American tactics, anyone?

[decaro]

I've optimized the AI while playing the last full Rev War campaign as America, only America is never going to be because I keep getting my hat handed to me by the Brits, i.e., my armies are decimated during what the game calls "draws" and my generals are dying w/o troops.
I never really challenged the Brits until the French arrived in force, but I'm being out-manouevered and out-manned on almost every turn. The Brits never seem to run out of troops; the only thing keeping me in the game is the JP Jones/French squadrons.
I think I will try again, but as the Brits. But until then, any "colonial" suggestions? Otherwise, I will have to move America to Canada as I hold all its strategic cities!

[Will_L_OLD]

Are you keeping to the troop limits for your American generals?
*** max 12
** max 4
* max 2
I've found that keeping to this made a huge difference in my battles against British AI. Keeping to a defensive stance has helped also.

[decaro]

If irregulars -- rangers, Indians (and supply trains with cannon?) -- don't count and other generals only help and don't hinder (numerically), then I'm keeping to the count and using defensive (terrain bonus) positioning. It's not that I'm losing battles, but I'm getting pyhric draws that deplete my troops.

I notice the (Brit) AI tends to rotate its armies, sometimes sacrificing one army to soften me up and then hit me with another fresh army nearby during the same turn. Maybe I should try splitting my forces?

I'm now playing the Brits: I'm amazed at how many "boots on the ground" they have available shortly into the war; my main problem is finding enough transport to get them to America and into strategic position (cities).

[Titanwarrior89]

Sounds like a good one. I am going for it after the French/Indian war. What areas do you control once the game is up? Middle, south or North? Just wondering.[:)]

[freeboy]

Playing level two now, normal, as Us.. I try to take Boston, and attack where ever the Brits leave a city undefended to take territory, currently hold Hartford, Boston NY Ft Tico, lost Albany and will wait out hte rest of 77 in a mostly defensive posture.. run when you have to strike when you can defend most of the time.. I always get that aaahh feeling when the frech fleet arives!

[Jim D Burns]

Hi Joe,

Here’s a link to an AAR I did as the Continentals where I tried out a new strategy that seemed to be working much better than my past attempts.

http://www.ageod.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1401

Like you I had had my hat handed to me in each previous attempt I made as the Continentals. This go around I played a much more defensive game with some new tactics I had not tried before. There were no hard and fast rules I used that I could easily lay out in this post, but the AAR discusses in depth about what I tried, why I tried it and any changes I made during play.

Of course a new patch came out with lots of great new features so I never finished this particular game, but I think I played close to two years and was doing pretty well (at least compared to my past attempts) by the time I stopped playing.

I hadn’t lost all strategic cities in any one area yet so French intervention hadn’t been delayed at that point, but New England was down to 1 strategic city (Norwich) that was itself under assault when my play stopped, so French intervention was probably going to take at least 1 hit.

Not a perfect strategy by any means, but a lot of detail about my thought process in the AAR that might give you some ideas of your own.

Jim

P.S. Everything counts on command usage, so supply wagons and artillery will put you over the top easily if you're not careful.

[Gibbon]

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns
P.S. Everything counts on command usage, so supply wagons and artillery will put you over the top easily if you're not careful.

I think supply wagons do not count anymore in command usage since update 1.10. IIRC,they did a lot of tweakings with supplies in this patch.

[decaro]

Titan, the (last) Rev War scenario set-up seems historically accurate, i.e., the Brits in Boston with holdings in Canada and the deep South.

Playing the Brits, midway thru the game I captured all the strategic cities, only to have France and Spain enter the war and start retaking them from me. My combined fleet also took a pounding from the French and is now licking its wounds in port.

If this keeps up, I should eventually lose, which at least proves the historical veracity of the engine for this game.

[decaro]

For the record I have the 1.10d patch (courtesy of Strategy First). I understand there's an "e," but there may be bugs in it.

[Pocus]

the last patch is the 'f' one and has no known bugs so far:

http://ageoddl.telechargement.fr/BoA_patch1.10.exe

(all 1.10 patches are save-compatible)

[decaro]

Jim,

Thanks for the AAR, but as you never finished your game, we will never know if this strategy ultimately worked (score-wise) in BoA.

However, I did find Pocus' -- BoA lead developer -- comments informative re your screenshots.

We need to find someone who played the Colonials and won and just ask him/her for an overall strategy in lieu of a play-by-play as dice rolls (luck) seem pivotal in BoA battles.

Nathaniel Greene once said something to the effect that as long as he could move as a crab -- any which way -- he would survive and eventually win. Maybe I need to sacrifice the Colonial supply wagons and cannon for more speed, but then George and the boys will take supply hits, esp. in the wilderness in winter. Bhhrrrr.

Anyway, I'm going to play this Brit scenario out and see what develops. If I start to run-out of red coats in the latter half of the game, them -- as the Colonials -- I should simply bide my time and try to blitz the strategic sites.

Then again, seige warfare doesn't get you results overnight!

