Newbie Interface questions

[Don Stone]

A few interface questions I can't find answers for ...

1) What do the little lights (usually green) in the base of units mean?

2) I understand that "Stack" is a specific game term -- the glossary equates it with force. So several "stacks" that are represented in different places within a region are exactly the same as several stacks that are located in the same place (and indicated with a little yellow flag with a number in it). So with that understanding, I'm not sure what to call the group of units in the same place indicated by the yellow flag. For now, I'll call it a "Stack". Question: how do you "Stack" units? It seems to be random? Sometimes I place a unit (with locking on so they don't merge) on top of another and they "Stack". Much more often, they don't and one ends up mostly on top of the other, but not really and with no yellow flag (and Ctrl-Click doesn't click through them). Is there some trick I'm missing?

[Uncle Billy]

1) the number of lights are the size, and the color indicates their condition, I believe its their power (there relative coherence and strength), but I'm not sure precisely what it is beyond a measur eof their condition (ie. yellow and red mean the units are weaker than full strength).

2) this takes a while to get used to, when I started I was convinced I needed to lock all the stacks as well, but I got the hang of what I was looking at. Firstly, turn locking off (ctrl + l). Navigate by selecting the tabs or the actual icon of the stacks, and drag and drop them together (or drag them out of a stack and ont to the map to seperate them). When the stacks have locked tabs they won't combine stacks. You can also drag a unit or stack onto the tab of another stack and it will merge.

Sometimes the display can be deceptive, and many stacks seem to be merged but are one behind the other, the tabs or the number in the yellow flag let you know how things are actually arranged.

Now, it can seem to get complicated, because there are stacks you want to lock and avoid merging with other stacks, and these are instances of corps and army stacks, which you will probably want to keep locked to avoid a mess. Generally with small stacks, especially those consisting mostly of divsions, its pretty easy to seperate them again if you make a mistake.

One thing that you'll learn to recognize that will really start to help the organization 'click' in your head is the difference between the 'units' in each stack, and you'll be able to tell at a glance if you are dealing with a large force of divisions (which are one unit, but contain many subunits or elements) or a mixture of brigades (also containing sub units) or regiments and batteries, which are single elements. Merging and recombining things will then start to make much more intuitive sense.

A stack is everything under its own tab, a unit is everything in one 'slot' in the tab (ie. one square), a unit could be one element or as many as eighteen (a full division). I don't know if there is a special term for all the stacks in an area, but they are still considered seperate stacks, though I beleive if they are all located in a city they are consider one stack if attacked (I may be worng on that).

There is also a way to combine units into divisions and (rarely add to) brigades (look at the 'tent' menu to the left of the stack, the plus, minus, and add divisional command buttons). Divisions are the basic building blocks of corps and armies, and much of the army desinging strategy comes from building divisions. Learn to look for your divisions in any stack to get the real indication of its value, they are only one unit but can contain many elements, and they are combined under a general in order to maximize command points (otherwise a stack of many units will suffer a huge penalty, a flashing red percentage in the upper right of the stack menu).

[tagwyn]

Schurz and one unit have been designated by me as a division. Yet, there is still a red % number on its window. Why is that? Tag

[Uncle Billy]

It means the commander of the stack does not have enough command to completely manage all the soldiers in the stack, and to see the difference just having units combined in a division makes use the 'uncombine' button in the tent menu (a red minus sign) on the division and watch that red number increase (to a maximum of 35%). Often it may be better to have a smaller and more efficiently run stack than a huge one with a big penalty.

In the example you give Tag are there two units in your stack, Schurz and the division? It may be better to directly assign the better general to the division (with the plus button in the tent menu) then have him lead a one division stack (if he cannot be assinged a division yet you can click on antoher button in that menu to give him a divisional command). The basic rule of thumb is one star generals are division commanders (generals you combine with other units like brigades and regiments with the plus button to form one unit), two star generals are corps commanders (leading a whole stack of multiple divisions) and three and four star generals are army commander (leading their own corps sized stack, and also benefiting their assigned corps with their command radius). Once you get this structure in place the ability, size, and power of your forces increases dramatically, especially with good generals who add more command points (which means bigger armies more effeciently led), statitistical boosts to offense and defense, and sharing of some abilities (but also negative traits!).

Obviously there will be many exceptions to the above 'ideal' based on neccessity and preference, but equating the different levels of generals with the top three levels of command (army>corps>division>brigade>regiment or battery) helps with understanding the command rules.

[Grotius]

Incidentally, I think the "lights" or dots on a unit's base reflect (1) the number of units in the stack, if you've selected anything but "supply view" in the filter on the bottom-left of the screen, or (2) its overall level of supply, if you've selected supply view.

For example, just now I had Stonewall Jackson surrounded, and his dots (in supply view) changed from green to yellow, then to red. Once red, I attacked. Throughout this, his dots remained green in any view mode other than supply mode.

Also, I think the manual says that the "lights" or dots on a town (rather than a unit base) mean one dot for every 3 units, but I could be wrong. These don't seem to change when you switch to "supply" mode, but I could be wrong.

[tagwyn]

Thanks man! Give you another green peanut!! Tag

[Uncle Billy]

Ah, that makes sense, I'm always in supply view and probably hadn't noticed that when the change takes place.