Need tips!!

[PiyRe]

So i just finished my first play through as Union against a Dynamic AI. I ended up winning with a Costly victory, almost losing the whole thing on the final day as my forces were surrounded and almost completely broken. There are two major things i need help with:

 

1. How do i effectively use artillery? I place them onto of hills or higher ground, but they still end up having to move to fire on enemies. Its also really difficult for me to always be able to tell if artillary will be able to hit a unit if they are both of flatish ground.

 

2. Condition keeps screwing me over. Sometimes i will have a unit with say 30 condition and i need them to fight, so i ussue the move order and by the time they get in position they are back to 0% and just retreat, even if they are not running or have to cover a long distance. Any advice for this?

 

Thanks for your time. I really like this game but im just having difficulty with figuring out all the ins and outs of gameplay mechanics.

[Husserl]

Hi PiyRe and welcome to UG:G community!

 

The easiest way to use your artillery while defending, is to place them on the high ground and let them automatically to pick their targets. If an arty unit does not fire then it has not a clear Line of Sight. You have to move it in a better position or leave it there if it is a good strategic position. Sooner or later a hostile unit will come in its sight. There is no reason to have all your arty units fire from the start of the battle. If they do they'll be soon tired and need to recover, letting you for a period of time actually without artillery force.

 

Other ways to use your arty effectively is to make some groups having some in auto mode, other loaded with shell and some loaded with canister. In this way you can have different arty units to deal in deferent ranges and situations. Also have a look to a tactic described here: http://forum.game-labs.net/index.php?/topic/1257-artillery-not-feeling-the-love/#entry26677

[Mtp34]

_{Hi all,}

 

_{i dont want to open a new thread as this one seems to be good for me to use for my questions and impressions i won so far as i have purchased and played this game recently}

_{My excuses for any kind of spelling or grammar errors as english is not my native language.}

 

_{First things first :}

_{I saw a film about this game on Youtube and purchased it straight away with absolutely no regrets, so well done developers !!!!!}

 

_{I would have some questions if you dont mind in regards to understand better some mechanics of the game. I will not ask anything about arty as i have seen some other threads here in the forum already which surely will answer my questions about that matter.}

 

_{First question:}

_{Would it be possible in the future if you finish one part of the battle and you reach certain positions on the map that for the following part of the battle the units will keep positions or at least will not be mixed up completely so that you would need some time to reorg your units and to bring them back to the positions where you have had them before ?}

 

_{The same would be ie for the first part of the battle on day 1 where the victory points postion (500VP) on the very north of the map. If you guard this position for the Union and you move to the next map where its considered that the Conferaderates push the Union through Gettysburg that this postion cannot be hold as Early Corps spawn more less directly right from them so you are more less enclosed. Is it somehow possible that the game adopt the actual situation and use it for the next part of the battle ?}

 

_{My last question would be in regards to formation of infantry units. If you tell them to move to a certain position and let them "walk" it appears that if the arrow which indicates the movement is longer then a certain length the unit changes automatically in another marching formation which allows the enemy arty to cause more casualties within my troops in relation to the standard formation. I had this issue yesterday a couple of times with the Confederates in the first part of the battle on day  where i knew somehow how the enemy will react if i move towards them but their one arty battery shradded Davis brigade hardly as they have changed formation which i didnt want them to do.}

 

_{A lot of text i know but i hope you can give me some feedback here.}

 

_{Thanks a lot}

_Mtp34

[Nick Thomadis]

_{Hi all,}

 

_{i dont want to open a new thread as this one seems to be good for me to use for my questions and impressions i won so far as i have purchased and played this game recently}

_{My excuses for any kind of spelling or grammar errors as english is not my native language.}

 

_{First things first :}

_{I saw a film about this game on Youtube and purchased it straight away with absolutely no regrets, so well done developers !!!!!}

 

_{I would have some questions if you dont mind in regards to understand better some mechanics of the game. I will not ask anything about arty as i have seen some other threads here in the forum already which surely will answer my questions about that matter.}

 

_{First question:}

_{Would it be possible in the future if you finish one part of the battle and you reach certain positions on the map that for the following part of the battle the units will keep positions or at least will not be mixed up completely so that you would need some time to reorg your units and to bring them back to the positions where you have had them before ?}

 

