Just finished my first campaign as the Americans in the 1775 campaign. Controlled every objective October of 1781 playing against the AI with all settings normal and the AI having extra time.
I have a couple questions and observations.
1. I think overall the AI played well. The only glaring mistake it made was leaving Boston unoccupied early in the game. I had two militia units appear in Providence and I moved them to Boston. Washington was in the North around near Albany. Most of the British army was south capturing New York. I moved Washington into Boston and never lost it again. The only other thing I noticed was at times the AI would have a seige on one of my towns with a substanial force. A few turns later the seige would still be going on but with a very weak force which I was able to defeat easily with my forces in the beseiged city.
2. This is going to sound stupid but I still don't understand saving games. I would use the "Save As" command and save my game. However, it seems the saved game would then get over written. Is there any way to save a campaign game at a certain date and be able to go back to that date later. I would like to save a game at say April of 1776 and then finish the game. And then maybe later reload and try a different approach starting again in April of 1776. Any ideas?
3. What do you guys use the continental navy for? Mine sat in port the whole game and never moved.
4. I lost Washington's entire army late in the game and am not sure how. I took his army to Montreal/Quebec to capture both objectives. I then took the boats I cpatured at Quebec, loaded his army in and set sail for Fort Detroit. Some place in Lake Ontario I got a brief message about meeting the British navy and never saw Washington or his army again. He ended up in an ocean area clear in the North East corner of the map-the intersesting thing is that you can see the blue dot on the mini map but nothing is there when you click. If you use the Y and T keys you will get to his army. Do the British have a naval force in Lake Ontario capable of destroying an entire army?
5. I am still not sure about using irregular units. The Americans have a few and I used them exactly the same as any other units. I always felt that I should be doing something different with them but did not know what. Could any one give me some ideas on using these units?
6. How much difference will there be going up to the "Hard" difficulty level and/or increasing the "AI detect bonus" level? Any thoughts on this?
7. Between turns I settled on the following routine:
First - I would look at the message box - I started the game by looking at every message but this got to tedious and time consuming - I ended up filtering using five of the six buttons (I left out the button that shows all the movements) and scrolling through the list only clicking on what seems important.
Second - I would use the "E" and "R" keys to cycle throught all the units
(though even this got a little tedious towards the end of the game).
Third - sometimes i used the "T" and "Y" keys to look at the fleets.
Anyone come up with a better between turns routine?
8. I captured a lot of Supply units during this game. A lot of them were damaged and missing elements (I think that is the name for individual companies) and no matter what I did would never recover. Any ideas on this?
9. I love using the keyboard - I have asked this question before but never got an answer - the "End" key zooms you in and according to the manual should zoom you out - it does zoom in but not out - any one else experience this?
All for now - enjoyed my first campaign and can't wait to try another.
Jack (a very satisfied customer)
jcrohio wrote:1. I think overall the AI played well. The only glaring mistake it made was leaving Boston unoccupied early in the game. I had two militia units appear in Providence and I moved them to Boston. Washington was in the North around near Albany. Most of the British army was south capturing New York. I moved Washington into Boston and never lost it again.
I've found that when the AI is British, turning the detection rating up to the next level makes a dramatic difference. It doesn't really apply to the other scenarios, or when it plays the Americans, but the British need a lot of organized reconnaisanse in that campaign, and the AI isn't quite up to the task.
It seems like it takes some risks with garrisons, but I've never been lucky enough to stumble over an empty city like that, unless there's been a colonial disband that turn.
The only other thing I noticed was at times the AI would have a seige on one of my towns with a substanial force. A few turns later the seige would still be going on but with a very weak force which I was able to defeat easily with my forces in the beseiged city.
I tend to carry out some sieges in a similar manner. If you bottle up the enemy, it may be worthwhile to risk a small detachment while the main force hunts somewhere else. It's a risk, but mostly worth takingif your troops are entrenched.
The only problem I've noticed with siege AI has been a tendancy to be too conservative. There are times (especially with winter approaching) when the AI could assault and win easily, but it continues to siege.
