pandakraut

February 5, 2023

duplicate, apparently we can't delete posts anymore

February 4, 2023

23 hours ago, dixiePig said:

The overhead is that I must exit the game in order to update the config files to new levels; UGCW does not recognize the new configFile unit limits without a re-start. But, that's no biggie. This process allows me to set the ARTY and CAV to somewhat historical levels, without too much extra work. And, it's easily customizable.

I don't do this with all values, but some get read from the files when you move from the campaign map to the corps deploy screen. Give that a try and then go back into camp and see if it works without restarting the game.

23 hours ago, dixiePig said:

PK: That takes care of most of my wishList. Any other kluges that might allow me to invoke 6-unit Divisions again would still be appreciated. Thanks again.

Disabling building certain unit types by AO would require a code change in the dll. Could also just set the max size to 0 I guess, not sure if you'd run into bugs with that though.

6-unit divisions requires hex editing, see my post a few days ago for details.

February 3, 2023

On 2/1/2023 at 10:04 AM, Rubinfan said:

I ended up with my infantry being between 2 and 3k depending on funds and weapon availability. I have 3 units of 3000 men that are the largest. Tried to load again and tried clicking in and out of the battle map. 170k was probably a one-time extreme, but mostly I get an enemy size of 161-164k for my 44,5k. Tried to disband my army and form 850-men brigades, then I get 130k+ vs the same 40k+.

I admit that my brigade swelling went out of hand, because there were battles where I managed to win strictly because some of my brigades were large. It makes the the AI less charge-happy and even if it charges - they don't fold as quickly as standard 1500-men brigades. Also there were battles like Cross Keys where I was outnumbered on the intelligence screen but managed to field a comparable force via adding men to my 1500-men brigades and forming some 850 men dummy units in the second Corps. Still took me 10+ restarts to win.

Antietam is one of those battles where the AI usually has lots of small brigades. This is the kind of battle where the average size scaling can really hurt as it will have more impact than battles where the AI normally has fewer larger units. It's good to hear that in some battles your approach is working well though, trade offs for different army setups is usually a good thing even if there are still spikes that need to get smoothed out.

On 2/1/2023 at 10:04 AM, Rubinfan said:

In this version of the mod canons move faster without the horse artillery perk than in the previous version. Or it just seems so?

I don't think I changed anything so might just be perception?

On 2/1/2023 at 10:04 AM, Rubinfan said:

I usually try to preserve condition but random moments still happen.

Definitely still a problem at times. I've definitely lost my share of battles or taken dramatically higher losses when I mess this up.

On 2/1/2023 at 10:04 AM, Rubinfan said:

tried the "7 in training" build, replaying the Potomac Fort when I got into problems at Newport News. But unlike the previous version of the mod, where I successfully used it as the Union, I got no improvement in the default recruit stats. Hiring a limited number of veterans with 20-30 stats didn't seem very expensive so I chose not to play down this path and stayed with 3 in Politics, 1 in Economy, 4 in Recon and something build. Didn't touch training after this. From the description I understood that it can increase stats of units that don't take part in battles, but couldn't understand how noticeable this buff would be.

I don't recommend the max training start anymore. Just too many trade offs elsewhere. But ~4 starting points or boosting up to 4-6 after Shiloh can workout decently. The recruit stats take time to increase, so after the first battle you won't see any changes to your recruit stats. Then after the next side battle you'll start to see the stats increase.

The training for out of battle units works basically the same way. If a unit not in a battle has a stat less than a specific amount(increases based on total points and current campaign date) then that stat will get increased by the specified amount. Usually doesn't do a whole lot, but it's useful to boost my melee stat for my early units that started with very low stats and haven't been in melee. This was mostly added so that people didn't feel the need to disband their non-participating units to try to get the training benefits.

On 2/1/2023 at 10:04 AM, Rubinfan said:

As for the officers, I did and do move the existing high-ranked officers to those units that are close to geting a perk. But I didn't buy any high-ranked ones during the last run since 20k for a brigadier general is way to expensive

In my opinion that 20k is almost always worth it because of how strong getting access to perks sooner is. I know that some other players are successful going with cheap officers though.

On 2/1/2023 at 10:04 AM, Rubinfan said:

1.If the corps commander "dies" in battle and disappears from the field, will the units of the corps lose the buffs given by the first two commander's perks (they definitely lost the third in the previous version of the mod since it was command aura-based)?

I'm trying to remember if this gets recalculated when the officer dies. I think it does and the bonuses are lost? It's been a long time since I looked into it, so I may not be remembering correctly though. Easiest to test with would be the speed perk.

On 2/1/2023 at 10:04 AM, Rubinfan said:

2.Do the first two corps commander's perks (the third one used to work this way in the previous version of the mod) apply only to the units within the commander's aura radius? Asking because someone from outside of this forum mentioned this.

Tier 1 and Tier 2 are global for units in the corps. Tier 3 is for anyone in the aura. The tier 3 perk description has an aura tag.

January 31, 2023

35 minutes ago, dixiePig said:

Is it possible to turn off the building of ARTY units for a period of time - or restricting the size of those units - without breaking the game?

Turn off is hard for the AI and any allied units. At one point I figured out how to change one unit type to another but I forgot how to do it and have tried multiple times to recreate what I did without success. I could stop them from spawning entirely but there is no support for that in the configs currently.

Max size for the AI can mostly be controlled in the config files. The aiConfigFile has an artilleryMaxSize(or something close to that) which could be changed as you progress through the campaign. One thing that may be an issue is if the min sizes are smaller than the minimum size used when units split, that could override the config value. Setting them to zero should work I think. The unit will still spawn but anything that looks at it will kill it. Probably safer to set it to 1 instead though.

