Recommended scenario for learning the game?

[Hieronymus Frosch]

Hi lads.

Been playing turn-based strategy games for years but just recently got my hands on some AGEOD games (and I wish I had found them earlier now :thumbsup .
Right now I'm trying to get into BoA2 but I find the learning curve to be quite steep. Can you recommend me a good scenario to learn the game?
So far I tried the tutorial scenario (which wasn't very helpful to be honest), the 1775 Canada invasion as UK (maybe it's rather a PBEM scenario as I won without really doing anything? The American AI didn't even try to attack me) and the 1755 Grand Campaign (which was a bit overwhelming for a beginner like me :bonk .

EDIT: Just found Narwhal's "How to" AAR, will definately read that as well.

[Durk]

Each scenario has advantages for learning the game. Short games like Greene's Southern or Lincoln's are fine for learning movement and battle. Longer games bring in the production and options menus.
I suggest, learn the game by playing both sides of any scenario. While AI can be fun, if you look at and play each side (save, exit, enter via other side) you will learn much more quickly.
I used the 1776 Grand Campaign to learn. The Campaign games have the production interface and better naval requirements. These can be complex, but typically you only have five or six forces to manage.
The AGEOD system is very special if you come from turned based games. Now you must anticipate your opponent and watch both side move in a mutual motion.
The learning curve is steep, simply enjoy this learning.
If the longer Campaign games seem overwhelming, Forward from Valley Forge is smaller and focused. It holds the entire war, but us shorter and some complications are over with.

[Hieronymus Frosch]

Thank you very much, Durk.
Forward from Valley Forge looks like a good starting scenario to me. I will definately heed your advice and control both sides as well.

The Campaign games have the production interface and better naval requirements. These can be complex, but typically you only have five or six forces to manage.

As strange as it may sound but I think the small numbers of forces combined with the size of the map is one of the main problems I have at the moment. I just don't have a feeling for which forts/cities/regions are important and where I should concentrate my efforts yet.
But it's probably a thing one gets from practice.

[Durk]

Just checking in to see how Forward from Valley Forge is progressing.
You are right that play is the best method to find what is important. I am sure you have looked at the page with victory conditions, tab purple in the ledger. It shows you the Objectives you must hold or take in order to win, along with victory points. The Strategic Cities are a bit more flexible in that you only have to hold so many out of so many. These Objective and Strategic Cities are a decent shorthand toward figuring out where you should place your effort.
This page is also a handy shortcut to go to the city. The red flags are typically a reminder you do not have a regular unit garrisoning the town, which is a nice reminder of garrison duties.

The naval war has some importance as it is the major source of EP for the British (merchants) and a steady source for the Colonials (privateers and other raiders). It also allows both sides to move quickly to threaten distant areas.
This game, in many respects, is all about having enough of a recruiting base to recruit the Continental Army. The more the British can dominate the Strategic and Objective Cities in each of the four regions, the fewer reinforcements to the Colonial forces. Many players prefer as the British to dominate New England or the Deep South initially. I like to control the Virginia Maryland Upper South first.
If the British can dominate some of the choke points, New York City especially, they can dominate the isolated Colonial armies and defeat them in detail.
In the scenario you are playing the British start will most key cities, but with Foreign intervention. It is a nicely balanced scenario.

[loki100]

As strange as it may sound but I think the small numbers of forces combined with the size of the map is one of the main problems I have at the moment. I just don't have a feeling for which forts/cities/regions are important and where I should concentrate my efforts yet.
But it's probably a thing one gets from practice.

I found that as well at the start. You can't do what you can do in many games and fill out your front line, in fact it takes quite a lot of practice to even work out where the 'front' is.

Another good starter scenario, I think, is the War of 1812, till the late game British reinforcements its mostly a tussle over a few strategic spots, so that helps orientate your thinking.

[Durk]

Forward from Valley Forge looks like a good starting scenario to me. I will definately heed your advice and control both sides as well.

As strange as it may sound but I think the small numbers of forces combined with the size of the map is one of the main problems I have at the moment. I just don't have a feeling for which forts/cities/regions are important and where I should concentrate my efforts yet.
But it's probably a thing one gets from practice.

Wondering how it is going. This game to me is the perfect wargame. Just wondering if you are engaging or frustrated. Forts and Cities are where you should concentrate. I think of this game as a classic example of a war of posts.
New England is the key Grand Region.

[Cbob]

I started with the four turn Carolina scenario (the game version of the tutorial) until I could figure out how to move. Now I've moved on to playing the 1775 scenario as the British over and over again - until the point I conclude that I really need to understand a certain concept a little better. I like that it starts out slowly and builds. I've gotten to the point where I can occasionally put to the sword the obstreperous banditti that styles itself the Continental Army . The game system seems a little finicky at first - but there's a logic to it. It kind of reminds me of Operational Art of War, in that there's a lot going on under the hood.

[Durk]

What a great approach. Small scenario then large scenario.
I think this is a great idea for players new to the game.
There is a lot going on under the hood. Easy to play, hard to master.
My learning used playing both sides instead of playing AI, but I like this idea.

[Philo32b]

I'm on the long road to learning myself. I like the idea of the 1775 opening up from a smaller start. I opened up the ACW main campaign and my brain shut down at all the complexity of it. Then I read recommendations to go to WiA as a good starting point.

And thanks for your idea of playing both sides, Durk. That has been immensely helpful in learning the mechanics!

The scenario path that I took was Saratoga --> Decision in the North. Saratoga is a smaller version of basically the same elements in Decision, so it helped me get my slow brain around it.

[Durk]

Saratoga to Decision is the North is a smart sequence.
A great thing about the AEGOD games is so many ways to enter the system.

So what did you do next to learn the production and naval systems?

[Philo32b]

Saratoga to Decision is the North is a smart sequence.
A great thing about the AEGOD games is so many ways to enter the system.

So what did you do next to learn the production and naval systems?

I'm still grappling with Decision in the North. It has some naval, which I'm not sure I understand. (I just let the merchants do their own thing?) Is production using EP to buy replacements and reinforcements? I'm doing some of that, but not getting a lot of EP points to buy stuff. I've caused 2:1 rebel causalities to mine, but they've dominated the Victory Points and so their troops are multiplying like flies. I've also lost a fair amount to the merciless winter, which I thought I would be smarter about but these 30-day turns sneak up on you. It is a fun game, though, even though I still stink.

[Durk]

You are playing as the British? About the only thing you can do to raise EP, which is your money, as you have found out, is to build a few more merchant ships. Your supply ships can join the convoys, but I always need them for transport and supply.

Six to eight EP a turn is about normal. Over the campaign game this adds up.
You can send your frigates to take out the Colonial raiders in the sea zone, but this is never successful for me.

The rebels get substantial reinforcements, for sure. If you are losing your own units to nasty weather, just pace them to be in cities in winter or make certain they do not march without supply wagons.

The British have substantially more force early, before the Colonials train. After they begin training, you mostly have to narrow you goals to one section of the continent at a time.

[Cbob]

Hoe exactly do naval units aid supply? Do they work in a similar fashion to depots if you leave them in port? Or must they be at sea? Yes privateers....must learn to kill privateers. Thanks!

[Durk]

Naval units, specifically transports, help supply only if you convert them to depots. Not similar to depots.

[Cbob]

Thanks!