Questions from a newby's first night of play

[enalut]

So I started my first campaign last night (April ’61) and started running into problems/questions: I made it about 8 turns before heading o bed (work night).

My initial idea was to industrialize the NY (Heavy) and PA (Medium) on turn one. By Turn 8 I had been able to move PA, DE and NJ to Heavy industrialization. This was getting me a net balance of about 15-25 WS a turn. After Transport purchases this gave me about 6 regiments to be raised a turn. (mostly cavalry in the beginning and this only started about turn 6).

Based on the flurry of Confed activity I suspect that this is too slow, that I am spending too much on industrialization (although I think the long term payoffs may be worth it, my concern is can I survive in the short term).

My general plan is to stabilize the border states (conquer at least the northern 75% of MO and secure KY at least along the Ohio River and central part of the state), conduct a quick two prong move towards Richmond (I just had the Newspapers demand a quick invasion event fire) that I expect to fail. After that I intend to settle into a sustained buildup and implementation of the Anaconda Plan.

Currently I am Pushing the Confeds out of MO, and have garrisoned all cities in the state (I think), but the Country side is still Confed. The Massacre fired in my favor. This is taking just about every unlocked unit West of the Appalacians.

Kentucky is being overrun by at least 4 Confed Forces, but they just attacked BG and KY joined me (I was willing to accept this to force KY into my column). I only have about a 8 units waiting to unlock (and Gen McClellan “McC” ) to counter these advances.

In the East I am organizing and reinforcing the 2 starting armies. My plan is to march the ANV towards Fredericksburg (bypassing Manassas) and march Butler up the Peninsula Towards Richmond. But I am running into organization problems—as in I can only seem to organize Corps, but not Armies and Divisions.


So my questions:
1) How do I organize Divisions? I have formed the groups I want and clicked the “enable division command) tab (and I have made sure the commanders are active). But the next turn the stacks remain brigades. On an a corollary problem—I cannot get additional units to join formed divisions—do I need to un-form the division and reform it to add units? Do I need WS remaining at the end of the turn(something I don’t usually have as I spend it all)?
2) Will Divisions fight under an army? Or do I need to Crete and assign them to corps?
3) How do I form an Army? I know I need a 3* Gen and an Army HQ, but I can’t find out how to create the HQ unit? It is not in the reinforcement section, is it something I have to wait to unlock? If so is this event driven or will it happen over time?
4) Am I spending too much on industrialization? I have plenty of money (700K) and about 700 manpower, but I am only producing a few cavalry a turn. I am increasing my WS out put by about 9-12 on average a turn (and significant GS and Ammo increases as well), but I am putting the majority back into more industrialization. I am willing to play defensive at first to build up my forces, but I am beginning to think that I am falling to far behind in sheer numbers. How much/how early early is it smart to invest in industrialization?
5) Supply wagons—should they be distributed at the Division level, Corps level, Army level, or a combination of all 3?
6) Will putting more transports in the Shipping lanes box increase the amount of $$$ and WS I earn from that every turn?
7) Do Divisions need to be form ed int eh command range of Armies like corps? I thought they did, but it doesn’t seem like it
8) How dangerous is it to Promote McC? I had though about creating paper training armies around Cincinnati and Baltimore/Philly for training purposes, and to allow for the creation of independent Corps to move out to threatened areas (and headed by McC and some other training general)
9) How does seaborne resupply work? Do I need to position transports in a chain from the north to the point I want to resupply—i.e. Fortress Monroe and eventually my amphibious landings?
10) Is there some way to that I can scroll through or tab so that I can se unlocked units rather than by sweeping the entire map every turn?
EDIT: 11) I have read ont hese froums that Militia eventually convert to Line regiments--is this event drvien or do they need battle experience?

I think this was all I came up with in my 2 hors of playing last night. Thanks for any help/advice/answers you can offer. Any links to previosu discussions would be appreciated.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Gray_Lensman]

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[arsan]

Hi elanut and welcome!
You have a lot of questions! I'll try to answer some...

