New Cavalry Mod

[Jagger]

{This mod is also posted in the ACW mod forum.}

I have been seeing a lot of dead cavalrymen. Primarily when they are stationary, lacking the evade order and a division or more of infantry moves into their region. In this situation, I have seen lots of completely massacred cavalry regiments. Also, even with evade, I have seen whole cavalry regiments destroyed when they happen to bump into a corps of infantry. Recently I lost three full regiments to the last man that happened to bump into a division plus force.

During the Civil War, cavalry regiments were very rarely destroyed except during long range raids. Their mobility allowed cavalry to easily evade even mass amounts of infantry. Other mobile cavalry was the real threat to cavalry. And those battles rarely resulted in destruction of cavalry regiments. In 1864, Lincoln jibed Sheridan with that old saying of "who ever saw a dead cavalryman". Well in this game, there are a lot of dead cavalrymen-actually too many, IMO.

So I put together this little cavalry mod. First, I created a new ability called UnitSkirmisher. This is an ability that applies only to the unit. The ability will not add a benefit to an entire division or group-only the specific unit with the ability. If a battle situation causes a unit with this ability to attempt a retreat, the unit will have a 65% bonus to the retreat attempt for the first 4 hours of the battle.

The UnitSkirmisher ability is provided to all cavalry units and indian units. In addition, reb horse raiders and bushwashers plus Union Raiders also have this ability. The ability is represented by the horse head symbol on the unit. You will see the symbol appear on divisions with those ability units but the benefits do not apply to the entire division-only the specific regiment with the ability.

In addition, I have reduced the troop quality of cavalry by 2 for each type. I have also added 1 to their protection value to reflect the ease of withdrawal of highly mobile cavalry. The objective is to make cavalry less likely to fight for long time frames and suffer less casaulties when they are fighting.

Entire cavalry regiments can still be wiped out if attacked by large infantry formations but far less likely. The result is more likely they will suffer casaulties while retreating from combat.

Cavalry will only attempt the "withdraw from combat" tactic when clearly in a disadvantageous situation. If the battle is even or they have the advantage, they will fight as normal. Although they are not quite as effective fighters due to their lowered TQ which means they will not fight as long. Combined with their +1 protection value, you should see less dead cavalry men. However cavalry will still be very effective against other cavalry and militia in battle results-just less casualties.

I have tested the mod and so far, am happy with the results. However I would like others to test the mod and provide feedback. The more eyes and the more feedback, the better the results. So I would appreciate feedback.

To install the mod...

1. Use copy/paste to make a backup copy of the abi_alias file in the Alias folder of the ACW folder

2. Use copy/paste to make a backup copy of the entire models folder in the gamedata folder of the ACW folder

3. Upload the Alias_abi_aliasUnitSkirmisher22Sept07 zipped file from the bottom of this post into the Alias folder and unzip. Overwrite existing abi_alias file. This file adds a new ID for the new ability.

4. Upload the 76UnitSkirmisher22Sept07 into the abilities folder of the gamedata folder and unzip. This is a brand new file and will not overwrite old files. This is a new file with the UnitSkirmisher ability definitions.

5. ModelsUnitSkirmisher22Sept07 into the models folder of the gamedata folder and unzip. This zipped file contains modded models for all Union/Reb cavalry, reb horse raiders, reb horse partisans, indians and Union horse Raiders. A total of 12 modded model files.

Once complete, start up your modded ACW. You will see the new ability icon on all modded units. The icon will appear on divisions containing units with the ability-but again, only the specific modded regiments will have the ability.

This mod can be introduced into an ongoing game without problems.

If you have any questions, let me know. Also I would appreciate any feedback.

----26 Sept. Added "unitskirmisher" ability to horse artillery and Tx Rangers. Unzip SkirmisherHorseArtilleryTxRangers file within your models folder of your gamedata folder. Overwrite three original files.------

[PBBoeye]

Hooray! I'll check this when I get back into town. Good idea.

