Andre Bolkonsky

August 31, 2017

5 minutes ago, Mr. Mercanto said:

While I suppose that plagiarism is the norm at the University of Secession Bias (or USB for short), we usually tend to give a warning, then a suspension or a failing grade.

I think 1st Vermon-err "Hannibalbarca" deserves both.

A very disreputable university, the scum of the internet.

August 31, 2017

@Mr. Mercanto

I summon thee to the Stone of Erech!

Read the text above; what say you? You have seen this hand before?

How does a teacher handle plagarism?

August 28, 2017

12 hours ago, kjchan said:

I'm about to start this battle myself. Was wondering if Marye's Heights is as much as a fool's errand as it was in real life and if I should simply avoid/fix/demonstrate in front of the Rebels here.

I abhor human wave attacks. A well timed bayonet charge with a cry of Urrah! is one thing, withering fire from well entrenched enemy is another entirely. It is not necessary to waste valuable human lives needlessly. Hold the Rebels in place, nothing more. Put your effort on the far wing, and create a mobile reserve designed to break off from the southern engagement and hammer Telegraph Road from the other side. GL, HF.

August 21, 2017

My apologies for the delay. A brief vacation and back to school stuff has put it on the back burner. give me another week or so and it'll crank back up again. I appreciate the interest.

August 18, 2017

3 hours ago, kjchan said:

What size gun batteries would you recommend Andre? And i should ignore that 3rd corps for now right?

3rd Corps:

I always like having a free, empty, corps I can use as a parking lot to help me rearrange the brigades in my different corps more easily. Makes putting together custom designed OOBs for the minor battles much easier. I alternate between Politics and Organization until both are maxed out. If I only need to deploy two corps, and I have three free corps to organize my infantry, artillery, and light troops; it's fun to custom build OOBs. Later in the game when you need to start stockpiling every unit you can for the last two battles is when those last corps get locked and loaded for good.

Batteries:

@The Soldier is our resident expert on cannon. I cannot recommend his dissertation on artillery highly enough.

Quality guns want to be packed into batteries of 12 guns. Smaller batteries do ramp up XP more quickly, but 12 is a solid number.

Rifles are for range, Smoothbores are for short range cannister. Try and keep a bit o' both in your corps, and tailor it between battles based on what their assignment is going to be. 24 Pound Howitzers are more precious than gold and are exceptional up to mid range. 20 Pound Parrotts are now solid and have a very long reach. 3" Ordnance Rifles are the jack of all trades, and Napoleons excel positioned close up behind a defensive line using cannister whenever possible. Those four guns should comprise the vast majority of your veteran batteries.

There are different ways of handling secondary, cheap, beginner guns: 6-pounders, wiards, 12 pound howitzers. It goes without saying you should never pay money for them. But you're going to harvest a lot from the battlefield. If you have plenty of empty brigades you can make lots of small, cheap, FREE batteries. Or you can pack 'em into batteries of 16 and jam them up against the enemy, not caring how many casualties you take. When they get back to camp, battle scarred and with a bit of experience, upgrade their guns and give the cheap weapons to incoming, green artillerymen.

August 18, 2017

Gaines Mill and Malvern Hill are where artillery men are made. A hefty, timely, investment in quality cannon before these two battles will serve you well.

August 17, 2017

6 minutes ago, kjchan said:

Thanks Andre. Another quick question. As of right now I only have 1 "elite" corps (i.e. combat stars and rifled weapons). My 2nd corps has some battle experience but no stars and all muskets. Do you have a recommendation as to which side I should place my elite corps on Day 1?

To repeat myself, shuffle your corps and put some veteran units in that second corps. Otherwise its dealers choice, you're going to have a problem on both end of the line so better to have firemen on both sides.

August 17, 2017

8 minutes ago, kjchan said:

Thanks Andre. Another quick question. As of right now I only have 1 "elite" corps (i.e. combat stars and rifled weapons). My 2nd corps has some battle experience but no stars and all muskets. Do you have a recommendation as to which side I should place my elite corps on Day 1?

If you have the reserves, just push your corps supply up to 35K and leave it there. You'll need it more often than not.

I would shuffle your two corps a bit and at least have one veteran division in that second corps. You are going to get pressed across the entire front line, if one end breaks you're going to have trouble everywhere until you pull back to the Hornets Nest and take the road north to the Indian Mounds around Pittsburgh Landing.

August 17, 2017

Day one in Shiloh, for the North, is a fighting withdrawal. Hold your objectives as long as you need to, withdrawing to the next point out when the computer changes objectives. Make sure your artillery is limbered and moving safley behind your lines before beginning to withdraw the infantry.

Oh, big brigades. Always.

