dbemont
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Questions from a new player of the game

Thu Jul 19, 2018 7:50 pm

1) I see units under production, both on the map and in the War Production screen. But I am seeing no indication of how much longer each has. There's gotta be a way, right? I'm especially curious because I selected a few quick-to-assemble units that supposedly took 15 days, but none of them seem to be ready following a 15 day turn.

2) I figure that a basic strategy is to build fortifications along the border, so that I can attack knowing that no invasion can occur behind me and proceed at a high rate of speed. Fortifications should slow any enemy offensive enough that I can address them... But I am feeling really in the dark about this. a) I got to build one level of fortification in one city, as a regional decision... But is this an option that appears regularly? Randomly? A certain number of times? I see that you can build fortifications by assembling 2 supply and 4 elements of artillery, which I am sure is fine later on, but extremely difficult early on. One wouldn't want to sacrifice other priorities for this purpose, if the game actually presents more efficient options. b) Visibility of existing fortifications seems very difficult, at least to my eyes. I see stockades out west. But Alexandria and Washington just have a tiny little indicators, which are hidden when stacks are present. So is there a way to look across the map and see fortifications at a glance?

3) Probably not a big deal, but what is up with development ratings? I went to build an outpost and saw that this is only allowed where development is not high, and this was defined as 75 or less. Then I looked around and saw that even Washington and New York are only 75. Maybe unimportant to gameplay, but I was mystified.

4) I'm having some trouble seeing things on the map. It does not scroll in all that far, so stacks totally cover the city and region. And although I can scroll out a reasonable distance, all units and other information disappear, making it rather useless to scroll out. Together, this makes each turn a lot more difficult... Which is okay, if that is the way it is. But I am suspicious that maybe things are not working correctly. I have experimented in Options with Memory usage and Max texture size, but these keep re-setting themselves. Which is odd because I have a very modern Win 10 system with quite a good graphics card. Is there any advice out there on optimizing graphics for this game?

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Citizen X
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Re: Questions from a new player of the game

Fri Jul 20, 2018 9:57 am

In the war production screen there is a tiny figure in the upper right corner of each unit being built. That's the approximate number of turns left. When you go to the town where a unit is being built and select that unit, the number of days left is indicated when you hover the mouse over its picture.
That is an approximate, because circumstances can hurry or slow production each turn. There is a post somewhere in the forums, where this gets explained.

Fortifications are not as useful as you might think. Never hide a significant number of men in them, because they can be trapped and starved to death inside. Forts are useful for supply transportation and to make your opponent dedicate a significant number of troops, if he/she wants that region. The redoubt RDG gets refreshed every year, when used.

I personally build forts only early on as Confederates in key positions that I don't want to have overrun in 1861 and put just enough troops in them to serve that purpose. Later in game their zone of controll comes in handy, thats about it in large.

As measure against raiding you better put a cheap unit on every junction especially as Union. Let them entrench. Entrenchment protects your troops just as well as forts on higher level. Start entrenching early in the game at key positions and put a cheap batallion of 6lbs with them to achieve high level entrenchment. As for the little icon, you will get used to spot them soon. There is also a way to hide stacks. Press F7 for the strategic map. On the right side there are four buttons for that purpose.

Do read the Points to Know - CSA http://www.ageod-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=331&t=43086. Useful for the Union, too.

Stockades are of limited use. They can extend supply lines in campaigns far west e.g.. Development level is by large important only for supply throughput and velocity of troops. With a few exceptions.

There is a set of filters wich I personally always saw as sufficient. Strategic map 'F7', supply '2', allegiance '4' and weather '8' being the most important imho.

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Gray Fox
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Re: Questions from a new player of the game

Fri Jul 20, 2018 2:08 pm

1) Page 71 in the Game Manual has a list of reasons that a unit might not be built. One reason is that each unit has a "weight" and each production location a capacity to build. If the weight exceeds the capacity, then it takes longer than advertised.

