BCH

I was hoping it would give me the Civil War equivalent of the US Red Ball Express of WWII in Europe..

I was just surprised about the promotion, not sure I ever noticed it before in the after battle report. Hoke just happened to stand out this time.

Question on Supply wagon commanders: I noticed that Hoke, who is the 1st division supply commander) received a promotion after the 1st Bull Run. Does this do anything in regards to that unit?

Pandakraut... I watched your entire video on Shiloh, very nice and extremely helpful. On the gunboat damage reduction that you mentioned, did the gunboats get the increased range? (I can not see if the range was increased or not). On both of my play throughs at MG level; the gunboats were adequate and helped rout the smaller CSA brigades on that flank. They were not so effective against the CSA super brigades; but I am not sure the super brigades were within range. One thought to make them more effective without changing the current damage percent would be to give them longer ranged runs with more damage. 14pdr James or the 10pdr Parrot (for all I can see, perhaps they already have them). I am going to rebuild my army starting just after the 1st Bull Run and economize for the River Crossing and Logan's Crossroads with the objectives of having more funds available to build up what I need for Shiloh. One thing I noted about the River Crossing, taking both VPs does not seem to equate to much gain other than a few extra captured weapons. In my last play through on that, the downside to the extra weapons was increased casualties that were expensive to replace. Logan's Crossroads was not that hard, but trying to do extra damage after the VP was taken became a bit of a Pyrrhic victory. One other aspect of my army which may not have been worth the expense at this point in the campaign was placing a Brigadier General in command of the 1st and 2nd Divisions of I Corp. I had done so to see what effect it had with the 1.25 mod changes to command.

It is part of the mod. Panda will be able to explain in more detail. But in my opinion the benefits out way the detriments once you get used to it.

I understand that aspect.. in this last case, I Corp had a firm defense of the Shiloh Church area and were inflicting heavy casualties. I Corp should have held their ground, it was tactically the correct decision. In moving them back, they then set up in an unfavorable defensive area (practically no maneuverability) ; in which Buell's brigades are not strong enough to delay the CSA hordes. Part of the issue is the way the maps work on multi-phased battles; and I understand that there is no easy solution for that. One large map for all the phases would lead to very different in game tactics. Disclaimer.. I had not built the ideal army for going into Shiloh; I have been looking at how the 1.25 mod changes impact various aspects of the game. I know what it takes to win Shiloh. I was all the way into the last phase of taking Richmond with the 1.24 mod when 1.25 was released. Not a criticism of 1.25

1.23 Mod - MG level Shiloh still needs work.. In particular, in my opinion Buell's initial AI reinforcements need to come in at least as all 1* brigades if they are only going to field Re-bores, and Muskets. There is an at least 3 to 1 CSA advantage due to scaling before Harrison Landing opens up for the Union to withdraw. And while I know how to game the battle to give the Union a chance overall; it relies upon what would have been poor tactics to do so.

I have conflicting sources on whether the 2nd U.S. Sharpshooters had Sharps carbines or Sharps rifles at Gettysburg. I am inclined to believe they actually had the latter, after further reading. That being said.. I still appreciate the increased damage for carbines.

