Brother Against Brother -- Ultimate General: Civil War(Interactive)

[Brian Swartz]

We're here for an interactive journey through the US Civil War with Ultimate General: Civil War; there's plenty of info in the thread to see more on what we're doing. Having lost the whole first post to an editing error, I'm not going to go through it again. This post is now for reference info, assuming I can manage not to keep accidentally deleting it. As always, the more the merrier and feel free to sign up at any time.

Weapons Reference

** As a reminder, I'll put a note here that the difference between Shock and Carbine Cavalry is that the Shock variant carries a sabre or similar weapon for close fighting. This is reflected in the melee ability of the listed weaponry. Also useful here would be the standard starting brigade sizes for reference: 1000 for Infantry, 4 guns for Artillery, 250 for Cavalry, 150 for Skirmishers.

Farmer(Infantry)

.69 Musket Single Shot. Old and heavy musket, useful as a melee weapon.

Damage: 18
Effective Range: 200
Fire Rate: 38
Accuracy: 10
Melee: 95
Cost: $8
Availability: 0(0)

Re-bored Farmer

.69 Musket Single Shot. Lighter musket with longer barrel for improved accuracy and range.

Damage: 18
Effective Range: 220
Fire Rate: 38
Accuracy: 12.5
Melee: 89
Cost: $10
Availability: 1,257(0)

Springfield M1842(Infantry)

.69 Musket Single Shot. Smoothbore musket with percussion cap system, a quite effective weapon at medium range.

Damage: 18
Effective Range: 250
Fire Rate: 40
Accuracy: 12.5
Melee: 88
Cost: $11
Availability*: 2,657(11,743)

First number denotes Armory weapons, i.e. those in the Army's possession. These are free to equip and can be sold if desired. In parentheses are the Shop total, those weapons that can be purchased for the listed price.

Palmetto M1842(Infantry)

Single Shot .59 Musket. Enhanced design of Springfield 1842 Percussion Musket, with better accuracy and improved bayonet.

Damage: 18
Effective Range: 250
Fire Rate: 40
Accuracy: 13.5
Melee: 91
Cost: $13
Availability: 728(6,077)

M1841 Mississippi(Infantry)

.58 Rifle Single Shot. The first US rifle-musket using the percussion lock system, still considered a reliable weapon

Damage: 12.5
Effective Range: 300
Fire Rate: 39
Accuracy: 40
Melee: 85
Cost: $17
Availability: 552(0)

MJ&G Type II(Infantry)

.58 Rifle Single Shot. Based on the M1841 'Mississippi' Rifle design, it provides increased accuracy and range.

Damage: 12.5
Effective Range: 320
Fire Rate: 40
Accuracy: 45
Melee: 86
Cost: $19
Availability: 355(0)

Lorenz(Infantry)

.54 Rifle Single Shot. This imported rifle-musket is made in Austria and accurate at long range but like all muzzle-loading weapons, it has a rather slow reload rate.

Damage: 11.5
Effective Range: 340
Fire Rate: 40
Accuracy: 75
Melee: 82
Cost: $22
Availability: 153(3,385)

Pattern 1853 Enfeld(Infantry)

.58 Rifle Single Shot. Rifle-musket of British design with overall great characteristics for its price.

Damage: 12.5
Effective Range: 340
Fire Rate: 48
Accuracy: 67
Melee: 65
Cost: $29
Availability: 0(1,820)

Springfield M1855(Infantry)

.58 Rifle Single Shot. The first rifled-musket that exploted the advantages of 'minie-ball' bullets is a good buy for its price.

Damage: 12.5
Effective Range: 340
Fire Rate: 49
Accuracy: 65
Melee: 60
Cost: $31
Availability: 1,271(10,651)

Harpers Ferry M1855(Infantry)

Improved version of Springfield M1855 made in Harpers Ferry weapon manufactory.

Damage: 12.5
Effective Range: 350
Fire Rate: 50
Accuracy: 70
Melee: 58
Cost: $33
Availability: 217(9,002)

Colt Model 1855(Infantry, Skirmishers)

.56 Revolving Rifle 5-Shot Cylinder. This repeating rifle with high reload rate is devastating but is expensive to buy and support with ammo.

Damage: 12
Effective Range: 280
Fire Rate: 133
Accuracy: 50
Melee: 65
Cost: $100
Availability: 0(154)

Henry(Infantry)

.44 Repeating Rifle 15-round Magazine. An expensive 'piece of jewelry' for an infantry soldier providing magnificent reload rate.

Damage: 9.5
Effective Range: 280
Fire Rate: 167
Accuracy: 50
Melee: 70
Cost: $110
Availability: 0(25)

Hunter(Skirmishers)

.69 Long Range Rifle Single Shot. Hunter musket, appropriate for long range fights.

Damage: 15
Effective Range: 450
Fire Rate: 27
Accuracy: 25
Melee: 87
Cost: $20
Availability: 98(0)

Sharps Model 1855(Skirmishers, Carbine Cavalry)

.52 Carbine Single Shot. Reliable carbine of older design.

Damage: 11.5
Effective Range: 230
Fire Rate: 86
Accuracy: 39
Melee: 54
Cost: $34
Availability: 351(572)

Smith(Skirmishers, Carbine Cavalry)

.50 Carbine Single Shot. Standard carbine with decent accuracy and fast reload rate.

Damage: 11
Effective Range: 230
Fire Rate: 100
Accuracy: 40
Melee: 50
Cost: $52
Availability: 147(992)

Burnside(Skirmishers)

.54 Carbine Single Shot. Breech-loading carbine of the finest quality.

Damage: 13
Effective Range: 275
Fire Rate: 55
Accuracy: 50
Melee: 55
Cost: $70
Availability: 0(154)

Sharps(Skirmishers)

.52 Rifle Single Shot. Standard weapon of choice for sharpshooter regiments.

Damage: 11
Effective Range: 450
Fire Rate: 45
Accuracy: 82.5
Melee: 48
Cost: $100
Availability: 38(327)

J.F. Brown(TS)(Skirmishers)

.45 Rifle with Scope Single Shot. Sniper rifle of the best quality.

Damage: 9.5
Effective Range: 600
Fire Rate: 46
Accuracy: 95
Melee: 40
Cost: $180
Availability: 0(146)

Sawed-Off(Carbine Cavalry)

.52 Shotgun Double Shot. This cavalry shotgun offers devastating short distance shots.

Damage: 25
Effective Range: 135
Fire Rate: 50
Accuracy: 20
Melee: 65
Cost: $12
Availability: 62(0)

Cook & Brother(Carbine Cavalry)

.58 Musketoon Single Shot. Cavalry musket, adequate for distant fighting and dismounted skirmishing.

Damage: 16
Effective Range: 185
Fire Rate: 50
Accuracy: 35
Melee: 60
Cost: $18
Availability: 0(0)

Palmetto M1842(Shock Cavalry)

.54 Lock Pistol Single Shot. Basic cavalry equipment that is quite effective in mounted charges.

Damage: 17
Effective Range: 75
Fire Rate: 75
Accuracy: 30
Melee: 100
Cost: $30
Availability: 90(1,250)

Colt M1855(Shock Cavalry)

.31 Revolver 5-Shot Cylinder

Standard revolver and sabre for powerful mounted charges.

Damage: 11
Effective Range: 75
Fire Rate: 200
Accuracy: 30
Melee: 100
Cost: $40
Availability: 34(500)

Remington M1861(Shock Cavalry)

.44 Revolver 5-Shot Cylinder. A deadly, high calibre revolver and standard sabre are useful in short distance combat.

