I was surprised and saddened to be relieved of command after losing the first day of Gettysburg

[mrm5117]

I’ve been doing a campaign on middle difficulty as the Union. Won or drew every battle except for the one where you have to hold Pittsburgh Landing at the end of the battle. I always hold off the rebels well far from it and as soon as that is the new objective the enemy cavalry gets there and claims it before I can detach forces to hold it. As soon as the CSA claims it with cavalry the battle is over. 

 

I had three solid corps and one half assembled corps going into Gettysburg. I also had a high reputation, only spending maybe 20 points on artillery from the government because I don’t want to waste reputation points that exceed 100. My strategy was to go into Day 1 with my smallest, most inexperienced 4th corps knowing that I would take heavy losses and that it was okay to lose day 1 and really make a stand on day 2. 

 

I put up a good fight, but kept falling back and ceding objectives to save my corps. At the very end, I was barely able to escape with a division left and no objectives held. 

 

Much to my surprise, I was immediately relieved of command instead of being given the opportunity to repel the rebs on the heights south of town on day 2. I felt ashamed. All that work building my army and it was all over. Luckily the game had an auto save right before the battle so I can back and try again, but that was very surprising. Next time I’ll bring a stronger corps and make a stronger stand at the northern and western wedges of town. I guess not spend any reputation points prior to that battle either.

[quicksabre]

You have to hold Cemetery Hill on the first day in order not to lose the battle outright. It makes sense, really, Cemetery Hill is the lynchpin of the defense on 'those heights south of town'.

[Aetius]

As the war progresses, it becomes impossible to lose a grand battle and continue the war - the reputation penalties for a loss range from 80 to 100. Once you're up to Gettysburg feel free to spend lots of reputation, because keeping it won't do you any good and the morale bonus is quite minor.

Edited December 7, 2017 by Aetius

[Mukremin]

Is it true that Gettysburg is a more harder battle for the Union than Confederates? I destroyed the Union by taking the offensive and cornering them at Cemetery Hill. It felt easy but took some time and tactic to capture all the points north.

[jamieva]

You were relieved because the cost of a loss was more reputation points than you had left pre battle.  

First day as the union you need to use your best troops because you're going to need them to hold off and delay forces coming at them from 2 directions, and then finally hold Cemetary Hill.  

[Hitorishizuka]

6 hours ago, Mukremin said:

Is it true that Gettysburg is a more harder battle for the Union than Confederates? I destroyed the Union by taking the offensive and cornering them at Cemetery Hill. It felt easy but took some time and tactic to capture all the points north.

Union is forced to play the entire battle out and their Day 2 positions around Devil's Den are initially rather overextended. I'd probably say it's a tougher map since Confederate gets the early win option if they choose to take it.

[Mukremin]

5 hours ago, Hitorishizuka said:

Union is forced to play the entire battle out and their Day 2 positions around Devil's Den are initially rather overextended. I'd probably say it's a tougher map since Confederate gets the early win option if they choose to take it.

So i had a beginner luck with the Confederate to take Cemetary Hill day one. Going to start a Union campaign after i finish this. Lets see how that goes

[Aetius]

16 hours ago, Mukremin said:

Is it true that Gettysburg is a more harder battle for the Union than Confederates? I destroyed the Union by taking the offensive and cornering them at Cemetery Hill. It felt easy but took some time and tactic to capture all the points north.

Yes, though it's still not a very difficult battle as the Union. Not only can the Confederates win pretty easily on the first day, but if they choose they can simply ignore the Round Top and Culp's Hill attacks and just take one VP on the last day to win. Because of the AI's aggressive behavior, as the Confederates you can bait Union troops out again and again and just slaughter them for very few losses.

The Union has to fight every phase of the battle, and multiple phases re-use the same units. However, the defensive positions are excellent and the AI Confederate casualty rate is appalling. There can be some dicey moments, especially in the Round Top phase, but you have the advantage the entire time. Done right as the Union, it should be a TAK or close to it.

[Mukremin]

Well i am relieved of my command and lost after suffering a defeat at Laurell Hill... going to start a campaign with the Union and perhaps after that replay a fresh Confederate campaign with the stuff i learned here.

