AACW (public beta) code patch 1.16 (beta 8 update October 12)

[wsatterwhite]

I've noticed the faster build rates as well, I ran a quick test comparing this beta to the regular 1.15 patch and build rates all around seem quicker- even when units take the typical number of turns to build up, the number of days are cut down. Many of the smaller two element infantry brigades that normally take a turn and a half to build (20-21 days) only seem to take just over a turn to build up (15-16 days, the mouseover shows 0 days left to be active after the turn of purchase).

[Eugene Carr]

the builds are faster but I'm not sure if thats a bad thing for infantry, artillery etc, ships seem a bit quick tho.
Not had any stability issues.
S! EC


oops! just noticed I'm still running beta2, I downloaded latest but must have forgot to apply
will get up to date

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

I've only played it a little bit, but I've noticed that the symbols are messed up in the replacement screen. The light infantry is a symbol I've never seen before. The Skirmisher has the old light infantry symbol. All of the other symbols are correct but have a gray background, like a captured unit normally has. Militia symbol and background is the only one that is still the same. The symbols are fine in game and in the reinforement screen though.

I attached the screenshot and circled the light infantry symbol I've never seen.

[ATTACH]11980[/ATTACH]

[MarkCSA]

So far:

-Can't 'trap' enemy units anymore with ZOC, this leads to strange slugfests (units being chased from here to there), also, when units end a turn in the same zone/province and my guys are still at full org and on 'attack' they ususally do not engage.

-I cannot order a stack to attack to engage an enemy stack in the same zone/province. (and be 100% sure they will engage). Cavalry seems better at this, though.

-Union AI is much more careful in 1861 and 1862, but goes for deep commando raids (with full armies) in 1863, while I am 15 points short of a 200 morale victory. I've taken St. Louis and the two cities that matter in Kentucky (one with VP and one with 2 men/turn) but apparantly, Memphis, Nashville and Vicksburg are more important, even though they are a State and a half away from the front. AI getting desperate? I have yet to see the Union try to get St. Louis back even though I am guarding it with 1 Division.

-Out of Supply Union units still hanging around doing nothing (one army been stuck in the Missisippi swamps for over a year). Deep commando raids reach their VP objective, sit around and eat all the supplies and then go out of supplies.

-I seem to have a lot less War Supply as the CSA.

-Besieged cities are still getting supplies and reinforcements (Paducah in KY, might be they are getting supply from the river? How to stop this? Same for Ft. Pickens.

-Commerce raiding as the CSA seems to 'trigger' sinking X Money and Y War Supply a lot more (seemed to stop triggering after you removed the first fleet that got it in previous versions). With a +/- 15-20 ship fleet I am regularly sinking over 50 money in the box. Take that, Yankee bastards!

Despite all this, the game is even better and I am thoroughly enjoying it (again and again!). If anyone has any tips for killing stacks (apart from gang-banging them which I am doing now).

[Captain_Orso]

Awesome Depot Feature!!!! When you use the Supply Filter on the map, all the depots pulsate making it VERY clear what your supply lines are like. Love it!!

This is really awesome

One thing I've noticed though. Previously depot building worked like this:

• on turn X you give orders to build a depot
• on turn X+1 the tool tip said 'depot in one day' and supplies in the location are as if no depot were there yet, which there isn't at that moment
• on turn X+2 the depot is completed and has been included in the previous turns supply-push phase and is therefore filled

Now on turn X+2 I look into the depot and it says 'level 1 depot' but there are still no more supplies in the region than as if there and been no depot 14 of the last turns 15 days . I'm pretty certain that this is wrong because Pucus once said that the the 'depot in one day' status was originally an error, but because nobody ever complained about it and it seamed better than if the depot were built and already filled the day after building-start, he left it the way it was.

[Captain_Orso]

-Can't 'trap' enemy units anymore with ZOC, this leads to strange slugfests (units being chased from here to there), also, when units end a turn in the same zone/province and my guys are still at full org and on 'attack' they ususally do not engage.

I read that ZOC doesn't prevent retreating units anymore, but I thought that was with regards to units that lost a battle and were routed or similar. Now it seams that the defender simply has to set his posture to retreat if attacked and you can never catch him.

