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There needs to be a bigger incentive for the the south to raid northern cities, and be rewarded if they succeed. In my opinion the solution would be an option to destroy a random percentage of the industry every turn they remain in a northern city (and the south could also destroy their own industry as they retreat south).

In my current game I've managed to occupy Columbus, OH, Indianapolis, IN, as well as several other places that should cause a political collapse of the North, and yet I always end up leaving the towns with the industry intact. Since there isn't a sufficient political penalty for such poor Union defense, perhaps there should be an industrial penalty.

Agreed ! Good suggestions. There should be morale consequences for successful raids and burned facilities. [:D]

As for the depots and structures, does anyone know if the result of orders to destroy depots or structures is random ? It seems sometimes my troops do it and sometimes they don't. Does a unit have to remain unmoved to do it. I have tried while moving and while remaining still... but have not been able to determine if moving prevents it. Does the order have the possibility of succeeding in places your unit moves through ? The rules are vague.

I raze a lot of structures to deny the enemy winter quarters and to be a true secesh a**hole. I've learned that you can't always raze a level 1 town with a division or corps. Rather, you have to detach a small infantry unit (with the most evil souls in your army) and let them do the job. That seems to work in one turn every time. I've also noticed it often takes two turns to raze forts because it requires 15 days to burn a fort and a unit sometimes decides to party a few extra days before lighting their matches. Destroying rails seems like a real crap shoot to me, and I'm pretty sure it must be a random process with about a 50% chance of success each turn. Ordering a move doesn't seem to make a difference in the success rate, but until the pillaging occurs my units don't move anywhere, so I often try it again the next turn.

Militia and early Cavalry cannot destroy a depot. The chance for a unit to destroy a RR is equal to its power number and it takes 5 days. So a unit with 100+ power will automatically succeed.

Initially, neither side wanted to appear as a barbarian army of plunderers. Both wanted public opinion and European countries to side with them. So the ability to pillage is rather limited to RGDs and military targets like depots, forts and RR lines. Razing a small town, so that a stockade can be built, would technically be a move to protect the townsmen.

Using the Partisan card and spawning them deep in the South then having them do the depot/rail razing works pretty well.