Conscripts, Militia, etc.

[GraniteStater]

I've got some decent experience with the game (almost all Union) but must confess that my grasp of this area is woeful. I read about Conscripts, about militia demi-brigades, and there is definitely something I'm not seeing, either on-screen or figuratively.

XM - superimposed, infantry with an 'M' - militia, I get that. Instant guys, don't ask too much of 'em. Can magically turn into...something. Can put two of these MilitRegts together to form a demi-brigade, but I'm clueless about this.

LightInf - a little better. Sometimes just appear, voila! Often seen as LI/LI/Militia Bdes. Cool. Not bad for 61. Later on, this observer has seen Inf/Inf/LI - these are the results of the Magic Training Program or, perhaps, the Trainers that I use. Unsure. Confused.

Conscripts - "conscript companies", perhaps? Maybe only that meaning? Raw recruits, strawfeet. I don't see these as elements, do I?

When I build an Inf/Inf/Inf/Cav/Arty in Boston, those are recruits being assembled, I presume? Is this formation, so dear to my heart, a conscript formation when it's ready to be deployed?

I dunno - dunno at all, when it comes to these topics. I just rush warm bodies to their doom, I'm afraid.

[Jim-NC]

The path is Militia to Conscript to Regular. This means that for each Militia unit, at some point (random) it is "trained" to conscript status. Then it is "trained" to regular status. You get a message at each step saying that the "xth MA is trained". The conscript status shows up as (Conscript) in the title screen. Some units start at Conscript status (for example, I see it most often in Calvary regiments recruited within brigades later in the war.

Hope this helps.

As to the combining aspect, you can on occasion add the 2 elemets of Milita together using the CTRL key and the "Combine" button. I am not an expert on this area however (it is the same way as manually replacing a "lost" element in a unit that has suffered damage by combining the appropriate units together).

[GraniteStater]

The path is Militia to Conscript to Regular. This means that for each Militia unit, at some point (random) it is "trained" to conscript status. Then it is "trained" to regular status. You get a message at each step saying that the "xth MA is trained". The conscript status shows up as (Conscript) in the title screen. Some units start at Conscript status (for example, I see it most often in Calvary regiments recruited within brigades later in the war.

Hope this helps.

As to the combining aspect, you can on occasion add the 2 elemets of Milita together using the CTRL key and the "Combine" button. I am not an expert on this area however (it is the same way as manually replacing a "lost" element in a unit that has suffered damage by combining the appropriate units together).

Thank you for promptness. Now, if I may:

OK, I've seen the training mssgs, naturally. If I click on the unit or element in question (not the message, that just shows the stack), what do I see? First I'm going to see "XM", right, before they're trained? Then what? Do I see an XL (LightInf) symbol? Then, finally, the same element (regiment) is an Infantry reg't, outright, I presume (X).

But what is the "title screen"? Sorry for being dense. I've never seen any 'status' on a 'title screen', AFAIK.

Cav - what, something somewhere says "49th Ill Cav (Conscript)"? I don't see a /L (superimposed) symbol, do I?

Again. we all have our shortcomings - sorry about the density.

[gchristie]

Two militia units can be combined using the "+" symbol, similar to adding brigades to a division. Is that what you mean by "clueless?" By doing this you reduce the command points from two to one, if I recall right.

Conscripts are indicated by clicking on the unit, then mousing over the elements of the unit. In some brigades with more than one element sometimes all, or only some of the elements will be indicated as conscript. It's not clear to me why some have conscripts and some muster as regulars.

I send brigades with conscripts to a staging area that has a leader with the training aspect, like McClellan. After a time the trainer will train the conscripts up to regulars. As Jim says, you get a notification when the conscript trains and you can click on the notice and go to the brigade in question.

I try to have a staging area in each theater with a training officer. It can be a bit tedious, and requires a bit more planning ahead, but it seems to work for me. Or, you can send the green recruits off to "see the elephant" and hope they survive the encounter.

Hope this is helpful.

[GraniteStater]

Aha! It's cuz I don't use the Unit Detail screen too much; mostly for Leader inquires.

I think I get it now. Thank you, sir.