[DirkX]

nice, i like that, as i am huge cavalry and NBF ( ) fan.

as you are on the cavarly stuff, is there any way to make CSA cavalry abit stronger in 61/62 in comparison to Union Cavalry ?

if you edit artillery strength you can do that with cavalry too

[Jagger]

nice, i like that, as i am huge cavalry and NBF ( ) fan.

as you are on the cavarly stuff, is there any way to make CSA cavalry abit stronger in 61/62 in comparison to Union Cavalry ?

if you edit artillery strength you can do that with cavalry too

The CSA cavalry could definitely be made stronger. And I agree they were substantially better than Union cavalry from 61-63. Often better in places through the end of the war. I personally wouldn't have a problem with stronger CSA infantry either as, IMO, Reb infantry, fighting on their own land, performed better than the invading US troops for most of the war.

The problem is that the CSA already has a substantial numerical advantage vs real life. They also have superior leaders. If CSA infantry/CSA cavalry were improved, I think the game might become totally unbalanced to the CSA side.

If early CSA numbers could be reduced, I think improving the quality of Reb cavalry and infantry could produce a closer simulation to my perception of the reality. Although I think it would take a lot of time to find the right values to reduce Reb numbers by experimenting with draft/conscription numbers.

If you want to adjust CSA cavalry for your own games, take a look at the models database. You can make changes to the excel database and then convert to models using the CSV splitter. Check the mod forum for information on working with the databases.

[PBBoeye]

I am hoping that the drafting tweaks that Clovis is working on will produce better numbers (realistic) for CSA manpower. If we can get that done, then perhaps improving CSA cav/inf quality can follow. But I agree that the ahistorical numbers issue has to be handled first.

RE: horse head issue - isn't this the symbol used for the Cavalry Fighter (or whatever it's called) - the ability for leaders? I can make a unique image if needed of a horse head with the arrow imposed over it. This could give the reinforcing concept of 'retreat' or evade, and be less confusing.

[lodilefty]

I like this mod!

Problem: When I installed per instructions, I got a "database read error" or something like that for UID = 16.
Upon investigation, the mod installed 15CSACavalry.mdl as 15CSACavalry (conscript).mdl creating duplicate UID.
Same thing occurs (error for UID 89) with 88USACavalry (conscript).mdl installed instead of 88USACavalry.mdl
Once duplicate UID were removed from models folder all seems well...

I am running Public Beta 1.07rc5

Also, should Horse Artillery also have this attribute? "Horse Artillery" was created to keep up with Cavalry "skeedaddles", since ALL Light and Field artillery was horse (or mule) drawn.......

[Jagger]

RE: horse head issue - isn't this the symbol used for the Cavalry Fighter (or whatever it's called) - the ability for leaders? I can make a unique image if needed of a horse head with the arrow imposed over it. This could give the reinforcing concept of 'retreat' or evade, and be less confusing.

Thanks PBB, but it probably isn't necessary. The leadership ability uses the horse head colored red. The cavalry skirmisher ability uses the horse head colored blue. The different colors will make differentiation easy.

[Jagger]

I like this mod!

Problem: When I installed per instructions, I got a "database read error" or something like that for UID = 16.
Upon investigation, the mod installed 15CSACavalry.mdl as 15CSACavalry (conscript).mdl creating duplicate UID.
Same thing occurs (error for UID 89) with 88USACavalry (conscript).mdl installed instead of 88USACavalry.mdl
Once duplicate UID were removed from models folder all seems well...

I am running Public Beta 1.07rc5

Also, should Horse Artillery also have this attribute? "Horse Artillery" was created to keep up with Cavalry "skeedaddles", since ALL Light and Field artillery was horse (or mule) drawn.......

I created the modded mods using the database for 1.06d. It sounds like there may be some problems when using 1.07rc5. Fortunately, you have solved the problem.

Although is anyone else having a problem using the mod with either 1.06d or 1.07rc5?

I may have to put out another updated mod when 1.07 is finalized.

