Any Questions?

[Erik Rutins]

Same here - I've got smooth scrolling in AWD on a much less powerful system with the scroll speed set to 2 or 3, no jerking. I'd guess it's probably driver/OS related and hopefully will resolve itself with future driver updates. We'll see if we can duplicate it on our Vista system though and if so, whether it's an issue with WBTS as well. Our Vista system has a 8600GTS, which should be close enough for testing.

[sabre100]

Are you running AWD in "Windowed Mode"  if so try full screen mode and see if your map scrolling is better.

[Adam Parker]

Full screen.

Basically the game runs better now than with my old 512 RAM but its scrolling is not up to the other games I have. It could be an AWD/Vista thing but the game runs. That's the main thing.

[ladner]

Regarding unit sprites, any particular reason why most the armies have a cavalry sprite?  I would expect to see mostly infantry, since the bulk of the regiments in either side were infantry.

[Joel Billings]

Those are actually leaders (2 horses and a flag is a leader symbol, 1 horse is a cav symbol).

[Grifman]

Given that more men died from disease during the war, how is such attrition handled? And how is supply handled in the game and what impact does it have? Thanks.

[Joel Billings]

A certain amount of attrition is assumed in the game. However, all units check for attrition each turn and may suffer hits because of it. There are many factors that impact the chance the unit will suffer from this attrition, and being out of supply is a big one. Supplies must be produced in the game and are used automatically each turn to supply units. Units will use extra resources in an area first before consuming supplies, so there is some ability to live off the land. Supply units aren't moved in the game but are automatically moved and expended as needed, with off rail and off road movement of supplies requiring higher consumption of supplies when supplying units. We've tried to eliminate the drudgery of having to move the supplies, but you do have to build them and balancing supply needs with building units is important (supplies are used for building forts, units, depots). Depots are a way to mass supplies in enemy areas to provide an ability for leaders to gain initiative and be able to move offensively. The bottom line is that supplies are very important in the game in many ways.

[Grifman]

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

A certain amount of attrition is assumed in the game. However, all units check for attrition each turn and may suffer hits because of it. There are many factors that impact the chance the unit will suffer from this attrition, and being out of supply is a big one. Supplies must be produced in the game and are used automatically each turn to supply units. Units will use extra resources in an area first before consuming supplies, so there is some ability to live off the land. Supply units aren't moved in the game but are automatically moved and expended as needed, with off rail and off road movement of supplies requiring higher consumption of supplies when supplying units. We've tried to eliminate the drudgery of having to move the supplies, but you do have to build them and balancing supply needs with building units is important (supplies are used for building forts, units, depots). Depots are a way to mass supplies in enemy areas to provide an ability for leaders to gain initiative and be able to move offensively. The bottom line is that supplies are very important in the game in many ways.

Thanks for the info.

[Grifman]

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Those are actually leaders (2 horses and a flag is a leader symbol, 1 horse is a cav symbol).

This is picky but I really don't like that graphic. Give me an infantry graphic with two stars or some other indicator for the two leaders. Right now the game doesn't look right on the map because it looks like a battle of cavalry units.

Just my opinion.

[ph4n]

ORIGINAL: Grifman

ORIGINAL: Joel Billings

Those are actually leaders (2 horses and a flag is a leader symbol, 1 horse is a cav symbol).

This is picky but I really don't like that graphic. Give me an infantry graphic with two stars or some other indicator for the two leaders. Right now the game doesn't look right on the map because it looks like a battle of cavalry units.

Just my opinion.

I agree. I would prefer an infantry symbol as the "basic" troop symbol, and rather use something like: battle flag = leader present/no battle flag = no leader present (doh!) instead. IMHO, that way the player would get a better overview of the situation at a quick glance.

[JudgeDredd]

I don't know if it would sate your appetite, but there are icons which you can switch on in the options, which show what other units are there...(see the red circles in my screenshot)

In fact, the icon displayed in an area is the main unit....so if there are militia and artillery in a region, then the artillery icon is displayed...likewise when a leader is in an area, regardless of what other units are there, the ranking leader is displayed. It makes sense being as leaders are absolutely paramount to combat.

