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Ah thanks, that's basically what I was refering to. Also what would be the most optimal size for infantry brigades? This could save me some trial and error haha.

So If I bring a few super-sized brigades, let's say +10k size, how exactely does scaling work? Does the ai bring more brigades? Or does ai brigade size scale? Or is it a bit of both? Judging by the victory screen of Bull run, it seems like it's both, though I can`t really tell because of the ridiculous sizes you were using.

Union on MG is already very challenging if you are willing to play with large brigades. There are a few battles that felt impossible (Shiloh took several attempts). Eventually after 2nd Bull run I made a 12k infantry brigade with a BG officer and got it to 1 star with the accuracy perk and It can outshoot multiple 3 star 2k brigades. I only did that because the AI scalling was only marginal ( ai size is capped to 75k for Antietam). Once you get a few whitworths you are pretty much done with that campaign. Moving to CSA Legendary is a very different experience. The trick is to play with very small brigades and make a lot of artillery. @pandakraut How early can you promote to Major General? It seems like the mod prevents you from getting MGs too early on.. Is that true?

I agree the whitworth is very devastating, more so than 3 star napoleons with balanced perks. Although whitworths are very important for the player in MG and legendary. Also, I have to admit that taking out enemy canons with whitworths is pretty satisfying. They're probably ridiculous in BG, but I'm not sure if I find them overpowered in MG yet. I think one of the ways to make skirmishers more viable and interesting may require increasing their speed and stamina (and regen). Maybe give them an added speed bonus in forests. I feel skirms lack in all areas so I haven't really used them, apart from snipers but I don't usually recruit them until fredericksburg.

@pandakrautThat makes a lot of sense, thanks. I hadn't fully considered the perks for generals yet as I'm only at Malvern Hill. I still feel that's a lot of work to make effective use of the melee perks for infantry. As you mentioned, there's alot of factors to consider before commiting your brigades in battle. This is the reason why I think a balance of speed and accuracy, just like in your playthrough is a better route for me. It's weird because at Shiloh I believed that a mix of melee focused brigades would help deter some of the ai from immediately charging down my line. In hindsight, the accuracy buff would've benefited my brigades a lot more since firepower and positioning are really key to holding off an overwhelming force. Defending with melee units at Gaines mill was also pretty fustrating because those brigades would break and route after getting charged which forced me to counterattack with a reserve brigade. Using those brigades agressively would've been suicide in that spot. Overall, the brigades with accuracy perks consistently outperformed all the other ones by quite a bit(based on the kills and loses stats). With that said, I found melee cavalry more ideal for charges (in the early game). The manoeuvrability of a large cavalry brigade coupled with the shock perks makes it very punishing for the ai if it were to poorly position its artillery or isolate one of their brigades. In regards to the bug, well It's the first time that has ever happened. The only way to replicate, will involve me replaying the battle again.

I've encountered a bug after a victory at the battle of Shiloh playing the Union MG where my 3 star cavalry brigade and its officer got deleted - Its no longer in my army once I go back to the camp. Also, Is there a point to having small/medium melee focused brigades? I have a feeling that melee fights are decided purely by overwhelming numbers - for example my 3 star melee brigade of 1.5k gets routed with heavy loses.after charging a 1 star 3k brigade. Seems odd. I have found the melee perk very lackluster compared to accuracy especially when the ai scales so heavily to outnumber you early on in the campaign.

Well this is great timing now that I`m just about done with my exams. How does this work for AI scaling? Does this change the number of brigades the AI will bring to battle?

Actually it depicts French soldiers during military maneuvres in the late 1880s or 90s. If you look closely those are Lebel rifles. The soldiers are dreaming about the napoleonic victories, therefore I think it`s safe to assume that`s where UG will be heading next.

@pandakraut I am using the lastest version with perk changes and playing on MG difficulty (non legendary). I may fire up a legendary campaign with the CSA so my results will likely change. After a couple more battles though, earthwork forts need to be fixed, I think thats already been covered in the thread. Battles like Laurel Hill are basically impossible to defend when playing with the CSA. Again, could be me doing something wrong. Have you had any similar experiences when defending while being outnumbered? Im refering to battles like Laurel Hill in particular.

I got the chance to try out your mod today. I always thought the original pacing felt sluggish to me so I really enjoyed the changes you made. Anyway, here are a few things to consider; Cavalry is op, it basically feels like a zerg. Cav were already decent but your changes makes them insane. Cav are faster and take less damage, and in the late game once you equip them with spencer carbines you got yourself unstopable killing machines capable of wiping out any unit in seconds. I know that alot of this stems from the AIs inability to counter cavalry manoeuvres effectively and leaving several of their units exposed (mainly their artillery) but something about cav being way too efficient in a civil war game doesn`t feel right to me. I tried the battle of Wasington and Richmond and was able to overrun the enemy both times in a couple minutes using 5 units of 750 cav and used my infantry to charge and mop up the remaining battered enermy units. These blitzkrieg style battles end up becoming an absolute slaughter. Skirmishers and unmounted cav are literally useless, they get out run by infantry and cav slaughters them, maybe I just really dislike skirms, its hard to tell. I havent tried snipers but I never use them in the late game anyway. I think reducing cav ammo by at least 50% would be a good starting point. I would also cap the max size of cav units to 300 or 400 Great job so far though, cheers