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

[Dauntless07]

55 minutes ago, JonnyH13 said:

It is planned for the mod's lower difficulties to be the equivalent to Vanilla BG difficulty at the absolute minimum, with it occasionally straying into  MG difficulty in the late game.  It is suggested the player should be comfortable with Vanilla MG or at the very least finish a BG campaign before trying the mod's BG.  

I have beaten the vanilla game on MG, that’s why I went looking for a new challenge, just not the way Legendary Mode does it, (by cheating.) I dropped the difficulty to BG, and it worked like a charm: I took the town easily. When I finally got to army management, I realized playing on MG would have been hell. Guns and Officers are expensive now, like really expensive! True, we also get more money, but I’ve no doubt it is not enough to beat the game on MG.

Thanks to all those offering advice, but I think that result screen speaks for itself. I did take advantage of options available to me, but the bottom line is there isn’t time to use some of the strategies suggested. For one, 12 pounder napoleons do not have the range or accuracy to deal with artillery batteries in heavy cover. They will also quickly exhaust their and the wagon’s ammo before sufficiently damaging the brigades waiting on the opposite side of the river, though since it’s impossible to assault a river defended by so many brigades, (after I cut off several from making it across,) you have to try. Add in the necessity to take the town quickly, and the player is left with no option but to rush across into rifle and canister fire. If you managed to pull that off in time by some miracle, then good for you, but let’s not pretend an average, (even skilled,) player could win it their first try without being very lucky.

[pandakraut]

9 hours ago, Dauntless07 said:

but let’s not pretend an average, (even skilled,) player could win it their first try without being very lucky.

First try likely not, especially on the higher difficulties in the mod restarts will be common. I'm still more likely to mess up and need to restart the intro missions than most of the rest of the content in the game. Especially if varianceMode is on you can get screwed if the AI moves the extra brigades to your crossing point. You can push through eventually but the reinforcements will show up and you're usually to beaten down to make it through phase 2. 

You really should have near infinite time to take the city though. Once the timer starts you should have nearly 6 hours. The end of day timer cutoff shouldn't be preventing you from using all of it anymore. I don't think waiting out all of the reinforcements is the best option as you'll probably run out of ammo, but it might be possible. If you can kill them all and capture a few the weapon haul would be impressive even if you take additional casualties.

9 hours ago, Dauntless07 said:

Guns and Officers are expensive now, like really expensive!

Some of the officer costs are reduced on BG and Col. Good officers are much harder to build up than in the base game. Career point bonuses have been changed from the base game and will significantly lower costs though.

9 hours ago, Dauntless07 said:

True, we also get more money, but I’ve no doubt it is not enough to beat the game on MG.

The modded campaign has been completed by multiple players on Legendary, so it's definitely possible.

Edited August 23, 2018 by pandakraut

[BCH]

14 hours ago, Dauntless07 said:

I have beaten the vanilla game on MG, that’s why I went looking for a new challenge, just not the way Legendary Mode does it, (by cheating.) I dropped the difficulty to BG, and it worked like a charm: I took the town easily. When I finally got to army management, I realized playing on MG would have been hell. Guns and Officers are expensive now, like really expensive! True, we also get more money, but I’ve no doubt it is not enough to beat the game on MG.

Thanks to all those offering advice, but I think that result screen speaks for itself. I did take advantage of options available to me, but the bottom line is there isn’t time to use some of the strategies suggested. For one, 12 pounder napoleons do not have the range or accuracy to deal with artillery batteries in heavy cover. They will also quickly exhaust their and the wagon’s ammo before sufficiently damaging the brigades waiting on the opposite side of the river, though since it’s impossible to assault a river defended by so many brigades, (after I cut off several from making it across,) you have to try. Add in the necessity to take the town quickly, and the player is left with no option but to rush across into rifle and canister fire. If you managed to pull that off in time by some miracle, then good for you, but let’s not pretend an average, (even skilled,) player could win it their first try without being very lucky.

 

I am not having much difficulty on Phillipi with the 1.22d mod on MG level; and I have certainly been playing a lot as I try to work up a Union army that might have a chance at Shiloh. The following works for me on a consistent basis.

