2nd Bull Run suggestions

[Hitorishizuka]

Just now, Koro said:

There is a limit to how far the AI will scale down. Your force seems very small though at 2nd Bull Run. Was 17k your entire force?

It was I Corps and the other two Corps never made it into battle so they didn't get counted, I guess. I wonder if I made the battle last just long enough for CSA reinforcements to start hitting the field and get counted, even if they didn't actually do anything.

[Koro]

Yes, you might have if you captured it towards the end of the 2. stage. I think the AI starts receiving reinforcements by then. I'm impressed you managed to get all the way up the hill with that small of a force though :). 

[Hitorishizuka]

15 minutes ago, Koro said:

Yes, you might have if you captured it towards the end of the 2. stage. I think the AI starts receiving reinforcements by then. I'm impressed you managed to get all the way up the hill with that small of a force though :). 

I was a bit more surgical than your video. After pushing them back from the first line of defenses by using the forest cover, what I did was mass on the CSA left with undersized veteran brigades and stayed in cover around the buildings and shot it out for awhile. This influenced the AI to reorient its brigades and pull them over to that side to prevent a push. Then I pushed hard and made a salient specifically at the wheat field that separates their left flank from the center, using it to provide cover, then used that to flank and roll over the very sparse forces in the center, push them off, and take the cap a little bit into the 2nd stage. The forces on their left were kept bottled up by the other side of the salient and all my decoy brigades. I also had skirmishers making spoiling attacks on the CSA right in that forest area to keep them from rushing those brigades back to the center as quickly.

[Don't Escrow Taxes]

Naw Koro I don't think we played each other, I stopped playing before full release and never did the steam channel tournaments  

[Koro]

On 6/12/2016 at 8:53 PM, Don't Escrow Taxes said:

Naw Koro I don't think we played each other, I stopped playing before full release and never did the steam channel tournaments  

 

I've checked some screenshots and people are crushing the Confederates as Union:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=816576909

Staggered reinforcements would at least delay an easy victory

[KaleRaven]

Nice Fredericksburg pic... talk about a massed assault. With the AI troops all strung out along the defensive line, its not hard for the player to pick a point and throw everything they have at it. Perhaps there needs to be more splash damage to reduce unit stacking.

[Hitorishizuka]

47 minutes ago, KaleRaven said:

Nice Fredericksburg pic... talk about a massed assault. With the AI troops all strung out along the defensive line, its not hard for the player to pick a point and throw everything they have at it. Perhaps there needs to be more splash damage to reduce unit stacking.

The AI tends to actually mass more IME, it's very frustrating on offense. Malvern Hill as Confederates is just a bloody mess since they can just stack the frontline 4 brigades deep and instantly start regarrisoning the fortifications faster than the player can react sometimes the moment one unit breaks.

[Alavaria]

Do fortifications work just as well when you're shooting the enemy in the back or side? Especially the ones like fences and the like. (It's amazing how far soldiers can shoot if they're in a fortification, you can shoot all the way across it and still have as much range as another soldier on the opposite end does.

[Hitorishizuka]

35 minutes ago, Alavaria said:

Do fortifications work just as well when you're shooting the enemy in the back or side? Especially the ones like fences and the like. (It's amazing how far soldiers can shoot if they're in a fortification, you can shoot all the way across it and still have as much range as another soldier on the opposite end does.

They seem to from what I've seen. The disadvantage of fortifications is that the unit get stretched out so it's possible to get 4-5 brigades shooting back at it to force it out (or slam a couple brigades into melee if you're pressed on time).

[Koro]

9 hours ago, KaleRaven said:

Nice Fredericksburg pic... talk about a massed assault. With the AI troops all strung out along the defensive line, its not hard for the player to pick a point and throw everything they have at it. Perhaps there needs to be more splash damage to reduce unit stacking.

Hmm, whoops, didn't mean to share that.

It was supposed to be two pictures of 2nd Bull Run.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/178286983341443111/AF25B1F30115CAF4935C8CB22CB1A8EB43F6837D/

[RobWheat61]

Good suggestions in Koro's posts.

I would like to add to this.

1. I tested 2nd Bull Run as the Union and I rushed (double quick) my men forward and they could cross the unfinished railroad before the AI reached the fortifications up to the small patch of wood west of the fortification. As the map very likely won't get bigger, the northern (upper) deployment zone should be made smaller (I know, that this was already done once with the last patch) or the confederate units should start closer to the fortifications so that they can actually reach the unfinished railroad fortifications before the player does.