Civil War multiplayer?

[McMonkey]

I agree with the obsoleting of Union Volunteers after Conscription is researched as long as the existing ones are not upgraded. That will give the Federal Army a realistic mix of State Militias, Volunteers, Conscripts and Elite units. Might I suggest that the cost of the Union Volunteers and Conscripts both be made 10 shields higher than the Confederates. At the moment it seems to me that they are just too cheap, especially the Conscripts which aren't really that inferior to Volunteers.

[techumseh]

I agree with the obsoleting of Union Volunteers after Conscription is researched as long as the existing ones are not upgraded. That will give the Federal Army a realistic mix of State Militias, Volunteers, Conscripts and Elite units. Might I suggest that the cost of the Union Volunteers and Conscripts both be made 10 shields higher than the Confederates. At the moment it seems to me that they are just too cheap, especially the Conscripts which aren't really that inferior to Volunteers.

There's a first: a player complaining that he has too many units. But I agree, you have too damn many units!

Since you have so many more ground units than I get when I play the Union, I surmise that you are not building many of the things I build when I play as the Union (eg. trade units, factories, and lots of warships), in order to concentrate on ground combat units. It's a legitimate strategy, and the design has to take it into account. So you'll have your wish.

I'll also reduce the shields needed for the CSA to produce wagons (trade units). I started a few at the beginning of our current game, and none have yet been completed. If we want some blockade running action during the the game, we'll have to make it a little easier.

btw, I'll be damned if I know how you got the Army of the Potomac past my blocking force entrenched on the hills NE of Charlottesville!

[AGRICOLA]

btw, I'll be damned if I know how you got the Army of the Potomac past my blocking force entrenched on the hills NE of Charlottesville!

1. US Cav in stack at [196,74] ---> [196,78]

2. Newly completed US Cav in Alexandria ---> [198,74]--->[197,75]--->[197,77]

3. The Union army follows in an ACW version of Market Garden.



I forgot to mention a couple of more possible 'relics'.

Mountain move cost = 6
Hill move cost = 8


Copperheads = Tech 10
Espionage = Tech 27
Event to generate Reb spies requires that Rebs have Tech 19 (Available, no, no)


Any chance that you could send me the file(s) that make the ZOE visible? Thanks.

[techumseh]

1. US Cav in stack at [196,74] ---> [196,78]

2. Newly completed US Cav in Alexandria ---> [198,74]--->[197,75]--->[197,77]

3. The Union army follows in an ACW version of Market Garden.



I forgot to mention a couple of more possible 'relics'.

Mountain move cost = 6
Hill move cost = 8


Copperheads = Tech 10
Espionage = Tech 27
Event to generate Reb spies requires that Rebs have Tech 19 (Available, no, no)


Any chance that you could send me the file(s) that make the ZOE visible? Thanks.

1. Aww Sh*t!

2. Mountains are impassible, so any value is not relevant. Same with bayous.

3. Not a relic, an outright error. Thanks.

I'll send you a copy of the updated cities file. I'm surprised you didn't get it.

[McMonkey]

When I made my move with the Cavalry I wondered if there was a rule prohibiting the artificial creation of ZOC. I could no see anything in the read me so I decided to go for it. I have never understood why this house rule is included in some scenarios. Surely the point of fast moving Cavalry and units that ignore ZOC is to open a path for the main force.

BTW, perhaps my comment about the Union having too many troops is a bit premature. It looks like you have whittled the numbers down a bit during your last turn. Winning victories on the borders is one thing. It looks like crushing the Confederacy altogether will be a very costly endeavour!

[techumseh]

Changes to the final version.

1. Remove St. Leo's Workshop
2. Move Newton's College to the CSA -to slow Union and speed up CSA research.
3. Increase costs of Union infantry and heavy artillery
4. Reduce costs of spies and trade units
5. Reduce attack value of gunboats
6. Increase combat values of artillery
7. Auto-replace Union engineers, with delay
8. Auto-replace named leaders, once only, with delay
9. Reduce odds of randomly creating leaders
10. Events create Union contrabands (settlers) with capture of CSA cities
11. Strengthen Apache (barbarian) raids in west Texas
12. fix repeating Sioux event error
13. Add more N-S routes through rough terrain between Chattanooga and Corinth
14. Events create cotton wagon units seasonaly in cotton producing areas*

*This one is not for sure, it's just a last minute brain wave. What do you think?

Anything else? Any suggestions re: cost of units or improvements?

[McMonkey]

I like ideas #4 and #14. I have built no trade units as the North as they are just too damn pricey. The pay-off may have been worthwhile but I don't want to spend the money / production time to find out. As the CSA a fair few trade shipments will be sunk. At least if there are a few freebies it will be more worth the risk.

I like all the other ideas. I think the current game is great and only small tweaks are really required.