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RE: Amyone still here for help? - 1/31/2015 7:22:24 PM   
Bearcat2

 

Posts: 577
Joined: 2/14/2004
Status: offline 		Assuming this is the July 61' start
Hmmm; I never invade KY first as the Union, I build up forces in Cairo[Lyons], across from Louisville[Halleck] and Cincinnati[McDowell or McCellan]. I make sure to have at least 1 cv in each with Cincinnati having 3 or 4 -1 unit brigades, Paducah and across from Louisville each have up to 40 factors. I also put an army cmdr in each. The only thing you have to watch out for is if the Confederates invade Paducah and put in hvy art, in which case you need to use your gunboats to attack the fort first and hopefully eliminate them; sometimes you do not have the initiative to do this, in which case you have to defeat the hvy art in Paducah in the same turn as you invade.[move gunboats first- attack with them BEFORE moving your inf into the territory, if you have the movement points, you can attack more than once with naval units]

I also think it is a losing proposition for the Union to attack in the east toward Richmond, just take the VP hit because every time you lose a battle, you make the Confederates stronger
The most important thing to do as the Union player is to draft on the first turn or you will be outnumbered by the Confederates.
I think the 2nd most important thing to do on the first turn is to recruit 2 inf leaders in the WEST, because they are Halleck and Grant and you make Halleck an Army cmdr.
Remember that you can recon with cav; but if you plan on attacking a area with naval and land, you attack with the navy first [naval bombardment] before moving attacking land units.
Overruns are your friend, only takes 1 unit to overrun an undefended area and all of Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia and Maryland are undefended areas. It takes 6inf to 1 enemy factor to overrun normally, so plan for that when distributing your forces.







_____________________________

"After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun."--1837

(in reply to ryan1488)
Post #: 31
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/1/2015 7:39:41 PM   
JonBrave

 

Posts: 120
Joined: 8/6/2006
Status: offline 		I am digesting your observations, thanks!

I have indeed sacked both the "Mc"S. I have also actually finally taken Paducah! Which is very pleasing, if a little futile. The bottom line is that I have about 550 PPs while the CSA has 1K+; and his total number of troops outnumber mine (I've lost more), which sucks, as every other Civil War game I've played at least I'd always have more troops if I played the North! In all honesty I wouldn't even vote for myself in the Election

(in reply to Bearcat2)
Post #: 32
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/2/2015 5:34:34 AM   
ryan1488

 

Posts: 160
Joined: 6/28/2008
Status: offline 		Recruitment drops lower as your points drop. When you're playing a good union opponent who gets on a roll they are almost unstoppable. Believe me I've been there.


(in reply to JonBrave)
Post #: 33
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/9/2015 12:18:15 PM   
JonBrave

 

Posts: 120
Joined: 8/6/2006
Status: offline 		Well, I persevered to the end (unusual for me, I usually give up games after a while, so this must have formed a good impression!).

After Lincoln's defeat, I lost in January '65, to a decisive Confederate victory I had complete blockade, most of the Mississippi, a few regions invaded; no progress at all in the East, and still not the whole of Kentucky. Basically, the CSA could always muster as many/more troops anywhere I tried to push (in fact, if I had been him, I think I could have attacked more in the East and won). I think in the whole game I only had a couple of reaction phases, so he barely attacked anywhere at all.

Here are a couple of random questions/observations:

* By the end, I had like 40 troops in my "damaged" queue, but no chance or bringing them back as the build states would always go to negative manpower, I could just bring maybe 1 troop back in per turn. There is no way to increase your manpower, is there? Initially I built some factories in some regions, but by the time they reached the top of the queue I either couldn't bring them in; but more to the point, I had build points to spare, but never enough manpower anyway. Meanwhile, I ended up with thousands of supplies and nothing to spend them on?

* I only drafted once, on the first turn, then (because I was doing so badly) I never wanted to spend a further 50 PPs as my PPs were so rubbish. Looking at the manual math for drafting, does it just increase how many troops I get initially at the same expense of what I have to pay for recruits in later turns, i.e. Union does not end up with more soldiers?

