Red Areas & ZOC's

[G-Burg Bullet]

Sorry for all these newbie questions today. I've been collecting some as I come up the learning curve on the game. It is a fantastic game, btw.

Ok, I'm curious about regions turning red when you select a stack. It usually happens after a battle. I can't seen to find it in the manual. Does it have something to do with ZOC's? I noticed the little ZOC bullseye also turns red sometimes in the little force summary out to the right. What does this mean?

I guess I need some education on ZOC's too. Can anyone help?

Thanks!

[Durk]

Mostly this is due to the opposing side holding a fort or city in the region you are in. This raises the ZOC issue, that is, you do not control the region.

[loki100]

its a combination of military control (MC) and the mobility of your army. Basically those two prevent you moving on.

As an eg, if you don't have MC in your current province and your army has a supply train/heavy guns, odds on you will be prevented from moving on. If you split out say a single cavalry formation, you may find that can move into the next province. So one solution is to send that on, to take MC and then next turn its more likely you can move your main army in - of course there is a risk that the nasty enemy will hit your exposed cavalry so give them a very low combat commitment (use red-attack/green - commit) and they will probably just fall back with limited losses.

[Z74]

IIRC this concept in AACW was one of the greatest strategic goodies the engine had when compared to other simulations of the kind.
Those red areas can't be entered and if the army is defeated you can dislodge it to some place else where it is even more disadvantaged or surrounded and can capture it all together.

I think the CAV can't increase MC by a lot. You would need a DIV sized force and yes, the orange-green would be the best idea because the bigger the force the more likely it is to be found and attacked by the enemy who controls those areas.

[G-Burg Bullet]

So I can't enter the red zones because enemy ZOC & MC is blocking any further movement of my army? Is that what the red bullseye off to the right means too? It's normally just black like an eyeball or target.

[GraniteStater]

I think you're right about the 'eyeball', however, AFAIK, MC has got very little, if anything, to do with it.

To clarify: in AACW, before 1.09 or sumptin', MC played a part in Retreat algorithms. After a certain patch, it was obviated. AFAIK, this holds in CW2.

[Jim-NC]

The red is related to ZOCs. Every force generates a ZOC. Supply wagons are an armies' mobility inhibitors. Usually, they are the object that keeps an army from moving on. If you need your force to get away from the enemy, you can usually drop your supply wagons, and your mobility increases, allowing you to go somewhere else.

I think it's related to MC, as the tooltip states something along the lines of "your force can only move into regions with x% MC". MC and ZOC together dictate where you can or can't go.

[G-Burg Bullet]

This is still a bit confusing. I was playing the Union with Grant as my Army commander. He shattered the CSA Army under A.S. Johnston just north of Corinth and Johnston retreated. Then when I went to move Grant the next turn, those red areas lit up in front of me. My ZOC points were way higher than the enemy. Not sure why I got slowed down and received the red bullseye after the victory. I must be missing something here.

[Jim-NC]

Due to game mechanics, it doesn't matter how many ZOC points you have. The game checks your forces evasion versus the enemies patrol points (their ZOC). You have won, but there is probably some CSA unit(s) still there, and thus they are partially blocking your route to regions that you don't have at least some MC.

[Jim-NC]

Due to game mechanics, it doesn't matter how many ZOC points you have. The game checks your forces evasion versus the enemies patrol points (their ZOC). You have won, but there is probably some CSA unit(s) still there, and thus they are partially blocking your route to regions that you don't have at least some MC.