Ok, enough whining. My questions

[Lecivius]

1) Why am I limited in building naval transports in the game? I guess I can see capping it even though it severely hurts the Union side. But if I burn 2 in making a Depot at a fort I capture, they are gone forever.

2) Why do troops/generals move to locations other than my set destination. Example, I send Sheridan to St Louis to help with the west, and to build a small control army. He lands in Cairo the next turn?

3) Is the monetary cost of units being evaluated? I don't need to know the particulars, or even 'if' a change will be made. Just if it's being evaluated. After playing a game to conclusion now, monetary costs prohibit many of the toys available, and there is no way on earth to create a force even remotely possible to accomplish a blockade by 1865.

4) speaking of, issues with Blockade have already been discussed. Considering this was a HUGE factor in this war, is it going to be addressed soon?

5) Is it possible to move fortress guns? I can seize a fort on a ort, and in fact I have to in order to have any hope of shutting down a port. But the guns are almost inevitably destroyed. This allows runners to bypass them, and any naval units, with very little risk. I built a new battery at New York, but it will not move by rail or load to a ship, even a fleet with 6 transports in it.


The game is a lot of fun. But it still has the feel of a late stage beta product.

[Le Ricain]

1) It is my impression that when you use transports to build a depot, the transports are returned to the build pool.

2) They don't.

3) In my game, I have $3,000+ in the bank by 1864 and have achieved an 85% blockade of the Confederacy.

4) I am unaware of any blockade issues...sorry.

5) Fortress guns can be transported by transport or by railroad. When you capture a fort, the quicker way to land cannon is to use the special order 'unship guns' (or whatever it is called) from your blockade/transport fleet. The next turn you have a battery guns and a blockade.

[Jim-NC]

1) Why am I limited in building naval transports in the game? I guess I can see capping it even though it severely hurts the Union side. But if I burn 2 in making a Depot at a fort I capture, they are gone forever.

2) Why do troops/generals move to locations other than my set destination. Example, I send Sheridan to St Louis to help with the west, and to build a small control army. He lands in Cairo the next turn?

3) Is the monetary cost of units being evaluated? I don't need to know the particulars, or even 'if' a change will be made. Just if it's being evaluated. After playing a game to conclusion now, monetary costs prohibit many of the toys available, and there is no way on earth to create a force even remotely possible to accomplish a blockade by 1865.

4) speaking of, issues with Blockade have already been discussed. Considering this was a HUGE factor in this war, is it going to be addressed soon?

5) Is it possible to move fortress guns? I can seize a fort on a ort, and in fact I have to in order to have any hope of shutting down a port. But the guns are almost inevitably destroyed. This allows runners to bypass them, and any naval units, with very little risk. I built a new battery at New York, but it will not move by rail or load to a ship, even a fleet with 6 transports in it.


The game is a lot of fun. But it still has the feel of a late stage beta product.

1. It may take a few turns to show back up in the force pool.
2. Did you move someone from St. Louis to Cairo? The leader picks a subunit in the stack to merge with (you don't see it). If that subunit is removed from the stack, the leader now targets the new stack. If that new stack moves, then the leader will chase it down.
3. Don't know about money issues.
4. To my knowledge, the blockade is being discussed, no resolution yet.
5. You should be able to move the guns by ship (if nothing else). We will need more particulars to help troubleshoot the problem. Which version are you using?

[Ol' Choctaw]

1) no, they should return to the pool.

2) Did you move a unit to Cairo? You may have inadvertently ordered him to a stack that moved to that location.

3) Costs are calculated based on inflation. If you have high inflation (have printed money several times) those costs rise. Bonds and taxes reduce it by a small amount.

4) What part in particular?

5) It should but if you have left it in one place too long it may become locked for coast artillery. Normal cannon or even cannon unloaded from ships will also work. Any two or more guns totaling 50 points or more will do maximum damage to enemy shipping but there is always a chance they might slip by.

The game is a lot of fun. But it still has the feel of a late stage beta product.

Sorry you feel that way. The Devs keep improving and working on the game long past development.

