Brochgale
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Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:31 am

Mangudai wrote:Good job Runyon!

I feel like an idiot because I have formed all artillery divisions :siffle:

Regarding cities. If you have a militia garrison in a city and your main army outside the city, will the main army behave properly and retreat outside the region?

Subordinate commanders: You say their stats matter very little if they are not the commander. I know the traits sometimes don't matter, but what about attack and defense ratings? I have been using some of my best generals to command my biggest divisions within corps and armies. Is that a complete waste of talent?


I have formed artillery divisions under Generals like Alexander with the Artillerist ability but only with 4 artillery elements in them! I have those divisions - 4 in total placed in cities I consider essential to the defense of the confederacy - I do have siege artillery in each of those divisions and coastal artillery in one of them? However the feds have not attacked any of those cities like I thought they would? So I cant gauge if it has been an effective part of my war strategy?I have also put Sharpshooters in those stacks as well - I was hoping to see what would happen if yanks came in force on those cities? I am not sure if it is the best use of my limited number of divisions though?

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runyan99
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Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:10 am

Mangudai wrote:
Regarding cities. If you have a militia garrison in a city and your main army outside the city, will the main army behave properly and retreat outside the region?


Yes, that should work fine.

Subordinate commanders: You say their stats matter very little if they are not the commander. I know the traits sometimes don't matter, but what about attack and defense ratings? I have been using some of my best generals to command my biggest divisions within corps and armies. Is that a complete waste of talent?


For subordinate commanders, it depends on whether you have a stack of leaders, or a corps where subordinate leaders are attached to a division or even a brigade.

In a loose stack of leaders, the stats of the subordinate leaders won't count. Only the stats of the senior leader will be used. So, bad leaders with bad stats are prefectly fine to use in a stack for more CPs, as long as they are not the senior guy. On the other hand, the traits of the subordinate leaders will ususally be used (artillerist), depending on the trait. Bad traits like Dispirited Commander won't be used if the leader isn't the senior leader.

In a corps, or when you have divisions commanded by a seperate senior leader, the stats of the subordinate leaders will be used *for their unit* if they are the commanders of a division, or if they are merged with a brigade. In this instance, you get bonuses for both your division and corps commanders. Traits will work the same as in a loose stack, with most good traits applying, but most bad traits not for subordinate guys. Any loose commanders in a corps not attached to a unit with positive traits like Artillerist will still get used, so throw them in.

Hope that makes sense. Generally speaking, the senior guy in a stack counts, as does the leader of divisions.

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runyan99
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Tue Dec 18, 2007 1:29 am

GShock wrote:
Can you please explain in detail the frontage rules/limits, Run? :)


No, I've never seen them listed.


[color="RoyalBlue"]EDIT: There is no list indeed. I've asked them to Pocus myself for the manual (and to optimize my PBEM games :king: ) but it seems it's more an adaptable matrix varying according various factors than a list of fixed values.

The general idea is that your frontage is larger in plain than in forest (ranging from 8 to 2, with a 4 units frontage for forts assault in BoA) and that irregular units are able to stack up in hash terrains where regulard units will have much more difficulties to face them in an organised manner. From what I gathered ART units seem to use their own frontage rule too.

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DirkX
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Tue Dec 18, 2007 2:06 am

Brochgale wrote:I have formed artillery divisions under Generals like Alexander with the Artillerist ability but only with 4 artillery elements in them! I have those divisions - 4 in total placed in cities I consider essential to the defense of the confederacy - I do have siege artillery in each of those divisions and coastal artillery in one of them? However the feds have not attacked any of those cities like I thought they would? So I cant gauge if it has been an effective part of my war strategy?I have also put Sharpshooters in those stacks as well - I was hoping to see what would happen if yanks came in force on those cities? I am not sure if it is the best use of my limited number of divisions though?


thats a waste of your precious , limited divisions, you need divisons for your powerfull corps and artillery divisions are thus a double waste.
btw the leader trait "artilerist" accounts for the whole stack, so you basically need to put Alexander or Huger into your stack , they dont need to lead divisions.
for rear defense purposes (or your essential cities) put simply single units into the town (not divisions) some militia and artillery plus maybe reg. infantry does the job, if you can afford add some generic 3-1-1 generals.
you SHOULD be early enough warned before the union attacks there (watch ship movement, thats crucial to be prepared for seaborne invasions), and be able to move some reserve troops/reserve corps to the spot of action just in time.
you can even pack important cities like New Orleans, Norfolk and Mobile with Militias, thats cheap and upgrades automatically.
just keep some "fire brigades" at hand to react swift.

