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Unit Naming


Frognastie

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I generally leave brigades named as they are, and keep divisions more or less together.  I do, however, add the appendices "Cavalry", "Sharpshooters", and "Artillery" for respective roles.  Nothing else though.

I do know that people sometimes name their brigades based on weapon and position in corps, though I feel like that clutters up the UI way too much and really just makes the game look ugly with all this nonsensical text floating around.  I'm still able to keep track of divisions even without that, so I don't do it.

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my scheme is:

Commander* (weapon)

where the * is an optional indicator for whether or not that unit receives veteran reinforcements

i.e. Walton* (LZ) is a veteran brigade using Lorenz rifles

This let's me see my most expensive brigades at a glance when in a battle, and decide where to use them. The front lines are usually made up of non-veteran brigades using cheap or plentiful weapons, while the expensive brigades are used as reserves and flanking/routing forces. 

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I use the following scheme for each Brigade in a Core:

Infantry:

(Number) (State) (weapon abbreviation) for example: 1st Oregon 55.

Infantry brigades always get numbered by their place on the Army management screen so the 1st Brigade is the one on the top left and then the numbers grown from left to right descending.  This lets me know what core they are from(Oregon is always my veteran units so the first core). 55 lets me know that this Brigade is equipped with the Springfield 1855. For the rifles without numbers in their names I abbreviate them similar to what DrHay53 mentioned(Lorenz gets shortened to Lz).

 

Artillery:

(Number Div) (weight of shot) (weapon abbreviation if any) for example: 1st Div 10 PDR or 2nd Div 12 PDR Nap

Artillery brigades are numbered by division but other than specifying their cannon type I leave them at that.

 

Cavalry and Skirmishers:

I tend to name these Melee or Ranged for Cav and Glass Cannons(sniper/long range rifle units) or Rapid Fire(close range fast firing units). 

 

This helps me figure out who will be best for what situation/position. Who to keep from performing holding actions(higher casualties typically) and who to use as flankers. I'll try to upload a screen shot or 2 for further examples when I get off work.

 

Edited by ptg2000
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If I am playing CSA I leave my Brigades either named as their generals, to signify the romanticism involved with them, or if a Brigade performs really well I'll think up a story for them and either give them a name associated with that story or if I can't think up one I'll turn to Fantasy Name Generator's Army Name Generator. :) The Corps get named after their General, or likewise, a story, such as the real life examples of the Irish Brigade, Iron Brigade, or Louisiana Tigers. If we could do the same with Divisions I would. 

Union I stick to strict, uniformed, government approved numbers. :P Will rename infantry brigades into "1st Infantry, 2nd Infantry, 3rd Infantry" and so on. Replace "Infantry" with whatever else the Brigade is, such as Sharpshooters, Cavalry, Artillery. Sometimes if a brigade performs really well I will name them like above. Leave the Corps in Roman numerals, though I do pick a random number between 1 and 17 if it is between 1861 and 1862, or 1 and 25 if it is 1863+ since those were the Corps raised by the Union historically during that time. 

Note: I leave out "Brigade" from the name so that the text doesn't get too small, plus the AI just leaves general names as their brigade without the "Brigade" part added into the name so it fits a little better. So the Iron Brigade would just be named "Iron" in my campaign.

Edited by Tragopan
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I use a division / brigade naming scheme, then weapon type (Rifle or Grenadier for smoothbore weapons). Cavalry are either Shock (melee) or Scout (carbines). Artillery is named gun type. The reason I do this is because merging brigades can keep them from getting destroyed, so keeping your divisions together on the battlefield is a good thing.

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Thanks guys, its good to see how others manage.  I am heading down the track of

  • Corps No. / Division / Unit Name

With elite brigades, I will likely specialise the name somewhat, and place in my 1st Corps 4th Division - aliken like the "Old Guard"

 

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I sometimes give my brigades special names once they achieve two stars after a battle, just to make 'em feel special, and usually choose a name related to the battle they just fought. Have a division that really held their own on Big Round Top? Call 'em the Hilltop Brigade. (A name I stole from Col_Kelly's tutorial videos, which you should watch). 

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Each division signifies a different state, and each brigade is named accordingly. IE my first division always represents Texas, so the brigades in it are the 1st Texas, 2nd Texas, 3rd Texas etc...

The exception to this is cavalry and skirmisher brigades. Sometimes they'll be named after the state (IE The Knights of Alabama) but sometimes they're named after their commander (Drake's Cavaliers, Dole's Sharpshooters, etc...)

I like it because it adds a sense of order, without ruining the immersion.