[decaro]

Merci Monsiour Malacher. But I assume you can't repatch in mid game, n'est pas?

[Arsan]

Hi
Joe D::
Yes, you can. As Pocus said, the patches are save compatible (you patch and then can continue with the saved game).

I´m just beginning my first 1775 campaing with the americans, so this thread is a must read for me.
I´m playing with the 1.10 f and the British are very agressive. I retreated to the springfield and Hartford line and waited behind the river in defense. After the first two "inactive turns" the British AI spread from Boston in all directions, passing by my main armies and loosing a couple of redcoat regiments in small fights.
Now, in october 1775 they have Howe in Norwich, Gage siegeing New York, a couple or regulars regiments knocking on Philadelpiha's door, Clinton up to Falmouth and Grant being bloodily repulsed from his atempt at Albany.
All are small armies (2 or 3 "dots") and New england is lightly defended so i think i can give a bloody nose to some isolated units, if i can catch them (they move like crazy...). Til now we havent had any big fight and i hadn't lost hardly any men... [&:]
The Ai behavior has surprised me. I thought that, as the rebels, i was going the one to using hit and run tactics...[:D]
Now i dont know what to do... go on the offense or try to conserve my strength for the future problems (german mercenaries...)??

I played this scenario before as the British and used much more cautious tactics, garrisoning New England and moving my big army carefully until the germans arrived. I mauled the Continental army a couple of times around Providence and i think they never recovered.
If you dont completely lose many units, with the massive reinforcements you recieve from england you can have a big advantage in soldiers in 1776-1777.
I won the game in october 1777, before the french could arrive. [8D]
.
.
.
And...
I have a question for Pocus!. Maybe its a little bug...
Playing as the american, i lost Charleston after a short siege (just have half a militia regiment fixed as garrison there from the begining).
After the AI took the city (septembre 1975), a rebel army popped just outside the walls (Moultrie, two milita regiments and a big naval battery. Next turn they assaulted and taked the city back but... now, the naval battery is fixed outside the walls, sitting in the swamp, and cant be moved inside the Charleston fort or anywhere.
It´s this working as designed?? The unit is named Charleston battery, so i suppose they are intended to be used inside the fort, "pointing" to the sea... Maybe they should have been in Charleston since the begining?? [&:]

Cheers!
Arsan

[freeboy]

Hi Pocus, any idea why my game loads an shows a 1.11, I thought it would be 1.10?

[Arsan]

With 1.10f mine too shows 1.11, but its ok!
I think Pocus said in the AGEOD forums it was a little mistake...[:D]

[saintsup]

ORIGINAL: Joe D.

We need to find someone who played the Colonials and won and just ask him/her for an overall strategy

I need to find that someone too. I'm playing a PBEM and without doing any evident mistakes (AFAIK) I'm way behind in score ...

Or the score system is broken ... [;)]

[decaro]

Well, after I thought I was through (as the Brits) and that history would again repeat itself, I marshalled my forces and sent both the French and Spanish packing; I ended-up with all the strategic cities and towns and a score of about 3500 (to 1200). Not a very historical ending after all.

Apparently what happened as I was playing the Brits was basically the same thing when I was playing the Colonials; GW and company gets a big boost after the French and Spanish enter the fray, but neither of them holds-up well after successive Brit counter-attacks, and the redcoats eventually take everything back. There are just too many Brit troops to win scenario #8 as the Colonials.

One wild card: mid-way through the game, I patched-up to 1.10f (aka 1.11), but I don't think that the upgrade had anything to do with the outcome, although the game seemed to swing in my favor soon after the new patch. Perhaps it was coincidental, but to be more scientific, I should have played through the game before patching-up.

By the way, the Battle Meter is back with v1.10f, and it's better than ever.

[Philthib]

ORIGINAL: Arsan
I have a question for Pocus!. Maybe its a little bug...
Playing as the american, i lost Charleston after a short siege (just have half a militia regiment fixed as garrison there from the begining).
After the AI took the city (septembre 1975), a rebel army popped just outside the walls (Moultrie, two milita regiments and a big naval battery. Next turn they assaulted and taked the city back but... now, the naval battery is fixed outside the walls, sitting in the swamp, and cant be moved inside the Charleston fort or anywhere.
It´s this working as designed?? The unit is named Charleston battery, so i suppose they are intended to be used inside the fort, "pointing" to the sea... Maybe they should have been in Charleston since the begining??

It's not a "bug" but the consequence of the AI being faster and smarter than me: it captured Charleston quicklier than I believed possible and the force under Moultrie (which is scheduled to arrive within the city by scripted event) was ejected outside the 'enemy' city....the battery is thus locked outside (whereas it should have been locked inside).