2) This is indeed a basic strategy and was actually proposed to Lincoln by one of his cabinet members. However, the cost of a line of fortifications is prohibitive. As the Union, I entrench a Division with a supply unit (SU) and depot inside the following cities (and not just present in the region): St. Louis; Cairo; Evansville; Louisville; Cincinnati; Ashland; Parkersburg; Wheeling and Pittsburgh. The SU reduces the chance of the garrison surrendering to only 5% and these are ports as well which takes more time for an enemy to enforce a siege. I also build a stockade in MD next to D.C. manned as above. A stockade exerts a strong Zone of Control that prevents enemy stacks from passing. Two Brig units (4 ships) on the Potomac between Alexandria and the capital completes the border shield.

3) If by "outpost" you mean stockade, then these can only be built where no town/city is present. Small towns, size 1, can be razed by a combat unit to make way for a stockade. I do this in VA as the CSA to build a line of stockades.

4) As Citizen X pointed out, the map filters are the way to go for scrutinizing the map. Of course, if you have multiple stacks in a small region, the region will be cluttered and frustrating to view. Good luck!
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dbemont
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Re: Questions from a new player of the game

Fri Jul 20, 2018 6:07 pm

I thank both of you. Particularly for clarification on the war production screen. Maybe I should get my glasses fixed, I oringinally saw the right side of the icon as a colored bar of no discernable meaning. But now I see the timer.

And the reasons for slower production make sense, I had just mis-read the information on pp.71-72 as applying to how many units could be built there, thinking that this would explain why the sections would go orange. But now I see it is speed that is affected.

My problem with help videos and strategy posts is that I want to know all about the mechanics, but as little as possible about what works strategically, and the help posts and videos tend to mix the two. It may be crankiness on my part, but I have very little patience with "I want to build forts and I can't see where they already exist" or "Jeez, I put all those resources into building forts and it turns out the game provides forts more or less magically a few turns later." Yet I want to discover for myself whether forts work, and, if so, where. Losing because my strategy was wrong is entertaining and feels like the real life I want simulated. Struggling over how to tell the interface what to do, feels more like operating with subordinates who speak an entirely different language. Not entertaining at all. :)

Gray Fox wrote: if you have multiple stacks in a small region, the region will be cluttered and frustrating to view.

Yes, this is the source of quite a few of my frustrations. But if that's the way it is, oh well.

dbemont
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Re: Questions from a new player of the game

Sat Jul 21, 2018 8:40 pm

I am finding myself spending more time fighting the interface than actually playing the game. I hope someone can offer solutions:

1) Trouble in hot spot cities. I try to redeploy generals from Washington, and as best as I can see, I have to move the guy onto the surrounding area in the region, to separate him and redeploy just him, not the whole stack of generals. Fine. But I quickly run out of room and the next guy accidentally goes into the stack of a previously redeployed general... and although I can then separate them, the 2nd guy now has the redeployment orders of the first guy, and although it says click to cancel redeployment, that does not work. That's apparently a weird bug. But the core problem is that orders seem to depend upon finding physical space in the region, and I run out of it. Solutions?

2) I also went on a search for what armories, iron works, etc. actually give you. Since I could not find this in the manual or the interior screen, I started to go around from city to city, using control-click to look at specific buildings. I found that this does not work if there is an icon for a unit in the region, blocking the view of the city. In fact, trying to do so seems to cause some kind of malfunction where it is then hard to get control-click to work on any city. At one point I had to exit the game and then re-enter.

But again, the core problem is the graphical representation of a region being dominated by the stack icons.

I notice that sometimes the enemy cities have stacks that are invisible, just a little number which you can mouse over and get the stack strength, but if there is a way to do this for your own cities, I have not run across it.

Any practical advice here? I can hardly remember what I am up to in game strategy, due to all these interface distractions.

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Gray Fox
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Re: Questions from a new player of the game

Sun Jul 22, 2018 2:03 pm

I can feel your pain.

All the "Class of..." Generals show up in D.C. and it's an acquired art to disperse them. If you click the General's icon and drag him to the first leg of his journey, like the Annapolis region, and then drop him, he will pop out to be separated from the pack. Then you should be able to work with just him.

