after 2 days...Where I am at Learning the game

[Groove74]

Well after 2 full days of studying this game, I am more confused then ever.

Well the game has alot of really awesome Ideas and I really really want to get into the game and play out the war. But after trying several of the smaller sections I find myself feeling like this game has become a chore just to pick up and play.

The game has just seems to be way to hard to get any thing done the game just seem to be overly complicated just to feid a effective army or to defend a town.

With that being said, Please folks I don't want to come off as if I am bashing what I really see as game I really want to get to love as the rest of ya' do.
it is just after playing many other Strategy games I find this one to be fun yet very hard to enjoy.

PS I will continue to try and get the Grasp of the game.

Thanks all

[D_K]

my best advice, take a breather...try something else for a bit...then come back to it later. thats what i do.....too many games....not enough time anyways.....

this is a very realistic portrayal of the civil war....not for the feint hearted. i stiull have lots to learn as well. probably the best thing about this game though...is the constant updates and support, bar none....the best i have seen to date.

[GrudgeBringer]

Howdy,

LOL...if you look at the posts you will see about 40 posts with the name GrudgeBringer.

Read them!!

I just got the game also and have been playing for about 10 days or so and have started over 26 times on or before turn 17.

BUT...I am STARTING to get it (with the help of a BUNCH of people on here).

Try reading my posts (questions really) cause they are prob the SAME things you are asking.

Trust me if I wasn't so damn hard headed I would have thrown this game in the snow a week ago.

But it IS a really good game and once some of the things start falling in place the only thing will be the pace of the game (its slow cause of all the things you have to do).

I too played Civil War Generals 2 (online and agianst the comp). It was a GREAT game but this is a completely different so forget everything from that game.

just keep hanging in there (and if your playing CSA like I am....be prepared for a running battle the whole time!!)

[Groove74]

I do agree with you there, the fourm has been very helpfull indeed if it were not all the good advice you and others have shared with me and the strong dev support I would have gone nuts by now. I agree it is very detailed and I like that aspect. I never expected it to be this hard to learn a war game lol but I really like what I see. maybe by next year I might be able to successfully play a full game lol untill then I will keep the board busy lol

thanks all

[runyan99]

I started by playing Birth of America. At first, BoA gave me a headache with the number of regions and units, and I didn't have a deep understanding of the Revolution. However, I stuck with it and studied it. Eventually, I understood how all the pieces came together.

Today I think BoA is a snap. BoA is FAR simpler than AACW, so I can understand how AACW might overwhelm a new player. If you don't care which game you play, start with BoA. You will get used to forming army stacks and moving units around the map and fighting battles. This will teach you a lot about the mechanics of AGEOD's games. I consider BoA a good training game for AACW.

Once you have been around the block a time or two with BoA, then you are ready for AACW, which has more complicated procedures for recruitment and army organization, as well as a larger map.

If you insist on only playing AACW, the only remedy I can suggest is time. Take time to learn and understand the game bit by bit, until the whole comes into view. In some parallel universe, I could probably teach a college course on AACW, because understanding both the war and the game is not a simple matter.

[saintsup]

IMHO, there are three kinds of complexity:
1) The size of the map, number of provinces and number of units. Especially overwhelming if you are not a specialist of XIX century US geography and history. For that you can:
- play several small scenario to get a grasp of some small sub-zone
- print a custom map and stick it in front of your computer ... (by the time it was done ... I didn't need it anymore)
- consider the war as 3 - 4 sub-theater (e.g. virginia, bowling green area, colombus area and west)
- use E, R, S, Ctrl+S, T, Y
- choose a ritual for each turn and stick to it. Mine is:
[INDENT]- read the messages, click, take any evident actions[/INDENT]
[INDENT]- review the 3/4 war theaters and take actions[/INDENT]
[INDENT]- Ctrl+S, E, S, E, S, E, S, ... , T,S,T,S, ...[/INDENT]
[INDENT]- review the renforcement, financial, political options, ...[/INDENT]

2) Some rules are not very intuitive (independant stack vs corps vs armies, divisions, use of sharpshooters, baloons, hopital, ...). For that:
- read the manual and the wiki
- read the forum and ask questions

3) Some rules have a hudge impact on combat, mainly (preponderance of defense, impact of entrenchment, impact of command, impact of cohesion). For that:
- read the strategy forum
- attack only with fresh troops, well commanded and with overwhelming odds. Better is to take a position forcing your opponent to attack.