1. I send Zook and the skirmishers slightly NW from where they spawn, avoiding the woods north of the cliff and trying to not be spotted by CSA units. If I am about to be engaged right away, I try to use only one skirmisher unit to tie up the CSA unit and keep moving Zook toward the Union reinforcement spawn area.

2. The goal is to get Zook in the vicinity of the structures sitting west of the village. I believe this area is slightly elevated and the structures provide cover. If the AI CSA units decide to attack, it will now be from open ground with no cover for them. I usually leave one skirmisher unit lagging behind Zook to provide protection for my incoming artillery and to provide flank protection for Zook. The remaining skirmishers can and should be used to flank any CSA units attacking Zook.

3. 1st Union reinforcements arrive, you should be able to move both artillery units in behind Zook west of the village area. Artillery can be used to break any CSA units pressuring Zook. I usually send Scales to the Northern Bridge and place them in the woods west of the bridge. The other Union brigades and skirmishers. are used to push whatever CSA defenders are attacking Zook and/or are in the open south of the village. If you are lucky, these CSA brigades will retreat/withdraw to the SE and not get back into Phillipi.

4. Once the CSA brigades outside of the village withdraw out of range, I concentrate on the Unit/s holding the village. I put a skirmisher on the right flank of my line to keep the Units pushed to the SE from flanking. Occasionally you need to use one of your batteries to convince those units to stay away. One Union brigade (1) is positioned at the SW corner of the village (outside of the village to start); One Union brigade (2) is positioned at the NW corner of the village (also outside of the village); The remaining Union brigade (3) (Usually Zook for me)  is positioned to be a bit SW of Scales (slightly foward of Brigades (1)(2) but within range of the CSA unit holding the village area. I position one battery within shot range of the village and centered on the village. The other battery is positioned behind brigade (3) which allows it to provide enfilade fire into the village. Remaining skirmishers are used as flankers.

5. I do not engage the CSA village defenders in melee; I keep firing until they abandon the defensive position and then slowly (emphasis on slowly) advance brigades (1)(2) through the village while keeping my artillery battery right behind them. Most of the time I can move brigade (3) to support Scales at this point. The other battery is moved up to directly support Scales, but is kept in range of the southern bridge as well. I keep the skirmisher that was north of the village in a flanking position there, and of course the right flank skirmisher needs to continue to protect that side. If you spot the CSA artillery in Phillipi, be sure to fire on it with your battery supporting Scales.

6. Keep the brigades in the village just within range of the CSA defenders on the opposite side; let your battery do what it is good at, shot for whatever is defending the south bridge, canister for any unit foolish enough to cross the bridge. Your right flank skirmisher can keep the CSA units you have 'trapped' on the West side of the river at bay. Occasionally, I will need to send a second skirmisher unit to the right flank for additional support.

7. If the AI begins to build up a defense of the south bridge, or tries to get the 'trapped' units back across the bridge, it is now time to increase the attack against the north bridge. The objective is to rout the defender at the north bridge. Many times the AI has set up for an all out attack on the south bridge, leaving the north bridge now lightly defended. Once the defender routs, keep firing upon that unit until it is out of range; after that, I usually send Zook across (it is not that I want to waste Zook, but I do not get Zook back in my army after Phillipi, Scales brigade I do). If the north of Phillipi is as lightly defended as it appears, I send Scales and whatever skirmishers are close across the bridge.  I use my northern battery to fire on any units moving to the north, and fire upon the CSA battery which is normally in the middle of Phillipi.

My skirmisher unit protects Zooks left, and Zook and Scales are maneuvered within range of the CSA battery to whittle it down. Once Zook and Scales are in position in north Phillipi; I move the north battery across the bridge to bring it into shot range of the CSA battery (sometimes I get lucky, and I get within canister range).

8. South bridge; I keep my units in place (I do not intend to cross that bridge unless I absolutely need to) and fire at anything close. The battery in the village is used to fire on any CSA unit moving to reinforce the VP. AI usually keep filling the defenses of the south bridge; I oblige them by firing on them. The CSA units that were trapped west of the river will start trying to get back to Phillipi to defend the VP; this mostly means they take enfilade fire from both Infantry and artillery located in the village. They (CSA) will take huge amounts of casualties.