* I understand about the need to scout. But when I move a whole Army, including its commander, to attack a region, I tend to want my cavalry to go with him, so that it can regain initiative next turn assuming I (somehow) win there. So after scouting, if the cavalry has enough movement left, I send him into battle too. Is this right, or should I be holding cavalry back from battle?

* Once @rs99z28 had taught me to put enough transports in place in destination invasion area I understood how to do it. But I still found that some areas I could reach would not allow me to invade. Am I right that the varying destination regions' terrain requires my troops to have enough movement points and (perhaps especially in Winter) 3 or 4 movement points might be insufficient?

* It's all very well @Termite2 saying "Overruns are your friend, only takes 1 unit to overrun an undefended area" but I never got enough leaders with initiative to invade, at least initially, and before I knew it the CSA was everywhere. Maybe I didn't understand the rules enough on my very first Union turn....

That'll do for now! Obviously, I now change which game I play I had a half-hearted look at my copy of Gary Grigsby's World at War, which I think I never really played. I can now see how similar the interface/mechanics is to WBtS, though the resolution is even worse Anyone ever bothered with this one?

I'd welcome comments/answers to questions in green. Thank you so much for all your input!


(in reply to ryan1488)
Post #: 34
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/15/2015 6:59:56 PM   
Bearcat2

 

Posts: 577
Joined: 2/14/2004
Status: offline 		1. You need more factories and probably not attack so much with large stacks, especially in the East.
2.You draft every 6 months for at least the first 4 times or you will not have enough manpower.
3.Your choice, but as the Union, unless I tend not to send them in.
4. No, if you have sea init troops, you can invade, BUT you must have enough transports in every sea zone[first number-basically 6inf per transport] that you pass through and then have enough invasion transports[2nd number-4 transports per inf in the first couple of turns-2 transports after]at the invasion location
5. 1 cav will have a base of 3 pts, that is enough to move an area and overrun a 0 defended area. ex July 61' scenario, Union first turn-
UN Cv in Sedalia Missouri, overrun Joplin Missouri: detach one of the militia units in Jefferson City Missouri, convert to Cav- it now has 3 pts -Move Cv ldr Carr in Cairo Ill to Jefferson City- attach the Cav- overrun Springfield Missouri- Missouri is now Union held: Take Kelley in Wheeling WVA and overrun Charleston WVA: now I detach a militia in Parkersburg WVA-convert to Cav-move Gillem Cv ldr in Cincinnati to Charleston WVA- attach the CV, overrun Franklin WVA- this traps the Confed force in Grafton WVA - mv McCellan's force to Grafton: Take Runyon in Washington DC[I usually detach 2 of the Inf units because you only need 1 to overrun] overrun Charles MD: detach the Art unit from Miles in Washington DC, the unit can now move 4, overrun Kent MD: you now control Maryland.
On the first turn builds, I generally build 4 ironclads in NY, max gunboats in Cincy& St Louis, 3 fact and 4 cruisers in the NE areas, then generally 1 art or transport and 1 factory in areas that can build them; and then all factories except 1 in areas that cannot build troops/ships[ ex Illinois -Chicago 4 fact- Springfield 1 factory -Cairo 1 gunboat]

There are some turns where I do not move as the Union, not enough initiave.

_____________________________

"After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun."--1837

(in reply to JonBrave)
Post #: 35
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/15/2015 7:10:48 PM   
Bearcat2

 

Posts: 577
Joined: 2/14/2004
Status: offline 		I forgot to add that I am pretty sure it is your lack of factories that cause the troops not to be built and not manpower, you need 1 factory to rebuild a damaged unit

_____________________________

"After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun."--1837

(in reply to Bearcat2)
Post #: 36
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/15/2015 10:09:12 PM   
ryan1488

 

Posts: 160
Joined: 6/28/2008
Status: offline 		there is no way to increase your manpower, some is added automatically each turn.

your draft will still result in a net positive vs not drafting.

if youre sufficiently scouted and have mp left, sure go and and send them.

im not sure on that one. send a save maybe?