Trust me, if you want to know where you are going to make a breakthrough, you will be scanning you leaders...then looking at infantry, artillery, militia and prob in that order.

I know it might seem strange, but because of the importance of leaders, it soon falls into place why they are displayedas the default icon when they are in a region.

[histgamer]

How are armies handled? Actual numbers like 20,000 men or like 2 units of infantry 1 unit of cavalry 1 unit of artillery? I would prefer if it was 20,000 infantry 5,000 cavalry 100 artillery pieces... even better if there were differing types of artillery Parrotts, 3 inch ord rifles, Napoleons.. etc

[Joel Billings]

Each unit of infantry, militia (untrained infantry), cavalry, or mounted (untrained cavalry) represent 2000 men. They can gain experience over time through success in battle. Each artillery or heavy artillery unit represents 20 guns.

Losses are in units damaged (require half production time to repair, along with half population), or destroyed. During and after battles we report on the number of men engaged and that are casualties. There is an attrition system that allows partial damage on units to accumulate and then lead to a better chance to hit a unit, and this leads in effect to smaller numbers of casualties than just 1000 or 2000 (when a unit is damaged or destroyed).

[PyleDriver]

Each brigade of infantry or cavalry is 2000 men, an artillery battery is 20 guns, each fleet is 2 ships. The artillery comes in 2 types light and heavy, other than that you just imagine what types those are...From this you get to build an army anyway you see fit. Sometimes you just have to scrap together what you have of trained units, and artillery, look for your best corps commanders, and move them to your army commanders. Thus you can have an army any size or shape you want. Thats where production and what you produce, is such a big part of this game. Not enough supply then theres heavy attrition in the field, not enough artillery then you won't win battles.

[8D]
Jon

Well it looks like Joel and I posted at the same time, but beat agian. I can't seem to beat him at anything...lol...

[Crimguy]

Like WitP, this game seems to insist on having icons without any text.  Do they have tool tips?

Also, I realize I could just wait for the game to come out, but could someone post info as to what the icons mean, what numbers on the map mean?  Also, what the numbers on the counters mean.  I'm reading Joel's AAR with interest, but having some idea what I'm seeing would help me understand. . .

[PyleDriver]

If your looking at the white numbers, its SR movement, rail or naval transport. If its the leader numbers, wow, thats a hole new world. I don't have the time tonight, I'm tring to win this AAR with Joel (finishing my turn), but I'll post tomarrow more about leaders and those numbers...If theres other numbers in question, let me know.

[8D]
Jon

[Erik Rutins]

ORIGINAL: Crimguy
Like WitP, this game seems to insist on having icons without any text.  Do they have tool tips?

Yes, pretty much everything has a tool tip.

Regards,

- Erik

[ratters72]

As 1 in 13 (roundabout) fell to disease in the ACW could someone tell me how disease and attrition is handled? eg-is it taken replaced from a recruitment pool?  Can it rip through army, especially in winter? 

[Joel Billings]

There is an attrition formula that factors in location, supply condition and season. This is for exceptional attrition. It damages inf/cav units and destroyes miltia/mounted units. In November 1864 in the current AAR, the Confederates had 1 unit damaged, while the Union had 6-7 damaged. That's partially due to the fact that the Union outnumbers the Confederacy by 2-3 to 1, and the fact that most of the Union army is in hostile territory (and luck).

[Pford]

Looking through the AARs it seems kind of onerous to distinguish between the Union and Confederate army icons without getting about 5 inches from the monitor. Of course, these are screenshots. Can these be better distinguished?

Civil War battles tended to be grueling, evenly matched affairs thanks to terrain and, especially, the unprecedented effectiveness of defensive weaponry. There weren't that many blowouts, Fredericksburg a notable exception. In the AARs you appear to get many lopsided battles. Was this intentional?