Hey all,
I just purchased this game but I'm very confused about some aspects, which are totally missing explanations in the manual.
For example, what is zone development and why should I care? I.e. the develop territory, clearing, etc. cards? What does this accomplish? What does it mean for a zone to have more development? Etc.
What are all the Misc support units and what do they do? I.e. HQ support, doctors/hospital, contraband, sailors, etc.?
On the battle report I guess hearts are number of hits? What's the number to the right? Interestingly there aren't any tool tips on that portion of the battle reports.
I have so many more questions but that's a good start. I really wish the manual were more complete and that the tutorials went more in depth because I'm really struggling to understand a lot of game mechanics.
On the unit cards on the map there are three bars: a red line, a blue line and a green line. I'm guessing green is cohesion and red is health or something? Is that right? What's the green line? God this manual is terrible.
What does holding down shift on the map do? It shows me a bunch of brown, white and blue lines emanating from the unit. I have no idea what those mean.
What does holding down shift on the map do? It shows me a bunch of brown, white and blue lines emanating from the unit. I have no idea what those mean.
Hi - I feel your pain. It took me a long time to get into the AGEOD game system (and I'm really only scratching the surface). So I'm nowhere close to answer most questions but here is my advice:
Don't try to learn the game system through the manual, you are right, they are incomplete and not getting updates through the patching process. Most people would probably agree with the statement that the manuals are AGEODs weak spot. What helped me is to read some of the excellent AARs here in the forum the the Paradoxplaza forums (and some, but less, on the Matrix Games forums). While I have CWII, I haven't really played it but the general AGEOD is very similar across the different games (with CWII and TEAW adding a new UI). Not sure if there are good beginner AARs for CWII but there are some really good ones for the earlier games here http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?632034-The-Hero-The-Traitor-and-The-Barbarian-an-AJE-PBEM-Beginner-AAR& and here http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?545321-Wars-in-America-A-how-to-AAR/page2& - both are long but have "beginner's corners" and those got me into the position to start enjoying the game system.
The other thing that may be helpful is to look for videos on YouTube (often called "let's play videos"), where experienced players explain the system. There is a link to the first video in a whole series about CWII http://youtu.be/LHuwjpI3ICo
There are also Wikis out there that explain a lot, sorry I have no link handy.
I hope this helps - I believe the AGEOD are great games, sadly AGEOD is making it difficult for new players to enjoy them through their documentation (or lack thereof) ...
Don't try to learn the game system through the manual, you are right, they are incomplete and not getting updates through the patching process. Most people would probably agree with the statement that the manuals are AGEODs weak spot. What helped me is to read some of the excellent AARs here in the forum the the Paradoxplaza forums (and some, but less, on the Matrix Games forums). While I have CWII, I haven't really played it but the general AGEOD is very similar across the different games (with CWII and TEAW adding a new UI). Not sure if there are good beginner AARs for CWII but there are some really good ones for the earlier games here http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?632034-The-Hero-The-Traitor-and-The-Barbarian-an-AJE-PBEM-Beginner-AAR& and here http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?545321-Wars-in-America-A-how-to-AAR/page2& - both are long but have "beginner's corners" and those got me into the position to start enjoying the game system.
The other thing that may be helpful is to look for videos on YouTube (often called "let's play videos"), where experienced players explain the system. There is a link to the first video in a whole series about CWII http://youtu.be/LHuwjpI3ICo
There are also Wikis out there that explain a lot, sorry I have no link handy.
I hope this helps - I believe the AGEOD are great games, sadly AGEOD is making it difficult for new players to enjoy them through their documentation (or lack thereof) ...
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Hegyytoportyan
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Captain_Orso
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Hi all and welcome to the forums if you haven't already been welcomed 
Right up front, I'll say that the manual is good for giving you a good overview of how the game works. It uses very generalized explanations, but rather few very specific and detailed.
In such cases, don't get frustrated, just come to the forum and give a quick search for what is confounding you; it's likely that somebody else has had the same issue.
If you're looking for a phrase, the forum will only frustrate you on that as it only searches for post with ANY of the words you enter. In such cases use google to search for phrases. From the google search page enter "site: http://www.ageod-forum.com/ "Civil War II"" (without the outer quotes and the phrase also inside quotes to search for it.