by the way ive never drafted more than 3 times and I find the sweet spot is usually 2

(in reply to Bearcat2)
Post #: 37
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/15/2015 11:28:47 PM   
Bearcat2

 

Posts: 577
Joined: 2/14/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: rs99z28

........................................................

by the way ive never drafted more than 3 times and I find the sweet spot is usually 2


2? you are a better player than I


_____________________________

"After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun."--1837

(in reply to ryan1488)
Post #: 38
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/15/2015 11:47:11 PM   
ryan1488

 

Posts: 160
Joined: 6/28/2008
Status: offline 		ive been playing off an on since it came out, but there are many better than I. ever try pbem? wish I hadn't waited so long

(in reply to Bearcat2)
Post #: 39
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/16/2015 3:21:59 PM   
JonBrave

 

Posts: 120
Joined: 8/6/2006
Status: offline 		A couple of points on the answers above:

* For production, my bottleneck seems to be hugely manpower, not factories. When I'm in the build phase, the factory exist/used number shows I have plenty of spare factory capacity; my problem is that many regions' manpower available/required is negative, I have to cut right down to, say, at most 1 unit per turn per region-group to try to get it out of negative. I don't see how more factories would help. I think my problem is that I'm doing so badly that I might have, say, 30-odd infantry queued up for rebuild! My manpower is nowhere near keeping up with that.

* The sea invasion cannot quite be as you say, IMHO. I now do understand to provide enough transports/amphib in the destination area (as well as transports in the areas leading there). I am talking about, say, just 1 infantry with a leader with amphib initiative, so just 2 transports in destination (tried with more anyway). There are some regions (adjacent to sea) which stay "dimmed out". As an example, if I want to invade a "swamp" destination, don't I need more spare movement points than if it were plain terrain?

(in reply to ryan1488)
Post #: 40
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/16/2015 3:42:09 PM   
ryan1488

 

Posts: 160
Joined: 6/28/2008
Status: offline 		manpower is holding you back. if you get yourself in that situation and you need replacements quickly you may combine 2 damaged units into 1 fully repaired unit at no cost. this should almost always be done when you are playing as the confederates.

the 2 units must be being repaired in the same city for this to work. I think you right click on them

(in reply to JonBrave)
Post #: 41
RE: Amyone still here for help? - 2/19/2015 1:15:47 AM   
Bearcat2

 

Posts: 577
Joined: 2/14/2004
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: JonBrave

A couple of points on the answers above:

* For production, my bottleneck seems to be hugely manpower, not factories. When I'm in the build phase, the factory exist/used number shows I have plenty of spare factory capacity; my problem is that many regions' manpower available/required is negative, I have to cut right down to, say, at most 1 unit per turn per region-group to try to get it out of negative. I don't see how more factories would help. I think my problem is that I'm doing so badly that I might have, say, 30-odd infantry queued up for rebuild! My manpower is nowhere near keeping up with that.

* The sea invasion cannot quite be as you say, IMHO. I now do understand to provide enough transports/amphib in the destination area (as well as transports in the areas leading there). I am talking about, say, just 1 infantry with a leader with amphib initiative, so just 2 transports in destination (tried with more anyway). There are some regions (adjacent to sea) which stay "dimmed out". As an example, if I want to invade a "swamp" destination, don't I need more spare movement points than if it were plain terrain?




I have not seen this, I just played a turn to check it out, was able to invade swampy Jacksonville with 2 inf, ldr, 8 on the invasion transports: there is higher requirement for siege artillery.

"Two damaged infantry units (or two damaged cavalry units) on the production track in the same region[ex Chicago] may be merged by left clicking on one of the units. The player will be asked to confirm they wish to merge (if they say no, they will be asked if they want to disband the unit). If the units are merged, one unit is immediately placed on the map in the region, at no production or population cost, and one unit is disbanded." Rule 11.6



< Message edited by Termite2 -- 2/19/2015 2:46:33 AM >

_____________________________

"After eight years as President I have only two regrets: that I have not shot Henry Clay or hanged John C. Calhoun."--1837

(in reply to JonBrave)
Post #: 42
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