Played all day on Friday

[gdrover]

I downloaded the game at lunchtime (even before the notice went up...) and played all afternoon and into the night, finishing the 1803 scenario as the French by midnight.

Highlights:
* Defeated the British navy in four key battles (by playing detailed battles). I had the wind gage twice and sailed into the wind twice. My key learning was that when sailing into the wind, keep your formation and wait until the enemy comes to you; when you have the wind at your back, mass your ships against one part of the enemy's fleet. Whenever I tried to fight an instant sea battle against the English, even when I had a significant numerical superiority, I lost. So, when playing the French, you have to be willing to put in the time to win at sea.

[&:](Question: At the end of a naval battle, why does the after action report only tell you the personnel casualties in a naval battle, when the number of ships captured and destroyed is so much more important???)

* Declared war on the Papal States to secure southern Italy. Then declared war on Austria and drove 2 armies into the Hapsburg Empire: Venice and down the Danube toward Vienna. Won a major battle in Vienna thanks to a massive 'Grand Battery' in the center of my line that punished the Kaiserlichs. (noticed that counter-battery fire wasn't very effective).

* Captured Vienna and forced Austria to sue for Peace. The terms of the treaty where substantial: 3 Provinces (Tyrol, and the 2 adjacent) added to the growign French Empire, and a demand that Austria declare war on the upstart Prussians who were busy conquering the Rhineland provinces, which I wanted.

* After repositioning the French forces in Germany, a dual invasion (Austrians from the south and the French from the west saw Prussia collapse quickly) (Though one anamoly, a Prussian army marched to Paris and was defeated by a scratch force at the gates.)

The game ended before I could get toi 1,000 points even though I had won almost every battle I fought and owned all of Italy, all of western Germany, and had defeated Austria and Prussia on land and England at sea.

[&:]Shouldn't there be an award of Glory for winning a war? ...adding provinces to your empire?

Great game. Great Napoleonic feel. LOVE LOVE LOVE the naval battles and the tweaks to the land battles (much more realistic and satisfying handling of disordered cavalry after a charge). Awesome game that will see a ton of play!

[Hard Sarge]

good work, sounds like a decent start

you also get Glory based on the provinces that you own, control, lose Glory on what others control

how long was the game ? you can also set how long the game will last, and also how much Glory is needed

(23 year games are fun

[PDiFolco]

You performed well, sure, but didn't take Spain, and didn't even invade Russia or England. Napy was better than that [:D] !

[Gil R.]

(Question: At the end of a naval battle, why does the after action report only tell you the personnel casualties in a naval battle, when the number of ships captured and destroyed is so much more important???)

Please put this in the Wish List thread. We (WCS staff) might miss useful feedback if it's in an AAR. (We definitely look at all AAR's of our games, but sometimes don't read every last word. Or perhaps I shouldn't admit that...)

[gdrover]

ORIGINAL: PDiFolco

You performed well, sure, but didn't take Spain, and didn't even invade Russia or England. Napy was better than that [:D] !

The default 1803 scenario was quite short. Like 25 turns or so.

[gdrover]

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

good work, sounds like a decent start

you also get Glory based on the provinces that you own, control, lose Glory on what others control

how long was the game ? you can also set how long the game will last, and also how much Glory is needed

(23 year games are fun

Played without reading the manual. Found out more after reading it. [;)][8|]

Started a monster 20 year game starting in 1796 last night.

[gdrover]

ORIGINAL: Gil R.

(Question: At the end of a naval battle, why does the after action report only tell you the personnel casualties in a naval battle, when the number of ships captured and destroyed is so much more important???)

Please put this in the Wish List thread. We (WCS staff) might miss useful feedback if it's in an AAR. (We definitely look at all AAR's of our games, but sometimes don't read every last word. Or perhaps I shouldn't admit that...)

