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KaleRaven

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Posts posted by KaleRaven

  1. FYI what they called a "12lb Light Gun" is a Napoleon-type gun, not a 'howitzer'. Napoleons were preferred over the 12lb howitzer whenever available. I find the 12 lb howitzer to be noticeably more effective than the 6lb field gun at close range. Neither gun is effective beyond a few hundred yards anyway, so the 6 lb gun's advantage there is of marginal utility.

  2. You have plenty of spare rep, you should be using it on guns, IMO. However, you could probably still win the battle because the Union only starts with a small portion of their strength. And positioning matters more than numbers. Its easy to outflank the Union on this map.

    As far as army composition goes, you really spent a lot of money on support units. Expensive LeMats and Spencers don't do a lot of good if you don't have enough infantry to hold the enemy in place. I find that for melee cav, you might as well just stick with Palmetto/Sabre all the way because it has a higher melee value than anything other than LeMats, for a fraction of the price. There are unconventional strategies with lots of cav, but generally speaking the vast majority of your force should be infantry.

    • Like 2
  3. 39 minutes ago, Aetius said:

    In my experience, this is indeed what it does and it seems to work. The main problem with it is that it doesn't allow the unit to turn, and thus makes them very vulnerable to flank attacks - they will just sit there and take it until they break. I believe, however, that if the unit is engaged in melee the Hold will be broken.

    Not allowing units to turn is a necessary part of its functioning to maintain a continuous line. Otherwise say the enemy charges a neighboring brigade. If the brigade wheels to attack it, it will expose its flank to the enemy it was facing.

  4. On 12/30/2016 at 2:25 PM, sonnypemberton said:

    it would be soooo nice to have a modding tool so that others could pitch in with battles too....

    I'm hoping that's coming later on as part of the "Custom Battles" function. Workshop integration would make this game a monster.

  5. 1 hour ago, Hitorishizuka said:

    I am not 100% certain because I've never seen it from the Union side but I don't think you can spawn camp them because Longstreet's Corps doesn't show up until the 2nd day and everyone is back into their starting positions, more or less. It would still be a joke because you can just hold that one stretch of forest that runs N-S at the center-left as well as maybe the town right there (maybe, the angle is going to be a bit weird, might be better to fall back from that) as well as rush units over to finish off the last forces of Jackson in case anyone from Longstreet just runs over there and hold the forest against them before they come.

    If you play as the Union, the Longstreet does show up mid battle, a couple hours after the Union 2nd corps enters the battle. Actually, I tried placing a division in those woods once (when I was intentionally dragging the battle out). The cover was good, but oddly Longstreet's brigades all noticeably outranged my own. It was on Hard and they were all 3 star brigades, so it may be that they all had the +10% range bonus, but it meant I took many more casualties than I would have liked.

    • Like 1
  6. I have three divisions with 3-4x infantry and 1x artillery each. The fourth division is for support and has 2x artillery, 1-2x cavalry, and 1-2x sharpshooters. For battles where you can't choose your deployments I will swap units as needed for the mission. I find this structure is very useful in large battles as it lets me quickly deploy infantry lines with artillery support.

  7. 13 hours ago, RoverGrover said:

    Thanks,

    My strategy was actually fairly similar to Kales.    I also tried taking a very forward defensive position anchored by the fencelines.  I think a lot of my problem was that when Porters Corps showed up I tried the 3-4 brigades idea that Hitorishizuka suggested, but it didn't really work.  I got pushed back easier than I'd have liked.  I still won handily if you count casualties inflicted.  But I felt as if I also took more than I really wanted.  Porter REALLY shows up with a lot of troops.  I guess considering how many I'd already slaughtered I never really thought they'd still have that many more coming to party :( 

    Agree with the arty on stone bridge.  That helped a lot.  Annoyed that they can fit like 6k guys on that bridge though.  That's a small bridge :(.

    I think maybe I'll try the suggestion of anchoring on Sharpsburg and holding a a defensive line around the town itself.  Can't hurt to try :)

    Appreciate the tips!

