Divisional Commanders

[Major Grigg]

Hello, all! Major Grigg, here. I'm a high school history teacher and army brat, hence the name and emblem. I am relatively new to the game, and brand new to the board. 

What are your opinions and ideas of having divisional commanders on the field like corps commanders? For me it would be nice to relocate them so they don't get killed so easily. 

[Wright29]

Have you done Antietam or Fredericksburg? Probably won't be singing the same tune when you have to control 60+ units, 3 supply wagons, and 3 corp commanders. 

[veji1]

It has been discussed elsewhere but having to manage individual division commanders would be a pain. What would work better probably, to help materialise them would be to have them associated with a brigade (marked with a slightly different flag for example) in their division that would get a small morale bonus. To make it slightly more dynamic without overcomplicating it, one could imagine there being a command (shortcut + button on the unit screen) allowing the player to "relocate the division commander to this unit" which would after a short delay associate the division commander with that Unit so that it benefits from the morale bonus, but of course if your division commander is associated with a brigade that get's whittled down to a pulp, there are real chances he will get killed or injured.

[Major Grigg]

5 hours ago, Wright29 said:

Have you done Antietam or Fredericksburg? Probably won't be singing the same tune when you have to control 60+ units, 3 supply wagons, and 3 corp commanders. 

I have a few times, and I agree that it would be difficult. Just a thought to keep the field organized. I just don't like it when I have all of 1st division over here and the game send a brigade to another spot on the map. 

[Major Grigg]

4 hours ago, veji1 said:

It has been discussed elsewhere but having to manage individual division commanders would be a pain. What would work better probably, to help materialise them would be to have them associated with a brigade (marked with a slightly different flag for example) in their division that would get a small morale bonus. To make it slightly more dynamic without overcomplicating it, one could imagine there being a command (shortcut + button on the unit screen) allowing the player to "relocate the division commander to this unit" which would after a short delay associate the division commander with that Unit so that it benefits from the morale bonus, but of course if your division commander is associated with a brigade that get's whittled down to a pulp, there are real chances he will get killed or injured.

That is a good idea. It's just troublesome when you send a division into battle and half way through you lose a Major General and you can really tell how or where.

[Andre Bolkonsky]

9 hours ago, Major Grigg said:

I have a few times, and I agree that it would be difficult. Just a thought to keep the field organized. I just don't like it when I have all of 1st division over here and the game send a brigade to another spot on the map. 

What we are lobbying for at this point, and have been for a while, are color coded symbols to indicate which division and corps a particular brigade  belongs to. 

The last thing we, I, want is another commander I can forget to prolong and keep in the line of battle. 

[Hansolo88]

I agree that we don't want another commander unit to manage, but there has to be some way to make Division commanders more meaningful.  They were some pretty colorful and important characters historically, and quite a few also were killed or wounded in combat.  In the game they do almost nothing, and the divisional organization has no real meaning in actual gameplay terms apart from the command stats.  The division commanders also don't get any interesting perks/bonuses.

My personal recommendation would be the ability to assign the division commander to one of the brigades in his division.  Then that brigade plus every other brigade in the same division within a certain radius would get some minor buff(s).  You could have a small pennant or something to indicate which brigade the division commander was with, and maybe you could re-assign them during the battle within a short distance or with a certain time delay.  They could also be killed/wounded if their brigade took casualties, though maybe with less chance than the brigade commander.  It would make the division commanders present on the battlefield and give more meaning to the division organization, while at the same time not adding another unit to be managed.

I also agree it would be really great if somehow the corps/division identify of brigades was more visible.

Edited April 5, 2017 by Hansolo88

[A. P. Hill]

For those of you who 'question' the use of individual Division/Brigade commanders and having to micromanage them ...  keep an eye on the AI and how it uses mounted command entities.

Now I know in many of my battles, I don't have enough mounted officer corps to go riding around instilling bravery and boosting egos and confidence in my troops.  If I had a mounted officer's corps for each brigade it could be a blessing.

 

[Fred Sanford]

1 hour ago, Hansolo88 said:

I agree that we don't want another commander unit to manage, but there has to be some way to make Division commanders more meaningful.  They were some pretty colorful and important characters historically, and quite a few also were killed or wounded in combat.  In the game they do almost nothing, and the divisional organization has no real meaning in actual gameplay terms apart from the command stats.  The division commanders also don't get any interesting perks/bonuses.

My personal recommendation would be the ability to assign the division commander to one of the brigades in his division.  Then that brigade plus every other brigade in the same division within a certain radius would get some minor buff(s).  You could have a small pennant or something to indicate which brigade the division commander was with, and maybe you could re-assign them during the battle within a short distance or with a certain time delay.  They could also be killed/wounded if their brigade took casualties, though maybe with less chance than the brigade commander.  It would make the division commanders present on the battlefield and give more meaning to the division organization, while at the same time not adding another unit to be managed.

I also agree it would be really great if somehow the corps/division identify of brigades was more visible.

My big wish list thing for Div commanders would be a 'linking' or 'follow' mechanism.  Say you move the brigade the Div commander is in down the road, the rest of the division follows in column.  When his brigade deploys into line, the others deploy in line with it.  You could fight a large battle much easier at the division level this way.

[The Soldier]

@A. P. Hill

I don't care what the AI does, I'm a human and I can't control up to 20 tiny Corps Commanders. The only way I could see Divisional commanders as independent, movable pieces are if they implemented a "Follow" ability.  Not nessesarily what @Fred Sanford suggested, though - instead of the units following the Divisional Commander, the Divisional Commander follows the units.  If you've ever played Company of Heroes and see the British, you'll know the Lieutenant and the Captain have abilities that make them follow an infantry squad at a safe distance.  That would be a godsend in general for managing all aura-based units, Divisional and Corps Commanders alike.

[Andre Bolkonsky]

5 hours ago, The Soldier said:

@A. P. Hill

I don't care what the AI does, I'm a human and I can't control up to 20 tiny Corps Commanders. The only way I could see Divisional commanders as independent, movable pieces are if they implemented a "Follow" ability.  Not nessesarily what @Fred Sanford suggested, though - instead of the units following the Divisional Commander, the Divisional Commander follows the units.  If you've ever played Company of Heroes and see the British, you'll know the Lieutenant and the Captain have abilities that make them follow an infantry squad at a safe distance.  That would be a godsend in general for managing all aura-based units, Divisional and Corps Commanders alike.

Assign a corps commander to follow a unit? Yes, please.

I want this every time I scroll out of a major conflict and see my corps general a good gallop in the rear because his horse got spooked and ran away without telling me. 

More commanders on the battlefield? No, thank you. 

Give divisional commanders their 'trait' and appy it to their personal division? Yes!!!! Why doesn't this happen now?