TechnoSarge

I have been plagued with designs that pass the quality check (no errors noted, no issues like "limited firing arc", etc.) when saving but which are loaded with errors when I open them again in a few game years to do a refit. I have often wondered why some ships refuse to shoot all their guns or launch their torpedoes - when I pause and zoom in close, they're not even training on the enemy! Now, I think I've figured out why. The Big Gun and Small Gun techs promise somewhat better stats on the basic weapon and infer that - abracadabra! - your fleet suddenly magically produced and installed them. If it makes any real improvement, it's hidden in the weeds, because your old reload time is now erased so there's no comparison, and of course there isn't a base accuracy listed for the weapon to begin with. But I think the Mk II, Mk III, etc. versions are bigger each time, and the diameter of the turret has to grow as well. Suddenly the guns or torps won't rotate, because there wasn't enough clearance in the design to accommodate bigger stuff. Now you have "better" weapons that won't track and/or fire! I think this is true because upon attempting a refit on one old CA (see below) the turret shapes were not what I recalled. I think the turrets were "modernized" along with the guns within. Game-Labs, I offer 2 suggestions (assuming upon investigation this is what's happening): 1. Don't automatically retrofit the fleet with new marks of weapons; save them for refits. (And make the earlier model available to put back after trying a new mark and finding it won't fit. And you know Undo will not work for you here!) 2. Or, don't change the physical look/size of the weapon, so it will always fit, if it did once. (Preferred!) Here's a CA in refit mode. Most of the ship looks to be unusable. It was fine when built.

My "fix" is to turn OFF all torpedoes at start of battle, and only enable them on a squadron making a run and only when they attain a favorable launch position. That doesn't stop the enemy commanders from shooting THEIR ships!

Has ANYONE figured out how to interpret the land weapon stats? A particular musket, Dragoon Carbine '66 for instance, might display Efficiency 0.7 - 1.1 and give a graph based on range. Then if you look at just about ANY other musket or rifle, you'll see perhaps different lsted Efficiencies... but the graphs are almost the same. In particular, they all seem to show approximately 0.75 at 150 yards (midway between the 0.6 and the 0.9 lines). When you target an enemy unit, your guys will typically walk up to the edge of their arc of fire. I have no idea what range that might be. Are you now at 250 yards, where all these guns can still reach? Or are you at 100 yds, where you might hope to be in the stated Efficiency (but it's inconsistent; that Dragoon Carbine above is still above the stated bottom of its Efficiency at 150 yds!) Is that distance the same for all weapons? Don't know. If you want increased damage, it's clear you need to move forward more, but there is no ready way to tell where a sweet spot might be. Because the graphs are so terribly similar, I rely more on Reload time, where it's a single number and smaller is better. Paradoxically, the older guns have shorter reloads in general than newer ones, so it seems pointless to buy more modern gear, except if it comes with bayonets.

Do you have any idea of why, on certain maps, you can chase the other side out of their entrenchments, but then you can't use them yourself? I've been chafed that I have to absorb counterattacks without the bonus my enemies enjoyed!

Thanks!

Pandakraut, I've been thinking about revisiting my spreadsheets on weapon effectiveness. The mouse tool tips for the weapons were changed by you to provide better information some time ago... Please tell me: 1) Are the degradation curves the same as formerly? (My impression was that you couldn't modify them.) 2) Formerly, some of the rifles were listed with ranges > 300 yds; now, only certain skirmisher weapons do. I seem to remember that the game actually limited them, although the curves showed nonzero data out further. Please clarify for me. 3) Your UI tool tips now list Short, Medium, Long, and Max "Damage Multipliers" (which I believe is same as Degradation). What are the breakpoints for these? And are cannons rated the same way?

Never knew about the exploit - and don't use it. I'll run detached skirmishers into artillery I catch unaware, but I expect skirmishers to have lousy melee numbers so I don't generally launch attacks with them. I understand the mechanic now, and I agree on the outcome.

This is counterintuitive... so is it right? The large unit engaged with 2 smaller gets a larger penalty, so should crack easier, not harder.

Update to my intentions above to run a campaign with low-experience infantry.... The campaign has been surprisingly easy! Until recently, scaling kept the other side in packages that could be handled. Limiting myself in experience means that re-equipping after a fight is not nearly so expensive. In fact, until Chickamauga (as Union) I did not spend a single point on Training! I also limited myself to 1,000 man brigades until recently. When I finish the campaign, I'll give some stats about what I saw from the AI.

Of vanilla/surrender/rebalance/UI&AI modes, I like UI&AI best, at least at present. I choose to play BG because I'm not trying to be best Ultimate General player ever - I just want to have a generally victorious time with a few close calls along the way. I do very little to exploit the AI except to raid its rear, since I like fighting in a generally period style. For my present campaign, I've hit on this to try: I'm not going to allow any infantry brigades to exceed 1-star. I'm a small-unit, skirmisher & artillery-minded guy, like PK, and I'll let them grow experience as much as possible. My cavalry generally is disposable (and if I lose a whole unit, it's always my cavalry!) Restricting my infantry's experience should really make the battles more iffy for me. I just won Shiloh as Union on Day 1 and got 15 of my 24 brigades promoted to their first star in the battle. Off and running!

PK, a general question - As you've been noodling around in perks, can you tell me if in Vanilla the Corps leaders' 2nd perk holds for ALL their troops, or just the ones specialized? There is a choice of Artillery, Infantry, and Cavalry specialties... and I've wondered since Day 1 whether they only apply to the named troops. If so, I can't imagine why anyone would ever choose other than Infantry, unless perhaps they were making a whole cavalry corps.

I'm not sure they do... but at any rate, I find myself noticing a message and reaching for it with my mouse when it goes away. [Situational Awareness!]

Pandakraut, if there is a way to extend the time messages are displayed, I'll put that on the wishlist. I am frequently frustrated by messages disappearing before I can get to them in a tense fight.

I just realized I am using UI and AI Customization mod, not the Rebalance - whoops! Posted in wrong thread!

I'm not at all sure how to build armies > 100K, at least before the final battle, from either side. I usually play BG because I play for enjoyment and being beat on for 6 hours in a major battle isn't enjoyable. I just played 2nd Bull Run (by the way, I grew up a dozen miles from that battlefield!) as CSA . I sold practically everything in my Armory before the battle that I couldn't turn into a unit, and the game reports I had ~31K infantry, 3K cavalry, 144 guns. The game lets you bring 85 brigades into that battle - for god's sake! - and I was trying to put together a big force. Wikipedia reports that the actual battle had 50K Confederates, and I only managed about 37K. I recognize that earlier decisions to train 2-star brigades cut the raw numbers, but I couldn't buy or capture weapons any faster. I just realized I am using UI and AI Customization mod, not the Rebalance - whoops! Posted in wrong thread!