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runyan99
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Wed Dec 19, 2007 9:50 am

Tip #2 - Don't Forget Your Units

Sometimes I see opponets forget about a unit or a stack completely. This usually happens in the west or the transmississippi. The opponent loses a battle, the stack retreats to Laredo, TX or someplace, and my opponent forgets about the stack when he does his turns. Meanwhile, the troops run out of supply and wither away.

To avoid this, get in the habit of cycling through all of your idle units each turn using the E,R and T,Y keys.

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runyan99
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Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:05 am

Tip #3 - Handling Replacements

I don't know if this is an issue for some players or not, but I thought I would briefly share how I manage my replacement options.

Generally speaking, the key thing about replacements is to keep enough replacements to absorb the losses you might incur in any one turn, but no more. I have heard some players say you should keep 10% of your total force in the replacement pool, but I think that may be too much, particularly in the case of the most important category of Line Infantry, which will be the most used. Consider that conscript points in the replacement pools are troops that are not on the map doing something good for you like defending a key region or attacking the enemy, so you don't want to keep too many resources idle here.

Below is a pretty typical replacements screen for one of my games. This one is for the CSA.
Image

As you can see, I like to keep 10 Line Infantry replacements. I find this is generally enough to cover for any one turn, even if I fight a large battle. Other categories like Cavalry and artillery get 3 or 4 replacements only.

I like to keep at least one point in all of the combat categories like skirmisher or light infantry at all times, just to make sure that they have replacements available.

The April 1861 gives a lot of free militia replacements, and I have a hard time using them up because regiments convert from militia to line so quickly. As a result I never purchase militia replacements, but simply rely on the free allowance.

The noncombat and specialty categories at the end like heavy artillery or supply units I often leave empty unless I specifically want to supply replacements to these units. The reason for this is that many of these categories are expensive to replace, or often do not need replacements, so I leave them at zero until needed.

Finally at the bottom, notice I have not spent all of my money and conscript points, but still have a reserve in each category. This insures that if combat depletes my replacement pools, I will still be able to purchase new replacements next turn as needed. You don't want to spend all your conscript points as soon as you get them, and then fall short after a few big battles. Thus your available replacement capacity is a mix between what you have purchased in the replacements screen and the reserve resources you still have to call on. Generally, I will purchase new units freely until I get down to about 100 money and 100 conscripts, and then I am careful to maintain some reserves until I can call for new volunteers and/or a new draft in January or July.

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GShock
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Wed Dec 19, 2007 10:52 am

As i pointed out in a very detailed analisis, some replacement costs are ultra-excessive at the light of the fact you never know :
1) where they will go
2) if they will be expended (i've read only when a full element is added to a unit the nominal unit (meaning 1 replacement) is spent.
3) What a single replacement nominal unit (meaning 1 replacement) represents compared to the unit in full strenght (I mean 1 replacement = a % of the total strenght, this parameter is unknown)

This field is dramatically unclear and it's a ultra-high importance thing as CSA is so tight on resources (especially manpower) the issue being: a new inf unit costing 50 companies (5000 men) and 1 replacement costing 10 companies (1000 men) is possibly not responding to 1/5th of the total unit strenght it will go to replenish.

For example, buying a single Hvy arty replacement is worth the cost of buying it from scratch and brand anew. In fact i see you didn't buy it ;)
The same, more or less can be said for all kinds of replacements (supply carts for example and i see you didn't buy too).

Ultimately i think this number of resources u commit in replacements is correct, when thinking you will lose 10 or more line infantry elements in combat next turn and i am happy to notice you also didn't buy the same type of replacements i never buy too...it tells me i'm learning something and not all of this 101 is minefield to me. Keep up! :)
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saintsup
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Wed Dec 19, 2007 4:44 pm

runyan99 wrote:Until I can call for new volunteers and/or a new draft in January or July.


I have read somewhere that it was more interesting to use money or draft/volunteer options at certain moment in the year. Is this true ? Why ? And at which moment ?

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GShock
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Wed Dec 19, 2007 6:59 pm

saintsup wrote:I have read somewhere that it was more interesting to use money or draft/volunteer options at certain moment in the year. Is this true ? Why ? And at which moment ?