I've never had the interface problem you mention with the city menu. Maybe post this in the CW2 Tech support area.
I'm the 51st shade of gray. Eat, pray, Charge!

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Captain_Orso
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Re: Questions from a new player of the game

Sun Jul 22, 2018 3:10 pm

GF is right on track, but there are some more nuances.

Firstly, if you select a stack in a region, above the stack panel you will find the stack tabs, one for each stack in the region, including the selected stack, which is highlighted. To choose a different stack in the same regions, select it on the stack tab.

To create a new stack from one or more units of one stack, select the originating stack and then in the stack panel select a unit--or multiple units, using <Ctrl><LMB>--and drag your selection away from the last selected unit and simply drop them onto the stack panel other than the last selected unit. You actually only have to move your selection a little bit, and when you release the LMB, the selected unit(s) will become their own stack. Try it out! It's actually quite simple, and sometimes inadvertent, which is how I discovered exactly how easy it is.

If you are really nervous about this, do as GF stated, and drag the selected unit(s) to any other target region and drop them there. This will put them into their own stack and plot their moving to that target region. Then, with your newly created stack selected, press <Del> until the movement plot is completely deleted, and you will have your new stack, ready for new orders.

You can also move units from one stack into another as per above, but instead of dropping them onto the stack panel, drop them onto the stack tab of the target stack. This will merge your selected unit(s) into the target stack.

--

To see what structures produce, look in '..\CivilWarII\CW2\GameData\Structures\' at the structure in question... or...

AmmoProd = Ammo
Out_Conscript = Conscript Companies aka CC
Out_Money = $
Out_WSU = WSU aka War Supply
SupplyProd = GS aka General Supply

1-Harbor.str:AmmoProd = 1
1-Harbor.str:Out_Conscript = 0
1-Harbor.str:Out_Money = 0
1-Harbor.str:Out_WSU = 0
1-Harbor.str:SupplyProd = 3

2-Fort.str:AmmoProd = 1
2-Fort.str:Out_Conscript = 0
2-Fort.str:Out_Money = 0
2-Fort.str:Out_WSU = 0
2-Fort.str:SupplyProd = 2

3-FortifiedLine.str:AmmoProd = 1
3-FortifiedLine.str:Out_Conscript = 0
3-FortifiedLine.str:Out_Money = 0
3-FortifiedLine.str:Out_WSU = 0
3-FortifiedLine.str:SupplyProd = 3

4-Redoubt.str:AmmoProd = 1
4-Redoubt.str:Out_Conscript = 0
4-Redoubt.str:Out_Money = 0
4-Redoubt.str:Out_WSU = 0
4-Redoubt.str:SupplyProd = 2

5-Depot.str:AmmoProd = 1
5-Depot.str:Out_Conscript = 0
5-Depot.str:Out_Money = 0
5-Depot.str:Out_WSU = 0
5-Depot.str:SupplyProd = 4

6-City.str:AmmoProd = 0
6-City.str:Out_Conscript = 0
6-City.str:Out_Money = 0
6-City.str:Out_WSU = 0
6-City.str:SupplyProd = 6

7-VillageN.str:AmmoProd = 1
7-VillageN.str:Out_Conscript = 0
7-VillageN.str:Out_Money = 0
7-VillageN.str:Out_WSU = 0
7-VillageN.str:SupplyProd = 1

8-VillageC.str:AmmoProd = 1
8-VillageC.str:Out_Conscript = 0
8-VillageC.str:Out_Money = 0
8-VillageC.str:Out_WSU = 0
8-VillageC.str:SupplyProd = 1

9-VillageS.str:AmmoProd = 1
9-VillageS.str:Out_Conscript = 0
9-VillageS.str:Out_Money = 0
9-VillageS.str:Out_WSU = 0
9-VillageS.str:SupplyProd = 1

10-Settlement.str:AmmoProd = 1
10-Settlement.str:Out_Conscript = 0
10-Settlement.str:Out_Money = 0
10-Settlement.str:Out_WSU = 0
10-Settlement.str:SupplyProd = 2

