Questions in regards to gameplay

[Gray Fox]

The game combat mechanic is to target brigades. Brigades with several regiments in a Division are going to be targeted more than a "brigade" of just one battery in that Division. So an infantry brigade tacked on to an artillery Division gets annihilated and the individual artillery batteries are still not targeted.

If you have artillery batteries in a stack of several mixed Divisions, or have them loose in the stack or form one pure artillery Division, the guns are still affected by the same game rules. The advantage of replacing the guns of a mixed Division with infantry is that you get a third more infantry to take the hits in that Division. The advantage of an artillery Division over loose batteries in the stack is the CP savings. Additionally, pure artillery units were an historical part of the CW and the nineteenth century.

An artillery Division cannot attack alone, because at range zero the guns don't have an assault capacity. If you sent a stack of artillery batteries to take Manassas, nothing would happen. So when you attack with a stack that also has an artillery Division, everyone fires, but the artillery Division doesn't assault. The artillery would correctly remain behind the lines. However, if a mixed Division is routed during the assault round, then the artillery batteries in that routing Division probably take their share of any pursuit hits the mixed Division suffers.

I also had one instance where an artillery Division took about a dozen hits, probably from counter-battery fire. So this Division is not immune to taking hits.

If I have a single Division force package defending something important, then I use a mixed Division. The entrenched guns get an accuracy bonus and the Division with artillery saves on CPs. However, one size does not fit all. How to use the artillery to my best advantage, or the infantry or the cavalry, is a conscious decision. I don't want the game changed so that I must only eat soup with a fork.

[Mickey3D]

I also had one instance where an artillery Division took about a dozen hits, probably from counter-battery fire. So this Division is not immune to taking hits.

Good to know this is no "superman" unit.

[BattleVonWar]

Good to know this is no "superman" unit.

The artillery division seems more immune to damage, but it doesn't dish out the punishment the pure infantry division does. I have noticed a strong Infantry Div. to dish out <3 300 worth of damage or more...when a pure Artillery Division with smaller than 20 LBSers didn't do much more than <3 80 to max 100 perhaps...

But I'm not sure 100% sure on these figures. Seems close to 3 Xs superior. Only thing I find odd, is Generals that are not historically Artillery Generals but say Cav/Infantry Generals leading Artillery. Not that they couldn't learn. Though some Generals were specifically good at this and were specific ArtilleryMen.

[FightingBuckeye]

The artillery division seems more immune to damage, but it doesn't dish out the punishment the pure infantry division does. I have noticed a strong Infantry Div. to dish out <3 300 worth of damage or more...when a pure Artillery Division with smaller than 20 LBSers didn't do much more than <3 80 to max 100 perhaps...

But I'm not sure 100% sure on these figures. Seems close to 3 Xs superior. Only thing I find odd, is Generals that are not historically Artillery Generals but say Cav/Infantry Generals leading Artillery. Not that they couldn't learn. Though some Generals were specifically good at this and were specific ArtilleryMen.

Are you talking about actual hits or cohesion losses. Killing units straight up is great, but the real damage artillery will do is to the enemy's cohesion. This is what makes those larger caliber guns especially deadly. If you really break up the enemies' cohesion before your infantry clash and you're well on the way to winning that battle.

[Gray Fox]

Infantry are the arm of decision. You could have no artillery and still fight. The artillery just add to the damage done with the extra support frontage.

I would advise putting one of your best commanders in charge of the artillery Division. Hopefully, the artillery Division would fill the support frontage and all of the guns would fire every round except for the assault round. So that commander would accrue lots of experience rather quickly.

[BattleVonWar]

Buckeye and GrayFox,

just paid attention to the battle screen and details a bit more. I can imagine not just the casualties but the 2 or 3 turns you got to hide that Corp as it's cohesion is way down... Infantry casualties were way more brutal than I thought though.

Stonewall Jackson was an Artillery Trainer previous to war.

Are you talking about actual hits or cohesion losses. Killing units straight up is great, but the real damage artillery will do is to the enemy's cohesion. This is what makes those larger caliber guns especially deadly. If you really break up the enemies' cohesion before your infantry clash and you're well on the way to winning that battle.