1.25 Mod - MG level Shiloh First phase is over, I was not paying attention to the clock; that means I Corp has not been pulled back, but at the present the CSA brigades are not attacking so I expect to be able to extricate I Corp when that map comes up again. My take away on the Mod... The damage modifier for terrain seems to make a big difference; I am seeing 1 * infantry brigades stationed in wooded areas being able to hold against larger manpower 2* AI brigades attacking from the open (and occasionally against 3* brigades as well). I believe I saw the results of the changes to morale regen during the 1st Bull Run Battle. While holding Henry Hill, I had 2* Infantry brigades (max condition and morale) to the immediate rear of some low morale 1* brigades (morale under 40), ostensibly to hold the line if and when the 1* brigades pulled back. To my surprise, those 1* brigades morale rose to over 80 despite taking almost continuous fire from AI. The increase in carbine damage is greatly appreciated; the carbines in the right hands made significant contributions in Civil War battles. The following is from Colonel William C. Oates of the 15th Alabama letter in 1888 to Major Stoughton of the 2nd US Sharpshooters. "Oates offered similar encomiums to Stoughton himself after the war. In a letter written in 1888, Oates told his former adversary: 'The great service which you and your command did was, first, in changing my direction, and in drawing my regiment and the 47thAlabama away from the point of attack. You drew off and delayed this force of over 1,000 men from falling on the Union left at the same time of attack of Law’s other three regiments, . . . and but for the service on your part I am confident that we would have swept away the union line and captured Little Round Top, which would have won the battle for us. . . . You and your command deserve a monument for turning the tide in favor of the Union cause'.70" The 2nd U.S.Sharpshooters deployed as pickets (skirmishers) on the Union left in the vicinity of Little Round Top were estimated to have been outnumbered 42 to 1. (for more info, this document was produced by the National Park Service http://npshistory.com/series/symposia/gettysburg_seminars/11/essay5.pdf ) Artillery is still a major factor in battles despite a 40% reduction in damage; I believe the change in range curves and increasing canister range offsets the damage reduction. Supply wagons not taking up a slot when reinforcing is also greatly appreciated. Tip o' the tam tae ye (@Panda & Johnny)

1.25 Mod - MG level 1st Bull Run - Union Victory This final phase worked as I had hoped. Basically, only the CSA reinforcements were left to make the attack. About 4,000 of the CSA reinforcements never engaged in the main battle; they were kept distracted by the Union cavalry to their rear. When they did start toward the victory point, both CSA supply units were seized and the CSA brigades turned back to try and recover the supply. With the Union line arranged in a wide V formation with the point of the V behind the victory point, CSA units moving to take the VP took enfilading fire from both wings including fire from the 10 Union batteries. Two of the three CSA batteries were knocked out by counter battery fire. The bulk of the Union losses were confined to the Union AI brigades.

1.25 Mod - MG level 3rd attempt on Bull Run The strategy tried in my 2nd attempt appears to be sound. To counter any flanking attacks on the Union left pushing toward Matthew's Hill, I sent Keyes around to the upper ford and brought them south down along the river. Sherman and the additional batteries supported the initial Union brigades positioned in the woods just north of the middle ford. Keyes pulled back north due to being flanked by an unseen CSA brigade (turned out to be Bees); but took few casualties and morale was not greatly impacted. I sent one of the initial Union brigades to cross the upper ford in order to support Keyes' right flank; both brigades were then moved south to put pressure on the CSA defenders of the middle ford. This action also flanked CSA brigades defending against the Union left advancing on Matthew's Hill. Once Matthew Hill was taken; the Union line held on the ridge line and recovered condition and for some morale. CSA brigades continued to advance toward Matthew Hill; but were now often flanked by Keyes and company. To counter any flanking movement against the Union right flank, I kept a skirmisher unit and the Union scouts far to the right of the right most Union infantry brigade. This served as an early warning system and allowed enfilade fire on the few CSA units that attacked the Union right flank. Stuart's Cavalry was a royal pain, split into several brigades they began harassing various sections of the Union line. Eventually they settled on mounting an attack against the Union batteries located at the middle ford. In addition to close range volleys from Sherman and one of the Ohio brigades, they took canister from six Union batteries while in the ford itself. Those two CSA cavalry units are now hors de combat... a third CSA cavalry unit came in from the eastern side of the ford and charged a Union battery starting to cross the ford. I counter charged with the Ohio brigade and routed them.. unfortunately they routed across the ford and ended up north of Matthew Hill. They provided 'excitement' with several close calls when Union batteries were attacked. Eventually they were hunted down and destroyed by the Union scouts (AI provided cavalry unit). Jackson's brigade attacked the Union line mostly in the center; Sherman and the Ohio brigades were brought across the middle ford along with all the Union batteries. These Union brigades were able to provide enfilade fire on the CSA brigades. The Union line from Matthew Hill was 'slowly' advanced against Jackson's brigades, while Keyes, Sherman, et al were strung out along the ridge west of the bridge (whose defense was abandoned at this point). The battle now was mostly focus fire on the most dangerous CSA brigade or on the one most damaged. Most of Jackson's brigades were destroyed before they could get back across the river to Henry's Hill. Hampton's Legion was almost the only CSA defender of Henry's Hill; once they were driven off Union brigades captured the Hill. The Union now has 10 batteries in position to defend Henry's Hill; most of the Union brigades are above 90% in condition and morale (four brigades are recovering both). Hampton's Legion has been driven off twice when they counter attacked, and there are only three CSA batteries present, only one of which is within range. There is another known CSA brigade lurking some where that is at half strength. The Union cavalry scouts are in a hidden position to the known CSA line. The timer is now at 0:26, and the Union is waiting for the soon to be incoming CSA reinforcements to counter attack. With Jackson's and Beauregard's brigades mostly destroyed; I should only be facing the CSA reinforcements.

