Various difficulty settings and options

[Tharmas]

In starting a new game what settings do people generally use, not just the difficulty, but the other things you can set, like attrition, aggressiveness, other AI advantages. My goal is to gradually ramp up the difficulty, but there are many combinations available. Also different for each side. I would think adding attrition would hurt the South more.
I just took Richmond in late 1862, so, too easy. Plan on moving from Sgt. to Lt. but don't know how I want the other settings.

[Gray Fox]

Welcome!

On Media:
Regroup armies-Off
Battle attrition-Low (as you mentioned, high just hurts the underdog)
Pause after battle-On

Game:
Fog of War-On
Delayed Commitment-Low
Foreign Entry-Normal
Historical Attrition
Auto-replacements-Not
Battle planner-On
Activation-"Land forces with a non-activated commander have a high chance of NOT being able to move at all."
(Some folks like Veteran)
No randomized Generals
Standard rule for Naval boxes
Extended pool-Historical
Easy supply-Off
Traffic penalty-Low

AI
Activated
Ranking-Colonel (Please do as you wish)
Use all behaviors-On
Activation bonus-Normal
AI detection range-Low bonus (a higher setting may have the AI do strange things)
Aggressiveness-Normal (as above)

Good luck!

[Tharmas]

Thanks for all that.
I remember the activation rules from other similar ACW games. They were so harsh the game slowed down to basically nothing happening so I find that really irritating.

What about low aggression for the Rebs, can a more cautious setting actually make it harder for the Union?

[Gray Fox]

TBH, I have not used this setting. At normal, the AI does some challenging things, like trying to take Cairo, IL. I would expect that Low might make the AI into nothing more than a punching bag. You are welcome to give it a try and let us know.

[Captain_Orso]

If you set Detection above low bonus, Athena 'sees' all kinds of locations, which your are not garrisoning strongly way behind the front lines (in range of her stacks), and plot attacks vs them, which is very opportunistic, and mostly of little value, other than to make you jump around to counter them. In the end, they often make no sense strategically, especially if Athena is playing the South.

I don't play with Rating Colonel, bc it just gives Athena unrealistic perks, like giving every leader +1-+1-+1 and having them recover cohesion extremely quickly. This teaches you to play against a completely unrealistic opponent. It's challenging, but if you ever play against a human opponent, you will have to learn to play the game all over again, bc a human opponent will use his ideas to oppose you, and not perks.

If you really want an exciting game, play vs an human.

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

If you set Detection above low bonus, Athena 'sees' all kinds of locations, which your are not garrisoning strongly way behind the front lines (in range of her stacks), and plot attacks vs them, which is very opportunistic, and mostly of little value, other than to make you jump around to counter them. In the end, they often make no sense strategically, especially if Athena is playing the South.

I don't play with Rating Colonel, bc it just gives Athena unrealistic perks, like giving every leader +1-+1-+1 and having them recover cohesion extremely quickly. This teaches you to play against a completely unrealistic opponent. It's challenging, but if you ever play against a human opponent, you will have to learn to play the game all over again, bc a human opponent will use his ideas to oppose you, and not perks.

If you really want an exciting game, play vs an human.

What difficulty setting do you have it on for the most 'realistic' experience?

[Captain_Orso]

To borrow GF's template

On Media:
Regroup armies-Off <== ON bc you can always un-group, but never manually regroup; YMMV. What it really means, is that at a glance view of the map, multiple stacks appear as one stack. Clicking on the "top" stack however, puts all stacks into the Stack Panel, each on their own tab, the same as clicking on a stack in a region with multiple stacks, so there is no difficulty in seeing your stacks. It will simply not be as apparent when you glance at the map, but you ought to know where your stacks are anyway.
Battle attrition-Low (as you mentioned, high just hurts the underdog) <== GF? I can't find this setting, and honestly don't know it. I only know "Attrition" under Game. Help?
Pause after battle-On

Game:
Fog of War-On
Delayed Commitment-Low
Foreign Entry-Normal
Historical Attrition <== furthest right. It is historical for both player and AI.
Auto-replacements-Not <== I believe is VERY important Do your homework. You will be less confused.
Battle planner-On
Activation-"Land forces with a non-activated commander have a high chance of NOT being able to move at all."
(Some folks like Veteran) <== Second from left (large movement and combat penalty if not activated) bc you are already penalized with McClellan and his like enough IMHO. I've played with hard activation vs a human. It just feels really unrealistic to me if you have for example 2 corps and only one moves to attack, while the other sits back an watches you get slaughtered. If you attack with unactivated stacks, you're gonna get your ass kicked, but it will be your choice.
Randomized Generals-No
Naval boxes Handling-Standard rules
Extended pool-Historical
Easy supply-Off
Traffic penalty-Low

AI
Activated
Ranking-Colonel (Please do as you wish) <== Leutnant, bc I feel that it's closer to Real™, where with Colonel Athena is simply cheating IMHO
Use all behaviors-On
Activation bonus-Normal
AI detection range-Low bonus (a higher setting may have the AI do strange things)
Aggressiveness-Normal (as above)

Yup, that's about it. And I really would suggest playing a human opponent , who is closely matched to your experience. It really is the most exciting thing, really.

[Blood and Thunder Brigade]

I have a question regarding Extended Forces Pool and how it works exactly. If activated, do I have access to more brigades, etc, or the same amount of forces just more quickly?

[Khanti]

I have a question regarding Extended Forces Pool and how it works exactly. If activated, do I have access to more brigades, etc, or the same amount of forces just more quickly?

You can create / train more units. Every brigade / regiment / squadron / ship / whatever type have more reserve units to train.
So instead of standard number of brigades you (and AI) will be able to put on map 200% of that number. Numbers are in scenario file (that 100%).

Example: 243USAInfantry Bde (NY).uni in 1864 scenario, USA side.
Those with 1x infantry, 2x conscripts, 1x 6lb arty, 1x cavalry (overall combat strength 103)

With historical value there are 24x those brigades of which 8 are on map and 16 available for recruitment.
With +200% value there are still 8 on map but 64 available for recruitment (72 total, 24 + 2x24 = 72).

So effect is that you can arrange your forces freely, but you are still restricted by resources (you still need manpower/war supply) for recruitment. I always use 200% because I don't like being artificially restricted.