AAR - Poland 1792 Scenario - Simple Economy

[Joram]

It's now Nov93 and Russia has switched tactics. That Prussian army froze me for a month as I waited to see what they were going to do and Russia has re-built its forces completely. They are apparently ignoring the Turkish threat which my scouts say they are attacking up through the Caucasus. Russia has blitzed across Poland capturing several provinces. This has put a crimp in my income but I'm still in the positive. I have to take back the initiative now!

[Joram]

ORIGINAL: terje439

At the "buy units" screen, there is a coloumn for "national limit",
-is this the max # of that unit you can buy, or do the units just get more expensive if you go over this number?
-is there anyway you can increase this number?

Terje

It is an upper limit. And I'm sorry, I have no idea the moddability of that number. Maybe Gil can comment on that. Generally though, I have never even come close to it so it's pretty generous.

[Hard Sarge]

as said, it is the upper number you can have

you can Capture past it, but not build past it

there are upgrades that up the max by 10%

[Joram]

Quite a complex web of wars we're having. France is having a tough time of it at sea with both Britain and Russia defeating their fleets. Not sure why Spain hates me now as they used to like me but at least France and Turkey like me.

[Joram]

It's now the fourth battle of Galicia and I've appeared to have awoken the giant. I'm on the defensive so I don't have to be too afraid of the numbers but it's obvious that my previous optimism was misplaced. This is going to be hard and even if I win the majority of my battles, Russia could simply grind me down.

[moose1999]

Very engrossing AAR - well done!

A few questions:

I saw starting distance has been added to the pre-battle choices - a suggestion of my own in the FOF forums so I'm really glad to see it there! [:)]
Will you always be able to choose starting distance or is that choice (and others) limited to certain situations somehow?

How do the divisions break down when going from division-level to brigade-level battles. Fx. 1 div = 2 brigades?

Do the flags some units are carrying in detailed combat signify that a general is attached?

Could you go into a little more detail on 'reaction movement'?

It seems like France conquered Luxembourg and kept it although loosing the war.
Is it possible to loose a war but still keep provinces you conquered during it - or was it because Lux. is a minor nation?

How do you get POWs? Are they included in the losses given in the battle reports or counted seperately?
Are there special POW-rules in the pursuit phase (fx. a larger part of pursuit losses are POWs than in regular battle...?)
What can you use POWs for?
Do they go back to their country when the war war is over?
Can you bargain with them? (that would be a nice feature...!)

As you can see, I'm very interested in the POW feature...! [;)]
Keep the AAR going - it's a very good read!

[Joram]

So, because Pontiatowski is such a good leader, I was able to choose a nice advantage, surveillance, which lets me get a sneak peak of the enemy order of battle. Not sure if I really wanted to know once I saw the results though! The enemy has brought about 8 cavalry division though half of them are cossacks which are of dubious quality (they tend to be better in pursuit but not so hot against good ordered troops). They do however have 4 artillery divisions of which 2 of them are heavy. That is major suckage.

No guard units because I destroyed their last one but they do now have a lot of jager troops which nullifies one of my advantages.

[Joram]

If I was on the offensive I'd be in real trouble but I'm not. I still can't be too careless though and not sure what to do about his preponderence of artillery so my initial plan is to defend that hill to the south around the vp city. You'll notice I have no garrison there because they had wiped my garrison out in siege.

My cavalry will screen and see what opportunities arise.

[Joram]

Indeed, an opportunity does arise for me to take out some of their artillery as they are advancing unprotected. However, I foolishly waste this opportunity by spreading my attacks around and while I did cause some decent casualties, I did not route or capture any of his artillery pieces. Conversely, he tore apart one of my lancer divisions killing over 6k men in it alone. Naturally it runs away and I was lucky my leader with it never died. The other two divisions took some casualties too and were lucky to escape.

(the unit he tore up is at the top of the screen though at this particular moment, he wasn't shot yet. The other two units are on the lower left already heading back to my lines.)

[Joram]

My thwarted attack did accomplish one thing though which was to delay the Russians. By the time they advanced on my defensive position, it was early day 3 and they had just about run out of time.

[Joram]

They gave it a good go though and nearly broke a couple of my units. My position on the hill though severely negated his artillery though thus my main concern was my right flank where he had a mass of infantry. I sent my artillery piece that way to reinforce it. Eventually, my withering fire started routing some of his low quality cossacks but the real break came when I managed to capture outright one of his artillery units and then rout another one.

[Joram]

In the end, I decisively defeated the Russians. I took a fair amount of casualties but quite unexpectedly, I apparently decimated his cavalry while capturing two more artillery pieces. I'd be estatic if I didn't know they had two more rushing up to join their main army! Oh well, the lack of cav though may prove devastating for them.

On another note, I got another new leader out of that battle!

[Joram]

ORIGINAL: briny_norman

Very engrossing AAR - well done!

A few questions:

I saw starting distance has been added to the pre-battle choices - a suggestion of my own in the FOF forums so I'm really glad to see it there! [:)]
Will you always be able to choose starting distance or is that choice (and others) limited to certain situations somehow?

