Suicidal interception orders

[Jacek]

Now that was unfair.... Union cavalry landed in Florida, moved to Alabama. Two CSA cavalry units were automatically mustered in response. Now, Union cav took Sparta which is halfway between Biloxi and Montgomery. Okay, no cat and mouse then. I send the cav units to intercept them. And voila! Day 2 and I win a battle against US cav. They move south during the turn but another enagement is won. Alas, the Union cav gets to Fort Pickett on day 12, maybe 13 (don't know exactly) and my two cav units end up attacking what? The whole FORT! Three more fights and its over! My two units perished.

How can I avoid such situations in future? I would like an intercepting force to stop on such occasions and not fight an entire city.

[Stonewall]

If you forsee an enemy unit retreating into one if its cities within a turn, don't give your own units orders to "intercept" the enemy unit. Just give them movement orders with attack posture into a province where you expect the enemy unit to move. If this is a fortified area, let him go and station your cavalry units in the surrounding terrain. Either way, you've bottled up the enemy unit and he can cause no more damage.

[Jacek]

Thx, Stonewall. Well, I thought the Union cav sea-landed. Plus, they were two regions away from the fort when I gave an order to intercept and I didn't foresee they could move two regions in one turn

[Childress]

If you forsee an enemy unit retreating into one if its cities within a turn, don't give your own units orders to "intercept" the enemy unit.

How can this be always 'forseen'? Many regions have cities. This seems to be a *minor* exploit calling for the attention of the developers.

[Rafiki]

IMHO, when a unit being chased retreats into a structure, the chasing unit should start sieging the structure. One could even let it be so that a chasing unit set with "assault" posture assaults, rather than settles in for a siege.

Makes me wonder, though, if it isn't like that already? Jacek, the units you had, were they set with "assault" posture?

[Jacek]

No, I remember those ORANGE icons of offensive posture. BTW, the last battles in Fort Picket, the battle reports had icons of Union ships, so I probably suffered from their guns.