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Heldenkaiser
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Wed Oct 15, 2008 10:27 am

Heldenkaiser wrote:Thanks. Yes, I understand it depends on the frontage, but is there an unlimited frontage situation (however unlikely) where say 20 batteries could participate in a combat? :confused:

And asked another way, if the 4 batteries rule-of-thumb has no foundation fact, is there any other good guess as to how many batteries are usefully employed in a division? :)


Still wondering about the answer to this one ...? :)
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Dixicrat
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Frontage, Artillery, and TO&E

Wed Oct 15, 2008 4:57 pm

Heldenkaiser wrote:Still wondering about the answer to this one ...? :)


I still have many questions about this, myself. Here's where my thinking is, at this point:
    The manual states that frontage can vary between 2 and 8 elements.
    Pocus has said that the notion of a maximum of 4 arty in any frontage is a myth.
    The clearer the terrain, the more artillery elements can be in frontage. Conversely, with more wooded the terrain, the fewer artillery elements.
    From the AACW wiki:
    [INDENT]The frontage space occupied by a sub-unit depends on its maneuverability in this type of terrain.

    Example: On the one hand, regular units are quite slow in mountain terrain and take up much frontage space in such terrain as a consequence. Partisans, on the other hand, are much faster in mountains and take up less frontage space. This means you could engage the enemy with many more partisans than regular units in this particular case.
    [/INDENT]


Elsewhere, I've proposed the idea of Divisional units defined by their ordnance. Here's a condensed summary.

[INDENT][SIZE="1"]...For example, consider a Mountain Division. Within wilderness, frontage is going to be poor, and ranges are going to be shorter. Consequently, it is unlikely that the commonly accepted value of 4 ordnance per division will be of much use, with such limited frontage. The paired battery of 20 lb Parrott and 12 lbr mentioned earlier would serve well here. Meanwhile, the two extra element slots within the Division might be used for Cav, instead.

Another example might be a Striker Division, defined as a division which would generally work independently of a corps or army. Such a division might include 5 artillery units: a Columbiad, a 20 lb Parrot, two 10 lb Parrots, and a 12 lbr. I would further recommend the inclusion of more Cav than the usual 1; at least two, and possibly as many as four. I also believe that this division's infantry should consist entirely of what I call "Rifle" Infantry: Infantry with a range of 4. Any availible Elite infantry (with its cohesion bonus) should be placed in striker divisions, first.

Yet another example might be a Cavalry Division, with ordnance consisting of 2 Columbiads, one12/20 pair, and a pair of HA, for a total of 6 artillery. 6 Cav and 5 Infantry would fill out the rest. Of course, this Cav division would be best suited for operations in open terrain, with maximum frontage. (Note that the HA pair can be detached with one or more Cav elements for excursions to recon or raid.) If any division is in need of an Executive Officer (XO), a Cav Division is. The XO can accompany excursion forces.[/size][/INDENT]

Here's a link to the discussion I mentioned. The attachments explain my concept of WEI and so on.

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=10849
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Dixicrat
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Inflation

Tue Oct 21, 2008 2:00 am

I've printed a lot of money and done other things so that my inflation rate is really high. Is there any way to decrease it?

During turns in which you do nothing to increase your inflation rate, there is a chance that it will decrease by 1%. That chance = your current inflation rate.

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Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:53 am

Heldenkaiser wrote:Thanks. Yes, I understand it depends on the frontage, but is there an unlimited frontage situation (however unlikely) where say 20 batteries could participate in a combat? :confused:

And asked another way, if the 4 batteries rule-of-thumb has no foundation fact, is there any other good guess as to how many batteries are usefully employed in a division? :)


Maybe so ... checking ...
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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 5:54 pm

Something to consider is that FI is not just an on/off thing, where the USA is safe until it reaches 100. The higher it is, the bigger are the chances that the CSA get secret subsidies or even free blockade runners.



