[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

As always, much love to the modders.  I've loved the many evolutions of the game and the mods have lent it much greater lifespan.

I am not the most talented player but I know my way around a Harper's Ferry 1855.  I'm running the 1.27.1a mod on a Major General Union campaign.  I've had some good luck (I only took 4,000 causalities at Malvern Hill) and worked through some unexpected surprises (CSA chewed up my flanking maneuver at Fredericksburg).  I know what usually works for me as a player but I've loved the way the mods have made me adapt (good bye 1000 man skirmisher juggernauts). 

I have, however, stalled at Stones River.  I usually like to pull back and make the CSA attack over open ground where I have better sight and shorter internal lines of support.  Nope, got overrun 2 or three times.  I tried defending the trees in the south and have been torn apart in the center.  Put my best corp in the south?  No dice. 

Of course, the only time I pulled off a successful initial phase, fought off a CSA charge in the middle that almost broke me, and was in the process of mopping up, my game crashed...my joy evaporated. 

I know there is no one strategy and much depends on your particular set up but I'd appreciate any words of wisdom for Stones River.  When I've gone to look through the approach by other people, I can't seem to find anyone playing 1.27 and making videos.  I fear the time has past.

I'd appreciate any help. 

Also, I know this is a bit early, but I can't wait to see if you guys end up making mods for Ultimate General:  American Revolution

https://www.ug1775.com/

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

Along the lines of what dixiePig has mentioned about The Historical Officers, I was thinking about historical units.  I know you get Forrest's Cavalry and the Iron Brigade W and you can always name a unit what you'd like.  I wish there was a way to spend reputation or money to acquire actual units that had some resemblance to the perks you'd associate with them.

Maybe after Bull Run you could use 7 reputation to acquire The Stonewall Brigade, 2 Star Unit, with -25% fire damage morale received, plus the melee/speed perk. 

I know that's asking a lot.  Given what I've read through this thread, I'm not even sure it's possible.  That said, given the miracles worked by Johnny and Panda with game play mechanics, I'm reluctant to think anything is impossible.

respectfully,

gracchus

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

Observations about 1.27.1

New Union MG campaign.  Love the feel so far.  The ability to knock out the CSA unit in town and get them to route was a pleasant surprise.  The AI seems to be a bit more logical about their breaking point.  All serious pluses that make melee more palatable to me, a guy who would prefer to get cover and shoot all day. 

 

Curious how people are spending their career points in the new version.  I went heavy on experience points, a hold over from 1.24 when perks were all that mattered, but find myself curious about using more economy or logistics.  10 units at 1st Bull Run has appeal to me but economy seems to knock down the price of officers as well.  I have an urge to go back and set up my career to favor the economy points and get better officers from the start.

 

What's anyone else doing?

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

Thank you much.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

Panda, do you still post game play videos anywhere? 

If not, do you know of anyone playing 1.26 and posting videos? 

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

1 hour ago, Grimthaur said:

The Hammer and Anvil was first used by the greeks as far as i know. It depends on very mobile units in contrast to defending entrenched positions.in UGCW it is a bit like dancing on a razors edge, you have to constantly adjust your positioning anticipating the ais movements.If you let your guard done once your whole line will collapse

Love a good history lesson!

Thanks for the reply and tips.  I can't even count the number of times positioning has killed me in this game.  Yet, I still love it and the mods just keep extending my enjoyment.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

4 minutes ago, Grimthaur said:

I wrote down, wich unit spawns where so i could distribute my forces the right way (unfortunatly on a piece of paper) but you can also watch playthroughs and write it down, dont have to speed through yourself.