One more piece of feedback: It seems very strange that artillery ranges are so short and infantry fire ranges are so long. I'm assuming that the scale is 100 yards or so per hex. If so, Infnatry should be able to fire only into an adjacent hex with any real power and artillery should be able to fire at like 6 hexes. Am I missing something here?

[Hard Sarge]

ORIGINAL: gdrover

ORIGINAL: Hard Sarge

good work, sounds like a decent start

you also get Glory based on the provinces that you own, control, lose Glory on what others control

how long was the game ? you can also set how long the game will last, and also how much Glory is needed

(23 year games are fun

Played without reading the manual. Found out more after reading it. [;)][8|]

Started a monster 20 year game starting in 1796 last night.

no hassle mate , that is why we are here, to offer and to point out things, and be happy when you enjoy it )

[PDiFolco]

ORIGINAL: gdrover

One more piece of feedback: It seems very strange that artillery ranges are so short and infantry fire ranges are so long. I'm assuming that the scale is 100 yards or so per hex. If so, Infnatry should be able to fire only into an adjacent hex with any real power and artillery should be able to fire at like 6 hexes. Am I missing something here?

I agree, it struck me as odd too.
BTW, there seems to be a moddable table of Naval guns range/damage (in Data/Naval folder) but I can't find the same for land units...[&:]

[ericbabe]

It is around 100 yards per hex at brigade level.  Infantry are assumed to have some attached artillery, and so do get a reduced artillery range factored into their base combat statistics -- so artillery at range 4 have a base 100% damage whereas infantry have only 12% at that range.

A second point: as we do in all our detailed combat models, the first few hexes in the range table are considered to be closer than center-to-center considerations might indicate:  think of it as the troops being located nearer to the edge of the hex, perhaps.  We do this simply because we want range 1 to correspond to "close musket" range and range 2 to "mid-far musket range."

The Prussian army of the period did a test in which many men fired muskets at paper targets the size of infantry in line formation at various ranges.  Their results were:

225 yards:  25% hits
150 yards:  40% hits
75 yards:  60% hits
50 yards:  "devastating"... near 100%

For an infantry brigade, our first four hexes, the range multiplier to damage is:
1 hex = musket close range, 50 yards:  100%
2 hexes = roughly 100 yards:  50%
3 hexes = roughly 200 yards:  25%
4 hexes = roughly 300 yards:  12%

If the closest we allowed two brigades to get were capped at 100 yards, then they'd never be able to close to the decisive musket ranges.

[gdrover]

ORIGINAL: ericbabe

It is around 100 yards per hex at brigade level.  Infantry are assumed to have some attached artillery, and so do get a reduced artillery range factored into their base combat statistics -- so artillery at range 4 have a base 100% damage whereas infantry have only 12% at that range.

A second point: as we do in all our detailed combat models, the first few hexes in the range table are considered to be closer than center-to-center considerations might indicate:  think of it as the troops being located nearer to the edge of the hex, perhaps.  We do this simply because we want range 1 to correspond to "close musket" range and range 2 to "mid-far musket range."

The Prussian army of the period did a test in which many men fired muskets at paper targets the size of infantry in line formation at various ranges.  Their results were:

225 yards:  25% hits
150 yards:  40% hits
75 yards:  60% hits
50 yards:  "devastating"... near 100%

For an infantry brigade, our first four hexes, the range multiplier to damage is:
1 hex = musket close range, 50 yards:  100%
2 hexes = roughly 100 yards:  50%
3 hexes = roughly 200 yards:  25%
4 hexes = roughly 300 yards:  12%

If the closest we allowed two brigades to get were capped at 100 yards, then they'd never be able to close to the decisive musket ranges.

Hi Eric,

I'm familiar with the test. My question wasn't really why are musket ranges what they are...they seem fine!

The problem that I'm running into (and maybe I'm doing something wrong), is: I seem to only be able to fire my artillery at a range of 3 or less! This seems wrong to me. By the way, I'm fighting Division level battles (for now). Seems like artillery should have a range of like 7 -8 hexes.

Thanks