[Groove74]

Cool, ty all for the advice. after reading through what was said I have found one thing to be very true in my case I Have tried playing a offencive war and as the CSA it won't work so with that in mind I will take the advice here and take my time

thanks all

[Inside686]

I'd say that when you begin to understand the rules it is not as difficult as it seems initially. The thing is that it's a game that must be played slowly (because there's a lot of things to manage and think about) and for a short time because after a few turns you will start to be tired (but not bored).
So the spirit and the way of playing this game is radically different that, say, the one of Medieval Total War.

[Groove74]

Well seen as how, the total war it the game I play most of the time. I can say for sure you are so right. at first glance I thought it would play similar to the Total war games. but I am indeed finding that you are right.

I understand that I must go slow and set things up properly, but the thing is I find it is rough going right now as I am still trying to grsp the basics of feilding a effective army and supply support.

[Doomwalker]

Something I was thinking about as far as getting started, is playing as the Union. The Union side seems a little easier to learn on. I started by playing the long campaign as the Union. I played 3 games through there entirity, and then changed over to the CSA. I have been playing the CSA ever since, and still learning after many many months.

[Varigg]

If you should give the Union a try, take a look at my AAR for 'The Coming Fury', the 12 turn scenario that's in the demo. I tried to be very detailed for the first few turns on what I did and why. You might just try to follow it step by step for the first couple turns to get a 'feel' for the game. Don't worry, evt. it will click and you wont be able to tear yourself away from the game.

[D_K]

IMHO, there are three kinds of complexity:
1) The size of the map, number of provinces and number of units. Especially overwhelming if you are not a specialist of XIX century US geography and history. For that you can:
- play several small scenario to get a grasp of some small sub-zone
- print a custom map and stick it in front of your computer ... (by the time it was done ... I didn't need it anymore)
- consider the war as 3 - 4 sub-theater (e.g. virginia, bowling green area, colombus area and west)
- use E, R, S, Ctrl+S, T, Y
- choose a ritual for each turn and stick to it. Mine is:
[INDENT]- read the messages, click, take any evident actions[/INDENT]
[INDENT]- review the 3/4 war theaters and take actions[/INDENT]
[INDENT]- Ctrl+S, E, S, E, S, E, S, ... , T,S,T,S, ...[/INDENT]
[INDENT]- review the renforcement, financial, political options, ...[/INDENT]

2) Some rules are not very intuitive (independant stack vs corps vs armies, divisions, use of sharpshooters, baloons, hopital, ...). For that:
- read the manual and the wiki
- read the forum and ask questions

3) Some rules have a hudge impact on combat, mainly (preponderance of defense, impact of entrenchment, impact of command, impact of cohesion). For that:
- read the strategy forum
- attack only with fresh troops, well commanded and with overwhelming odds. Better is to take a position forcing your opponent to attack.

the problem I still have is #2, I think that is one everyone has, there is no real source for finding out just what each type of unit does in battles, etc. the only source is online here or the wiki, it would be nice to see a one page print out that explains just what each type of unit does and its effects/ abilities for instance. take the balloons....i still dont really know all that they do, or the different types of artillery........ would be nice to see it all printed out on a nice "unit" sheet.

[arsan]

the problem I still have is #2, I think that is one everyone has, there is no real source for finding out just what each type of unit does in battles, etc. the only source is online here or the wiki, it would be nice to see a one page print out that explains just what each type of unit does and its effects/ abilities for instance. take the balloons....i still dont really know all that they do, or the different types of artillery........ would be nice to see it all printed out on a nice "unit" sheet.

Hi!
You have this info on game, on the unit detail window (just click on anyone of the elements nato counters on the right bottom).
Now, this will tell you all the numbers and abilities of each kind of units. It wont tell you "this unit is the best for that" or "this gun i rubbish, pick another".
It's not so easy to generalize, as every unit have a lot of caracteristics and some are good for one thing, other for another things, the crappy ones are cheap or fast building... its pretty balanced.

Bear in mind that this is not like the typical strategy game when one unit is designed for countering another. The units on AACW represent historical types on units.
Use them in a reasonable and historical way and you will get the best of them most of the times.

Cheers!