For me, focussing my eltite units on P1 and deploying no guns in P2 was the key to success. Nearly wiping out the AI on P1 while not capturing church so you have enough time to reposition your forces before p2 starts and creating an arch from the east with your green units on P2 allows the simple hammer&anvil strategy once the map opens up. I prefer to hold as long as possible on P2 to deal more DMG and to recieve reinforcements in that phase already. Its still a very hard battle but if you manage to create a semicircle from the woods east to the church over hornets nest up to the elevated woods next to the coast you should be able to hold there. Imho artillery needs the movability perk to be efficient here, especially if you want to rely on Napoleons and 24pds. I would rather go for longrange to have effective antibattery because at least for me the biggest menace is ***artillery with 20 or more longranged guns.

Much appreciated.  I just get rolled during the mass charge on Part 1.  I've tried to balance my deployment but end up with unexpected distributions that kill me in part 2.  That is, if I've survived part 1 intact.

I'm indebted for the advice and will take it to heat. 

The "hammer and anvil" strategy reminds me of Phil Caputo's A Rumor of War about his experiences in Vietnam.  He makes a number of references to it as the standard Marine procedure.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

58 minutes ago, pandakraut said:

The deployments at Shiloh are weird. What I do to get them sorted out is start the battle, write down which units spawn, then go back into camp and see what slots those units are in. Then I move unit around so that those slots are filled with the units I want. Doing this up through the second phase takes a bit more work, but you can increase the fastForward setting in the configFile to speed up the process.

The 1.25 videos for Shiloh will be a bit more helpful. 1.24 is basically let artillery kill everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55T6amKxoJk&list=PLNFTAFys32_8_OFQir6FNqGoo0y13UZMm&index=11

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RO1pcRGkrg&list=PLNFTAFys32_8_OFQir6FNqGoo0y13UZMm&index=12

 

As always, thank you for both the tips and the quick response.  If you're not a game developer in your paid work, you should consider it.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

I'm back in familiar territory.  I'm playing a Union campaign on MG, 1.26 mod) and Shiloh has proven to be my undoing.  I've built up with good results with heavy emphasis on experience and a second campaign with heavy logistics/economy focus.  I've also blended the approaches.  I've got 4 2 star INF (1100-1500) with 2 BG spread in my 3 divisions, 5 artillery (4 are 1*), and 2 1* Cav (1 shock, 1 carbine).    I've watched the 1.24 video by Pandakraut about the legendary campaign (AO is very different now and changes that ability to set up camp) and I'm stuck. 

Also, what is the rhyme and reason around how your units deploy at Shiloh?  3 divisions, not where I expect them, I'm sure I'm just missing something.  I'm not looking for "the secret," I know it's about how you play more than anything else, just hoping for suggestions.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

5 hours ago, pandakraut said:

I haven't heard of anyone trying a mostly skirmisher setup in the new version yet, so any feedback along those lines would be appreciated.

For reference, fighting the Union Campaign on MG.

In 1.25 I was a skirmisher heavy army on either side.  Once you hit 3 stars, those units were unstoppable. 

I tried the skirmisher heavy approach with 1.26 and found that the charging of larger AI units was almost unstoppable in the early missions.  Thinking I was smart, always mistake 1, I rolled into distress call with 4 skirmisher units at 750 with a mix of 1841s and 1855s to compliment a pair of artillery and my infantry.  The infantry had no stopping power, 1 star at best that early, and questionable weapons to say the least.  Needless to say, I got rolled.  2000+ man CSA mobs, 1 and 2 stars but equipped with charge bonuses, didn't notice the volley or two I could get off when they were in range and I was falling back.  Even the tried and true crescent moon formation in the SW woods couldn't save me.  I had to restart (went heavy training backstory) and bake some 1500 man infantry units of 1 star to make anything work.  I had 1 skirmisher unit that picked away at the units to the NW from cover of the woods.  Not really effective.  At Bull Run, new skirmishers were almost useless.  I need the new infantry units to face down the 12k man disadvantage I was at to start the battle. 

