Some thoughts on playing this games ...

[MarkShot]

I will share a few of my thoughts. Admittedly I have only played one GC, but I did win.

You can win in two ways:

(1) On points - Points come from holding on to strategic towns and objectives each turn, and winning battles.

(2) Capitulation of the enemy - Capitulation comes about by reaching all your goals before the end of the scenario.

Destroying the enemy's ability to fight will advance you down both of the above paths. There are two means by which you can destroy his ability to fight:

(1) Weaken his units such that they are in no position to engage your units. Weakening his units comes about by:

(a) Winning battles, but not being able to corner him.

(b) Laying siege to his units and cutting off supply, but not concluding the siege.

(c) Having him lay siege to your fortifications, during the Winter months.

(d) Leaving him no place to retire during the Winter months.

(e) Removing his sources reinforcements and replacements.

(f) Capturing his supplies.

(2) Destroy his units such that he has no force with which to engage you. This comes about by:

(a) Winning a siege, such that the enemy surrenders.

(b) Conducting a successful assault such that the enemy is destroyed.

(c) Engaging the enemy in a region such that enemy has no avenue of retreat. The region should be surrounded by regions which you control (all adjacent regions) or has his back to the an impassable body of water.

Here are some strategies which you can employ.

(1) Where the enemy is weak, fight.

There are many opportunities to attack weak enemy garrisons. Do not lay siege and give him time send a relief force, but instead strike with overwhelming force and destroy the garrison. Make sure as you strike that it is not a trap. Have a retreat path and consider having a leader who is capable of retreating. You can use stealthy units to gather information about the enemy. So, these targets of opportunity should not be deep in enemy territory, but preferably within your territory or on the periphery.

(2) Where the enemy is strong, withdraw.

Do not meet strength with strength; run away, you are not looking for a fair fight. Withdraw into your territory. Behind you, you should have a network of garrisons. This should slow his pursuit and keep you safe. The deeper he moves into your territory the more vulnerable he becomes if you should choose to turn and fight a decisive battle. In his territory, he can retreat if the odds do not favor him. In your territory, he may well be trapped. Except for the extreme South, Winter generally brings a halt to operations. Thus, if you can defer battle long enough, Winter will general ring the bell calling an end to the current round.

(3) Where the enemy is of moderate stength, mass and strike a decisive blow.

When he has divided his forces and sends moderate force to engage you, rapidly bring your commanders and units together to form a powerful army. Engage him with this powerful army and destroy him. Make sure the regions around him are in your control before the battle. If a couple are not, then send a small fast force to secure them or march the main strike force through them first.

How do you know that he has divided his forces besides recon? Structures will reveal the large stacks of units within. Also, perhaps he is tied up with sieges at various locations.

Another time to strike with a decisive blow is when he chooses to lay siege to your fortifications, for it is at that moment that you can generally be sure of his location and intentions. So, enemy sieges are not necessarily bad things, they present opportunities if correctly managed.

If the enemy is foolish enough to lay siege in the Winter, then let him. He will weaken through the Winter while your forces refit in shelter. When the Spring comes, resume operations against his sickened units.

(4) Generally, keep lone units in structures. If outside of structures, they are too likely to yield territory easily to the enemy. The main purpose of doing this is to limit the enemy's mobility. He cannot march and leave your fortifications in his rear. Consider holding such positions a long key road junctures that allow rapid movement.

(5) Winter is your friend. Whenever possible, try to encourage the enemy to brave it.

(6) Use your leaders well. Don't neglect them. Forces move quicker with them. Leaders convey different bonuses. For example, a training officer with a large force will vastly improve that force over the years. Every time new militias are raised or supplies are assembled, allocate some leaders to rapidly move individual units or supplies and form new armies. In other words, have the leader collect the units. (Leaders on their own move very fast.) This is much faster than having the units move to the leaders.

(7) Defend best your built up and civilized areas. You will need these areas to recruit and to assemble armies. If you have to reliquish some control to the enemy, than let him advance and march through the wilderness. It will be very slow going for him, supplies will be limited, and their is always the risk of being caught by the Winter.

---

Well, the above are just some initial thoughts which have had after my first GC. Probably obvious to everyone who has been playing for a while now.

[Killjoy12]

Thanks. Some very useful information in there.

At a more basic level, how can you judge the force-on-force levels, and what is an appropriately-sized force to attack with, and the size of the force you are going up against?

[MarkShot]

Number of balls and color on the stack. However, it seems to count stuff like supply units when generating the display.

The mouse rollover text is good. You can see how many units and their strength.

[Donegal]

"Capitulation of the enemy - Capitulation comes about by reaching all your goals before the end of the scenario."