Damage: 12.5
Effective Range: 75
Fire Rate: 214
Accuracy: 30
Melee: 91
Cost: $44
Availability: 0(128)

Sharps Model 1859(Carbine Cavalry)

.52 Carbine Single Shot. The most popular carbine in the army, cost-effective and accurate.

Damage: 11.75
Effective Range: 250
Fire Rate: 100
Accuracy: 52
Melee: 55
Cost: $57
Availability: 0(514)

Frank Wesson(Carbine Cavalry)

.44 Carbine Single Shot. Breech-loading carbine, known for its deadly accuracy.

Damage: 10.5
Effective Range: 275
Fire Rate: 55
Accuracy: 75
Melee: 45
Cost: $60
Availability: 0(188)

Maynard(Carbine Cavalry)

.52 Carbine Single Shot. Premium breech-loading carbine with fast reload rate.

Damage: 12.7
Effective Range: 260
Fire Rate: 67
Accuracy: 62
Melee: 50
Cost: $67
Availability: 0(154)

Burnside(Carbine Cavalry)

.54 Carbine Single Shot. Breech-loading carbine of the finest quality.

Damage: 13
Effective Range: 275
Fire Rate: 55
Accuracy: 50
Melee: 55
Cost: $70
Availability: 0(154)

6pdr Field(Artillery)

Smoothbore Gun 6lb. Standard smoothbore cannon, very weak in long range fire.

Damage: 41
Effective Range: 1300
Fire Rate: 30
Accuracy: 10
Melee: 10
Cost: $870
Availability: 12(36)

6pdr Wiard(Artillery)

Rifled Gun 6lb bolt. Rifled-cannon that is weak at short range but very accurate at long range.

Damage: 19
Effective Range: 1600
Fire Rate: 32
Accuracy: 30
Melee: 10
Cost: $1000
Availability: 0(5)

12pdr Howitzer](Artillery)

Smoothbore Gun 12lb. Cost-effective howitzer for medium range bombardment.

Damage: 56
Effective Range: 1000
Fire Rate: 29
Accuracy: 10
Melee: 10
Cost: $1390
Availability: 0(15)

12pdr Napoleon(Artillery)

Smoothbore Gun 12lb. The mainstay of civil war armies, offers devastating fire at short and medium range.

Damage: 65
Effective Range: 1400
Fire Rate: 30
Accuracy: 10
Melee: 10
Cost: $1650
Availability: 10(39)

10pdr Ordnance(Artillery)

Rifled Gun 8-10lb. With fast reload and exceptional accuracy it is the most widely used rifle-cannon of the war.

Damage: 23
Effective Range: 1500
Fire Rate: 33
Accuracy: 33
Melee: 10
Cost: $1710
Availability: 0(39)

10pdr Parrot(Artillery)

Rifled Gun 10lb. Rifle-cannon suitable to destroy enemy artillery from afar but not for short-range defense.

Damage: 25
Effective Range: 1700
Fire Rate: 30
Accuracy: 25
Melee: 10
Cost: $2000
Availability: 2(25)

12pdr Whitworth(Artillery)

Rifled Gun 12lb bolt. This rare rifled-cannon offers extreme firing range and excellent accuracy.

Damage: 38
Effective Range: 2400
Fire Rate: 30
Accuracy: 15
Melee: 10
Cost: $2700
Availability: 0(3)

14pdr James(Artillery)

Rifled Gun 14lb bolt. Rifled-cannon which uses 'James' patented ammunition, offering good accuracy at all ranges.

Damage: 41
Effective Range: 1400
Fire Rate: 27
Accuracy: 26
Melee: 10
Cost: $2760
Availability: 0(3)

24pdr Howitzer(Artillery)

Smoothbore Gun 24lb. Large howitzer that deals great damage from medium range.

Damage: 75
Effective Range: 1100
Fire Rate: 23
Accuracy: 12.5
Melee: 10
Cost: $3100
Availability: 0(12)

20pdr Parrot(Artillery)

Rifled Gun 20lb. Powerful cannon, designed for long-range bombardment.

Damage: 73
Effective Range: 2000
Fire Rate: 25
Accuracy: 16
Melee: 10
Cost: $3200
Availability: 0(6)

[ntndeacon]

Strategist, Cavalry, Politics, Union

[BYU 14]

Tactician, Cavalry, Army, Union

[JonInMiddleGA]

Observation/question rather than a vote or application.

Since Recon takes two points to upgrade, isn't taking Calvary experience one of the bigger no-brainer choices ever? (Not a nitpick, I'm just musing from a design standpoint I guess)

[Brian Swartz]

I may not have been clear on the explanation there, but I wouldn't say so. It's the same 0-10 scale, only takes 1 point to upgrade ... but only every other point does any good. I.e. having 1 in Recon is the same as 0, 7 is the same as 6, etc. There are only 5 'levels' to it instead of 10 upgrades for all the other ratings -- you only get a bonus for every other point invested.

I hope that makes sense. The 'point value' of all the starting choices is identical.

[DavidCorperial]

Tactician, Training, Army, Union

[collegesportsfanms]

Tactician, Training, Politics, Union

[Qwikshot]

Tactician, Artillery, Business, Union

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I hope that makes sense. The 'point value' of all the starting choices is identical.

Thanks, it was probably just me misunderstanding it. #MyBad

As I initially interpreted it I thought it was kind of a curious design choice, one that almost seemed to force you down a certain path at startup.

[Brian Swartz]

I'll get this started either Monday evening or sometime on Tuesday. I am quite surprised at the Union being the unanimous choice right now. I figured there would be more love for the historical losers. But that's one reason why I like to do these kinds of things; unexpected choices. It also looks like Tactician has a strong lead, but the other two options are still up in the air. I'm hoping we'll get a couple more in here and I won't have to, but if necessary I'll go with the highly sophisticated process of 'digital coin-flip' to resolve ties.

[tarcone]

Tactician, Cavalry, Army, Confederate

[tarcone]

Cant wait. You do a great job with these. Really enjoyed the Stellaris dynasty

[Brian Swartz]

Here's a little more info to throw at you, and also something to think about for those half-dozen brave souls who are already in here.

Brigade Types

There are four different 'building blocks' on which the army is built:

** Infantry -- Largest in number by far, line infantry is the backbone of combat in this era, often known as the Age of Rifles for that reason. Single-shot rifles and muskets are the most commonly used weapon on the battlefield. Closely-packed firing lines allow for concentration of firepower, but also guarantee high vulnerability to taking losses, particularly when you consider this is an era where range and accuracy improvements are improving the lethality of these weapons. As the war begins, the maximum brigade size is 1500 men; it can reach 2500 eventually. Standard initial size is 1000 men.

** Artillery -- Field guns are dragged around the battlefield by horses and placed into position. They are often the first sound that is heard in an attack during a major battle, and capable of inflicting damage up to a mile away from their positions(somewhat less at the start of the war, somewhat more for the more advanced types by the end). Each gun requires a number of men to operate effectively, set at 25 per in-game. Artillery pieces are very expensive, but properly used they can significantly shift the fortunes of battle. Maximum brigade size here begins at 24 guns(600 men) per brigade. Standard initial size of 4 artillery pieces.

** Cavalry -- Mounted horsemen are the fastest type of unit, valuable for scouting, harassing small enemy forces, and flanking maneuvers. There are two types; Carbine Cavalry generally use quality longer-range small arms, and can dismount and fight on foot if the situation requires it. Shock Cavalry don't dismount, but are a powerful force in melee combat. Gone are the days when even elite cavalry can overwhelm a prepared infantry line with a massed charge; the lethal capabilities of rifles are simply too great for that to succeed. As a flanking force or taking out smaller enemy formations or artillery though, they can still be quite effective under the right circumstances. Mobility tends to be the greatest asset. The initial maximum is 750 soldiers per brigade. Standard initial size is 250 horsemen.

