PBEM AAR - Long Live the Union!

[jchastain]

Taking a closer look at the supply status of the armies of Illinois and Maryland, things look fine. I think they're good to go.

[jchastain]

OK, let's check out the final finances now that we're done tinkering.

Looks fine.

[jchastain]

And with the end of my turn, I get my first upgrade. Looks like I'll finally get to start spending that cache of weapons on improved springfields for my troops - assuming the armies that really need them will be in friendly territory to get equipped.

[jchastain]

And a second upgrade... I like sharpshooter training, but I haven't invested in sharpshooters at all, so perhaps I should start with something a bit more generic and come back to that.

Also - notice that I am not getting promotion opportunities any more. That means I have reached my full compliment of officers at each rank and can only promote more by building more academies. I need them, but not as much as I need other things right now - what's new?

[Grotius]

Very interesting. You asked for questions, I got plenty o' questions.

One question is about research: do you accumulate a set number of "light bulbs" automatically each turn, or is the gain in research somewhat randomized, with a greater chance of a gain if you invest more?

Also, a strategy question: why is your focus in the west? Does this reflect the starting disposition of forces or your own choice?

Finally, I gather you plan offensive operations in the west and holding operations in the east. When you go on the offensive, what's your ultimate objective?

[jchastain]

I enjoy the questions, so fire away.

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Very interesting. You asked for questions, I got plenty o' questions.

One question is about research: do you accumulate a set number of "light bulbs" automatically each turn, or is the gain in research somewhat randomized, with a greater chance of a gain if you invest more?

I'll report a screenie from earlier.



In the research section at the left, you can see the progress your research is making in each category - the +XX is the anticipated progress this turn. Progress is fixed based on several things (most of which change based on circumstances). The light bulbs show how far you are in progressing to the next upgrade. So, Naval for example, will earn 9 research points this turn and is about 20% of the way to the next upgrade - meaning don't expect to see one for a while.

If you hold the mouse over a given vanue of research, it will show how your progress is derived. So, I am making 6 research points of progress in logistics this turn. The tool tip shows that 3 of those come from research buildings (meaning I have one lab building somewhere). I lose 2 due to the difficulty level. I left the difficulty level on "Captain" without thinking and even though there are 2 human players, that is handicapping both of us. Unlike many games, this one shows you where the difficulty is applied against you. In the income screen shots, you might have noticed the deduction there as well. I have a governor who is supporting logistics research, so that adds 5. So, the net is +6 per turn. If I were to build another lab, that would add 2 more. Also, each time I get an upgrade, it required 2 research points to "support" it. So, while you will make some progress with your initial starting research buildings, as you progress they do less and less good and you have to build more if you want to progress further.

Also, a strategy question: why is your focus in the west? Does this reflect the starting disposition of forces or your own choice?

The ANV has a significant quality advantage over the AoP. And the defender gets strong bonuses that are especially potent in the early part of the game when troops are green. So, I can't really mount an effective offensive in Virginia at the start of the game. And I can't move the army away and leave Washington and the economic corridor of New England undefended. So, I find myself instead trying to focus in the west where armies are smaller and I can tilt the balance by bringing in the hordes and making some key investments. I think I have a pretty good advantage out there right now so I hope to take advantage of that. With a few wins under their belt, the troops will see good growth in quality and I can then march east and pin the ANV between a veteran army from the west and the large but clumsy AoP. Or I can march up the mississippi and cripple his economy by taking his cities and cutting him off from his western income (If the USA occupies the entire mississippi, the resource production of the cities west of the mississippi is lost). So with a dominant position in the west, I'll have plenty of strategic options available to me.

Finally, I gather you plan offensive operations in the west and holding operations in the east. When you go on the offensive, what's your ultimate objective?

Pretty standard stuff. I want to crush his forces and destroy his ability to fund and supply his war effort. The most important thing is to cripple his forces. Once I do that, I am then free to conquer the land. But if I start threatening his economic livelihood, he'll have to react. Once I have him reacting to me, then I have the initiative and get to choose where we dance - which is especially important to me due to the wild difference in quality levels among my troops. That's the theory anyway.

