Promotions for Generals

[GrudgeBringer]

I have scoured the manual and the wiki but can't find the answer to 2 specific questions.

1. When you are going to promote a general...How exactly do you do it. I know he has to be promotable, and unlocked, but I can't figure out HOW to actually promote him.

2. when you are going to make a general (after promotion) a General of the Army, do you need the HQ and Supply BEFORE you promote him, or can you promote him and Then go about getting the needed HQ's ect to form the army?

Any other items you think I should know about promotions please go ahead and mention them.

Thank you guys for ALL the help so far. I am actually maybe, perhaps, could be, starting to actually get some of this down!!!

[Prussian Prince]

I have scoured the manual and the wiki but can't find the answer to 2 specific questions.

1. When you are going to promote a general...How exactly do you do it. I know he has to be promotable, and unlocked, but I can't figure out HOW to actually promote him.

2. when you are going to make a general (after promotion) a General of the Army, do you need the HQ and Supply BEFORE you promote him, or can you promote him and Then go about getting the needed HQ's ect to form the army?

Any other items you think I should know about promotions please go ahead and mention them.

Thank you guys for ALL the help so far. I am actually maybe, perhaps, could be, starting to actually get some of this down!!!

1) You will see a message telling you that the General is promotable. click on the General in question, he must be outside a stack, go to the second tab on the left hand units action menu. You will then see an icon highlighted in the bottom right corner. Click this and on your next turn he will be promoted.

2) You can promote and then place them with HQ's. I usually promote Grant as soon as I can and usually don't have an army HQ ready for him until a few turns later.

[GrudgeBringer]

Thank You VERY much!!!

[Eoghammer]

but beware some promotable generals can hurt your Victory point so look at the tooltip when you place your cursor on the promote button.
If your promotable general is not seniority 1 or 2 any general with a higher seniority will be angered and will cause you a lose of several to a few hundred of Victory points. (general may be promoted if they have a higher rank defined in the scenario AND either if they have seniority 1 or 2 or if they have gained more than 4 seniority since the beginning)

[beefcake]

One thing that is both wonderful and maddening about this game is the promotion system. I'm nearing the end of 1863 (playing on the full campaign), and I've got more troops than generals to lead them.

In the East, I managed to set up Nathaniel Lyon as commander of the AotP early on in the game. (Side note--Lyon was a game maker/breaker in my Union campaign. His stats are good and he's in lots of battles in Missouri early in '61 campaign. It didn't take much work to get him promoted to 3* status.)

I've got seven corps in the AotP, commanded by FJ Porter, Mansfield, Meade, Howard, Heitzelman, Franklin, and Keyes. Each corps has roughly 25K men, and I've got tons of other divisions that are waiting to be assigned to a corps. I've had a hard time getting seniority points for my 1* generals in the East. I have so many troops sitting around idle that I've recalled McDowell from the beach he was sunning himself on to command another corps. I've also taken to forming ad-hoc commands with two 1* generals to avoid the command penalties.

I guess my question is this--when you get the chance to promote a 1* general to 2* status, should you do it even if it means you pay political costs? With the exception of McClellan, is it worth losing the victory points to get your better generals promoted as quickly as possible?

Admittedly, I did my best impression of McClellan during 1862 (a handful of bloody battles and little movement). But in 1863 I put the pedal to the floor and for the fighting I've done in the theater, I would have thought I'd advance at least one general to 2* status. But I've still got Hooker, Sedgwick, Renyolds, Couch, Slocum, Sykes, Hancock, Sickles, and plenty of others stuck at the 1* level.

I also recognize that this is the same historical problem that all commanders faced during the war, and I applaud Ageod for recreating this so effectively. But has anybody else noticed that your generals get the most commendations if they fight in isolated stacks for concentrated periods of time?

I appreciate any comments from other readers.

bsz

[pablius]

My take on this is that for the Union player it pays out to promote good leaders even if it cost some morale and victory points...if Grant, Sherman or the like are promotable then do it...your armies will be active much more often and that means being faster and stronger...the early top commanders in the union army are just horrible...

The other problem, the lack of 2* generals for corps commanding, is annoying but can be managed, settle for fewer bigger corps for a while until they come up on line...but again, for the union player at least, I would say that promoting with penalties is better than not doing it...you need active corps for your adventage in numbers to come into play.

For the CSA it might not be the same, with better early generals, and fewer divisions allowed...the cost may be too high, specially if you are trying to bring the UK and France into the war, since being ahead in moral and victory points gives a little boost to the foreing intervention number every turn.

[kcole4001]

I've played a few games so far, and Hooker is always a front runner for promotion due to his early availability, timing coinciding with several brigades becoming ready for use, and frequent activation.

Keep the guy in the action & he'll start inching toward a promotion.

And yes, he's usually operating alone, as an independant Div., since the Army of N. Va. corps commanders are busy counting sheep most of the time.