[Meagre Heart]

I'm very curious about how it is you're taking so many losses on the first day. You can make some phenomenally defensive positions at the first farm and Seminary, and then Cemetary later if you feel it's necessary to withdraw. Also, if you must withdraw, make sure you pull back before you are forced back, and feel free to detach some skirmishers to cover your retreat. Skirmisher units are harder to hit in the woodlands and your enemy can't shoot past them to hit your brigade. Detach, leave the skirmishers, then fall back with your brigade. If you don't cover your retreat the enemy can simply run up and shoot you in the back!

There's no shame in repeating battles to test your strategies and prepare for assaults. The CSA Antietam is brutal the first time if you don't know what to expect. Many Union generals were replaced throughout the actual Civil War due to perceived (or actual) incompetence or negligence, and it's a good thing the game challenges us. Keep playing and keep having fun! 

[Hitorishizuka]

On 12/10/2017 at 7:40 AM, Mukremin said:

Well i am relieved of my command and lost after suffering a defeat at Laurell Hill... going to start a campaign with the Union and perhaps after that replay a fresh Confederate campaign with the stuff i learned here.

Laurel Hill shouldn't be too bad normally...you have a very good defensive position to start and should be able to just mulch their troops. What did you experience?

[Mukremin]

33 minutes ago, Hitorishizuka said:

Laurel Hill shouldn't be too bad normally...you have a very good defensive position to start and should be able to just mulch their troops. What did you experience?

I was overwhelmed from all sides. It was a mess really, i have a problem with manpower since the start of my Confederate campaign. I didnt spend much on politics and bigger army. Instead i focussed on AO and weapons despite having few numbers. I gave up. I play Union side now, just won Antietam and i had around 80.000 soldiers while as the Confederates i had about 30.000 at the time of Antietam.

I learned my lesson Union campaign feels a lot easier, i dont know if that is normal or becaude of the fact that up to Antietam i have more troops than the enemy.

[Hjalfnar_Feuerwolf]

As CSA politics and AO should be your top priority. Medicine, economics and training are next. Politics determines how much money and recruits you get after every battle and is also very important with the Union.

[Mukremin]

11 hours ago, Hjalfnar_Feuerwolf said:

As CSA politics and AO should be your top priority. Medicine, economics and training are next. Politics determines how much money and recruits you get after every battle and is also very important with the Union.

Didnt even had an idea how important Politics and AO was, i spend more on training and economy when starting my new and first CSA campaign. I didnt make the same mistake with my current Union campaign, and i am doing extremely well. Cant wait to finish it and restart CSA thanks guys for all the input, really appreciate it.

[greybuscat]

5 hours ago, Mukremin said:

Didnt even had an idea how important Politics and AO was, i spend more on training and economy when starting my new and first CSA campaign. I didnt make the same mistake with my current Union campaign, and i am doing extremely well. Cant wait to finish it and restart CSA thanks guys for all the input, really appreciate it.

Politics is by far the most important skill, but AO can actually be increased a little bit more slowly. Keeping your army relatively small for the first few campaigns let's you preserve manpower and build up resources/weapons, while keeping the enemy from inflating their own army size past the minimum for each battle. You don't really need 2,500 (or even 2,000) man brigades as soon as you can get them, and throwing around massive corps tends to erase your gains from victories, even when you rotflstomp the enemy.

Edited December 13, 2017 by greybuscat

[Mukremin]

8 hours ago, greybuscat said:

Politics is by far the most important skill, but AO can actually be increased a little bit more slowly. Keeping your army relatively small for the first few campaigns let's you preserve manpower and build up resources/weapons, while keeping the enemy from inflating their own army size past the minimum for each battle. You don't really need 2,500 (or even 2,000) man brigades as soon as you can get them, and throwing around massive corps tends to erase your gains from victories, even when you rotflstomp the enemy.

I just destroyed the CSA at Gettysburg every day. I am now at 2500 brigades. I am playing the middle difficulty and find the Union campaign a bit easy. I struggle most battles but i have more troops than the CSA. Is that a Union thing or can the same be achieved for CSA?

Perhaps i should play with highes difficulty?

[Hitorishizuka]

6 hours ago, Mukremin said:

I just destroyed the CSA at Gettysburg every day. I am now at 2500 brigades. I am playing the middle difficulty and find the Union campaign a bit easy. I struggle most battles but i have more troops than the CSA. Is that a Union thing or can the same be achieved for CSA?

Perhaps i should play with highes difficulty?

You've probably just learned more about the game by the time you're playing this. Union is held as hard pre-Antietam, afterwards their advantages start accruing.