_{The same would be ie for the first part of the battle on day 1 where the victory points postion (500VP) on the very north of the map. If you guard this position for the Union and you move to the next map where its considered that the Conferaderates push the Union through Gettysburg that this postion cannot be hold as Early Corps spawn more less directly right from them so you are more less enclosed. Is it somehow possible that the game adopt the actual situation and use it for the next part of the battle ?}

 

_{My last question would be in regards to formation of infantry units. If you tell them to move to a certain position and let them "walk" it appears that if the arrow which indicates the movement is longer then a certain length the unit changes automatically in another marching formation which allows the enemy arty to cause more casualties within my troops in relation to the standard formation. I had this issue yesterday a couple of times with the Confederates in the first part of the battle on day  where i knew somehow how the enemy will react if i move towards them but their one arty battery shradded Davis brigade hardly as they have changed formation which i didnt want them to do.}

 

_{A lot of text i know but i hope you can give me some feedback here.}

 

_{Thanks a lot}

_Mtp34

Welcome to the game!

The next battle actually uses with a limited freedom the previous armies' positions. So if at the end of the battle you had 3 units near Blocher's Knoll and next battle is near that area, you will see these units starting from this location. Not sure if this is what you asked.

About units making auto-columns, we think that the functionality to make a column in case of large movement patch gives more than it takes. You are right that some times this is not needed, but imagine if you had to do this manually for every unit you want to march fast. We could add an additional button to control this for users who want to force line, but again, this could result in some undesirable micro-management, forgetting which units are enabled to make auto-columns or not. 

I suggest you make smaller movement paths if you want to attack nearby enemy and longer paths to be done with a curve behind your lines, not towards the enemy. We will also check what else can be done to optimise this auto-column functionality.

[Mtp34]

Hi Nick,

 

thank you very much for your feedback and advise. Yes that is exactly what i meant in terms of getting the units placed on a slight different position in relation where they have been at the end of the previous battle.

 

Just one question came into my mind when reading through some threads in this forum.

 

How can i avoid that my troops automatically align themselves to the nearest enemy brigade, means ie when i advise a certain of my brigades to hold a position and look in a certain direction they chnage direction automatically when a morally broken brigade passes by.

I had that situation yesterday a couple of times on my final push in the last battle where my units changed direction and got huge volleys in the side even if i told them to hold position.

[Husserl]

Hi Mtp34! You can use the Hold button (or the H key) to command your unit to hold position. Your unit will stay in its current position until it will be re-ordered, or fall back because of a low morale.

[blueakomoon]

Hello to PiyRe,

In using artillery for the Union, I have a trick that almost always seems to work. Put the batteries out in front of your line and force them to use canister. Attacking brigades will target the batteries first, usually by charging them. And even if under fire, batteries don't take nearly as many losses as infantry do (Patch needed?). This then brings the attacking brigade into range of multiple batteries all using canister and then your line of infantry. Unlike artillery, infantry can fire over/through batteries. Just make sure your brigades are on hold orders so they don't move when your batteries start to fall back through your lines. I've used this defensive strategy to obtain 5/1 kill ratios during battles. Unfortunately, this doesn't work well when on the offense or as the Rebels as their artillery is weaker than the Unions.

[David Fair]

If you keep your artillery on the flanks of your infantry divisions and in line with the infantry you will suffer fewer artillery casualties.  Let the artillery fire "canister" then hit "fallback" to give the artillery time to reload.  As soon as your artillery is reloaded and at 100% then hit "fallback" with your infantry to get them back in line with your artillery.

 

Attacking infantry seldom last more than 4 rounds of canister.

 

On the attack I usually use 4 batteries together with at least one infantry division.  3 batteries are loaded with "shot" one with "canister".  Try to get 3 rounds of "shot" on the targeted enemy unit.  Wait for the artillery to reload.  Then advance the infantry with the single battery loaded with "canister".  This usually takes care of defending units even in heavy "cover".  If necessary you can load all of the batteries with "canister" to dislodge defending units.  Try to keep your artillery out of range until the infantry fires, then move forward with "canister".  This should help preserve your artillery on the advance.

 

 

IMO - NEVER SET ARTILLERY ON "AUTO". 

"Auto" does as much damage to the artillery firing at long range as it does to the enemy target unit.  

"Auto" targeting is really dumb - it will fire on skirmishers/videttes until the artillery routs.

The impact on the skirmishers/videttes is minimal - especially is the target units are in "cover". 