Actually what I believe you are referring to was an option due to the fact I had a good leader. In naval combat though you definitely have a choice of starting positions.

ORIGINAL: briny_norman
How do the divisions break down when going from division-level to brigade-level battles. Fx. 1 div = 2 brigades?

For brigade-level combat, divisions split into two brigades except for artillery which remain as one. The first brigade generally keeps the attribute of the division while the 2nd brigade keeps the morale but not necessarily all the attributes.

ORIGINAL: briny_norman
Do the flags some units are carrying in detailed combat signify that a general is attached?

Yes, that is exactly what that signifies. Generals however can be moved after setup as well.

ORIGINAL: briny_norman
Could you go into a little more detail on 'reaction movement'?

Best used by cav but I believe can be used by anyone, it essentially allows you to interrupt an enemy's movement. So for instance, you forgot to protect one of your arts and you see an enemy coming up to charge it, if you had someone on reaction movement, you could quickly rush it up and head off the charge. Alternatively, just set one of your units on reaction just so when the enemy gets within range you are assured of getting the first shot and not losing your 'fresh' bonus. I honestly don't use this feature much but only because I'm such an old CoG grognard I keep forgetting about it lol but you can see the potential! The AI certainly uses it.

ORIGINAL: briny_norman
It seems like France conquered Luxembourg and kept it although loosing the war.
Is it possible to loose a war but still keep provinces you conquered during it - or was it because Lux. is a minor nation?

The latter, only because Luxembourg was a minor nation in a protectorate status. Austria could have asked for it back, or at least freed, but it didn't.

ORIGINAL: briny_norman

How do you get POWs? Are they included in the losses given in the battle reports or counted seperately?
Are there special POW-rules in the pursuit phase (fx. a larger part of pursuit losses are POWs than in regular battle...?)
What can you use POWs for?
Do they go back to their country when the war war is over?
Can you bargain with them? (that would be a nice feature...!)

As you can see, I'm very interested in the POW feature...! [;)]
Keep the AAR going - it's a very good read!

Thanks briny_norman. You get PoWs either by blocking the path of retreat in detailed battle and also in the pursuit phase which is handled automatically. I can't tell you the exact way it happens as it is handled by calculations. I believe it's a function of morale, cavalry, and luck.

I am not actually sure how they are calculated in the reports, I know they are generally not calculated at the very end of the battle but may be calculated on the event report. Eric or Gil would have to comment.

PoWs actually don't serve any purpose except for denying the enemy the use of them. It's expensive if you have to keep raising new units to replace them and replacements in the long run are cheaper.

They cannot be bargained with. It sounds like a nice feature to have but there may be an historical reason why we don't do it that way. As it is, once a war is over, they do go back to their mother country though their morale is reduced. This doesn't sound like a big thing but a Guard unit can become regular and regular units can become militia! So it can be significant.

Hope that helps.

[Joram]

And with that I'm going to put the AAR on hold for tonight and maybe a couple days. I will however try to answer any questions that come up and I'm sure Hard Sarge and others can answer them if I am not around. Cheers!

[balto]

I am pretty sure I know the answer to this.., but...   Instant battle is the only one you can use for PBEM, is this correct? 
 
And the Bayonet Practice attribute.., I meant to previously ask how that advantage works if you are PBEMing and thus forced to use Instant Battle? 

[Joram]

ORIGINAL: balto

I am pretty sure I know the answer to this.., but...   Instant battle is the only one you can use for PBEM, is this correct? 

And the Bayonet Practice attribute.., I meant to previously ask how that advantage works if you are PBEMing and thus forced to use Instant Battle? 

There's a whole group of people testing the PBEM but I'm not one of them sorry. I believe the answer is yes, only instant combat. And the Bayonet and other attributes would apply the same way between instant combat and quick combat. As instant combat essentially uses the quick combat algorithm. I know that's not a complete answer but I need Eric to elucidate that more and that won't be till tomorrow at the earliest.

[Missouri Rebel]

This AAR has really made the juices flow. Great stuff.

Thanks again Joram and may your recovery be quick and triumphant. 

mo reb

[ericbabe]

ORIGINAL: balto
I am pretty sure I know the answer to this.., but...   Instant battle is the only one you can use for PBEM, is this correct? 

And the Bayonet Practice attribute.., I meant to previously ask how that advantage works if you are PBEMing and thus forced to use Instant Battle? 

Yes, PBEM is just instant battle. All upgrades and special abilities provide bonuses to attack and/or defense and/or morale in quick combat.

[Joram]

Hi my friends, I really need to get going on the next build and I think that's going to break my save game.  Hope you understand!  I do think I've accomplished the point of the AAR which is to show a new scenario and new features to people familiar with the game as well as give enough of an overview for those who aren't.  Please feel free to continue to post any questions though.
 
FWIW I think Poland is in a good position vis a vis Prussia but Russia has such a good economy (compared to Poland at least whose economy is awful) that I may not be able to hold them off forever!
 
PS Knee surgery went fine, not even using crutches!

[Hard Sarge]

good glad to hear all is well, and good report