Advice for hard difficulty & some questions

[Wandering1]

Clearly means your men are lazy blokes who couldn't be bothered to move much.

[GeneralPITA]

9 hours ago, Commander_Rahl said:

Started new union campaign, focusing on commanders, and leveling up my commanders.   Making sure that I send max possible Divisions, and cores to each engagement.   Not spending limited funding on Infantry Vets, but instead focusing on maxing out army size, and command structure.   Has been a lot of fun so far.   About to run Second Manassas, with 4 Cores, and almost 50K well equipped union men.   Maxing out the possible number of divisions that I can bring to the engagement, bringing all 16.   Sound advice above.   Made me rethink some of my approaches.   

One long term benefit of this strategy  (which will be most pronounced in Battle of Washington/Richmond) is the ability to disband a corps and adopt the minimum size strategy that hitorishizuka uses at any battle I see fit. The AI's +1 weapon type scaling means I've accrued top caliber weaponry with a larger army over the course of many battles, so I'll be left with nothing but top notch guns for the remaining corps when I downsize. Should I decide to downscale the AI, we'll be an even match on guns. However, my XP gets watered down with a larger army during the earlier campaign, so it's a double edged sword (however, I use my 1st corps mostly, so they get the lion's share of XP).

Is it more difficult to max out armaments by adopting a minimum army size strategy from the start?

[Wandering1]

2 minutes ago, GeneralPITA said:

One long term benefit of this strategy  (which will be most pronounced in Battle of Washington/Richmond) is the ability to disband a corps and adopt the minimum size strategy that hitorishizuka uses at any battle I see fit. The +1 weapon type scaling for the AI means I've accrued top caliber weaponry with a larger army over the course of many battles and I'll be left with nothing but top notch guns for the remaining corps. Should I decide to downscale the AI, we'll be an even match on guns.

Is it erroneous to assume it's more difficult to max out armaments by adopting a minimum army size strategy from the start?

Main question would simply be how many top notch guns you're looking for. A min-size army would not have to spend much on restocking post battle, so you can spend the spare cash on better guns, when you hit Economy 10.

Especially considering that as battles and cash rewards get bigger, if you're still spending relatively the same amount on reconstituting your army after the major battles, you'll have more cash left over to spend on new guns. Whether you'll get hard-capped because of the armory cap or not, that's a different question.

[Hitorishizuka]

23 minutes ago, GeneralPITA said:

One long term benefit of this strategy  (which will be most pronounced in Battle of Washington/Richmond) is the ability to disband a corps and adopt the minimum size strategy that hitorishizuka uses at any battle I see fit. The AI's +1 weapon type scaling means I've accrued top caliber weaponry with a larger army over the course of many battles, so I'll be left with nothing but top notch guns for the remaining corps when I downsize. Should I decide to downscale the AI, we'll be an even match on guns. However, my XP gets watered down with a larger army during the earlier campaign, so it's a double edged sword (however, I use my 1st corps mostly, so they get the lion's share of XP).

Is it more difficult to max out armaments by adopting a minimum army size strategy from the start?

Be warned that AI recon numbers scale on what you theoretically can fit into deployments, not what you actually bring. Not sure if in the actual battle it will be the reported numbers or lower but if so then you can't downscale in that fashion. (I never bothered getting around to test it, would be good to know.)

You will lack for the rarest top tier guns if you aren't on min size from the start but you may have more of the standard infantry rifles depending on how you are doing.

[GeneralPITA]

13 minutes ago, Hitorishizuka said:

Be warned that AI recon numbers scale on what you theoretically can fit into deployments, not what you actually bring.

You've inspired me, I just tested it. I don't believe your recruitment pool affects scaling. 

When attacking Stones River with my last save on hard, the union had 84,369 soldiers. After I disbanded my fifth corps (which had 5667 soldiers) the union gets 79,776 soldiers (4,593 fewer than my last save). 

4593/5667 = 81% downscaling for the AI with each troop I disband. They were all one star units, so I won't miss them. 

This strategic benefit is of little use if we're allowed to bring all 5 corps with 24 brigades to bear in the Battle of Richmond/Washington. It's a speculative battle, so we'll probably be allowed to go full bore. 

You're right that this strategy provides plenty of C.S. Richmonds and top tier infantry rifles, but not many T.S. Whitworth or rare weapons (but I did capture 8 whitworth cannons at Prospect Hill, which might not have been possible with a minimum size army).

[Hitorishizuka]

1 hour ago, GeneralPITA said:

You've inspired me, I just tested it. I don't believe your recruitment pool affects scaling. 

When attacking Stones River with my last save on hard, the union had 84,369 soldiers. After I disbanded my fifth corps (which had 5667 soldiers) the union gets 79,776 soldiers (4,593 fewer than my last save). 

4593/5667 = 81% downscaling for the AI with each troop I disband. They were all one star units, so I won't miss them. 

