Matrix Games Forums

First of all: best strategy/wargame I’ve played since I don’t know when.Took me a while to get into but now I find it easy to navigate and play. Lots of difficult decisions to make but that’s what makes it so fun.
Ok, enough with the praise, I need some help as well.
I have started 4-5 games so far and played about six month before restart. First because I learned the game and made mistakes. Then I started to try and find the right level of difficulty for me. There is so many settings that I think I need some advice if I’m to find the right settings and finish a game eventually.
I want to play CSA with an economy that is historical, comparable to the unbalanced July scenario. I also like to play detailed battles but want them to be more of a challenge. Right now I play on Lieutenant Colonel difficulty and the battles feel allright but it give way to much money to the US I belive. To compensate for that I gave myself +1 in power and the computer –1.
I have since found out that each difficulty setting add 20% and power levels 25%.
Lieutenant Colonel is seven levels above sergeant. Does that mean that the AI gets +140% in economic boost? Two levels difference in power would be 50%. Can I just widen the difference in power until the math add up?
What about if I want to start in November? How is the economy tweaked in that scenario?
Hope this makes sense.
Oh, one more thing. When I right click on an US territory the report can be very wrong but it looks to me that the green squares I see under the container give a reasonably accurate number. I’ve checked “hide enemy strength” so am I supposed to be able to see those green squares?
Thanks for an outstanding game.

Hidde,
If I understand correctly what you're saying about power levels, that should work.

To be honest, it's been so long since we worked on these that I can't remember if there's a difference in the economies of the November and July scenarios. I'd say just play a turn in each (choosing both "balanced" or both "imbalanced" scenarios) and see if the starting and expected production is the same or not. My guess is that economic output is the same, but I can't be certain.

"Hide Enemy Strength" lets you see the green squares, but not an accurate number of troops when you right-click on the province. (And I think the number of green squares might sometimes be off as well.) The idea is for potentially inflated reports (like the ones McClellan was getting from Pinkerton). The more "Scouts" you have, the more accurate that number will be.

Glad to know you like the game. Thanks!

Thanks for your answer.
Good to have my understanding of the difficulty settings confirmed (more or less[:)]).
I'll play on and see how long I survive with my current settings. Then I start over after carefull consideration with new power levels.
Even if the green squares are a bit off I find it odd since they almost makes the function of the reports meaningless. Never mind, it's a minor thing and maybe I should be glad that ridiculously wrong reports are not all I have to make my decisions on.