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McMonkey

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  1. I've found melee cavalry useful early in the game, for capturing stray supply wagons, driving off pesky skirmishers and distracting enemy infantry formations & cannon. By constantly feigning an attack from behind then retreating out of seight you can force enemy batteries to constantly be turning to & fro (IE not firing on your units). If there is an isolated cannon I'll charge it, but 2-3 in a group can seriously hurt or wipe out smaller melee cavalry units. You also have to be careful when charging enemy units to force them to break. This worked for me on one occasion and the enemy infantry routed but I could not get my cavalry to respond to orders to give up the pursuit & ran right into a fresh enemy unit & were wiped out. I was raging! I've also used melee cavalry to draw away enemy infanrty who would otherwise join others in charging my own infantry lines (same kind of tactic as used on enemy batteries). As others have noted, as the war drags on into the fortified lines stage the uses for melee cavalry tend to dry up. I've captured or recovered lots of carbines and despite not being a huge fan of dragoon type cavalry I've made decent use of them as dismounted skirmishers in some battles. For the cost I'd rather just use regular skirmishers where possible. I do think the balance of cavalry works well for this game. Shock melee cavalry would be great but it could really upset the balance in favour of a canny human player who could simply send massed cavalry on wide flanking manouvers & then charge in to the enemys rear, trapping them like the Romans at Cannae. As it stands you can try this tactic but it won't be a one stroke killer blow as in games like the Total War series. I also like the way routing enemy units regroup relatively quickly instead of fleeing the field. Annoying when the battle is obviously won/lost, but more challeging to play against.
  2. Just played Iuka using a new green 4 Brigade Division of Springfield M1842 armed Infantry, 2x 20pdr & 3x 10pdr Parrotts and one 350 man unit of Sharps long-range sharpshooter rifles (there's a lot of different types of Sharps!). I held back my infantry while my long-range artillery took out the Confederates two 12pdr batteries & the Sharps picked off the enemy skirmishers from a safe range. The final assault was a bit messy, but I managed to take the objective just in time. The infantry showed their inexperience & took 2-300 losses each, but they've now seen the Elephant. The Sharps were really useful in this battle but I wonder how they will fare in grand battles when I don't have the time to micromanage them. If they were to blunder into a volley from an enemy infantry Brigade, take a few shells from an enemy battery or get caught in the open by enemy melee Cav it's a lot of money to lose for every man/rifle lost! I'm keen to continue to experiment with these elite skirmisher units as it adds a little more interest to each battle, but I'm still not completely convinced about the usefulness in relation to their cost.
  3. Pleasure to make your acquaintance Gentlemen. I've been playing Ultimate General for about a year now. I initially played the Confederate & then Union campaigns on the medium difficulty and have recently started up a new Union campaign on the hard difficulty (not Legendary) with some self imposed rules. It's a fantastic game & I really hope the developers are working on some kind on sequel (a Napoleonic version seems logical). These self imposed rules are: - When picking initial traits Reconnaissance must be prioritized and when assigning career points in game they must first max out Recon, then Medicine - Logistics - Training and Politics - Economy last. This means that money and reinforcements will be at a premium for much of the game. The exception to this rule is Army Organization which I plan for at the start of each new Grand Battle cycle. In my first games I pretty much ignored Reconnaissance until there was nothing left to spend my money on. I now make notes on the enemy army composition and keep track of this as the battle progresses so that I can predict when to hold back & when to go for the throat once I know roughly where all the enemy corps are located or whether any reinforcements are expected to appear. It also makes the game a little more difficult without setting it to Legendary. I've been reading through this forum for the past couple of days on & off to see if there are any tips or tricks I've missed. I've picked up some valuable knowledge, such as all rifles having the same basic arc. I though I would weigh in with a few ideas of my own that new players might find useful. I'm very much a 'Camp' general. Spending a lot of time husbanding my army, striving for optimum efficiency. However this is tempered by a romantic side that values historical feasibility, so I try to avoid a historical organisations that exploit flaws in the AI design (not that they have any glaring deficiencies). In my first game as the Confederates I focused on numbers over experience. On my second as the Union I focused on trying to get as many Infantry Brigades to 3 stars as possible. In this new Union campaign I'm happy with a regular army made up mostly of two star units. Any experience I gain above two stars allows me to bring in cheap recruits to the level just before my units will drop down to one star, then I top off with veterans. I tend to spend reputation points on as many modern rifles as I can obtain. My Infantry units, after the first few battles are ideally between 1500 & 2000. 