1)- you know that already (Excellent division creation tutorial Gray! :coeurs

2)- Yes divisions will fight under armies, corps or independent commands (stacks that are no Amy or corps). But if you have and army and corps structure in place, its better to put combat units (divisions, brigades, regiments...) under corps as they will get bonus from both the Army commander and the corps commander. On the Army stack they only benefit form the Army commander bonus. Still, It's not bad idea to put some "reserve" units under on the army stack, but use most of them on corps. They will fight more and harder.

3)- You will have to wait some turns for the HQ reinforcement to appear. The first ones do it around august i think. Then you can buy some and use them to form Armies under 3* leaders. But there are not army HQ available. Use them wisely.

4)- I think you are expending waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much on industries There is a war going on!! Make guns and form regiments to fight and let the industrialization for peace time!
As the north you can skip industrialization altogether IMHO, at least against the AI. In any case, some light industrialization form time to time is enough. I would not spend more the 15 WS/turn on industries if at all. For example, you can industrialize when you had spent most of your conscripts buying units and have nothing better to do with the money and WS.
What is very important is to improve rail and riverine pools. Try to buy 5 or 10 pints of each nearly every turn. they help a lot to move armies and supply around.

5)- I use to put a supply wagon on each big stack (corps, armies, independent divisions). They give combat bonus and "attract" supply for nearby sources. Wagons are also very important for building depots on undeveloped areas where you want to operate with big forces. But wagons are very expensive. Sea and river transports are cheaper and can also be used to build depot in areas adjacent to rivers and sea.

6)- Sure it does!. It's a very good alternative to industrialization as a source of WS.

7)- No, You can use them anywhere, but ifyou do it into the chain of command (Armies and corps stacks) will perform better (see number 2).

8)- uhm! difficult question. Soon McC will be promoted by event and given a very high political influence so you will be basically forced to put him at the head of an Army of lose lots of VP and NM points as he get pissed off if bypassed by other 3*.
You can play historically or you can use him and his army HQ on a secondary front (like the canadian frontier :niark but as i told you, there are not many HQ around so in any case it's pain in the ass leure: In any case, Lincoln had it worst than you, don't complain

9)- No need of this. The system is much easier. The transports you put on the shipping box will (in addition to giving you WS and $) add his supply capacity to the sea transport pool. The more transport you have there, the biggest sea pool you will have. This pool is used to automatically send supply to any coastal area you own, so your forts will be resupplied without problems. Latter, if you want to do a seaborne invasion, try to capture or construct a depot on the coast to be able to accumulate lots of supply there.

10)- Use the keys E and R to cycle through unlocked land units without orders and T and Y for ships. Check the end of the manual for more key shorcuts.

11) It's by event. But all units can gain experience by combat.

About info links there are tons of info and advice on the forum. Use the search function.

But the most important links for me are the wiki
http://ageod.nsen.ch/aacwwiki/Main_Page
And this nice abilities list
http://www.leqg.org/doc/aacw/listability.php5

Don't forget to check the excellent Runyan's strategy guide on the wiki!
And check also some AAR on the AAR subforum to get some interesting ideas!
Regards!

[anarchyintheuk]

So my questions:

2) Will Divisions fight under an army? Or do I need to Crete and assign them to corps?

They fight better under a corps.

4) Am I spending too much on industrialization? I have plenty of money (700K) and about 700 manpower, but I am only producing a few cavalry a turn. I am increasing my WS out put by about 9-12 on average a turn (and significant GS and Ammo increases as well), but I am putting the majority back into more industrialization. I am willing to play defensive at first to build up my forces, but I am beginning to think that I am falling to far behind in sheer numbers. How much/how early early is it smart to invest in industrialization?

Industrialization is best used in small doses. Unless I'm showing a shortfall of supply turn by turn, I don't industrialize that much. Concentrate on building units atm and increasing your transport capacity when you can.

5) Supply wagons—should they be distributed at the Division level, Corps level, Army level, or a combination of all 3?

One per corps is fine, unless you need more for extended combat or low supply areas.