Wow, I only just notice after looking it up that the manual does talk about "zones"
. For as long as I've been in the forum we've always used the term 'region', but they are the same thing. Every field on the map is a region, including the river and oceanic regions which support a unit being moved into them.
The "cards"--RGD: ReGional Decision cards--in general allow you to do a lot of things which can affect play in a small way, or with synergy, sometimes in a larger way.
Developing regions--increasing their 'civilization level', which you see on the tool-tip of a region--can help you to move troops and supplies through those regions, or could increase production in cities.
I've found the most profound use is in the West where the civilization levels are very low and there is often a lack of roads or even tracks/trails--both terms are synonymous.
There are no regions on the map anywhere with civ-level below 10. Those between 10 and 19 are considered 'Wild' and movement of troops and supplies through them, especially during poor weather, is very difficult and slow. If you raise the civ-level of such a region and--if it currently has none--add a track, it will increase mobility in that region. Mobility is always counted when entering a region, and not moving out of one.
Once the civ-level is up to 20 there will be no further change to mobility unless you build a road or the civ-level goes up to 50, which is unlikely in the game.
If you select one of those units and then hover your mouse pointer over the ability icon a tool-tip will explain their meanings. This works everywhere you see the icons.
Hospitals: increase cohesion recovery.
Signal Companies: add 1 CP (Command Point) to their stack and can increase the effectivity of leader's abilities.
HQ Support: Combine Hospitals and Signal Co. plus they have the Training Master ability, which increases the XP's (eXperience Points) of all elements in the stack, which is not moving during that turn.
Engineers: Increase greatly the rate at which entrenchment levels are reached and help when besieging an enemy inside forts, redoubts and cities/towns.
Pioneers/Pontooners: decrease the time to cross major rivers, increase slightly rate at which entrenchment levels are reached and help when besieging an enemy inside forts, redoubts and cities/towns.
Contraband: Assist in repairing destroyed rails in a region.
Abilities are not cumulative. So if you have one element in a stack with a specific ability, other elements in the same stack with the same ability will not increase the affects of that ability. EG having a hospital unit in a stack will increase cohesion recovery by 15%. Having a second hospital in the same stack will not increase recovery any further.
The toop-tips are in the process of being fixed and will probably be back with the next official patch. The hearts do indicate the number of hits scored. The 'hash' symbol indicates the amount of cohesion loss caused to the enemy.
Please have a search of the forums first, but if you don't find your answer feel free to ask. There are lot's of great people here who are glad to help.
From left to right--I'm color-blind so...
--Health, Cohesion and Supply. In the Stack Panel--at the bottom of the map if you click on a stack--on each unit it's Health and Cohesion. Supply is displayed in the Inspection Panel on the far right if you click on a stack's tab in the Stack Panel.
OMG!! You've broken the game!!
.... No, just kidding 
Those 'rays' you see indicate what kind of 'link' you would cross when moving from that region into the region where the ray ends.
Light blue means you cross a river.
Dark blue means you enter a water region.
Black means you can use rail movement.
Brown means you move only over land.
And I've never been able to figure out exactly what the gray ones mean.
Minor bug. Will be fixed in the next patch. If you want to you can install the 1.05 beta RC1 (Release Candidate 1), where this is already fixed and some good improvements in the retreat code has been implemented. The beta patch can be found in this thread: Public Beta Patch 1.05 RC1
Some very good suggestions. Here's the CW2-Wiki. It's unfortunately also not nearly complete .
The simple answer is, because the first page if for all element type other than artillery and the second page is for artillery
.
The reason why it's like that is technical. It's because the types on the first page are for elements who's models are faction-specific and belong to your faction. On the second page are elements which are 'common' to, in this case, both the Union and Confederate factions. Since most of the guns where pretty much the same on both sided during the war, this allows you to replace missing hits from captured batteries. And that's the whole secret behind having two pages for replacements.
Right up front, I'll say that the manual is good for giving you a good overview of how the game works. It uses very generalized explanations, but rather few very specific and detailed.
In such cases, don't get frustrated, just come to the forum and give a quick search for what is confounding you; it's likely that somebody else has had the same issue.
