I've got a couple more questions. Some of them I might know the answers to already but I'm kind of unclear on them. And then others I'm not really sure where to start.
1. When is supply calculated exactly? The end of the turn? Or somewhere in the middle. If I have supply en route to a unit that's either partially or completely out of supply will I take hits on them or not.
2. If a unit is completely destroyed, will I see a new unit show up in the available force pool or is it gone gone? What about if it's captured or I disband it?
3. How long does it take to disband a unit? Will it happen immediately or does it take until the end/middle of the turn or even a later turn?
4. When you form a new division, the general temporarily loses his stats. Is that something that'll last for the rest of the turn or does it go away sooner than that? IE, I form a division with a 4-2-2 and it drops his stats to 2-0-0. That division is attacked that turn, will the general provide his normal bonus or the lowered value?
5. Build defensive works RGD. Will this card always reset the fortification level to 4 even if it was higher prior like I saw in Charles' youtube PBEM series? Or is that fixed now so it won't reduce your entrenchment. And does it now give you higher than level 4 entrechment now?
6. Is it just my bad luck or do river ships not provide much of a chance of blocking enemy crossing of a river? It seems like forces using riverine movement more often than not slip past any fleet I might have. Does the posture affect your chances? I'll typically focus on ironsides and timberclads. Should I be building more gunboats if I want to stop riverine movement?
7. I know that the higher the FE, the more goodies free the CSA will get from the European powers. Does anyone have a breakdown on what the different ranges for free stuff will occur. Say 0-20 FE, there's such and such chance of a new runner and then 21-30 there's an even greater chance? Or is it like economic sunrise in that each percentage of positive FE gives a corresponding percentage chance of a new blockade runner? I haven't played the rebels much, so is there anything else they might get besides runners?
8. Lastly (for now) I haven't seen much/any mention of gatling guns from anyone in AARs or on the forums. Do people not like them? It seems like they're pretty strong on defense and I always buy them up and sprinkle 1-2 in corps, armies, or sometimes in a place I feel like might be attacked and I'd like to add some defensive oomph.
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FightingBuckeye
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FightingBuckeye
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I did forget one question. In some of the AARs people have given guestimates as to their opponent force levels. I can know roughly how many men are in various subunits. But once they're combined into a division how does one go about trying to figure out their opponent's strength short of actually fighting them?
FightingBuckeye wrote:1. When is supply calculated exactly? The end of the turn? Or somewhere in the middle. If I have supply en route to a unit that's either partially or completely out of supply will I take hits on them or not.
Supply is computed at the beginning of the turn. If an out of supply can't draw supply unit from a valid source at that time, it will suffer hits.
2. If a unit is completely destroyed, will I see a new unit show up in the available force pool or is it gone gone? What about if it's captured or I disband it?
Disband : you get back 75% of the CC (and 25% of $ and WSU). Regarding capture and destruction I don't know for sure but I don't see why you should get back troops you have lost.
3. How long does it take to disband a unit? Will it happen immediately or does it take until the end/middle of the turn or even a later turn?
I have never tried it.
4. When you form a new division, the general temporarily loses his stats. Is that something that'll last for the rest of the turn or does it go away sooner than that? IE, I form a division with a 4-2-2 and it drops his stats to 2-0-0. That division is attacked that turn, will the general provide his normal bonus or the lowered value?
It lasts for the turn, so the general will provide the lowered bonus value.
5. Build defensive works RGD. Will this card always reset the fortification level to 4 even if it was higher prior like I saw in Charles' youtube PBEM series? Or is that fixed now so it won't reduce your entrenchment. And does it now give you higher than level 4 entrechment now?
I don't know.
6. Is it just my bad luck or do river ships not provide much of a chance of blocking enemy crossing of a river? It seems like forces using riverine movement more often than not slip past any fleet I might have. Does the posture affect your chances? I'll typically focus on ironsides and timberclads. Should I be building more gunboats if I want to stop riverine movement?
Each ship give you 25% to block crossing to a maximum of 90%. Regarding riverine movement, I would set my force to offensive posture.
7. I know that the higher the FE, the more goodies free the CSA will get from the European powers. Does anyone have a breakdown on what the different ranges for free stuff will occur. Say 0-20 FE, there's such and such chance of a new runner and then 21-30 there's an even greater chance? Or is it like economic sunrise in that each percentage of positive FE gives a corresponding percentage chance of a new blockade runner? I haven't played the rebels much, so is there anything else they might get besides runners?
I think the % to receive goodies is directly related to the FE (i.e. not step but linear relationship with FE). But as CSA I would not rely on this help : it is too few and too rare.