7) Do Divisions need to be form ed int eh command range of Armies like corps? I thought they did, but it doesn’t seem like it

AFAIK command range only relates to corps not divisions

8) How dangerous is it to Promote McC? I had though about creating paper training armies around Cincinnati and Baltimore/Philly for training purposes, and to allow for the creation of independent Corps to move out to threatened areas (and headed by McC and some other training general)

Some people think it's gamey to hide McClellan. Personally, I think the events thatprovided the basis for Mac's promotion occurred during the time period encompassed by the extended campaign and he can be promoted/ignored as you wish. If you use him in army command, don't expect your army to be very active and be very afraid of his removal cost once you find someone better.

9) How does seaborne resupply work? Do I need to position transports in a chain from the north to the point I want to resupply—i.e. Fortress Monroe and eventually my amphibious landings?

Sea supply flows from supply located at a port in the north to transports in the shipping lanes to the units on the coast. The limiting factor is normally the amount of shipping. Once your amphib force has landed, check their supply each turn, you'll see whether it's sufficient or not.

[Banks6060]

I would add that as far as everything fits together Army, Corps, Division etc....you do what you can with what you have.

The ideal army, lets say for the Union, at least the way I play...is One Army HQ...Three Corps...each with three divisions...each with between 10 and 18 elements. (depending on what you have to work with)....and finally...one cavalry division. (ideally you want no more than 6 or 7 cav regiments with 1 or 2 horse arty batteries.)

NOTE: Later in the game you can form the powerful and mobile cavalry Corps after you've built up enough cavalry divisions in a theatre.

You have other options for Corps formation however:

Let's say you have a pair of 2-star Generals and no 1-star Generals present to form any divisions. You can form two Corps consisting of several "loose" brigades.

You can also form what I call a "Pocket Corps" or "Glorified Divisions" where a corps consists of merely one division and some artillery, cavalry and supplies. This force is usually best used to maintain the defense of an important area while the rest of your main army moves ahead one region. Keeping the ability to respond to an attack via "march to guns" intact if you are flanked and hit in the rear. I strongly reccommend utilizing these pocket divisions as the Union player due to the high number of 2-star generals you will have.

There is also the Powerful "Jacksonized Corps" as I call it. This is a Corps, under the command of, more than likely, your ablest generals. Sedgewick, Meade or Reynolds are good Union examples...Jackson, Longstreet, Hardee, and Polk are good CSA examples. These Corps contain an extra signal unit to increase the Command Point Cap and can hold as many as 5 DIVISIONS with Corps Artillery and Supplies. These are the formations designed to pack your army's biggest punch.

Then of course you've got your cavalry Corps, which come in several varieties as well. You put together a size 600+ Cavalry Corps and you've got a real force to be reckoned with. that'll force the enemy to either do the same or stay close to his depots.

Cheers.

[Banks6060]

Also, don't be afraid to form single divisions with 2-star generals. Somewhat contrary to conventional thought, these are great for isolated operations like coastal defence or advance objective taking during the fairer winter months in the deep south.

Currently I have a single division under Sherman running around southwestern Tennessee and northern Mississippi causing trouble for my opponent. You get no Command Penalty because an independent 2-star offers 4 CP....a division costs 4 CP.

[enalut]

Another few questions that have come up after I restarted the game:

1) How do you build/increase Naval transports? I want to build a few more transports for both shipping and troop transport, but don't see the unit listed in either the blue or brown water pannels (I am talking about Blue water transport, not brown water that has a seperate unit).

2) How much reinformcent is needed of the 2 event mobilized Union armies (ANV and Pattersons)? For instnace, approximately how many companies do I need to raise to fully fill those formations? And how long does it take to get them near full strength?

2a) As a corrollary--is there nay way to tell how many reinforcments you curretly need to reman your army? At first I thought the second (or third) number on the replacement block was it, but apparently not? If so then I need about 300 companies to brign my army to full strength?

3) Artillery--should I attempt to standardize it (at elast by division) or is it more effecive to mix long range and short range batteries in the same division?

3a) What kind of Artillery should be left at the corps level and is it diffeent than the division level? I.e. heavy long range guns at the corps and then the lighter/better assault guns at the division

4) Increasing Civilian Morale--is there any way to do this other than postign massive numbers of troops in a provisonce? (and not using the restricted liberties) I am thinking specifically of Baltimore, MO and KY.

Thanks for answering.