I'll try to see ways to correct this: there are a few possibilities

- beef up a bit the original garrison to withstand a siege long enough for Moultrie to show up
- lock the neigbouring Tories a bit longer to prevent a hit and run siege on Charleston
- Have Moultrie and his forces show up a bit earlier, but keep them lock for the 1775 year

All possibilities could solve the matter, but there are pros and cons in each. What's your opinion? [&:]

[Arsan]

Hi Philipe!
I think the problem is you have made the AI too smart! [:D]
I forgot to mention that She (because the Ai is a she isn´t it??) bring Howe fleet all the way from Boston and in turn 3-4 was bombarding my poor half regiment of milita in Charleston.
As in the beggining there is no battery in Charleston the garrison was easy picking for the ships.[:(]
I think this speed up the siege a lot, and with only one tory regiment, the british could assault the fort with success.
Maybe fixing Moultrie (or at least the guns) in Charleston since the begining is a good idea. The americans don´t lose Charleston (until Cornwalis arrive i suppose), but cant attack in the south.

Anyway, congratulations! Few games have problems becaus teh AI is too bright! [:D]

Cheers
Arsan

[Gibbon]

Hi there,

Here are some tips from Markshots I founf really usefull in my games against the AI:

ORIGINAL: Markshot

I will share a few of my thoughts. Admittedly I have only played one GC, but I did win.

You can win in two ways:

(1) On points - Points come from holding on to strategic towns and objectives each turn, and winning battles.

(2) Capitulation of the enemy - Capitulation comes about by reaching all your goals before the end of the scenario.

Destroying the enemy's ability to fight will advance you down both of the above paths. There are two means by which you can destroy his ability to fight:

(1) Weaken his units such that they are in no position to engage your units. Weakening his units comes about by:

(a) Winning battles, but not being able to corner him.

(b) Laying siege to his units and cutting off supply, but not concluding the siege.

(c) Having him lay siege to your fortifications, during the Winter months.

(d) Leaving him no place to retire during the Winter months.

(e) Removing his sources reinforcements and replacements.

(f) Capturing his supplies.

(2) Destroy his units such that he has no force with which to engage you. This comes about by:

(a) Winning a siege, such that the enemy surrenders.

(b) Conducting a successful assault such that the enemy is destroyed.

(c) Engaging the enemy in a region such that enemy has no avenue of retreat. The region should be surrounded by regions which you control (all adjacent regions) or has his back to the an impassable body of water.

Here are some strategies which you can employ.

(1) Where the enemy is weak, fight.

There are many opportunities to attack weak enemy garrisons. Do not lay siege and give him time send a relief force, but instead strike with overwhelming force and destroy the garrison. Make sure as you strike that it is not a trap. Have a retreat path and consider having a leader who is capable of retreating. You can use stealthy units to gather information about the enemy. So, these targets of opportunity should not be deep in enemy territory, but preferably within your territory or on the periphery.

(2) Where the enemy is strong, withdraw.

Do not meet strength with strength; run away, you are not looking for a fair fight. Withdraw into your territory. Behind you, you should have a network of garrisons. This should slow his pursuit and keep you safe. The deeper he moves into your territory the more vulnerable he becomes if you should choose to turn and fight a decisive battle. In his territory, he can retreat if the odds do not favor him. In your territory, he may well be trapped. Except for the extreme South, Winter generally brings a halt to operations. Thus, if you can defer battle long enough, Winter will general ring the bell calling an end to the current round.

(3) Where the enemy is of moderate stength, mass and strike a decisive blow.

When he has divided his forces and sends moderate force to engage you, rapidly bring your commanders and units together to form a powerful army. Engage him with this powerful army and destroy him. Make sure the regions around him are in your control before the battle. If a couple are not, then send a small fast force to secure them or march the main strike force through them first.

How do you know that he has divided his forces besides recon? Structures will reveal the large stacks of units within. Also, perhaps he is tied up with sieges at various locations.

Another time to strike with a decisive blow is when he chooses to lay siege to your fortifications, for it is at that moment that you can generally be sure of his location and intentions. So, enemy sieges are not necessarily bad things, they present opportunities if correctly managed.

If the enemy is foolish enough to lay siege in the Winter, then let him. He will weaken through the Winter while your forces refit in shelter. When the Spring comes, resume operations against his sickened units.

(4) Generally, keep lone units in structures. If outside of structures, they are too likely to yield territory easily to the enemy. The main purpose of doing this is to limit the enemy's mobility. He cannot march and leave your fortifications in his rear. Consider holding such positions a long key road junctures that allow rapid movement.

(5) Winter is your friend. Whenever possible, try to encourage the enemy to brave it.

(6) Use your leaders well. Don't neglect them. Forces move quicker with them. Leaders convey different bonuses. For example, a training officer with a large force will vastly improve that force over the years. Every time new militias are raised or supplies are assembled, allocate some leaders to rapidly move individual units or supplies and form new armies. In other words, have the leader collect the units. (Leaders on their own move very fast.) This is much faster than having the units move to the leaders.

(7) Defend best your built up and civilized areas. You will need these areas to recruit and to assemble armies. If you have to reliquish some control to the enemy, than let him advance and march through the wilderness. It will be very slow going for him, supplies will be limited, and their is always the risk of being caught by the Winter.

---

Well, the above are just some initial thoughts which have had after my first GC. Probably obvious to everyone who has been playing for a while now.