This game is one of the most bug free titles I have played in years. It doesn’t mean it is perfect by any means but I know that just about any problem, no matter how small is going to get addressed at some point.

It is in way better shape as a playable game than the latest total war title, which came out at roughly the same time and was in development for much longer than this one.

[Lecivius]

I created all the available transports in '61. I burned a few transports making Depots in '62. I never had the option of replacing them through the middle of 1 game, and to the end of the second game.

The move to Cairo was an example. While it does not happen all the time, it happens 2-4 times a game year. It's frustrating.

Cash is always short of hand. I have had that Event that reduces inflation occur a couple of times a game. I have never received more that $860 a turn, and that is using the bonds/paper money. This is the only time I build a couple of ships, as those are by definition expensive. Usual income is $200-$300 a turn. If I am careful (and I should have to be) I never really hurt for troops or WM. But I run out of cash in just a couple of cards or non-militia recruitments. This too has been mentioned here, and on the Matrix forums.


Blockade issues have been mentioned before. Two pages back

<no URL, not 5 posts or more>

There are others, I'm just using that as an example.

If someone has 85% of the south blockaded, and is still combat worthy in a ground game. I would love to see a save. I have no problem admitting to being an idiot if I am one

I have built a fortress battery in New York to move to seized forts. The seized forts lost their guns upon being stormed. They have the red restricted bar, and will not load.

[Ol' Choctaw]

Right, coast artillery has that all the time. It is to show their restricted mobility rather than being locked. It should still load on ships or move however. I am not well versed on what happens to them once they are in a fort. They may lock again and that could be a problem if they were built in NYC. Either that or you confused a fort battery there with the one built, which I assume is unlikely.

Posting a save game with the problem might be a good idea. Maybe someone could have a look at it.

All of the blockade issues I know of have been addressed, I believe. Some parts are still being looked at, like ship availability dates.

Money can be an issue, especially if you are paying bounties for recruits. Again, a save game would help.

[Lecivius]

Ok. I'll do that whan I can.

Just trying to focus on one thing at a time, then.

I am trying to blockade Mobile. I have the 2 forts protecting the bay. I have a squadron both outside the forts, and another sitting off the docks. I still have Ft. Pickens with a flotilla off of it, and just to experiment I put another blockade group up the coast. So I have Left, Right, Center, and Docks covered, and it still will not lock up I even landed Sailors and surrounded it. I'm working on getting a river group just upstream from it. Both forts now have guns (I had to strip 2 ships to do it). I landed sailors & took the little town across from it. Only thing left it to get a bunch of river ironclads to run down from up North and cover the river from that end for an airtight siege.

I did get New Orleans to lock up, and I only took the 2 forts at the river mouth. No ships at all. The fort covering the entrance to Pontchartrain is still in rebel hands. Pickens blockades it's river as well even if I pull the squadron. So I'm not sure what the mechanics are. Am I missing something? And why do all of my forts change from Active (orange) mode to Passive (blue) every time I advance a turn? This allows blockade runners to slip by almost unimpeded.

[veji1]

do you have guns in those forts ? I believe you need arty.

[Lecivius]

do you have guns in those forts ? I believe you need arty.

See my point #5 above. I then followed advice posted here & ripped the guns out of 2 ships. I may be doing something wrong, but at least you can see why I got frustrated enough to whine.

[Ace]

To block Mobile, you have to take out its forts.

[Lecivius]

To block Mobile, you have to take out its forts.

I have both of the forts. I have fleets both sitting on the causeway, and just off the docks. I have the town across the bay. I have a party of sailors all around it. I even put a blockade group upstream. Mobile will not lock under any condition I can produce. And it is a major objective. I can lock other ports, including Charleston, the port the earlier post stated he could not lock up.

And why does McClellan get pulled? I realize he is removed in real life, but he is a strategic piece in this game. This further hamstrings the union side.

As I stated, there are a lot of balance, and game issues that should have been obvious pre-release. ACW1 had issues on release, they got ironed out. These should have been incorporated into 2. As it is this game takes a back seat until it's fixed. And that was the point of my whole rant. I'll shut up now, as whining will do nothing but antagonize folks.