8. Lastly (for now) I haven't seen much/any mention of gatling guns from anyone in AARs or on the forums. Do people not like them? It seems like they're pretty strong on defense and I always buy them up and sprinkle 1-2 in corps, armies, or sometimes in a place I feel like might be attacked and I'd like to add some defensive oomph.
I must admit I never really investigate gatling capacities. I get the feeling they are too expensive for their performance but I might be wrong.
FightingBuckeye wrote:I did forget one question. In some of the AARs people have given guestimates as to their opponent force levels. I can know roughly how many men are in various subunits. But once they're combined into a division how does one go about trying to figure out their opponent's strength short of actually fighting them?
I don't know for the number of men but based on my experience you can use as a rough estimate of the power of a division the value of 550 points (take or remove a little bit depending on its officer).
Use the information displayed in the tooltip when hovering your mouse cursor on an ennemy stack to get an estimate of the number of divisions.
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FightingBuckeye
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Thanks for your response!
I was referring to the force pool. So say I've raised all the cavalry units available in Virginia and then one of my regiments gets completely wiped out. Can I build another one at some point to replace that unit or is it lost for good. Or say I have a Rodman captured, can I then rebuild one at some point? Or maybe I disband an ironside in order to avoid capture in a trapped location where it'll likely die if I try to run through entrenched guns. So disbanding it's the best I can hope for, does it return to the available to recruit/build screen?
TBH, I've never really compared them as well but figured they're basically an early machine gun and so must be worth something. Granted I've just started my first PBEM, so you could get away with a lot against Athena and I got lazy in always trying to figure out the most economical option. I'm trying to rectify that now, but I'm not familiar with all the battle calculations to know whether those gatlings are worth it.
Well the cohesion hit is 2/25 vs 2/12 for 12 lbers. Rate of fire is double as well, although 12lb has range advantage of 5-3. Defensive value is about 10 points higher than a 12lber, but seems to be slightly worse on offense (2 points less?). Initiative and discipline seem about the same. I had to try and match experience levels as in my one game that's advanced enough, I couldn't find a gatling that didn't have at least some experience and no guns were left in the force pool. So some of those numbers could be off, although the ROF and ranged damage stayed the same in all my gatlings ranging from 1-4 stars.
Cost for Gatling is $62, 2C, & 24WS vs $35, 3C, & 12WS. So they hover at almost a 2-1 ratio. But that cohesion damage is the highest of any artillery I could find and the ROF is double of any other artillery. So it really comes down to how important those two stats are and whether they're worth it or not and whether the loss in range matters. Also, the only other gun that matched the defensive firepower are the siege guns and those are truly super expensive. Still, the cohesion hits and ROF both sound incredibly sexy. They have 16 hits vs 12 hits, so they can take a little more damage and still survive. And each hit taken will weaken it proportionally less than it would in another battery. Lastly it's probably just flavor, but each battery boasts 48 pieces.
Mickey3D wrote:Disband : you get back 75% of the CC (and 25% of $ and WSU). Regarding capture and destruction I don't know for sure but I don't see why you should get back troops you have lost.
I was referring to the force pool. So say I've raised all the cavalry units available in Virginia and then one of my regiments gets completely wiped out. Can I build another one at some point to replace that unit or is it lost for good. Or say I have a Rodman captured, can I then rebuild one at some point? Or maybe I disband an ironside in order to avoid capture in a trapped location where it'll likely die if I try to run through entrenched guns. So disbanding it's the best I can hope for, does it return to the available to recruit/build screen?
Mickey3D wrote:I must admit I never really investigate gatling capacities. I get the feeling they are too expensive for their performance but I might be wrong.
TBH, I've never really compared them as well but figured they're basically an early machine gun and so must be worth something. Granted I've just started my first PBEM, so you could get away with a lot against Athena and I got lazy in always trying to figure out the most economical option. I'm trying to rectify that now, but I'm not familiar with all the battle calculations to know whether those gatlings are worth it.
Well the cohesion hit is 2/25 vs 2/12 for 12 lbers. Rate of fire is double as well, although 12lb has range advantage of 5-3. Defensive value is about 10 points higher than a 12lber, but seems to be slightly worse on offense (2 points less?). Initiative and discipline seem about the same. I had to try and match experience levels as in my one game that's advanced enough, I couldn't find a gatling that didn't have at least some experience and no guns were left in the force pool. So some of those numbers could be off, although the ROF and ranged damage stayed the same in all my gatlings ranging from 1-4 stars.
