Impact of Officers

[kjchan]

Was the officer's rank mechanic something that existed in UG: Gettysburg?  If so can anybody educate me on how big of a difference each jump on rank makes (i.e. MAJ to LTC) on the effectiveness of the unit?

My overarching question is - is it a large and worthwhile impact?  Should I be stuffing my officer ranks with BGs, at least for the elite units and artillery?

[Butch]

The rank of each officer determines the amount of 'command' that they possess. Each brigade, depending on its size, requires a certain amount of command to operate at its maximum efficiency. Efficiency determines how well the brigade performs in terms of shooting and melee. The larger the brigade, the more command it requires. Each brigade in a division is also influenced by the command score of the general leading it's division. The game doesn't explain the numbers very well and at the moment there really isn't a way to know exactly how much command you need per brigade. As a general rule, you want your highest ranked officers leading your corps and divisions. Brigades can manage with lieutenant colonels or colonels but ideally you want a brigadier general leading them to ensure maximum efficiency. 

To answer your question, the jump in rank makes the biggest difference at the corps level. A brigadier general leading your corps will only have access to one perk. A major general will have access to two perks and a lieutenant general will have access to three perks which will affect every unit in his corps. So as you can see it's extremely important to have your highest ranked generals leading your corps. Division leaders don't provide perks but they do influence the command level of all the units in their division so it's useful to have a higher ranked officer leading a division to help maximize efficiency in all it's brigades. The other benefit of having a high ranking officer leading a division is that if the commander of a brigade becomes wounded or killed in action, the command penalty suffered during the battle by his unit is less severe as the unit still derives some command from the divisional commander. Artillery units and skirmishers are typically much smaller than infantry brigades and can usually get away with lower ranked officers leading them without a penalty to efficiency.

Edited November 25, 2016 by Butch