If you're looking for a phrase, the forum will only frustrate you on that as it only searches for post with ANY of the words you enter. In such cases use google to search for phrases. From the google search page enter "site: http://www.ageod-forum.com/ "Civil War II"" (without the outer quotes and the phrase also inside quotes to search for it.
Dr_Nex wrote:Hey all,
I just purchased this game but I'm very confused about some aspects, which are totally missing explanations in the manual.
For example, what is zone development and why should I care? I.e. the develop territory, clearing, etc. cards? What does this accomplish? What does it mean for a zone to have more development? Etc.
Wow, I only just notice after looking it up that the manual does talk about "zones"
. For as long as I've been in the forum we've always used the term 'region', but they are the same thing. Every field on the map is a region, including the river and oceanic regions which support a unit being moved into them.The "cards"--RGD: ReGional Decision cards--in general allow you to do a lot of things which can affect play in a small way, or with synergy, sometimes in a larger way.
Developing regions--increasing their 'civilization level', which you see on the tool-tip of a region--can help you to move troops and supplies through those regions, or could increase production in cities.
I've found the most profound use is in the West where the civilization levels are very low and there is often a lack of roads or even tracks/trails--both terms are synonymous.
There are no regions on the map anywhere with civ-level below 10. Those between 10 and 19 are considered 'Wild' and movement of troops and supplies through them, especially during poor weather, is very difficult and slow. If you raise the civ-level of such a region and--if it currently has none--add a track, it will increase mobility in that region. Mobility is always counted when entering a region, and not moving out of one.
Once the civ-level is up to 20 there will be no further change to mobility unless you build a road or the civ-level goes up to 50, which is unlikely in the game.
Dr_Nex wrote:What are all the Misc support units and what do they do? I.e. HQ support, doctors/hospital, contraband, sailors, etc.?
If you select one of those units and then hover your mouse pointer over the ability icon a tool-tip will explain their meanings. This works everywhere you see the icons.
Hospitals: increase cohesion recovery.
Signal Companies: add 1 CP (Command Point) to their stack and can increase the effectivity of leader's abilities.
HQ Support: Combine Hospitals and Signal Co. plus they have the Training Master ability, which increases the XP's (eXperience Points) of all elements in the stack, which is not moving during that turn.
Engineers: Increase greatly the rate at which entrenchment levels are reached and help when besieging an enemy inside forts, redoubts and cities/towns.
Pioneers/Pontooners: decrease the time to cross major rivers, increase slightly rate at which entrenchment levels are reached and help when besieging an enemy inside forts, redoubts and cities/towns.
Contraband: Assist in repairing destroyed rails in a region.
Abilities are not cumulative. So if you have one element in a stack with a specific ability, other elements in the same stack with the same ability will not increase the affects of that ability. EG having a hospital unit in a stack will increase cohesion recovery by 15%. Having a second hospital in the same stack will not increase recovery any further.
Dr_Nex wrote:On the battle report I guess hearts are number of hits? What's the number to the right? Interestingly there aren't any tool tips on that portion of the battle reports.
The toop-tips are in the process of being fixed and will probably be back with the next official patch. The hearts do indicate the number of hits scored. The 'hash' symbol indicates the amount of cohesion loss caused to the enemy.
Dr_Nex wrote:I have so many more questions but that's a good start. I really wish the manual were more complete and that the tutorials went more in depth because I'm really struggling to understand a lot of game mechanics.
Please have a search of the forums first, but if you don't find your answer feel free to ask. There are lot's of great people here who are glad to help.
Dr_Nex wrote:On the unit cards on the map there are three bars: a red line, a blue line and a green line. I'm guessing green is cohesion and red is health or something? Is that right? What's the green line? God this manual is terrible.
From left to right--I'm color-blind so...
--Health, Cohesion and Supply. In the Stack Panel--at the bottom of the map if you click on a stack--on each unit it's Health and Cohesion. Supply is displayed in the Inspection Panel on the far right if you click on a stack's tab in the Stack Panel.Dr_Nex wrote:What does holding down shift on the map do? It shows me a bunch of brown, white and blue lines emanating from the unit. I have no idea what those mean.
