Nelson, Wellington and.. er Warspite (God help us)

[warspite1]

Okay I am being asked to put into an X86 folder. I amend it as per the post above i.e. C:\Matrix Games\Wars of Napoleon.....

[warspite1]

Okay I now get a folder for the game (as I have with others) so that is promising.

So I am now going to put the patch into the same extension and see what happens.

Okay this is the message I get - is the answer Yes?



Edit: just re-read Franciscus' earlier post and will answer yes to this....

Hussah! It worked first time, and with no help [:D]


Thanks Franciscus, Aurelian, Loki and VP for your assistance - and patience - in getting a computerphobe up and running. Two days to download a patch [8|]

[warspite1]

.....anyways.


To the game, and I see that there is another campaign added - Sealion (that starts from July). However, I am going to stick with Napoleon's Campaigns January 1805 to December 1815 as I hope that this will give me time to learn the game before the main action really gets going.

[warspite1]

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

Turns last seven days. From what I can tell from the tutorials, the moves are planned ahead and then the units move accordingly over the next 7 days.

In the bottom right of the screen there are six boxes that appear to provide messages from time to time. From left to right:

Scripted Events, Battles, Retreats and Sieges, Movements and Restriction Orders, Replacement and New Units, Control and Ownership and System and Various.

I am greeted with three messages under Scripted Events and this seems like a good place to start.

The first message gives an overview of where we are. The Royal Navy are blockading the French and Spanish ports, while the British Army and local militia guard the potential invasion spots along the south coast and East Anglia.

The job of the British is easy, stop the possibility of invasion, protect the Empire and the vital sea lanes, manage coalitions of foreigners (who would no doubt love to kick Britain just as much as they would 'Bony' given half the chance.

The English Channel is all that separates Napoleon from Blighty. Admiral Lord Keith commands some naval vessels (The Home Fleet) guarding the Pas de Calais, while the main fleets are trying to stop the French and Spanish from sailing from their main bases to the French northern ports - from where the 'Little Corporal' hopes to launch his attack.

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

In the bottom right of the screen there are six boxes that appear to provide messages from time to time. From left to right:

Scripted Events, Battles, Retreats and Sieges, Movements and Restriction Orders, Replacement and New Units, Control and Ownership and System and Various.

I am greeted with three messages under Scripted Events and this seems like a good place to start.

The last choice will let you read all the messages. The others just what they name. (Scripted events just shows those. Battles show those, etc.)

[warspite1]

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

Armies and Corps

The next message looks important. I am being told that the 'Moore Army Reform' option looks handy. I have 1 Army and 0 Corps on map, but am allowed +2 and +9 respectively (plus up to 1 Corps each year) with that option. I must remember that.

There is also a warning about limitations to divisions and warning players not to break divisional structures. Again, military reform is key in order to allow building full divisions.

Interface

The GUI is not obviously intuitive. I clicked on a fleet counter and now cannot work out how to get back to the messages screen. I have had a look at the manual but I cannot see how to get out of the screen other than to press ESC, which then takes me out of the game and I have to press resume again. There must be a better way? - EDIT: See post 31

[warspite1]

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

British Army and the Royal Navy

I want to go straight to the business end of the game. I will need to look at money, morale, victory conditions etc in due course, but let's be honest, this is a war game and the army and navy units (and how interesting they are) are going to go a long way to helping me decide if this game is my cup of tea.

Units (Navy)

Being Great Britain, I will look firstly at the naval units. In the top left hand corner of the screen are four buttons. The bottom left takes you to the Strategic Atlas.

The top left button allows a switch between Units and Forces. If I click on Forces I can see the 'Boulogne Observers' - one of the two fleets we saw previously in the English Channel. I can then see 'at-a-glance' key bits of info including where this force is, the commander stats, power, cohesion, number of elements and current orders. Switching to the Units screen I can see the same information for the individual Units within a Force. So here for example I see the Beaulieu Squadron (one of the squadrons that make up the Boulogne Observers) listed.

Clicking to the left of the name then takes me to that unit on the map (though again its not readily apparent how I switch back!) - EDIT: See post 31.

[warspite1]

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

British Army and the Royal Navy

Units (Navy)

So let's take a closer look at Admiral Keith's Home Fleet and the ships within. First thing I notice is that both Keith and Saumarez were destroyers in WWII - but I digress.

Unfortunately when I print the screen the flyout that appears when hovering over a unit does not come out. I will therefore have to manually explain what I am seeing here.

I left click on the Home Fleet unit and, according to the box that appears, the Home Fleet contains 17 Units with a power of 1,416 and is commanded by Admiral Lord Keith.

The 17 Units are not individual ships but a mixture of leaders and squadrons.

If I click on Keith, I get the following information:

- Command Rating 5-4-5
- Seniority 1
- This leader can actively lead units this turn.