Day Two, take Buell's corps of FREE troops and just RAM them down the Rebels throats. No quarter. Destroy both Buell's corps and the Rebel armies and feast on the leftover weapons while your mobile troops do end runs and take the objectives virtually unoppossed.

August 17, 2017

11 hours ago, Meagre Heart said:

I had no idea this was a thing! I was looking at his camp screen and astonished to see he had a few brigades with only a few hundred troops each! Some less! This makes much more sense now. I can only manage to scrape together a few hundred Henry rifles in the Early/Mid CSA game, but if I mash them into a 2.5k Farmer unit I could really make some magic happen. I've never used the feature before as my only experience with a 'Unit Combining' mechanic is from the Total War games, which deletes one unit to reinforce the other.

Thank you for explaining what was going on. An exploit like that would sap the fun away for me since it somewhat reduces the excitement of having some units with fancy rifles and others being fodder out of necessity, but I'd be lying if I told you I'm not going to try it out at least once!

Divisional Brigades used to be very popular. They were nerfed several patches back and are not nearly as effective as they have been in the past. And they are very high maintainence, you can't really build them unless you want to spend a good chunk of the early game managing the micro to put them together.

But, this gives me a chance to revisit my favorite UG:CW moment ever: A 2,700 man divisional brigade toting Spencer Rifles in the Devil's Den at Gettysburg. They ruled the day, breaking entire divisions that tried to cross the stream. And when the Rebels brought up artillery to blast us out of the rocks, they scampered up the hill and continued their devestation from above.

August 16, 2017

On 8/13/2017 at 1:02 PM, Fred Sanford said:

Artillerymen are people, too!

@Major Grigg appreciates your validation of his humanity.

August 16, 2017

On 8/10/2017 at 0:01 PM, Hitorishizuka said:

I'm just laughing about yet more attempted buffs to the James and 20pdr Parrotts. Soldier, I'll leave this one to you to test, maybe they'll finally be worthwhile.

20 Pound Parrotts have become killers. I have documented 1,000 man kills in one battle since the last buff

August 15, 2017

2 hours ago, Albert Sidney Johnston said:

Each division signifies a different state, and each brigade is named accordingly. IE my first division always represents Texas, so the brigades in it are the 1st Texas, 2nd Texas, 3rd Texas etc...

The exception to this is cavalry and skirmisher brigades. Sometimes they'll be named after the state (IE The Knights of Alabama) but sometimes they're named after their commander (Drake's Cavaliers, Dole's Sharpshooters, etc...)

I like it because it adds a sense of order, without ruining the immersion.

I'm stealing the State Division naming convention for my back end corps. It would be an excellent way to keep track of Green divisions.

August 13, 2017

You are 100% correct in this evaluation of era batteries and brigades regarding mixed arms.

However, I can tell you with some certainty it's not going to change in this game for a wide variety of reasons.

Sorry.

August 11, 2017

Soldier,

I am reading your guide and got through Wiards.

Seriously, very impressive the amount of work and research you put into this.

Well done, sir!

Edit: 3" Rifles. Fist bump.

August 11, 2017

On 8/8/2017 at 11:37 PM, Edward Ferrero Rocher said:

Hello generals!

Forgive me if this has been covered before, been playing the game since EA but new to the forums. Am I missing something, or is politics flatly better than medicine, economy and training? It's a 2.5% bonus to both gold and recruits, where the others are a 2.5% discount for something specific. The discount and the bonus are basically equivalent, except you can use the bonus gold for whatever you want, plus you get manpower.

Medicine isn't exactly a discount, but 2.5% recovered casualties is equivalent to a 2.5% discount on veteran replacement. The cost comes out the same, but training is a little better because it also discounts new vet recruits past your casualty figures.

A discount is slightly better than a bonus to income, but the difference is so small that it's vastly outweighed by the flexibility of politics and the fact that it also gets you recruits. Numbers for an example:

$10,000 income

22.5 base cost per vet for a one star unit (idk if other things factor into vet cost)

= 444.4 vets

With 4 points politics:

11,000 income

22.5 cost

= 488.9 vets

4 points training:

10,000 income

20.25 cost

= 493.8 vets

The difference is tiny, and politics gets you flexibility and manpower as well. So it seems like the economic choices for career points make sense in this order:

Politics

Economy (discounts every man, but real value depends on political points spending and number of captured guns. Too lazy to run the numbers right now)

Training (only discounts vet replacements while Econ. theoretically discounts everyone. But captured/recovered guns + politics points may even this out or make training better than econ)

Medicine (At first I though makes some sense as CSA because of manpower crunch, but manpower bonus from politics cancels it out)

IMO it would make more sense if the three non-politics options had a higher discount, so you would have to choose between specialization and flexibility. As it is though, it looks like politics is strictly better until you max it out.

