Some rule/mechanics questions from early play.

[breunorgamer]

I hope you can help me with some questions I have:

1. If using the auto-replacement option, can you also add replacements yourself? I'm taking a lot of hits and the computer seems to be replacing very few hits, far less than the 1/20 for line infantry even though I have available resources. Is the AI deciding that the number of replacements is best under its algorithms or is something simpler happening?.

If so, when I buy replacements myself after auto-buying, am I making a mistake?

2. Sherman has 'gifted commander' ability. The Manual and the tooltip says '+1 CP for ability level above 1'. What does 'ability level' mean? Is 'ability level' the same as strategic rating?


3. Can somebody explain the mechanics of redeployment? I though I saw USA generals redeploying to CA, but the manual says they have to have a continuous rail to do that.

4. If a division is in corps stack, does the division leader's ability impact them (besides saving CP's to form divisions)? For example, is a 4-4-4 leader any better in combat than a 3-1-1 if within a corps stack if neither has sepcial abilities?

5. The manual mentions delay move, I think I saw on another thread this has been removed. Is that correct?

6. Weather indicates 'harsh'. I've been avoiding moving around in harsh weather but it looks like the AI doesn't mind. Does it mostly cause cohesion loss? For example, my troops starting in Denver are way out of the action. Should I move them in harsh weather, and then stop and rest ot regain cohesion (which is much faster than waiting for the weather to turn to move.)

7. With replacments, if you have fewer replacements points than units needing them (I suspect this is common), how is the priority of which units and elements get the replacements?


8. I've been reading old threads (to pick up some wisdom). :-) However many of the comments are with older patches. Is there somewhere I can see the past patch notes?

9. The CSA is raiding behind my rivers when I play the Union, but I can't do it when I play the CSA. I suspect it i how the navy is being used - this is the biggest mystery to me. What ships specificaly do I need to block river corssing - is it gunbots only or do bigger ships count?

Not a question but a comment for developers - one issue I find that the slider in the sceens like F1 and F8 are very hard to use, it cou be nice to have a keyboard method of going up or down on these screens.


Another comment - I've seen threads abut the poor AI. I'm finding the AI even at the simplest level is pretty tough, nice job by the programmers/developers!

Sorry for the long list and thanks for any help I can get!

[Gray Fox]

1. I always do my own replacements...and everything else. In Options, you can set this up. IIRC, auto-replacements uses a set amount of resources, which would explain why so few are being created.

2. I believe that ability level is set at 1. I've never had a General get ability level 2 in anything. I've had Grant get to experience level 2+, but he never became a level 2 in any abilitiy level.

3. IIRC, if you drop a General from the east coast on CA, then he will arrive there supposedly after sailing around South America.

4. The stack and Division commanders both affect combat for elements in that Division.
viewtopic.php?f=331&t=38273

5. I can only say that I have never used it, so it may indeed have been removed.

6. http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/index.php? ... ction=edit

7. http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/index.php? ... ction=edit

8. I couldn't find a list of patch notes. BTW:
viewforum.php?f=152
This only has CW2 patch 1.03, if someone wants to update that thread.

9. http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/index.php? ... ction=edit

":bloValueBySU_LinkCut = 20 // Perc chance for each combat ship (cumulative) that a transition link over water is cut between 2 land regions."

":bloMaxPerc_LinkCut = 90 // max chance to have the link cut.
:bloMinSUForLinkCut = 4 // Min nb of elements in offensive posture in a water region to cut the transition link between 2 adjacents land regions"

[Goodmongo]

1. You are never really making a mistake when you buy replacements. If not used they still stay in the pool for future use. And you are correct that the AI might not build enough of them to cover heavy losses.

9. You really can't block that movement. The best you can do is inflict hits on their transported unit. I've been testing some things out and it appears (not conclusive yet) that multiple smaller groups strung together on connected river sections have a much greater chance of stopping the river transport than a single large group. I.E. it would be better to have 2 groups of 3 gunboats on connected river sections than a single group of 6 gunboats. But then you run the risk of facing a concentrated enemy naval force. Finally any combat ship works from gunboats through ironclad riverboats.

