Matrix Games Forums

OK, finally, despite my ineptitude, I get into what I consider a winning position.

Its 1865, March/April and I have the remnants of two Corps in Tennessee being looked after by plenty of my Union forces. I have thrashed (finally) the South's super fleets in 1863. I have taken every area of Confederate land from Nashville eastwards apart from the James river itself. For the whole of 1865 Lee's army is sat bottled up on the river, it has no supplies at all getting in. It has spent the whole winter (disease?)there and these guys must be eating water rats or something.

I attack with roughly equal numbers - though the quality has got to be miles apart given a four month 'siege' effectively. FOW is on.

I get resoundingly beaten and then the Confederate win screen appears - game over!

I know when I 'cut loose' from my supply lines in an earlier game my forces dwindled away to next to nothing within a few moves - so what gives here?

Roger

Sounds very discouraging. Did you see an elderly druid with a long white beard, a sickle, and a cauldron of magic potion?

if I follow the area on the map, I think the CSA is drawing supplys from that river area, so it isn't out of supply

Yes, so over 100K troops are drawing supply from a riverbank with no, repeat no,cities or other resources?

Do I have to have blockaded it? Cannot as the only blockade options are Norfolk and Richmond, both in my hands.......

Roger

Welllllllll

I did say, if I follow

it sounds like I may not be in the same area of the map that you are talking about

which province or river hex are you in ?

to be fair, I got to say, I am not sure what is going on, or why (yet)

Sorry Roger, I am not sure

My response is partly frustration. I am on the point of putting the game to one side until a patch appears that rights some of the play balance - or maybe until I work out what I'm doing that's so wrong. However another part of me simply says that in this above situation its not a matter in real life of whether the Confederacy can win but when they will finally lose. So I'm raising the issue for some discussion about the game mechanics that allow a 'win' in the following situation.....

April 1865. Ok, I have not taken the Mississippi, but Tennessee is ravaged and all rail communications between the Richmond area and the rest of the confederacy were severed completely by a march though a more northerly route than Sherman took. Aside from Lee's untouched army there are possibly 4 depleted divisions causing me some trouble in the Alabama area - total numbers around 3K!

I was faced with a decision to either sit and allow the ANV to thrive on its riverbank and watch the time points accumulate against me or attack what should have been a weakened and dispirited enemy (ref accounts of the last days before Appomatox) which then turns round and in instant battle whoops me and my victory points went into some negative hole - cannot see of course as the end screen obliterates all information!

I desperately want this game to work, I love the feel to it...... and at least I got close to the end for a change. I keep reading your hints Hard Sarge and implementing them so I am getting better, but I seriously don't think I was that far off at the end.

The rebs still hold Norfolk, Petersburg and Lynchburg as well as Richmond (James River)in that shot.
Not that it should make a difference in the overall score.

Sorry, didn't make it clear, that's not the actual shot, but taken from another game so Hard Sarge can be clear about what area I am referring to.

All the 'blued' out areas were mine in the game I am complaining about. The confederates only hold the James river area at the point at which i attacked the ANV there.

Roger

Is Richmond on the James River? If so that changes things a bit..... but my eyesight clearly shows its sitting in the Rappahannock province. Ho hum, forgive me but my close geographical knowledge of the USA is limited to the west coast of florida! However that map is very misleading if that is indeed the case!!!!!!!

Roger

I belive it is. Not sure.

ORIGINAL: Roger Neilson II

Is Richmond on the James River? If so that changes things a bit..... but my eyesight clearly shows its sitting in the Rappahannock province. Ho hum, forgive me but my close geographical knowledge of the USA is limited to the west coast of florida! However that map is very misleading if that is indeed the case!!!!!!!

Roger

Yes, Richmond is on the James River. Sorry, I misread your post about having all the provinces except the James River.

The graphics are misleading in so many places on the map and for some reason they decided that river areas should get the name from the river instead of the city on that section of the river - very confusing.

Hi Roger

okay looks like two things, YES, Richmound is part of the James, but the Circle for the Cap is showing in the land area, so that is why you are thinking there is no supply, which, with what you hold, that city really wouldn't be able to supply much, but think that is how the game works ??

I think you got screwed with a scoreing bug, a win by the other side will flip the score around (so a -6/+6 score today, with a AI win, will change to +6/-6 score, which if it happened that way, would of ended the game for you)

a close game towards the end, could be ruined

not that it will help in your case, but that bug has been fixed and tested for the next patch

I am pleased to hear that there is a bug which is no more! I did feel a touched robbed there.

is there any way we can know which cities belong to which areas.... given these strange mapmakers?

Roger

yes the flip bug has been squished ! [&o]and now hope this patch will come our ways cause I've started playing the Union ...

I sympathize with you. One of my many frustrations with the interface the first time I tried this game was that I could not FIND Richmond. I wasn't yet clued into the whole river province thing and, of course, thrown off by where it appears to be. I may well have found it only by accident.

We'll be adding a game option for no time limit, which many people seem to want.

River provinces are named after rivers and not cities so that they can be correctly identified as river provinces.  Any ambiguity over the locations of cities/units can be resolved by moving the mouse over the unit and reading the little box that's next to the mouse.

River provinces are very important strategically, they have some adjusted rules for them (see manual)

Supply, by the way, originates from any friendly province, not necessarily ones with cities.

Eric,
  Are supply sources in any way dependent on lines of communications to other friendly cities? I think it would be more realistic if there had to be some sort of LoC to maybe.....uh...two other cities.....to generate that volume of supply. Otherwise, if a city is isolated.....maybe it should only generate supply for 6??  (pick a number) brigades.

Then again.....maybe it is not possible to code it that way???