I ran into this yesterday while playing around a bit. I literally cornered an CSA army of 20,000 with my Army of the James with 72,000 .
I was in Onslow, NC and he was in Carteret, NC (Morehead City). The only way out way either to retreat to Ft Macon or into the swaps of Craven, NC across the Pamlico Bay. To enter Craven, NC it costs 16 days for cavalry when not crossing the Pamlico Bay . So there's no way out.

I ordered interception and there was a battle which he lost but with about 700 men lost on his side and 400 on mine. And at the beginning of the next turn, where is he? Craven Swamp. Even with forced marching the whole time the slips away every time. My troops just wear down and his seam to be running on duracells oke:

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

The commanding generals stats aren't displaying in the battle reports. It just says 0-0-0. The subordinate commanders stats are displaying correctly with light randomization on.

*edit* It seems to only do this when an AI force with a general attacks a force of mine without a general. The enemy commander shows 0-0-0. When they attack a force of mine with a general, both commanders display correctly.

Also, units are building faster, just not instantly like they were in beta 2.

[richfed]

Again, something that may have been done purposefully, but the animated battle screen no longer shows the changing circle of red and green. It merely shows a clear ring.

[Captain_Orso]

The commanding generals stats aren't displaying in the battle reports. It just says 0-0-0. The subordinate commanders stats are displaying correctly with light randomization on.

*edit* It seems to only do this when an AI force with a general attacks a force of mine without a general. The enemy commander shows 0-0-0. When they attack a force of mine with a general, both commanders display correctly.

Also, units are building faster, just not instantly like they were in beta 2.

I think I saw that too, but maybe only once or twice. If I look back at battles now in the message log, I see the correct values. Or do you mean that it only happens in the battle reports during game execution?

[Captain_Orso]

Again, something that may have been done purposefully, but the animated battle screen no longer shows the changing circle of red and green. It merely shows a clear ring.

ehhhh ... what?

Hi Rich,

I'm color blind so I probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the two colors in-game, but what circle are you talking about?

[richfed]

While a battle is being fought, a rather large ring appears on the screen. There is, or was, a band within it that would indicate - green being good and red being bad - the flow of the battle as it progressed. I think it truly indicated routed troops ... something like that. Anyway, it still appears, but the inner colored band is gone. It just sits there and pulsates while the battle is ongoing, but doesn't really indicate anything.

[Rexor]

I read that ZOC doesn't prevent retreating units anymore, but I thought that was with regards to units that lost a battle and were routed or similar. Now it seams that the defender simply has to set his posture to retreat if attacked and you can never catch him.

I ran into this yesterday while playing around a bit. I literally cornered an CSA army of 20,000 with my Army of the James with 72,000 .
I was in Onslow, NC and he was in Carteret, NC (Morehead City). The only way out way either to retreat to Ft Macon or into the swaps of Craven, NC across the Pamlico Bay. To enter Craven, NC it costs 16 days for cavalry when not crossing the Pamlico Bay . So there's no way out.

I ordered interception and there was a battle which he lost but with about 700 men lost on his side and 400 on mine. And at the beginning of the next turn, where is he? Craven Swamp. Even with forced marching the whole time the slips away every time. My troops just wear down and his seam to be running on duracells oke:

Surely this can't be WAD?

[Captain_Orso]

While a battle is being fought, a rather large ring appears on the screen. There is, or was, a band within it that would indicate - green being good and red being bad - the flow of the battle as it progressed. I think it truly indicated routed troops ... something like that. Anyway, it still appears, but the inner colored band is gone. It just sits there and pulsates while the battle is ongoing, but doesn't really indicate anything.

Yeah, I realized what you meant a while later That's the part where I'm closing my eyes and praying

[richfed]

-Union AI is much more careful in 1861 and 1862, but goes for deep commando raids (with full armies) in 1863, while I am 15 points short of a 200 morale victory. I've taken St. Louis and the two cities that matter in Kentucky (one with VP and one with 2 men/turn) but apparantly, Memphis, Nashville and Vicksburg are more important, even though they are a State and a half away from the front. AI getting desperate? I have yet to see the Union try to get St. Louis back even though I am guarding it with 1 Division.

I have to agree ... very timid Union AI ... I am in early '63, so, things might change, but '61 & '62 saw the Feds fight around Winchester, VA - back & forth - and a bit out of Fort Monroe, VA along the Peninsular, but Magruder stopped them there, even though he retreated. That's really about it, except for Lexington, KY. No resistance or attacks in Arkansas/Missouri/Texas or south of Virginia in the East. Nothing along the Mississippi or in Tennessee.

