Movement is tough for me

[robot]

new player to the game and still trying to learn. The really big problem I have is trying to get my units to attack at all. It seems they just sit for months and never want to fight at all. What do I have to do to get my troops to fight. Am I trying to get them filled up with units to soon. Is this why they wont move for several months at a time. I have Ac and TC with them. Have built supply depots for them and they are all well supplied. Had a heck of a time trying to even get enough troops and leaders in the first month to invade Manassas. And it says if you don.t invade you take a political hit for not doing it in the first turn in July 1861.


Also can anyone tell me a good ratio of producing units is for a newbie in this game. I seem to wind up with a lot of units on hold and they never seem to get produced ever. How much supply should a union player produce each month to get some kind of balance. Once they go on hold how in the heck do you ever get them produced if at all. Or how do you get them off of hold if once you put them on that. Clicking on them does not do anything at all once they are on hold. No longer any thing you can do they just continue to sit there for ever and nothing ever happens.

Also I have yet been able to get anything out of the state of Minnesota. Every month there is a zero on there producing ability. For the last six months I have gotten no response from them in the production phase. I am using the latest patch as well.

Tried to produce 5 gunships in December of 1861. They went into que and they have stayed there all the way up to February of 1862 and I never have received them they just continue to sit there each month. Can anyone help me with this problem as well. Sorry about rambling on. Like the game so far just very frustrated and upset. I know it is probaly something that I am doing and not the fault of the game. Just wish I could figure out my mistakes. Please can some one help me with these problems.

[Bo Rearguard]

Your units won't move unless their Army Commander or Unit Commander has initative. That's the little red arrow that appears by them on the map or on the commander's counter. Don't be surprised if they don't get initative every turn but there are things you can do to help like making sure the Army Commander has a high attack rating and is connected to a Theater Commander in a city with a combination of population and factories that add up to four.

Your production problems sound population-related as well. You can put as many units in the production line as you wish, but if that state where those factories are located doesn't have the population points to support them you'll just get a jam-up of unfinshed units in the last box. That's also the reason you're getting virtually no units from Minnesota. I never see more that a handful of Minnesota brigades in the game. Being a frontier state it was the least populous state in the Union in 1861. If you can't produce units due to a lack of population points try making supplies until the pop numbers catch up. Another reason you may not be able to produce units is that units that have suffered attrition or have been damaged in combat end up back in their state's respective production line and will drain population points as well.

This game takes a bit of getting used to so try re-reading the rules on production. It'll all come together. [8D]

[robot]

Thanks Bo for the info. Kind of figured it was me and not the game. There is an awful lot of info you have to learn for this game. Deleted the game I was having the production problem with and restarted. Already this game I have had at least five battles way more then double of any of the other games I have started. This time when production time came I used half my factories to produce supplies instead of other units. It has already made this game one of the better ones. Did not know population and supplies had so much impact on the mechanics of the game. Will this also help me with amphibious operations as I have yet been able to launch one so far.


Great game so far just need to use my small brain a little more then I have been. Could you tell me is it better to use corps in 1862 then letting the divisions fight independetly. Also is it wise to convert infantry to horse and should you do it every turn. Whats a good ratio of horsemen to infantry.

[Bo Rearguard]

Each player is allowed to convert two militia units to mounted units per odd numbered turn and one militia unit per even numbered turns. So, the game kind of caps the amount of cavalry both sides can produce. Even if you take every chance to convert there will only be a rather limited amount of cavalry compared to infantry and this is the one area where the Union cannot outproduce the South (unless the South runs of supply to pay the conversion cost) [;)]

Another good non-combat item to produce besides supply is the odd factory unit. It's something of a luxury for the North, but a necessity for the South. At some point you may lose the two-factory cities of Memphis and Nashville, and the Union blockade will start to bite as well. So to keep supplies and other goodies in production consider building an additional factory in a hard-to-take-quickly city like Richmond, Fayetteville, Charlotte, Columbia, or Atlanta when playing as the South.

The game does a pretty good job of simulating the population disparity between the South and the North. So, when playing as the South try to get your precious militia trained to more robust infantry as soon as possible by keeping them with commanders with high infantry training numbers. However, at the start of the game it's nearly impossible not to lose a few in combat as the majority of both armies is composed of militia.

[Bo Rearguard]

ORIGINAL robot Could you tell me is it better to use corps in 1862 then letting the divisions fight independetly.

If using the sub-commander optional rule you definitely want to form corps. As a general rule, the corps has the advantage of using the various die roll modifiers of any attached commanders while a lone division will only be using the modifier of it's one commander.

[Doc o War]

Early in the game it is all about training up the army- try to limit sending any militia into battle- you can detach units before you move into battle. Find which leaders have the best training numbers for infantry and pump them full of militia- constatntly peel off the trained up ones and add more militia in these training commands- putthem where the most guys need to be, and call those training camps. Your guys will train twice a turn- at the begining of your production cycle- and the beginning of the enemies production cycle.
Try to not run out of supply- building up your factories early on is a great way to increase your supply capacity- and the war effort in general- check to make sure the guys you are attacking with have supply< the boxes of supplies on the counter> do not attack with out of supply guys- you wont win.
  Spotting is also important, you need those cav- try not to scout or raid with militia cav against an opponent with regular cav- they will not only block you nearly every time- but they might kill the militia cav- damaged cav and infantry will come back in the repair spirial- militia cav and infantry only have one hit, and they are dead forever.
   Lack of supply can also cause attrition in your troops- damaging regulars- but killing militia.
    Make sure you have as much stacked up with army commanders as possible to get initiative bonuses. Remember the range for Theater Commander bonuses to effect things is 6 regions.