A Pocus quote. :)
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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:26 pm

No need for that from the Host player, but it won't do harm either. Here is the logic:

a) if a turn exists (ORD file), the AI don't play.
b) if turn 1 and no turn exists, the AI plays and flags the file (AI file)
c) if turn 2+ and no turn exists, two things can happen:
- the file is flagged AI file: the AI plays.
- the file is not flagged AI file: before hosting, whoever hosts get a pop-up window saying that the turn was a 'Human' turn and that the AI will take over the position.

So if the host pays attention, there is absolutely no need to uncheck the box.


A post from Pocus re: checking/unchecking the ai box during pbem play.
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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:35 pm

Hi there,

This was not a bug per se. In case of siege, all troops are automatically unloaded from ships, as not doing so can be rather dangerous if a battle ensue.

The next version will give you the option between the previous behavior and the new one (which is to not unload the troops). If you want to risk an evacuation, with troops stranded on board, then you have to use the Evade Fight order for the fleet. Know that as there are a delay in days (from 0 to 8) before a fleet move for real, it is very dangerous if an assault happen... Take your chance


A Pocus quote from BOA forums which I assume applies for AACW too.
"We shall give them the bayonet." -Stonewall at Fredericksburg.

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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:38 pm

Fighting or ambushing don't delay troops in the game, because it would raise several issues and exploits.


Make sure that when you read these out loud you include the French accent. :p
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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:43 pm

Only while moving yes, otherwise you could end up evading the fight in your target region.


Re: when evade fight works.
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:46 pm

Not quite, ship repair costs money and war supply!


Ship repair.
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:50 pm

Units in structures, which are in defensive mode are considered to be in passive for cohesion recovery. For replacements they are not, so you can play with that to prioritize replacements.

Units in passive in structures, if attacked, are considered in defensive mode.


Prioritizing replacements.
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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:54 pm

I would like to keep your save for when I have some time. Remember, the 24 past turns are always saved by the program, so I would gladly accept your complete save, in one big ZIP


Backup turns.
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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 6:55 pm

Voices acting? well why not, do you know how to capture that into a file? Also, we always wanted to have some video/audio tutorials also, would you be interested in being the Voice?


Posssible future video/audo!
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Daxil
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:00 pm

I'm but your humble servant!


The French are always charmers. Ok, maybe off topic... :mdr:
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:02 pm

Can be yes, this is the limit of the supply system. Even if the cost to move from California to Fayette is great, as there is only one link between the two, supply can still pass I would say. This is also a side effect of the settings, we did not want to be too strict on supply propagation, so that the AI is not starved to death. Now, it can be tweaked for PBEM perhaps, with harder constraints on supply distribution.


Supplies from Cali to Far West.
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:10 pm

randomization is made only when the general appears in-game, not in advance.

About the random&hide abilities thing, this has been discussed and this lead to some problems. In AACW you get many historical events and this complicate things (as many generals appears by event)


Re: Random generals, when their stats appear and if AGEOD could even randomize their traits and hide their stats.
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:13 pm

hit 'R' for the resume button, no need to moooove your mouse over the right area and then click.

Resume should resume the last game loaded, even if you quit the game, it memorizes what was the last file you loaded.


I believe when you're in the Options screen.
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:17 pm

Cav in stack: if you have a stack using 16 CP or more and don't have at least 4 cav elts, you get an additional -1 to your hide value (cav screening).

Cav is also used to major losses when the other side rout in battles.


Cav use in stacks.
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Mon Oct 27, 2008 7:26 pm

Sure, you must have not have enemy ships in a water region to have supply pass thru.


Blocking supplies in river.

Completely blocked.


Re: How many supplies are blocked if one naval element is blocking.

Not a fixed amount Decay starts when some hundreds accumulate, with depots lessening the problem.


How much supply structures hold.

River transports can supply adjacent forces yes.


No, they will share their supply even when "at sea" (at river?) in the river regions bordering the land stacks.


Supply distribution along a river is blocked if one of the side has gun that can do passing fire, as per the standard rules.


Re structures with the "bombard" passing ships option selected.

---------------
Ok I stopped Sept 3 if someone else wants to pick up on the "Pocus says" baton.
"We shall give them the bayonet." -Stonewall at Fredericksburg.