2. This is going to sound stupid but I still don't understand saving games. I would use the "Save As" command and save my game. However, it seems the saved game would then get over written. Is there any way to save a campaign game at a certain date and be able to go back to that date later. I would like to save a game at say April of 1776 and then finish the game. And then maybe later reload and try a different approach starting again in April of 1776. Any ideas?
No need to use SaveAs.
1) Saves directory is C:\Games\Birth of America\BoA\Saves\
2) Inside there will be your game folder, and each game folder 1775 Campaign
3) The layout contains the current turn, and 12 backup folders. Whatever set of files is directly under your game folder is the one which will appear in the load-game dialog.
4) Look through each folder to find the file with turn number ( eg 1775 Campaign - Turn306.tag)
5) Select all the files in the folder and do a control-drag-drop to you game folder
6) Alt-Tab back to the game and do a load. Your game will still have the same name, but the description will show the turn number you copied, and you can play from there.
3. What do you guys use the continental navy for? Mine sat in port the whole game and never moved.
I haven't figured out anything useful either.
5. I am still not sure about using irregular units. The Americans have a few and I used them exactly the same as any other units. I always felt that I should be doing something different with them but did not know what. Could any one give me some ideas on using these units?
Irregulars are faster and require less supply than conventional forces:
1) Raiding:
eg the British will eventually move north to threaten Albany and Norwich. Sending Irregulars to loot the provinces before they arrive will leave them in difficulty when it comes to supply. Or, catching unescorted supply/artillery moving around
2) PITA:
It's not always going to be known whether the army you're marching around is 100 irregulars, or a more substantial corps which may threaten a key city. Your opponent may spend a lot of energy and garrison units trying to trap an expendable force
3) Loyalty:
If you have a province favourable to your side, then an irregular can hold the city. A half-battalion of irregulars can quickly sieze an objective and hold it for a while, requiring a real army to come and retake it.
4) Recon:
You can follow a marching army, get details on the units and their strengths. Will help you prepare to run, or stand as the circumstance dictates.
6. How much difference will there be going up to the "Hard" difficulty level and/or increasing the "AI detect bonus" level? Any thoughts on this?
See above for detect bonus. With hard difficulty, I've noticed both sides of 1755 become more challenging, and 1775 as British is a must. Don't know about US 1775, as it seems like an impossible task on normal
7. Anyone come up with a better between turns routine?
Don't know if it's better, but I tend to scan the messages and order units based around the vicinity of the first message. Then move on to the next...etc. Rarely use E/R, maybe every 5 turns to make sure I haven't missed anyone.
8. Any ideas on this?
I wish there was a way to combine them, or use them partially for depots. Otherwise I end up sending them to supply graveyards, as they can be worthless and take up a command slot.
The AI now take into consideration the approach of winter for many things, including an assault of a fort.
combining of supply units: on our wish list.
are you using save as (ctrl-click on the save button?) ? this create a new game with the name you gave, so this is what you want, a point where to resume a play that went wrong eg.
combining of supply units: on our wish list.
are you using save as (ctrl-click on the save button?) ? this create a new game with the name you gave, so this is what you want, a point where to resume a play that went wrong eg.
Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law."
I've reached 1780 in my campaign with the British, so I've seen this from the other side.
The American AI left a lot of objective towns ungarrisoned, but I suspect that that's just good use of its manpower. It seems to be good at snatching back unguarded towns. "The USA have taken control of your city of Philadelphia' was one unwelcome message in the control log. I seemed to assault in more sieges than the AI: as my opening strategy was to deploy everything north of New York, I left Virginia and the south to the militia and saw a lot of protracted sieges.
Yep, that caught me out as well.
As Dinsdale said, but from the British side they seem to be very useful for reconnaisance. I used the Indians mainly for reconnaisance and harrasment on the west bank of Lake Champlain until I could free up forces to get to Fort Stanwick and Ticonderoga. I used the irregulars and the cavalry to particularly track the American forces east of New York and Champlain during my campaign to trap Washington.
