AGEOD Forums

Is anyone else finding that the blockade runners gets blown out of the water within a few turns of being placed in the blockade boxes?

I put my units on passive stance, and avoid combat stance, and at least one unit got found and destroyed each turn. I have hardly any left, and it is only August '61.

I haven't tried the full campaign as CSA yet, but as Union commander I'm not as succesful as the computer, it would seem.

I guess it boils down to a percentage for the runners being discovered and engaged/ eliminated. I would assume you're being somewhat unlucky (understatement of the year, one per turn sounds bad).

Yes. I lost all mine by the fall of 61 and don't have enough money to build more. They seem all but useless in the present state of things. Perhaps a bit of tweaking is in order.

It's completely random. Right after they put the blockade boxes into effect, I tried them out and complained to Pocus about the same thing. Then I started up another game and didn't lose any throughout the entire war. I've had games where I couldn't keep any afloat, and ones where they never got them, and a mix of everything in between.

If you're having problems make sure you have them set to a defensive posture, and, most importantly, make absolutely sure you have the "Evade" command selected. If you don't use that, you're basically sending them to their deaths. I leave all my ships separated, and don't combine them into fleets, so if one is found, it doesn't risk anything but that one ship. Also, if any of your units sees combat and isn't sunk, make sure to bring it in for a refit.

Seperate the ships individually. D'oh.

Genius. Sneaky, but brilliant.

Stonewall wrote:Seperate the ships individually. D'oh.

Genius. Sneaky, but brilliant.

And I would venture quite historically accurate.

Stonewall wrote:Seperate the ships individually. D'oh.

Genius. Sneaky, but brilliant.

This is my problem. I have huge combined fleets and the box still reads 0 percent. Wow! Major oversight on my part and major strategy tip needed for all of us, including for an update in the manual and for the FAQ on the forum.

blockading is still buggy. See the "help to improve AACW game".

If you start the campaign, the Union gets 15% efficiency at your runners, I've the impressoin that this 15% means "killed" instead of intercepted. I think a blockade runner being intercepted, shouldn't mean sunk de facto. So mathematically, you'll last 6 turns with your runner, this is what's happening basicly. But any hit - is a sudden death - here I put a questionmark.

Now after a few turns the 15% figure goes to 5% - probably cause the Union sinks his own ships against your forts. I'm not sure due to limited feedback from naval battles. When you are at 5%, you won't lose any runners ! This is a cashcow !

summary =

5% and 15% are totally different things - the difference is not well balanced.

There's a reason why the Union goes to 5%, some weird thing (see above for details).

And intercepting at 15% shouldn't equal sunk 15%. Cause the Union might damage your runners, meaning they are not effective all the turns (seems quite logical).

bottomline =

indeed sometimes runners are economical cash cows, and sometimes they are sinkholes for your cash. The reason behind that, is quite nasty ... but I'm positive this will get fixed.

Spharv2 wrote:If you're having problems make sure you have them set to a defensive posture,

Shouldn't they be set to 'passive' posture and have the evade button selected as well? Doesn't a defensive posture give them a chance at intercepting the Union as well as the Union having a chance at interceppting them?

Jim

James D Burns wrote:Shouldn't they be set to 'passive' posture and have the evade button selected as well? Doesn't a defensive posture give them a chance at intercepting the Union as well as the Union having a chance at interceppting them?

Jim

Not so long as you're using the Evade command. If you have them in passive, you also get the additional combat penalties. Interception doesn't mean automatic death against all forces, so I want as few penalties as possible.

Spharv2 wrote:It's completely random. Right after they put the blockade boxes into effect, I tried them out and complained to Pocus about the same thing. Then I started up another game and didn't lose any throughout the entire war. I've had games where I couldn't keep any afloat, and ones where they never got them, and a mix of everything in between.

If you're having problems make sure you have them set to a defensive posture, and, most importantly, make absolutely sure you have the "Evade" command selected. If you don't use that, you're basically sending them to their deaths. I leave all my ships separated, and don't combine them into fleets, so if one is found, it doesn't risk anything but that one ship. Also, if any of your units sees combat and isn't sunk, make sure to bring it in for a refit.

Just learned two new things there. Thanks.

What about ships and fleets you just want patrolling the blockade box, to up the %? Does stance matter for that, I wonder?

I've been keeping my large Blockade Squadrons on defensive in order to simply maintain cohesion longer.

I'm not positive, but I assume you'd want them on aggressive. It may not effect the %, but it will effect your chances of catching and destroying the runners.

in the blockades box, stance has no impact, the strongest side try to find the weakest side. The calculation is made by using the patrol value on one side, and the evade value on the other.

The blockade percentage is using the Blockade value, and serves only to reduce the CSA economy.

Some posts by the designers say you can raise the blockade percentage to 25%, but no matter what I've tried I can only get it up to 15%. I'm wondering if others have been able to reach 25% in v. 1.02, and if so, how many blockading fleets did you have in the box and were they combined into one fleet or placed individually? I'm asking because I would like to know how to maximize this tactic and obtain the 25% value. 10 blockading fleets in the box doesn't seem to be enough.

What naval units can you use as blockade runners? They are not a seperate unit (I have checked that) so which unit are supposed to be used for that?

I have gotten commerce raiders to work and they blow union merchant shipping out of the water.

Brigs are perfect for that job...

Pocus wrote:in the blockades box, stance has no impact, the strongest side try to find the weakest side. The calculation is made by using the patrol value on one side, and the evade value on the other.

The blockade percentage is using the Blockade value, and serves only to reduce the CSA economy.

Ah, now this is very good to know, as now everything sent to a box can just be put on Defensive, and Cohesion does not fall...only reason to rotate out would be 1) combat cohesion/hits; or 2) supplies gone. Knowing this makes for much less micromanagement!

Kotik wrote:What naval units can you use as blockade runners? They are not a seperate unit (I have checked that) so which unit are supposed to be used for that?

I have gotten commerce raiders to work and they blow union merchant shipping out of the water.

Hi Kotik, can you tell me(or us) which ships are you using as commerce raiders??The South can build frigates,brigs,steam frigates and later on ironclads but which are the best for raiding the shipping lane box??

greetings Hohenlohe

there is an error in the formula, for now it gives too much weight to the less blockaded box. This is what we want, to force a spread, but not to the extreme it is for now in the current version. I guess the next update will allow you to see the % increase above 50%... The maximum being 99% (meaning that all the high seas are under control, thus reducing CSA production output by 49.5%).
But before reaching this theorical (and costly) high point, it is better to blockade the bigger CSA ports one by one (brown water blockade).

Hohenlohe wrote:Hi Kotik, can you tell me(or us) which ships are you using as commerce raiders??The South can build frigates,brigs,steam frigates and later on ironclads but which are the best for raiding the shipping lane box??

greetings Hohenlohe

Brigs, I use those I had from the beginning as I haven't lost anyone yet.

I have found that the more you place in the Gulf box, the higher the percentage; it is the most important box.

AMOF, I have been able to stay above ZERO by keeping up the blockade in the Gulf while having NO blockade in the Atlantic.

The highest percentage yet achieved was 60% vs. the AI.