Good question.

Traditionally, I figure cheap men and cheap weapons are the only thing available for the first year of the war. So POLITICS and ORGANIZATION are the first two to leverage up to 10.

After that, TRAINING gives you a nice large army of vets, and MEDICINE gives you back a nice percentage of expensive veterans and their quality weapons each battle.

Then I worry about LOGISTICS and ECONOMY in equal measure.

August 10, 2017

On 8/7/2017 at 7:47 PM, Meagre Heart said:

Since getting Forrest in the Confederate campaign I had only paltry success with him on horseback, but as soon as I dismounted him and put him into some cover he started tearing through the Union! I immediately added two cards of cavalry to each of my Corps to give provide more options.

A few questions:

Cavalry gets a bonus to morale damage, does this apply even when dismounted?

Skirmishers seem to get a bonus to standing in cover, and in some cases benefit more from fortifications than regular infantry. Does this also apply to dismounted cav?

If I've selected Cavalry as the second tier general upgrade do those bonuses apply to both mounted and dismounted?

Mobility is still a beautiful thing. The real value of cav is their ability to MOVE, quickly. I find their greatest value is out on the flank, in the saddle, helping turn an enemy line. But thereis definitely more than one way to skin a cat, and I look forward to seeing what you find out. Let us know.

August 10, 2017

26 minutes ago, HansGruber said:

What the hell are you saying? Sit there and distract? If you used skirmisher cavalry to shoot at the front then they are dead anyway. They are used for mobility to get good ground or shoot from the flanks. At that point even the Enfields can do great (much more with the very accurate Frank Wesson). The point is there are carbines that have good range that you don't need to go too near all the time. The fact that you have an assumption that they will be standing their ground and go muzzle to muzzle is a bit funny. You probably have that habit.

lol I'm done.

Hans, your points are well taken.

But, with all due respect, Hiro is like the original cavalry master of this game. one of the first posts I ever read when I joined this forum was his dissertation on shock cavalry way back when. He's been around a long time.

How much he has played recently, I can't say. There was a time when Shock Cavalry reigned supreme and Dragoons were expensive recon units because they were good for nothing else. Cavalry changed dramatically over development. But he usually has a reason for saying what he says.

August 9, 2017

My gift to you, and anyone else who wants them. They're the hard copy of the build on the AAR I was doing. Well tested beginning to the Union Campaign.

The prestige points are probably correct, but given the last tweak to the game might need to be revisited.

To make it easy, you can download the files at the bottom of the graph

August 9, 2017

11 hours ago, Albert Sidney Johnston said:

Thanks so much, guys! Well, I suppose I'm off to accept commission of Union forces at the Battle of Philippi. I'll drive those rebels clear back to Richmond!