Hm. I don't use the keys at all, but use the battle, control, replacement and 'envelope' message buttons, in that order, to see where the active areas are. The envelope button is particularly handy in winter, I found.
jcrohio wrote:1. I think overall the AI played well. The only glaring mistake it made was leaving Boston unoccupied early in the game. I had two militia units appear in Providence and I moved them to Boston. Washington was in the North around near Albany. Most of the British army was south capturing New York. I moved Washington into Boston and never lost it again. The only other thing I noticed was at times the AI would have a seige on one of my towns with a substanial force. A few turns later the seige would still be going on but with a very weak force which I was able to defeat easily with my forces in the beseiged city.
The American AI left a lot of objective towns ungarrisoned, but I suspect that that's just good use of its manpower. It seems to be good at snatching back unguarded towns. "The USA have taken control of your city of Philadelphia' was one unwelcome message in the control log. I seemed to assault in more sieges than the AI: as my opening strategy was to deploy everything north of New York, I left Virginia and the south to the militia and saw a lot of protracted sieges.
This is going to sound stupid but I still don't understand saving games. I would use the "Save As" command and save my game. However, it seems the saved game would then get over written.
Yep, that caught me out as well.
5. I am still not sure about using irregular units. The Americans have a few and I used them exactly the same as any other units. I always felt that I should be doing something different with them but did not know what. Could any one give me some ideas on using these units?
As Dinsdale said, but from the British side they seem to be very useful for reconnaisance. I used the Indians mainly for reconnaisance and harrasment on the west bank of Lake Champlain until I could free up forces to get to Fort Stanwick and Ticonderoga. I used the irregulars and the cavalry to particularly track the American forces east of New York and Champlain during my campaign to trap Washington.
7. Between turns I settled on the following routine:
First - I would look at the message box - I started the game by looking at every message but this got to tedious and time consuming - I ended up filtering using five of the six buttons (I left out the button that shows all the movements) and scrolling through the list only clicking on what seems important.
Second - I would use the "E" and "R" keys to cycle throught all the units
(though even this got a little tedious towards the end of the game).
Third - sometimes i used the "T" and "Y" keys to look at the fleets.
Anyone come up with a better between turns routine?
Hm. I don't use the keys at all, but use the battle, control, replacement and 'envelope' message buttons, in that order, to see where the active areas are. The envelope button is particularly handy in winter, I found.
Here is the new tooltip message for "Save As" in 1.06. Does it makes sense to you?
<Ctrl> + click to Save under another name. The name given will be the one used for your new turns. The previous name will be your game, saved at this point, and put aside.
<Ctrl> + click to Save under another name. The name given will be the one used for your new turns. The previous name will be your game, saved at this point, and put aside.
Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law."
Pocus wrote:The previous name will be your game, saved at this point, and put aside.
This sentence is confusing. Are you saying?
"Your existing game under the original name will be saved at its current point of play. A copy of the existing game will be made under the new name with which play will resume."
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jhdeerslayer
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dinsdale wrote:See above for detect bonus. With hard difficulty, I've noticed both sides of 1755 become more challenging, and 1775 as British is a must. Don't know about US 1775, as it seems like an impossible task on normal
Dinsdale
Do you mean playing as the British in 1775 you need to give the American AI some help or do you feel the Americans have the advantage and the British need the help. Wasn't sure from the wording of your post and I am curiuos as to your feelings on this.
Thanks
Jack
jcrohio wrote:Dinsdale
Do you mean playing as the British in 1775 you need to give the American AI some help or do you feel the Americans have the advantage and the British need the help. Wasn't sure from the wording of your post and I am curiuos as to your feelings on this.
Thanks
Jack
Yes, I would definately give the US help against the British, but no need to change the AI detection as they have so many loyal areas. While the campaign might be balanced over the course of the war, the Brits can just about end it in the first 2 years.
The shortcuts mentioned above, E, R, T, Y are not mentioned in the manual on the shortcut page. How did you figure those out? Are there any others that are not documented?
As a wish, I'd love to see shortcut keys added in a future version related to the selection of "postures' for each unit and their strategies. For example, as you cycle through the units using the E and R keys, you could quickly select another shortcut to assault, defend, entrench, etc. Much easier than finding the mini button for each unit.