** Skirmishers -- To avoid unpleasant surprises and ambushes, or create our own, smaller infantry units that are spaced more widely and can move more quickly are used to harass the enemy, scout, fight delaying actions, etc. They tend to use carbines that are more accurate, deadly, and expensive than those given to the rank and file infantryman. At need, skirmishers can also be detached from any standard infantry brigade, but as they will not have these specialized weapons they will be somewhat less effective. In both scouting and avoiding detection by the enemy, skirmishers are the best the army can offer. In a prolonged engagement though, they will be overwhelmed by the massed fire of standard infantry. 500 men is the maximum starting size here. Standard initial size of 150.

Choose Starting Unit

Prospective commanders are encouraged to indicate what type of brigade they would prefer to start with. Pick any of the four, or simply reply Any/Random if you don't care. As mentioned, Artillery/Skirmishers might start out at a lower rank(Captain, Majors or better are required for Infantry/Cavalry), so this might be a factor in the choice if you want to quickly move up the chain of command.

[ntndeacon]

Cavalry

[DavidCorperial]

Artillery

[tarcone]

Infantry

And with this added info can I change my original from Cavalry to Training or is it too late?
If so, no worries.

[Brian Swartz]

You can change you original vote, but the two aren't related(unless you are thinking for RP reasons). I.e., the initial choice on Mexican-American War experience has absolutely nothing to do with how effective each type of brigade will be; all it impacts are the career points mentioned.

[collegesportsfanms]

Cavalry for me

[chesapeake]

Tactician, Training, Politics, Union. And sign me up for the infantry. Looking forward to this.

[Brian Swartz]

Thanks everyone for joining. I'll just mention again that there's plenty of room for anyone who wants in -- I'm getting this going now but the more the merrier.

Campaign Setup

I'm calling the start-up vote at this point. On the one point that really makes a big difference there is still a clear consensus.

I've chosen to name our character James Stewart, after the well-known actor who served in WWII and eventually became a Brigadier General in the US Air Force.

In the game world, General James Stewart graduate West Point with a Tactician specialty. This taught him that reconnaissance is key to any effective flanking maneuver. In the Mexican-American War, he served as a infantry officer, distinguishing himself by leading an assault on the town of Monterrey. Remaining in the army after the war, Stewart rose through the ranks and became a General of Militia in his home state of Pennsylvania.

When the final break of secession happened in the spring of 1861, he vowed to help restore the Union. Utilizing the manpower and material advantages of the North, his efforts were devoted to overwhelming and crushing this rebellion, and making all men equal under the law.

General James Stewart was named one of the top subcommanders in the US Army based on his experience, and put in charge of developing his own Corps. The seven brave/foolhardy younger officers who have signed up will be key subordinates, and others are encouraged to join up at any time.


Difficulty

Ultimate General has four difficulty levels

** Colonel -- basically the Easy setting; gold and recruits are increased, strength of the enemy decreased, and reputation hits are smaller.
** Brigadier General -- Standard/Normal, no modifications of any kind. That's what we'll be using.
** Major General -- Opposite of Colonel, with several penalties to make things more difficult. At this difficulty you can also choose Legendary Mode which doesn't even try to be reasonable or historical. Opposing armies are much stronger, better-equipped, and have far more elite units.

Standard, generic vanilla out-of-the-box for us, 'the way it was meant to be played', etc.




The final screen of campaign setup shows what we've got so far. Training is a major strength: Politics, Economy, Medicine, and Logistics are non-existent. Beginning with 10 out of a possible 70 points(if all categories were fully trained up), we have a lot of work to do.

There is no time to discuss anything in committee; we are taken immediately to the first battle. At other times we'll have choices in terms of what part of the army to commit to the engagement, but here at the start of the war we're sort of flying by the seat of our pants. Ultimate General pretty much drops you in the deep end of the pool immediately. Esp. earlier in development, many have found the first couple of battles to be the toughest part of the game. Interestingly, since I expected Conferederate to be selected, I did my learning and exploring the game on the Union side, playing through the first three battles. I'm not going to use that knowledge to cheese anything, but it should help me at least get us off to a decent start.

By the way, if you lose the first battle, which is very possible -- it's quite winnable, but you have to know what you are doing and even then it's not a walk in the park -- here's what happens:




Below this is the following text: "President Lincoln honored you, giving you command of a considerable army, but the task was greater than your skill and so you have been replaced. Due to these recent failures and your insignificant performance, you came to realize the military is not for you. You were forced to resign from the army and returned to the peaceful life of a civilian."

Career stats then follow. It's quite unforgiving, a la XCOM in this way: fail the first battle and it's Game Over. Later battles don't automatically end the game immediately if you fail, but losing often will eventually get you to the same point.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Preview: Capture the Train Station





The staff gives us a basic rundown of what to expect. In this case, it's a pretty straightforward, sensible objective; this train station has strategic and logistical value. The Union must capture it.




This location is to the southeast of the town. Apparently we haven't got all day to achieve our objective either.




And we are arriving from the southwest. After this, the briefing is over and the battle begins. It is June 1, 1861, 10:15 AM. The name of the town we have been sent to capture is Phillipi. The Civil War, as we call it -- others will term it the War Between the States, War of Northern Aggression, and other such things -- officially began May 12th when the South fired on Fort Sumter. This is based on the actual Battle of Phillipi, which took place June 3rd and is considered the first land battle of the war, though it was somewhat different than what you'll see here.

[tarcone]

Just keep me how I originally stated then

[Brian Swartz]

This is a zoomed-out view of the battlefield. As we make our way roughly northeast towards out objective, we have three basic paths we can take. Going up the road here is basically asking to be ambushed, particularly from the rockly cleft on the west. We could also head to the forest on the east, but taking the high ground on the west seems best.




The initial force here is two skirmisher brigades(Schaefer and Stockton), carrying Sharps .52 Carbines. Zook's Brigade is a standard infantry with the Springfield smoothbore musket, and the general's unit behind it can improve the efficiency(we'll get to exactly what that means after this battle) of any units in the command radius.

Moving through the forest will slow us down, but it really can't be helped in this case.




10:22 AM -- We spot an enemy skirmisher unit on the edge of the rock face, watching over the road. Stockton and Schaefer move in to drive them away.

10:27 AM -- After a brief exchange, a single volley from each of the three units involved, they've lost 26 men to 7 of ours. The Confederates retreat, and we're able to keep moving along the ridge.




10:31 AM -- A second group is encountered further on and given similar treatment, while a third skirmisher brigade is spotted to the south, attempting to attack us from the rear. They seem determined to be an annoyance. Stockton is repositioned behind us in order to protect Zook from that direction. One of the cardinal rules is 'don't get flanked, especially from the rear'. Casualties and morale hits are far worse.

10:41 AM -- The rear-flanking group makes the mistake of being too aggressive, and gets a nice full barrage for our full infantry brigade under Zook, in addition to the damage Stockton has done to them. They've lost about 50 men, a quarter of their number, in this maneuver, and retreat. Our losses were just 3 of Stockton's men. So far things are going even better than I had hoped for.

A short while later ...




This is to the west of our present position. There's more coming than this single cavalry brigade; two more infantry and a couple of artillery units join the fun as well, along with a supply wagon.