Grains of salt, I'm not the best player but I enjoy playing.  I've beaten both campaigns on MG in vanilla (oh the days of the OP artillery) and in the 1.25 mod (love my light infantry).  I like to watch the YouTube videos Pandakraut puts out when I'm looking for inspiration.  I feel competent at what I do but also love the new challenges of being beaten by the game with the new mods.  I've found a use for melee cavalry in the new mod, though it's not cost effective until later.  Right now I'm staring at the Shiloh challenge.  Only outnumbered by 11k or so, but I also know that this battle is a deployment puzzle for me (I haven't memorized how 2nd and 3rd divisions get split on the initial phases) and will grind down my best units.

In the end, and belatedly in short, I was a huge skirmisher guy in 1.25 but have really struggled to employ a similar strategy in 1.26.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

On 7/28/2019 at 4:36 PM, BCH said:

Thanks..

They were taken with a Canon EOS 80D; mostly were shot at ISO 100.. I let the camera do most of the 'work' rather than manually adjust the settings, as my wife and I only had a limted amount of time for each battlefield as we headed south. I had a tripod.. but elected to leave it in the Jeep. Next time around I have some settings I want to try out with the camera.

The Napoleon and crow at Monocacy was out of eight separate photos with different settings.. the crow obliged, so I kept shooting photos.

 

Forgot to include the Burnside Bridge at Antietam, from the Confederate position..

The Confederates held the high ground.. Once you actually stand on the spot, you understand why the Union took such high casualties here.

Antietam and that bridge give me nightmares.  

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

BCH, the pictures are incredible.  I compliment both your clarity and eye for composition.  Gettysburg has always been awe-inspiring for me.  Thank you for sharing.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

On 7/24/2019 at 9:39 AM, BCH said:

If people are regularly winning at Shiloh on the MG level with the 1.25.1a mod.. I would like to know how you do it.

Because I am no longer even coming close to pulling it off.

I wouldn't call it regularly winning, but I got a win, absolutely a pyrrhic victory.  It destroyed my army, nearly 2/3rds gone, and I've been unable to rebuilt it well.  I can't get a satisfactory result at Seven Pines now, back to the start. 

As for Shiloh, I brought 18 brigades, 4 artillery, 4 skirmishers, and 10 infantry.  I made a stand at the river on the first map, had a 1000 man musket unit in the farm and 2 artillery units cover the river.  I was able to hold out until the opening of the map, bailed on the east side quickly, and the lack of ammo killed me.  When my third division showed up, I was able to fight a delaying action.  Waited to move back to Pittsburg Landing until ordered to do so.  The fortifications were ok but had to spend time counter charging 5000 man Confederate units.   It was very much an attempt to pull off a Pandakraut defense.

 

Final tally saw my 43,000 men, about 20,000 from the AI I believe, defeat a CSA force of about 53,000.  I found myself in camp with 7,300 men left.  It hurt me a great deal on many levels.  Not worth winning.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

On 7/20/2019 at 9:32 PM, pandakraut said:

That sounds like the mod is at least partially installed incorrectly. Most of the weapon names should be modified, so check that the resources.assets file was overwritten. Also, if the dll is installed correctly you should see the mod name in the main menu version.

While likely not the main issue, make sure you have at least one infantry unit in your army before trying to give infantry weapons to skirmishers. The mod relies on that infantry unit for it to work.

You are correct, I messed up the install.  Fixed it now.  Thank you for the response.

Also wanted to express my thanks for all the great work represented here.  This was a great game even in vanilla.  It had flaws but I loved it.  Now, however, the game is incredible.  I've enjoyed adapting to the new perks and changes in artillery.  It's easily my favorite game.  Thank you again.

[J & P Rebalance Mod by JonnyH13 and Pandakraut 05/06/2023 1.28.4]

Did the guns go back to the original names in the 1.25.1a update?  I was looking through these posts and didn't see a clear answer.  Also, the skirmishers don't seem to be able to use infantry weapons anymore.  There is also the possibility that I installed the mod wrong.