CSA Naval Leaders

[WarHunter]

Activating leaders as the Rebel is a series of tough choices. The one thing that makes it really interesting is the need to staff your sea going Raiders with hard charging sea cpatains.

I have found myself flush with leaders in the beginning. Building those naval raiding vessels, you'll see no shortage of officers standing in line to take command. Then all of a sudden you go to build a raider and get the message "no leader". Heck just recuit one; and thats when the dilemma begins.

2 activations a month, 1 which must be a naval commander. That is of course "IF", you want to try and collect 3ppmax a month along with #supplies from the fat transports of the yankee traders. Which leads us to the crux of the dilemma.

Who to choose as the landlubber?

What leader to pick? There are so many!

This has led me to look at the leader activation chart very carefully and only use an activation if i really need an officer. The constraint placed in the choosing of leaders is vital So that the CSA builds up a reserve of "extra" picks in the future.
The reason behind this buildup, is for the unexpected illness, wounds, and death, which can come anytime. Multipule leader losses from all causes will result in a major emergency. Sure you can just not build a raider, giving you 2 choices that month. But you will find having 3+ leader picks as the CSA is wonderful to have as backup.

Activating a leader will get him where you need him most, asap. Having those "extra" activations on hand can be as important as the supply saved for the future.

I'm gonna say there are some leaders that are gonna get activated in the beginning. Van Dorn for the Cavalry is one, Pemerton for the Artillery is another. They are too good not to go after. The Admin officers can be sidelined, they are not critical, unless you have some unfortunate luck. Artillery and Cavalry officers, they get activated as they are needed.
The infantry officers, you need them more than the naval officers. But the growth of your army is tied to your supply generation. Right now i play on the knife-edge. Only as many infantry leaders as is needed to exert direct action operations in the defense and offense. No infantry officer is sitting around without troops to "follow me". Thats it in a nutshell.

Now a couple of questions.

The rules suggest stopping raider building when EP is declared. So if 3 raiders cost 90 supply over 3 months, why not buy 2 raiders at 90 supply every 3 months?
When would you suggest the stopping of Raider production if the CSA has managed to head into 1863 without EP being declared?
Does anyone have a magic# of raiders they shoot for?
Anyone think building raiders are just wasting supply?
Does anyone else have some thoughts on the naval warfare side of the game?

Have at it. I hope this topic is worth your time to respond to.

(Really enjoying the game, PBEM is outstanding as a head to head simulation. Playing against the AI is a great challenge. Especially when waiting for the next PBEM move to arrive.)

[Poliorcetes]

I don't have a lot of experience, but I've found the limiting factor on raiders is supply.  You have plenty early on, but as the years go by, you find your army grows and your maintenance costs go up (I'm currently over 300 a turn), and that doesn't even count having extra supply to form new militia.  The game I'm playing now I've almost won (only 1 CSA city ever captured) and even will all supply production I still end up with 0 a turn due to troop repair and maintenance costs. 
As for benefits of the raiders, I suppose it all depends.  30 supply is 3 units a turn you have given up for a small drain of PP's on the Union (at best only 12 points/ship/year) and they can get sunk pretty quickly if the Union puts a lot of ships out there (although that keeps them from raiding your forts).  I'm getting a lot more supply from cavalry raids than from ship raids but I've been lucky the Union hasn't put its ships to better use.
 
Poliorcetes

[WarHunter]

Poliorcetes, Thanks for the reply. [:)]
 
I must agree that raiding with cavalry has a wonderful return. In a current PBEM game, my opponent has used his cavalry to screen most of the good raiding spots. Against the AI raiding seems to have a longer shelf life.
 
The supply limitation you touched on is very constricting. At some point the 30 supply to pay for a ship and the 5 supply to train a mounted infantry is gonna get cut. Any supply you can "steal" from the Union, with the raiders at sea or on the land is a good thing. Especially as the war enters 1863/64.
 
The one thing about sea raiders that sets them apart, is the PP gathering. Basically its a gamble with supply as the currency.
30 suppy and a leader = xpp + xsupply over xmonths at sea. In a close match it might just make the difference.
 
The game is still so fresh that i get a kick out of just playing with all the facets. One of the things im reaching for is that magic# of raiders to build for an optimal return. That and i have always enjoyed reading about the expolits of the Confederate Navy's "Alabama".
http://www.eraoftheclipperships.com/page71.html Nice overall rundown without being to wordy.

[PyleDriver]

If you need 300 supply as the CSA you won. The Union didn't wear you down...Some hints, move your reserves to areas with resources to forage... Build new factories early, too late now, but you get the point...Raiders seem low for results, but become a thorn in the Unions side and bring forces from the blockade...If your low on supply, build only supply. Delay production of everything else...

[8D]
Jon

[Bo Rearguard]

One feature I wish for the raider screen would be that it would display the name of the ship as well as the officer commanding it. Would add a bit of historical flavor.

One handy tool for the resource strapped Confederacy is that rule which favors them in putting captured Yankee cannon to use after winning a battle. Helps keep you in the artillery game when supply becomes a priority.[8D]

[WarHunter]

Bo Rearguard  I would also love to see the names of the ships as well.
 
We are normally attached to the name of a ship for identification.