Allied units is harder. I think you can use the historicalSizeMultiplierNorth(or respective player side) to affect those, but that would also hit other unit types.

There are playerMaxSize values in the config file, but those only limit the sliders in camp. Probably easier to just disband your starting unit and rebuild to whatever limited size you prefer though.

January 30, 2023

20 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

I could field around 35k in 1-star units and around 20k - as freshly formed 0-stars and perhaps even more if willing to spend some on obsolete smoothbore weapons. Now, I could jump over the 2nd Bull Run, accepting a loss with like 4 reputation remaining, only to be obliterated at Antietam by 170k+ of enemy against my 45k, number of enemies further increasing if I tried to increase my own army.

What is your average infantry unit size? What is your largest infantry unit? What is the intelligence server army size in the top right of the campaign map? 170k sounds very high for Antietam with only 45k total men unless you are using 3k+ sized infantry. In my legendary campaign for example I'm only facing 110k with 65k in one save.

20 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

3.Increased weapon recovery (does it apply to the captured weapons as well, including guns from prisoners or only to your own weapons recovered after battle?) depending on Recon

Yes, this applies to any form of weapon recovery. Captures, kills, your own men lost, etc

20 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

4.Enemy detachable skirmishers - because if the player can use a certain game mechanic, the AI should have an opportunity to do this as well. Any chances to teach the enemy skirmish cavalry to mount-dismount?

Seeing if I can get the AI to dismount is on my list to try, though even if I can I am unsure I can come up with any kind of reliable logic to tell them when to do so. Even as a player its very hard to choose good times to dismount since it's so much more useful to retain the higher mobility. The AI is pretty braindead with its cavalry usage though, so maybe even some poor logic might end up being an improvement.

20 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

However, rifled artillery seems useless now - during one of my attempts to win at Cedar Mountain, Cabell's battery (the one from the Potomac Fort with a Horse artillery perk, Ordnance guns and still one star fired at the enemy cannons, inflicting 1 casualty per shot (that's for 100$ from my general's salary). I can't obtain any better cannons until the 2nd Bull Run (with 10 in Politics you can get 12 Blakelys for reputation) and there isn't much incentive to field this battery during previous battles. Low-skilled smoothbore guns still have some use at canister range.

Are you buying up the small amounts of better cannon in the early battles? By Cedar Mountain Cabell was not quite a 3* and I was able to switch him over to blakely's after Malvern Hill. By this battle I had 19 blakelys, 13 james, and 4 20pdrs with 3 points in logistiscs(don't recall exactly when I bumped up to 3.)

I would definitely recommend switching the starting perk to shot/shell for Cabell unless you are planning to switch him to smoothbores. Rifled guns really need multiple damage perks before they get going. I make a point of training up several units in earlier battles since they are so useful to have at Gaines and Malvern Hill. For some defensive battles 24pdrs can also work pretty well with rifled perks since you won't move much and they do decent canister damage as is, so you can swap weapons around to level up faster. Usage of veterans can also get these units off to a faster start.

21 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

3.All of my men turning into lazy bums being constantly tired and running away in panic for like 3-4 minutes, further reducing condition to exhausted (no, I don't have 30 minutes to let you to recover because of the aforementioned reduced timers).

Depends on the battle how much time is available to recover, but you definitely want to try and preserve your condition as much as possible. Good positioning, limiting charge/melee time, and setting up favorable shooting conditions so you don't get stuck in drawn out fights all help.

21 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

But since my forces almost don't level-up and the enemy constantly gets 2 and 3-star brigades for free sacrificing, overcoming such difficulties is beyond me.

Investment in training can help a lot here. Improving your recruits reduces the stat loss when refilling units, and post Shiloh you can get some free training on units that don't deploy into battles. Another thing that helps a lot is keeping the AI focused on newer units while your more experienced units hit the flanks. I generally find that I can keep my stats gradually moving upwards on most units even after bringing them back up to strength. Sometimes if a good unit gets worn down too much I'll merge it with another unit instead and just create a new recruit unit to take up the free slot.

Investment in good officers also helps a lot here. I will always buy out all the BGs and high level colonels when I can to help boost a unit to that next star faster.

21 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

So I have a question if there is a way to adjust the config file modifiers to return the old experience level-up speed multipliers so my forces would level up like in the previous version?

Towards the bottom of the unitModifiers file you can find the following. These values are unchanged from 1.27.4.3, it's more that the shorter timers, harder battles, and change to how veterans work have slowed down unit stat progression. You may want to consider lowering enemy size and xp a bit instead, or give MG a try instead of Legendary to see if that fits what you are looking for a bit better. Timers can also be extended, but that is a little finicky as there can be odd problems if the end of day time and the timers don't end up lining up correctly.

killsPerEffectivity,225
killsPerMelee,75
movePerStamina,1300
shootPerFirearms,7
timePerMorale,2900

For comparison here are the values used in the vanilla game. We made experience slower to gain across the board, so you can use values closer to the vanilla values if you want it to be faster.

killsPerEffectivity, 150
killsPerMelee, 25
movePerStamina, 1000
shootPerFirearms, 5
timePerMorale, 1800

21 hours ago, Rubinfan said:

And another broader question to everyone familiar with the mod - is there any use in investing in low-tier rifles (that would be the Re-Bored Musket, Springfield M1855, Mississippi M1841 and MJ&G)? I can't get to use them to achieve profitable volley trade-offs with the enemy. My Mississippi-equipped units may enjoy some limited success until after Shiloh, but as soon as the enemy switches to Springfield M1861 they just can't kill enough and when I pass these rifles to rookies, they perform even worse. But even my rookie performance jumps up drastically when equipped with Springfield M1861 (the closest upgrade from the Union's shop) or Harpers Ferry M1855 (same from the Confederate shop). I'm interesting to know this because with low economy stat it is better to invest only in stuff you can successfully use later on. So if these rifles have no future use, better to buy the least amount possible and save money. On Economy 1 Mississippi M1841 costs 33$, on Economy 9 you can buy an Enfield 1853 for the same price.