You are getting a few extra Career points with the mod. Check the notes in your download.

Question on Division Commanders I opted to place two Brigadiers as division commanders; but I rotated them through the army commander slot to activate the 'lives in the saddle' perk. Does this perk still apply when they are back in the division command slot?

1st Bull Run... First attempt was a complete disaster; the initial Union AI brigades were completely outclassed and out ranged (Percussion Muskets still only have a 300 yard range). Here, the down grade to 6pdr seemed to take away the balance that they provided. Trying to just defend the bridge resulted in that entire Union detachment being destroyed very early in the battle. Those Union brigades took fire from CSA units that remained unseen. Even pulling back the Union brigades did not alleviate that issue; moments after pulling out of range, they would begin taking fire again from unseen CSA brigades. The second attempt started out with much promise; I sent the initial Union detachment to the ford area and positioned them in the woods. This preserved them until more Union brigades arrived. I basically waited until the entire Union army had arrived on the battle field. After resting the late comers, I began a slow push to Matthew's Hill and at the same time began pushing against the ford. This was working well, several CSA brigades had been greatly battered and reduced in numbers while counter attacking the Union line advancing on the hill. Unfortunately, despite superior numbers the push to cross the ford was greatly delayed. This delay allowed CSA cavalry to exploit the gap and basically end up in the rear of the Union line (the Union lost their single cavalry brigade when this happened as well). The 'icing on the cake' came when a battered 400+ man CSA brigade charged one of Howard's 800 man brigades located in the woods and actually completely destroyed that Union brigade that had morale and condition over 80 (it was shattered, one minute it was there the next it was not). Several other CSA brigades then poured around that flank and basically the battle was lost.

continued, Distress Call I have played through this battle twice now, once with 10 brigades and once with 8 brigades (experimenting with allocation of the two career points from Phillipi); both were wins, with the easier win coming from the battle with only 8 Union brigades. As with the Train Station, once you gain a superior position and have the numbers; it is worth playing out the battle for the captured weapons and additional brigade experience until the timer runs out; in my second play through this was 14:38. One somewhat strange occurrence (a surprise to me at least): During a series of CSA charges against the Union line defending the south depot, I lost a Union battery of 6pdrs (as in it was no longer available in the battle). After the battle, back in camp, the battery shows up with 1 gun left and no commander. Four 6pdrs were recovered and available to refit the battery.