10:45 AM -- As the reinforcements arrive, a timer starts. We have five hours to capture Phillippi. Many objectives have a time limit, often as here due to needing to accomplish it before the enemy can bring in additional forces.

10:51 AM -- As Bristow's cavalry moves up the road, the last of the confederates abandon the hill to avoid being cut off. We can now see a full infantry brigade(McHenry) in the town on this side of the river. Before we attack though, it's a good idea to get all of our troops in position. That'll take some time, especially for the artillery.




11:22 AM -- Half an hour later, the guns have taken positions on the hill, and open fire on the men in the town. We'll attack from the south and west here, using the fields for cover where possible. Looking at the river, it is possible to ford some of them but it's too deep here; the only way to cross is over the bridges. We've got to eliminate all resistance on this side first.

I'm also going to relocate one of the artillery brigades; Scales has rifled 10-pounders, which are good in the position where they are. Woods' guns are 6-pound smoothbores though, and not nearly as accurate from long range like this. They'll head west of the town and try to find a reasonable position closer to the action.

11:30 AM -- As we start to move in, Confederate artillery opens up from somewhere in the general direction of Phillippi. We can't see them yet.




A few minutes after we get in firing range with our infantry, the defenders of the town, badly outnumbered here, decide to ... charge. Gotta give em credit for courage, if nothing else. Melee combat is brutal and we take some losses, but not nearly as many as they take with the rest of our brigades shooting at them.




11:56 AM here. They appear to have retreated across the river, or at least to it. We have control of this side, but their artillery continue to complicate things a bit. You can also see Law and Root's brigades in fortified positions on their side of the bridges. Charging across now would be suicidal.

One must always be mindful of the terrain. Fortunately there are some trees near the north bridge(just south of it, on our side) that will provide decent cover for us. Walton and Loomis will move in there. Their fire and the artillery will focus on driving off the defenders from that bridge, while Zook holds the other crossing.

Casualties so far number over 350 confederates, just over 100 of ours. That's pretty good, but the hard fighting is clearly ahead.

12:50 PM -- The confederates had stocked that north bridge in defense, and both sides were taking significant losses. Then they tried to charge across and dislodge us, a definite error.

1:15 PM -- Everyone still left standing is quite tired now. Took this to show the supply wagon bit; every unit with the shown circle can be gradually resupplied with ammunition. We're wearing them down, but it's a bloody business.

2:01 PM -- There were less than 300 defending the north bridge now: we outnumber them nearly 3:1. On the other hand, we've got less than two hours to take the town, and Zook has been getting pummelled to the south. Over half our supplies are gone.

2:10 PM -- They finally abandon the north crossing. About freaking time. It's been a bloody day already, and it's not over. Bristow's cavalry is first across, followed by Schaeffer. They are fresh and duck into the woods northwest of town to give us a foothold on the other side, holding it while the infantry moves in more slowly.

Root reforms and tries to charge them, but this doesn't go well. He doesn't have enough men, and loses plenty more while doing no further damage to us.




2:31 PM -- We've secured the northern crossing, and the artillery has moved forward to pound their gun positions in the town. However, Major Gene Zook was killed to the south, his brigade having been baited into leaving their position by confed skirmishers. Morons. Whenever a brigade commander is wounded or killed, that unit will function with severe penalties for the rest of the engagement. This 'wandering-off' thing can happen from time to time, so you have to watch things closely and I was focused on the north. There isn't much left of what will have to be called something else after this battle: there is no more Zook in Zook's Brigade.

Note the icons that look like white shields or whatever. Those are fortifications, some in the town and some just beyond it. If we occupy them, we can have a defensive bonus for a change. Loomis makes for the one that controls the north end of town immediately, while the rest of our men will sweep towards the south, with the aim of taking out those blasted guns and securing that bridge.

2:39 PM -- The Confederates bring up more men out of reserve and storm the southern bridge. Zook and Stockton try to hold them off as best they can, but they are badly outnumbered. It's a race to get down there and cut them off ...

2:57 PM -- We are able to flank them in time. One of the new brigades, Harland, tries to push us back to the north but is overwhelmed. Unable to find a secure position, their artillery under Davies retreats in disarray. The town is almost ours.

3:03 PM -- Finally they sound the general retreat. Phillipi is ours!! We had less than an hour to spare.

** Note: I've usually found this to be somewhat easier when I've done this battle. Usually McHenry retreats across the south bridge not the north one, making the job of bashing through there less difficult. Battles can play out somewhat differently though general flow of them is always the same due to the objectives and the amount of forces available to each side. In this case, the way they retreated made things more difficult and I wasn't entirely sure at points that I was even going to win it.

[Brian Swartz]

Bridge Battle - YouTube

Took a gameplay video of the bridge part of the battle, about a minute and a half, to show some of the flow, graphic effects, sound, etc. Might help give a little better feel for things. Came out pretty blurry, but whatever -- I'm not going to spend a ton of time figuring out why .

[BYU 14]

Infantry for me

[Brian Swartz]

I expected a transition to the campaign progression, battle summary, etc. at this point when first I got to this point. Instead, we are greeted with this:




It ain't over yet, folks. Those blasted rebels aren't taking this lying down. Multi-part battles are all handled the same way. Your initial position is pre-determined, but casualties carry over. Note that Zook in the north has been decimated.




This is to the east-northeast of the town.




Coming from the southeast towards Phillipi.




At least there's something. Then we're told "It's going to be a hard fight, General. Ready to receive your orders!"

[Brian Swartz]

Capture the Train Station: Part 2

It is 4:15 PM, just over an hour after the previously-reported events. We must hold out until nearly 7, presumably due to darkness coming at that time.




Seems that slowing them down to buy time for our reinforcements to get here will be important. Bristow's cavalry wasn't heavily involved earlier in the day and is at nearly full strength; Schaefer's men are at over 80% so they aren't doing too bad either. Those two will head out to the northeast roads and try to scout out what's coming along with harrassing them to whatever degree is reasonably possible.

In the town itself, I'm going to rearrange some things. Zook and Stockton having been decimated, especially the former, they won't be able to do much and will pull back just into Phillipi. Walton will move up to that position on the north flank, while Loomis, the only infantry brigade to not suffer 50% casualties already, will move into the primary defensive position by the train station itself. I'm also going to pull the artillery back a bit as I think they are too exposed being as far forward as our infantry.

No plan survives contact with the enemy and all that, but that's the goal here. As beat-up as we are, I hope our new men get here before it's too late ...

4:25 PM -- Schaefer spots infantry coming down the southern of the two roads. He moves into the woods to try and cause them a few headaches. Soon we spot some further along on the north road. Then cavalry and artillery start showing up. Definitely time to fall back to the town.

4:33 PM -- To the north, Walton is the first to make contact. He's outnumbered but has a good position and the artillery starts opening up in support. I think he's ok for now.

4:40 PM -- Reinforcements are here!! Well, not quite. They've still got a long ways to travel, but they've entered the map.

4:45 PM -- The armored train begins it's approach. Oh super. All in all we have 3 infantry, 2 artillery, and another supply wagon inbound on our side, but it's going to be some time before they can join the fray.




4:52 PM -- There's just too many of them, especially on the south end. This could get ugly very soon. Milroy and Colquitt, the two lead infantry brigades coming up, are double-quicking it to the bridges. I don't know how much of us will be left by the time they get here though.




5:02 PM -- Grant tries to charge us on the north, and only a counter-charge by Bristow's cavalry saves the position. He's got the 'skirmisher' rather than the 'melee' version of the horsemen, but they are still capable of throwing their weight around. There's little doubt that Walton will break before long though. Meanwhile, the train has arrived, and the artillery will have to focus it's fire on that.