I'll keep using all of those weapons as long as I have sufficient quantities available. I don't tend to buy all that many, but that's true of basically every infantry weapon if I can avoid it. The older weapons just get cycled down into my newer units that I try to have absorb most of the casualties when possible. I find range combat to mostly be about positioning and focus fire. Optimally any given enemy unit will walk into an arc and be hit by 4-6 of my own and be forced to fall back fairly quickly. Definitely harder to pull off depending on the battle and situation, but making sure the unit being fired at has good cover, getting the enemy out of cover(initial positioning, falling back then moving back into good cover, etc), and making sure to be hitting flanks whenever possible all can improve your how efficiently you are trading casualties even with bad weapons.

Even muskets can be quite effective at shooting if you can get them under half range. I also will use them on slightly larger melee brigades that I'll use for counter charging. They can also step in on the firing line decently if a unit needs a break or routs and a charger has stopped inside 400 range. Eventually I'll try to get my better melee units 400 range weapons with high melee stats so they can fire more effectively while waiting for the right moment to charge. They'll never be as good at it as a dedicated range unit, but everything helps and the more you can boost your firearms stat the faster you'll hit that next star for the huge boost in damage that charge perks provide.

Generally for infantry weapons I'll buy a few here and there to fill out unit sizes as needed. Sometimes I'll buy a full units worth if I need another unit on the field, but I really try to avoid this as it's quite expensive. Better to buy 500 expensive enfields than 2000 springfield 55s(or whatever the math says is actually cheaper.) But I also don't stress about upgrading my infantry unit weapons either, the AI will drop better stuff soon enough. That may work less well on difficulties other than legendary due to how AI weapon progression is slower there.

Hope some of this helps. If you have more questions please ask

January 30, 2023

On 1/26/2023 at 11:56 AM, dixiePig said:

Since I'm kinda relentless about this, I'm gonna suggest that this might be a new and useful path for ARMY ORG and CAREER (for example, just spitballin'):

You can't build dedicated ARTY Brigades until you reach AO #4

You can't build dedicated CAV Brigades until you reach AO #5

You might receive a dedicated ARTY Brigade as a CAREER perk when you reach AO #3

You might receive a dedicated CAV Brigade as a CAREER perk when you reach AO #4

We can't provide extra brigades based on career point allocation unfortunately.

These kind of army composition restrictions is the kind of thing where we recommend self imposed restrictions for a campaign. Where possible we try to allow the player the freedom to play historically or not as they prefer. The amount of units per AO point is unfortunately something that needs to be changed through the hex code and has a lot of carry over effects in terms of making sure all units deploy in battles, so that is one of the areas that remains fairly locked down.

On 1/27/2023 at 1:00 PM, dixiePig said:

"Display Summary of major changes and tips of the mod?" popup

Indicate size (i.e. the number of 'pages') up front

Indicate where you are (i.e. "Page 1 of 4")

Replace [ OK ] button with [ Next ] - and finally [ Close ]

Will see if I can fit in a header and change the button names.

January 24, 2023

5 hours ago, dixiePig said:

So - even tho previous versions of the mod allowed 6 Brigades per Division when you got to some level of AO, 6-Brigade Divisions are no longer permitted in the game?

Correct. We reduced the maximum amount of brigades per corp back down to 25 from 30. The extra slots were originally added to allow an extra dedicated skirmisher per division during the time when detached skirmishers were disabled. Now that detached skirmishers are enabled again these extra brigades are no longer necessary.

This had the additional benefit of improving performance by reducing the total number of units on the field and increasing the challenge of a variety of battles where the extra units made things easier than intended. This was particularly the case in later major battles.

We experimenting with alternate setups that retained the 6 brigades per division but it didn't end up aligning with the deploy numbers we were trying to hit in the opening 10 battles or so.

5 hours ago, dixiePig said:

Which means that 2nd Bull Run (which demands 25 CSA Brigades in one Corps) requires that I be at AO Level 9 (in order to allow 5 Div / 5 Bde)? Which means that I must invest ALL of my CAREER points after Malvern in AO. The scale is already tipped towards an AO-heavy career path. This makes it even worse.

It can be done with only 20, though it's certainly more difficult. But yes, if you want the 25 brigades you need to find somewhere to spare the points.

Alternately, If you're up for a little hex editing it's relatively easy to change the brigade/div amounts per AO point. I have a basic guide of where to find those values here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iwdcgr8zhk948fk/AACMBXSkErW06fGAymlENXILa?dl=0

Additional details on hex editing for the game can be found here:

https://forum.game-labs.net/topic/26225-weapon-and-perk-modding-guide/

So for example, you could change the orange box hex value to 02 00 00 00 and that would start your divisions off with 5 brigades per division. This would result in maxing out at 5 divisions of 6 brigades. The hex offset in the screenshot won't match up with the current version of the mods file, but you should be able to find what you are looking for at offset 0222A7A0 in the current version.

If you also want to boost the deploy slots back up to a max of 30, then in the configFile you'd want to change deploySizeMultiplier to 1.1. There will be battles that have hardcoded deploy slots, so this won't always work entirely as desired but it should get you most of the way there.

January 23, 2023

2 hours ago, dixiePig said:

So I look at AO in CAREER and discover that - even if I ramp up to AO Level 7, the mod will not allow me to have 4 Divisions of 6 Brigades in my Corps.

AO 9 to max out your brigades per corps at 5 divisions with 5 brigades each. I usually plan to go from 5-9 post Malvern hill.

