Scourge of War Boards

Hi, I would need some tips about how to avoid that the AI leader of a brigade or division is killed during a battle.
It happens very often when you attack, usually at the beginning of the attack; so how to manage them if they are AI ?

So should I TC them ? but if I am the leader of a division/corp I cannot look any time at them to see if they have to be moved again or are in danger etc ... so how do you manage them ?

seamount0 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 28, 2023 11:38 am Hi, I would need some tips about how to avoid that the AI leader of a brigade or division is killed during a battle.
It happens very often when you attack, usually at the beginning of the attack; so how to manage them if they are AI ?

So should I TC them ? but if I am the leader of a division/corp I cannot look any time at them to see if they have to be moved again or are in danger etc ... so how do you manage them ?

Brigade commanders will drop like flies if you leave them under AI control, that's just how it is. There are a number of ways to minimize this, but all of them involve some level of control on your part.

The best way is to do what I do. I control everyone and everything on the field at all times myself. Basically, if I have units in combat, those units and their officers are always under TC. With this level control, I rarely, if ever lose any officers. The downside to this is that it takes practice to effectively control very large numbers of troops all over the field and be comfortable doing it. It's easier in Waterloo than it is to do in the civil war games simply because of the terrain and the openness of Waterloo are just much more conducive to keeping an eye on everything, but with practice, it can still be done in the civil war games. This is hard though, I wouldn't recommend this style of play to new players or people just not really familiar with scourge of wars mechanics.

Another way is to send a brigade an attack order while it's units and officer are under AI control, and then once the brigade begins moving out, take command of just the officer and halt him, or change his destination to someplace behind his own men. It is rare that officers actually get shot. More often than not officers die simply because they walk into an enemy unit, or get charged by one. If you take command of just the officer, the units will continue advancing towards the destination you originally set for the brigade as a whole before placing the officer on TC. They will then use their own reaction ranges to engage the enemy.

A third way is to just not use the officers at all, and just move the units individually. I don't usually do that except in small brigade scenarios where the officer isn't needed.

Division commanders need never really be killed. Even if you're playing at the corps or army level there's no reason to ever send divisional level orders. The division commanders will likely not do what you envision them doing with their brigades anyway, so it's always better to just leave the division commanders on TC and bypass that level of command anyway. No matter the level, even if I'm letting the AI control all the combat, I still send only brigade level orders. Intervening levels of command taking your orders will only cause them to not get carried out the way you want. It's not unusual for my division and corps commanders to not really move at all, unless I like need them to hold an objective that's already been thoroughly secured.

This all takes a little practice and you'll make botches along the way, but over time you'll get better at it.

Thank You for your answer; I remember your videos on youtube
I only play HITS; I will try to give orders at brigade level, using TC at division/corp level

seamount0 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 30, 2023 7:33 pm Thank You for your answer; I remember your videos on youtube
I only play HITS; I will try to give orders at brigade level, using TC at division/corp level

HITS is a whole different story. You're going to lose brigade commanders playing HITS, it's unavoidable, even for me.
You can still mitigate division commander losses by issuing brigade level commands and bypassing the division level. But the brigade commanders themselves are going to get themselves killed. They all have a death wish.

In army level scenarios I tend to issue division level orders only for maneuver. Like I may move a division as a whole to a jump off point, but then when I give the actual attack orders, I'll TC the division commander and issue the attack orders directly to the brigades.

But yea, in general HITS is a bloody and messy business. Embrace the carnage.

I'm curious to hear what others have to say about this.

In it something is. Now all became clear, many thanks for an explanation.

This depends a bit on play style, i.e. how much you TC and micromanage. I play SP, HITS, and prefer to work through the command system i.e. avoid TC whenever possible.

I limit control to my subordinate leaders whenever possible. Knowing their “Attributes” and setting an appropriate “Stance” helps keep them from wandering too much. I focus on them. When I first started playing SOW I noticed certain leaders always getting into trouble-their aggressive behavior was usually a cause. This of course will depend a lot on the situation, there’s a lot of variability and unpredictability built into the game which I really like.

Another point is I try to keep the subordinate leader’s units tight or close to him and TC these units when I have to. I try to avoid gaps or enemy wedges to break the continuity of his command. . Keep his units & lines close otherwise the leader ride to them, separated, and likely killed.