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BattleVonWar
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Tactical and Operational Questions

Tue Apr 07, 2015 12:01 pm

I have gone through several of the Youtubes/basic tutorials/manual and a few other items already available via the Forum... Some things were well explained and I may have missed a few things. Enlighten me if if you would please:

1. March to the Sound of the Guns. This seems to be a hairy area. I do not often achieve this, or do not recognize when I am achieving it. It happens often when I don't want it to or I have no clue to make it more likely. Various suggestions say, put on your Rail? Do you also Sync your movement as set on? Posture? The manual states you have to be adjacent and CP will matter I think. I am not sure precisely how to master this portion.

2. Unit Composition. Some say all Inf, some say all Arty. I tend to mix them... Seems the game doesn't benefit small artillery either? What gives about unit composition? What is your ideal?

3. Riverine movement??? I only have intercepted one or two Riverine Transports vs Athena. She got her butt handed to her in that. Although mine were never intercepted even when I went through dangerous territory? Do Gunboats/Ironclads really sink units transporting themselves or are they somehow immune if not using the distant transport option? Cause the manual is conflicting about this?

4. Cavalry, WHAT? Huh? I don't know what I am doing with Cavalry. As far as running real fast to do something real distant, it seems underrated and under powered. The historical Cavalry Charges of the Civil War are not in this game for me so far or I'm not aware how to use them. My Partisans, and irregulars going about the countryside burning rails and raping/pillaging do the job cavalry usually did. Cavalry evaporates near Infantry or artillery. Also! If you set it not to engage I haven't quite grasped what advantage you get from it at all? So far this part really escapes me, enlighten me if you will. P.S. The only thing I've done with Cav is capture distant artillery and supply boats a few times from Athena so far.

5. Navy, I rarely see a ship sunk. Engagements are rare, and supply cut off are rare. I do notice a lot more probability with a leader involved. Aside though, what am I missing?

6. Mass Stacking: I noticed that despite the Corp System, synching my units to arrive on time well, that doesn't always turn out right. In fact quite often it doesn't for me. I noticed when I created a Monster Stack I totally obliterated my objective in my last game after several synced attacks. What gives about this? Size trumps everything in the end?

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Gray Fox
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Tue Apr 07, 2015 1:26 pm

1. http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/Combat_Explained#Marching_to_the_sound_of_the_guns

2. Some people use a somewhat historical mixed Division with: 1 sharpshooter for initiative bonus, 1-2 cavalry for recon, 4 batteries of artillery and the rest infantry types like elites,line infantry, conscripts and militia. This works okay for lone Divisions that are entrenched. I prefer a Union Division that has more infantry: 1 sharpshooter, 1 Marine/sailor for river crossing bonus, 2 cavalry, an elite brigade and the rest militia that have been upgraded to line infantry by McClellan/Halleck/Sigel. I have 4 of these in a stack with a pure artillery Division of 10-15 batteries.

3. You can use riverine movement points the way you use railroad movement points, or you can load up into a river transport. Both of these are subject to interception by gunboats or bombardment by forts. A fort must also have artillery batteries to fire at units using naval movement. Artillery not in forts must be entrenched to fire at passing ships and if it is stacked with a leader, he must be active. The artillery needs the "Bombard passing ships" icon set too. The guns must have a sort of Zone of Control into the river/sea region where the ship is and where it moves to.

4. Cavalry has three missions, recon (and countering enemy recon), screening a withdrawal of enemy forces and pursuing a retreating enemy force. A single cavalry set to Passive Posture/Retreat if Engaged (both of the green icons) and Evade Combat has a high evasion value that allows the unit to go behind the enemy lines to do a recon. Partisans and irregulars can do this as well. In addition, rail lines can be broken and depots burned up or small settlements destroyed. These units can also block enemy supply lines. A stack in combat benefits abstractly from having more cavalry than their opponent. If the stack must retreat, the cavalry screen their withdrawal and they don't take extra hits. If their opponent retreats, then the cavalry pursue (Charge!) them and inflict extra hits.

5. Ships set to Green/Green, Evade Combat are very difficult to detect. So opposing fleets aren't going to wipe out each other. However, the blockade fleet causes a loss to the CSA each turn and the blockade runners and Union transport fleet bring in cash and War Supply each turn. This is their primary purpose.

6. To use synchronized move, all the stacks must start in the same region. A new "traffic jam" rule may be causing this to fail for you. You can put your entire military in one stack, but a game mechanic called frontage will still limit the number of elements (individual sub-units) that actually fight to a few dozen. A "monster stack" may also become diseased, weakening all of the units in the stack. It's far wiser to attack with the right amount of strength and win when a fresh Corps or two March to the Sound of the Guns and tip the scales in your favor. Good luck!
I'm the 51st shade of gray. Eat, pray, Charge!

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BattleVonWar
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Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:08 pm

Thank you, some very complex yet common sense qualities : ) I still have much to learn and just won my first game as Sgt. The AI was actually, tough

Now I will have too bookmark this

Rod Smart
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Joined: Fri Oct 17, 2014 3:32 pm

Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:54 pm

Random thoughts not intended to fully answer your questions:

1- corps next to each other. You'll notice the changes when a battle with 20,000 troops suddenly has 50,000 troops. They'll march there in as much time as it takes to get there. You won't see this until the corps system activates in 1862, so it won't work early in the game.

2- A division by itself, use 1 sharpshooter, 2 cav, 4 artillery (12 & 10 pounders), a marine, and the rest infantry (1 elite if its available). In a division within a corps within an army working together, like Northern Virginia, use all infantry, 1 sharpshooter, and the artillery will be provided in a supporting artillery only division. Do not put support units within a division.

3- use riverine transport behind your own lines to get from here to there. Use transports in a naval stack to move into enemy territory, so you don't get a division sunk by a random patrol boat.

4- cavalry in armies helps in detection and in running down routed elements after a victorious battle. Cavalry alone is good for getting from here to there quickly, like killing all those annoying partisans. Its also fun to put those red 'cut rail' marks all over the enemy's territory.

5- Navy is more for supply, and stopping supply, than fighting against each other.

6- rather than synching the marching to target, try the March to the Sound of the Guns feature. Moving one stack to one place and fighting with the power of three stacks is better than moving three stacks to one place. There are a lot of factors in each battle, but yet, attacking 10,000 troops with 100,000 troops is a good way to win.

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Gray Fox
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Tue Apr 07, 2015 3:56 pm

You're welcome and congratulations!
I'm the 51st shade of gray. Eat, pray, Charge!

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