If the player ends up with extra units in a division they'll work normally, you just have to be careful not to move them out because you can't put them back. This is why the base game let corps deploy 25 when the normal max was 24. Too annoying to bother with in my opinion as it's very easily to accidentally mess up when shifting units around.

Putting some kind of enforcement message when downsizing divisions could probably be done. But keeping the heavy emphasis on AO investment as a limiting factor on ability to invest in other places is currently a positive in my opinion. Smaller divisions also makes it harder to just use one good officer to max out efficiency on a lot of units at once.

Someone recently got all the way to CSA 2nd bull run with only ao 3 on MG, so while it's definitely not the easiest path it is apparently possible to skip that investment.

The camp stuff with veterans is hard to quickly cover in its entirety but here are a few things that can be done. I wouldn't really considering any of these cheats, they are just finding ways to get the most value out of the systems provided.

The core is disbanding high veterancy unit into an empty veteran pool. From there you can use the veterans to boost multiple new units up to 1*. Can also be used to get harder to level unit types up to 2* quickly. For example, skirmishers, arty or cav.

When combined with moving officers around there is quite to think about in camp. Do I leave a good officer on a unit to max out battles led? Or do I replace them with a just good enough officer so I can put the better officer in div command or make another 1* at the cost of slowing down the progression of the original unit.

Do I keep my 3* infantry unit that is slowly dwindling in size at a minimum combat effectiveness with high stats? Do I split it up into multiple other units? Do I reduce its stats to boost its size up? Do I merge it with another worn down unit?

A lot of this is similar to what has always been present in terms of rotating officers around and adding vets. I just think the choices are a lot more interesting now and you can engage in more of the options without having to empty your recruit pool to get access to them.

January 21, 2023

7 hours ago, dixiePig said:

The individual scenarios are fairly interchangeable (Let's admit that the historical references are mostly "approximate")

If those battles were presented somewhat randomly, there would be some more variety to the overall game.

I realize that there are real technical limits on what can and cannot be done in the mod. Trying to suggest ways in which the fundamentals of the game remain, but there's a little more variety in the play.

Sadly can't switch up which battles get presented when. There are some choice type possibilities for effects on specific battles, but have so far not implemented that in favor of the randomized spawn locations in some battles.

Will probably try to get something like that in at some point.

On 1/15/2023 at 10:14 AM, dixiePig said:

Allow an Army to have more smaller units in the early days: Perhaps 6 brigades per Division after the first battle

Advancement in AO allows you to have more Divisions, but fewer Brigades-per-Division (The excess Brigades can be transferred to the new Divisions - or disbanded). Perhaps AO: Level2 allows 2 Divisions of 6 Brigades and AO: Level 3 allows 3 Divisions of 5 Brigades. This allows you to fight the smaller early battles without investing all of your CAREER points in AO.

Let's face it; you don't really need an additional Corps until Gaines Mill - the 10th battle

Lowering division brigade amounts is messy because there isn't really a way to force the player to reassign units after the division size shrinks.

The benefits of AO early on are more the increased brigades that can be fielded than the number of corps. Though for the union at least you absolutely need that second corps by Shiloh.

AO stuff is tricky because we have to make sure both campaigns can deploy enough units in the first 10 battles or so. We do want the player to have to burn points into AO as it slows down certain career points rushing paths. If weren't as limited technically we would probably alter it more dramatically.

On 1/15/2023 at 10:14 AM, dixiePig said:

BTW: What actual value does TRAINING offer now? I find that I can manage my Army's unit perks by adding available Veterans from the pool when I build the unit. After that it's all battle XP. There's no point in trying to 'game' the system further after you get the first *star*. That's actually a good thing imo, but what point is there to spending CAREER points on TRAINING?

Training improves your recruits and units that don't participate in battles as well as reducing veteran cost. The veteran cost part is mostly just a side bonus, but it does enable some camp tricks where you can repurpose high veterancy units on the fly.

The recruit training makes getting 1*s easy as you noted, but it also helps you retain more of those combat stats when replacing with recruits. At higher levels with a good officer you can hit 2* pretty quickly as well.

I still do quite a bit of manipulation of officers, vets, and recruits to get 2 and 3* units earlier. Might not always be necessary but there are options available I think.

January 21, 2023

8 hours ago, dixiePig said:

CAREER : RECONNAISSANCE

Reconnaissance has vastly increased value now, so I make a point of ramping up on it early in the game, so as to reap the benefits of 'spoils of war' throughout the game. But the progression is a little weird: Most of the early Reconnaissance advancements require that you take 2 steps before you get benefits. This is:

odd (i.e. unlike the other CAREER advancements) where you get benefits after 1 step

pretty much requires that you advance only after Major Battles, where you have 2 CAREER points available

It's awkward and artificial.

Is this just "the way it is"?

In the base game the devs setup the recon benefits to be every 2 levels. I don't have any details on why they went that path.

In the mod there should now be benefits every level. Spotting and weapon recovery rates go up with every point. We've also added extra benefits like showing enemy flanking indicators so you get something extra on the odd numbers. I thought I updated the tooltips to show all of that, but only being able to show the +1 tooltip is really limiting.

January 7, 2023

7 minutes ago, Gsam said:

While we are on the subject on fatigue @pandakraut does it work the same way for the CPU? I am playing Fredericksburg as CSA and the opening engagement has the union troops running full speed through swaps to get into the forest. IT does not seem like they have any ill effects on condition because of it.

Assuming all other factors are equal, yes this works exactly the same for the ai as the player. Union condition drain rates are slightly higher than the CSA and the AI often has higher stats than player units depending on difficulty, so in those cases the AI units may perform better. But if the player had units with those stats of the same side they'd get the same result.