[Jim-NC]

Would you provide a screen shot showing the situation?

[Lecivius]

Ok, let's see if I did this right. I sent the ships back to cover the port. I don't know what else one can do to blockade this port. I can't show the generals going wild, I have to know ahead of time. None of the captured forts have their coastal artillery. Even if I am doing something wrong, it's very frustrating. Note the year, and the cash. I ended last turn with $48 in the bank. Every transport except what Farragut started with is in Shipping.

[ATTACH]25805[/ATTACH]

[Captain_Orso]

You need at least 8 naval combat elements to blockade an harbor exit point[SUP][1][/SUP]. If Mobile has more than 1 exit point, each/all of these have to have enough naval combat elements to be blockaded. Check the tool-tip for the harbor (the anchor sprite/graphic) to discover the exit point(s) and the tool-tip for the exit point(s) to discover if you have enough elements to blockade that/those exit point(s).

[SUP][1][/SUP] Depending on the situation of the harbor being blockaded, the number of element may be higher. If you have artillery that can bombard into an exit point, it can lower the number of elements needed.

[Lecivius]

I know. Mouse-Over all 3 water zones estuary(1 blockade group, 3 steam frigates, 3 sail frigates) , port (1 blockade group, 1 Monitor), and upstream (2 steam frigates, 2 Scouting Squadrons) each show I have enough to blockade that particular zone. I own the land zones to either side. I own the forts. The only thing that should go in is via carrier pigeon.

Interestingly, the lock symbol on Charleston comes & goes depending on the turn. Same thing on New Orleans. I never changed the groups covering those ports. I eventually took New Orleans.

I give up. I am the only one that seems to think this, and the other stuff, is FUBAR.

[Jim-NC]

I for one am sorry that you feel that way.

It is possible that you have blockaded the port, but that the blockade symbol is hidden under another picture (say under the CSA stack, or under the city icon).

[Ol' Choctaw]

I know. Mouse-Over all 3 water zones estuary(1 blockade group, 3 steam frigates, 3 sail frigates) , port (1 blockade group, 1 Monitor), and upstream (2 steam frigates, 2 Scouting Squadrons) each show I have enough to blockade that particular zone. I own the land zones to either side. I own the forts. The only thing that should go in is via carrier pigeon.

Interestingly, the lock symbol on Charleston comes & goes depending on the turn. Same thing on New Orleans. I never changed the groups covering those ports. I eventually took New Orleans.

I give up. I am the only one that seems to think this, and the other stuff, is FUBAR.

It usually takes between 8 and 12 Naval Combat Elements to block an area.

Your fleets don’t seem large enough and transports do Not count.

Check your tool tips again and see if you have enough ships.

If your blockades come and go, it is possible that the blockade requires more ships under some conditions.

I checked a tool tip that said I needed 8 elements to block the harbor. I moved 8 and then it did not block the harbor. It said I needed 12. Once I had 12 it was fine.

[Le Ricain]

Firstly, there is no bug associated with the blockade of Mobile. In my current game, I have blockaded Mobile. I could post a pic, but please believe me. I have captured Fort Morgan, but not Fort Gaines. In my game, the coastal and fortress artillery of Fort Morgan were captured and not destroyed. However, when I captured Fort Sumter, I used the "unload guns from ships" chit to enforce a blockade of Charleston. I have no reason to think that the same would not work for Fort Morgan.

Prior to capturing Fort Morgan, I maintained a blockade on Mobile by keeping a squadron in each of the two river areas near Mobile, as you have done. As the CSA has artillery in the city, I needed to have 12 war ships and not eight in the blockading squadrons.

The blockade symbol appears in the northern part of the region and is not being covered by another icon in your pic. I suspect that you do not have enough war ships in your blockade squadrons. Remember, that transports do not count.