My AI settings are pretty much all at Standard/Historical/Default ... except that I give the AI a slight advantage in detection and I give it the extra time.

The new AI might need further tweaking ...

[Captain_Orso]

Surely this can't be WAD?

I think it is. It's just frustrating.

If you think about it, Lee slipped away from Meade at Gettysburg, and then six months later Meade slipped away from Lee at Mine Run. And even Hooker slipped away from Lee at Chancellorsville, just not before getting his ..... handed to him on a platter.

The problem for you as the attacker is, you're in the same region as your target, which means you cannot 'intercept'. If you're in a neighboring region, you just drag-n-drop on top of your target and and let the engine eh.. your commanding general do the rest.

In real life, you would have caught your opponent unprepared. He can't assess the situation because he doesn't know yet what is opposing him. But after first contact, reconnoitering the situation, assessing your troop strength, if he decides that the odds do not favor him or he has another agenda, he can prepare his troops to pull back under cover of darkness and be far away and over the hills before the first ray of sunlight lighten the sky.

I'll lift the little secret of how you can do that across bodies of water and into swamps very effectively in the general forum. It's a neat little trick that can help you in many situations, even on attacking.

[richfed]

... in the Mailbox, the 1863 event that fires promoting a General in the Mexican Expeditionary force still reads: evt_nam_CSA_BazainePromoted1863

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

It's safe to say that the AI has been pushing me a little harder than usual. I'm using my standard only volunteers/no drafting and no attacking Washington rules. I have no problem doing this against 1.15, but 1.16 seems to be building and managing their forces alot better. AI is set to passive with high detect bonus, +1 activation, and extra time.

[ATTACH]12020[/ATTACH]

They've been banging their head against Longstreet and Jackson for a whole year now and I figured I could hold off anything but this pushed me out of Manassas. They hit me with 140k a few turns earlier. It's the biggest army I've ever seen put together by the AI. They outnumber me in Tennessee as well. I think they also do in Missouri, but they're having a hard time figuring out what to do with it all. They had my Springfield/Fayetteville depot area all to themselves but went after the indian villages instead . It's still the best AI showing I've seen out of my many games in 1.13-1.15.

I'd still like to see the replacement screen icons fixed and some more tweaking to the build time rules, but it looks like it's getting closer.

[Pocus]

There will be delay before the next beta patch, but continue to gather discrepancies in this thread, this is not lost.

So overall, the AI is too timid or aggressive enough? It seems that depending of the game, people experience different things

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Baris]

i dont know is it appropriate to post here but commanders show 0-0-0 as battle ratings in battle report(maybe it is posted before) and even the battle result was stalemate it shows i won the the battle in massage log 11/11.

[Pocus]

No problem in adding to the official DB stuff which are clearly fixes to events or data. If something else, like new content or altering something which is working, I'm more reserved.

As usual, crashes will always be fixed and result in a patch also.

[Pocus]

patch 1.16 beta 5

http://ageoddl.telechargement.fr/temp/patch_AACW_v1.16b5.zip

================================================== ========================
AGEod's American Civil War Update 1.16 beta 5
================================================== ========================


Battle scale added back (this was a glitch, not a feature)
The game could hang under rare circumstances involving a fleet loading units while caught into a battle (thanks Patryn8)
Fixes to some events, thanks to Gray_Lensman:
1.) Removed duplicate CSA W. Cavalry Group appearing in Madison, TN
2.) Corrected Foreign Entry syntax in the event "evt_nam_CSA_FrenchInterventionMexico1862"
3.) Provided missing strings for "evt_nam_CSA_BazainePromoted1863"
4.) Altered slightly the duplicate name of the CSA Brig Robert E. Lee to Robert E Lee to prevent it from interferring with the "Lee Takes Command" event.

[kingtaso01]

I just noticed that there's a Union general repeated on the 1864 campaign.

Edward Ord appears twice:

Edward Ord, commanding Mississippi Command, in Shelby, TN
Edward O. Ord, commanding the 13th Corps, in Beaumont, TX

Are they two different people?