3 star veterans would be ideal, but they are expensive to maintain in terms of veteran replacements. Currently (Antietam) I have 3 corps each of four divisions. Each Infantry Division has four Brigades, mostly with Springfield M1855s but with two Divs with Harpers Ferry's and one with Enfields. Each Infantry Division has one 12 gun 6pdr Battery for close support which seem to do an adequate job (I'll replace with Napoleons when I get a chance). Each Corps has one 10pdr Rifled Division, supplemented by as many 20pdr Parrotts as I can afford. For ease of supply & control I like to group my heavy/long range artillery together into independent divisions. The fourth Division of a corps will usually be a mix of excess artillery, skirmishers & cavalry. INFANTRY & SKIRMISHER TACTICS In open country I tend to advance the Brigades of my Divisions in a line abreast formation so that maximum firepower can be brought to bare on enemy Brigades & flank them where practical. In thick woods it is often better to advance two brigades deep so that if the first becomes engaged in a melee the follow up brigade can pour in support fire & hopefully tip the balance in my favour. When attacking an enemy army it is obviously advantageous, especially if they are in fortified positions behind fences etc... This may just be my perception, but firing on these positions from the flanks appears to break the enemy extremely quickly, while they are not able to bring most of their rifles to bear on you. At 2nd Bull Run I completely ignored the right flank & swung all initially available troops in a sweeping left hook, rolling up their lines before later reinforcements arrived on my right flank to assist in mopping up the remaining troops. I normally hate fighting in deep woods, but I approached this battle in a very patient & methodical manner with clear phases. It's easy to get sucked into pursuing routing enemy brigades & becoming overextended. Try to remain disciplined & bide your time until you have enough troops to overwhelm an enemy formation. They don't stay routed for long! (another good feature of the game). Brigade detached Skirmishers are really useful for all kinds of tasks. Firstly for increasing your Brigades spotting ranges, searching out enemy ambushes, moving around enemy flanks, plugging gaps in your line, drawing enemy artillery fire away from your Brigades, delaying enemy Infantry who will often stop to fire. In several battles this can make a huge difference. Push your detached skirmishers well ahead of your lines and fight a leapfrogging fire & move withdrawal back to friendly lines. The skirmishers will sustain some casualties, especially in open ground, but if you can constantly force enemy brigades to break their march to halt/aim/fire then their arrival at your main force can be fatally delayed. I've not really mastered the use of dedicated skirmisher units. I do include them in my army and they have been useful at certain points in battles, outflanking enemy units or plugging gaps in the line, but they require constant micromanagement and are fragile in comparison to the larger Infantry Brigades. Their inclusion is often dependent on the number of enemy Sharps carbines I capture. I've never really got to grips with 'Dragoons' who require even closer supervision. I'm sure I'm missing out and plan to learn to better utilize these two troops types in my current campaign. CAVALRY TACTICS I use the cavalry mostly for scouting, capturing vulnerable enemy supplies and distracting the enemy, especially their guns. As even melee cavalry are very vulnerable when charging guns if there is enemy Infantry nearby or another bun battery, if you are not willing to risk heavy casualties you can instead move into a threatening position, thereby forcing the enemy artillery to turn to engage. At this point I ride away to a safe distance. Once the enemy artillery has rotated back to fire on my main force I ride back in and force them to turn again. By this method I can prevent them firing on my forces at a critical period of the battle without sustaining casualties. I will charge guns when they are isolated of retreating, but you have to be really careful as cavalry can be wiped out very quickly. I actually think the developers did a great job with cavalry in UG. They can be frustrating to use at times, but had they been made much more powerful I think the AI would have been pretty helpless to resist a wily player who would take out the enemy batteries with surgeon like precision before engaging with their main army. If you learn to use cavalry properly they can help give you an edge, but they are definitely just part of a combined arms setup & not king of the battlefield! ARTILLERY TACTICS Artillery & Infantry are the key to my tactics. I like to keep the guns as near to the front as possible to take advantage of shell (exploding shrapnel) shot & canister. To save ammo I try to avoid long range fire as much as possible unless it's to take out troublesome enemy batteries (using the 10 & 20pdr Rifles). It's important to plan ahead where you want your guns to be at various stages of the battle. Inching them forwards 10 or so yards at a time can help keep them in range without limbering up to the horses & making them start the reloading process from scratch. I make liberal use of the hold fire button for all units to maximize their effect (wait until you can see the whites of their eyes) but especially so for the artillery. Blasting away with solid shot at long range is wasteful of ammo when it's only inflicting a few casualties at a time. If ammo is abundant then I let rip, but generally I try to stay in control & fire in volleys. This can be especially effective when firing in defense. Five or six guns hitting one unit at once can easily cause it to route, often giving your infantry a chance o shoot them in the back as they flee. The enemy Brigades will often be larger & more numerous and keen to charge your lines. Your artillery can be the difference between a bloody melee & standing firm. I'm sure there's a ton of other comments I could add, but I've waffled enough for now!
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