[jchastain]

Just to ensure I'm being clear... the western strategy is my preference more than anything. I suppose I could focus on building up the east and whittling away there, but it would take longer to get ready (keep in mind none of those ART in process have arrived yet) so I chose to focus where I can do more good faster.

Hard Sarge might weigh in on this one. I think he tends to apply more focus in the East, so he very well might have a different perspective.

[Grifman]

One thing I'm not seeing any naval strategy by the Union. I've read in CSA AAR's about blockade runners, etc. Can you describe what naval options (blockades, amphibious landings, etc) that the North has. And are you planning on doing anything in these areas?

As an aside, why is Ft. Morgan on a river north of Mobile and not guarding Mobile Bay? Seems like there are a couple of misplaced forts here and there.

Lastly, can you build forts in locations you later deem important? Thanks.

[jchastain]

ORIGINAL: Grifman

One thing I'm not seeing any naval strategy by the Union. I've read in CSA AAR's about blockade runners, etc. Can you describe what naval options (blockades, amphibious landings, etc) that the North has. And are you planning on doing anything in these areas?

As an aside, why is Ft. Morgan on a river north of Mobile and not guarding Mobile Bay? Seems like there are a couple of misplaced forts here and there.

Lastly, can you build forts in locations you later deem important? Thanks.

Guilty as charged. I've been very lazy with my Navy. The USA can do blockades - and in fact that's all I have done is park off the coast and blockade his two Virginia cities. To do more, I'd need to spend money on building out the navy and I've ignored it completely. You can do Amphibious assults as well, but again I've ignore that as I tend to play the part of the bull in the china shop. Will I do much in that area? It probably won't be a strategic focus on mine in this game but maybe I'll be more aggressive with the Navy later on.

As for locations of forts, I am the absolute wrong guy for that. I do know that they have gotten some focus but there are interface limitations. Beyond that though, you are better off asking that question of Gil. I believe he is a history professor and a primary researcher for the project.

Yes, I can build forts - and so can he. I might build one in Wheeling for example since my armies might be away from there for a while. But that is yet one more of the economic alternatives you have to choose between. Do I spend on putting a fort their or am I better off working to get siege artillery to support the offensive? Is that more important than the Navy? Building more research capability? You can't do it all so you're constanly having to make those types of tradeoffs.



EDIT: Said CSA can do blockades. Edited to correct that to the USA can.

[jchastain]

OK... let's see what we have wrought. Hmmmm.... no battles mentioned in the Events page. This ought to yet again be interesting.

[jchastain]

Disease in Rhode Island. If it has to hit someplace, that sure is a nice place for it to go with only two useless garrisons to infect.

Looks like we nudged France back down, but still no progress on the others. I need that cash elsewhere and I'm not sure how much more patience I can afford.

[jchastain]

OK, let's see what really happened. Gregg finally made it back to Washington. That's a relief. I guess miracles really do happen. Note to self: don't go into Fredericksburg again until you're ready and able to stay and take the place.

[jchastain]

Looking to the west, it appears that the massive reorg kept them busy. That really isn't that much of a surprise to be honest. And it likely works to my advantage in that now I can use my stickpile of weapons to properly equip them.

[jchastain]

It is likely time to take a slight diversion and share why I've been waiting so eagerly for the new weapons. As happens so often, there is a little side note in the story that needs to be told, but I suppose I may as well share it all.

Most of the stats for weapons are used for Detailed Combat - what we often call Hex War or HW for short. When you are just using Quick Combat, thinks like firepower at a given range are meaningless. Therefore, each weapon has a Quick Combat value which more or less represents the high level value of a given weapon type overall. That QC value is the firepower that the weapon has in Quick Combat and determines how much damage a firing unit does.

Unfortunately, the graphics and final tool tips for the weapon selection/purchase screens were only recently completed as part of the graphics refresh and while they include the majority of the detailed combat information to allow players to evaluate options, they forgot to show the QC value. Oooops. In the playtesting, this has been reported and I suspect it will be addressed at some point, but it is really just a convenience thing so it almost surely won't be fixed prior to release. At this point, the most important thing is that the game be stable at launch - they don't want to accidentally break anything when trying to fix a non-critical issue because there might not be enough testing time left to find it.