Thanks in advance for the answer

[Gray_Lensman]

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[kingtaso01]

Well, it's not that you need the save files, since I haven't even played a turn on the campaign. Just go to AACW main menu, select new game, then select 1864: Bloody Roads South (2 Theater Campaign). Choose the Union side, and before doing anything in the campaign, go to both of the regions and you'll see them both, even with the same sprite (or image, don't know how to say it). Funny thing is that the 13th Corps is subordinated to Mississippi Command.

[Gray_Lensman]

deleted

[kingtaso01]

Thanks!

That pretty much solves my question. I think this problem was already on 1.5 and patches before.

[Gray_Lensman]

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[Captain_Orso]

Would there be an easy way to make the AI more or less ignore Ft. Pickens and Monroe? While I am marching through Tennesse, Bragg and A.S. Johnston insist on attacking Ft. Pickens with 20,000 troops, virtually ignoring everything else. On a similar note, after my US troops occupied Manasass without resistance, Beauregard headed north straight for Bellefonte, PA in late Sep. 1961 with about 30,000 troops. This is with b2 patch and AI on passive agressivness.

I think there are 2 different issues at hand here.

The first one is the attack on Ft. Pickens, which is a very legitimate target, especially if New Orleans is still in CSA hands. Without it, the USA will have a difficult time keeping the Gulf Blockade running.

What you don't state here, von Sachsen, is what is defending Ft. Pickens. If you've reinforced Ft. Pickens with substantial forces and Athena is besieging it but not blockading it at the same time, and waiting for it to be breached to assault, it will be a very long wait.

If however only the original compliments present in Ft. Pickens (1 infantry regiment as a garrison, 1 fort battery, 1 naval battery(useless vs land units)), the question arises, why isn't Athena just assaulting?

If she has 20,000 men besieging, that is about 3 full divisions, the simple solution is to assault. I've done this a number of times. Anything else is a waist of time, and time is important in this game. If the first assault doesn't succeed (happens occasionally) the second will, as losses from the first assault by the defenders, will probably not be replaced by the time of the second assault, which must be the next turn.

The only reason that I can think of, why Athena isn't doing this, is that she is assessing the total fire-power in the fort, which if you look at, includes the naval battery, so it's about 350. That looks like a lot, like about 2/3 of a full division. I wouldn't assault that either. This could be extremely misleading, if you don't know what the fire-power means.

I know what starts out in the forts. The first time that I besieged one of the CSA forts and sat there turn for turn waiting to breach the darn thing until I dared to assault it, when I finally got the breaches and assaulted and looked at the battle results, I felt like a complete fool. I let a full division (if not two, I don't remember anymore) sit for months before assaulting, and discovered by observing the enemy losses, that there was only a regiment defending in the first place, plus the fort battery of course; the navel battery is inconsequential, because it plays no role in the land combat.

Athena my be making the same mistake.

The second question, about Athena invading Pennsylvania while you are sitting on Manassas is a question of strategy. Lee's strategy often was, if the enemy is holding you to a position to your disadvantage, draw his attention to somewhere else. He did this with Jackson in the Shenandoah Vally during McClellan's Peninsula Campaign, then again the same year while being stuck on the Rapidan, with Jackson's flanking march to Manassas, though the tactical advantage of being on Pope's line of communication (supply) can't be overlooked either.

Part of the strategy of the '63 invasion of Pennsylvania was also to draw Hooker, and then days later Meade, out of Virgina to follow him to where he wanted to fight. In each case, that aspect of those campaigns worked excellently, though the execution of the battle at Gettysburg left a lot to desire as history shows.

So what is so important about Manassas as the CSA, that you can't leave it by the wayside while concentrating your forces elsewhere? Manassas is a fine location to have your forces and a depot if all you intend to do is threaten a direct attack on Washington D.C. Otherwise it's just a small town with a depot.

As Gray stated, a human opponent, will have another view of things, and might not just invade to Bellefonte, PA, but to Harrisburg or further. Then you will forget Manassas very quickly.

[MarkCSA]

Quick answer to the poster above me. In my games as the CSA, Athena regularly goes for an instant assault on my Forts which are just held by 1 regiment.

I myself prefer to just endlessly besiege Pickens (and other out of the way places) with some siege guns and maybe 5k guys. I am inflicting hits, costing (a little) in replacements, and eventually, hopefully, pocket 2 NM or so for a nice surrender.