Start Campaign:		Tactics Cavalry Business	4 Recce 3 Politics 1 Org 1 Econ 1 Logistics
Phillipi (Train Station)	Assault	INITIAL OOB: Woods / Scales 2x 6 gun bde Loomis / Walton 850 / 840 man infantry	+1 Org (2)	+ 4 = 28 -4 Palmettos 24 points
Distress Call	Meeting	1 corps of 8 Bde	+1 Org (3)	+ 4 -4 Gibbons 24 points
BULL RUN	MAJOR Assault	1 Corps of 10 Bdes Assault	+2 Politics (5)	+10 (34)
Crossroads	Defense	1 Corps of 9 Bdes	+1 ORG (4) 2000 man Bde	+4 (38) -6 - 4x 24 PDR 32
River Crossing	Assault	1 Corps of 12 Bdes	+1 Politics (6)	+4 (36) -4 Sherman (32)
SHILOH	MAJOR Defense	2 Corps 0f 20 Bdes	+2 Politics (8)	+10 (42)
7 Pines	Defense	1 Corps of 6 Bdes	+1 Politics (9)	+4 (46)
Rendevous	Meeting	1 Corps of 8 Bdes	+1 ORG +1 (5)	+4 (50)
Secure River	Assault	1 Corps of 12 Bdes	+1 ORG +1 (6)	+4 (54)
GAINES MILL	MAJOR Defense	1 Corps of 20 Bdes 1 Corps of 10 Bdes	(+2) +1 Politics (10) +1 ORG (7)	+15 (69)
MALVERN HILL	MAJOR Defense	2x Corps of 15 Bdes each	(+2) Medicine (2)	+15 (84)
Kettle Run	Attack	7 Bdes	+1 Medicine (3)	+4 (88)
Thoroughfare Gap	Defense	10 Bdes	+1 ORG (8)	+4 (92) -6 Reynolds -6 20Parrott (80)
2nd BULL RUN	Attack	Max of Four Corps 2 Primary x 20 Bde each 2 Second x 20 Bde each	+2 Medicine (5)	+20 (100) -6 Meade (94)
Crampton's Gap	Attack	9 Bdes	+1 ORG (9)	+4 (98) -4 Burnside (94)
South Mountain	Attack	20 Bdes	+1 ORG (10) Cap	+4 (98) -18 Rifles -7 Cannon (73)
ANTIETAM	Attack	5 Corps of 20 Bde each	+2 Medicine (7)	+25 (98) -6 Patrick Kelly (92)
iuka	Attack	10 Bdes	+1 Medicine (8)	+5 (97) -6 Carroll (91)
Perryville	Defend	14 Bdes	+1 Medicine (9)	+5 (96) -20 1861 -15 Parrotts (61)
FREDERICKSBURG	Attack	5 Corps of 24 Bde Each 3 Primary 2 Reserve	+2 Medicine (10) Cap Training (1)	+30 (91)
Parkers Crossroad	Defend	10 Bdes	+1 Train (2)	+5 (96) - 10 Rosencran -5 Sheridan (81)
STONES RIVER	Defend	3 Corps of 20 Bdes Each	+2 Train (4)	+20 (101) (100) - 20 1861 (80)
Supply Raid		FREE CAVALRY	+1 Train (5)	+5 (85)
Nanesmond River	Attack	14 Bdes	+1 Train (6)	+5 (90)
Siege of Suffolk	Defend	18 Bdes	+1 Train (7)	+5 (95) -20 Parrott -15 Carbines (60)
CHANCELLORSVILLE + Salem Church	Attack	3 Corps @ 25 Bdes 1 Corps @ 15 Bdes	+3 Train (10)	+38 (98) BONUS!! -10 Sickles (88)
2nd Winchester	Defend	13 Bdes	+1 Economy	+5 (93) -20 Spencer -5 Stannard (68)
GETTYSBURG	Defend	3 Corps @ 25 Bdes	+2 Logistics	+30 (98)

AAR Union Campaign Table.docx

Union Battle Deployment Tables.docx

August 8, 2017

2 hours ago, Albert Sidney Johnston said:

I finished my latest campaign the other day on Major General difficulty. I have a tough decision now.

I haven't played Legendary since before the fixed army feature. I haven't played as a bluejacket since, like, Chancellorsville came out.

So should I start a legendary CSA campaign? Or should I turn in my grey coat for a blue one, and try to crush the Rebellion? What are the main differences between the Union campaign and the CSA campaign? Is it more fun, less fun? Which do you guys prefer?

Congrats on playing out the campaign!

Blue Coats.

I love the South, but the North is fun to play.

August 7, 2017

12 hours ago, alucardpg said:

I have two quick questions about capturing units.

1. Is 1000 the maximum number of recruits you can get from capturing units? What I mean is this; during a battle I captured over 2000 enemy troops, but I only got 1000 troops from the prisoner exchange at the end of the battle. Is this a glitch or is 1000 that maximum?

2. I know this has been asked before, but I have not seen the thread since the new patch about this question. Is capturing units random or is there some method? Sometimes a unit will charge me and it will surrender without me counter-charging it. On the other hand, I will have 5 cavalry units running down a routed infantry unit, and the unit won't surrender, they just shatter (removed from the game). It seems like the best way to get them to surrender is to trap them against a river then charge. Is there a formula or is it just luck? What do you guys do?

Thanks.

1. Captured troops are capped at 1,000, this happened very early in development when Rebel's were adding 5-6,000 in manpower after every major battle.

2. There is a formula for surrendered troops, based on when they are surrounded or in danger of being wiped out totally they will surrender. A lot of it has to do with morale, but the only two people who know the exact formula are Sterner and Dartis. What do I do? Keep killing them till they break, shatter or surrender.

August 6, 2017

5 hours ago, HansGruber said:

(it's not easy to program a good [AI Player] anyway)

I agree with you completely.

I do think that is one of the things Dartis does very well. I've watched the process over the past few months as the play balance swung back and forth during development, and he is pretty meticulous in wanting things to behave properly in the manner that they should. And slowly and methodically the game has become more and more 'realistic' without losing the fun. Because who cares how realistic a game is if it is not fun to play?

August 5, 2017

when someone cracks the code on editing game saves, it will be a happy day.

August 5, 2017

On 8/4/2017 at 8:15 AM, Riekopo said:

I hope the devs read posts like these and continue to improve the game if it does well enough to afford it.

Certainly, another game will follow this one. The leap from Gettysburg to Civil War was huge. I'll be interested to see what they learned from Civil War and how they'll apply it to their next game.

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