There's been some excellent advice for new players posted but much of it centered around the actual game play and fighting each battle. I have some tips to share when it comes to building your army and maintaining it in the camp.
In the heat of battle there's a lot going on - especially in those huge maps that come later in the conflict. Knowing who is who, where they are, what skills they have is vital, but nothing disrupts a game like constantly pushing pause to inspect a unit. This is were the features made available in the camp really come to your aid - use them and you will have an edge in battle.
1. You have the ability to customize the name of a unit. I keep the default name but append the range of the equipped weapon. So a unit equipped with a basic Springfield led by Devin, would be named "Devin 250". A unit led by Gordon with weapon ranged at 320 would be "Gordan 320". In battle I can see at a glance the range of each unit and position them for maximum effect.
2. As a unit grows in experience we get to upgrade their attributes. The second level of skill upgrades has two key options effecting firearms. Increased fire rate (reduced accuracy), or increased accuracy (reduced fire rate). I tend to give the accuracy bonus to those units with long range weapons, and the fast fire rate to those with shorter range weapons. I then denote this in the units name by adding an "A" or an "F" to the units name - so "Devin 250" becomes "Devin 250F", and "Gordon 320" becomes "Gordon 320A"
3. When structuring your divisions you want a good blend of units - I try and aim for 2 fast firing units, and 2 long range units, plus one artillery. The long range units hold the line, and the fast firing units hit the flanks.
4. When limited numbers of men are available it's not always about fewer maxed out brigades. 4 Brigades with 1000 men each is often better than 2 brigades of 2000 as you have more maneuver options on the field and the ability to combine into a larger brigade during battle if required.
5. Cavalry - always have a few cavalry - I try and keep an even number of melee and mounted infantry on hand. The mounted infantry are fantastic to rush to a weak point for quick reinforcement, or exploitation of a routing enemy brigade.
6. Corps - always purchase an extra corp slot! When a corp is maxed out, you can no longer restructure it by dragging brigades around. Keeping a 'spare' corp that is not fully occupied allows you to constantly restructure and rebalance the corps you actually take to the field. If you're about to engage in a defensive fight you probably don't want the cavalry - move them to the spare corp and drag in artillery in their place. If you're attacking you may want less slow moving artillery so move them to the spare corp and bring in the cavalry. I'm constantly restructuring my corp for each battle. When you're faced with one of the small skirmish fights you'll often be limited to 10 brigades. Pick the 10 you know you want and move all the others to the spare corp, this way you are guaranteed to get the units you want on the field, when you want them.
7. Stamina and Efficiency compared to Morale and Efficiency - the first upgrade for a unit. I try and balance this upgrade out so my 2nd corp has the highest stamina possible, while the primary corp has the highest morale. That first corp is gonna be fighting longer, and they need the morale. The 2nd corp is often coming in half way through a fight with a ton of ground to cover before they become useful. You want those boys running! Higher stamina units can run for longer - so keep that in mind when applying upgrades. If you have a blend of cannon - give those light 6lb and 12lb howitzers to the 2nd corp - they move quicker. Keep the heavy 10lb, 12lb, 24lb for the primary corp - they need the devastating fire they produce and are less likely to be moving much in the opening minutes of battle.
8. Leaders - it's easy to lose sight of your leaders and click through the camp quickly after replenishing men. This is a mistake. Take a look at the efficiency rating of a unit. You may have started with a 1000 strong brigade, and boosted it to 2500 men, and failed to notice the efficiency dropped into the red, because the major leading it just isn't up to the task of leading a brigade that big. Reassign leaders. It's always worth keeping an unused major or captain in the barracks for this. If you have a 2 star general leading a unit and feel he may be better placed elsewhere, assign the spare captain or major, to move the general to the barracks, you can now assign him to the unit you want him for. This works well with that spare corp I mentioned earlier. You can populate that with units you don't need in the upcoming fight and low quality leaders, keeping your battle units well led. This is invaluable when you're running low on money and can't afford a new general - buy a captain, and transfer the general from a unit you're not taking into battle.
I hope you found this useful. Remember the battle is won on the field - but good decisions made in camp can make all the difference to the quality of the units on the field.
Ultimate General - Civil War, is without doubt my favorite game. I hope the developers go on to make a Napoleonic version - the Peninsula Campaign would be awesome! Good luck Generals and thanks for reading!