Ageod games do not appear to provide one lot of information where a thousand bits will do! If I then click on the symbol in the top right of the unit I get another screen. This details a whole host of stats for this leader and his combat abilities, mobility etc.

By clicking on a Squadron (top right) I then get a list of the ships that make up the squadron and by clicking that same symbol I can scroll through each of the ships and their capabilities in detail.

So for this fleet I click on the first squadron - the Hibernia Squadron (the Flagship Squadron) - and I see this is made up of:

- HMS Hibernia
- HMS Royal George
- HMS London
- HMS Mermaid

I don't intend to go into too much detail at this stage, but in the next post I want to get a high level idea of what some of the numbers mean for the Admirals and the ships and also what are the key things I need to understand in terms of keeping ships at sea fully supplied and in fighting condition. Obvious questions at this stage are:

- How do I mount an effective blockade?
- How long can I keep my ships at sea for?
- How do I keep my ships supplied?
- Where is HMS Warspite? [:D]

The Stack Panel which contains 17 Units including 2 leaders

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

Armies and Corps

The next message looks important. I am being told that the 'Moore Army Reform' option looks handy. I have 1 Army and 0 Corps on map, but am allowed +2 and +9 respectively (plus up to 1 Corps each year) with that option. I must remember that.

The GUI is not obviously intuitive. I clicked on a fleet counter and now cannot work out how to get back to the messages screen. I have had a look at the manual but I cannot see how to get out of the screen other than to press ESC, which then takes me out of the game and I have to press resume again. There must be a better way?

It *is* important. Whatever you do, don't get Moore killed.

Right click and the unit display will disappear.

[Zorch]

England expects that Warspite will do his duty and smite the Corsican Ogre.

Don't forget about the Ageod Forums. http://www.ageod-forum.com/forum.php

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Aurelian

ORIGINAL: warspite1

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

Armies and Corps

The next message looks important. I am being told that the 'Moore Army Reform' option looks handy. I have 1 Army and 0 Corps on map, but am allowed +2 and +9 respectively (plus up to 1 Corps each year) with that option. I must remember that.

The GUI is not obviously intuitive. I clicked on a fleet counter and now cannot work out how to get back to the messages screen. I have had a look at the manual but I cannot see how to get out of the screen other than to press ESC, which then takes me out of the game and I have to press resume again. There must be a better way?

It *is* important. Whatever you do, don't get Moore killed.

Right click and the unit display will disappear.

warspite1

Ahhhhhh!!!! so that is good. Simple right click and the current display disappears. Also when moving around to various off-map sites (e.g. from the Strategic Atlas) then a simple click on the mini-map in the bottom left hand corner of the screen.

I have issued orders for General Moore to be taken to a safe-house in Central London and, upon arrival, for him to be wrapped up in cotton wool until 1816.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

England expects that Warspite will do his duty and smite the Corsican Ogre.

Don't forget about the Ageod Forums. http://www.ageod-forum.com/forum.php

warspite1

Well with me in charge I think that is unlikely, but hope springs eternal Baldrick [;)]

[warspite1]

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

British Army and the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The manual seems to have references to the Navy tacked on to the Land Forces explanation. I assume therefore that unless stated in these short paragraphs, the rules are the same....

Leaders, Other Units and Elements (Navy)

The manual highlights the importance of good leadership. So first off I need to understand more about the Admirals in the Home Fleet (unlike the Boulogne Observers there are two in the former). Presumably this is to do with the size of the respective fleets?

Admiral Lord Keith Rating 5-4-5 (3-Star)
Seniority 1
Can lead units this turn

Rear-Admiral Cornwallis 5-3-3 (1-Star)
Seniority 7
Can lead units this turn

The numbers above relate to Strategic (this determines command radius and combat power) - Offensive - Defensive.
Strangely I cannot see from the manual what these three numbers range from - but assume its up to 7 based on the factors given for Nelson?

As with the ship units, there is a ton of other stats - experience, cohesion, Initiative, Discipline etc for each Admiral.

Command Points and Stars

The Home Fleet also has a 'Required Command' of 10 and a 'Provided Command' of 16. I have done a word search in the manual but cannot see reference to these terms. However there is a reference to Command Cost and I see that a Squadron has a cost of 1 to 4. Command Points are available dependent upon rank.

As a 3-Star Admiral, Keith has 12 Command Points (Provided Command) and Cornwallis as a 1-Star has 4 Command Points. So how does the Required Command figure get made up? Note 16 is the maximum regardless of the type and number of leaders in the Stack.

Each Squadron has a Command Cost (left-click on the Unit brings the following information up):

Elements: 4
Overall Combat Strength: 226
Supply: 90 Ammo: 85
Avge Cohesion 90/90
Command Cost: 3
Transport Capacity: 4

Totalling the command cost of the various squadrons = 10.