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5 minutes ago, Albert Sidney Johnston said:

Each division signifies a different state, and each brigade is named accordingly. IE my first division always represents Texas, so the brigades in it are the 1st Texas, 2nd Texas, 3rd Texas etc...

The exception to this is cavalry and skirmisher brigades. Sometimes they'll be named after the state (IE The Knights of Alabama) but sometimes they're named after their commander (Drake's Cavaliers, Dole's Sharpshooters, etc...)

I like it because it adds a sense of order, without ruining the immersion.

I like this.

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2 hours ago, Albert Sidney Johnston said:

Each division signifies a different state, and each brigade is named accordingly. IE my first division always represents Texas, so the brigades in it are the 1st Texas, 2nd Texas, 3rd Texas etc...

The exception to this is cavalry and skirmisher brigades. Sometimes they'll be named after the state (IE The Knights of Alabama) but sometimes they're named after their commander (Drake's Cavaliers, Dole's Sharpshooters, etc...)

I like it because it adds a sense of order, without ruining the immersion.

I'm stealing the State Division naming convention for my back end corps. It would be an excellent way to keep track of Green divisions. 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
On ‎8‎/‎15‎/‎2017 at 0:14 PM, Albert Sidney Johnston said:

Each division signifies a different state, and each brigade is named accordingly. IE my first division always represents Texas, so the brigades in it are the 1st Texas, 2nd Texas, 3rd Texas etc...

The exception to this is cavalry and skirmisher brigades. Sometimes they'll be named after the state (IE The Knights of Alabama) but sometimes they're named after their commander (Drake's Cavaliers, Dole's Sharpshooters, etc...)

I like it because it adds a sense of order, without ruining the immersion.

I do something similar--once my brigades have reached two stars I'll try to get them better weapons and customize their names so I can recognize my most reliable troops on the field.  Currently, my elite infantry brigades are The Coffee Coolers (a period term for slackers!), Walker's Tigers, the Palmetto Rifles, Daniel's Legion, etc.  I do the same thing for cavalry units.  With artillery units I'll attach the name "Rifles" after the commander's name, to show me which units have rifled guns.  I haven't generally created skirmisher units; if I need skirmishers during a battle, I detach them from my infantry, which was done historically---so I usually sell or pass on to the cavalry any skirmisher weapons I capture.  Except Spencers!  I will form skirmisher units if I get enough of those.

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I've turned my men into soulless killing machines by stripping them of their names entirely and just replacing it with it's weapon type.

Sometimes detached skirmishers can be a little confusing, but at the state of the campaign I'm at it matters much less.

 

 

If you prefer not to pause I strongly recommend including the weapon type somewhere in the name, as it will save you valuable time figuring out which unit has which weapon. If you don't mind pausing by all means go for more immersive naming conventions.

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On ‎9‎/‎8‎/‎2017 at 2:37 PM, maniacalpenny said:

I've turned my men into soulless killing machines by stripping them of their names entirely and just replacing it with it's weapon type.

Sometimes detached skirmishers can be a little confusing, but at the state of the campaign I'm at it matters much less.

 

 

If you prefer not to pause I strongly recommend including the weapon type somewhere in the name, as it will save you valuable time figuring out which unit has which weapon. If you don't mind pausing by all means go for more immersive naming conventions.

That's true, detached skirmishers do cause confusion in some of my battles, like Chickamauga!  Sometimes I find that they and cavalry units get in the way when I need to plug a gap in the line with fresh infantry.  I've found that skirmishers require a good bit of micromanagement too; you have to tell them to hold if you don't want them wandering all over the place!

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6 hours ago, galoon said:

That's true, detached skirmishers do cause confusion in some of my battles, like Chickamauga!  Sometimes I find that they and cavalry units get in the way when I need to plug a gap in the line with fresh infantry.  I've found that skirmishers require a good bit of micromanagement too; you have to tell them to hold if you don't want them wandering all over the place!

I mostly meant in the vein that when all your brigades have the same name (e.g. 1855) then when you detatch skirmishers you can't tell where they are from easily...

Skirms do take a ton of micromanagement though, and in the late game I mostly use them for artillery spotting.

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If you detached from existing brigades all you need to do to get them back into their original organization is select the skirmishers, then in the HUD, select the icon that sez, return to unit.  (Can't think of it exactly. Someone will be along shortly to provide the right terminology.)