[Captain_Orso]

I hope you can help me with some questions I have:

1. If using the auto-replacement option, can you also add replacements yourself? I'm taking a lot of hits and the computer seems to be replacing very few hits, far less than the 1/20 for line infantry even though I have available resources. Is the AI deciding that the number of replacements is best under its algorithms or is something simpler happening?.

If so, when I buy replacements myself after auto-buying, am I making a mistake?

I hate this implementation more than anything in the game... with a passion

Basically it spend up to a certain percentage of your money each turn to buy replacements. You never get a report of how much money, or how many replacement, and since the costs are the highest right after a big battle, in which you lost a lot of hits/elements, you will suddenly miss a substantial amount of money and WSU, and most of those replacements will immediately go to units, so you will never even see most of the replacements which were purchased, and never get a report on any of it.

Turn it off! Don't be so lazy. It takes all of about 15 seconds per turn to look at <F2> and buy replacement yourself.

Tool-tips on the replacement type chits tell you how many hits you have missing at the moment, and how many elements of that type in the field.

If you have lots of money, always have 5% of your elements in the field of each type in reserve. If you have little money, go down to as low as 3%. If possible, have at least 2 of each type you wish to use, because if a missing element is replaced, it costs an entire replacement chit, which will leave you with nothing to replace missing hits for that turn.

Some players, especially CS players, won't buy replacements for Heavy Artillery (mostly Coastal Artillery), bc they get a bunch at the start of the Grand Campaigns missing hits, and the replacement chits for these are very expensive.

Replacing hits and missing elements, depending on your game settings, works best when your force is resting, especially on a depot. To get a missing element replaced, the unit missing the element must be in PP (Passive Posture). 1 element per unit my be replaced per turn.

Each replacement chit--on the average--will replace about twice as many hits as its element type's normal size. EG an infantry element has 20 hits. A regular infantry replacement chit will on the average replace 40 hits, before randomly being expended. Each hit it replaces, there is a 2.5% chance of it being expended.

If you are using Hardened Attrition, the ability to get hits replaced when not on a depot is greatly reduced, and missing elements will only be replaced on depots.

2. Sherman has 'gifted commander' ability. The Manual and the tooltip says '+1 CP for ability level above 1'. What does 'ability level' mean? Is 'ability level' the same as strategic rating?

I don't recall the exact details, but basically for every increase in Experience Level (EL)--the stars you see on an element in the element detail window--will increase an Ability Level also by 1, but there are Defensive and Offensive AL's.

You start at EL 0, but OAL and DAL 1. For each Odd number EL your leader reaches, he will gain 1 DAL; for each Even number EL your leader reaches, he will gain 1 OAL; eg at EL 1 Sherman will have DAL 2, but still OAL 1; at EL 2 he will have 2 AL in both Offensive and Defensive.

How to tell whether an Ability progresses on an OAL or DAL, I don't recall, but if your leader has reached one or both, the tool-tip if his Ability will always tell you his level.

BTW each DAL and each OAL increase will grant your leader +1 in his Defensive or Offensive value respectively, as well.

3. Can somebody explain the mechanics of redeployment? I though I saw USA generals redeploying to CA, but the manual says they have to have a continuous rail to do that.

Redeployment is from one city to another city. Both cities must be connected to each other by a valid rail line; you must be able to use all regions on the rail line to otherwise transport troops. When selecting the target region of a redeployment, it will tell you whether the target is valid. If the two cities are not connect by rail, the target will not be allowed.

Each turn you many select a stack of leaders of any size, in a city, and use redeployment to move that stack to a target city. They will arrive on the next turn, regardless of the distance.

Select the stack of leaders, select the Redeployment SO (Special Order), Drag-n-Drop™ the stack of leaders onto the target city. Execute the turn.

Sometimes it is better to use normal Rail Transportation. You can get pretty far in one turn, and if there are still movement points available, once arriving at the furthest rail region, your leader can continue on on horseback (the normal mode of movement for leaders), he can also move before reaching a rail line, and he can start and end Rail Transportation from anywhere on a rail line; it needn't be from and to a city. Transporting leaders by rail costs nothing.

4. If a division is in corps stack, does the division leader's ability impact them (besides saving CP's to form divisions)? For example, is a 4-4-4 leader any better in combat than a 3-1-1 if within a corps stack if neither has sepcial abilities?

GF's answer is correct.

