Game doesn't always move transports with armadas

[Jimmer]

I had half a dozen fleets carrying troops (from Portsmouth), and put them on "stack movement". Then, I moved them. I didn't notice that it didn't bother moving one of the fleets: My transport (loaded, of course). I only moved 2 spaces, so it should have come with. Plus, many MANY times I have done a move similar to this, and the transport DOES move.

How can multi-fleet movement include them some of the time and not other times? I think the answer may be whether you choose the transport as the selected fleet just prior to clicking the stack button. But, I didn't think it was important until it ruined my move in the game I'm playing. Grrrrrr!

The game needs some kind of warning that not all fleets are moving with the stack, which may not have been the owner's intent. Or, since this only happens with transports, a simple warning about whether it moved with the stack or not whenever a stack leaves a port that has a transport fleet in it.

[ndrose]

I think your supposition about the way it works is right: if you select the transport, then click on stack move, it brings the warships with it. But if you select a normal fleet and click on stack move, it doesn't bring the transport. I think the reason for this is the different movement ranges. If you've got the transport selected, your range is 3, and any warships can come along. But if you've got a war fleet selected, your range is 7. To bring the transports along automatically, the game would have to do one of two things, neither desirable: limit the movement of the stack to 3, or drop the transport by itself in the ocean along the way.

This could be better documented, though, and a "transports left behind" warning is a good idea.

Nathan

[NeverMan]

Jimmer, did you realize this after you already ended your phase?

You shouldn't have to "reload" even if you make a move mistake, you should be able to take back moves until your land phase is over, then it should be stuck. I'm not sure why the game wasn't programmed this way to begin with, or is it and I am missing something?

[MarshallEllis]

Jimmer:
 
This is normal behavior. If you wish the transport to come with the stack then select the transport first then select stack movement. In testing we found that frequently a player would select a stack and move out to attack an enemy, not knowing that his transport was with him, then in the attack might lose his ships AND all of his transports could have been captured. Most players did not want to take transport fleets into battle.
Does this make sense?
 
 

[Jimmer]

ORIGINAL: NeverMan

Jimmer, did you realize this after you already ended your phase?

You shouldn't have to "reload" even if you make a move mistake, you should be able to take back moves until your land phase is over, then it should be stuck. I'm not sure why the game wasn't programmed this way to begin with, or is it and I am missing something?

I discovered it shortly after ending the phase. I was looking over where I was going to land the troops, and counting them up: 1, 2, 3, 4, wait, where's the fifth! GAK!!! It's still in Portsmouth!

The thing that really fooled me was:

There were five fleets that I needed to move.

When I got done, there were five counters in the sea zone.

Everything must be perfect, right?

Nope: One of the counters was Nelson. WAAAAaaaaaaaaaa!

Oh, well, gives me the seeds for starting a new army after this one gets annihilated by the French. (Hopefully, right after it does a little damage itself). Still, that extra 10 guys would have been useful.

[Jimmer]

ORIGINAL: Marshall Ellis

Jimmer:

This is normal behavior. If you wish the transport to come with the stack then select the transport first then select stack movement. In testing we found that frequently a player would select a stack and move out to attack an enemy, not knowing that his transport was with him, then in the attack might lose his ships AND all of his transports could have been captured. Most players did not want to take transport fleets into battle.
Does this make sense?

Oh, yeah, it makes sense. But, it isn't right. It should give me a warning "Transport fleet left behind".

By the way, this could be fixed another way, and that would have ramifications elsewhere (plus, I've reported this before):

Have a "table" be created including all of the fleets in a port or sea area. Then, when one selects "stack movement", instead of automatically grabbing all (or, all but one, depending on what's there), pop up a dialog box with a check box for each fleet present. The ones that the owner selects would then become part of the currently selected stack. This would solve both problems.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to describe the second problem:

The second problem is where some fleet counters have already moved their entire movement allowance (specifically, this happens when one tries to smash through a blockade into a port, and one loses the battle -- all movement points are expended). Once a ship has used all of its movement points, other ships in the same area (where it ended its movement) CANNOT be put into stack movement mode, because the fleets with no movement can't move.

[NeverMan]

Marshall,

I don't think this does make sense. I mean, I understand what you are saying, but it seems like that solution is the lowest common denominator.