9. I take the VP when the CSA battery is routed or destroyed.

10. CSA counter-attack. Fortunately they do not show up all at once. I pull all of my units back into Phillipi proper to take advantage of the building defensive bonus. I have found that putting the skirmisher units into the two defensive positions in Phillipi works well for me. AI seems to target them over my brigades and batteries. One battery is position just on the southern edge of Phillipi, the other battery is more toward the middle of Phillipi on the eastern edge. Both batteries are just inside the border of the town thus getting some of the defensive bonus. I also make sure that these two batteries will have overlapping fire.
 

11. Focus fire with your artillery upon any CSA unit advancing toward Phillipi; closest threat first, all else being even, I focus on the strongest CSA brigade. Your brigades will mostly manage themselves; you will need to micro-manage your batteries

12. Last Union reinforcements, first battery in goes to the southern side of Phillipi; second battery goes to the northern side of the town; additional battery or batteries fill in the obvious gaps. I quick march 3 of the Union brigades to Phillipi, one to the south (usually the 3*), one to the middle, one to the  north, the remaining bridgade is marched at regular speed to the middle of Phillipi.

13. Repeat No. 11 until you win. (Note: the train is mostly an annoyance now, focus fire on it when it comes into range and drive it off or destroy it) If Scales, Loomis, Walton, and Woods are in good shape at the time the Finish option comes up, it makes sense to rack up experience for those units if you can do so with very minimal losses.

 

That's how I do it on MG level with the 1.22d mod. Getting close to two dozen plays in the last couple of weeks as I experiment with different Army Organization strategies for Shiloh

 

[madmatg]

Thinking about doing Veterans, would it be possible to make recruiting veterans super expensive and then change the battle rewards to reduce recruits/gold and instead grant you multiple units of different veterancy levels already equipped with weapons of their veterancy level?

[pandakraut]

1 minute ago, madmatg said:

Thinking about doing Veterans, would it be possible to make recruiting veterans super expensive and then change the battle rewards to reduce recruits/gold and instead grant you multiple units of different veterancy levels already equipped with weapons of their veterancy level?

Increasing veteran cost is very easy. Reducing the recruit/gold rewards is fairly easy or easy and time consuming depending on the method. Giving additional reward units like the iron brigade/Forrest is speculated to be possible though it hasn't been tried.

I don't think we're likely to move in a direction that reduces customization outside of expense. Reworking reputation rewards and potentially adding additional unit rewards is on the list, though not very close to the top.

[madmatg]

I wasn't thining so much about having to keep those units but having them be how you receive recruits since there isn't a veteran and green pool you could get around that by having some veterans pop up that you could disband and then scatter throughout your other units. 

I understand though that that may not be what you are wanting to do just meant it as a way of dealing with the reinforcements work now

[pandakraut]

That is an interesting idea. I would have to see if there is any possibility of adding a separate pool for veterans. The big inhibitor is likely to be displaying that information in the UI without some horrible workaround. The issue I see with just giving the units is that they could always be used as is, potentially giving the player better units than they had, and that disbanding can get very expensive if you have a lot of extra recruits. Definitely some potential there though.

If nothing else it would likely be possible to have the player receive different amounts of recruits with better or worse stats. Could go extreme and clear out the unused recruit pool between major battles or something and have the reinforcements be randomized like the AI does. Unsure how that would work out, but worth thinking about.

 

[lightningg]

Playing MG Campaign as CSA.  Twice in a row now on start-up map I have captured the fort and several infantry/skirmisher units.  I have also captured all artillery and as a result of doing this I fail 2 out of the 3 initial objectives and end in a quick defeat  All other Union units destroyed

i'm sure this didn't happen before when I captured Battery A or B but that was before last update

pic below is from 3rd try to start CSA Campaign.  I deliberately attacked artillery from range but still ended up capturing both.  getting frustrated now lol

Edited August 24, 2018 by lightningg

[lightningg]

[BCH]

More thoughts on Shiloh with the 1.22d mod and on MG level.