Not sure if this is what you meant, but the union units in that battle can spawn directly into the forest instead of having to walk there like the player would and they start at full condition. Only way I could get the AI to attack from that direction.

January 7, 2023

1 hour ago, dixiePig said:

The inter-day replacements seem a little unrealistic to begin with - and the stats & XP dynamics (as you explain them) are really odd. Maybe just forgo the whole process? New troop reinforcement units are sensible enough, but overnight replacements to existing units ... not so much. More sensible: The ability to replace officers from the Barracks.

Will consider removing it. It's just one of those been there forever things that players can get real grumpy about suddenly being removed. Would certainly simplify things since I wouldn't have to worry about any stat problems.

Officers can also be replaced as long as you have them in your barracks or the ability to purchase from the academy. Though I have had to disable moving officers from one unit to another as that allowed duping them.

1 hour ago, dixiePig said:

It appears that 'permanent' in-map entrenchments can be captured from the enemy, but not effectively re-used, if the enemy is attacking from the opposite direction. It seems to me that "a trench is a trench" - and would still have value as such. Clarification?

Fortifications in game all have specific front and rear facings that remain the same regardless of who occupies it or what direction they are firing.

While I do think there is an argument for there being reduced effectiveness of fortifications when used in an unintended direction, especially for more advanced trenches with firing platforms and the like, this is really more a technical limitation than anything specifically intentional.

You do still get the full bonuses from an occupied enemy fortification, but if you're taking any kind of fire from the rear arc that is going to come with enough of a boost in morale damage that it likely counters any benefit from the rest of the fortification bonuses.

1 hour ago, dixiePig said:

I have found no effective way to re-stabilize a unit which is accidentally routed

Is this different than if you rout them using the button instead of clicking off map? This occurs even if the unit is far from the map edge? I've never had any issue just reselecting the unit and giving it some order so I'm not quite sure what is happening here.

58 minutes ago, dixiePig said:

Detached Skirmishers (and Sharpshooter units) always move in [run] mode. Do they fatigue as a result?

Technically yes, but the drain rate is not the same as it is for infantry so nothing to really worry about here. They'll end up moving further before exhausting than anny infantry unit unless speed perks are significantly stacked against them.

58 minutes ago, dixiePig said:

Is there a 'rule of thumb' for determining how far a unit can [run] before suffering crippling fatigue? I am tempted to 'hurry' units towards a critical battle, but know that there is a price. How do I determine the cost?

At the top of the unitModifiers file you can see the multipliers that apply to various stats based on condition state. I usually don't feel that it's worth running units to arrive sooner with less condition except over very short distances. Other players seem to get away with it just fine though, so just need to experiment to see what you are comfortable with. I would prefer not to start any kind of fight with less than 70% condition if I can avoid it(often can't.)

January 6, 2023

On 1/5/2023 at 11:05 AM, dixiePig said:

Fatigue is much more of a factor now. Understandably so.

Does a unit refresh itself more quickly if in a fortification?

What techniques will help a unit to recover more effectively?

What behaviors will weaken a unit (i.e. How much can a unit [Run]?

There are no condition regen bonuses in fortifications, but since units in them are never moving they end up losing less condition than if they were taking the same actions(melee, rotating to fire, etc)

Every action a unit takes other than standing still has a condition drain, so standing still while not firing or reloading is the fastest way to regenerate condition. In the base game dealing damage to a target provided an increase to condition but these have all been made negative in the mod.

Running applies a higher condition drain than walking, worse terrain will result in a unit taking longer to go the same distance which means the drain applies for longer. The higher the units stamina, the higher their condition regen, so they can run for longer and recover faster.

On 1/5/2023 at 11:05 AM, dixiePig said:

Entrenchment

Can you indicate on the map if unit has been able to construct entrenchments (by remaining in place in a defensive posture for a while)?

and - what is the defensive value of entrenchment?

When a unit starts to dig in their unit shield will display a black outline. As they spend more time digging in this outline starts to turn white. When fully dug in the shield will look the same as if the unit was in a regular fortification. I tried to get more differences in the colors and to use different colors and it just didn't work for whatever reason.

I couldn't figure out a way to get any kind of indicator for where the center of the dig in point for a specific unit is to display on the battle or minimap.

The digin bonus increases up to 10%. This is an additive 10% on top of whatever the units normal cover % would be.

On 1/5/2023 at 11:05 AM, dixiePig said:

Accidental Rout

If I move a unit towards the edge of the map, it will sometimes Rout. Is this a fixable bug? How can I recover from it before I lose the unit?

One of the features that devs included was that instead of hitting the rout button you can just click off the map to get the unit to rout. Normally not a big problem, but if you're selecting units right as they come on it is possible to lose them with a miss click. Under more normal circumstances should be able to give the unit any other order and they will stop routing.

On 1/5/2023 at 11:05 AM, dixiePig said:

Multi-day Battles

In the pause between days of a major battle, it is possible to reinforce the units of your Army.

If I reinforce units with Recruits, do they get full XP from the battle?

It seems that loading in lots of Recruits would be a wise strategy

Yes this can be done. However, when doing this it resets the "starting" stats of the unit. You won't lose any stats gained and will continue to gain xp normally throughout the rest of the battle. Where this ends up mattering is the end of the battle.

Since officer xp is determined by comparing starting stats to ending stats, adding recruits and resetting the starting point results in less xp earned by the officer.

Additionally, adding recruits mess with the post battle numbers so the total casualties will not be accurate.

One final issue/exploit is that scaling only applies when a battle is started, so you can make lots of very small units on day 1 of Fredericksburg or 2nd Bull run, then add tons of recruits and end up facing less AI strength than if you had added those recruits initially. Not a huge deal considering that scaling can be more easily adjusted as desired through the configs, but something to be aware of.