1.25 Mod on MG level - Union Initial thoughts... The Train Station/Phillipi plays as before, perhaps a bit less frustrating due to AI changes. I used the 'do not engage the initial CSA units, and push north of the village strategy'; in my play through that isolated the CSA units west of the river and subsequently trapped them when the CSA unit holding the village routed. I experimented with the entrenchments; they still are deathtraps (the ones outside of Phillipi proper), but they still are useful late in the battle. The two "reinforced positions" in Phillipi itself are worth putting the skirmishers in them; they seem to draw fire away from brigades positions in the town. It is still a foot race when the Union needs to defend and hold Phillipi; I quick march two of the three Union infantry brigade reinforcements into Phillipi, and just let the third brigade advance at a normal rate so at least one of them comes into Phillipi close to top condition. The CSA 'Land Monitor' is not very effective against brigades positioned in town; I just focus fire on it until it is destroyed. I posted one of the reinforcing Union batteries in that little sliver of woods in the southeast on the west side of river from Phillipi; that allows for flanking fire on the CSA train and any CSA brigades on their left flank. Eventually it is brought across the river to the Phillipi side. Somewhat surprising, the CSA reinforcements coming in to attack the Union brigades holding Phillipi only brought one battery. That CSA battery was destroyed while it was in limber trying to get from the northwest side of Phillipi to the south east side. One of my strategic goals is to limit the casualties to the Union brigades that will become the Union first division. That requires some micro-management as the CSA brigades keep trying to assault the town. Once the CSA attacks are blunted and those brigades start to pull back; the battle becomes a mop up operation. The battle runs to approximately 22:18 and if you have a superior position and the numbers, it is well worth it to play it out. In my play through, this netted enough infantry weapons to supply two whole Union brigades (free is good).

Thanks.. thought that was how it works

When I am looking at the weapon tooltips.. using the SF 1861 as an example, I see the range damage modifiers listed as Short; Medium; Long; Max w/ 73%; 52%; 44%; 42% respectively. How does that relate to the damage range of 4.5 to 6?

If they are still fast movers, I will keep several brigades of 6 pdrs throughout my campaigns; there ability to get quickly from place to place was key in many of my battles.

Yep.. the tool tip is extremely helpful in assignment of weapons to units; in addition to providing some tactical options during an engagement.

1.25 Mod - Defense of Phillipi phase. This mod has some really neat additions; I particularly like the variable damage tied to weapon range. I also note that the CSA AI brigades have some raw brigades (no stars) . Mod question.. are the entrenchments, etc. still death traps or are they more usable?

That worked.. but an easier way is to use a Norton option to restore the deleted file and mark it as acceptable for future reference

I will see if I can pull the .dll from the zipfile and simply copy it by itself.. there is no indication that any other files were quarantined.

Next question.. Despite the removal of Assembly-CSharp.dll (I assume it was removed from the zipfile, during installation), the game still runs.. how do I determine if the 1.25 mod is active?

Just received this from Norton when I intalled 1.25.. never had a problem with previous versions: Filename: Assembly-CSharp.dll Threat name: WS.Reputation.1Full Path: F:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Ultimate General Civil War\Managed\Assembly-CSharp.dll ____________________________ ____________________________ On computers as of 6/30/2019 at 5:14:11 PM Last Used 6/30/2019 at 5:16:11 PM Startup Item No Launched No Threat type: Insight Network Threat. There are many indications that this file is untrustworthy and therefore not safe ____________________________ Assembly-CSharp.dll Threat name: WS.Reputation.1 Locate Very Few Users Fewer than 5 users in the Norton Community have used this file. Very New This file was released less than 1 week ago. Medium This file risk is medium. ____________________________ https://uc1f73d4c5d1a51352431f12b664.dl.dropboxusercontent.com/cd/0/get/AjwyB2vJC3EifYV5JAW9FMg2C65xhminVYbWdB2qiARDONMxbpVT8CR5ay1VrAPAfz1da17O84NWLz31oAB44aw0ZKAn0QEgjlKSG54awO0NNg/file?_download_id=7731727692832907762212943656764526494348790630624085484229385823&_notify_domain=www.dropbox.com&dl=1 Downloaded File from dropboxusercontent.com Source: External Media Assembly-CSharp.dll ____________________________ File Actions File: F:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\SteamApps\common\Ultimate General Civil War\Managed\ Assembly-CSharp.dll Removed ____________________________ File Thumbprint - SHA: f75302cc23083661e189c4e38bd4272ce8f761ae593b2a538dad835853197b7e File Thumbprint - MD5: e2dd952be12a8c439eab9f49a5d5fb28