 

In my last examination of using skirmisher units to disrupt and scatter the overly large CSA brigades I was moderately successful in stringing out the CSA brigades. I was able to hold the Landing  VP until 3:51 on the timer; Buell's final reinforcement had not arrived by 3:33  and with no fresh brigades to retake the VP, it was a loss.

This was played right from the end of Logan's Crossroads and I did not refit the army because all I am looking at is how to manipulate the order of battle.

 

I made no attempt to defend Shiloh Church (gaming the system IMHO); but sent the two skirmisher units south to harass incoming CSA brigades. The remainder of the Union brigades were sent to the NE corner of the map. Because the VP point is uncontested, the timer runs out before the Union reinforcements come in. Most likely due to the Union skirmishers way south of the Church, the CSA brigades never engage in the NE section.

In the next phase, I use a similar tactic.. skirmishers to the south and all other Union units to the NE. A minor engagement took place in the vicinity of the Eastern VP; but the game moved to the Hornet's Nest before additional  CSA units became engaged.

Hornet's nest phase, one skirmisher unit to the  Hornet's Nest, and all other Union units are pulled to the NE, forming a diagonal line from the north map edge, just east of where Buell's early reinforcements come in, down to the area along the river just south of the three small flat topped hills (or whatever they are).

Because CSA units are engaging the 4 skirmishers, I am able to get the original Shiloh Church group over to the NE as well just about the time Buell's early reinforcement arrive. I am able to form double lines back by artillery.

When the Landing phase starts, I am able to get brigades in fairly good condition back to the Landing defenses. I survive surprisingly long given the fact I never refit this army after the crossroads.

 

Notes:

1. Skirmisher units with throwaway weapons fared very poorly, they were out ranged by every incoming CSA units. Excessive micro-management was needed to make them effective at all.

2. Many more skirmishers are needed if this strategy is to succeed. I am going to try to hold off on creating my II Corp until right before Shiloh. This will give me the ability to have more skirmishers with better weapons.

3. The 24pdr Howitzer battery was a mistake this early in the campaign; after watching the performance of an 8 gun 12pdr Howitzer batteryat the Landing. I could have created another battery of 8-10 12pdrs for the same cost or less.

4. If the gunboats were a bit more effective; some Union brigades could be freed up on that flank to go else where.

[JonnyH13]

7 hours ago, lightningg said:

Playing MG Campaign as CSA.  Twice in a row now on start-up map I have captured the fort and several infantry/skirmisher units.  I have also captured all artillery and as a result of doing this I fail 2 out of the 3 initial objectives and end in a quick defeat  All other Union units destroyed

i'm sure this didn't happen before when I captured Battery A or B but that was before last update

pic below is from 3rd try to start CSA Campaign.  I deliberately attacked artillery from range but still ended up capturing both.  getting frustrated now lol

Thou must send those captives back to the enemy so you can shoot them dead.  It is your only hope (well I am not sure what happens when you retreat them off the map...)  

[pandakraut]

7 hours ago, lightningg said:

Playing MG Campaign as CSA.  Twice in a row now on start-up map I have captured the fort and several infantry/skirmisher units.  I have also captured all artillery and as a result of doing this I fail 2 out of the 3 initial objectives and end in a quick defeat  All other Union units destroyed

I'll see if I can turn off surrender for just those two units. This is probably an issue on nansemond river as well as I think that is the only other battle that uses the 'destroy x unit' victory condition. Or maybe I can figure out how to turn off that victory condition. It's fairly pointless as it's basically always completed when you capture the fort.

[pandakraut]

Adding a capture condition to the destroy unit goal turned out be very easy. Will probably patch sometime this weekend, will have to see if anything else can go in along with it.

Edited August 25, 2018 by pandakraut

[Dauntless07]

I have played BG up to Shiloh now, and I think this mod is pretty cool. I still haven’t learned the intricacies of the gun balance, but I notice rifles are far less powerful. It’s better to sit under fire to recover condition and charge than to trade fire, bizarre to say. Artillery support is crucial to breakthrough, but some cannons are extremely rare. Napoleons and 6 Pounders seem like the way to go early game.