5:05 PM -- Milroy's brigade has reached the southern bridge, and none too soon.




5:10 PM -- Loomis breaks in the face of close-range fire by the train, and Milroy tries to take up a defensive position in the town to hold the line. We've done some damage to the train(150 men there initially), but not enough.

5:21 PM -- Major Bobby Woods, one of the artillery commanders, is wounded as he pulls back through Phillipi, and Milroy has been driven from his position by overwhelming force. The two support batteries are in place, but the south flank is caving nonetheless.

5:26 PM -- Down to less than half strength, the train is retreating! Perhaps we can still hold without the barrage from that monstrosity.




5:36 PM -- We appear to have reached the critical point, as a melee ensues in the south. The fresh brigade of Colquitt is right in the middle of it, while the others are just barely holding.

6:07 PM -- They soon pull back a bit, and a brutal firefight ensues for the next half-hour. By then though, it appears that we are set to narrowly hold on both flanks. Unable to press into Phillipi and recover more supplies from there, the rebels soon start running out of ammunition. All they can do is charge into a superior position or retreat. They try some of each, without success.

6:55 PM -- Finally the Confederates give up. We have won the day ... but just barely. Phillipi is strewn with dead soldiers of both-color uniforms, and craters from countless cannon impacts dot the surrounding countryside. It'll be a long time before this can ever be a peaceful, sleepy town again.

[Brian Swartz]

Battle Statistics

Enemy Commander: Innis McArthur

Strength

Infantry: 4255 Union, 7498 Confederate
Cavalry: 224 Union, 239 Confederate
Artillery: 20(462) Union, 10(224) Confederate*
Combined Personnel: 4,941 Union; 7,961 Confederate

* That's total number of guns, soldiers in parentheses.


Casualties

Infantry: 2,224 Union; 4,025 Confederate
Cavalry: 78 Union; 47 Confederate
Artillery: 0(18) Union; 3(78) Confederate
Missing: 0 Union, 121 Confederate

Total Losses: 2,320 Union; 4,271 Confederate

The shattered remains of Revere's command surrendered to us near the end, trapped and surrounded in the town. That accounts for the 'missing' number here. We are also given information on number of weapons captured, killed and lost by brigade, etc. Both of the initial infantry commanders(Walton and Loomis) were promoted as well from Major to Lt. Colonel. All of that stuff will make a lot more sense once commands have been handed out though, so I'll bypass it for this first engagement.

Summary

Outnumbered considerably, we nonetheless inflicted almost twice the damage on them and secured the railway, an important stop on the Baltimore & Ohio. A costly success, but under the circumstances quite an impressive showing nonetheless.

[Brian Swartz]

Time now to get into the campaign stuff, which is handled in-between battles. Upon completing an engagement this screen is presented. Starting at the top, we'll get to assign another point to Stewart's ratings due to this battle being rated a Victory. Reputation I'll get to later. Below that, we receive $53.7k in funding and 3300 potential recruits. Then the Civil War Campaign Medal(which as far as I can tell just is awarded for successfully starting the campaign), and we trade the captured men for another 127 recruits.

Ok, so what do we do between battles? A whole bunch of explaining will be coming. We alternate between Battle and Camp stages during the campaign. Starting battle is complete, now it's time for the first go-round at camp. It wouldn't be fair to ask anyone to make choices without understanding what's going on. All information will be added to the first post of the thread for reference, as well as in the next post(s), which will come as I am able to prepare them.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Outline

Camp stages will take place in two steps. This means we'll progress at a fairly slow pace when you take into account the 48-hour waiting period, but it can't be helped.

** Step 1: Career Points. I've outlined what these do in general in the OP: I'll give you specifics of what the next point will add, and then await voting on the topic. If it's close and I think one is definitely better than another, I'll swing it that way. If the choice is clear, I'll stick with it no matter how stupid I may think it is . We skip this step if we don't win a battle(only Victory grants career points), but if that happens often it'll be a short, unsuccessful run.

** Step 2: 'Outfitting. Here's where it gets complicated and I need to get into a number of game concepts, ratings, and whatnot. Let me emphasize that you may feel free to ASK QUESTIONS. I don't want to treat anyone like an idiot, but I may not always explain things as clearly as I intend. I've already confused a couple people just in what we've gone through already in the setup.

1. Emphasis. This will be voted on every time, as our situation will change. Upon receiving the briefing on the current state of the army and what is known about our enemy, we will need to choose whether to focus our resources on Improving Weaponry, Veteran Replacments, or Additional Recruits. Improving Weaponry means better weapons for the infantry, more guns for the artillery, etc; veteran replacements means paying for the training of recruits so that they don't dilute the abilities of our experienced brigades; additional recruits means we need numbers, get as many boots on the ground first or foremost. You may choose Balanced to do some of each, or choose to Focus or Strongly Focus on one of those three areas. Strongly Focus on Veterans, for example, would mean that you think most of our funds should go to that before considering other needs. If you find these formulations to not really fit what you want then try explaining it other terms; the point here is to get a sense of what you, the officer corps, think we need in terms of general strategic direction.

2. Reputation Investment. Reputation is a measure of well-respected General Stewart's leadership is. Any amount above a minimum level can be invested to 'purchase' additional things from the government. This is risky, because below a certain reputation point morale will start to take hits, and if it falls low enough of course we will flat-out lose. Nonetheless, the option will be presented.

3. Specific Command Orders. This part will not be a vote. Each of you will make 'requisitions' for what you want to focus on with your specific responsibility, be it brigade, division, or corps. Here you can react to what happened in the previous battle by getting reinforcements, upgrading your weaponry, hiring subcommanders, assigning training, etc. as appropriate to your individual situation. There will often(always?) not be enough men and resources to do everything we might like to do, so you won't always get what you want in some areas, but the instructions you set here will at least point your command in the direction that you choose.

4. Supply. I'll handle this one myself, but every corps has a supply wagon and some money will need to be invested from time to time here so that we can have enough ammunition in battle. There is no limit, other than how much we are willing to spend on it.

[Brian Swartz]

Camp Specifics

1. Commanders. The way that officers are presented in Ultimate General is actually fairly bland and simplistic. You do not have a bunch of ratings for your character per se. Your rank determines your effectiveness; you need to reach a certain minimum to rank to be eligible for higher-level commands, and the higher your rank is, the more men you can lead effectively. That's pretty much it. The options and complexity kick in mostly on the brigade-level. Experience is gained on the basis of combat hours, and when you have enough you will achieve the next rank.

2. Brigades. So what can you do here then? A lot. There are multiple ways to distinguish one brigade from another.

** Experience/Training -- Every unit has specific ratings which I'll get to in a moment. As these increase through various activities, a brigade's overall experience level will improve and a specific perk, or special training, can be chosen. Once selected, these cannot be changed. Brigade experience is indicated by stars: *, **, and ***. Rookies have no stars, and get no perks. Adding a bunch of rookies to an experienced brigade can erode experience and lose the perks until they 'level up' more, so that's something to be aware of. Through the use of this, you can easily have brigades of the same type, size, equipment, and experience who nonetheless have their own distinctive capabilities.

** Ratings -- There are six ratings for each brigade. Command is a pass/fail one, indicating whether the brigade commander and the division commander above them have enough rank and experience to effectively lead a unit of this size. If not, significant performance hits will occur. Efficiency is improved by killing enemy soldiers, and improves shooting, reload speed, and strength in melee combat. Morale is gained with combat hours and can be impacted by Stewart's reputation. Morale will take smaller hits and regenerate faster as this improves. Low morale results in reduced efficiency and melee effectiveness. Stamina is increased based on how much marching around a unit does in battles, and helps keep Condition high. Better condition affects the speed, morale, and melee combat of a unit; when it drops low enough and the brigade becomes tired, some actions such as charging or double-quick movement are not possible. Firearms is improved by shooting at any target in combat: the accuracy of the brigade is improved here. Finally, Melee improves by killing enemies in melee combat, and improves the hand-to-hand effectiveness.