OMG!! You've broken the game!!
.... No, just kidding 
Those 'rays' you see indicate what kind of 'link' you would cross when moving from that region into the region where the ray ends.
Light blue means you cross a river.
Dark blue means you enter a water region.
Black means you can use rail movement.
Brown means you move only over land.
And I've never been able to figure out exactly what the gray ones mean.
Dr_Nex wrote:Why don't I have little chevrons on the left of my divisions or stacked elements to see how many elements are in the division/card?
Minor bug. Will be fixed in the next patch. If you want to you can install the 1.05 beta RC1 (Release Candidate 1), where this is already fixed and some good improvements in the retreat code has been implemented. The beta patch can be found in this thread: Public Beta Patch 1.05 RC1
ChuckB wrote:Hi - I feel your pain. It took me a long time to get into the AGEOD game system (and I'm really only scratching the surface). So I'm nowhere close to answer most questions but here is my advice:
Don't try to learn the game system through the manual, you are right, they are incomplete and not getting updates through the patching process. Most people would probably agree with the statement that the manuals are AGEODs weak spot. What helped me is to read some of the excellent AARs here in the forum the the Paradoxplaza forums (and some, but less, on the Matrix Games forums). While I have CWII, I haven't really played it but the general AGEOD is very similar across the different games (with CWII and TEAW adding a new UI). Not sure if there are good beginner AARs for CWII but there are some really good ones for the earlier games here http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?632034-The-Hero-The-Traitor-and-The-Barbarian-an-AJE-PBEM-Beginner-AAR& and here http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum/showthread.php?545321-Wars-in-America-A-how-to-AAR/page2& - both are long but have "beginner's corners" and those got me into the position to start enjoying the game system.
The other thing that may be helpful is to look for videos on YouTube (often called "let's play videos"), where experienced players explain the system. There is a link to the first video in a whole series about CWII http://youtu.be/LHuwjpI3ICo
There are also Wikis out there that explain a lot, sorry I have no link handy.
I hope this helps - I believe the AGEOD are great games, sadly AGEOD is making it difficult for new players to enjoy them through their documentation (or lack thereof) ...
Some very good suggestions. Here's the CW2-Wiki. It's unfortunately also not nearly complete
.Hegyytoportyan wrote:War department/Replacement pool:
I don't know what's the difference between the two flag: the first one shows almost every types of replacement, while the second one (labelled with war supply icon) shows artillerys. Why? Are the any difference between them?
The simple answer is, because the first page if for all element type other than artillery and the second page is for artillery
.
The reason why it's like that is technical. It's because the types on the first page are for elements who's models are faction-specific and belong to your faction. On the second page are elements which are 'common' to, in this case, both the Union and Confederate factions. Since most of the guns where pretty much the same on both sided during the war, this allows you to replace missing hits from captured batteries. And that's the whole secret behind having two pages for replacements.
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Hegyytoportyan
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Captain_Orso wrote:
The simple answer is, because the first page if for all element type other than artillery and the second page is for artillery
The reason why it's like that is technical. It's because the types on the first page are for elements who's models are faction-specific and belong to your faction. On the second page are elements which are 'common' to, in this case, both the Union and Confederate factions. Since most of the guns where pretty much the same on both sided during the war, this allows you to replace missing hits from captured batteries. And that's the whole secret behind having two pages for replacements.
Thanks a lot!
Yes, the manual is pretty weak. And isn't updated.
But this game is so deep that the learning curve is steep. I would also recommend the youtube videos Charles Cummings did. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEnykA1iP1kXo19pckPHREg
And utilize the tutorial.
And don't expect to win your first time playing.
to your questions:
- I've heard you get a lot more money and supply if you develop a region from a 75 to an 80. So do that.
- hover your mouse over the little icons on the card. They explain it better than I could. Hell, hover your mouse over everything. The explanations are usually good, and they are available for everything
- cohesion I believe.
- red health, blue cohesion, green supply.
- movement costs. I hardly use this, as its so easy to cancel a move I trial and error movement costs.
- hover your mouse on the division or stacked elements card. Hell, hover your mouse over everything...