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I use a fairly standard Army naming convention for the infantry so I can see their org structure at a glance.  An example would be "2-2-1 Volunteers".  2nd Corps, 2nd Division, 1st Brigade.  The volunteers portion denotes that they've got substandard weapons and 1-star or less worth of experience.  Decent weapons (i.e. Springfield 1855s and above) and 2-star status would be denoted by "Regulars".  3-star or 2-star Brigades that are on the verge of getting 3-star status are given special names in parenthesis such as "1-1-1 Regulars (Iron)".

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On 8/15/2017 at 9:14 AM, Albert Sidney Johnston said:

Each division signifies a different state, and each brigade is named accordingly. IE my first division always represents Texas, so the brigades in it are the 1st Texas, 2nd Texas, 3rd Texas etc...

The exception to this is cavalry and skirmisher brigades. Sometimes they'll be named after the state (IE The Knights of Alabama) but sometimes they're named after their commander (Drake's Cavaliers, Dole's Sharpshooters, etc...)

I like it because it adds a sense of order, without ruining the immersion.

(1) I liked the Divs by state idea at first, but found I wanted to reassign brigades around as needed and it didn't feel right nor useful to mix up states.  Units that do very well can get unit names.

(2) I now use states to designate greener units with the worst weapons (as state militia)  e.g. II-4 Law Penn Mil rbf

(3) Having commander names in the title is helpful in keeping track of officer casualties and other events.

I usually leave the commander name  (unless an epic unit) and prefix it with the corps and division number followed by the number of stars it has

(4) then after the commander name an equipment code (since for some reason the unit card on the left of the screen does not show that bit of useful into unless it is clicked to expand)  such as Lz or 55 or HFe or Pal etc.

so  IV-2**Jackson Fe  is armed with Harper's Ferry rifles, has 2 stars, and is currently part of IV corps, 2nd Division.

(6) Shock-purpose mounted are Cavalry" and ranged firearm mounted are "Dragoons"  -since they are   

(7) US Snipers are Sharps, "CS ones Marks or just the name .  Skirmishers are Lights  or Rangers

(8) LR is for long-range arty like the Whitworth

One thing I have not yet done is code brigades for whether they focus on firepower or speed/shock/morale

I had not thought of coding for those getting vet replacements as those are likely to be almost all 2 stars or more.

 

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  • 3 months later...

For infantry, I am using Corps-Division-Brigade-extension. An example is II-3-2-LR, meaning II Corps, 3rd Div., 2nd Bde, long range.  I use LR for weapons shooting > 300 yds and ELR (extreme long range) for 400+ yds.

Cavalry: Corps-Division-type, as in II-3-Melee. I do not have more than 1 cav brigade in a division (sorry, no cav corps!), thus the shortened numbers. Aside from Melee I use "Carb" as the other type, signifying carbine-armed.

Artillery: Corps-Division-piece.  As long as I can get and afford 12 guns, all artillery units have 12 guns. The piece is an abbreviation, like "10pdr" or "20Parr" or "Napol". I may have more than one arty unit in a Division, but they will be different pieces (usually 1 smoothbore and 1 rifled).

Skirmishers: Corps-Division-Skir-extension.  I only use the extension for ELR (extreme long range) when I have it as I would not arm skirmisher brigades with short-range weapons; LR is assumed.

If I kept commander names or "elite tags", I would have to memorize my army organization in order to keep sorted on the battlefield.  Well... I'm not often sorted on the battlefield anyway! 

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I simply name them in order of formation- 1st Brigade, 2nd Brigade, ... etc.  The most senior (lowest number) brigades have the (generally) best stats and get the best weapons.  They (generally) get the best commanders, though I make exceptions for units that are on the bubble between levelling up- I'll give a brigade a better general if it will push them up from 1 to 2 star e.g. 

The higher number brigades have the 1842/Palmettos/Farmers.  The few elite brigades that have repeaters get names (Iron Brigade, etc.).  So long as I know the number of the 'most senior meatshield' brigade is (i.e. the lowest-numbered Palmetto Brigade) at the moment, I have no trouble distinguishing between (1) elites w/ repeaters & high end weapons, (2) 'regular' shooters, and (3) meatshields (Palmettos and lower).  Those are the only 3 distinctions that matter IMO- I don't really care if a regular unit has 1853 Enfields or 1855 Springs or Harpers- they're close enough to be functionally equivalent.

Arty goes Battery A (24#), Battery B (whatever equipped with), ... etc.  With the gun type in the name, so easy to tell.

Cav just goes 1st Cav, 2nd Cav... etc.  Since I rarely use melee cav, the same approach as infantry applies- 1st Cav will have the best weapons compared to higher numbered brigades.  If I use melee cav, I'll number them 1st Hussars, etc. using the same seniority logic.

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