I think it is a basic, but quite good bit of design to tie these generally to doing the activities involved. However a brigade is used, it will tend to get better at it.

** Size -- Increasing the size of a brigade means adding more recruits and weaponry. There are two considerations for each. Rookie recruits pretty much suck, but they are free. They also dilute the abilities of any unit they are added to. You must pay for the training of Veterans, with the cost scaling based on it's currente ratings. For weapons, they come from two sources: the Armory and the Shop. Armory weapons are available at a 50% discount; they are what the Army has in it's possession. Shop weapons can be purchased from other sources for the full price. If you run out of both, you don't get no more -- so we have to use what is available. Similarly, recruits are not infinite and limited to the current pool. Also, it's one weapon to one brigade; co-ordinated movements are not possible with different reload rates, ranges, and the like, so you have to choose only one.

The next bit that will be a list of available weaponry.

[Brian Swartz]

I've decided there isn't much point in throwing all the weapon details in here: I've added them to the end of the OP, which has now been edited with all of the explanatory details thus far. One bit of info that was added to the brigade stuff is the default starting amount for new brigades, useful for having a reference point: 1000 for infantry, 4 guns for artillery, 250 for cavalry, 150 for skirmishers.

General Briefing: State of the Army

Every time you see this, it will detail our current force. Knowing what we have will allow you to choose intelligently how to proceed. At present, we have only one corps and one division, with four brigades:

** Loomis(Infantry, *, 96 soldiers, Springfield M1842)
** Walton(Infantry, *, 171 soldiers, Springfield M1842)
** Woods(Artillery, *, 5 guns, 6PDR Field)
** Scales(Artillery, *, 5 guns, 10PDR Ordnance)

Commander Assignments

Finally, at long last, it's time for our seven brave/foolish heroes/goats to-be to receive their commands. The realities of our present situation dictate that one, and only one, additional division will be needed right away. We have no division commanders right now, and no brigade commanders high enough to promote. So the first question is, who will take the existing First Division, and who will have the new Second Division?

Colonel rank is required. We have one in 'reserve'(meaning, on staff and not assigned yet). One more needs to be 'hired', and we'll take the cheapest of those(cost scales with experience, but we have no need of spending more than necessary right now). Which volunteer is assigned to which commander is of course done completely at random.

First Division -- Col. Luis Wagner. BYU14, this is you. As of right now, you are the highest-ranking subordinate to BG James Stewart -- BG standing for Brigadier General(1-star, *).

Second Division -- Col. Rafael Durrell, retained for 3,353 warbucks. Step right up now, ntndeacon. The details of your first command have yet to be determined: it is unknown how much you'll have to work with.

That leaves four brigades and five volunteers left; the fifth with get a new brigade that will be formed shortly.

Lt. Col. Adam Loomis(Infantry) -- chesapeake. You survived the first battle but we can't say much more.

Lt. Col. Kerry Walton(infantry) -- tarcone. Looking a little better here, but not by much.

Maj. Bobby Woods(artillery) was injured, and needs a replacement. Great spot for Qwikshot to jump in. Henceforth you shall be known as Capt. Walter Seymour. Your fee was $352.

Maj. Wade Scales(artillery) -- DavidCorperial. You are now our most experienced artillery commander, which is to say only experienced artillery commander.

collegesportsfanmas remains unassigned; if either division adds cavalry you'll get that, otherwhise you'll get whatever's available.

Cash is now at $49,995 after these hires, recruit pool remains at 3,427.

[Brian Swartz]

It's now time to get this show on the road with our first choice, dealing with our Career Points. We have 1 to spend as mentioned. Here's what it can get us:

** Politics(0) -- Increase gold and recruits from +0 to +2.5%. In this last battle for example, that would have meant an extra $1,342 warbucks and 82 more recruits.

** Economy(0) -- Increase weapon discount from 0 to 2.5%. Just as effective as having more money is getting the same return while spending less of it.

** Medicine(0) -- Increase casualty recovery rate from 0 to 2%. 46 soldiers with combat experience would have been retained with this.

** Training(6) -- Increase the discount on veteran recruits from 15% to 17.5%.

** Army Organization(2) -- Increase the maximum size ofthe army. We currently have a max of 1 Corps, 2 Divisions, 4 Brigades, and 1500/Brigade. The next level will add a third Division. Given our available manpower, I am recommending against this right now -- we probably won't end up quite filling out even the two divisions we have given the sustained losses. We definitely want to keep a close eye on this though; ending up in a situation where you have more money and men than you can field because this hasn't been upgraded is not something we want. No danger of that yet though.

** Logistics(0) -- Increase ammunition from normal to +5% for all brigades.

** Reconnaissance(2) -- Currently we know the starting enemy army size going into battle. The next level doesn't kick in until 4, when we'll know how many men the enemy is fielding in real-time during battle, and what Corps/Division/Brigade we are facing off against.

All Commanders are now on the clock, 48 hours as always though I'll be flexible with things at first so people can get in the flow. Voting on the Career Point investment is called for. At that time, or before if everyone has checked in, we will add a point to the relevant category and proceed to Outfitting.

[Brian Swartz]

While that's going on, I'll add one more bit to this spam-posting epidemic I've had here today and talk about the bigger picture. The game is organized into mini-campaigns, usually of a few battles each, and often culminating in a big, decisive(or not) Grand Battle. We are now in the 1861 1st Manassas Campaign. They can be fought in any order which is kind of weird. We'll be doing them in chronological order. There are a couple things to be seen when looking at the Battles Map. First, there's this:




A bit of flavor here with intercepted communications. This comes from the Intelligence Service, which gives us three addition bits of info.

Army: 28-33k. This is the estimated size of the rebel force in total. Note that we aren't expected to be that big yet, as Stewart has only a single corps, not the entire Union Army. We have some influence on how fast this number grows by virtue of how many casualties we inflict in combat.
Training: 25-30%. A general measurement of the quality of the rebel troops.
Armory: 14-19%. Measures how well-equipped they are in terms of weapons.




Here's the next engagement we have coming up, which may be of interest. Aside from the description, note the different rewards for finances, men, and reputation below the Victory/Draw/Defeat result options. You can also see the 'wreath' or whatever by the other battle that wasn't selected; that's our first Grand Battle, which will come later. But first things first.

[chesapeake]

Politics
Money is always good, and we have already established a high initial training rating. It seems to me that we can restock our own units with a number of comparatively cheap veteran soldiers while creating new green brigades that will be blooded at Bull Run.

As it turns out, I live across the street from a historic Confederate outpost that watches one of the main roads to Manassas. I'll keep an eye on the troop movements around here .

[Brian Swartz]

I was hoping for more than one vote here, but I'm going to move on -- Politics it is. I'd like to progress to our next battle, Distress Call, by the end of Tuesday and I want to leave plenty of time for people to respond to their individual situations. I also think the best way for those who have signed up to see what they're in for is to keep things moving, and I don't have any real good reason for arguing against the pick here.

[Brian Swartz]

Outfitting: Army Choices

To start with, these are the things that everyone can weigh in on.

