Recruit has questions re scenarios, sandbox.

[Jack ONeill]

Man,

I agree with Guda. The tutorials will give you a greater appreciation of the subtleties of the SOW command system. Play the Brigade tutorial and really try to "Feel" it. Depending on what version the AI throws at you, you may end up fighting for your life within minutes. It will toss an entire Reb Division at you forthwith and there are no reserves comnig to cover your butt.

The Division tutorial is very straight forward. If it seems too easy, ramp up the difficulty level. You are up against John Gibbon and his 2nd. Corps lads, no slouches there when it come to fighting.

The Corps Tutorial could just rob you of your sanity. (One of my favorites, BTW.) You are already stuck in and crap is going wrong everywhere. Command and Control is essential to win the day here. Fast thinking and some luck will win the day. You have the 5th. Corps under your command. Good, solid troops.

A note about the AI. There are a number of versions of each scenario and tutorial built in. You may get lucky or you may get steamrollered. With all the new patches, the AI is much better at beating us, manuevering more, etc.

Bon Chance!

Jack B)

[Gudadantza]

well I tried playing the divisional tutorial but it was of no help. It just told me to hold the road for and that was it.

Oh, I know what you mean. But I had the same feeling in the TC2M tutorials.

Simply get the brigade scen as tool to experiment about the SoW´s specific things. Use the tutorials in this way.

For example. Try to beat the brigade scen with HITS... Experiment with the courier system on divisional and Corps... etc.

Afterall the tutorials are just scripted scens with some messages.
Could you experiment with all this things in any scen or sandbox? Sure. But the tutorials are perhaps, more friendly and learn focused.

Greetings.

[mantrain]

"Try to beat the brigade scen with HITS..."

Sorry, what is HITS?

I see myself getting sucked in.

Yesterday I played a Pipe Creek Scenario.

Wow, my lines are about a mile wide or more, and I tried a few times, Corp level attack and you don't know there it's coming. I see now what commanders of the day had to deal with.
I like the courier system too.

[Chamberlain]

"Try to beat the brigade scen with HITS..."

Sorry, what is HITS?

I see myself getting sucked in.

Here you go mantrain :

http://www.norbsoftdev.com/forum/hits-h ... the-saddle

Chamberlain

[Gudadantza]

"Try to beat the brigade scen with HITS..."

Sorry, what is HITS?

I see myself getting sucked in.

Yesterday I played a Pipe Creek Scenario.

Wow, my lines are about a mile wide or more, and I tried a few times, Corp level attack and you don't know there it's coming. I see now what commanders of the day had to deal with.
I like the courier system too.

As you can see in the link, HITS is "Headquarters in the saddle". This is ,a a deffinition of the grognard difficulty level with limited point of view and mobility and something more . This, plus the courier system is a very fun and immersive approach at certain command levels. I consider it perfect to play a brigade.

[Mike_Munday]

Man,

Jack "...my line of retreat? Over the bodies of the enemy..." O'Neill B)

(Karma to anyone who can tell me who said that.)

Field Marshall Scherwin at the Battle of Mollwitz

[drypowder]

Mantrain maybe try this .... well, first of all I am not a pro but what I do now with the game I think is very close to what you want to do. I play in Sandbox AND only play with one Brigade period. I only play with an infantry Brigade, I only play with Confederate playing confederate is a preference thing it seems according to the posts this gives me an advantage but anyway a major thing to do in my opinion in sandbox mode is to make sure "Balance Forces" at the bottom right of the screen is checked. Otherwise you will waste your time in my opinion because often when this was not checked I would go up agains about 5 cannons with an entire brigade of infantry and I just charged in it was pathetic I wiped em out anyway.

so Play Brigade only for starters, sandbox, and use "Balance Forces" - (make sure that option is checked) what happens now is you will usually be only going against other Infantry AND the Overall number of men you go against will be about the same give or take 2 about hundred men. You may have for example 4 Regiments as you know and as shown on page 3 or the manual a brigade is made up of regiments.