This strategic benefit is of little use if we're allowed to bring all 5 corps with 24 brigades to bear in the Battle of Richmond/Washington. It's a speculative battle, so we'll probably be allowed to go full bore. 

You're right that this strategy provides plenty of C.S. Richmonds and top tier infantry rifles, but not many T.S. Whitworth or rare weapons (but I did capture 8 whitworth cannons at Prospect Hill, which might not have been possible with a minimum size army).

Erm, you didn't test it. What you're supposed to do is check recon numbers pre-battle, which are scaled to your total army, but then only bring half your army or so and see what they have in the post-battle screen, whether it's scaled to what recon quoted or it's scaled only to what you actually brought. (Obviously pick a battle where you can't end it early and screw up the scripting.)

We already know there's Recon 'bugs' right now with multi-day battles so I'm curious whether this is another oversight in some fashion.

[Commander_Rahl]

8 hours ago, GeneralPITA said:

Thanks for posting this. Your efficiency is lower, firearms is higher. 

Edit: My stamina sucks! 

13K kills at Fredericksburg!   Did you have them manning a machine gun emplacement?   My god man.

[GeneralPITA]

4 hours ago, Commander_Rahl said:

13K kills at Fredericksburg!   Did you have them manning a machine gun emplacement?   My god man.

They don't call him Stonewall for nothin.

Felt more like an MG42 at Fredericksburg, you're right. 

[Commander_Rahl]

Battle order for Gaines Mill, As Confederates, Using PITA's strategy of maxing troops and commanders.   4 core, 16 divisions, 28 Brigades, 37K total troops.  All infantry one star by commander balancing tactics.  0 reserves left.

[GeneralPITA]

1 hour ago, Commander_Rahl said:

Battle order for Gaines Mill, As Confederates, Using PITA's strategy of maxing troops and commanders.   4 core, 16 divisions, 28 Brigades, 37K total troops.  All infantry one star by commander balancing tactics.  0 reserves left.

You'll really feel the benefit at Antietam. You'll turn a dozen captains and lt colonels into colonels and brigadier generals. Post your battle tally if you don't mind. 

[Commander_Rahl]

8 minutes ago, GeneralPITA said:

You'll really feel the benefit at Antietam. You'll turn a dozen captains and lt colonels into colonels and brigadier generals. Post your battle tally if you don't mind. 

Got the victory, but it was a nailbiter.   Got repulsed on my first attempt at the union right flank.   Took heavy fire there the whole engagement.   Barely got Hills reserves south to Eastern hill VP near the end, to secure the win.   Not proud of this one.   List 9K, killed 8K.   But victory was achieved, and I ended up with more troops than I stared with.

[GeneralPITA]

Just now, Commander_Rahl said:

Got the victory, but it was a nailbiter.   Got repulsed on my first attempt at the union right flank.   Took heavy fire there the whole engagement.   Barely got Hills reserves south to Eastern hill VP near the end, to secure the win.   Not proud of this one.   List 9K, killed 8K.   But victory was achieved, and I ended up with more troops than I stared with.

Ouch...I'd play it again. Can't take hits like that on hard as CSA. If you break off a dozen skirmisher units and attack from the swamp to the west, it'll be great support for your main attack. They move fast through marginal terrain and the enemy can't possibly hit so many targets at once. It'll distract the union left flank while you're closing in from their right with your main force. 

[Commander_Rahl]

6 minutes ago, GeneralPITA said:

Ouch...I'd play it again. Can't take hits like that on hard as CSA. If you break off a dozen skirmisher units and attack from the swamp to the west, it'll be great support for your main attack. They move fast through marginal terrain and the enemy can't possibly hit so many targets at once. It'll distract the union left flank while you're closing in from their right with your main force. 

This one might be worth a replay for sure. Lost my two star 12 Pd Howizter unit too, so I think a replay is a good call.   Initiated my attack in the right too early, and the union reserves made me pay for it.   I will have to try the skirmishers to the left.

[sonnypemberton]

18 hours ago, Commander_Rahl said:

This one might be worth a replay for sure. Lost my two star 12 Pd Howizter unit too, so I think a replay is a good call.   Initiated my attack in the right too early, and the union reserves made me pay for it.   I will have to try the skirmishers to the left.

I usually feint the right and take a good force (several brigades) up their left and roll their line. after I have worked about half way up the line, ill pull the right in for the pincher. 

[Squadron HQ]

So I have just completed the CS campaign so far at Fredericksburg. Thanks for the advice here! I managed to play both Sharpsburg and Fredericksburg under the influence. Sharpsburg was nearly a draw but I "got my dander up" as you Americans might say and launched a huge counter-offensive at the end and retook the Dunker Church. At Fredericksburg i shot the Yankees to pieces but I lost a lot of men too: the battle was 100,000 to 40,000! (Same with Sharpsburg). I have won every battle so far except Corinth. This has been one of the most fun and satisfying campaigns of any game I've played for years! Hard is the way to go!

Edited January 12, 2017 by Squadron HQ