I don’t get which officers to use. Getting a general to lead Divisions is prohibitively expensive, and I got unlucky, losing both high ranking Colonels in those commands, in the Shiloh campaign. I’m trying to field a 3k rookie brigade with muskets, but only gave them a Major since no officer is good enough to lead them. I never got how the Efficiency stat affected shooting and melee in vanilla. Can anyone explain it?

[lightningg]

6 hours ago, pandakraut said:

Adding a capture condition to the destroy unit goal turned out be very easy. Will probably patch sometime this weekend, will have to see if anything else can go in along with it.

Just a thought

Is it possible to re-do the Army Organisation skill.  Reasoning behind this is:

• to make Union build more flexible at early stage.  It appears that the only way to max early battle brigade set-up numbers from the 1st minor battle after Philippi (10 Union brigades slots vs only 4 CSA in equivalent battle), 1st Bull Run (12 Union brigades vs 5 CSA) and then to end up with  2 Divisions of 24 Union brigades at Shiloh Epic battle is to start campaign with 2 points in Army Organisation (AO) and plough most of Union points into AO up to Shiloh.  This restricts where other skill points can go, particularly when setting up your General and the Campaign.  CSA do not have anything like this restriction on gameplay flexibility when distributing points from starting a new campaign and early battles to max out brigade numbers (as shown in figures above).
• to help BCH in his Union MG Battle of Shiloh victory quest ( )  
• to allow greater flexibility in set-up and re-organisation of the Order of Battle for both CSA and Union Armies dependant on Objectives, Offence, Defence, anticipated enemy tactics, etc.  Allowing armchair generals to interchange brigades more easily as the campaign progresses and allow extra artillery, cavalry brigades, etc to be kept in reserve or used more freely to make battles more varied, rather than disband them to make room for more canon fodder (infantry brigades).  
• to bring forward the point where the number of brigades/divisions/corps increases and to re-introduce the 5th Corps to allow a higher number of smaller corps/divisions to operate that will fit better with the designed order of battle/re-enforcement brigade number slots on some of the mid to late epic battles

something like

1 = 5 brigades

2 = 10 brigades

3 = 15 brigades

4 = 2 Corps of 20 brigades

5 = 2 Corps of 25 brigades

6 = 3 Corps of 25 brigades

7 = 3 Corps of 30 brigades

8 = 4 Corps of 30 brigades

9 = 4 Corps of 35 brigades

10 = 5 Corps of 35 brigades

 

Many thanks for your consideration and the work already done

Edited August 25, 2018 by lightningg

[BCH]

20 hours ago, lightningg said:

Playing MG Campaign as CSA.  Twice in a row now on start-up map I have captured the fort and several infantry/skirmisher units.  I have also captured all artillery and as a result of doing this I fail 2 out of the 3 initial objectives and end in a quick defeat  All other Union units destroyed

i'm sure this didn't happen before when I captured Battery A or B but that was before last update

pic below is from 3rd try to start CSA Campaign.  I deliberately attacked artillery from range but still ended up capturing both.  getting frustrated now lol

Just a note: I usually send my cavalry up the extreme left flank to then make a hard left turn and destroy the Union batteries with the cavalry only; have you tried that tactic at the MG level?

[BCH]

3 hours ago, lightningg said:

to help BCH in his Union MG Battle of Shiloh victory quest ( )  

Going back to my save after Bull Run.

I will not fill out the II Corp until after the Crossroads battle because I do not see that II Corp is  needed until Shiloh. On BG level, I sometimes used II Corp for the River Crossing to build up experience, but have not done so with MG level.

I will try to get the I Corp skirmishers leveled up to a 1 star rating.

[madmatg]

I'm up to Washington now on MG and one thing I've noticed is that it seems like I have avoided having skirmishers in my armies as the enemy armory has progressed. I've found I'd rather have larger scaled infantry because while I'm fielding my regular skirmishers to be my eyes and ears they seem to be scaling to match that with skirmishers that are equipped with spencers and JF sniper rifles lol. Having 4-5 units of enemy 3*skirmishers with excellent rifles is pretty dreadful so I've pretty much just given up on skirmishers all together except a few SS units.

Has anyone else noticed this?