[arsan]

1) They are there, among the blue water ships. Maybe you have build all the available ones already? (thats is quite a few!)

2) No precise number. There is some random die roll involved. It takes a full replacements to make up for a full missing element. But several understrength elements can be filed up with just a single replacements if you are lucky.
Speed depends of where the unit is. Depots and big cities are faster. On the wilderness is veeery slow. Full elements missing will only be regained on level 3+ cities and depots.
Besides, USA recovers hits more slowly than CSA to represent the historical dislike of the USA to provide replacements. They usually preferred to create new regiments.
As a rule of thumb, you should try to have in store replacements of each kind to number 10% of your on map deployed elements of that kind (inf/cav...).
Usually with the USA i try to keep about 10+ inf, 4-5 cav, 2-3 of each of light and field arty and 1 or 2 of all the rest. No need to buy militia as you receive some by events and they are used very slowly as militias on map convert to infantry pretty soon.
On turns after very heavy battles you should increase this numbers.
3) I like to mix. Besides standardizing would be a micromanaging nightmare for no good reason.
About divisional/corps arty i like to put big guns on corps but mainly for role playing reasons.
4) No that i know of. Garrison will help little by little but they will never love you much... as it should. You are a damned Yankee after all

Regards

[CWNut77]

I actually have a question -- does war weariness (particularly for the North, who was more subject to that) come into play in this game? Meaning, can the CSA win simply by playing on the defensive, and keeping the North from its objectives? Is there a decrease in Northern morale due to war weariness?

[Banks6060]

I actually have a question -- does war weariness (particularly for the North, who was more subject to that) come into play in this game? Meaning, can the CSA win simply by playing on the defensive, and keeping the North from its objectives? Is there a decrease in Northern morale due to war weariness?

Yeah that's where National Morale and Victory Points play in.

In 1864 the Union NM Defeat Threshold jumps from 25 all the way up to 60. So as the south you have a chance to really put the hurt on in the form of causing the Union crippling losses and keeping them away from their objectives.

VP's also play a factor. As long as you have more of them...you'll probably wind up winning in the end. You just have to find a way to hold out.

[CWNut77]

Excellent -- thanks Banks

[Coregonas]

National Morale is the Key in the game. (AS lots of Thibaut games, since his EU boardgame)... Morale adds a BIG modifier to all the other questions of the game, including BATTLE & PRODUCTION bonuses (+ drafts of course)

All the other stuff -> brigades, battles, generals, ships and so on, are mere pawns to achieve the objective---> UP the maximum morale posible.

Unfortunately, obtaining more of these pawns usually costs morale, so you must play in a compromise between MAXIMUM "pawns" versus MAXIMUM "morale".

I ve found, as CSA the key (as of my own play-style) is trying to hold MORALE around 107-110 NM as long as posible. However, you must build your army to avoid being overruned.

Once USA achieves that level then it is unstoppable. At least, level 97-100 is a must, but, an army is to be quickly build of course. Beware as USA players to delay too much achieving this level by using all options posible to get too much "pawns".

[Le Ricain]

Another few questions that have come up after I restarted the game:

4) Increasing Civilian Morale--is there any way to do this other than postign massive numbers of troops in a provisonce? (and not using the restricted liberties) I am thinking specifically of Baltimore, MO and KY.

Thanks for answering.

The only effective way to increase civilian loyalty is by employing 'martial law' or 'habeus corpus'. Using these liberty restricting policies causes provinces that you have garrisoned to increase their loyalty to your cause by 1-2 points per turn. Once you get the loyalty above 50%, you do not need to garrison or restrict liberties as the province's MC will drift to 100% control to you.

In reality, the only state that has loyalty close to 50% that would justify the above is Maryland. The process is just too slow to make any impact on KY or MO.

[CWNut77]

Are there any negatives to using martial law, etc., to boost loyalty?

[arsan]

Are there any negatives to using martial law, etc., to boost loyalty?

Sure there is. You lose the VP generated by that state with Habeas Corpus suspension and give the VP to the enemy with Martial law.
Check this article on the wiki
http://ageod.nsen.ch/aacwwiki/Manual:Managing_your_nation
Regards

[CWNut77]

Great -- thanks Arsan