[Mukremin]

4 hours ago, Hitorishizuka said:

You've probably just learned more about the game by the time you're playing this. Union is held as hard pre-Antietam, afterwards their advantages start accruing.

Guess so, learned a lot from you guys. Have been using skirmishers more and more, amazing to see how they can slow down an army.

The Union lacks good commanders for brigades, i have tons of high ranking generals but the colonels and below that are very rare. I did not have this issue with the CSA.

[Hitorishizuka]

Just now, Mukremin said:

Guess so, learned a lot from you guys. Have been using skirmishers more and more, amazing to see how they can slow down an army.

The Union lacks good commanders for brigades, i have tons of high ranking generals but the colonels and below that are very rare. I did not have this issue with the CSA.

Rotate out your top level commanders in areas where they're not needed. Artillery can be safely commanded by Majors and below unless it would hit a new veterancy threshold. Small units can instead be commanded by Lt Colonels, etc. This ensures that you keep a broad officer corps instead of focusing only on top level officers and find you run out if you lose a few or need to do a large recruitment.

[Mukremin]

1 minute ago, Hitorishizuka said:

Rotate out your top level commanders in areas where they're not needed. Artillery can be safely commanded by Majors and below unless it would hit a new veterancy threshold. Small units can instead be commanded by Lt Colonels, etc. This ensures that you keep a broad officer corps instead of focusing only on top level officers and find you run out if you lose a few or need to do a large recruitment.

i have 2500 men brigades now, have appointed 3 star generals as division commanders and 1/2 stars as corps commanders. Can i use brigade generals for my brigades or would that be too much?

[Hitorishizuka]

1 minute ago, Mukremin said:

i have 2500 men brigades now, have appointed 3 star generals as division commanders and 1/2 stars as corps commanders. Can i use brigade generals for my brigades or would that be too much?

There's some Command score you need to hit between the Division and Brigade general for a given size. I would just play with it and see if you take an efficiency hit. If you don't, you're fine.

(I'm not sure I agree with not putting a 3 star as the Corps commander given that it makes them safe and the top end bonuses are pretty good, but whatever floats your boat.)

[Private Keith]

I am finding the Gettysburg episode infuriating from the Union side...no matter how well I do on the first 4 days, I still end up with a few tattered brigades at Pickett's Charge.  Still got defeated even though I killed twice as many of the AI's Rebs and held everything except a greyed out flag at the center.  Since in this "campaign" I am only saving the victories I have won every battle, even Fredricksburg, and am wondering why this gives me absolutely no advantage.  

[LAntorcha]

Cause game it's designed to be challenging...

AI is receiving reinforcements, technology, money, etc... as needed to oppose your army, whether you play as CSA or Union.

It has an algorithm called DifficultyAdaptationSystem coded.

https://imgur.com/yuiDBk9

Anyone who can interpret C#?

[pandakraut]

@Private Keith Can you give some details on your army going into Gettysburg? Also what difficult are you playing on? If you take high casualties in every victory you can end up behind the AIs manpower and equipment strength somewhat easily.

[Lord Gareth]

Honestly, after my extreme CSA campaign, commanding the Union's forces is obscenely easy. I just finished Gettysburg and won it properly in the first phase. I destroyed all the troops that my opponent had at the expense of a small total of losses. Then, from phase to phase, I knocked out the rest of the army. The last phase lasted a few seconds because the Confederacy had no unit.

If it was not for the Battle of Chansellorsville, where through my aggressive style of playing it brought victory, but at the expense of 38,000 dead, it would be obscenely straight. I would have the entire third corps at my disposal instead of one division.

My recipe for this battle was that in the initial phase I hit hard from the south, also going behind the western river and quickly destroying the enemy artillery. Along with the incoming reinforcements, I strengthened the attack in the center, also pulling the artillery with 24-pdr howitzers just behind my divisions. Then I rolled their entire front to north just for the time when their reinforcements came from that side.  Then I pushed their western column from the hill and destroyed all their units on the plain between rivers and city.

In the next phase, I rolled their troops from north to south. After I destroyed all his troops in the river valley, when their last reinforcements arrived in the north, his troops did not even try to attack. They sat in the woods until the end of the phase.

The remaining phases were the slaughter of the survivors of the Confederate army. By the way, first time I took 7,500 prisoners.