    When I tried defending the bridges, I got overwhelmed by just the sheer amount of manpower the Union had there. I had 2 divisions at the bridge east of the road and they still got repulsed by the amount of raw firepower and numbers that the Union had. The problem was that there wasn't much cover there except directly against the river where you can be shot from the other side. The Union also had quite a bit of artillery that was constantly shelling my exposed troops. I'll probably try it again sometime.

  8. 1 hour ago, RoverGrover said:

    Jeez KaleRaven,

     

    I thought the 125k they took against me was ridiculous.  You had to fight even more.  Any tips?  You fought a much cleaner battle than me and took a lot less casualties.  (Do agree about your fixed value assessment though.  I completely surrounded the union troops mostly even before my reinforcements arrived at 2nd BR.  Very fun :D) 

    I took a relatively forward defensive position straddling the northernmost fence fortifications. It was pretty much an east-west line along the edge of the forest. I had all my best troops and artillery in my first and second corps. I had several large artillery batteries that I put just behind the fence line. So long as you maintain a solid line and make sure your troops are in heavy cover, your line should be virtually unbreakable. Just make sure you identify where the AI is focusing their attack and have extra brigades there to fend off charges. 

    When the second phase starts, I rush north a division from the Sunken Road. You will want to refuse the flank a bit and some of your troops will end up in the open. Just try to ensure the troops in cover take the brunt of the fire. It can be a good idea to rotate out brigades if they get tired or low on ammo.

    The most challenging part of the battle is when Burnside attacks from across the river. You must fall back in a orderly manner or you will get flanked badly. I detach skirmishers and have my infantry start falling back. By now, the earlier attack waves should be quite depleted, preventing the Union from putting too much pressure on your retreating troops. At this time, I move pretty much all my artillery to below the Sunken Road. My new battle line is an angle anchored by the three objectives. Sharpsville offers great cover and so is an ideal place to anchor your line.

    The hardest fighting will be at the salient created by the Sunken Road. That's why I put all my artillery there. There will be heavy losses here and you will need extra brigades to replace retreating or exhausted troops at the Road. Ideally, you can pull a few brigades from the northern flank by this point. I use skirmishers extensively throughout the battle to flank or draw fire. Careful micromanagement of your brigades can do a lot to maximize your firepower and minimize losses. Having units fall back when being charged can be very effective. I would also use melee cav to counter charge enemy units that were engaged in melee with my own. Be sure to have the cav fall back once the enemy starts retreating though. 

  9. Buildings and forest should give a penalty to firepower as a tradeoff for cover. The advantage of actual prepared fortifications is that they provide cover while still allowing troops to fire effectively. Whereas dense forests or urban areas should make it difficult for units to concentrate fire without sacrificing their cover. 

    • Like 2
  10. 2 minutes ago, vren55 said:

    Dangit I want to see Fredericksburg sooooo badly... I want to unleash my Union Army onto the CSA.

    I srsly have no idea how you pulled a 132000 army. I replayed Union, throwing nearly everything into army organization and politics (I currently have 8-9 points for both), and had a 70,000 man army that took 24,000 casulaties... which is good, b/c the confederates took 28K out of 46K, but to get to an army of 132,000????? Just... hooooow?

    Also, I don't mind the scaling in the game either, I'm just confused as to how you managed 132k...

    Did you take medicine? I think it's one of the best skills to take. Each soldier saved through medicine is essentially a free weapon and a free veteran. For the bigger battles, it's a huge boon.

  11. On the career page, you have the title "General-in-Chief". In theory this would mean that you are in overall command of all armies and military strategy for your side. However, the actual gameplay suggests you are in charge of a single army. Save for a few exceptions, that would be the Army of the Potomac/Army of Northern Virginia respectively.

  12. 9 minutes ago, Hitorishizuka said:

    Or you can just use small Veterans only and never need Logistics. You brought 15k more men than me and the AI picked up 40k in return. Kind of annoyingly pointless, no?

    I'm guessing the difference is bigger partially because I was playing on hard. In a prior hard campaign, when I brought 53k and the AI had 112k.

    I don't mind at all, honestly. It was a fun challenging battle that had me restart and try different strategies a couple times. If the AI value was fixed at something like 90k, it would have been a cakewalk and I likely would have encircled and crushed the Union army. For comparison, on 2nd Bull Run, the Union took 34k casualties while I only took 4.8k.

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