1. Emphasis. I think I've already got Chesapeake on the record here, which I would think qualifies as basically looking for a balanced approach. You can also choose to have us Focus or Strongly Focus on improving weapons, adding experienced veterans, or going for mostly new recruits to increase our almost non-existent numbers.

2. Reputation Investment. We're at 28, which means we are allowed to spend up to 8 if we choose, though letting it get too low is risky as mentioned. The options for us right now, at 4 Reputation apiece:

** 2000 Palmetto M1842s(Infantry)

** 10 10Pdr Ordnance(Artillery)

** BG John Gibbon(Brigadier General, *)

At our current level we can choose between zero and two of these.

[Brian Swartz]

Command Briefings

Now it's time to look at the individual situations.

Wagner's Division

BYU14, you're up here. I'll refer to this as Wagner's Division instead of I Corps 1st Division just to make it a little more personal. You have the two mostly-depleted infantry brigades of Loomis and Walton, and we'll be moving one artillery unit out to the other division but you will keep the other one. Two things are needed here:

C Luis Wagner is approx. a third of the way to his next promotion(I can't see precise amounts above the brigade level).

** What type of brigade would you like for the open spot? Skirmishers/Infantry/Artillery/Cavalry/Random for the options here. To keep things sensible, I'm going to keep a minimum of half of each division going infantry, but you already have that so you can pick anything. If you wish, you can further choose a preferred weapon for that new brigade to carry, or you can leave that choice to the new commander of that unit. Go for a well-rounded division or one that hits harder -- the choice is yours.

** Similar to army-level choice but specific to your divisional command, you may request that we bias outfitting of your division in favor of veterans, recruits, or better weapons. If you want to spend extra on infantry/artillery/whatever and correspondingly less elsewhere, this would also be the place to note that.


Durrell's Division

ntndeacon, you have the same basic choices, but the option to do more to shape things.

C Rafael Durrell is a fairly recently promoted colonel and is probably around 10-15% of the way to his next tier.

** Division Makeup. Seymour's brigade, the 6-lb. guns, is all that you will start off with for sure. We may not have enough men to add more than just some infantry to that, but you'll at least get that much. It would still be good to know what you would like to work towards in terms of the 4th optional brigade(2 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 ?). As the army grows you'll have gradually more freedom to shape things.

** Same as above, any directions on the outfitting of your division you might have. Note that the only Seymour will be able to receive veterans; all of the other brigades will be new and automatically green. This limitation is also an opportunity; choosing a specific weapon is best done when a brigade is first formed, since you're not replacing the existing ones but merely doing a first-time outfitting.


Now on to the specific brigades.

Loomis's Brigade

Adam Loomis was promoted to Lt. Col. after the last battle, and has made minimal progress in that rank of 13%.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

Men: 96
Experience: *, 54% to **
Perks: Endurance Course(+10 Stamina, +5 Efficiency, +10% Speed)

Note that in the future you will be able to choose perks when the brigade 'levels up' -- these men already were experienced going into the first battle, so we get them 'as is' and can't make that choice here.

Efficiency: 36
Morale: 45
Stamina: 50
Firearms: 58
Melee: 23

All on a 100-point scale. By comparison, rookie recruits average 8-11 in all categories.

Weapon: Springfield M1842

** Weapon -- If you want to switch to a different weapon, that choice should be made here. The cost of that will reduce what is available to increase your manpower.

** Reinforcements -- Numbers vs. Veterans here basically. At the current abilities of your brigade, veterans will cost $28 per man. You can choose some of each if you wish to hedge your bets. The most recruits we can add to maintain your * status(and the endurance course perk) is 114. At that point the ratings would be 24/25/34/32/16. Additional veterans trained to this lower level would cost $13 apiece. You can choose All Veterans, All Rookies, or give me a number of some kind for how many rookies to add.


Walton's Brigade

LC Kelly Walton is 37% of the way to his next promotion.

Alter Ego: tarcone

Men: 171
Experience: *, 67% to **
Perks: Endurance Course

Efficiency: 37
Morale: 45
Stamina: 50
Firearms: 64
Melee: 30

Weapon: Springfield M1842

Same choices naturally. Choose a different weapon if you prefer. You have slightly more skilled men and therefore veterans are initially more expensive, $31 each. Maximum # of recruits while maintaining your perk(but still losing progress towards the next tier) is 265. At that point ratings would slide to 23/23/32/32/18, and veterans to maintain that level would cost $12.


Scales's Brigade

Major William Scales is nearly to his next rank, 98% of the way there. He's now got the initial brigade of our new division.

Alter Ego: Qwikshot

Field Guns: 5
Experience: *, 46% to **
Perks: Physical Training(+10 Stamina, +5 Efficiency)

Efficiency: 36
Morale: 45
Stamina: 48
Firearms: 52
Melee: 21

Weapon: 10pdr Ordnance

Weapon changes if any are now indicated. Note that you'll want to check the Weapon Reference in the OP for availability and price before doing that if you choose it. The costs here are per gun, not per man: 25 men required per gun, so the numbers are going to be a lot higher even without factoring in additional weapons. Cheaper/more expensive weapons would change how much the cost is of course. $3600 ea. to add veteran crews, $1710 for rookies. 4 guns could be added without losing the current perk, resulting in 26/29/35/34/16 ratings. At that point additional veteran crews would cost $2690
each.


Seymour's Brigade

Capt. Walter Seymour was just commissioned and assigned, and as a result has no promotion progress.

Alter Ego: DavidCorperial

Field Guns: 5
Experience: *, 23% to **
Perks: Logistics(+50% ammunition, +5 Efficiency)

Efficiency: 34
Morale: 45
Stamina: 39
Firearms: 49
Melee: 21

Weapon: 6pdr Field

Weapon changes if any are requested, as well as upgrade choices. We can and will outfit you with the one additional field gun we captured in the last battle. Veterans for that would cost $1823, with no cost for rookies. Assuming that you go the veteran route, additional pieces would be $2693 each. 2 rookie crews could be added without losing perks, at $870 each. $2201 would be the cost for more veteran crews at that point.

Editorial Note: I also want to add a note here about infantry size and the veterans/recruit thing. Large, inexperienced brigades and those with smaller number of veterans or better weapons(or both) are both valuable. Generally the 'meat shields' would be used in the primary line esp. on bigger battles, with the more elite troops used in flanking or in reserve to be committed to key points as needed. No reserve or flanking maneuver is going to be successful without the grunts to hold the line though, so both are essential. For the other brigade types, their skills are more important but there is still an argument in favor of throwing in a bunch of raw recruits, esp. when resources are tight, and letting them hopefully improve.


All Commanders are now on the clock. Feel free to ask any questions which may occur to you.

[tarcone]

I want to add veterans? How many can I add?

[Brian Swartz]

It's impossible to give a specific answer on that, because it depends on what requests are made with the other units: there's only so much money to go around. If you want to add all veterans, then you will get fewer than you would if you accepted some rookies, ending with a relatively smaller but more capable brigade.

This has to be done a little more generally; how many rookies are you willing to accept taking on, if any, to grow your numbers. I'll add as many veterans as I can after that, balancing the needs of the various brigades.

[ntndeacon]

Durrell's Division

ntndeacon, you have the same basic choices, but the option to do more to shape things.

C Rafael Durrell is a fairly recently promoted colonel and is probably around 10-15% of the way to his next tier.

** Division Makeup. Seymour's brigade, the 6-lb. guns, is all that you will start off with for sure. We may not have enough men to add more than just some infantry to that, but you'll at least get that much. It would still be good to know what you would like to work towards in terms of the 4th optional brigade(2 infantry, 1 artillery, 1 ?). As the army grows you'll have gradually more freedom to shape things.