Start a 1861 test Campaign and immediately call for volounteers. Next turn you'll see the same option is available again in X turns. *that* is the "reset" turn. The best moment is to call them (in the real game) the X-1 turn. This option costs you nothing and gives a reward based on your current VP...supposedly higher at X-1 than at X.

It's surely in June but i don't remember if early or late, sorry. :)
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DirkX
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Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:15 pm

early june / early december

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runyan99
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Wed Dec 19, 2007 7:16 pm

GShock wrote:Start a 1861 test Campaign and immediately call for volounteers. Next turn you'll see the same option is available again in X turns. *that* is the "reset" turn. The best moment is to call them (in the real game) the X-1 turn. This option costs you nothing and gives a reward based on your current VP...supposedly higher at X-1 than at X.


Some options, like the financial options, are based on the number of VPs you have at the time, and so naturally increase as the game goes on, but that does not necessasarily mean you should wait as long as possible to use them.

If you wait until the last turn possible, you are hurting yourself because you are taking troops out of the field. Timing is important, and it is beneficial to get men and guns on the map as soon as possible fighting for your side.

Let's say you are playing 1861 and the option resets in June of 1861. If you wait until the last turn to call for volunteers or issue bonds, in December of 1861, but I do not wait, then by December 1861 I will have my June 1861 volunteers recruited and in the field fighting battles, while you will have no new troops from June to December. You will be at a disadvantage somewhere on the map.

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GShock
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Thu Dec 20, 2007 9:43 am

Considering the more you wait the more you'll receive and that after you call then you must wait X turns before you can call them again, i think the best investment is to call them the turn before the reset. You take many more, and you can retake immediately next if you wish.

Timing is important but for example the draft of june 61 sees CSA facing the vast majority of USA troops as LOCKED while USA doesn't produce units in the beginning at all. CSA doesn't need to call sooner than the turn before the reset. Of course everything changes afterwards and you must call...as soon as you need and according to the situation.
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Coregonas
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Fri Dec 21, 2007 10:51 pm

I disagree with the "wait until the last moment" option for volunteers.

If you recruit in the 1st week... most of bought militias will be trained to regulars in a few months. I believe this pays twice... 1st) for having lots of troops 6 months before, and 2nd) for getting extra line troops at militia cost.

I believe a few more conscriptions are not enough for waiting 6 months.

However, in the first turns of the game... money is so limited that the option is a must...

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jhdeerslayer
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Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:46 pm

Excellent work M. Runyan and I should have paid more attention to some of these points in our game where you whipped my arse but good! :p leure:

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Rafiki
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Thu Jan 03, 2008 8:20 pm

Great stuff, Runyan. I'm kicking myself for having missed this thread! :)
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GShock
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Thu Jan 03, 2008 9:22 pm

This 101 should be put in ref & overview @ wiki imo.


BTW i m unsure whether to add 1.08b as the changelog doesn't show much but only fixes and if I had to do it properly, i'd have to introduce the bugs in the old changelog and then add bug removal in 1.08b so im thinking about skipping it :)
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Kal
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Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:43 pm

Someone thought it could be a good idea to have all these concepts and tips in a single pdf document.

Thank you very much runyan99 :coeurs:

http://rapidshare.com/files/82517799/intro_to_ageod_s_civil_war_by_runyan99_act_010908.pdf.html

Thanks Alflobo, member of the Spaniard community, for your work.
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Rafiki
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Tue Jan 08, 2008 9:43 pm

GShock wrote:This 101 should be put in ref & overview @ wiki imo.

Runyan's call, but I'd be happy to be of help in bringing it over to the wiki :)
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runyan99
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Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:15 pm

I consider the forums to be public domain, so you guys do whatever you want with it.

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runyan99
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Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:39 am

Concept #10 - Don't use your AI tricks against a Human

Most players learn how to play the game against the AI, and that is fine, but I also think it hinders them to some extent when they then attempt that first PBEM against a human. Naturally, these players immediately try to use their favorite strategies they had been using to beat the AI, but often have their plans frustrated, particularly when playing the Union side.

I am not an expert on the AI becuase I never play against it. Even so, I am confident in stating that humans are capable of doing many things the AI is probably poor at. Specifically, a human will be much better at seeing your moves and reading your intentions. Having done so, the human opponent will immediately begin to devise a counterplan, which will make your original plan much more difficult to execute than it was against the AI.

