscripts to regulars, but the change from militia to conscript is only done by the event engine. You don't have a hand on militia change; it's random, and the event engine picks all militia units on the board and applies a small chance of conversion to them (5-10%).

Somebody now wich is true?

Cheers!

[Candew]

Also, the bigger the City, the bigger the the number of additional conscripts a Recruiting officer is generating each turn. Send You R-O's into the largest cities, like New York City, and with all three (Banks, Burnside, McClernand) You will raise the Union's conscript output per turn by about 30-40%!

Regards, Henry

I had no idea that it had such an impact.

In my current game, of the three, I have one of them in a level 5 city (the smallest city you will see any benefit from the trait).

I am in the middle of 1863 (approximately 56 turns left); close to 2500 conscripts in my pool, generating a little over 78+ a turn and I only have 30 divisions in the field at present.

With this meager force (by Union standards) I have already contained Lee in the east and have the south on the run in the West (have Nashville, threatening Memphis and have taken New Orleans).

I find I spend most of the first two years of the war as the Union securing the East and getting gunboats, militia and cavelry units in place to contain Southern raiders in the Western theater, rather then conducting a proper offensive (I maybe overly cautious in my generalship).

Mind you, this is only against the AI and I am purposely playing with one hand tied behind my back to give it a fighting chance.

Would the recruiting trait be considered overkill if playing against a skilled human opponent?

[Coffee Sergeant]

He has to be inside the city. Then look at the conscripts generated in the region (up at the top of the display). Move him in/out of the city to see the difference....

Took me a long time to spot this!

Yeah I think I get it know - he's increasing conscription points - not recruiting whole units. For some reason I thought units should pop up there . So I guess it has been working for me. Also have had McClernand in Chicago for a while. I guess I should put Burnside in New York.

I find I spend most of the first two years of the war as the Union securing the East and getting gunboats, militia and cavelry units in place to contain Southern raiders in the Western theater, rather then conducting a proper offensive (I maybe overly cautious in my generalship).

This sounds alot like my game. I am in late 1861 and have yet to laucnh major offensive. I am slowly securing the Missouri and Kentucky with militia/calvary units, and have just formed McClellan's army in Clermont. In the East I held Manassas and Faquier briefly but got kicked out but Beauregard and Johnston, and am now holding on to Alexandria and Harpers Ferry. I have been hesitant to launch a major offensive without a good Army/Corps backbone and have just only recently got the leaders. I have only 'called for volunteers' (no mobilization) and have been investing in Industrialization in a couple states, so things seem to be going a little slow. I think partly this is because there is alot of different things going on and I keep getting side tracked. Initially I was planning to form an Army at St. Louis, but I didn't realize about the hit I would take but not appointing McClellan and I chickened out.

[robot]

Im sorry but I thought Don Carlos Buell commanded the army of Ohio. And Mac had command of AOP. The only thing that is holding me back from being aggresive in this game is I have no HQ units to make my army of Missouri and Ohio. Although it says AOP is formed i dont see it due to lack of HQ units. Of course I am only around turn nine so far. Has been real slow due to the fact of not being able to form any real working kind of force. I like to put around 10 elements to my divisions and at least three or four divisions into a corp. And somewhere around three or four corps to an army. Then have my corps push back the enemy. What with trying to get this started and trying to stop the csa raiders I have had no time to really mount any kind of an offensive so far.


Have been trying in the meantime to amass a larger pool of replacements for when the real fighting starts.

Couple of quick questions. Is it better to raise the percentage in your blockade box or actually blockade the ports and fort areas along the coast.

Right now my bigest problem is with the lock downs of most of my troops and unable to form them into a fighting force.

All the one star generals that came in with Hamilton have been sent to seperate citys around St.Louis and Cincinnati and Washington. To help with all the clutter around DC. I will send troops to there citys and form divisions there then move them towards the front.

Last question when you are able to form HQ units how do you get them to the armys you want to form.

[McNaughton]

The most important leader is the stack leader. They are the ones who influence your units the most. The difference between a divisional commander with 3-1-1 and 3-2-2 stats is negligable (even a 3-0-0 divisoinal commander adds strength to the unit), while the difference for a stack commander's influence on the units is much greater.