So the Hibernia Squadron is a Unit of the Home Fleet Stack and there are four individual ships - Elements - within the Unit of which HMS Hibernia is one. Elements cannot be manipulated separately.

[warspite1]

Turn 1
January 1-7 1805

British Army and the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy need to keep fleets at sea to blockade the enemy within their ports. How do they replenish supplies? There are two types of supply to worry about.

- Ammunition (which has to be done in port)
- General Supply (which can be done at sea using transports (so that is why the Home Fleet had the 1st Transport Squadron attached!) - and if adjacent to a land region with a stockpile - does that mean even without a transport?

A lack of supply affects Cohesion and leaves units vulnerable to hits as well as severe combat penalties for a lack of Ammunition. General rule - Units have enough General Supply and Ammunition for two turns and two battles [don't know if this is also naval units - I do not know how long it takes to fill a Transport?].

I just put the Home Fleet into the middle of the Channel (so not adjacent to the English coast), removed the Transport Squadron and moved the turn forward three turns. I then moved the fleet into the Atlantic. However, my General Supply situation has not changed. I have the same message:

You are at 99% of your maximum food and water capacity. Your current stock is 688 points and your usage is 99/turn. Why has this not reduced given that I have no obvious method of re-supply?

[Ostwindflak]

Each one of the ships in your screenshot (I assume this is the fleet in question here) has a small yellowish box in the bottom left corner of each ship portrait. If you hove your mouse over it, a tooltip should appear telling you it is either a small or large transport.

Even though you remove the dedicated transport ships, these other ships can still supply themselves for a time with what they carry in their holds. Over time and with offensive style orders (such as loki100 mentioned) the food and water stocks will start to dwindle. Having dedicated transport ships with large holds will extend the operation time of your ships for longer voyages.

*edit* P.S. Glad you are doing an AAR. I like reading you and Aurelian's AARs. I've often though of doing one myself someday. First I would need a program to take screenshots and edit them and such.

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: Ostwindflak

Each one of the ships in your screenshot (I assume this is the fleet in question here) has a small yellowish box in the bottom left corner of each ship portrait. If you hove your mouse over it, a tooltip should appear telling you it is either a small or large transport.

Even though you remove the dedicated transport ships, these other ships can still supply themselves for a time with what they carry in their holds. Over time and with offensive style orders (such as loki100 mentioned) the food and water stocks will start to dwindle. Having dedicated transport ships with large holds will extend the operation time of your ships for longer voyages.

*edit* P.S. Glad you are doing an AAR. I like reading you and Aurelian's AARs. I've often though of doing one myself someday. First I would need a program to take screenshots and edit them and such.

warspite1

Thanks Ostwindflak. Unless I am missing this information, I find the manual to be somewhat light on this type of stuff. Having seen your answer I can see the reference to tiny transport, Level 1 and that this applies to all elements of the stack. So I guess each ship (element) has its own supply/transport unit? If so, what is the point of the Transport Squadron? and, more importantly, is the amount of supply affected by the distance from a Home Port? If these ships are not going back and forth to port automatically why wasn't the supply level going down?

[Ostwindflak]

Each stack can supply itself for a short time with the supplies it can hold onboard. Since the cargo holds in warships are rated as "tiny", the longer you are out at sea/the further you move from a supply base (port), the faster the cohesion and supplies will diminish. A transport Squadron will usually have ships that have "Large" cargo holds. These combined with your warships will allow a fleet to stay out to sea for much longer periods of time and also allow them to sail a lot further and not lose cohesion and supply as fast.

Think of it in terms of a fleet heading from Portsmouth to say Malta in game. They can do it on their own without dedicated transport ships, but when they arrive they will most likely be in such bad shape that it will take several turns for their cohesion/hits/supplies to replenish before the fleet is of any use to you.

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

England expects that Warspite will do his duty and smite the Corsican Ogre.

Say Wut?

signed

The Corsican Ogre.

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: warspite1


The Home Fleet also has a 'Required Command' of 10 and a 'Provided Command' of 16. I have done a word search in the manual but cannot see reference to these terms. However there is a reference to Command Cost and I see that a Squadron has a cost of 1 to 4. Command Points are available dependent upon rank.

Required command is how many command points you need to lead the stack without penalty.

Provided command is how many command points he has in total.

You suffer a combat .penalty if you go over the provided command. Can be as high as 35%

[Aurelian]

ORIGINAL: Ostwindflak
*edit* P.S. Glad you are doing an AAR. I like reading you and Aurelian's AARs. I've often though of doing one myself someday. First I would need a program to take screenshots and edit them and such.

Thanks for reading mine I'm trying to put in more detail without giving the game away.

Oh, I the Paint program that comes with Windows.

ps, I like Warspite1's AARs too.