But this game is so deep that the learning curve is steep. I would also recommend the youtube videos Charles Cummings did. http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEnykA1iP1kXo19pckPHREg
And utilize the tutorial.
And don't expect to win your first time playing.
to your questions:
- I've heard you get a lot more money and supply if you develop a region from a 75 to an 80. So do that.
- hover your mouse over the little icons on the card. They explain it better than I could. Hell, hover your mouse over everything. The explanations are usually good, and they are available for everything
- cohesion I believe.
- red health, blue cohesion, green supply.
- movement costs. I hardly use this, as its so easy to cancel a move I trial and error movement costs.
- hover your mouse on the division or stacked elements card. Hell, hover your mouse over everything...
Rod Smart wrote:[...]- I've heard you get a lot more money and supply if you develop a region from a 75 to an 80. So do that. [...]
I disagree. In my experience/experiments, region income is more a function of national moral and loyalty than development (I don't think development has any affect on income). Development decreases the time it takes to move through a region. This is useful in the West because it also affects how much supply can move through a region and how far it can stretch in bad weather (hint: not far).
tripax wrote:I disagree. In my experience/experiments, region income is more a function of national moral and loyalty than development (I don't think development has any affect on income). Development decreases the time it takes to move through a region. This is useful in the West because it also affects how much supply can move through a region and how far it can stretch in bad weather (hint: not far).
Really?
I understand using the "clearing" and "development" card out west - but I had thought the the +5 development card was really important to get the high producing 75 cities to 80 "rich"??
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ArmChairGeneral
- AGEod Grognard
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You would use the Telegraph to go from 75 to 80, but the overall benefits to a region becoming Rich are murky. (In other AGEOD titles, AJE/BOR specifically, increasing the civilization level can be very beneficial.) There is at least a small increase in general supply production that is related to the region itself, but as far as anyone has been able to determine (that I know of) there isn't any change in WS, $$ or CS production. It is kind of hard to tell if there is an increase in general supply produced by the structures in an upgraded region: someone could probably comb through the supply logs to find out conclusively. Most of the regions you would want to raise to Rich already have a railroad, so the movement (and thus supply movement) benefits aren't that big of a deal. Raising the civilization level increases the frontage (a side effect of the faster movement) which isn't always desirable.
Current thinking is that there are only a few places on the map where the various civ-level raising cards are useful, like the FW and parts of MO and AR for example, but that could change with more information; the effects of Civilization level are not well documented.
Increasing Loyalty and NM are the ways to improve WS, $$ and CS production.
Current thinking is that there are only a few places on the map where the various civ-level raising cards are useful, like the FW and parts of MO and AR for example, but that could change with more information; the effects of Civilization level are not well documented.
Increasing Loyalty and NM are the ways to improve WS, $$ and CS production.
Civilization IS development in CW2. Higher development has direct and indirect effects. Direct, it reduces cohesion loss when moving and improve foraging. Indirectly, it allows building tracks then roads. Once the Traffic rule is final, this will be a very important parameter also.
Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law."
In an experiment I posted elsewhere, 100% loyalty increased the production in three major industrial cities by $1/1WS/1 conscript company and not the +50% stated in the manual. So it is hardly worth the deployment of units with high police ratings to create. Although, I read this is corrected in the latest patch. However, more NM does increase production.
I'm the 51st shade of gray. Eat, pray, Charge!
I am a software quality assurance manager for a $500 million dollar company making oil and gas software. We only provide online documentation for the reasons that have made you dissatisfied. Namely time constraints. It takes time to write a comprehensive users guide and have it sent to the printer. I have not looked at the online doc to see if it is any better than the hard copy. There were phrases in the manual that told me the manual was sent to be printed before the game was in its final version. So, its just something we have to live with, and why I am on this forum. I don't have the time to find out all the quirks and minutiae of the game myself. A few lunch hours perusing the tips and suggestions on the forum are worth 5 manuals.
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Stauffenberg
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Godagesil wrote: So, its just something we have to live with, and why I am on this forum. I don't have the time to find out all the quirks and minutiae of the game myself. A few lunch hours perusing the tips and suggestions on the forum are worth 5 manuals.
As well as bashing away with the AI and then bringing questions to the forum. It's a fairly steep learning curve but quite doable with these assets.
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