One thing I noticed when - I play only Confederate on Brigade vs Brigade level sandbox and the Confederates only get infantry so far never any cannons and infantry though I have gone up against infantry and cannons that the union forces had but anyway ...

This method of playing allows me in my opinion to nail down and get proper expierience in managing infantry tactics. Because I am playing infantry with infantry and I am playing with from 4 to 6 units of men (regiments) that I can micro manage and learn from and see what works best.

Forget HITS for now in my opinion that is sitting in the saddle of your character rather learn what destroys your enemy most efficiently and how to do it by seeing what happens learning what you did wrong and right. I play on the NORMAL preset victory level in OPTIONS. maybe this level does not interest you if so I'm sorry for wasting your time. Check out pages 33 and 34 this explains normal along with other levels of difficulty on Normal I see what my troops see and one other thing I don't do anything with couriers now I can enjoy that later. The unit strengths probably are not Historical cause I choose Balance Forces or maybe they are historical and they just match me up with an even opposing force.

Oh another thing I put it on Line of Sight or Hunt them down - these choices are part of sandbox mode. I don't do defend or attack yet.

Now what I am learning is that it is imperative to fight smartly If I go toe to toe and try to maybe line up first and just blast away and see what happens then I usually loose of have a tougher time of it. But if I rather play smartly I do better much better. By playing smartly I mean when I engage the enemy - (Oh first of all when doing this sandbox mode I choose 1 Objective too.. If I choose 2 or more the enemy is never there but is only at or near the primary objective so just make it 1 Objective.) WHEN I engage the enemy I make sure especially at the beginning of the battle I am engaging them when at a Fence ... It will read Fence(page 67 of manual - "Center Island" area - you see the word Fence) This gives me a combat bonus maybe the enemy will be in a fence too maybe not. Or I get in a wall or I get the HIGH GROUND this shows you a cool Green Icon (page 69) Now at times I am in a Fence AND have High Ground.

The Point is try to have all troops that are engaging the enemy with a terrain advantage of some point the enemy AI is probably going to have one for sure maybe. So move all your troops around if the enemy is waiting for you in a low spot and you can attack down a slope having the high ground and use fences as you approach. March next to the fence so they dont get tired then get in it at the distance you want to engage enemy at. I try to set up my troops to one flank or the other of the enemy so that I have a unit a regiment that I can start blasting at the enemy on there flank what I mean is the enemy is face to face with one of my regiments and I move a regiment to blast straight down the side of there entire regiment now this unit is getting no casualties cause nothing is firing at it.

Of course the enemy is moving troops around too and you may have to keep moving yours and changing your plans until you can positon a unit that is truly blasting their flank.

This is also most important too. I do not DETACH a unit but I DO "Take Charge from AI" page 89 this is key to everything. once my Brigade gets close to enemy I click on the Take Charge from AI flag button on each regiment and now move them exactly now I want. The other day because I have so much command over my brigade in this fashion I was able to shoot at a unit from the front side AND rear. The lasted a few seconds then bugged out.

Their is much more to it too but this can get you started. let me know if you would like for me to type more I already gave you a book to read. I move my person the Brigade commander to a unit that begins loosing moral I have already of course checked out prior to moving towards the enemy how good each regiment is whether they are average, good etc. If a regiment of mine is not in a fence or on high ground or is engaging another regiment of higher strength (more men) I usually put my commander with this unit to keep them rallying as they will most likely loose confindence first.

Rest units when they become winded it will say winded but only if they do not need to be doing something else but if one is winded and one is in better shape use the better shape one if you can.

[drypowder]

Mantrain if you want click on your Profile Tab at the top then click on the hard to see EDIT link to the right then pick a cool pick and stuff. I got my pic off the internet googled civil war then click on images at google then picked one and set up the pic

[Jack ONeill]

Mike,

Good call!.

Jack B)

[mantrain]

thanks so much for your help!