"Auto" will crash the "morale" and "condition" of your artillery resulting in them routing.

"Auto" was an attempt to free players from artillery micromanagement.

"Auto" simply makes artillery to fire until they rout - then you don't need to micromanage them.

"Auto" is ridiculous and a disservice to new players.

 

You can't avoid artillery micromanagement in UGG - and expect to do well in UGG.

[R.E.B.Blunt]

You do not need to ignore "Auto" targeting. You can simply hold some units behind a ridge or behind a obstacle of some kind.

 

When I play and I do not feel like micromanaging. I simply only bring up like 2/3 of my guns keeping 1/3 in reserve. Ill put half of those up front on my battle line and the other half on ridge tops. A couple guns on the flank that can cause enfilade fire on enemy usually the fattest Batteries I have. Guard them with a Skirmisher or a brigade so they do not die. I will let them all sit on "Auto" only one or two i will drag forward and use canister. For the Confederates the key is not losing your batteries early. Then second goal is to kill off as many Union batteries as you can as soon as you can. As your cannons rout you can bring some up to replace them.

 

The Union have a much larger group of Infantry and Artillery. If they can survive past the Second day they are almost certain to have victory. If you can rout the Union guns early you have a much better chance surviving through to Day 3. The Union just needs to play defensively fall back and keep your units in-tact.

 

It is not impossible to win as Rebel or Yankee on Determined and never change targeting from "Auto".  Done it many times. Although you can keep your Batteries alive a lot longer if you control their firing manually.

[David Fair]

PiyRe requested help regarding:

1. How to effectively use artillery, and

2. How to preserve the condition of artillery.

 

Auto is not an optimal answer to either of his questions.

 

It is true that you can hide artillery on reverse slopes where they don't have a LOS to a target.

But, if the situation changes and your artillery gets a LOS to a target AUTO will fire and continue to fire.

Eventually Auto will destroy the condition and morale of any and all artillery units with a LOS.

 

How does saying, "it is not impossible to win with Auto", or "done it many times" help answer PiyRe's question?

[R.E.B.Blunt]

How does saying, "it is not impossible to win with Auto", or "done it many times" help answer PiyRe's question?

 

Just giving him other options instead of Micro-managing your guns, that can be tedious and is not necessary for victory.

 

 

IMO - NEVER SET ARTILLERY ON "AUTO". 

"Auto" does as much damage to the artillery firing at long range as it does to the enemy target unit.  

"Auto" targeting is really dumb - it will fire on skirmishers/videttes until the artillery routs.

The impact on the skirmishers/videttes is minimal - especially is the target units are in "cover". 

"Auto" will crash the "morale" and "condition" of your artillery resulting in them routing.

"Auto" was an attempt to free players from artillery micromanagement.

"Auto" simply makes artillery to fire until they rout - then you don't need to micromanage them.

"Auto" is ridiculous and a disservice to new players.

 

You can't avoid artillery micromanagement in UGG - and expect to do well in UGG.

 

You can do well in UG:G while using nothing but AUTO targeting. I've done it, it is possible is all I am saying.

 

Although you are correct in all your observations including how AUTO targeting will crash "Morale" and "Condition" if you can win your battle before Day three and become decisive in your actions. You do not need to bother trying to keep your guns alive for longer than Day 2 if you do as I said.

 

PiyRe requested help regarding:

1. How to effectively use artillery, and

2. How to preserve the condition of artillery.

 

 

While using nothing but "Auto" The goal is basically good placement of your guns on key ridges in multiple angles. Keeping guns in reserve also helps. I find no need to bring all my guns to bare. Other than its funner than hell setting every single one of my guns on my front line and watch them blast away!

 

Usually if you are in Day 3 and you are Confederates you are drained on Infantry numbers anyways. Having a couple extra guns in your arsenal because you spent past battles micro-managing does not help that much. Is it really worth all the extra work? Sometimes it is I guess, But for the most part I don't think it really is...

[David Fair]

But isn't moving your guns around to the perfect firing position for "Auto" just a different artillery micromanagement alternative?

Finding perfect position for artillery is alot of micromanagement IMO.

 

I've won with "Auto" as well - but I don't really see how that answers the question.

It not that it is impossible to win with "Auto" - just kind of dodges the question.

Telling him "Auto" is the solution to preserving the condition of artillery seems a bit like Microsoft "help" to me.