Also, most leader attributes only take effect if they are the leader of the stack, meaning most AGEOD abilities for their generals don't matter if your commander is not leading the stack (i.e., commands a division in a stack commanded by another general). So, realistically, any general will be good for divisional command.

However, 1-star generals can be stack leaders, if they have high seniority, and there are no 2 or 3-star generals in the stack. One strategy (early on) is to get your 'good' 1-star generals in command of a division, and stick them with another 1-star general of lower seniority, and you have a one-division stack, with no CP penalties (2 brigadier generals give 4 CP), plus you gain the benefit of your top 1-star general's abilities (as they are now the stack leader) and statistics (which not only affect the division, but the stack, so bonus' are doubled). However, make sure that your 'best' general has the greatest amount of seniority (otherwize the other general will lead the stack).

[Kiwinomad]

This training militia strategy /exploit seems to contradict this info on the wiki FAQ:

Are training officers able to change militia into conscripts?
No, training officers train conscripts to regulars, but the change from militia to conscript is only done by the event engine. You don't have a hand on militia change; it's random, and the event engine picks all militia units on the board and applies a small chance of conversion to them (5-10%).

Somebody now wich is true?

Cheers!

Hmm, maybe I was just getting a lot of random conversions because I had a lot of militia. It did look like the oldest units in the stack were converting though. I'll have to do it again and watch the experience points totals of the units. The messages did say "the training of [milita] is now complete" or words like that and it was always the ones in NO and Charleston (at least that I noticed).

[Aurelin]

Im sorry but I thought Don Carlos Buell commanded the army of Ohio. And Mac had command of AOP. The only thing that is holding me back from being aggresive in this game is I have no HQ units to make my army of Missouri and Ohio. Although it says AOP is formed i dont see it due to lack of HQ units. Of course I am only around turn nine so far. Has been real slow due to the fact of not being able to form any real working kind of force. I like to put around 10 elements to my divisions and at least three or four divisions into a corp. And somewhere around three or four corps to an army. Then have my corps push back the enemy. What with trying to get this started and trying to stop the csa raiders I have had no time to really mount any kind of an offensive so far.


Have been trying in the meantime to amass a larger pool of replacements for when the real fighting starts.

Couple of quick questions. Is it better to raise the percentage in your blockade box or actually blockade the ports and fort areas along the coast.

Right now my bigest problem is with the lock downs of most of my troops and unable to form them into a fighting force.

All the one star generals that came in with Hamilton have been sent to seperate citys around St.Louis and Cincinnati and Washington. To help with all the clutter around DC. I will send troops to there citys and form divisions there then move them towards the front.

Last question when you are able to form HQ units how do you get them to the armys you want to form.

A message shows up that says McClellan gets command of the AoTP. Ignore it as it is a flavor event. A message might say, The USA mobilizes another army ...... That is just a leader and some units. As the game goes on, you'll be able to build more army HQs.

It takes time as the Union to get a real working force together, Not because of the lack of units, but the lack of decent leaders. In the meantime, build lots of militia, garrison the cities, some cavalry to chase raiders. (You get free units as a reaction to the raids.) Also, play the raid game yourself.

Blockades, it's better to do both brown and blue water. Until you get the forces needed to actually take the ports.

To form an army, merge an army HQ with a 3* leader. You don't get to name the army though.

I think the general consenes on replacements is to keep 10% in the pools. That isn't a hard and fast rule though. Keep in mind, however, that a Union element has a lesser chance to receive a replacement than a Confed one. (In a triumph of political expedience over practical consideration, state gov's would raise new regiments, the commands of which went to people they owed or were getting political favors from.)

[tagwyn]

In real war the North had both Memphis, N.O. and Nashville in 1862 and Corinth soon after Shiloh. They spent the better part of 1863 (in the West) taking Vicksburg and Port Hudson and moving on Knoxville and Chatanooga. T

[jeff b]

A
I think the general consenes on replacements is to keep 10% in the pools. That isn't a hard and fast rule though. Keep in mind, however, that a Union element has a lesser chance to receive a replacement than a Confed one. (In a triumph of political expedience over practical consideration, state gov's would raise new regiments, the commands of which went to people they owed or were getting political favors from.)

What's a quick way to determine the size of your army, and that elusive 10%?

[Rafiki]

The replacement screen lists the number of elements you have in play of each type.