d714
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Joined: 4/11/2007
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TIPS FOR WINNING AS THE NORTH
I had posted this in my AAR where I played as the union and Gil suggested I quote this on the main forum to compliment Valdemar's post on Southern Strategy. Note that this takes under consideration the "southern hordes" issue that may be tweaked on a future patch:
1.) Do not fight toe to toe with the CSA army unless you have 3 to 1 advantage – At least until you have well trained troops, maybe by 1863. Their morale, weapons, leadership, will be superior until this time and you will get your butt kicked. Also confederate brigades are larger than yours.
2.) Try to get the CSA to attack you, not the other way around - You get some good advantages to being the defender. Most importantly you get to choose your defensive ground – see #5.
3.) Draft and muster – some disagree because the quality of troops are not there and you risk a city going into unrest. However I found it the only way to fight the “confederate hordes” problem. You can put them with a good general for a few turns to improve their quality. At the very least you can use them as cheap garrison troops for the provinces you conquered. Be aware of risk however, you don’t want to draft from a huge resource rich city like New York if they have 30% risk of unrest.
4.) Capture enemy brigades – The confederate AI builds so many camps that just inflicting casualties does not work, you will find them back to full brigade strength next turn. Usually you must surround an enemy brigade to compel them to surrender. If the CSA is close to routing move your brigades into column so you have the range to move your brigades around them and encircle them. Cavalry helps. Also chase down and eliminate those CSA containers because if you leave them alone with 3 depleted brigades they will be back in a month with 12 full strength brigades.
5.) Chose your ground well in detailed combat – In my opinion the game does not reflect defensive good ground well in terms of the high ground, or, for instance, “the sunken road” type of defensive hexes. What they do model well is movement. If you want to flank, or are outnumbered and are at risk of being flanked (which the AI loves to do) be aware of rivers, swamp, mud, etc and use them to protect your flanks. If you get a map with plenty of rivers or swamps you can forget about any numerical advantage you have. It will be very difficult to maneuver and extend your line. If you get to choose a map and you have the numerical advantage choose an open map without many rivers or woods, if you do not have the numerical advantage choose “many rivers, many woods”.
6.) Move in close in detailed combat – Again, you just can’t fight toe to toe with rebel troops and expect to win. The best you can do is approach from the front to pin a CSA unit down in place, do not even bother to engage from the front, but approach another unit on the flank and engage with that one. Keep your brigades together from the same division – you get a boost to your flanking attacks.
7.) Watch your supply carefully in detailed combat – The AI has this advantage as they must use some complex algorithm to determine exactly which of their brigades to supply at any given time. I rarely see an AI unit go out of supply. Keep a good eye on your brigade supplies, I had to click on each brigade each turn to check supply levels. A pain to do, but you will be at a severe combat disadvantage if they fall out of supply. Also be aware of the penalties for fatigued troops. Most of the time they will be pinned in combat, but if you can move them back do it and move a fresh brigade into line.
8.) Shift your resources carefully. I had plenty of iron and horses, I am not sure if that was because I set the historical setting. But I always had a shortage of money and, to a lesser extent, labor. Also weapons. Don’t be afraid to shift resources from labor to money, or to impress funds from the states (at the risk of aggravating the governors). By late1863 resources should not be a problem at all. Also, to increase money, put some of your armies on “no supply” for a turn or two if they are not facing combat.
9.) What to build – during the early years I built camps, mints, armories, hospitals where my troops were stationed, arsenals because I had a tough time competing with the CSA weapons improvements, and at least one of each of the research buildings in the first 4 months or so. Mustered as much as I could (didn’t start drafting until later) to save money and built a few artillery and cavalry units.
10.) Don’t bother digging in unless you have brigades with the “no fatigue” quality. I just did not find the benefits worth it. Must of my brigades end up fatigued after I dug in and then the CSA would just flank around the trenches. Wish this was modeled better in this game because in the war digging-in was extremely effective, even in the beginning of the war (remember Lee was nicknamed “the king of spades” back in 1862.
11.) Best advancements: a.) Invalid corps – gives you a 33% boost to replacements from your camps. You’ll need them. b.) Moisture proof cartridges – I lost a major battle due to rain. c.) Extended service – this increases corps size by 20%, from 3,000 to 3,600 so at least you got a fighting one on one chance against a CSA brigade. d.) Fortification and siege technique improvements – because during the later part of the game you will be engaging in tons of sieges. E.) Improved Springfields – big improvement over regular springfields and at a certain point you will run out of regular springfields and pay a premium for them, these will actually be cheaper. F.) Dragoon tactics – if you have cavalry, lets them attack as much as three times in a turn, can be devastating to be on the receiving end of this.
12.) Consider an amphibeous attack into South Carolina (not New Orleans - the CSA AI will push you back into the sea). It can work. For me it was the turning point of the war. The key here is to move another smaller division from the north into undefended CSA provinces to link up with your coastal unit, thus you can "officially" occupy the province and expand outwards.
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