Garrison Units as Reinforcements?

[76mm]

In a scenario I'm working on, I have garrison units appearing as reinforcements. Their formation is set to "Garrison", but when they appear on the map, most of the garrison units (with garrison counter icons) are not restricted from moving from their towns, although a couple of them are...

What am I doing wrong, why are some garrison units static (as they should be), while others can move around like normal units?

[larryfulkerson]

Is Elmer moving them or are you playing manually? Are some of them entering on turns after T1? I'd like to see a screenshot of the editor view of the units in question. A formation view maybe?

[76mm]

Moving them manually. All of them are entering after Turn, based on the occurrence of events. I will post a screenshot later today, having computer issues ATM.

[Raindem]

Are you using Garrison or Static orders? There are subtle differences in how they behave.

Garrison remains garrison forever, until another event changes its orders. This includes reinforcements. If an individual unit is pushed out of its hex it will lose the Garrison orders but it won't affect the rest of the formation.

Static orders are removed if the enemy moves next to any unit in the formation. When that happens the whole formation is released from the orders. Static orders set in the editor only apply to units that start the game. Static orders issued by an event only apply to units currently on the map. Reinforcements will not enter as Static (orange stripe). You would have to re-issue those orders. Also, Static orders have an Turn # expiration that can only be changed in the deployment editor. You can't do that one by events. I usually just set it to Turn 999 if I want to control formation orders with events.

Note that the garrison icon has nothing to do with mobility. If a garrison icon unit has the yellow or orange stripe it will be immobile. If not, its mobility is determined by its equipment.

[76mm]

I'm using garrison orders for the formation which includes all of the garrison units. They are able to move right away when they appear on the map. I will check to see if the formation order is changed somehow when the units are placed, although I don't see how that could happen.

Thanks for pointing out about the garrison icons, I find it confusing how in TOAW some icons impose strict limits on unit behavior, and others don't...

[Curtis Lemay]

Try setting formation orders by event for each arrival turn. That should restore Garrison for them.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay
Try setting formation orders by event for each arrival turn. That should restore Garrison for them.

OK, will do. So far though, it is strange...the first few to appear are all "garissoned," but then the next couple are not (although the first ones to appear remain in garrison mode). Seems like it should be all or nothing for the whole formation, no?

[76mm]

Here is a screen shot, note the Garrison orders...not sure if this shows anything useful:

[Raindem]

I agree it is strange. When I use Static orders I have to do what Bob recommended. But I have not encountered that problem with Garrison orders.

Of course, you could make a unit immobile by assigning it a fixed artillery secondary icon. But that's going around the problem instead of solving it.

[76mm]

I've noticed that once garrison units appear on the map, the units' orders are "mobile" and the formation's orders change to Defend, with no option to select Garrison again. The odd thing is that some of the units nonetheless retain their garrison yellow band. It seems like the first few units to appear (again, based on events) retain garrison status, while subsequent units lose it. Can't quite figure this one out...

I haven't had a chance yet to try to Bob suggested; that will be kind of a hassle because there are some 25 garrison units, so 25 more events...grrr!

[Raindem]

The formation orders spontaneously change from Garrison to Defend? Are you sure you're not looking at deployment status? That's different from formation orders.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: Raindem
The formation orders spontaneously change from Garrison to Defend? Are you sure you're not looking at deployment status? That's different from formation orders.

hmmm, well it says general orders, and there are no other orders shown...here is a screenie:

[76mm]

The manual explains part of what is going on*:
Garrison: This order affects both human and computer players. Garrison orders are very similar to Reserve orders, except that units are individually activated if pushed out of their original positions. The Order is converted to a Defend Order when the game is first loaded, and all units of the Formation assume a Garrison status. Units in Garrison are treated much like units in Reserve Formations. Individual units lose their Garrison status when they are retreated or eliminated. Once a unit loses its Garrison status, it may be used normally.

Presumably some units are not being assigned garrison status because when they are deployed on the map the formation's orders have been reset to "Defend" rather than "Garrison". I will try to "reset" the formation as Garrison after each unit is deployed, but the text above leaves some doubt as to whether that will work.

*Other than the fact that there is no explanation of the "Reserve Formations" mentioned in the text...

[Lobster]

ORIGINAL: 76mm
*Other than the fact that there is no mention of the "Reserve Formations" mentioned in the text...

There are a couple of places where it's mentioned but never in detail. Typical for this manual. [;)]

[Raindem]

My only other suggestion is to double-check and triple-check all the other events to make sure there isn't one that is changing things. But that wouldn't make sense either. If an event changed the formation orders to Defend then all of the units would have lost the yellow band.

It's a mystery.

[76mm]

ORIGINAL: Raindem
My only other suggestion is to double-check and triple-check all the other events to make sure there isn't one that is changing things. But that wouldn't make sense either. If an event changed the formation orders to Defend then all of the units would have lost the yellow band.

It's a mystery.

I tried Bob's suggestion to reset as Garrison after every event placing a garrison, and so far that seems to work (although I only tested it on a subset of the units so far).

I think what is happening is that the first turn a garrison unit is placed, it goes in as a garrison, after which the formation's orders are set to Defend--the manual seems to indicate that this is how it is supposed to work, and that the formation changing to Defend will not "un-garrison" the units already placed...however, it looks like units arriving in future turns see the formation's orders as Defend, not Garrison, so they never go into Garrison mode in the first place--unless you reset it, as Bob suggested.

[Zovs]

I thought Raindem was Curt and Curtis was Bob and Jack is Lobster and pz653 is Steve and Golden is Ben, thank Good Ness Larry is Larry and Don is Zovs!

[:D][&:][X(]

[Lobster]

ORIGINAL: Zovs

Don is Zovs!

[:D][&:][X(]

Are you sure? [;)]

[Zovs]

ORIGINAL: Lobster

ORIGINAL: Zovs

Don is Zovs!

[:D][&:][X(]

Are you sure? [;)]

...Zovs is sure of Dons...