[McNaughton]

Just curious about raiders. Has this affected a defender's ability to protect against marauding cavalry destroying rail yards?

[McNaughton]

How about using "Patrol" (a unit's ability to pin down another unit in a territory) and "Evasion" (a unit's ability to evade another unit pinning them down) along with such changes? From what I see, these factors directly affect a model's ability to withdrawl (and pin other units).

Also, how about two variations of the "Unit Skirmisher" ability? One for the CSA, others for the USA (at least early USA cavalry). Initially, due to poor policies, the US cavalry was repeatedly embarassed by the CS cavalry, but, as the war progressed, US quality caught up (to an extent, but was also aided by quantity and quality of weaponry).

[Jagger]

Just curious about raiders. Has this affected a defender's ability to protect against marauding cavalry destroying rail yards?

It has an impact but not a major impact. Dependent on how cavalry raids are conducted, less cavalry units should be completely destroyed. Cavalry raiders will be caught but the battles will be shorter. Cohesion loss will still be the major factor determining the effectiveness of cavalry raids.

[Jagger]

How about using "Patrol" (a unit's ability to pin down another unit in a territory) and "Evasion" (a unit's ability to evade another unit pinning them down) along with such changes? From what I see, these factors directly affect a model's ability to withdrawl (and pin other units).

Also, how about two variations of the "Unit Skirmisher" ability? One for the CSA, others for the USA (at least early USA cavalry). Initially, due to poor policies, the US cavalry was repeatedly embarassed by the CS cavalry, but, as the war progressed, US quality caught up (to an extent, but was also aided by quantity and quality of weaponry).

Actually I didn't consider patrol and evasion values. I liked the skirmisher ability as it has a fairly focused impact on battle results.

I suspect evasion and patrol values might have impacts on other situations which I would not want to change. But again, I haven't looked closely at those two values and how they might help with cavalry survivability when approached by large infantry forces.

Do you have some thoughts on how they might be used?

Also, different levels of the ability could be used to represent the higher quality of CSA cavalry in the models database. But as I mentioned to Dirk, I would like to see some changes in manpower before upping the quality of CSA units too much. So I hesitate.

[daddytorgo]

maybe one of the solutions is to eliminate the ability of cavalry to destroy railroads, or at least make it take 2-3 turns so you have a chance to drive them off...

not sure how historically accurate this is / how many cavalry regiments actually had the tools and the time during the war to destroy RR's

[McNaughton]

Just to clarify...

If I have a division of Cavalry, will the regiments attempt to retreat individually, or because they are in a division will they fight like normal (without the ability?).

[Jagger]

maybe one of the solutions is to eliminate the ability of cavalry to destroy railroads, or at least make it take 2-3 turns so you have a chance to drive them off...

not sure how historically accurate this is / how many cavalry regiments actually had the tools and the time during the war to destroy RR's

I don't think it will be necessary to change the destruction of railroads. Try the mod. The ability won't turn cavalry into supermen.

Also destroying railroads is very historically accurate. They can be destroyed very quickly. Although they can be repaired very quickly as well unless the rails are melted and twisted. A very, very common and prevalent tactic used by both sides.

[Jagger]

Just to clarify...

If I have a division of Cavalry, will the regiments attempt to retreat individually, or because they are in a division will they fight like normal (without the ability?).

Actually I am not sure how it would work. I know retreat is determined by an odds comparison between the two formations. But if all elements of a formation have an ability, will that ability carry over to the entire formation?

I think retreats are done individually by regiment. If true, a formation power comparison check is done first, then, I believe regiments retreat individually. Although I am not certain.

Someone else will have to confirm--maybe someone from AGeod.

[daddytorgo]

I don't think it will be necessary to change the destruction of railroads. Try the mod. The ability won't turn cavalry into supermen.

Also destroying railroads is very historically accurate. They can be destroyed very quickly. Although they can be repaired very quickly as well unless the rails are melted and twisted. A very, very common and prevalent tactic used by both sides.

