General Lee, Where is my Division?

[BigBlue]

I've had Scourge of War for a couple of months now along with Pipe Creek, Antietam and the v1.4 patch.

Love it all so far, particularly the ability to adjust the realism etc and the multi player features.

Apart from the Courier problem that seems to occurred around v1.4, which I understand is being looked at, my only real beef with the game is the useless in game maps.

Not that I think players should have an aerial view of whats going on, that would rob the game of its best feature - Fog of War but that they are no good whatsoever in telling me where my units are at the start of a game.

This isn't a problem when I'm a Brigade commander but above that level its often ridiculous. Obviously units may move out of sight once the game is underway and be lost to command. That's what HITS is all about for my money but not knowing where the AI has deployed your units without riding all over the County to find them is madness.

In the real world Division and Corps commanders at least had a rough idea where their subordinates were supposed to be at the start of the day. In the game you don't even get that much which is a real joke for those scenarios where you get attacked from the kickoff!

Am I missing some view information in the instructions, or is this something lacking in the game design?

[Marching Thru Georgia]

BigBlue wrote:

In the real world Division and Corps commanders at least had a rough idea where their subordinates were supposed to be at the start of the day.

First, welcome to the forum. Some ideas on how to play HITS can be found here: HITS Guide
One of the most important things to do is find a good spot where you can observe the battle. As division commander you shouldn't have too much of a problem finding a spot where you can see your entire command. With corps command, it's virtually impossible. What I do is blow up the mini map and sketch where my troops and the enemy's are located. Put the map in a plastic sleeve, use a water soluble marker and you can plot the entire battle on one map. It requires riding around to make updates, but as corps commander, you shouldn't be writing very many orders so you have plenty of time to observe.

[Blaugrana]

Are you referring to the small size of the maps and the large number of units being v difficult to distinguish?

If so, try the much bigger maps in this mod:

http://www.norbsoftdev.net/forum/modifi ... creens-mod

If not, what MTG said

[BigBlue]

Blaugrana:

Partly the small size (I'll try the mod, thanks). The originals are worse than useless to my mind (sorry guys)but that's not the whole issue.

Like I said, I wouldn't want anything to thin the "fog of war" which the game does so well. Seeing via the map that I'm about to have a flank turned that I shouldn't know about I would hate!

Really, its just that initial deployment I'm after. In fixed scenarios its easier, as you can refer to reference sources for maps and who was where at the start time, then do the kind of thing Marching Thru Georgia does, with marking up a physical map.

However, Sandbox games, or "What Ifs" - like all of the Pike Creek games for example, you don't know where the AI has dropped things. No big deal if you have time for a 'staff ride' but if not and especially when you come under attack, it sends the realism counter in a negative direction if you don't know who's controlling that sector.

This is much worse in multiplayer when General X sends a message he is under attack and you don't even know where the heck he is!

[BigBlue]

Marching Thru Georgia:

Thanks for the HITS link I'll take some time out to read through.

You are totally correct on the Corps commanders activity level, in fact the amount of orders issued through HITS should be in complete inverse proportion to rank. Division and Brigade commanders do all the work!

I've played Kriegsspiel for years and one mistake all Newbies make is to issue a constant stream of orders or requests for SitReps and then just end up getting confused and confusing their subordinates at the same time.

[General P R Cleburne]

Hi Blue.
I really dont have anything useful to add to your questions here... sorry.
However you did mention Multiplayer and that made me want to ask you if your interested in some of the battles that The GCM community fight on a daily basis.There is a large (growing daily) group who gather to recreate battles most days/evenings and weekends and if your interested it would be great to see you there.For example we had two battles yesterday with 20 or more Generals involved commanding troops.Its a great experience and youd be made very welcome to come and try it out.Hopefully we will get to see you there.
Here is the Website to look at to get you going if interested.

http://www.sowmp.com/gcm

Thanks and good luck
Cleburne

[Martin James]

I agree with BigBlue about the initial deployment in sandbox games. Quite frequently as, say, a corps commander, one or more of your divisions begin the game out of sight, so you have no idea where they are. It's more acute in army-level games as the lack of space between the armies can often mean one of your corps comes under attack before you can ride around sufficiently to discover where they are.

This is a situation which could have happened historically, but it would have been rare that a CinC did not know the general disposition of his troops at the start of battle.

Enabling the the pc to respond to the courier message window request for a status report would go a long way towards addressing this. I know a number of players have also requested that messages mention the location of the sender. That would help too, along with making detached cavalry scouting more realistic.

Great game though.

Martin