I think you have to mantain them until the end of the scenario,right?

[MarkShot]

I think in the GC, it is referred to as a "sudden death" victory condition.

[Pocus]

I think in the GC, it is referred to as a "sudden death" victory condition.

yes and SD rule is disabled from the British when the French arrives (they can only win by points then)

[Hobbes]

Great post Mark. How about playing a human? I'm not offering myself
as I need to try a grand campaign first and it looks like you need a strong opponent! Any tips on how you use stealthy - or sneaky units? How about the navy? How do you use them? It would be interesting to know. Was there a post about improving naval interception somewhere?

I think I'm on the verge of trying my first big campaign - but the world cup is getting in the way at the moment.

Thanks for that clarification Pocus.
Chris

[MarkShot]

Hobbes,

Well, I am really just beginning to explore the game. So, those were some early musings - just a novice really.

As it turns out, I am a beta tester for Panther Games and we finally got COTA out the door after 2.5 years. So, as soon as it went on sale, I saw my chance to finally go play a GC.

I would highly recommend the GC over the shorter scenarios. BoA really comes alive in the vast time and space of the GC. In fact, I don't know if I'll bother with the small ones anymore.

My initial thoughts on stealthy units is:

- Use them in wilderness-mountains/woods where there are no structures. They should effectively become invisible. Units in regions with structures are always visible no matter how stealthy they are.

- Use them to ambush the enemy trying to move up reinforcements.

- Use them on the periphery of your control to see what the enemy is up to.

[Hobbes]

And the Navy?

(I'm just taking notes in case we ever meet in the field - or the water )

P.S. You are probably the master of this game rather than the novice!
From your previous insightful posts I'm amazed you have just completed your first GC.
(I'm not surprised you won!)

Time to play a human I think Mark.

Also - what is COTA?

[MarkShot]

Hobbes,

I just started playing the 1775 GC from the British side; I am little past a year into the struggle. An interesting change from the American side:

- No territorial control of the high value areas.
- Largely blind due to lack of popular support; really need to use your irregulars and cav scouts to sea (also the fleet is good recon too).
- Fewer leaders and half the time, they are in no mood to follow orders.
- Ah, G_d bless his Majesty's Fleet. It makes up for some of the above in terms of mobility and fire support.

It will be interesting to see how the conflict progresses. One thing as the Americans which was tiresome was the constant disbanding of militia at the end of year making your forces evaporate and then having to round up your armies again. Perhaps, in command of the British, there will be much less of that.

At the moment, except for extra think time, I playing on all the balanced settings. After my first run through, I guess I will start tweaking to challenge level. Right now, I am just learning the basics.

I have to say to you and anyone else playing ... if you understand the mechanics and haven't done so, then go try the GCs ... they are so much fun. It is what the game was made for. The 6-12 turn scenarios in 1-2 regions is really just tutorial practice.

COTA?

It's a WWII operational gaming engine. It's one of a kind gaming engine that is a few quantum levels above anything else on the market:

- An AI that is no push over for me after five years on the inside beta testing.
- Continuous time (pasauble); no turns.
- No hexes.
- You may command at any level. So, you can balance and degree of micro/macro managing.
- Hiearchical friendly AI that you can delegate tasks to.
- A strategy game that you actually play at the strategic level. What a concept!

Here is my AAR introducing COTA:

http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=977049

[Killjoy12]

Thanks for all the tips, everyone. I plan to put them to use this weekend!

[jhdeerslayer]

Just picked up COTA myself! So many games and so little time...

Nice job on your documentation and comments on both this and COTA game!

[Killjoy12]

I agree - it's the great support of communities like this that contribute to the fun of wargaming/simulation.

[MarkShot]

Just picked up COTA myself! So many games and so little time...

Nice job on your documentation and comments on both this and COTA game!

I can only hope that one day I understand AGE well enough that I can produce a strategy guide for it a la HTTR and COTA. Right now, I am just taking shakey baby steps.

[Hobbes]

"Just picked up COTA myself! So many games and so little time..."

Isn't that the case - I have been thinking of getting a HTTR game for ages but just can't find time to fit all these great games in - it kills me!

[Killjoy12]

On the sprites, what does each ball represent, and what does the color indicate? For example, my small regiment had a single yellow ball, while a larger army had 2 green ballls?

[Pocus]

each ball represents 1 to 3 units.

The color shows average health level (decreasing order): green, yellow, orange, red EXCEPT in the supply filter mode where it represents average supply level.

[Killjoy12]

Thanks - I'm suprised that information is not in the manual (or else I just missed it).

[Pocus]

The printed manual is a bit short, its true, we regret that but it was not possible to do otherwise.