I personally almost never add recruits during multi-day battles due to the variety of issues and because I usually either have nothing to spare or am just moving units between corps. Maybe one day I'll figure out how to not reset the stats and also fix the likely bugs that will result.

December 31, 2022

I think you'll want at least some points in training eventually. Makes it very easy to get all your units to 1* and eventually makes it fairly easy to get 2*s.

The aspect where it gives XP to units not in the battle is useful but not essential in my opinion. That was mostly added because otherwise there would be incentives to try and disband your units into various pools to get the training bonuses.

December 31, 2022

Only 2 corps for Antietam is going to be pretty rough. Glad to hear that expanding your army worked out though.

December 29, 2022

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

I feel like every single map, the enemy armor has roughly ~20 skirmisher units. Is this normal? Cavalry can hardly scout anywhere due to number of skirmishers all over. Everything feels very congested and there is not much room to move.

The AI is limited to at most 10 detached skirmishers out at one time. As these get destroyed, new ones will get deployed if enough AI infantry units are available. The AI is limited to one skirmisher per infantry just like the player. There are config options available to change the amount the AI can have out or remove this entirely if preferred. Definitely takes a bit to adjust to, but once you get used to it there are still plenty of options in my experience.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

1) Skirmishers are too strong in melee. The problem is they are like U-boat wolf packs also. If you charge one with cavalry (which seems to be the only way I have found to deal with them) not only will a single unit cause ~10% damage from a straight up fight to an equal numbers cav unit, they are never alone. You are gonna get shot by 2-3 other skirmisher units and cannons. The AI is so much better about supporting its units. This makes for LONNNNNGGGG slogs of matches because you have to clear a path using up ammo and troops just to approach the main event. IMHO they personally have far too big an impact on the game in the current form.

When engaging packs of enemy skirmishers you really need multiple cav units otherwise you'll get shot to pieces as you've found. Skirmishers have significant melee penalties, but these can be offset if the AI's stats are high enough compared to the players. But from what you've described it sounds more like an issue of engagement timing. I always try to setup situations where my cavalry can melee without getting shot at, otherwise the attrition is just too high. Isolating units or having other units distracting nearby AI units that could fire into the melee is usually how I go about that, but it takes a lot of micro and practice.

I usually deal with enemy skirmishers by drawing them into my main firing line where I can blast them with multiple artillery and infantry units. Their biggest weakness is lack of morale staying power so you can clear them out somewhat quick with this approach.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

2) Have you looked at the timers? I am a more methodical player and I HATE being rushed to fight a certain way. I am forced with a decision often times to fail the mission or grind my troops up taking positions that haven't been softened up appropriately yet. Couple that with the point I Made in #1 with the glut of skirmishers slowing down progress, IMHO this begs looking at.

In previous versions far far too much time was available. This lead to players being able to achieve extremely favorable results and the campaign being much easier than desired. In the updated battles we have aimed to give the player some time to maneuver or prep an area to assault, but not give them enough time that they can pick the AI apart. Some battles will be tighter than others, and in many it will be harder to kill every enemy unit unless you play more aggressively.

For example, the intention with artillery is that you can still open up a hole in the enemy line, but you then need to send infantry to exploit it, compared to prior versions where the artillery could largely kill everything by themselves. Union 2nd bull run is one of the better examples of this. Previously the battle was extremely easy, and now you actually have to press to achieve the objectives in time.

While I understand that more restrictive timers can be frustrating, putting time pressure on the player results in better overall difficulty and more interesting gameplay decisions in my opinion. As an artillery focused player, I certainly enjoy the slow advance, but when too much time is allowed you just fast forward until everything dies.

I feel like the timers are mostly in a good spot currently, but the timer configs do still exist so if you want a little extra time you could set them to 1.05 or 1.1. Note there are some bugs that exist if the endofDayMultiplier is increased too much compared to the timerRecommended and timerMandatory values, so I'd keep any increases to it to 1.025 or 1.05.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

3) Sharpshooters - I feel like the cost / benefit does not pencil here. They are some of the most expensive units, they require a ton of micro management and they do not seem to have a very large impact on the battle. Not to mention, one mistake and they can get wiped out instantly.

Definitely a high risk, high reward unit. I've seen plenty of results from people with 2-4k+ kill totals on these units, so I think they can still be quite effective. One thing that can help with keeping them alive is putting them on hold position. This lowers their overall dps but prevents the stealth penalty from firing from stacking up so high which means you can set and forget them more reliably without them getting spotted.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

4) Due to the Carnage in the game as you make it, it feels like Medicine is the main career perk I should be getting. I am assuming that the "restore" keeps their weapons too so I don't have to purchase them again?

I've mostly taken medicine as a 3rd or 4th option. It's useful but early on I need money/weapons/stats more so I'll focus on other options. Restoring 0 or low 1* men isn't too valuable and my few units that are more experienced I do my best to keep casualties very low on. Any men restored do keep their weapons, though that currently only applies to the 'wounded' pool rather than all your casualties. That is something that may get adjusted as it makes medicine worse early game while it still ends up very strong late game.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

5) Cross Key's - This battle borders on not even being worth it. This is an absolute bloodbath. Even cycling units through the meatgrinder most of the units even playing in heavy cover in the woods took near 50% casualties. At one point at the top of the map there is nearly 6 units shooting at one in heavy cover. 3 of which are skirmishers and thats like a slow damage over time just picking away at you. I won it decisively but even doing so, having ~3-4k casualties for a minor battle is harsh to recover from that early in the game. After the battle, most of my units were worse than they were before starting the battle because you have to be frugal with veterans. Artillery obviously improved.

