Generals not joining in on battles

[1stvermont]

Does anyone know why when i am attacked that sometimes a corps will not join the rest of the army even though they are in the same territory? in this recent case i was in Richmond and attacked and my best corps did not join in the fight.

[Gray Fox]

Here is a link to the criteria for MTSG (which pertains to this Corps even though they were in the same region):

http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/Combat_Explained

[1stvermont]

thanks for link, but in this specific case, all corps were in same area on the defensive posture.

[Durk]

Several factors - I assume your were CSA defending Richmond in good weather, seemingly the only negative would be the defensive posture. Were the troops well rested or had they rushed into Richmond? Probability is a major factor. The failure might have come with only a 5% probability of failure. A useful exercise is to back up and rerun this turn a couple of times. This will let you know how anomalous this particular outcome happened to be. An army will almost always support an attacked corps. Corps are much less likely to join. In the instance of corps marching to the sound of guns the strategic rating of the corps commander might just tip the balance.

[1stvermont]

Several factors - I assume your were CSA defending Richmond in good weather, seemingly the only negative would be the defensive posture. Were the troops well rested or had they rushed into Richmond? Probability is a major factor. The failure might have come with only a 5% probability of failure. A useful exercise is to back up and rerun this turn a couple of times. This will let you know how anomalous this particular outcome happened to be. An army will almost always support an attacked corps. Corps are much less likely to join. In the instance of corps marching to the sound of guns the strategic rating of the corps commander might just tip the balance.

great idea to re run. They were well rested and in defensive mode. Maybe though not sure if this would do it, I had one in the fort defense and others in the territory. If so how do i make sure they are together?

[Durk]

Interesting new twist. It is my understanding forces inside structures (cities/forts) will not join unless they have a sortie command. Try that?

[1stvermont]

Interesting new twist. It is my understanding forces inside structures (cities/forts) will not join unless they have a sortie command. Try that?

How do you tell if a stack is in a fort or just territory? and do those in the territory get the fort bonus even if not in the fort?


another question, is there a way [ i am assuming in the fort] to have your units after a battle in the territory to retreat to the fort?

[Durk]

See how when I click on the unit inside the structure a dialogue appears in the unit information box at the bottom of the screen stating the unit is in the structure (Inside Southport)? If it does not say they are 'inside' they are outside in the region.

Only units in the fort get the fort bonus, usually in a separate battle.

The same place you find the sortie button, you find a 'enter structure when move is complete' button. The only time this might not work is if a battle loss causes a retreat to other places.

[1stvermont]

See how when I click on the unit inside the structure a dialogue appears in the unit information box at the bottom of the screen stating the unit is in the structure (Inside Southport)? If it does not say they are 'inside' they are outside in the region.

Only units in the fort get the fort bonus, usually in a separate battle.

The same place you find the sortie button, you find a 'enter structure when move is complete' button. The only time this might not work is if a battle loss causes a retreat to other places.

Hi thanks for all the help, i just figured it out on how to tell, thanks.

[ArmChairGeneral]

1stVermont,
The tabs above the Unit Panel show an icon when the stack is in a structure, so you can tell at a glance who is in the structure and who is out.

Although in your case it sounds like the stack you are missing was in the structure, another common culprit for Corps not participating in battles is the Stack Selection Mechanism. Stacks in Offensive posture choose another stack to attack based on random weighting of sizes (but cannot select an Army stack if there is another stack that they are eligible to attack). If you have more stacks than an attacker, and the stacks that get targeted are not wildly overmatched, some of your Defensive stacks might not participate in the battle. This makes sense: no one is attacking them, so they have no one to defend against. (If one of your initial stacks is heavily outnumbered then it is possible a non-targeted stack can enter the battle to rescue it after the first round.) The takeaway from the Stack Selection rules is to always combine into as few stacks as possible when preparing for battle.

[1stvermont]

1stVermont,
The tabs above the Unit Panel show an icon when the stack is in a structure, so you can tell at a glance who is in the structure and who is out.

Although in your case it sounds like the stack you are missing was in the structure, another common culprit for Corps not participating in battles is the Stack Selection Mechanism. Stacks in Offensive posture choose another stack to attack based on random weighting of sizes (but cannot select an Army stack if there is another stack that they are eligible to attack). If you have more stacks than an attacker, and the stacks that get targeted are not wildly overmatched, some of your Defensive stacks might not participate in the battle. This makes sense: no one is attacking them, so they have no one to defend against. (If one of your initial stacks is heavily outnumbered then it is possible a non-targeted stack can enter the battle to rescue it after the first round.) The takeaway from the Stack Selection rules is to always combine into as few stacks as possible when preparing for battle.

thanks for advice.