Let's Try Scourge of War: Waterloo

[LordCucumber]

I've made a first attempt at recording a (Let's Try) battle in Scourge of War: Waterloo

You can find it here!

The sound of my mike is a bit low. I could not find a way to lower ingame sound (halp, anyone?). In any case I will probably do a few more vids on this in the (near) future if only to record my voice properly in a next attempt.

[LordCucumber]

Part 2 (with better sound!) can be found here!

[Volunteer]

Good stuff. [:)]You found the controls a bit fiddly too!

[Leffe7]

thanks for doing the Video. The sound is very good now!

some hints:
- to move artillery around it is a must to TC the battery commander first. Otherwise they prefer to bombard enemy units in range.
- If you like to have more control of your infantry you should TC their Brigade commander (or he may override your orders to the regiments), or even TC the infantry themselves. Otherwise they react to the battle on their own.
- The Prussian infantry units with 600men look very big to me and thus are more difficult to maneouver. Maybe you set the Sprite Ratio to 1:1? 1:6 is the default.
- You did fight ok, but in most Scenarios you need to secure objective sites (the church in this case) to score more points and win the scenario.

[LordCucumber]

Thanks for the tips. Still struggling to not forget all UI options. This one went somewhat better..

Part 3, a field battle as the French

[Leffe7]

another Major Defeat - but I hope you still enjoyed the game [;)]

For quite a different play style you could try the following in a Division-Level Scenario:
Control your forces mainly by just positioning your brigades and giving them a style (Attack, Probe, Defend, Hold and such). Do not try to control each individual infantry unit. I know it may be hard to play that way, but trust your subordinates. And only intervene if absolutely necessary.

Try to keep an overview what is happening: Where does the enemy attack? Where is he weak, where is he strong? Where do I need to move my reserves to? Is there better ground for my batteries to deploy and bombard the enemy flanks? Do I need to withdraw from a position to avoid annihilation?

[Enigma6584]

ORIGINAL: Leffe7

thanks for doing the Video. The sound is very good now!

some hints:
- to move artillery around it is a must to TC the battery commander first. Otherwise they prefer to bombard enemy units in range.
- If you like to have more control of your infantry you should TC their Brigade commander (or he may override your orders to the regiments), or even TC the infantry themselves. Otherwise they react to the battle on their own.
- The Prussian infantry units with 600men look very big to me and thus are more difficult to maneouver. Maybe you set the Sprite Ratio to 1:1? 1:6 is the default.
- You did fight ok, but in most Scenarios you need to secure objective sites (the church in this case) to score more points and win the scenario.

Forgive the clarification request but I am new to this series and am learning. So you are saying if I want to control in more detail the entire Brigade, all I have to do is TC the Brigade Commander and the entire brigade will become more pliable to my orders? I don't have to TC each and every infantry unit unless I want to go completely micro-management? Is this correct? What is the difference in how the entire unit operates with Brigade Commander only TC and each and every unit in the brigade TC?

Loving this game by the way. So much so I even bought the Gettysburg 150th Addition. Wonderful fun.

[Leffe7]

Hi RedCharlie

thanks for your interest in the game and buying (all) Scourge of War titles [:)]

IMHO one of the biggest differences between SOW and RTS games is 1) the AI of individual units in SOW and 2) the command structure from brigades up to army level (including AI on each level).

1) Individual units (like battalions. Player is a Brigade commander)
People unfamiliar with SOW might be surprised why units sometimes don't act exactly like ordered. The concept of SOW is that each battalion does respond to the living battlefield around them. Based on orders/visible threats/chance they will for example: Stop moving if being fired upon/change formation to line to begin fire/wheel to engage a bigger threat/form square if cavalry danger is near/change formation from square to line if there is no cavalry danger present anymore AND unengaged/lay down if under artillery fire/fall back or retreat if under big pressure/refuse to charge if condition is too poor.
For me, this adds a lot to the immersion. Battalions are led by an officer and do their best to fullfill their orders but also to keep their men alive.

If you don't like this, you can switch to the "Take Charge" mode (called "TC"). It is the button in the top left of the toolbar with the flag symbol. A TCed unit will strictly do as you tell them. IIRC the only things they will do on their own is fire at units in range and retreat if the Situation is unstainable. All other things must be ordered by the player.
Seasoned players will switch often between TC and unTC according to the situation. Sometimes it is really necessary to TC a unit, like: Ordering a unit to stay in a fort/forcing a charge.
IMHO you can play a Brigade with all units TCed, but for anything at division level or above you should try to only TC where needed.

2) command structure (Player is a Division commander or higher)
Being a Division commander or higher is somewhat a different challenge than controlling a brigade. You are in control of a lot of troops and of different arms. It will be near impossible to know exactly what is going on everywhere on the battlefield. And again for me, this adds a lot to the immersion in this game (especially in playing in HITS mode).
Here comes the AI into play. The difference between a Division commander and a Brigade commander is not that you have to control for example 20 units instead of just 5 units. As a Division commander you give orders to your brigades, and the Brigade Officers will try to execute your orders. So ideally, you give a Brigade an order to move somewhere on the map, select a stance (Attack/Defend/Hold/...) and let the AI do its work. Often an engaged Brigade will need a lot of space to deploy. You should try to let enough space between brigades and not commit all brigades at once very close.
Seasoned players will again switch between TC and unTC according to the Situation. Like to move an artillery battery when enemy is already in range. Or you may TC some units of a Brigade to keep them in reserve and let the Brigade AI act with the rest of the Brigade.
If you don't like to let the Brigade Officer act on his own, you will have to TC him. Otherwise he will override your direct orders (as the Division commander) to individual units! If you TC just the Brigade commander, its battalions will still act on their own. But the Brigade commander will not move around and will not give any orders to his units.

Long Story short: If you prefer to micromonage individual units as a Division commander, you will still not be able to TC every unit. But by TCing the Brigade commanders the unTCed battalions will not receive new movement orders and thus stay more or less where you put them.

Also note that a TCed battalion will ignore any brigade/Division level orders, regardless if the Brigade commander is TCed or unTCed. They will only react to direct commands by the Player.

In conjunction with TC you should consider the Attach/Detach button (IRRC on the top right of the toolbar). It will detach a unit from a Brigade so it will not react to Brigade Level commands, but still retains its AI (= unTC).

I hope this helps [;)]