I would like to build towards a Carbide Cavalry brigade with Smith weapons

** Same as above, any directions on the outfitting of your division you might have. Note that the only Seymour will be able to receive veterans; all of the other brigades will be new and automatically green. This limitation is also an opportunity; choosing a specific weapon is best done when a brigade is first formed, since you're not replacing the existing ones but merely doing a first-time outfitting.

For the infantry brigades, I would like to start with Lorenz guns
otherwise I want a fairly balanced approach.

[ntndeacon]

For the Army level...
1) I prefer balance as well
2) reputation wise I would want to spend 4 on the Palmettos. (I think regardless of which of the 3 we take, we should only take 1 of them)

[tarcone]

ALL VETERANS

[DavidCorperial]

With more ammo, I could use a larger sized unit, so I'm fine taking as many rookies as wanted.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by DavidCorperial

With more ammo, I could use a larger sized unit, so I'm fine taking as many rookies as wanted.

FYI, the ammunition is done on a 'per-man' or in this case 'per-field gun' basis, in case the affects your decision. It's not a total amount per brigade. Thanks for the contributions here, a good start on what we need to pursue.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

Loomis's Brigade

Adam Loomis was promoted to Lt. Col. after the last battle, and has made minimal progress in that rank of 13%.

Alter Ego: chesapeake

Men: 96
Experience: *, 54% to **
Perks: Endurance Course(+10 Stamina, +5 Efficiency, +10% Speed)

Note that in the future you will be able to choose perks when the brigade 'levels up' -- these men already were experienced going into the first battle, so we get them 'as is' and can't make that choice here.

Efficiency: 36
Morale: 45
Stamina: 50
Firearms: 58
Melee: 23

All on a 100-point scale. By comparison, rookie recruits average 8-11 in all categories.

Weapon: Springfield M1842

** Weapon -- If you want to switch to a different weapon, that choice should be made here. The cost of that will reduce what is available to increase your manpower.

** Reinforcements -- Numbers vs. Veterans here basically. At the current abilities of your brigade, veterans will cost $28 per man. You can choose some of each if you wish to hedge your bets. The most recruits we can add to maintain your * status(and the endurance course perk) is 114. At that point the ratings would be 24/25/34/32/16. Additional veterans trained to this lower level would cost $13 apiece. You can choose All Veterans, All Rookies, or give me a number of some kind for how many rookies to add.

We need warm bodies right now, and I think you've identified the best way to get some of those and still maintain some basic competence. Add the 114 rookies and then, as funding permits, add veterans to maintain our * status.

As for spending reputation points, I'm inclined against the palmettos, as they seem to me to be only nominally better than the muskets we are carrying. The 10PDRs seem like they'd give us the best overall upgrade in firepower.

[collegesportsfanms]

Sorry guys, school has been kicking my ass the past few days, I haven't even had time to get to my FBCB Interactive Dynasties. Hopefully I can in the next few days.

As for this, I'm hoping that I can get assigned to something soon, it's a good read, and kinda fits right in with the history class I'm taking this semester.

As it stands, I'll just wait and see what happens.

[Brian Swartz]

Couple of quick notes here. On the reputation front, we've got one vote for palmettos, one for the field guns. It'd be good to hear more from others on what you think of the choices there.

Originally Posted by collegesportsfanmas

I'm hoping that I can get assigned to something soon, it's a good read, and kinda fits right in with the history class I'm taking this semester.

Good to hear. You will get assigned to something tomorrow night: that's a guarantee. What exactly I don't know.

I'm going to set the cutoff point for 8pm Tues. EST, so that I'll have enough time to do the required math and get everyone updated for our next (mis?)adventure. Unless of course everyone has reported in before then.

[tarcone]

Field guns

[Brian Swartz]

Union Army Outfitting Results
June 1, 1861

** The game is a little confused on the point of this date. It says it is July 21 in the save file ... and yet our next battle is more than a month before that. Oops.

The vote on reputation was 2 for buying the 10-pd artillery, 1 for the Palmettos, none for the general or for doing nothing. So 10PDR Ordnance it is.

We didn't have the manpower to do more than reinforce the two battered infantry brigades in Wagner's Division and add one more. Scales got the six new requisitioned artillery pieces, maintaining basic * experience by adding four rookie and then two veteran crews. That put him up to 275 men(11 10PDR Ordnance). Seymour was moved to Durrell's Division, taking rookies to fill out one more crew to use the added field gun that was captured; he's up to 6 and 150 men.

On the infantry under Wagner, Loomis saw the lion's share of the influx, his numbers increasing to 1,337 with the Springfield M1842. Not particularly skilled, but there's a lot of them. Walton focused instead on training select recruits to maintain skills, adding less than 500 new bodies to come in at 644. One new brigade was added, infantry to Durrell's Division. Major Steven Preston(2% to next promotion) was added to commander's list: that's you, collegesportsfanms. Division had requested imported Austrian Lorenz rifle-muskets, and Preston's Brigade debuts significantly below the standard thousand, 665 men.

2000 units of supply were purchased, an educated guess based on what I've seen of the game. The cost there is simply a dollar per unit, simple and basic.

Why did the numbers come out as they did above? In this case, hard currency. We have just $56 remaining -- the choices to go for as many veterans as we did, and the more accurate(and expensive) imported weapons ensured we would not be able to equip all of our manpower. 855 recruits remain willing and able, but are not yet part of the Army. I'm not judging the decisions made; they may well turn out to have been for the best, but what Loomis wanted was a lot cheaper than what the others wanted, and that's reflected in the new makeup.

Interestingly, we ended up using almost all of our available Springfield M1842s ... just 35 are left, and we'd have had to start buying them after that. 100 of the 1855 Model, and no artillery remains. The only thing we have in significant quantity is the Sharp's skirmisher/carbine cavalry weapon, around 250 of them. So if we get a chance to capture more weapons, we'll definitely want to do so.

Here's how things look as we wrap up our first Camp stage:




It would be nice to add in some specialized troops, skirmishers/cavalry we do not have yet. Lots of things would be nice; this is where we are. I don't have a good handle on how things work for Corps Commanders, but that one perk there on the right is Tactics(+5% speed for all units).

Without further ado, it's time to take a look at our next engagement.

Battle Briefing: Distress Call
June 15, 1861

Two weeks have passed, and as we saw before our task is to provide cover for the evacuation of critical supplies from an area that is pro-Confederacy. That brings up this:




The description of things is on the left; a little more detail but nothing not already covered. The map in the middle shows our one corps already deployed. Later in the game, I think the idea is that you choose which corps are deployed where, but here there's one location and one corps so it's not really a decision to be made. Looks like we're going to be attacked from the north and east, with our army coming in from the west, according to the arrows. Also note the army information on the top and bottom of the map. Here's where our limited Recon ability comes into play. We can only see expected # of men and guns on each side; it appears that we are outnumbered, but only slightly.

We have 12 brigades on the bottom and only our 5 shown on the map; this is because we'll be given assistance by other elements not under Stewart's command, as will be seen. We didn't see this screen in the first battle but I think it happens in every other battle from here on out. At least we'll have an idea what kind of disaster we might be in for. We won against greater odds in our first fight, but it doesn't appear this will be easy.













Well that's superb news ...





On paper, it sounds like a lot of the second half of the train station battle; hold them off until more help arrives. I'm hoping we don't come as close to disaster as we did two weeks ago.

At 8:30 AM, our supply wagon and the infantry from Wagner's Division have arrived, along with BG Stewart himself. He takes command of the defense of the area, and must now decide how to proceed.