5. The manual mentions delay move, I think I saw on another thread this has been removed. Is that correct?

It was planned, but never got implemented.

6. Weather indicates 'harsh'. I've been avoiding moving around in harsh weather but it looks like the AI doesn't mind. Does it mostly cause cohesion loss? For example, my troops starting in Denver are way out of the action. Should I move them in harsh weather, and then stop and rest ot regain cohesion (which is much faster than waiting for the weather to turn to move.)

Unless absolutely necessary, leave your troops entrenched on a depot, fort, stockade, large city, any city, in that order, and don't move them. Even Rail Transportation can cause excessive cohesion and hit loss.

Forts and Redoubts are always equivalents in all game terms.

If the enemy is headed toward your territory in harsh weather, try to tell what his goal might be (probably supplies and shelter). Get there by rail first if at all possible, and when his force arrives, he'll wish it hadn't.

7. With replacments, if you have fewer replacements points than units needing them (I suspect this is common), how is the priority of which units and elements get the replacements?

I don't recall the exact details, but it depends on their location and posture, in this order of regions containing a: depot, fort, stockade, large city, any city, elsewhere, will be considered in that order. Stacks within regions will be considered opposite the order of their combat preparedness; ie PP, DP, then OP (Passive Posture, Defensive Posture, Offensive Posture).

8. I've been reading old threads (to pick up some wisdom). :-) However many of the comments are with older patches. Is there somewhere I can see the past patch notes?

I believe the patch notes have a collective list of changes, and to which patch each belongs.

9. The CSA is raiding behind my rivers when I play the Union, but I can't do it when I play the CSA.

Why not? How do you come to this conclusion?

I suspect it i how the navy is being used - this is the biggest mystery to me. What ships specificaly do I need to block river corssing - is it gunbots only or do bigger ships count?

Only Naval Combat Elements not in PP can block river crossings. Each NCE adds a 23% chance of blocking a crossing, with a maximum of a 90% chance, BUT if the Union has >= 4 NCE in a river region, the game will not allow you to plot a move across that river region.

Not a question but a comment for developers - one issue I find that the slider in the sceens like F1 and F8 are very hard to use, it cou be nice to have a keyboard method of going up or down on these screens.

.. and make the scrollbar wider too

Another comment - I've seen threads abut the poor AI. I'm finding the AI even at the simplest level is pretty tough, nice job by the programmers/developers!

Athena will thank you by kicking your butt

Sorry for the long list and thanks for any help I can get!

Where's the potato?

[breunorgamer]

Wow great help! Thanks so much!

I hope you don't mind one follow on question?


for combat benefits to elements, the article says the division leader and the stack leader both contribute. Does the army commander contribute also? So is there three sets of bonuses?

Maybe I'll start doing replacements myself, I just put everything on default while I'm trying to figure the game out since I though this would be easiest. But that may have been a bad assumption!

[Gray Fox]

The Army commander gives a bonus or a loss to the Corps commander. So he can indirectly boost or lower the stack commander if he is also one of his Corps commanders.

[breunorgamer]

Oh that makes sense. I see my corps commanders have boosted ratings.

Thanks!

[breunorgamer]

Another question here - I just don't understand how replacements work. I hit F2 and see the screen. Many of my forces have no replacements available; I assumed this meant it was a waste of resources to buy them.

For the other, I'll buy 6 or 7 (usually line infantry) but then I get a message that says something like 2 replacement were obtained. What happened to the others? Are they waiting to join units? Do I have to pull units out to get replacements (and put them on green/green?


Thanks for any help.

[Gray Fox]

The friendly Wiki to the rescue:

http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/index.php? ... ction=edit

Several studies have been made of the replacement chit. Unfortunately, they still remain somewhat of a mystery. A fraction of losses (casualties in combat or attrition) return as replacements. Most you will have to purchase. You can do without them by combining depleted elements or just letting units waste away. Then all your resources are available for new units. However, replacements do a pretty good job, so I use them.

[pgr]

The Army commander gives a bonus or a loss to the Corps commander. So he can indirectly boost or lower the stack commander if he is also one of his Corps commanders.

If the Army commander is in the fight, he will impact frontage and retreat rolls for all stacks as CiC

[Captain_Orso]

Another question here - I just don't understand how replacements work. I hit F2 and see the screen. Many of my forces have no replacements available; I assumed this meant it was a waste of resources to buy them.