[James D Burns]

and upstream (2 steam frigates, 2 Scouting Squadrons)

I think this is your problem, perhaps you miss-read your tool-tip and it says you need 6 elements to blockade the region? It’s a dynamic tool-tip and that statement would mean you need 6 elements in addition to what is already in the region. So if you were to add 2 more elements to the 6 you have there already, the tool-tip would dynamically change and would then state you need 4 elements to blockade the region.

Only if the tool-tip states you are successfully blockading a region is it closed down.

Jim

[Ace]

Furthermore, I think if you had guns either in Ft Gaines or Morgan, port would be blockaded.

[Lecivius]

Again, mousing over all 3 zones shows I have enough to have that zone blockaded. And as I noted above, the port guns vanish. Not on every fort I capture, but most of them. And, at least to me, there is no way to move guns made in New York to this location. I tried with Farragut's fleet, seen in this screen, so I should have had enough lift capacity.

Just to be sure, I will move the entire Union fleet constructed to this point in the game, and distribute it amoung the 3 zones. The 2 exceptions will be a blockade flotilla to the east & west of the port, even though I already own the ground. I will possibly loose the sailors on the ground to the east, as there is a 2600 AV army in Mobile that ignores the ships & crosses the water (another peeve) to drive my guys off.

[Le Ricain]

Again, mousing over all 3 zones shows I have enough to have that zone blockaded. And as I noted above, the port guns vanish. Not on every fort I capture, but most of them. And, at least to me, there is no way to move guns made in New York to this location. I tried with Farragut's fleet, seen in this screen, so I should have had enough lift capacity.

Just to be sure, I will move the entire Union fleet constructed to this point in the game, and distribute it amoung the 3 zones. The 2 exceptions will be a blockade flotilla to the east & west of the port, even though I already own the ground. I will possibly loose the sailors on the ground to the east, as there is a 2600 AV army in Mobile that ignores the ships & crosses the water (another peeve) to drive my guys off.

It would appear that you have found a bug. To blockade Mobile, all you should have to do is move two fleets, each containing 12 war ships, into the area. One fleet goes into Mobile Bay region and the second goes into the Mobile River Region. You need 12 ships because the CSA garrison inside Mobile contains artillery.

[Captain_Orso]

I really have no idea what you are doing Lecivius, but I'm doing my best to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Again, mousing over all 3 zones shows I have enough to have that zone blockaded.

You already said that once and described that you had

... upstream (2 steam frigates, 2 Scouting Squadrons) each show I have enough to blockade that particular zone

and that cannot be true. Exactly how are you determining that you have enough ships to blockade with only 6 cobmat naval elements?

And as I noted above, the port guns vanish. Not on every fort I capture, but most of them.

What do you mean "port guns", vanish from where and when?
When you capture a fort you do not always capture the artillery within them. Sometimes they are "spiked" by the defender during the capture and then they are simply not there afterwards.

And, at least to me, there is no way to move guns made in New York to this location. I tried with Farragut's fleet, seen in this screen, so I should have had enough lift capacity.

The only thing that determines if a fleet can transport anything is if it has enough transport capacity. Look at the tool-tip of the fleet in the Stack Panel (on the tab). It will tell you what your fleet's transport capacity is.

I've built a coastal artillery in New York City and putting it on a naval transport and shipping it to another location and later per rail even further. I see no issues and have no idea why it doesn't work for you.

Just to be sure, I will move the entire Union fleet constructed to this point in the game, and distribute it amoung the 3 zones.

As I stated already, you only have to blockade the exit points of Mobil harbor and nothing else.

The 2 exceptions will be a blockade flotilla to the east & west of the port, even though I already own the ground.

Blockading at the forts will make no difference.

I will possibly loose the sailors on the ground to the east, as there is a 2600 AV army in Mobile that ignores the ships & crosses the water (another peeve) to drive my guys off.

??? They cross the water? From Mobile to Blakely? They could only do that if they are using riverine transports or transport units and sailing through your fleets, which are both in Offensive Posture in the last illustration you posted. I am just at a loss as to how that can be.

Put the land units in Defensive Posture with the avoid combat special order and leave one each in the regions WEST and north-west of Mobile to block supplies from coming out of those directions.

Implement the blockade as I described and it will work.