Cost for Gatling is $62, 2C, & 24WS vs $35, 3C, & 12WS. So they hover at almost a 2-1 ratio. But that cohesion damage is the highest of any artillery I could find and the ROF is double of any other artillery. So it really comes down to how important those two stats are and whether they're worth it or not and whether the loss in range matters. Also, the only other gun that matched the defensive firepower are the siege guns and those are truly super expensive. Still, the cohesion hits and ROF both sound incredibly sexy. They have 16 hits vs 12 hits, so they can take a little more damage and still survive. And each hit taken will weaken it proportionally less than it would in another battery. Lastly it's probably just flavor, but each battery boasts 48 pieces.
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Captain_Orso
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8>
Before anything else happens during turn execution supply is produced and distributed, including to the units. Supply is however 'used' during the turn. So for example a cavalry regiment, which carries 4 GS and uses 2 per turn, is out on patrol and has 2 GS remaining. If they don't reach a supply source by the end of the turn, they will use up the last of their supplies, but they won't yet suffer any penalties. But if they don't receive any supplies at the start of the next turn, during the turn they will start to suffer for being without supply. Depending on the loyalty of the regions they pass through and their development levels, they might successfully forage and reduce hits, but otherwise they are going to take some hits and lose cohesion. Very bad. Always keep your troops in supply.
Think of it as a board game. You have Unit Pool with x number of type-y counters. Each time you build one you take it from the Pool and put it on the board. Each time you lose one, it is returned to the Pool to be built again.
If a unit is captured, the control of the unit counter goes to your opponent, so the unit counter is still in play and not in the build pool.
Disbanding is basically the same as destroying, without combat.
I believe it takes place at the start of the turn with do delay, but I've done it so seldom I can't be 100% sure.
8<
I don't know if the card will reduce your entrenchment level if you are already above 4, but it might. If does not add to what ever you have though, so unless it's very early in the war where you cannot entrench to level 4 otherwise, don't do it.
Crossing: land units start on one side of a river and move to the other side of the river.
Those units are not crossing the river are they. They are using generic non-on-board-counters to move into one or more river regions.
To block river-crossing your gunboats may not be in PP (Passive Posture), but they don't have to be in OP (Offensive Posture).
To stop naval units and/or land units on transports or using the RivTP (Riverine Transport Pool) from passing a river region you must attack them, which means your naval units must be in OP.
But, for example, you want to stop the South from sending units up the Mississippi past Island Number Ten and stop land units from crossing the Mississippi and Ohio in the area, you can setup pairs of gunboat squadrons in each river region along the MS and OH Rivers in DP except the region closes to Island #10, where you deploy your ironclads in OP to attack anything trying to get past them.
Do not waist timberclads on patrolling against river-crossing. Use the cheaper gunboats for that.
8<
They have the best defensive bang-for-buck, but are weak on the offensive. For a force which will only be defending, they are a fine choice.
Don't worry about men, horse and guns, you only see those number in battle reports anyway. Use scouts (cavalry in DP/Retreat, Evade Combat). Let them look at the strength of the enemy's force. Without going into the deep nuances of the game, that is what is important, and who is leading them.
FightingBuckeye wrote:1. When is supply calculated exactly? The end of the turn? Or somewhere in the middle. If I have supply en route to a unit that's either partially or completely out of supply will I take hits on them or not.
Before anything else happens during turn execution supply is produced and distributed, including to the units. Supply is however 'used' during the turn. So for example a cavalry regiment, which carries 4 GS and uses 2 per turn, is out on patrol and has 2 GS remaining. If they don't reach a supply source by the end of the turn, they will use up the last of their supplies, but they won't yet suffer any penalties. But if they don't receive any supplies at the start of the next turn, during the turn they will start to suffer for being without supply. Depending on the loyalty of the regions they pass through and their development levels, they might successfully forage and reduce hits, but otherwise they are going to take some hits and lose cohesion. Very bad. Always keep your troops in supply.
FightingBuckeye wrote:2. If a unit is completely destroyed, will I see a new unit show up in the available force pool or is it gone gone? What about if it's captured or I disband it?
Think of it as a board game. You have Unit Pool with x number of type-y counters. Each time you build one you take it from the Pool and put it on the board. Each time you lose one, it is returned to the Pool to be built again.
If a unit is captured, the control of the unit counter goes to your opponent, so the unit counter is still in play and not in the build pool.
Disbanding is basically the same as destroying, without combat.
FightingBuckeye wrote:3. How long does it take to disband a unit? Will it happen immediately or does it take until the end/middle of the turn or even a later turn?
I believe it takes place at the start of the turn with do delay, but I've done it so seldom I can't be 100% sure.