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Dixicrat
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More about line colors

Sat Nov 22, 2008 3:08 am

02Pilot wrote:I'd really like to know what all of the line colors mean (...) though since the map gives you pretty much the same info as far as I can tell, I'm not exactly sure what useful purpose they serve. Sort of like crop circles.


Light blue lines indicate that a river or stream must be crossed to move to the indicated region. The brown line indicates that movement will not cross any rivers or streams.

While it may seem like the lines provide information of what's already obvious, sometimes what's "obvious"... isn't. Let me provide two examples.

[INDENT][INDENT]Image[/INDENT][/INDENT]

Example 1: With just a cursory glance at the map, it would be easy to assume that movement to region 5 would be overland, and that movement to region 4 would involve crossing a stream. In actuality, its the opposite, as you can see.

Example 2: Another useful function of the movement lines is to indicate possible moves. In this same example, it wouldn't be hard to miss the fact that region 7 is adjacent. The lines make this clear.
Attachments
Lines of movement type.PNG
[SIZE="3"]Regards,[/size]

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02Pilot
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 5:11 am

Thanks for the clarification.

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Daxil
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Sat Nov 22, 2008 8:27 pm

Thats a nice one Dixi, thanks.
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"Brownies"

Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:48 pm

This is another entry which probably doesn't belong in the manual, but which might be helpful to newcomers.

What's a "Brownie"?

"Brownie" is a lighthearted/slang reference to a general who has a brown envelope for a turn... consequently being unable to attack.

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Brownie.JPG

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Conflicting Orders

Wed Nov 26, 2008 10:55 pm

I ordered one of my generals to attack an adjacent region, but then I received a message saying that he'd issued "conflicting orders and had reverted to Defensive posture". Why?

He turned into a Brownie! :)

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Indians and Partisans

Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:15 pm

I tried to assault a city with Indians led by Stand Watie, but nothing happened! Did I do something wrong?

Indians and Partisans cannot take a city unless Loyalty in the region is greater than 50%.
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Replacement types

Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:51 pm

Why is the type of unit repeated in parenthesis in the unit details box?

Image

This is the Replacement Type for the unit. It indicates which type of Replacements you should purchase to bring the unit back up to strength, when it has taken hits from weather, bombardment, or combat.

Image
Attachments
ReplacementsScreen.JPG
Infdetailsbox1.JPG

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Rafiki
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Thu Jan 15, 2009 12:03 am

Actually, it is the *family* of the *model*; it is used for certain event triggers, checking for VP control of cities and some other things in addition to relating to replacements.

But replacements are the most significant use of it, yeah :)
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Backslash confusion

Thu Feb 05, 2009 10:55 pm

Dixicrat wrote: ... numbers separated by a backslash (e.g., 1/15) ...


At the risk of looking totally anal, but I have been a programmer for 30 years. This is a forward slash. Take a look at http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/backslash.html

It is a common mistake.

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Fri Feb 06, 2009 6:35 am

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Evren
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Fri Feb 06, 2009 8:26 am

Heldenkaiser wrote:Thanks. Yes, I understand it depends on the frontage, but is there an unlimited frontage situation (however unlikely) where say 20 batteries could participate in a combat? :confused:

And asked another way, if the 4 batteries rule-of-thumb has no foundation fact, is there any other good guess as to how many batteries are usefully employed in a division? :)


First, chech out the excellent work by Major Tom:
http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?p=129441&posted=1#post129441

There was never an ideal battle formation in the history of warfare and in Ageod games. There was never a 4 batteries rule. And no, it's not a myth, it's rather a strategic decision.

There are situations that lets you say 20 batteries can participate in combat, even more, but it doesn't mean that you'll be able to use it effectively in every situation. It depends on the weather, the terrain, the commanders' abilities, your enemy's disposition, as well as your recources.

Back then it was Runyan99's suggestion (http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=6823) that 4 batteries per division was close to an ideal battle formation, and i believe it is more or less true. That division is very cost-effective according to me, and it proved itself since then in many battles played by the ACW players :) . As the high commander of the sides in any Ageod game, you always have the chance to test and see ;) .

PS: I just realized it's an old question, but i just saw it and and felt the urge to answer.

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