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Just got the game, and have enjoyed learning the basic game and getting to know the rules.

So, playing the basic game, in 1863 I finally break the Rebs in Virginia and Tennessee, setting myself up to roll through the Carolinas, Georgia, northern Florida, and Alabama. I captured every province and city in those areas and destroyed all enemy units, including forts. My National will is at -1, my victory level is at 17;Rebs will is at -12, and their victory points at 0.

For fun, I decided to emancipate the slaves. This caused a couple of areas of significant unrest, and allowed the confederates to raise a unit in Selma and Talahassee, retaking the cities (I had foolishly not garrisoned as I went along).

I promptly recaptured the provinces, and prepared to move into Mississippi to finish off the game, but the next thing I know, the game stops and announces a Confederate victory! I don;'t understand that, given that the Confederates were down to under 24000 men, I had captured most of the South east of the Mississippi, and had over 180,000 men in the field -- all by mid 1864. What gives? Is this based on overall play during the game, or is it a possible bug, or what?

Signed --

Frustrated!

Just an update -- I went back and checked victory points just before the CSA victory screen.

At the start of the turn, the union had 17 victory with -3 national will; the confederates had 1 victory point with -10 national will. No battles occurred during the turn, no cities changed hands, no unrest spread. At the end of the turn, the union victory and national will totals remained unchanged; the confederates jumped up to 28 victory points and -10 national will. How does that happen? A 27 point swing on a turn where nothing happened?

Hi,

There's a check box in the game setup screen called "No Time Limit." If this is unchecked(which it must have been for you), then the CSA gets major points if they survive until mid '64. So to prevent this from happening, make sure that box is checked when you setup a game.

Unfortunately, I think this means you've lost your current game. Time to start game number 2. [:)]

Slick Wilhelm's right about the importance of using (or not using) that option, but a 28-pt. swing sounds like something else. I'll let EricBabe (= programmer) know, to see what he thinks. Please keep your save files, in case he wants to examine them.

By the way, this sort of thing -- i.e., a possible bug report -- should be posted in the Support sub-forum, since WCS staff doesn't read the AAR's sub-forum as often.

Thanks!

Eric's wondering whether this could have been the result of the 1864 Presidential Election. (See manual, p. 96.) What month did this happen?