PBEM AAR - Long Live the Union!

From the creators of Crown of Glory come an epic tale of North Vs. South. By combining area movement on the grand scale with optional hex based tactical battles when they occur, Forge of Freedom provides something for every strategy gamer. Control economic development, political development with governers and foreign nations, and use your military to win the bloodiest war in US history.

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jchastain
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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

I'll go ahead and get that division into Wheeling so that the Army of Kentucky will be free to move to the front. It uses up some RR, but I want to be free to evacuate the army next turn without having to worry about coverage.

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jchastain
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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

Clearly I am going to need more force at the front. The cities in the far north all have garrisons. If the Rebs get to Wisconsin, then the war is already lost. I'm going to use my remaining RR infrastructure to get these garrisons forward to help fill out the new divisions I'll be building.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

With RR already down from raids and some of that used to occupy wheeling, I can only get a few units up but since we don't have those divisions yet it is hard to be too worried about it. We'll get more next turn.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

OK, we've talked about it long enough. Let's go ahead and get those new divisions in the queue. Chicago and Indy look good.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

I parked on of the new units from earlier in Columbus. There wasn't enough RR left to get any more garrisons all the way down to springfield, but there is just enough to get that extra unit to wheeling so let's go ahead and garrison the city.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

OK, let's start thinking about our offensive. Hmmmmm. The rebs have definitely been building up out west. The good news is they have split their forces. At first blush it appears like I'll need to concentrate my forces and hit them in one place or the other. I don't need to decide which yet. But I've got my work cut out for me.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

OK, let's get the supplies cranked up to support the moves that will be coming soon. First, let's get an appreciation for what this will be costing us. Here's our current income with supplies largely cut off.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

OK, let's crank supplies back up to the various armies.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

And now... let's look at our income again. Yep, this will cost us. But at least we can afford it and keep diplomacy funded. I need to get diplomacy scaled back soon though. I'll still need several new divisions and I'd like some more corps as well to replace some of these ineffective armies. 31 money per turn won't buy anything but the absolute essentials necessary to keep the lights on.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

With so many troops in the west, it really is worth taking another look at the East. I don't want to get sucked into long sieges and give Robert E a chance to counter attack (as the defender since he'll still own the province). But I might be able to push a few divisions around and gain a little experience and create a little havoc. Yep. This will need to be a two front war. That's not what I was expecting, but I can't ignore the opportunity.

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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

OK, things start moving at a very different speed next turn. But for now, there's nothing more to do except wait. Promotions are now filling out the 2 star ranks, whjere the latter skills are more important than the initial ones.

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AU Tiger_MatrixForum
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RE: TURN 6

Post by AU Tiger_MatrixForum »

"Never take counsel of your fears."

Tho. Jackson
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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

ORIGINAL: AU Tiger


heh heh. Hopefully we'll soon turn that into...

[X(]
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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

Anyone have any strategy questions?  I've tried to walk through some of the "why" behind my moves, but let me know if anyone wants additional explanations or has questions about why I didn't do something...
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RE: TURN 6

Post by madflava13 »

I'm curious about your decision not to upgrade weapons and attributes of your units knowing an offensive is coming soon. Also, if it's not too much trouble, I'd love to hear more about the specific upgrades and specialized traits available.... How you choose which units to give traits to, and why. I know you've touched on it some already.
Thanks in advance!
"The Paraguayan Air Force's request for spraying subsidies was not as Paraguayan as it were..."
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RE: TURN 6

Post by AU Tiger_MatrixForum »

ORIGINAL: jchastain

Anyone have any strategy questions? I've tried to walk through some of the "why" behind my moves, but let me know if anyone wants additional explanations or has questions about why I didn't do something...

Personally I am engrossed in trying to figure out what the H#ll is going on game mechanics-wise. If I had a manual to reference as this is unfolding, it would make a lot more sense. Both you and Gil have done a good job describing the whys and wherefores, but I am an engineer, and want to read the specs, if that makes sense?

I am going to copy this post to the general thread as nothing is given away.
"Never take counsel of your fears."

Tho. Jackson
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Grotius
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RE: TURN 6

Post by Grotius »

I'm enjoying this AAR a great deal. This game is already a must-buy for me, but I do have a few questions.

First, I'm surprised how expensive diplomacy is. What is this expense intended to simulate? Don't get me wrong, I like it; it adds depth to the game, and it's forcing you to make some hard choices.

Also, I notice that your screenshots sometimes show more than one unit in a province per turn. Do they all occupy the same location, or are they presumed to be in different parts of that province?

Finally, I'm interested that you can pull garrisons from, say, Wisconsin and send them to the front. Do you pay any political penalty with the Wisc. governor for doing so? Or any other kind of penalty?