[pandakraut]

11 hours ago, Dauntless07 said:

I have played BG up to Shiloh now, and I think this mod is pretty cool. I still haven’t learned the intricacies of the gun balance, but I notice rifles are far less powerful. It’s better to sit under fire to recover condition and charge than to trade fire, bizarre to say. Artillery support is crucial to breakthrough, but some cannons are extremely rare. Napoleons and 6 Pounders seem like the way to go early game.

I don’t get which officers to use. Getting a general to lead Divisions is prohibitively expensive, and I got unlucky, losing both high ranking Colonels in those commands, in the Shiloh campaign. I’m trying to field a 3k rookie brigade with muskets, but only gave them a Major since no officer is good enough to lead them. I never got how the Efficiency stat affected shooting and melee in vanilla. Can anyone explain it?

Rifle damage starts out at around half what it is in the base game. With perks and experienced units you can get back to around base game levels. Melee is intended to be more viable and effective early on, but if you invest in accuracy you can absolutely make it through the early game with a focus on fire. Recovering condition is always good, there are severe penalties for low condition and morale in the mod.

Artillery can be very strong currently, you will need points in logistics to get access to larger numbers of them. It will take longer to get access to the best cannon either way.

Lt Colonels can lead divisions now in the mod. Better officers are preferable, but early on they are perfectly serviceable. Efficiency has an affect on most stats. Damage, reload, melee, etc. It is important but can be ignored at times though this is really a feel thing. I can't give you firm set of rules for when, but using a 3k rookie unit for melee is definitely one where a major is fine. Probably wouldn't recommend doing much shooting with them though unless it's at point blank range or you're just trying to level up their firearms at the end of a battle.

[pandakraut]

5 hours ago, lightningg said:

Is it possible to re-do the Army Organisation skill.  Reasoning behind this is:

• to make Union build more flexible at early stage.  It appears that the only way to max early battle brigade set-up numbers from the 1st minor battle after Philippi (10 Union brigades slots vs only 4 CSA in equivalent battle), 1st Bull Run (12 Union brigades vs 5 CSA) and then to end up with  2 Divisions of 24 Union brigades at Shiloh Epic battle is to start campaign with 2 points in Army Organisation (AO) and plough most of Union points into AO up to Shiloh.  This restricts where other skill points can go, particularly when setting up your General and the Campaign.  CSA do not have anything like this restriction on gameplay flexibility when distributing points from starting a new campaign and early battles to max out brigade numbers (as shown in figures above).
• to help BCH in his Union MG Battle of Shiloh victory quest ( )  
• to allow greater flexibility in set-up and re-organisation of the Order of Battle for both CSA and Union Armies dependant on Objectives, Offence, Defence, anticipated enemy tactics, etc.  Allowing armchair generals to interchange brigades more easily as the campaign progresses and allow extra artillery, cavalry brigades, etc to be kept in reserve or used more freely to make battles more varied, rather than disband them to make room for more canon fodder (infantry brigades).  
• to bring forward the point where the number of brigades/divisions/corps increases and to re-introduce the 5th Corps to allow a higher number of smaller corps/divisions to operate that will fit better with the designed order of battle/re-enforcement brigade number slots on some of the mid to late epic battles

I'm not certain, but I thought you could start with 1 point in AO as the Union and still hit the brigade caps for every battle if you keep spending points in it?

At least on the harder difficulties the only reason to go up to 24 units at Shiloh is to maximize the number of units that get deployed in the first phase. You are very unlikely to be able to fill out the 2nd corps. In some ways I like that the CSA and Union points progressions are different. The union needs points in AO and training early and has to try and make do with what it can elsewhere. The CSA is much less limited in where to put its points but is very limited in equipment. It also runs into issues later on in the campaign where it rarely gets to bring more than 2 corps to most battles.

Careful with keeping to many extra brigades around. Scaling will punish you on higher difficulties for that if you go to far with that.

I do think the 5th corps should come back, will discuss with Jonny.

[pandakraut]

2 hours ago, BCH said:

I will not fill out the II Corp until after the Crossroads battle because I do not see that II Corp is  needed until Shiloh. On BG level, I sometimes used II Corp for the River Crossing to build up experience, but have not done so with MG level.