Definitely a tough battle, though I eventually managed to keep my total casualties down to about 30%. The newer units I had taking the brunt of the attacks in the center probably were higher than that though. I had my two best smoothbores sitting behind the center to help blast units that got into the woods out. This battle is immensely easier if you've managed to get 3-4 2*s by that point(I didn't and really felt it.)

Constantly adjusting your line to draw skirmishers out in the open so you can hit them better, keeping up flanking efforts to the north and south, and having two fire brigades of cavalry to be able to quickly switch between helping out the top and bottom VPs is what eventually worked for me.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

1) is 12 still the magic # on guns. I looked at your artillery chart and it looks to be the best bang for the buck.

There is no magic number anymore. More guns always results in more damage. I tend to use 6-8 early game so that I can swap in better cannon faster as they become available. Moving up to 10-12 later depending on the unit. But that's more good cannon availability for the relatively low logistics investment setups that I use than anything else. 14-16 would pack more of a punch once your unit slots become a larger limiting factor.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

2) IS there a magic unit size that you have found is the most efficient. I have been using max size of 1250 for infantry, 12 guns, 500 cavalry and 250 sharpshooters.

I've gradually moved all my infantry to be bigger. 1500-2k range. Gives me more ability to absorb damage now that it's harder to limit your casualties as much as it was previously. Cavalry vary depending on weapons, but in the 400-800 range. Larger can be very effective as well. Sharpshooters are again limited by weapon availability, but I usually try to end up in the 350-400 range. These numbers are all from the perspective of someone who prefers smaller units, larger sizes can work.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

3) Which guns have you found to be best for counter battery fire? I like to clear out the guns before I make my moves but the 3inchers don't seem to do it despite the range.

3" are your generic do it all early rifled gun. They can get counterbattery done, but aren't good at it. James, 20pdrs, tredegars, siege, and whitworths will all perform that role much better, but won't be commonly available early game.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

4) IS there a way to disable timers?

No, too many victory conditions break. They can be extended though, some details listed in an earlier response.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

5) Do you have any plans to adjust cannon strength at different ranges? I understand nerfing the 24 howitzers canister, but counter battery feels lacking.

Common feedback is that smoothbores feel good, rifled guns feel lacking. But there is also consistent feedback from the players that stick with the rifled guns that they are still extremely strong once at 2 and 3 star with good cannon. There was a small generic buff to them in 1.28.3 but no current plans for more immediate changes. Long term there will likely be adjustments as we'd like to redo the entire perk tree, but that's not coming anytime soon.

On 12/23/2022 at 5:19 PM, Gsam said:

6) when if ever is it worthwhile to use the repeating guns (henrys etc.). I want to try them, but due to the prohibitive cost I am very leery of doing that.

I wouldn't rush them, but mid to late game they can be very good on specialized units. Their dps is unmatched for a skirmisher or infantry unit, but they also eat ammo so I wouldn't use them on standard line units. They can crush charges or do a ton of flanking damage very quickly if positioned correctly though.

Thanks for sticking with the mod over the years, hope these answers help a bit and if you have more questions just ask.

December 22, 2022

On 12/19/2022 at 11:39 AM, megnet said:

Hi Pandakraut...

Love your work... thx for all you do.

I have a special request, if possible.

Can you pack your MOD files in a way that is "WE MOD TRAINER" friendly?

All you would have to do is place the actual files in "MOD" folder, instead of "MOD/REBALANCE" folder?

This will allow WE MOD TRAINER to work.

I have played UGCW million times, and using the TRAINER adds certain replayability options that make the game fresh.

If I knew how do it myself, I would... but sadly I don't have the skills.

Thx for your consideration.

M.E.G..

Do you know why the mod folder works with the trainer but the /mod/Rebalance does not? Not sure why it would care about the mods config files at all.

The reason that subfolder is there is so that those files don't conflict with the UI mod that I also maintain.

I'm traveling at the moment, but afterwards I can experiment with moving the files out of that folder to see if it works for you.

Alternatively, which functionality from that trainer are you looking for. While I haven't had any interest in adding cheats, the configs that do exist could already be used that way, so maybe I just add in whatever it does if it's convenient. It's also possible some of these line up with things I use for testing anyways.

December 22, 2022

On 12/15/2022 at 1:55 AM, eliasdiaz said:

Has anyone found a bug in this version?

There are a couple bugs that I'm aware of but haven't had time to fix yet. The most serious is that you need to make sure that any units that have an empty officer slot due to the officer being killed or wounded get an officer assigned before starting the next battle. This prevents and end of battle crash.

If you're hitting something that seems like a bug or otherwise having trouble please let me know the details.

December 15, 2022

On 12/11/2022 at 4:46 AM, KeithD said:

I don't know if its just me, but I've tried static mode and found it completely unplayable as CSA. Straight off the bat at Newport News the Union is an unstoppable steamroller, way OP. I've tried it on BG to see if its any different. How do I dial the union down?

The aiScalingsizeMultiplier still works with that mode. The difficulty selection doesn't affect unit sizing in that mode so maybe try setting the multiplier to .8 and see how that goes.

December 8, 2022

8 hours ago, dixiePig said:

Here's a Nice-to-Have for the new re-working of CAREER perks -

Display the current perk status under the CAREER panel. Specifically:

Weapon Recovery (Reconnaissance)

Maximum Supply (Logistics)

Wound/Death rates (Medicine)

Continue to enjoy the new profile of the game.

Unfortunately that entire section is locked down and I can't add to it. The add point button tooltips is the only part I can modify.

December 5, 2022

On 11/25/2022 at 7:45 PM, burgundy said:

Lol, guess which file I was using. I tried the right file and the skirmisher and artillery size went down but the infantry still has 6k brigades.

