Matrix Games Forums

What do HQ Units actually do or allow?

Are they worth having prior to Corp formations?

They cost 4 command points. So I am thinking they may not be worth having prior to Corp formations. The manual, is rather vague to say the least.

They provide staff, medical and training (exp.) bonus.
You also could buy individual staff units and medical units.
But there are only very few leaders with training (exp.) ability, like Rufus King.

Best regards

You can also use them in the rear as training centers for your militia and conscript troops. But that won't be efficient unless you have a lot of extra troops on map not needed at the front as it takes a long time to train them up a level (20-30 turns maybe not sure).

Jim

And, since there are limited numbers of HQ units, you probably can't purchase them for all corps.

ORIGINAL: Jim D Burns

You can also use them in the rear as training centers for your militia and conscript troops. But that won't be efficient unless you have a lot of extra troops on map not needed at the front as it takes a long time to train them up a level (20-30 turns maybe not sure).

Jim

Not sure that's true-- having an HQ unit in a rear stack seems to work up units quite quickly, I get stars in a very short (~5) turns amount of time.

BTW, related: do bonuses stack? I.e. if I have an HQ *and* a medical unit in a stack, do I get even better benefits, or just the better of the two, or what?

I was talking about unit level increases, not experience stars. It takes about 50 or so experience points (5 stars) for a unit to go up a level, and since almost all experience is lost when units level up, that’s almost 100 points to train militia first to conscript and then up to line. HQ’s add 1 point per turn if their stack is immobile, so unless you can afford to leave a large body of troops sitting idle, it’s probably not cost effective to rely on them for training.

Putting them in a front line location you plan to defend for a very long time might be a good use for them though, so say the South has a Corps defending Fredericksburg, you could make half the troops militia and add an HQ to the stack to have them train up. Once trained you bring in a new batch of trainees. The only risk here is you get hit by a large fully trained federal army, so keeping half your troops line infantry would help your odds of winning a defensive battle.

Richmond or any of the important rear area cities would also be good locations to park large troop concentrations for training, so putting militia into the line isn’t necessary unless you really can’t afford to be buying line troops. Personally I build very few militia when I play the south, as I need my troops to fight as well as possible in every engagement. As the north I tend to rely solely on militia in the early years to try and grow a larger force than the south. Later by about 1863 I only build line troops with them as well.

Can't answer your question, a dev will have to chime in on that.

Jim

What are HQ units? Are they discrete units like medical, signal and balloon or are they the invisible assets which exist as part of an army formed around a leader?

Discrete units counters to be built from military recruitment/other units, just like med. & signal.

Best regards

Thx. I haven't seen these yet (currently playing scenarios), but I like the idea they can be used for training purposes.

ORIGINAL: Davekhps
BTW, related: do bonuses stack? I.e. if I have an HQ *and* a medical unit in a stack, do I get even better benefits, or just the better of the two, or what?

yes, in the same way that a siege gun and sappers give you a +2 on the siege rolls

It don't stack, both units bear the same ability and identical abilities don't stack.