Controlling engaged artillery.

[gbs]

I have done a search to no avail. I don't have the hang of ordering arty units to different locations once they have unlimbered and begun firing......even at targets 800+ yards distant. I would like for them to limber up and move closer to my line but no joy. I vaguely remember reading here that if you send couriers that they ignore orders and I am finding that to be true because I play with couriers and HITS with a 40 yard radius. I have TCd them which is comunicated by courier as well and then sent orders and that doesn't work either.
Another odd thing happened this morning while playing a sandbox battle as McClaws in Longstreets Corp. I wanted arty commander Manly to move his unit to a forward hill face northeast and unlimber. I watched the rider approach him and...nothing. After several trys I rodes to his side, gave him a good ass chewing and repeated the order in his ear to move over there and set up. He then did so. Is this a continuing bug/problem with SOW or are the arty commanders the bad boys of the Civil War?
A great addition to the orders meneu would be to order Arty to the front.

[Marching Thru Georgia]

gbs wrote:

this a continuing bug/problem with SOW or are the arty commanders the bad boys of the Civil War?

No, they are not bad boys, just very dilligent in their work. To get them to move you must first give them the 'No Orders' command. That changes their current stance which is usually 'hold at all costs'. So a typical courier order would be:
1. No orders.
2. Move your unit forward 400 yds. (as an example)

Unless they are in self defense mode, (using canister), they will always obey.

[Amish John]

gbs wrote:

this a continuing bug/problem with SOW or are the arty commanders the bad boys of the Civil War?

No, they are not bad boys, just very dilligent in their work. To get them to move you must first give them the 'No Orders' command. That changes their current stance which is usually 'hold at all costs'. So a typical courier order would be:
1. No orders.
2. Move your unit forward 400 yds. (as an example)

Unless they are in self defense mode, (using canister), they will always obey.

Will the need to give them the "no order" command be removed in the next patch? If not, what is the logic for keeping it?

[gbs]

gbs wrote:

this a continuing bug/problem with SOW or are the arty commanders the bad boys of the Civil War?

No, they are not bad boys, just very dilligent in their work. To get them to move you must first give them the 'No Orders' command. That changes their current stance which is usually 'hold at all costs'. So a typical courier order would be:
1. No orders.
2. Move your unit forward 400 yds. (as an example)

Unless they are in self defense mode, (using canister), they will always obey.

Thanks. The "no orders" thing is what I forgot that I was trying to find.

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Amish John wrote:

If not, what is the logic for keeping it?

This is necessary for infantry too whenever the enemy is nearby. When you think about it, it is reasonable. If a unit has an attack or defend stance, that's exactly what they will do unless that order is countermanded. The 'no orders' command is what tells the unit to stop what they are doing and do something else.

It should have been included in the manual, (hint, hint, Jim ), but I doubt that even Norb realized the necessity 'no orders' when he wrote the stance code.

[RebBugler]

Thanks for clearing that up MTG. Also, you can think of 'no orders' as being 'orders off', to follow a logical process. And yes, this should be in the manual under courier commands.

[Davinci]

I think that the order should be changed to Stand Down - a military term that explains it all.

davinci