For the sake of argument, let's say your favorite tactic to throw the AI for a loop is to launch an amphibious invasion of Wilmington, NC. When you park your amphibious force off the coast, the AI might not be too good at realizing that an invasion is imminent. A human on the other hand, who has seen through your plan, might move reinforcements to the area, causing a disaster on the beaches for your landing force.

When playing a human then, you must take your planning to the next level. You must always ask yourself, "How will my opponent interpret this move, and what is my opponent likely to do in response? What is my opponent capable of doing to ruin my plan?"

If it is not too cheesy to say, stop thinking like you are playing a game, and make your moves as if you were really fighting the war. Give your opponent credit for being a competent general, and then try to make moves that you are pretty sure can succeed even against a human opponent who is thinking along with you.

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runyan99
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Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:54 am

Concept #11 - Cohesion

I've said before that winning battles in AACW is the art of putting your forces in a position to succeed, and one key to doing that is to make sure you are monitoring your troops cohesion levels, and keeping them as high as possible.

Cohesion drops rapidly with movement or combat. As it does, combat power is rapidly lost. A force that has to march for more than 1 turn (15 days) will often be at a severe disadvantage if it immediately goes into combat. I unit that has lost half its cohesion will often have lost about half of its combat power as well. If you move units too much or too far, say across the entire state of Missouri, they can literally melt away to nothing. Don't do that.

Keep in mind that the units in AACW are not panzer divisions, and no matter how much you may be enamored of Erwin Rommel and big slashing movements and deep penetrations, in AACW the units are big formations of soldiers and horses walking cross country. The more rest you can give them, the fresher they will be, and the better they will fight. Civil War armies spent a good deal of time in camp, and tended to march in stages. In AACW, steady (not slow) advances are the way to go. This may mean moving one region at a time. If you have the option of moving three regions in two turns all at once (30 days), or three regions in three turns (45 days) with some days of rest each turn, consider that you may well have more cohesion at the end and more combat power if you take the three turns to get there. There is no point in getting to a region really fast with no cohesion, just to lose the battle in a hurry.

As a rule of thumb, a unit that has moved for a turn needs to rest for a turn before it goes into combat. You want at least 75-80% of your cohesion before you commit to a battle.

Mud slows down movement so costs a lot of cohesion too. Often, you are better off not moving at all in mud conditions, but just sitting still and waiting for clear weather before you move. This will save time later, as you won't have to rest the troops after a 15 day mud march.

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Rafiki
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stars&bars
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Thu Mar 13, 2008 9:32 pm

Thank you professor Mr. Runyan, great information :hat:

Cohesion is usally the thing i forget about the most and costs me dear. After i lose a battle, i wonder why i am scratching my head, wondering why i lost with the more numbers.
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Shah mat
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Thanks

Wed Jun 04, 2008 3:24 pm

Hi Runyan99,

I'm a new member and I found very interesting your concepts/tips given that I'm a new player as well.

I bought AACW several months ago but I only played some scenarios (lack of time) and now I'm ready and willing to play the April Campaign.

I really appreciate this strategy guide :)

Regards

solano
Conscript
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Wed Jul 09, 2008 8:36 pm

A very useful thread. I appreciate the time you've put into this. I am really new to the game and threads like this are helping me to make sense of it whilst still leaving me to make the strategic decisions that make the game so interesting.

Thanks.

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Dixicrat
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Inside vs Outside structures

Sun Aug 24, 2008 12:23 am

Thanks, Professor. Very enlightening.

Regarding being inside and outside structures... I may have missed it, but I haven't seen any mention of a tactic I've tried: I entrench a militia unit outside a structure, then order it to "retreat when engaged", and "enter structure". Maybe I've just been lucky, but the tactic has been useful as a delaying tactic when I have a relief force enroute. It seems to provide a way to slow down penetrations when I'm spread out too thinly... and provides a "usefulness" for militia units, too.
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ColDad
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Thanks

Fri Jun 05, 2009 12:10 am

Helpful thread for newbie :thumbsup:

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Chuske
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Mon Dec 05, 2011 1:06 pm

Thanks really useful thread

WildCat
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Thu Sep 20, 2012 1:29 am

Hugely helpful. Many thanks!

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bugwar
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Sun Aug 25, 2013 4:29 pm

I am playtesting ACWII, and thank you for your insights.

Do you have any recommendations customized for the new version of the game?

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