I guess what really throws me off is it never feels like I make any progress. I win battles, inflict a lot of casualties and the other army still dwarfs me. I cant even achieve parity.

To some extent that is just legendary difficulty. Intended to be difficulty if not impossible to achieve parity.

There are multiple different configs changes available if you'd prefer it to work differently. You can limit the max size of enemy units or there is also a static mode where the ai doesn't scale at all. Their unit sizes are set amounts determined by the current campaign date(with some randomness on top and adjustments to some battles where the AI has relatively few units and the preset sizes would be far too easy.)

November 25, 2022

19 hours ago, burgundy said:

My question is does inflicting losses on the enemy actually reduce the size of the enemy army, or will the enemy always scale their army to around where you are?

Yes to both questions. Since the mod allows a much larger variance in unit sizes we have added logic to try to keep the AI roughly on the same scale as the player. So since you are using 3-4k units that will upscale the AI into a similar range and combined with legendary on top facing 6k infantry units is not surprising here.

There is a snowball modifier, represented by the AI army size on the campaign map recon report, which will increase the size of AI units if you fall behind on kills. If that number is displayed in yellow or red it will be applying a more significant effect. However, I'd guess that you're pushing the max based on the size and amount of your infantry.

19 hours ago, burgundy said:

Im on legendary, I tried reducing the aiscale size multiplier but the unit sizes stayed the same. I am unsure what I am doing wrong here, any help on what is going on, is Gaines Mill supposed to be like this?

The AIscalingSizeMultiplier in the AIConfigFile applies after all effects of scaling, so this should work to lower their unit sizes. You're changing the value in the .txt file? In older versions of the mod we used csvs, so if you have those sitting around from old installs they won't work. Should be able to make your change in the file, save, then restart the battle to see the effect. Try setting it to 0.1 just to easily verify you're in the right spot. If you are still having issues with this let me know.

November 12, 2022

On 11/8/2022 at 8:04 AM, dixiePig said:

Note: I selected Politics/3 and Economy/1 in the POLITICS step of my BG level CSA initial CAREER setup (there's only one choice for the Politics attribute in the "politics" step ... ? Go figure.) Result - I have lots and LOTS of money after each battle (Did you change the dynamics there?). Works okay for buying Officers - since that's more necessary now - but it's still not exactly "balanced". And I still end up with more cash than I can use.

Bonus from politics went down from 1.27. BG gives you a lot of extra money to play around with by default though. Politics is what many people tend to be going first at the moment, seems to have taken over from economy and training. Though alternate approaches still work fine.

On 11/8/2022 at 8:04 AM, dixiePig said:

Medicine was another undervalued attribute - and still is. Battlefield Medicine was horrific at that time and disease also took a terrible toll. Selection of the Medicine attribute might trigger the ability to buy Field Hospitals (to be assigned to an Army or Corps) during the GOVERNMENT phase. This would give some 'meat' to Medicine.

In addition to returning men directly to units medicine now also impacts the amount of wounded men that recover to become veterans. Certainly not has high a priority as the various money generating career stats, but quite valuable in my opinion. Especially as you start trying to maintain 2 and 3* units.

November 12, 2022

On 11/11/2022 at 1:23 PM, dixiePig said:

Just finished Ambush Convoy as CSA on MG level: It is much, much harder now that ALL of the Union reinforcements arrive at the same time on the eastern side of the map. It was much easier to 'divide and conquer' when Union AI forces were split. On the one hand, the battle is much more of a challenge now. On the other hand, there is not the variety that there was before. I re-started Ambush several times (I had to, because it is so tough now) but the Union troops always arrive en masse at the same place and early in the battle.

A little variety in the entry locations/times there might be fun. Just sayin'

The main goal for this battle was to eliminate the spawn camp opportunity that the base game allows. We didn't initially set out to add a ton of variety to every battle, more patching the biggest holes in the existing ones, while saving the fancier stuff for the grand battles.

Past that we stuck with the approach that you can get as much out of it as you want to push for. If the player sits back after capturing the wagons the AI will largely leave you alone. If you want to try and get kills you're in for a fight.

Might add more to some battles in the future. Will have to see how it goes.

For CSA Gaines Mill, we initially just moved the spawn point of the ai reinforcements north a bit so that the player couldn't easily grab the best defensive terrain in the area before the AI can get there. It might work to have them spawn a bit further east as the terrain disadvantage isn't as extreme in that direction. Will see what the ai does in that case.

The expanding map phases are always tricky to handle. Expanding early brings it's own problems, we can't keep the player off the map edge, we want to avoid ai units spawning on top of player units whenever possible. Some suspension of disbelief is always going to be required there.

Regarding the starting career points, I meant more that the combinations available allow for a decent variety in starting setups. Training is a bit of an outlier, which has caused problems in the past, but overall it works well enough that trying to design a new system hasn't been a high priority.

November 10, 2022

2 hours ago, dixiePig said:

General Context:

Weapon 'Base Damage' means ... what? And how should it be interpreted? (is it related to range? at all?)

I realize that there may be some complex trade-offs. Guess I'm looking for a reasonable context can perhaps even a simple thumbnail analysis.

Your Hidden Dynamics posts and weapon chart provide some clues, but Base Damage remains a mystery. Did I miss something?

Every time a weapon fires it starts with a damage value between what is displayed in the weapon tooltip. Then that value is modified by a whole lot of things including the range damage multiplier, unit size, perks, etc, etc.

So when comparing weapons I usually look at the base damage range and the range damage multiplier. I'll also use this average damage graph to make it easier to visualize the damage when those two values are combined.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1E5ZFCAHEY8EyBkEkWIHOfdFlwaYpSDVA00w9a71jq1c/edit?usp=sharing

Hopefully that helps

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