Skirmish tactics

[Rigol]

I'm interested in war history and think I understand how skirmishers were used in the American Civil War (and the difference between skirmish troops, skirmish formations and full-blown sharpshooter squads). But can I check whether I'm using them right in Ultimate Generals: Gettysburg?

 

Generally, are people finding that it's a good idea to do the following with skirmishers in the game? These are what I do:

- Put them in front of regular infantry line units to provide some good early sniping (of sorts - still not very accurate) and act as a hard-to-hit* screen while your main infantry lines move in behind. The skimishers will retreat when the enemy line gets too close for comfort, uncovering your fresh line troops that you had behind them.

- Exploit any cover, from which they benefit especially well.

- Screen your flanks. They won't stick around long when big enemy line units are closing, but they can slow them down and scout well.

- Get around to the sides of enemy more swiftly than big line units, to shoot enemy in the flanks or even from behind.

 

Does that sound about right?

 

Thanks for any ideas/pointers.

 

Mike (in London)

 

* Although I say 'hard-to-hit', my skirmishers seem to suffer massive casualties - many more than they do to the enemy. I haven't yet worked out whether that's because their resilience is nothing special (despite them being spread out and supposedly good at taking cover), or because they usually face much bigger enemy units, or just because I use them constantly as a screen and so they see more fighting than my bigger units.

[Don't Escrow Taxes]

I think you have the gist of it. 

 

Your Skirmisher units might take unusually high casualties if they are flanked, which happens to me more often than I would like to admit.

 

Skirmishers are pretty OP but have been nerfed enough where you have to be careful with them and tehy are not as offensively useful as they used to be. 

 

Cavalry used to be the perfect fire-and-forget weapon but has also received a much-needed nerfing especially vs. artillery.  Used as part of a firing line, with their repeating weapons, Union Cav is still QUITE VICIOUS today.

 

cheers and go spurs 

 

 

Edit:  Look for opportunities to use skirmishers on your firing line for added DPS.  Remember units gain morale if they are firing into an enemy that is not firing back at them.

[Randall C. Reed]

I'm interested in war history and think I understand how skirmishers were used in the American Civil War (and the difference between skirmish troops, skirmish formations and full-blown sharpshooter squads). But can I check whether I'm using them right in Ultimate Generals: Gettysburg?

 

One of the flaws of the UGG design is that there is poor specialized unit functionality; there is poor specialization for skirmishers, vedettes, sharpshooters, and cavalry. For this post, let's restrict ourselves to skirmishers:

 

Civil War tactics were a transitional evolution from Napoleonic linear tactics to the tactics used at the beginning of the First World War. During the ACW, tactics evolved in similar manner on both sides. From the Battle of Gettysburg to the end of the War, the effects of the rifled musket and higher rates of fire increased the importance of skirmishers to the extent that, by the end of the War, maneuver warfare was a skirmish line of riflemen hunting cover and concealment from enemy fire while applying aimed fire at the enemy. By 1865, Pickett's charge was a tactical anomaly.

 

Napoleonic tactics had two of 10 companies as light infantry arrayed in front of the main body. By the end of the ACW, whole battalions were being arrayed as skirmishers and on occasion, entire brigades. This is poorly defined in the game because the trade off with linear tactics says that a company of line infantry maneuvering into a skirmish line occupies 1000% more area as skirmishers than as a two-deep battle line. This means that a skirmish formation takes fewer casualties than a battle line because the formation has only 10% of the density of a two-rank line of battle. Skirmishers took advantage of available cover behind walls, trees, and cultural objects, kept the enemy from engaging the main body, engaged enemy using deliberate aimed rifle fire at significant ranges, could mask friendly intentions from the enemy by keeping up a steady effective fire. The drawback is that a company or regiment, once in skirmish order, was difficult to reconstitute into line or column formation because a spread-out formation could not hear battlefield commands very well.

 

This function could be modeled in the game, but is not currently. The density of Buford's skirmishers is the same as a line brigade: absolutely no difference.  Apparently, skirmishers have roughly equivalent firepower as a line brigade, take casualties at the same rate as a line brigade, and suffer morale losses just as rapidly as line infantry. Both have the same "footprint" on the battle map. None of these attributes were true historically. In essence, skirmishers are not functionally modeled in the game.

 

Vedettes, by comparison, were the cavalry equivalent of skirmishers, sort of. Their primary purpose was scouting and reconnaissance and at times, screening the cavalry main body. For reconnaissance, Buford's vedettes, pushed out from the main body, will give advanced warning of the approach of enemy units. So, in that single aspect, there is a modicum of functionality in the game.

 

I plan to address this topic of unit specialization later in a different posting.

 

Enjoy!

[Husserl]

This function could be modeled in the game, but is not currently. The density of Buford's skirmishers is the same as a line brigade: absolutely no difference.  Apparently, skirmishers have roughly equivalent firepower as a line brigade, take casualties at the same rate as a line brigade, and suffer morale losses just as rapidly as line infantry. Both have the same "footprint" on the battle map. None of these attributes were true historically. In essence, skirmishers are not functionally modeled in the game.

 

 

This is inaccurate. "Light" units like cavs and skirms have completely different behavior and mechanics than the infantry brigades (range, rate of fire, cover, abilities, movement, behavior, etc.). Skirms may look similar with the infantry brigades but this is the only thing in common. I should agree that these units have the less historical representation in the game, however, they didn't play a crucial role in the battle -except the very first hours on the morning of July 1st- and the same stands in UGG: it is mainly an infantry battle. From that point of view the (very welcome and desired) criticism about the game's historicity seems unbalanced regarding the game as a whole. 

 

In terms of gameplay design, there will be always limitations in the available time, resources and technical abilities of each project that will ultimately force the initial intentions to be boxed in a final result. Every game developer wishes this process to be the way around but unfortunately (or fortunately in production terns) this does not happen and compromises inevitably will appear.

 

On the other hand we learn from our mistakes and try in every next step to be better than in previous one. In Ultimate General we remain devoted in offering quality historical game and committed to hard working and to an open, sincere relation with our fans. And Gettysburg was just the beginning...