I know it's very historically accurate in general (I was a history major as an undergrad with a concentration in 19th century US History), but i'm wondering how many RR's were actually destroyed by cavalry and not infantry during the war. If the number isn't a significant percentage it'd be more accurate to take the ability away from them is all i'm saying.

[McNaughton]

The easiest target for a Cavalry raid would be wooden bridges. Setting fire to a wooden bridge would be relatively easy (compared with twisting rail ties) through weakening and/or burning the rail bridge (which effectively cuts the line). Seeing that in most provinces there will at least be a small creek bridge, one can assume that cavalry have targetted a railroad's weak point in order to cut it (i.e., a bridge, a major crossing, etc.).

[daddytorgo]

The easiest target for a Cavalry raid would be wooden bridges. Setting fire to a wooden bridge would be relatively easy (compared with twisting rail ties) through weakening and/or burning the rail bridge (which effectively cuts the line). Seeing that in most provinces there will at least be a small creek bridge, one can assume that cavalry have targetted a railroad's weak point in order to cut it (i.e., a bridge, a major crossing, etc.).

fair point...fair point

[Jagger]

I have added the "UnitSkirmisher" ability to both CSA and US horse artillery and also to the Texas Rangers.

1. Upload zipped file to the models folder within your gamedata folder. Unzip and overwrite the three original files. And your done.

If you have any problems, let me know.

[Big Muddy]

I have added the "UnitSkirmisher" ability to both CSA and US horse artillery and also to the Texas Rangers.

1. Upload zipped file to the models folder within your gamedata folder. Unzip and overwrite the three original files. And your done.

If you have any problems, let me know.

Jagger, I used your mod for 1.06d, will this work w/1.07a?

[Jagger]

Jagger, I used your mod for 1.06d, will this work w/1.07a?

Yes, the cavalry mod will work with 1.07a.

However when you unzip the file into your models folder, two of the files have different names from the names in the 1.07a database. The two duplicates will show up at the bottom of the models folder. Keep those two at the bottom titled 15CSACavalry(conscript) and 88USCavalry(conscript). Delete the other two original files numbered 15 and 88.

Some of the model names were changed in the model database from 1.06 to 1.07 which means the modded files won't overwrite the orginals. So the originals must be deleted manually.

[Big Muddy]

Yes, the cavalry mod will work with 1.07a.

However when you unzip the file into your models folder, two of the files have different names from the names in the 1.07a database. The two duplicates will show up at the bottom of the models folder. Keep those two at the bottom titled 15CSACavalry(conscript) and 88USCavalry(conscript). Delete the other two original files numbered 15 and 88.

Some of the model names were changed in the model database from 1.06 to 1.07 which means the modded files won't overwrite the orginals. So the originals must be deleted manually.

Thanks Jagger, I haven't had very much time to spend w/1.07a, next chance I had it was b, so I assume that I would apply as you said and it will work for b? maybe it will be c tonight

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but are you going to update the unit name mod, I believe that was yours.

[Jagger]

Thanks Jagger, I haven't had very much time to spend w/1.07a, next chance I had it was b, so I assume that I would apply as you said and it will work for b? maybe it will be c tonight

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but are you going to update the unit name mod, I believe that was yours.

The Unit name mod has the same problem with a mismatch of names between the two databases. I might fix it this morning. It probably wouldn't take too long.

[Jagger]

Thanks Jagger, I haven't had very much time to spend w/1.07a, next chance I had it was b, so I assume that I would apply as you said and it will work for b? maybe it will be c tonight

I don't know if this is the right place to ask, but are you going to update the unit name mod, I believe that was yours.

Here is the Unit Name Mod updated for the 1.07 database. 1.07 placed an underscore between the CSA/USA and the unit name. I added the underscore.

Upload into the unit folder of the gamedata folder. Unzip and overwrite existing files. If you have any problems, let me know.

Units which have already been recruited into an ongoing game and units which start the scenario will not have the state name added. Only new units recruited will have the state plus commander name.

[Big Muddy]

It works fine, no problems, thanks.