[von Sachsen]

And as for Light Infantry, they are something else apart. They are mostly formed along with 2 militia regiments in the first months, but IIRC are not buildable/trainable to except for a few avaibable for the south. But Militia -> regular goes like this... militia -> infantry (conscript) (not militia, but far less powerful than trained regulars) -> infantry (normal infantry) -> Infantry with the stats of elite infantry (most of your forces will get here within the first year, esspecially if you have training officers.

[GraniteStater]

Thx again.

[Jim-NC]

Thank you for promptness. Now, if I may:

OK, I've seen the training mssgs, naturally. If I click on the unit or element in question (not the message, that just shows the stack), what do I see? First I'm going to see "XM", right, before they're trained? Then what? Do I see an XL (LightInf) symbol? Then, finally, the same element (regiment) is an Infantry reg't, outright, I presume (X).

But what is the "title screen"? Sorry for being dense. I've never seen any 'status' on a 'title screen', AFAIK.

Cav - what, something somewhere says "49th Ill Cav (Conscript)"? I don't see a /L (superimposed) symbol, do I?

Again. we all have our shortcomings - sorry about the density.

You see it 2 places (maybe more). When you click on the stack, the list of elements show on the bottom right of the screen. If you mouse over the elements, it will show you 54th MA (Conscript). The other place is to click on the element, opening the screen with element's stats. It will say what type of element and status like (Conscript) or (Line Infantry). Look at the pictures on post 1 in the link. IIRC, the different levels effect the unit's stats (so that conscript units have lower stats than regular units).

http://www.ageod-forum.com/showthread.php?t=14311&highlight=experience

[GraniteStater]

A must-read thread, indeed, especially if you want grizzled veterans.

[gchristie]

I prefer to think of myself as "spiney" rather than "grizzled" if you please

[Cromagnonman]

Yes, your "XL" elements will always be as such, although the two XM in the brigade will eventually go to infantry(conscript) and then infantry. There does not seem to be any notification of XM training to inf(c), but always notification of inf(c) to inf.

To brigade XM together, you must move two XM elements from the same state into the same stack, select them and only them with ctrl+click, then press the plus button as with forming divisions. This should be done ASAP, because the units can no longer be combined once one has trained up to conscript. New England is a good place to train militia because they all spawn in Boston, and you can combine them before they grow up.

The biggest question I have is, why are some XM labelled as "volunteers?" I've seen little to distinguish them from "militia."

[GraniteStater]

Well, they didn't want to call them "fodder", er, strike that, make that "the flower of our youth who have so gallantly offered their lives."

[caranorn]

You can combine single militia regiments (before they upgrade to conscript infantry) regardless of state. They will adobt the home state of the regiment you selected first (so f.i. if you wish to combine the 7th NYSM and 3rd PA, select first the 7th, then shift click on the 3rd and hit the add button you will end up with a NYS militia regiment of 2 elements named 7th NYSM and 3rd PA respectively and costing just 1 CP (and you can raise a new militia regiment from that state the following turn, same happens if a militia regiment upgrades), the home state can be important as militia before it upgrades fights best in its home state)...

The 3 element brigades composed of 2 militia and 1 light infantry are supposed to represent 1861 3-month volunteer regiments (though they don't auto disband and some of the supposed "regular" brigades added by event were likewise comosed of largely or exclusivley 3-month volunteers). Note that these volunteer brigades don't seem to be affected by the state limitations of militia regiments...

The light infantry regiments in those volunteer brigades indeed don't upgrade...

[Jim-NC]

I am attaching pictures of the types of units (Mil vs. Conscript vs. Line vs. Elite). The Cohesion for the militia is higher than for some other units (not 100% sure why). The green lines indicate when something increased by moving up the chain. Line inf never becomes Elite, units are formed as elite or not.

[ATTACH]14589[/ATTACH]


Please note the increases by moving up the stages.

[Cromagnonman]

The Cohesion for the militia is higher than for some other units (not 100% sure why).

Likely they were in their home state.
Thanks for the side-by-sides!

Edit: Also, just noticed you used Zouaves for your standard infantry. Did you check to make sure they're the same as reg. infantry?

[von Sachsen]

IIRC, it looks like you missed a step. in between conscript as the zouaves (who do have the same stats as the others) are "regular" regular infantry. Notice the small band on the side of the zouaves, there is a step of line infantry without that that is not conscript. (I would give a better description, but it has been a little while since I played.)

[Pat "Stonewall" Cleburne]

I think zouaves and good line infantry have the same stats.