8<
FightingBuckeye wrote:5. Build defensive works RGD. Will this card always reset the fortification level to 4 even if it was higher prior like I saw in Charles' youtube PBEM series? Or is that fixed now so it won't reduce your entrenchment. And does it now give you higher than level 4 entrechment now?
I don't know if the card will reduce your entrenchment level if you are already above 4, but it might. If does not add to what ever you have though, so unless it's very early in the war where you cannot entrench to level 4 otherwise, don't do it.
FightingBuckeye wrote:6. Is it just my bad luck or do river ships not provide much of a chance of blocking enemy crossing of a river?
Crossing: land units start on one side of a river and move to the other side of the river.
FightingBuckeye wrote:It seems like forces using riverine movement more often than not slip past any fleet I might have.
Those units are not crossing the river are they. They are using generic non-on-board-counters to move into one or more river regions.
FightingBuckeye wrote:Does the posture affect your chances?
To block river-crossing your gunboats may not be in PP (Passive Posture), but they don't have to be in OP (Offensive Posture).
FightingBuckeye wrote:I'll typically focus on ironsides and timberclads. Should I be building more gunboats if I want to stop riverine movement?
To stop naval units and/or land units on transports or using the RivTP (Riverine Transport Pool) from passing a river region you must attack them, which means your naval units must be in OP.
But, for example, you want to stop the South from sending units up the Mississippi past Island Number Ten and stop land units from crossing the Mississippi and Ohio in the area, you can setup pairs of gunboat squadrons in each river region along the MS and OH Rivers in DP except the region closes to Island #10, where you deploy your ironclads in OP to attack anything trying to get past them.
Do not waist timberclads on patrolling against river-crossing. Use the cheaper gunboats for that.
8<
FightingBuckeye wrote:8. Lastly (for now) I haven't seen much/any mention of gatling guns from anyone in AARs or on the forums. Do people not like them? It seems like they're pretty strong on defense and I always buy them up and sprinkle 1-2 in corps, armies, or sometimes in a place I feel like might be attacked and I'd like to add some defensive oomph.
They have the best defensive bang-for-buck, but are weak on the offensive. For a force which will only be defending, they are a fine choice.
FightingBuckeye wrote:I did forget one question. In some of the AARs people have given guestimates as to their opponent force levels. I can know roughly how many men are in various subunits. But once they're combined into a division how does one go about trying to figure out their opponent's strength short of actually fighting them?
Don't worry about men, horse and guns, you only see those number in battle reports anyway. Use scouts (cavalry in DP/Retreat, Evade Combat). Let them look at the strength of the enemy's force. Without going into the deep nuances of the game, that is what is important, and who is leading them.
Captain_Orso wrote:Think of it as a board game. You have Unit Pool with x number of type-y counters. Each time you build one you take it from the Pool and put it on the board. Each time you lose one, it is returned to the Pool to be built again.
If a unit is captured, the control of the unit counter goes to your opponent, so the unit counter is still in play and not in the build pool.
If I capture an enemy unit and then it's destroyed or disbanded, will it go back to its original force pool or to mine?
-- When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
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Captain_Orso
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Captain_Orso wrote:Think of it as a board game. You have Unit Pool with x number of type-y counters. Each time you build one you take it from the Pool and put it on the board. Each time you lose one, it is returned to the Pool to be built again.
And this is strange for me : it's not because you have lost a regiment or a brigade that all of a sudden the population of a State is increased to allow the building of more units.
I mean : the force pool should reflect the ability of a State to provide troops (New-York or the New-England have huge population and/or strong war support so they could field more regiments than the Florida). In this case a lost regiment should not be returned to the pool.
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Captain_Orso
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I don't think the game has a direct representation of the populations of the states. Considering the situation under which the South suffered --they came rather close to putting every able-bodied "man" into uniform-- but the North never came anywhere near close.
Also remember that having a unit 'destroyed' in game terms did not mean that all the personal were killed. Many were wounded and taken off the field and returned after recovery. Many ran away and returned later; not all. Many were captured and paroled and large numbers of these returned to the military against their parole. And many were exchanged.
Also remember that having a unit 'destroyed' in game terms did not mean that all the personal were killed. Many were wounded and taken off the field and returned after recovery. Many ran away and returned later; not all. Many were captured and paroled and large numbers of these returned to the military against their parole. And many were exchanged.
Captain_Orso wrote:I don't think the game has a direct representation of the populations of the states. Considering the situation under which the South suffered --they came rather close to putting every able-bodied "man" into uniform-- but the North never came anywhere near close.
