Gunboats

[battlevonwar]

These cheap gunboats have a special ability and that's killing Brigades/Corps/Divisions. Now since so many Objective Towns are located around water this really makes things not so historical in my mind. They make Artillery or Railroad guns look like little peashooters. 2 Divisions or Brigades were killed by me with my use of gunboats. 1 of my Brigades was reduced to half strength as the Union guarding the Ole Miss. Now one of these feels particularly realistic. Precise use of gunboats is like a precision surgical tool. It appears certain terrain may mitigate their effect but in general they just are getting +1 or +2 strength hits against land opponents more often(QUITE OFTEN). This can be abused if you know how and a few know how and boy you don't go near rivers or oceans or seas or anything. Nor Guard them... Land Units of the size in game would fire back upon them even on the open seas not just the Rivers but they really are just sitting targets to them. This era all these units possessed some level of cannon the size of what a tiny boat would carry aside a ship of the line! But this doesn't work when you can operate in and out. Only way you can tap one is if it's adjacent to shallower waters.

I do not feel they should ever entirely kill a land unit... As they act like Naval Cavalry. I could see them hurting land units or reducing their morale but it's a bit nasty the way they operate now.

The Flipside to all this is this: A Division COSTS! A gunboat is cheap... you do the math what would you buy 3 gunboats that can half strength a Division and escape refit at a fraction of the price or a Division? Not just you can extend your hitting range LONG RANGE!


(They are powerful weapons. I remember reading how Grant would sail down the Ole Miss with his Son in Arms showing him the world and yes, this a very real aspect of the Civil War. BUT(!) during a game I'm playing vs an equally skilled opponent at the moment as we both half half a dozen games under our belt and years in the Game Engine...)

Other's input?

[Platoonist]

As a current Union player I can't get enough of them. The sea-going variety seem to be the best at depriving the Confederacy of MPPs when placed on blockade duty,

[battlevonwar]

That variety works just as well... My question is where would you place them, doing 1-2 damage that is guarding a fort or blockading for what 4-5 MPPs per turn?

As a current Union player I can't get enough of them. The sea-going variety seem to be the best at depriving the Confederacy of MPPs when placed on blockade duty,