Generals

[myer_za]

First I just want to say that this game looks incredible and I've been waiting a looooong time for another great Civil War game to come along.

 

My question/suggestion is:

 

During the battle of Gettysburg there were a lot of Generals wounded/killed and replaced.  For example, Generals Pender and Heth were injured so General Trimble was placed in command of one division and General Pettigrew was promoted to take command of the other division before Pickett's Charge.  Also Abner Doubleday and John Newton taking over the 1st Corps once John Reynolds died on the first day.

 

Will there be brigade/division/corps "woundings" or deaths in the game?  So that we might be able to play a what-if? John Reynolds hadn't died during the 1st Day?

 

Keep up the great work!  I look forward to playing this as soon as it's available!!

[Nick Thomadis]

Thank you for your positive energy!

Yes Generals in the final version of the game will be killable/replaceable.

[dagdamor1]

How much impact would the wounding or killing of a General have upon his troops? Would they affect operations within a certain range, in a certain area of the battlefield or across the entire battlefield overall?

 

It could be possible to have a chance that a General's death be ignored in the present moment if he is forgotten in the heat of battle instead of more visible and at the forefront of his soldiers' minds. In other situations, wound or death impact could be lessened if the General's staff (provided enough of them are alive) could administer treatment or at least close ranks around the General and remove him from the immediate vicinity to prevent overwhelming morale loss, similar to what happened to Admiral Nelson at Trafalgar.

 

But the long-term consequences of losing a General could be severe indeed, overall lack of speed or response entirely in conveying orders through a replacement unfamiliar with his new troops or impacting the entirety of the affected army because of less Generals spread thinner across the same amount of troops. Imagine four Confederate Generals killed in a single day of action, despite having made considerable overall gains on the field due to aggression or sound tactics. Perhaps in that one day, only the operations in the immediate vicinity/theater being affected, but when the news hits in the evening/night after hostilities, it inflicts a massive morale drop and capacity to command upon the entirety of the Confederates for the following day

 

Not to mention the choice, made personally or automatically, to kill an enemy General that was wounded & captured in close-quarters combat like Armistead was.

 

I think it would be particularly important to balance this mechanic carefully. Too little impact and the soldiers might come off as a little emotionless or unrealistic for shrugging off the loss of their commanding officer. Too much and many player strategies will cling to an approach of "General-Hunting" or "General-Killing" unless the AI is competently skilled in keeping its Generals out of harm's way, whether it be through cover, distance, protection by other units or all of the above.

 

I'm truly impressed with your work, Darth. And here I was losing interest in what seems to be an increasingly stale genre. It seems that intuitive UI and strategic depth aren't quite mutually exclusive after all.

[Nick Thomadis]

Generals in current build state represent the Corps Command and are not fighting units.

They are vital in helping your troops make resilient stands and to recover morale (We made AI to use them cleverly).

 

As development progresses we plan to simulate Death of the officers and represent properly the Division Commanders as part of this Corps General unit.

The full implementation of Generals will enhance the dramatic and role playing character of the battle that we would like to give.

More info will be provided soon with our first gameplay video.

[The Great Dane II]

Very important news indeed!
What we need is not only a good strategy game, but very important also immersion – grand strategy becomes much more interesting, when you're able to get an emotional relation up close with the commanders.

We have to care about which decisions, we make and I won't – yet again – name the company, which has forgotten all about this aspect and thus lost loads of fans...