Not a direct representation but still large States have more troops in their pool so it's an indirect measurement of their capacity to field troops.
Also remember that having a unit 'destroyed' in game terms did not mean that all the personal were killed. Many were wounded and taken off the field and returned after recovery. Many ran away and returned later; not all. Many were captured and paroled and large numbers of these returned to the military against their parole. And many were exchanged.
Fully agree with you but you can't have to different ways to simulate the same : For the prisoner exchanges their is a specific procedure in the game; for wounded and killed we should then have some CC back after a battle even if no unit is fully destroyed.
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FightingBuckeye
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Thank you good Captain for your response to my questions. I was reffering to both riverine movement as well as crossing a large river to get to the other side. Sorry for any confusion there, but you addressed my questions regardless of any confusion I might've caused. The biggest issue I was facing was along the confluent where the enemy holds Paducah and a decent enemy force of ironsides were in play. I tried blocking the river with my own ironsides backed up by a decent number of timberclads to both prevent an attack across the river and also deny the enemy river fleet freedom to drop forces into my rear areas. I pulled all my own transports and gunboats out of the fleet to help protect them if the iron giants strove against each other. Seems like I was just the victim of the 10% chance that Mickey mentioned. Or maybe I just have an easier time remembering the exceptions as they tend to stick out in my mind.
Well generally speaking I agree with your statement. But knowing your enemy's force composition is always highly useful. And sometimes you don't always know what it is as you haven't fought that division, corps, etc before; there's always a first time right? Or maybe the enemy brought in a bunch of reinforcements. Say you're in a position where you have to either force an opposed river crossing against a weaker entrenched force or spend several turns trying to outflank that force. Pretend you can't expect much in the way of reinforcements for whatever reason. If that force only has a couple of artillery batteries you might be more willing to try a direct crossing. Whereas if you knew he had plenty of guns you wouldn't attempt it. Cavalry have their strengths, but close in fighting against line infantry isn't one of them. If I know ahead of time that half of an enemy force is cavalry I might be more willing to assault a besieged position before a relieving force arrives. Or what about when coastal artillery inflates the power of an enemy force? So I'm always eage to be educated if there is something I'm missing. Knowing is half the battle after all. Or maybe it's just a combination of prior experience tangling with those forces, experience, and WAGs.
As far as the RGD, charlesonmission's youtube PBEM series had him use the RGD on two regions where entrenchment was already at level 5-6 and the card dropped them both to level 4. So I was trying to figure out if that was WAD or if maybe it'd already been addressed in 1.05.
Captain_Orso wrote:Don't worry about men, horse and guns, you only see those number in battle reports anyway. Use scouts (cavalry in DP/Retreat, Evade Combat). Let them look at the strength of the enemy's force. Without going into the deep nuances of the game, that is what is important, and who is leading them.
Well generally speaking I agree with your statement. But knowing your enemy's force composition is always highly useful. And sometimes you don't always know what it is as you haven't fought that division, corps, etc before; there's always a first time right? Or maybe the enemy brought in a bunch of reinforcements. Say you're in a position where you have to either force an opposed river crossing against a weaker entrenched force or spend several turns trying to outflank that force. Pretend you can't expect much in the way of reinforcements for whatever reason. If that force only has a couple of artillery batteries you might be more willing to try a direct crossing. Whereas if you knew he had plenty of guns you wouldn't attempt it. Cavalry have their strengths, but close in fighting against line infantry isn't one of them. If I know ahead of time that half of an enemy force is cavalry I might be more willing to assault a besieged position before a relieving force arrives. Or what about when coastal artillery inflates the power of an enemy force? So I'm always eage to be educated if there is something I'm missing. Knowing is half the battle after all. Or maybe it's just a combination of prior experience tangling with those forces, experience, and WAGs.
As far as the RGD, charlesonmission's youtube PBEM series had him use the RGD on two regions where entrenchment was already at level 5-6 and the card dropped them both to level 4. So I was trying to figure out if that was WAD or if maybe it'd already been addressed in 1.05.
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Captain_Orso
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You do not get to see the enemies force composition, only it's 'power', never how much artillery or cavalry, etc, only unit names.
Don't try to trick the rules. You don't cross a major river against the enemy for a reason. Only Burnside could come up with the idea --attacking across the river versus an entrenched enemy position is so stupid, nobody will expect it--. True, but surprising the enemy with stupidity only amuses him.
Don't try to trick the rules. You don't cross a major river against the enemy for a reason. Only Burnside could come up with the idea --attacking across the river versus an entrenched enemy position is so stupid, nobody will expect it--. True, but surprising the enemy with stupidity only amuses him.
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