I never spend the money on the officers for a 2nd corps until Shiloh.

[pandakraut]

1 hour ago, madmatg said:

I'm up to Washington now on MG and one thing I've noticed is that it seems like I have avoided having skirmishers in my armies as the enemy armory has progressed. I've found I'd rather have larger scaled infantry because while I'm fielding my regular skirmishers to be my eyes and ears they seem to be scaling to match that with skirmishers that are equipped with spencers and JF sniper rifles lol. Having 4-5 units of enemy 3*skirmishers with excellent rifles is pretty dreadful so I've pretty much just given up on skirmishers all together except a few SS units.

Has anyone else noticed this?

Now that the AI can actually use most of the weapons in the game this kind of thing will happen. While the AI's weapons will not scale based on yours, their skirmisher unit sizes will. Having 3 star skirmishers to help find and kill theirs seems very useful late game, but keeping those units fairly small might be preferable in many circumstances. One the upside, if you can spot and kill those units lots of good weapons to recover.

We probably will have to go back through and rework the modifiers that determine which weapons the AI chooses. Some of the choices seem very odd currently. Though not constantly facing sharps 55's even late in the campaign is an improvement.

[killjoy1941]

1 hour ago, madmatg said:

I'm up to Washington now on MG and one thing I've noticed is that it seems like I have avoided having skirmishers in my armies as the enemy armory has progressed. I've found I'd rather have larger scaled infantry because while I'm fielding my regular skirmishers to be my eyes and ears they seem to be scaling to match that with skirmishers that are equipped with spencers and JF sniper rifles lol. Having 4-5 units of enemy 3*skirmishers with excellent rifles is pretty dreadful so I've pretty much just given up on skirmishers all together except a few SS units.

Has anyone else noticed this?

I pretty much use my skirmishers to spot enemy skirmishers so my artillery can blast them, then go on to smash enemy brigades with extremely concentrated fire in the late game. Read: from Chickamauga on.

I'll generally have one Napoleon or 24lb Howitzer and one 3in Ordinance or 20lb Parrot per division, and one artillery division per corps by then (all 12 gun batteries), and I'll often concentrate them all on one brigade. I don't care how much panda and Jonny nerf guns, that kind of firepower will get results. Cav can spot for the guns too, and concentrated firepower is the way of the future. It just works.

After that, your skirmishers can do as they please.

[lightningg]

38 minutes ago, pandakraut said:

I'm not certain, but I thought you could start with 1 point in AO as the Union and still hit the brigade caps for every battle if you keep spending points in it? 

At least on the harder difficulties the only reason to go up to 24 units at Shiloh is to maximize the number of units that get deployed in the first phase. You are very unlikely to be able to fill out the 2nd corps. In some ways I like that the CSA and Union points progressions are different. The union needs points in AO and training early and has to try and make do with what it can elsewhere. The CSA is much less limited in where to put its points but is very limited in equipment. It also runs into issues later on in the campaign where it rarely gets to bring more than 2 corps to most battles.

Careful with keeping to many extra brigades around. Scaling will punish you on higher difficulties for that if you go to far with that.

I do think the 5th corps should come back, will discuss with Jonny.

I think Union would only get 8 brigades in 1st minor out of 10, then 10 at 1st Bull Run instead of 12 unless you start with 2 points in AO and then add a 3rd after Philippi and 4th after 1st minor. 

I don't mind CSA and Union having different priorities and restrictions, makes for a better challenge but just feel the Union start is too tight straight after Philippi.   I'm not too worried about maxing out on brigades at Shiloh as I have that beat most times with the tactics and army set-up  I use as MG Union 😎 and the 2 epic battles after that one use smaller forces

Regarding spare brigades - So does scaling look at whole army and not just the army you can put in the field?  

 

[pandakraut]

3 hours ago, lightningg said:

Regarding spare brigades - So does scaling look at whole army and not just the army you can put in the field?  

Short answer, yes. Non deployed units always affect scaling. This matters more on side battles because the AI only considers the units it deploys for that specific battle. The details of how all that occurs gets complicated.