Anyway, since the game is quite moddable, I just went in and added the QC values (as well as the siege values which are also not shown) to the name of the weapons in the data file on my machine. It is just a quick little fix that allows me to be lazy and see these values without having to print a reference page. I explain all of that only because I want everyone to know that the numbers we'll be discussing in the shot below are not part of the game right now. They are available in the manual. I'd happily share my little mod file. And they will likely be added in a patch at some point in the future if buyers agree with me that it would be nice to have them. But this is slightly different from what most purchasers will see at launch. OK?

I didn't think to grab this cap until after I had equipped the army, so most of the options are greyed out. But you can still see the numbers.

Improvised weapons (which you can't buy and are the default weapon if you have nothing else) have a QC value of 0. Shotguns do too. A musket has a 1, and a Minir Rifle and Springfield both have a 2. If anyone has been wondering why I have been buying minies instead of springfields up until now, it is because they both have a QC value of 2 yet the minie is cheaper - costing 20 guns instead of 30. Enfields have a QC value of 4 and the Improved Springfields have a value of 6. They have a firepower 3x as good as the minies that have been the mainstay of the army thus far. That is definitely worth buying for my highest quality troops!

The challenge with better weapons is that they tend to require more supply. Under upkeep, you'll see that they consume $0+2S each turn. So, it costs no more money but it uses 2 points of strategic supply. That means the army will require additional supply which eventually is translated back into more infantry support. Supply levels are averaged within a division, so if I sprinkle a few of these around then the impact should be lessened. But if anyone were to drop a lot of these into a single division, its supply status would drop like a rock.

Anyway, while we can it is time to buy.

[jchastain]

And here is a representative section of the army showing where I am dropping them in to the troops with the highest quality levels. I put as many as I could into people's hands. That stockpile of guns definitely came in handy and at the end of the day, the delays allow me to carry a lot more firepower as I begin the offensive.

[jchastain]

While I'm thinking about the costs of things, let's go ahead and reduce diplomacy some. I'm getting a bonus for France right now and want to take advantage of it, but they are not tilting toward the South at all. 20 should be enough there and hopefully we'll make a little more progress and can cut it off bonus or not. England and Europe still need investment as they are too close to the rebs for comfort. Surely by now the rebs are moving their cash to other things, so I'll try keeping them each at 30 and see if I can make any more progress with that middle of the road investment.

That still leaves 80 invested in diplomacy, which isn't chicken feed. But at least I'm starting to free up a little cash.

[jchastain]

OK, back to the map. My Army from Wheeling made it into Kentucky, but not down next to Knoxville. Let's take another step closer and just make sure there isn't anything unexpected down there and we'll see how Abington reacts.

[jchastain]

In the west, we'll allow the cannon fodder army to begin a siege of the river fort in the river between Paducah and Bowling Green - the enemy still holds that fort though it looks pretty deserted. I'll bring the gunboats in for support as well. Meanwhile, the battle ready army will converge on Nashville and attempt to execute the plan from last turn. This time, I expect them to make it unless that river fort holds more than I think and is able to intervene.

[jchastain]

While I used up my entire stock of guns this turn, the other resources are starting to inch up since I haven't had the cash to buy the troops I really wanted. With the war starting in earnest, it likely isn't a bad idea to add another camp and I can always use more horses to build cav and add even more camps. Let's spend some of this excess labor on a few horse farms - they'll go to Lansing mostly because it has building capacity and a full population and builds horses already. Camp output doesn't depend on population like economic production does, so I'll just dump that in Davenport where the depleted population won't mater. Speaking of population, we should get a little refresh next turn. Often I'll pull a few more cheap units out of the cities right before the refresh but I think it best not to do so this year. For one, infantry (what is always mustered or conscripted) takes 2 men and the refresh just provides 1, so I would still take a hit economically. Plus it upsets the governors and they have been fairly cooperative so far and why mess with that when I am starting to like the odds of the army I have in the field right now. I'll just wait and hopefully be able to start buying high quality units once again soon.

[jchastain]

That's it for another turn.  I'm beginning to get a little gun shy to predict a fight, but hopefully we'll finally apply that beating I keep promising to the rebs this time around.