For the other, I'll buy 6 or 7 (usually line infantry) but then I get a message that says something like 2 replacement were obtained. What happened to the others? Are they waiting to join units? Do I have to pull units out to get replacements (and put them on green/green?


Thanks for any help.

Make sure you are not using auto-replacements!! You don't want to do that son, it's like divorcing from a god-digger--you don't want to do that to yourself

Check the tool tip for each replacement chit you can buy to see how many elements of that type you have in the field and how many hits are missing. Line infantry elements have 20 hits each, while most other infantry and cavalry have 16 IIRC. Each chit could replace on the average (chance plays a large role) twice as many hits as that element type has hits per element.

So if you are missing 100 hits of line infantry, and you buy 3 chits, I would not be surprised if the 3 chits are used up right away. Also, completely missing elements use a full chit to replace them, so if it's the sommer of '61 and you are the Union and your "Army in the East" is building up, you have a bunch of missing elements to replace, which will chew through your replacements quickly, depending on how you stack them (one unit per stack may receive a missing element per turn).

[ArmChairGeneral]

You will never figure out replacements with auto-replace on. It is total garbage: it buys too many of the wrong kind when you don't need them, and too few when you do. Plus it doesn't tell you how much money it is spending, which varies each turn because it tries for a percentage of your available total, which changes. Bleh.

Always purchase at least one or two replacements even if there weren't any battles, except maybe for the very first turns. Look for a turn where you have taken a lot of casualties. Examine the pop-ups for each of the replacement types, there will be a bunch of red. Go to the stacks that took hits. Click a division and you will see on the right a bunch of red bars on your elements. They represent the number of hits (hearts) that the elements have suffered. Replacements "Get the Red Out" by returning lost hearts to the elements.

The damage/replacement mechanic is based on hits (hearts). The "number of men" you have or have lost is meaningless, hearts are what you are spending to replace. When assessing a battle completely ignore the "Men" numbers, they are flavor only, you want to see how many hearts you inflicted versus how many you received.

When replacing hearts, the engine puts its microscope onto whatever element it thinks needs to recover hits first. If there are replacement chits available then it repairs one heart and makes a random roll based on how many hearts a full strength element of its type has. If it succeeds then it goes to the next element, (or the same one, who knows) gives it a heart and makes another roll, etc. until there are no more chits or elements needing hearts. If a roll fails the current chit is expended, so the actual number of hearts a replacement chit will give you varies.

Some say the average number of hearts you get per chit is twice the number of hearts of a full strength element, but I had always thought the average was exactly the number of hits of a full strength element. This is consistent with the fact that if you have had an element completely destroyed, replacing it automatically consumes one full chit. (I.e. on average 1 chit = 1 element).

It is normal to spend an entire turn's buying power on replacements, but it is not normal for it to be every turn.

You can do some micro-managing with your replacements. Avoid buying Heavy Artillery replacements as the CSA until you really need them: you have lots of half-strength fort and coastal guns that will never see combat, but will burn through your Heavy Arty chits. Some chits are relatively more expensive, like cavalry: try to minimize cav hits by keeping them inside units (divisions) that have enough infantry to absorb their expensive-to-replace hits if they are involved in large battles.

At the beginning of most scenarios there are brigades on the map that are missing elements, they are marked with a white chevron. Be sure to budget for the replacement chits they will consume, they are a fantastic deal. If you have realistic attrition you will only be able to fill empty element slots when a unit is on a depot.

[breunorgamer]

Thanks everyone. Yes I turned off auto replacement! So I'm buying a lot of them.

So for example, I'll have a big battle. I hit F@ and looka t lien infantry - and its got the top number in red and it says I need something like 142. I buy something like 7 replacements.

However, at the end of the turn I get a message that says something like '2 reaplacements' etc. So I'm just confused as to what is going on. Or does it jsut take a few turns for the replacemnts that I've bought to get to the army?

[Citizen X]

I figure those were replacements for elements that had been destroyed during battle. "Healing" of elements usually isn't mentioned in the log.

[Gray Fox]

As the AGEWiki states, the max number of replacements your unit can absorb in one turn is 30%. Two would be 30% of seven.