Also, I'm not clear on entering a city whether it's undefended or I captured it. Why must I take one more turn to click the button confirming that I want to enter the city. It seems that moving your unit to the city should automatically enter the city if no one is there or you've captured it. If the idea is to simulate another month to complete the move into the city, it would be nice for it to default to entering the city after that month passes if you don't move the unit.
And, one more cosmetic change. The load screen at the very beginning of starting up the software should have some sort of bar or indicator that the game is loading. Instead, you get the startup screen and music and don't know if it really is doing anything like loading.
As a wish, I'd love to see shortcut keys added in a future version related to the selection of "postures' for each unit and their strategies. For example, as you cycle through the units using the E and R keys, you could quickly select another shortcut to assault, defend, entrench, etc. Much easier than finding the mini button for each unit.
Also, I'm not clear on entering a city whether it's undefended or I captured it. Why must I take one more turn to click the button confirming that I want to enter the city. It seems that moving your unit to the city should automatically enter the city if no one is there or you've captured it. If the idea is to simulate another month to complete the move into the city, it would be nice for it to default to entering the city after that month passes if you don't move the unit.
And, one more cosmetic change. The load screen at the very beginning of starting up the software should have some sort of bar or indicator that the game is loading. Instead, you get the startup screen and music and don't know if it really is doing anything like loading.
rasnell wrote:Also, I'm not clear on entering a city whether it's undefended or I captured it. Why must I take one more turn to click the button confirming that I want to enter the city. It seems that moving your unit to the city should automatically enter the city if no one is there or you've captured it. If the idea is to simulate another month to complete the move into the city, it would be nice for it to default to entering the city after that month passes if you don't move the unit.
Why? Entering the city means you could be sieged during next turn. You could prefer stay out to fight in defense. That's why I think it's better not to enter automatically. Two questions:
1. Does the enter the city button work when moving into an enemy controlled region when the city is undefended?
2. Does every unit located in a region alway know if the city in the same region is undefended or can this be prevented by FOW?
ah a burst of suggestions -- we would like to add all that make senses (the one for shortcuts and such are very legitimate) but alas we are very short in time, and must make choices. For example I have worked on the AI for the upcoming 1.06.
Gresbeck is right, you don't want to enter each time into a friendly structure, as this can lead you to not react to passing enemies troops, or worst being besieged! This is why a special order exists.
Specifically:
1. yes the button will works.
2. yes they will know. The hide value of each units in a region with a city is limited to 1, so you will spot everyone, even indians. The only exception are lone commanders and units in passive postures: they can (possibly) remain hiddens, but on the other hand they can't interract with you or prevent the capture of the city...
-- we would like to add all that make senses (the one for shortcuts and such are very legitimate) but alas we are very short in time, and must make choices. For example I have worked on the AI for the upcoming 1.06.Gresbeck is right, you don't want to enter each time into a friendly structure, as this can lead you to not react to passing enemies troops, or worst being besieged! This is why a special order exists.
Specifically:
1. yes the button will works.
2. yes they will know. The hide value of each units in a region with a city is limited to 1, so you will spot everyone, even indians. The only exception are lone commanders and units in passive postures: they can (possibly) remain hiddens, but on the other hand they can't interract with you or prevent the capture of the city...
Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law."
1. Can't the enemy take the city away from you if you don't enter and they show up in the same province?
2. Are you still able to access supplies of the city without entering?
3. Are you more secure during the winter by entering or simply setting the unit on the city is good enough without officially entering?
2. Are you still able to access supplies of the city without entering?
3. Are you more secure during the winter by entering or simply setting the unit on the city is good enough without officially entering?
1. unless you are in passive posture, no they can't
2. yes, supplies can even given to adjacent regions if needed.
3. its doesn't change, if you are in a region with a friendly city, depot, fort, then you are protected from winter.
2. yes, supplies can even given to adjacent regions if needed.
3. its doesn't change, if you are in a region with a friendly city, depot, fort, then you are protected from winter.
Hofstadter's Law: "It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter's law."
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