11-Stockade.str:AmmoProd = 1
11-Stockade.str:Out_Conscript = 0
11-Stockade.str:Out_Money = 0
11-Stockade.str:Out_WSU = 0
11-Stockade.str:SupplyProd = 2

12-NavalBase.str:AmmoProd = 1
12-NavalBase.str:Out_Conscript = 0
12-NavalBase.str:Out_Money = 0
12-NavalBase.str:Out_WSU = 0
12-NavalBase.str:SupplyProd = 4

13-TradePort.str:AmmoProd = 3
13-TradePort.str:Out_Conscript = 0
13-TradePort.str:Out_Money = 1
13-TradePort.str:Out_WSU = 0
13-TradePort.str:SupplyProd = 5

14-CottonWarehouse.str:AmmoProd = 0
14-CottonWarehouse.str:Out_Conscript = 0
14-CottonWarehouse.str:Out_Money = 10
14-CottonWarehouse.str:Out_WSU = 0
14-CottonWarehouse.str:SupplyProd = 10

15-GoldMine.str:AmmoProd = 0
15-GoldMine.str:Out_Conscript = 0
15-GoldMine.str:Out_Money = 10
15-GoldMine.str:Out_WSU = 0
15-GoldMine.str:SupplyProd = 0

16-IronWorks.str:AmmoProd = 0
16-IronWorks.str:Out_Conscript = 0
16-IronWorks.str:Out_Money = 1
16-IronWorks.str:Out_WSU = 8
16-IronWorks.str:SupplyProd = 25

17-PowderMill.str:AmmoProd = 10
17-PowderMill.str:Out_Conscript = 0
17-PowderMill.str:Out_Money = 1
17-PowderMill.str:Out_WSU = 0
17-PowderMill.str:SupplyProd = 5

18-Armory.str:AmmoProd = 4
18-Armory.str:Out_Conscript = 0
18-Armory.str:Out_Money = 1
18-Armory.str:Out_WSU = 0
18-Armory.str:SupplyProd = 15

19-Arsenal.str:AmmoProd = 10
19-Arsenal.str:Out_Conscript = 0
19-Arsenal.str:Out_Money = 2
19-Arsenal.str:Out_WSU = 1
19-Arsenal.str:SupplyProd = 25

20-NavalYard.str:AmmoProd = 3
20-NavalYard.str:Out_Conscript = 0
20-NavalYard.str:Out_Money = 0
20-NavalYard.str:Out_WSU = 2
20-NavalYard.str:SupplyProd = 10

21-Shipyard.str:AmmoProd = 0
21-Shipyard.str:Out_Conscript = 0
21-Shipyard.str:Out_Money = 2
21-Shipyard.str:Out_WSU = 4
21-Shipyard.str:SupplyProd = 10

22-CentralBank.str:AmmoProd = 0
22-CentralBank.str:Out_Conscript = 0
22-CentralBank.str:Out_Money = 20
22-CentralBank.str:Out_WSU = 0
22-CentralBank.str:SupplyProd = 0

23-RecruitingDepot.str:AmmoProd = 0
23-RecruitingDepot.str:Out_Conscript = 5
23-RecruitingDepot.str:Out_Money = 0
23-RecruitingDepot.str:Out_WSU = 0
23-RecruitingDepot.str:SupplyProd = 10

24-StateCapitol.str:AmmoProd = 0
24-StateCapitol.str:Out_Conscript = 1
24-StateCapitol.str:Out_Money = 1
24-StateCapitol.str:Out_WSU = 0
24-StateCapitol.str:SupplyProd = 5

25-Plantation.str:AmmoProd = 0
25-Plantation.str:Out_Conscript = 1
25-Plantation.str:Out_Money = 3
25-Plantation.str:Out_WSU = 0
25-Plantation.str:SupplyProd = 75

26-Farmfield.str:AmmoProd = 0
26-Farmfield.str:Out_Conscript = 1
26-Farmfield.str:Out_Money = 3
26-Farmfield.str:Out_WSU = 0
26-Farmfield.str:SupplyProd = 75

dbemont
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Re: Questions from a new player of the game

Sun Jul 22, 2018 4:16 pm

Thank you both!

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