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RE: TURN 6

Post by AU Tiger_MatrixForum »

ORIGINAL: Grotius

I'm enjoying this AAR a great deal. This game is already a must-buy for me, but I do have a few questions.

First, I'm surprised how expensive diplomacy is. What is this expense intended to simulate? Don't get me wrong, I like it; it adds depth to the game, and it's forcing you to make some hard choices.

Also, I notice that your screenshots sometimes show more than one unit in a province per turn. Do they all occupy the same location, or are they presumed to be in different parts of that province?

Finally, I'm interested that you can pull garrisons from, say, Wisconsin and send them to the front. Do you pay any political penalty with the Wisc. governor for doing so? Or any other kind of penalty?

[&o]
"Never take counsel of your fears."

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jchastain
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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »

ORIGINAL: madflava13

I'm curious about your decision not to upgrade weapons and attributes of your units knowing an offensive is coming soon. Also, if it's not too much trouble, I'd love to hear more about the specific upgrades and specialized traits available.... How you choose which units to give traits to, and why. I know you've touched on it some already.
Thanks in advance!

What I've been trying to do is upgrade the weapons of the highest quality units. In combat, quality becomes morale. So low quality units route quickly. It isn't worth spending a lot of resources giving good weapons to troops that will only fire them once. I pretty much NEVER upgrade the weapon of any unit with a quality of less than 2.0. I pretty much ALWAYS upgrade the weapons of any unit with quality level of 3.0+. The area in between is the gray area. Improvised weapons are just awful. Shotguns and muskets are slight better. Minies and springfields are slight better than those. Other than VERY VERY high quality troops, I won't pay to upgrade one level. So anyone who has shotguns or muskets, I leave alone (until I get something better). Decent troops with improvides weapons I tend to upgrade to minies.

I also wasn't anticipating the offense in the east so I was holding off on upgrades there. Why do interim step upgrades for units that won't be fighting - just upgrade to something decent once it gets close for time to engage them. Then at the last minute, I've decided I need to commit them. That decision was made based on the overwhealming troop levels so I think I'll still be fine. Last turn I could and likely should have given them some attention as it become obvious they'd be deployed. More than anything my failure to do that was laziness and not strategy.

The specific upgrades are much more defined in detailed combat. The devs have said they apply to quick/instant combat as well roughly in proportion to their cost, but none of us know exactly how those formulas work under the covers (except the devs themselves). But again, the investment makes the most sense for high quality troops that won't turn and run with the first shot. I thought about buying more attributes in the last few turns, but they all cost money and money has been tight. I basically made the decision to focus on diplomacy, supplies and building out key containers instead of improving the current units. Over the next few turns, we'll see if that was the right decision or not.
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RE: TURN 6

Post by jchastain »


Great questions. Let's step through them...
ORIGINAL: Grotius

I'm enjoying this AAR a great deal. This game is already a must-buy for me, but I do have a few questions.

Great! That's why we're doing it. It really is good to hear people are enjoying it and getting something out of it.
First, I'm surprised how expensive diplomacy is. What is this expense intended to simulate? Don't get me wrong, I like it; it adds depth to the game, and it's forcing you to make some hard choices.

I think the expense really is more for game balance than to model anything specific. The CSA gets benefits with every level of relationship they build. If they get to level 6, England or France will enter the war in support of them and that's a pretty big deal. If it were too cheap, both sides would just max it out and leave it there making it irrelevant. The USA has the economic advantage, but they are playing defense. They don't know where the CSA is investing and therefore have to cover the board or take their chances. With modest focused investment, the CSA can achieve some real gains by nudging a pwer their way. With modest spread investment and a little luck, they can get the USA to spend a lot trying to cover it all (which is close to where I am right now).
Also, I notice that your screenshots sometimes show more than one unit in a province per turn. Do they all occupy the same location, or are they presumed to be in different parts of that province?

All units are assuming to be in the same place within a province. You have have independent units in a province. One of the game options is whether you want them "stacked" with one icon representing them all or whether you want to see separate icons. I prefer to keep them separate. Within a province, you can also choose to combine or divide units. The "container" concept allows a lot of flexibility in reorganizing units, though I am sure some will find that flexibility to be a management burden. I tend to like it.
Finally, I'm interested that you can pull garrisons from, say, Wisconsin and send them to the front. Do you pay any political penalty with the Wisc. governor for doing so? Or any other kind of penalty?

There is no immediate penalty. You'll see that governors make occasional demands. The governors of Virginia and Tennessee have both demanded a certain number of brigades within their borders already in this game (both players see demands from governors on both sides - politicians aren't very secretive). If Wisconsin makes a similar demand, I'll have to decide what to do about it. But for now, I can empty the state and not worry about it.
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