[Henry D.]

The printed manual is a bit short, its true, we regret that but it was not possible to do otherwise.

How about calling for volunteers for collecting an extensive online-manual and making it available for download once it is finished? *glances at MarkShot*

[MarkShot]

Nice try, Henry!

Seriously, I am not yet comfortable with my knowledge of the game yet. When I am and if I should have time, I may attempt an Mini-Guide style thread similar to the stuff I did for HTTR and COTA. However, I wouldn't expect that anytime soon.

[MarkShot]

Okay, I have now played the 1775 GC from both sides. I am playing it again now as the Americans.

Previously, I discussed a strategy which focuses on destroying the strength of the enemy by destroying his units in detail through destroying structure garrisons and en masse by destroying entire armies through encirclements and assaults.

Obviously, one side of the coin to crippling the enemy is via destruction, and the other side of the coin would be through prevention of strength development.

So, where does strength development come from for each side?

Americans:

(1) Annual recruitment of militias. (requires control of strategic towns)
(2) Intervention of the French. (accelerated by good performance of the Rebels)

British:

(1) Landing of expeditionary forces.

Other:

(1) Training officers improve the quality of troops.
(2) Winning battles leads to leaders and units gaining experience.

So, what strategies are suggested by the above for preventing strength development?

Americans: The British seemingly mainly receive a fixed number of expeditionary forces in the early years. This further makes an aggressive strategy of force destruction paramount for the Americans. A British unit may regain strength when not engaged or may receive replacements when under strength. But a destroyed unit is potential combat strength which is gone forever. Also, since expeditionary forces arrive over time, by aggressively destroying the British Army units, you can prevent the British from achieving a critical mass that would threaten your forces (effectively defeat them in detail). Additionally, as a byproduct, the French will step in sooner with high quality standing troops which will further help swing the struggle in your favor.

British: The Americans keep renewing their strength each year to a major degree. Of course, various regular units will also be gone forever if as stated above they are destroyed. So, the British can shut down to a major degree the renewal of American strength be achieving territorial control over strategic towns. Additionally, by maintaining a strong upper hand in the struggle, the British can defer French intervention and perhaps prevent it all together.

Notes:

(1) I am not sure what criteria the game actually measures for French Intervention if it is territorial control directly or points.

(2) Territorial control is always beneficial in terms of point accumulation especially if you cannot force the enemy to capitulate or achieve all your game objectives, since you will then be the defacto winner on points.

(3) The ideas above are not entirely my own, but are things I picked up from the developers and other beta team members. However, I thought I would add these to this thread.

[Pocus]

Some details:

Variability of the French entry:

Base chance: depends of the time period.

April/May 1778: 15%

June/July: 25%

August/September: 35%

October/November: 45%

December/January 79: 55%

After: 60% each turn.

Penalty: -15% for each Grand Region controlled by the English (ie New England, Deep South etc.). Controlled means having ALL the strategic town.

It is so theorically possible to never see the French coming.


Second point, replacements companies for the British Regulars:

The British player should nurture his regular regiments. Only them can control hostile strategic town. Beside that they are really good in battle... So the aim is to maximize the replacement he gets from mother country.

Every January, April, July and October of each year: two infantry companies.

October of each year: one artillery battery.

June of each year: one cavalry squadron.

April of each year: one warship replacement.

Now the best part...

Controlling New York gives +2 infantry companies, every January, April, July and October of each year.

Controlling Philadelphia: +1 company in January.

Controlling Dorchester: +1 company in January.

[Lonster]

Now the best part...

Controlling New York gives +2 infantry companies, every January, April, July and October of each year.

Controlling Philadelphia: +1 company in January.

Controlling Dorchester: +1 company in January.

Where is Dorchester? Which region is this in? I've looked around but seems to be missing it somewhere

thanks

[Frank E]

Where is Dorchester? Which region is this in? I've looked around but seems to be missing it somewhere

thanks

Charleston, SC.

[Pocus]

btw I edited the base replacement rate: its 2 companies every 3 months, not 1.

Anyway you see that New York is of great interest for the British.

[aryaman]

Hoi
I am playing my first PBEM game, 1775 campaign as British, we are in november 1776 and the British seems unstoppable. I started the game by attacking from Boston in the second turn, and unlike the historical outcome I achieved a crushing victory, after that I have been receiving hordes of reinforcements and overwhelming any American opposition, I am already in control of New York, Philadelphia and Albany and most of Virginia and all seems too easy, is this scenario unbalanced in British favour? I would have thought that breaking Boston siege would have been a harder task, probably the American OOB is in need of some strengthening, after all the Americans greatly outnumbered the British there.