Southerner's questions

[Kielec]

I did try to go through all of the archive of the Forum, but, of course, I have failed to get my little answers... I play ze Rebels only, so my questions to the Veterans go from that side, but I guess the mechanics work mostly the same for both sides...

Now, as a Rebel, I win my games capturing US brigades. I cannot match the North in any respect (clearly), so I follow the old good Valdemar's suggestion (tm.asp?m=1511912) to reduce their BDE count as much as I can. It seems to me, that the 'AI' splits its brigades always when possible. And as much as it is reasonably 'doable' to surround a BDE or another (clearly aiming for the 'named' ones, and the ones with generals attached), I still haven't figured it out whether I have to have both BDE splinters surrender, to get rid of the pesky unit for good. Sometimes I get the feeling that it's enough to get one... Anybody a thought?

As much as the answer to the above is important to my last 3 turns after the, always welcome, "runaway" message, I have another question. The moment I have them Berdan Sharps' Shooters (or another well equipped Union BDE) surrender, why don't I automatically gain their hardware? The "enemy's HHH BDE has abandonned their KKK rifles" thing seems random enough when they're "just" routed and run away, but what about a BDE that has been 'terminally' surrounded, fires back, once or twice (already demoralised), with the whole might of their Sharps' and after surrendering yelds no bonuses for the captors?

This being said, what about a well equipped Union BDE that's been split before anihillation (capture) of both parts? I have to confess, that (yes - call me gamey!!) I would really adjust my tactics to get both parts of atasty BDE surrender, if I knew both were holding bonuses for the captors...

On another note - is there a way to have depleted gunboats get reinforced before all of my brigades get their share? I was thinking about putting them gunboats into a fleet container and setting it on a higher supply level... but never found the patience to get a fleet and/or sail arround that much... (to be honest - I don't even know whether it is possible to change a fleet's supply level - never had a fleet! [:'(]).

Thanks!!

[Hard Sarge]

I am under the impression that if one gets away, it gets away, but I have never really tested to be sure of the fact

but over all, yes, the idea is correct, any unit that gets away from a battle, will rebuild, so, just pushing units back, means that the other side is going to get stronger in the long run

also one that is a pain, you can shoot a unit to death, and it comes back (in battle once it reaches a low enough level, it just disappears, (broke, ran away, ceased to be a unit) and that will rebuild)

weapons is a random event, it is a die roll (but I really must say, I have always gotten them Sharps, so don't know if there is anything factored in for how rare a weapon is ?)

who to hunt for, that is interesting, for me, I alway try, to nail the units with attached arty, followed by Sharpshooters, but, most times, it is luck of the chase, trap what you can trap

lol, currect test run

the AI was hitting one of my cities, while his main Army went to protect one of his, I was able to pull my troops out of Tenn-miss, and hammer a small army sitting in place, head into Kentucky and then circle back and drive the small army away from my city, as I knew, I should win and I knew where they should retreat to, I had my army keep going, then got a poor chance of a surprise attack, went for it and nailed it, and the union was pinned against a lake, short work later, I bagged 5 out of 6 (I shot the other to death and it got away)

[*Buzzsaw*]

Salute

Is it not the case that there is a disadvantage in splitting a brigade?  Ie. the fact that once a unit goes below a certain strength level, it will break?

I realize there are advantages to be gained in terms of total firepower, but I find that keeping the Union brigades together is a better idea, since they are less likely to break earlier.

[Hard Sarge]

Buzz
yes, I agree with your thinking, the larger unit has a better chance of doing damage and of taking damage in return, but sometimes you just need more units to cover ground, so if you want to, you can split, if you don't want to, you don't have to

at times it is a damned if you do and damned if you don't thing

[Kielec]

Buzzsaw! Splitting BDEs allows for more tactical options - you can have one part (of a split BDE) facing the enemy from his front (and, for instance, not shooting at all...) while the other "massages" the enemy's back for the combined facing and flanking bonuses.
It is also a must once "you have driven the enemy off the battlefield", as it gives you twice as many units to block and surender the routing enemy.
 
Still my initial question keeps bugging me: If only one half of an enemy BDE surrenders, does the BDE disappear from his roster for good, or (since the other half escapes the battle) does it remain there to fight another day (possibly just half the strength, or something)? In other words: do I have to catch both parts of a split enemy BDE and have them surrender, if I want to see that BDE no more?

[Hard Sarge]

I am still up in the air on this, I have taken one and captured it, but other times, it looks like I did not

kind of HARD in big battles to be sure

[Ironclad]

ORIGINAL: Kielec
Still my initial question keeps bugging me: If only one half of an enemy BDE surrenders, does the BDE disappear from his roster for good, or (since the other half escapes the battle) does it remain there to fight another day (possibly just half the strength, or something)? In other words: do I have to catch both parts of a split enemy BDE and have them surrender, if I want to see that BDE no more?

You need to capture both parts.

[moose1999]

My experience is no - you have to capture both parts of a split brigade.
I'm only 99% sure, though. [:)]

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: Ironclad

ORIGINAL: Kielec
Still my initial question keeps bugging me: If only one half of an enemy BDE surrenders, does the BDE disappear from his roster for good, or (since the other half escapes the battle) does it remain there to fight another day (possibly just half the strength, or something)? In other words: do I have to catch both parts of a split enemy BDE and have them surrender, if I want to see that BDE no more?

You need to capture both parts.

there may be sub cases in there, I think you may be able to kill one half and capture one half, and get the capture, from my runs, I can't tell for sure the what and the whys

I have captured one, and gotten it and have captured one and not gotten it, the HARD part is tracking down the reasons

[Ironclad]

Its probably still safer to assume that you need both parts - even though your example shows its not absolute. I haven't checked recently but I did when the issue was first raised and single split captures were seeing the brigade (suitably depleted) returning to action.

[Kielec]

Last night I fought a battle in which eventually I encircled and surrendered 3 "units" (AI almost always splits, so most probably they were "splinters"), and on the after battle report I had only one BDE surrender...
 
But since we are on the splitting issue: do I get "Heroes" bonuses from both splinters of a "Hero" BDE? And if yes, are the bonuses "full" or "half strength"? Any ideas? Heh, just thought that in case splinters emanate the "full" bonus, I could get a whole army pretty heroic by splitting a fat (4k+) "Heroes" BDE four ways...

[Ironclad]

No, you don't get bonus special abilities like that. Battle awards are received if a brigade reaches a certain level of cumulative casualties either inflicted or suffered (6000 I think) and its a random selection from the special abilities list.

[Ironclad]

Actually its one at 6000 and two if 10,000 casualties are reached. This is for sieges as well as battles, which explains why you will sometimes see city/fort garrisons receiving them.

[Hard Sarge]

current run, I got the Knottsville Heroes, only hassle is they only got one man, but he is a good one !

captures of split, there got to be some kind of trigger, I have captured one and got it, and I have captured one and not gotten him

thinking that shooting one of them to death and making them go poof is the key, but right now, I am leaning towards the idea that if you do, you do not capture the other

but to be honest, it is Kind of a HARD one to test for in most battles

[Randomizer]

Is it possible that capture is tied to the leader if present?  My last capture was the Tattered Volunteers which had been split by the AI.  Although I only surrounded one unit that battle I also picked up General Pettigrew in the bargain so it is reasonable that he was with that particular half-brigade.

Edited to correct dumb spelling error

[Hard Sarge]

good idea, that could be one of the triggers, it would explain why I have been able to do the same thing and get different results

lol, in a real game that one may be alittle HARD to test for, but maybe a H2H game