Union Battle 2: Distress Call (Is this the easiest battle in the entire game?)

[PegLegFatty]

Ok title aside I still could have done a lot better but this seems like perhaps the easiest battle in the game.  It was far easier than the Union tutorial or the Confederate  tutorial.

Do you guys have any other nominations for the easiest battle in the game?
Union Battle 2: Distress Call

[Jamesk2]

Well just keep playing. I did not play any Union game yet (before anyone get triggered, the furthest I've gone on the Confed side is Fredericksburg) but I don't think starting the battle with force parity and only have 1.5 KDR is big.

[Aetius]

Try it on Legendary - it's one of the most difficult battles in the game right now, due to the scaling changes they made in the last patch.

 

My nomination for easiest battle in the game is Port Republic. Your reinforcements exceed the cap, and the Union only gets four infantry brigades. It's a turkey shoot, even on Legendary. Of the major battles, Confederate Gaines' Mill is by far the easiest, because you only need to take two objectives - a wide swing around the Union right is almost impossible to screw up and very casualty-light.

Edited May 15, 2017 by Aetius

[Wandering1]

1 hour ago, Aetius said:

Try it on Legendary - it's one of the most difficult battles in the game right now, due to the scaling changes they made in the last patch.

 

My nomination for easiest battle in the game is Port Republic. Your reinforcements exceed the cap, and the Union only gets four infantry brigades. It's a turkey shoot, even on Legendary. Of the major battles, Confederate Gaines' Mill is by far the easiest, because you only need to take two objectives - a wide swing around the Union right is almost impossible to screw up and very casualty-light.

Well, I would caveat for Gaines mill that the wide swing can cause immense number of casualties if you don't walk around the north at the start, and march east through the skirmisher army that's sitting in the trees. 

Tend to think Confederate First Bull run takes the cake for even legendary easy battles; even on legendary, doubling of firearms 10 and stamina 10 doesn't make the squads even hit 1*.

[Aetius]

1 hour ago, Wandering1 said:

Tend to think Confederate First Bull run takes the cake for even legendary easy battles; even on legendary, doubling of firearms 10 and stamina 10 doesn't make the squads even hit 1*.

After a few replays, perhaps - however it's very easy to get caught and beat up pretty badly at the bridge if you stick in the fortifications and don't watch that left flank. I also suspect this is one of the battles they are addressing with:

Quote

Fixed an issue that caused AI campaign opponent strength to be either underpowered in some early battles or overpowered in many late battles.

Which probably means we'll be facing two-star Union units with 1855s in the next patch at 1st Bull Run ... which is going to be brutal.

[Andre Bolkonsky]

16 hours ago, PegLegFatty said:

Ok title aside I still could have done a lot better but this seems like perhaps the easiest battle in the game.  It was far easier than the Union tutorial or the Confederate  tutorial.

Do you guys have any other nominations for the easiest battle in the game?
Union Battle 2: Distress Call

Good question. 

It really depends on what you like. 

I like small battles, and I like defense. Put too many units on too big a board and micro becomes irrelevant.  I quickly add, many friends love nothing more than to Urrah! five full corps of infantry to victory; so I know I'm not in the majority here. 

Personally, my favorite battles are fighting withdrawals. Fall back to a position, coil, and strike back. Like a fencer doing a riposte, you parry and thrust. 

God forbid I get a chance to dig in and wait for you. Layered defense, tricks and traps, fire sacks and kill zones are my bread and butter. Malvern Hill, from the Union side, allows me all kinds of chances to allow my Grand Batteries to stripe up and draw blood. To me, it is the most fun.

And for worst battle phase: the Federal assault on Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg. Seriously, I'll stock the Fredericksburg town garrison with bottom feeder raw recruits carrying pikes if I could. Bury them as deep in the cover and I can and walk away from the computer till it finishes running and let them just take the artillery shelling. I'm not sending men to certain death when a simple demonstration of low grade cannon fodder will keep the defenders occupied while the maneuver corps takes Telegraph Road and rolls their flank. 

Ten to one: playing the Confederate campaign, my favorite battle will be Stonewall and Old Pete playing Hammer and Anvil at Fredericksburg; and my least will be the assault on Malvern Hill. 

Pretty damned impressive this one game can recreate so many different military situations; a bit of something for everyone! 

 

[Andre Bolkonsky]

46 minutes ago, Aetius said:

After a few replays, perhaps - however it's very easy to get caught and beat up pretty badly at the bridge if you stick in the fortifications and don't watch that left flank. I also suspect this is one of the battles they are addressing with:

Which probably means we'll be facing two-star Union units with 1855s in the next patch at 1st Bull Run ... which is going to be brutal.

I've spent as much time playing the early campaign as anyone.  I kept replaying through Shiloh with each patch to get a feel for how new players would react to tactical changes to the AI. 

It is rather amazing how well it is balanced out now. There were periods it was no challenge at all, then for a while it was virtually impossible. Today? There is always room for improvement, but the enhancements have been dramatic and overwhelmingly positive. . 

[quicksabre]

49 minutes ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

And for worst battle phase: the Federal assault on Marye's Heights in Fredericksburg. Seriously, I'll stock the Fredericksburg town garrison with bottom feeder raw recruits carrying pikes if I could. Bury them as deep in the cover and I can and walk away from the computer till it finishes running and let them just take the artillery shelling. I'm not sending men to certain death when a simple demonstration of low grade cannon fodder will keep the defenders occupied while the maneuver corps takes Telegraph Road and rolls their flank. 

I actually just left a few skirmishers to draw fire while the rest of the army retreated and moved out of range to the south. I think I lost maybe 50 men in the bombardment before I withdrew those, too. I left one or two brigades facing north to make sure the AI didn't try anything ambitious (it didn't) and had the rest of the corp assemble across the stream. When the map opened up I beelined it to the northernmost fortification along telegraph road, attack in echelon, defenders rout, turn the attackers north to stop any attempts to cross the stream (there were several; one division was able to stop the piecemeal attacks until I had taken Telegraph Road and could redirect more troops to help) and then used my fresh brigades to roll up telegraph road from the north. I was on the defensive for the entire last phase of Fredericksburg. Super gamey but actually quite fun. 

[Andre Bolkonsky]

3 hours ago, quicksabre said:

'Super gamey but actually quite fun'. 

I believe this is a direct quote from a Continental soldier serving under George Washington as the 'Rebels' lit their night fires brightly then made a forced night march to seize Princeton under the nose of the British. 

[PegLegFatty]

5 hours ago, Andre Bolkonsky said:

I believe this is a direct quote from a Continental soldier serving under George Washington as the 'Rebels' lit their night fires brightly then made a forced night march to seize Princeton under the nose of the British. 

Ok that is funny.