Akmatov

Sears may well be wonderful, but at this point I'm interested in a broad history of the entire war.

How can one be especially out of date writing about a conflict after 100 years vs now? I would think almost all the facts would have been available after 100 years, though of course historians do tend to have fads of interpretation.

Actually the force behind the end of the international slave trade was Britain and the RN AntiSlave patrols. Which I might add cost the lives of thousands British sailors due to disease.

I for one think this is a great idea. Very much look forward to this mod!

Brilliant! Completely missed that. However, the $5 hardback unabridged collection of all three volumes cost 1/2 to 1/3 to price of ONE of the three volumes. I HATE the price gouging of publishers on ebooks. Not knowledgeable, but the production, personal costs,shipment and storage of physical books has to amount to at least 50% - 70% of the charged price and this reduction in cost should be reflected in price charged. eBooks often handle table, charts and maps poorly, but the fact that some epublishers can do it well suggest a lot don't bother to get it right - one publisher admits maps just don't work for them and make them available off their webpage. Rant over and thx for the advice.

Thx for the helpful info. However, I must totally disagree about the usefulness of the TAB+Zoom method of terrain analysis, I find it almost useless. It relys on the artist's depiction of elevation by areas of brightness and darkness which doesn't seem to be have been intended for displaying terrain. Perhaps I've used military maps with elevation contour lines too much and have become spoiled, but I consider the current UGCW system a major Fail and handicap. It isn't realistic as no artistic map provide the kind of elevation information the eye will instantly see in reality, hence the need for contour lines. This is a major Fail and it handicaps the Player, since it has already been done right, hopefully it will be patched.

Thx for the info. I knew a lot of the US awards were made many years later, hadn't realized is was so dramatically later. Nor had I known that the Confederate awards, likewise awarded many years later, were not from the Confederate government. New data is always welcome.

I think most forums have such sad ppl occasionally.

Just too too interesting and so I bought a copy tonight. 1. How can one see elevation and field of view of units? The M key Elevation in UGG is invaluable and totally necessary. The maps are pretty, but they are fairly useless for a useful coup d'oeil without the elevation lines. The are essential. Surely I'm just missing something. 2.Can you aim and initiate artillery fire or just point it in the right general direction and hope it fires on your desired target. The choice of which munitions to fire in UGG was nice also. Seems to be missing in UGCW. 3. Firing Arcs on the map are vastly too thin and faint. At the Stone Bridge in First Manassas on pause and looking hard I could make out one corner and a tiny bit on both sides. Needs a Patch. 4. Would be nice if the red arrows showing movement orders stayed on the map as in UGG. 5. Is there any way to rally a routing unit? 6. The Tab Map Modes are not helpful, quite subtle differences and only usable at max magnification. Really really need the return of the Elevation lines on the map. 7. Would be nice if significant terrain feature weres identified on the map. For some of us this is an exercise in revisiting CW battles and not just a game, adding some identifiers would be very nice and atmospheric. And yes I can pore over a map and study the screen to figure out where the Henry House is located, but I shouldn't have to. 8. Does moving along roads provide a benefit in speed? 9. And BTW in the Campaign Character Development Questions the comment "After the war I . . . " is really odd. For any American from 1861 to sometimes today any reference to the War is a reference to the "Late Unpleasantness" from 1861-1865. To be correct you should change that to "After the Mexican War I . . ." Great simulation and going to be a huge time sink.

OK, just bought UCCW, just too interesting. However, resolution problem. At monitor native 2560x1440 text is so tiny I have to wear reading glasses and scrunch to within 12" of the screen to read the text. At what seems the next best choice, 1920x1200 graphics look nice, but text is headache inducing fuzzy. Guys, this really needs a patch.

UG Napoleon and UG Frederick would be awesome. Though I'd wish for campaigns more open to changes.

Is there a list of the smaller engagements somewhere?

I assume you mean Lee's Lieutenants?

I actually have Foote stashed in a box somewhere in the wilderness that is my garage. But have been reading the generously large sample of his first book from Amazon on my Kindle and am really liking his prose and information. But ofc serious historical study requires footnotes and other such apparatus. Irritating. Thx for pointing that out. Given that Foote also wrote novels I wonder if Foote wasn't a storyteller, which is in large part what a historian is, rather than a picker of nites. Doesn't mean his facts are not correct, just that he chose to focus on the story itself. Canton is not available for Kindle, a serious oversight - I'm trying to shift to digital media as much as I can as I have Far too many physical books and am considering move next year. However, I did purchase a one volume combination of Canton for a reasonable price.

Totally missed the historian you are recommending

Thx for the prompt response Hjalfnar. Just to be 100% sure, The Player basically in a 'Battle Tree' with a fixed series of battles you will fight regardless of wins or loses, ie wins and loses have no influence on territory gained or lost? Although rereading you comments it seems wins and loses might perhaps affect the route through the 'battle tree' of what your next battle/s will be? The benefit of a win is an opportunity for improvement of your army. Granted I'm rusty on my CW history but some of the battles listed are not in the Eastern Theater, so I'm guessing 'your army' is a side concept not just the Army of Northern Virginia or Army of the Potomac? Once again, rusty, but as I recall negro units played a significant role in the late war period. Even the CSA has some and planned more. At the start of the War there were sons of Negro planters who volunteered to join the Confederate Army, which kinda kicks in the head the conventional fixed history. German Unification Wars (If it include the Franco-Prussian War), Napoleonic Wars, Seven Years War and Crimean War. I suspect Seven Years War and especially Crimean War are unlikely, though both would be InstaBuys. German Unification Wars have either never been done for the computer or I've forgotten them. Would be interesting and about the same tech level, but not so sure about mass sales appeal. Napoleonic would be stellar and likely the biggest generator of sales, thus helping ensure the continuation of products from this brilliant team.! Whatever problems smarter ppl than I have with the Total War series, I like them a lot, especially modded, especially the mods Nick did back in the day. However, the UG crew seem to have created a significantly different and interesting level of command, visualization and AI. Toy Day is in a week, so I'm going to play UGG which I have and 99% sure will buy UGCW then. You information is greatly appreciated.

Browsing the forum I'm really getting itnerested. On thread in particular discussed books that were above excellent resources. This got me wondering which of the two fairly full three volume histories would be the best to start with that of Bruce Canton or Shellby Foote?

Given that the Medal of Honor was first created in 1861 - Navy and 1862 - Army, is everyone sure there were no medals issued during the CW?

Just got Gettysburg and highly interested in UCW with a couple of questions: 1. In campaign mode, can you move forward into enemy territory if you win a battle? For example, could the Confederates move on Washington if they win Bull Run I ? Can the Player choose a non-historical strategy? Can the course of history be changed or is a series of historic battles hard wired? 2. If the course of battles is hard wired, is there any benefit or penalty for winning or losing battles? 3. Is the player locked into only commanding in the field or can he affect areas such as economy, naval or diplomacy, policy decision like fielding different armament or negro troops? Are there any 'What If?" mods associated with the battles? Realistic, historical decisions that might have gone a different way and affected the battle? 4. What are you guys going to publish next? Watching your trailer for UCW was fascinating, a job really well done. You folks seem to have fielded a new level/perspective and control mechanism which marvelously blends a 'sky box' view with lots of on the ground detail if it is desired. Would really really like to see this applied to the Napoleonic period BTW I am really pleased with the large choice of purely historic battle scenarios provided. Custom battles also look very exciting. This is just great and is appreciated added value.