[Tordenskjold]

1) You will see a message telling you that the General is promotable. click on the General in question, he must be outside a stack, go to the second tab on the left hand units action menu. You will then see an icon highlighted in the bottom right corner. Click this and on your next turn he will be promoted.

2) You can promote and then place them with HQ's. I usually promote Grant as soon as I can and usually don't have an army HQ ready for him until a few turns later.

I have tried this but the promotion (medal) button is greyed out for both officers in question. They are outside the stack and promotable. What might be the problem (playing the Blue side)? I would upload a file as proof but it exceeds the size of 1.9 Mbyte.

[DirkX]

I have tried this but the promotion (medal) button is greyed out for both officers in question. They are outside the stack and promotable. What might be the problem (playing the Blue side)? I would upload a file as proof but it exceeds the size of 1.9 Mbyte.

if the button is greyed they are not promotable.
officers need to gain 4 senority points or need to have seniority 4 or less to be ELIGIBLE for promotion (unless they are auto promoted by an event)

[Tordenskjold]

Okey, but when I click and get the details on the general, it says Yes behind the statement: Is promotable: Yes
Doesn't that mean that I can promote him?

In this example I used the Union general Jesse L. Reno. I've tried many others with the exact same result. Don't get it.

[Le Ricain]

Okey, but when I click and get the details on the general, it says Yes behind the statement: Is promotable: Yes
Doesn't that mean that I can promote him?

In this example I used the Union general Jesse L. Reno. I've tried many others with the exact same result. Don't get it.

The details on the general will tell if that general is potenitally promotable, not that is promotable now. Some generals can never be promoted.

If a general is promotable, you need to wait until conditions are right to actually promote him. The conditions are:

1) Some generals are promoted or promotable by event, eg Keyes for the former and Meade for the latter.

2) Gain 4 seniority positions by successful combat. You will notified of any generals receiving commendations in the log.

3) A general who has a seniority of 1 may be promoted.

You will receive a message in the log informing you if a general is eligible for promotion points 1) (only for the latter option), 2) and 3).

[Pocus]

Okey, but when I click and get the details on the general, it says Yes behind the statement: Is promotable: Yes
Doesn't that mean that I can promote him?

In this example I used the Union general Jesse L. Reno. I've tried many others with the exact same result. Don't get it.

This is 'potentially promotable', ie 'has an entry for a new rank in the database', but does not mean 'can be promoted right now'.

[jeff b]

I've noted that in the Roster, Generals that can be promoted NOW are highlighted in red.

While i commend Ageod on promotion and penalties, some of the penalties are way out of line. I don't beleive that promoting a 1star to a 2star should incur the kind of penalties that I have seen. Even 2-3star shouldn't cost 100 pt victory point losses unless you place them in command of an Army.

In the game I am playing I have yet to be able to promote anybody that wouldn't annoy somebody else. I have fought hard and well with some real duds with the consequence they all have very high seniority. So whenever I get a chance to promote anybody good, it costs me quite a bit.

[tonedog]

what are the pros and cons to promoting generals? im playin as the csa and general polk (2 star) and general bragg (1 star) are now promotable.

it cost 25 victory points to promote right?

[Rafiki]

Nope, there's is no cost associated with promoting generals per se, but there can be a cost in VP and even NM when you bypass a general with higher seniority; the cost depends on that bypassed general's political rating.

In some cases, general's who get promoted gain or loose some special abilities, and they might also get their ratings adjusted for the better, the worse or both.

[arsan]

what are the pros and cons to promoting generals? im playin as the csa and general polk (2 star) and general bragg (1 star) are now promotable.

it cost 25 victory points to promote right?

No. It could be for free or could cost you much more.
It depends of the seniority of the commander. If you promote a low seniority commander, higher seniority ones can get upset. If the high ranking upset leaders have high political influence, it can cost you a lot.
The tooltip of the promote button will tell you who will get upset and how much will cost you in victory points (and sometimes even in NM points).
So read the info with care before pressing the button
Regards

[tonedog]

so polk has seniority of 1 and bragg has 2. if i promote polk then i lose points because bragg has a higher sen rating? the tooltip doesnt say there will be an penalty though

and these skill increases/losses, are they totally random or are they scripted for what general i promote?

so the main reason to promote is if u are short on 2+ star generals? this doesnt seem to be a problem for the csa, how do other people deal with promotions when playin as the csa?

basically am i as well just leavin them as they are or is it worth it to promote them?

[arsan]

No, is the other way around. The lower the number the higher th seniority.
Your Polk is number one on the ranking so you can promote him without upsetting nobody.
About changes when promoting, check the documents folder on your installation. There you will find a pdf with all the leaders, his abilities and the changes they experiment when promoted.
Free tip: NEVER promote Hood to 3***!!!