[Captain_Orso]

Those 2 replacements that you see in the message boxes are elements which were replaced in units which were missing them. You do not get messages about how many hits were replaced at the start of a turn.

You do not need to buy any fixed number of replacement chits; that would make no sense. As you have noted, a tool-tip tells you how many hits are missing from each element type. Each replacement chit can be used to replace, on the average, twice as many hits as its element type has. For example, a line infantry element has 20 hits when fully healthy. Therefore a line infantry replacement chit could replace around 40 line infantry hits--on the average.

Basically, each time a hit is replaced, a check is made to see if the chit is expended. The chance of expending a chit is :
H *2 / 100 : where H is the number of hits the chit's element type has. So for line infantry : 20 * 2 / 100 = 0.4 : so each time a hit is replaced, there is a 0.4% chance the chit is expended.

This means, it could be possible that--if you had really poor luck--that a chit is expended the first time it is used, but also that it could be used far more than 40 times.

Replacing an entirely missing element always costs an entire chit of the element type.

Way-Back-When™ there were many discussion about how many replacement chits you should have in reserve, that is, if no battles had recently occurred, and none are imminent, how many chits should be in your pool for each element type. Opinions ranged from 3 - 10 % of the number of elements of the type. So, if you have 100 line infantry elements in the field, you might hold between 3 and 10 line infantry chits in the line infantry replacement pool. You actual decision will have to weigh in the cost, because replacement chits are reserves, on which you can only call, if your units in the field are actually missing hits, and they will never increase the size of your forces in the field.

BTW the South can get replacements twice as quickly as the North, bc historically they put more emphasis on replacements.

[ArmChairGeneral]

Captain Orso pointed out some of the downsides of replacement spending:

"...replacement chits are reserves, on which you can only call, if your units in the field are actually missing hits, and they will never increase the size of your forces in the field."

On the upside, however, unlike new units the resources you spend on replacements are instantaneously delivered directly to the front, right where you need them. New units require many turns building and deployment before those resources are available to project force. On top of that, replacement chits become immediately available as soon as you hit the turn button, so even if you are at zero, your units will be able to draw on the new ones before the next turn's orders begin to process (replacement happens before movement).

The goal, of course, is to not have to purchase replacement chits in the first place. But when you need them you would be well advised to already have them. Exactly how much is an open question, and there is room for finesse, but I definitely aim to have a replacement stockpile before large battles take place.

BTW the South can get replacements twice as quickly as the North, bc historically they put more emphasis on replacements.

Which is why, as the South, you never want to be in a position where you are out of replacements and can't afford enough more. If a Union stack is able to out-replace yours after they fight a large battle, you are going to be in big trouble.

[Captain_Orso]

8<

On the upside, however, unlike new units the resources you spend on replacements are instantaneously delivered directly to the front, right where you need them. New units require many turns building and deployment before those resources are available to project force. On top of that, replacement chits become immediately available as soon as you hit the turn button, so even if you are at zero, your units will be able to draw on the new ones before the next turn's orders begin to process (replacement happens before movement).

True, but the Replacement CC's are also permanently in reserve if they are not used. The player will always have to figure out a reasonable balance.

The goal, of course, is to not have to purchase replacement chits in the first place. But when you need them you would be well advised to already have them. Exactly how much is an open question, and there is room for finesse, but I definitely aim to have a replacement stockpile before large battles take place.

This is practically not possible, bc you can take hits from simply marching your forces, or even from simply standing still, if the weather is poor enough--depending on your game settings.

BTW the South can get replacements twice as quickly as the North, bc historically they put more emphasis on replacements.

Which is why, as the South, you never want to be in a position where you are out of replacements and can't afford enough more. If a Union stack is able to out-replace yours after they fight a large battle, you are going to be in big trouble.

One more point, but I'm not sure if it is still valid. At least way back in AACW, if your forces won a battle, those forces would get a bonus on receiving replacements at the start of the next turn. I'm not sure if this is still valid.

[breunorgamer]

Thanks for all of that info! Sorry I haven't players recently with RL stuff but I should get back this weekend.

I just got Bloody Roads South so I have some more scenarios to try. I'm certain I'll have some more questions, I really appreciate the timely and thorough answers!