American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

I thought I would start a thread on AGEOD’s American Civil War, ACW from now on, to help those just starting on it and myself understand how the game works. This isn’t a strategy guide like I usually try to do because I am not even sure I can beat the AI at the easiest setting. But having now gotten two mirror games against the AI past one year I have found those attempting to play this game need a lot of help. It is extremely complex game with very little information about how it works or feedback through the game itself so that you can learn how it works. Many parts of the game are black box operations where your action does not result in any immediate reaction to judge it by.

But the game has considerable depth and for the hearty few willing to invest the effort it is probably the most detail Strategic simulation of the Civil War ever attempted. The side effect of this depth is that you must make choices without any way to determine if they worked or not. Judging from posts by the designers even they don’t fully know how some of the different parts of the game interact.

I am posting this over here rather than on the AGEOD Forum mostly because there are some people over there with extensive knowledge of the game but they can bury you in the details. I don’t want the thread to disappear in overkill of advice. I do want feedback but more on the novice level; that is, questions about what was posted and brief answers or advice on the move. What I will do for important points or question is post on the AGEOD forum to get the answer and then summarize it here. Assuming I can find something already on the subject. There is a lot of information on the forum but it is very scattered. So to get things into bite size chucks I will try to introduce one new topic per post in this AR with posts for every Month of the game (two turns).

I know we have a few people over here with much more experience than I. Hopefully they can jump in and give their advice on the topic of the turn. I certainly will not be giving the best advice or even showing valid strategies. I hope my play will at least be good enough to keep Athena from whipping me before the end of 1861. For those not familiar with the AGEOD Forums, Athena seems to be the official name for the AI. And for those just starting the game, know that you can be soundly beat by her. Athena knows the math used and you are guessing.

There are two excellent resources for the game:

The AGEOD Forum at: http://www.ageod.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=78

The other is ACWWiki at: http://www.ageod.net/aacwwiki/Main_Page

ACWWiki has become the manual for the game and probably where I will publish any info I come up with rather than on the CSAWC site. The game is just too big for me to take on duplicating their information. As to the manual that comes with the game, it will help you start it, little else.


LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

<b>April 1861 – The first month of the war</b>

I will be the USA side for this mostly because I feel they have an advantage and much more lead way for correcting mistakes. Athena, the AI, will be the CSA and is set at easy so I won’t embarrass myself by being defeated by the AI before the end of 1861. I will be using version 1.13b with Quickfix 8 installed for the game.

This being the first two turns and it being literally at the start of the war, April 1861, most units are fixed waiting on training to be completed. The only real action being the South’s firing and taking of Fort Sumter. In April there are no reinforcements that you can start so actions are pretty limited. I get a mixed bag of Generals with no commands so I use these turns to distribute them. Since they all start in Washington many are put on trains and sent west so that when forces do become available so will leaders. This is also another departure from other strategic games. Leaders take time even by train to get to their destinations. Some of them won’t reach places like Cairo for 30 days.

I do take two actions, probably a month early since I can’t build much. I call for Full Mobilization which gives me 684 conscription points at the cost of 75 Victory Points and 5 National Morale. I also call for Exceptional Taxes that raise 353,000 dollars but cost me 2 Morale and 1% inflation. After being overwhelmed an couple of times by Athena in the first few months of the game I watched what she was doing. The AI jumps in with immediate calls for the most it can get. This means very large armies will be raised much earlier than historic. Now I do it too. The prices for this are in Victory Points, National Morale and Inflation.

I will talk more about Victory later; now let’s take a look at the economy since it is first thing I get to do with all this money I raised. The Economics screen is shown below:



Note in the upper right the production for New Jersey is shown since I had picked that state. Supposedly you can increase its production by investing in that state. Right now its Industrialization cost is zero. If you double click on that state it will start investing in it to increase industrialization but at a cost. Unfortunately the return for this investment is almost insignificant, so don’t ever do it for the Union. It consumes both money and war supplies every turn.

You would think the South would benefit from expanding industrialization but I ran a test. I increased Virginia’s industrialization one level. It cost me $15,000 and 18 War Supplies per month. My War Supplies production only increased 8 points over six months. Assuming I stopped the investment it would take a year to get that lost production back. I am not sure it was worth while especially since I am not sure how much of the increase was due to industrialization or random events. This is also another problem you will run into in many aspects of the game. Cause and effect are very hard to link because of the time delay between.

The only thing you will ever use this screen for is to upgrade your transportation system. In the lower right corner it allows you to invest in your Railroads and River Transports. Do this every turn. I spend these first two turns puts 40 into Railroads and 20 into Transports to get the system up quickly. Once the draft troops start needing strategic movement you will quickly overload your tranportation. They also handle your supply distribution so you need them built up and maintained. Once I have this initial investment made I will usually drop down to 20 RR and 10 RT per turn.

For now I have to wait on my initial reinforcements and the build screens to become active.


LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

In my one PBEM campaign I only called for Volunteers and did not raise any taxes. I found that the Union usually has enough money for what it needs as long as it protects it's sea trade. I generally found that with the volunteers and the reinforcements coming on I had enough troops. You might consider mobilization in 1862 when you can start forming divisions/corps and can put more troops to use. I also cringe at giving up the National Morale and the VP as they are precious, especially considering that you are likely to lose 10 NM if you don't sufficently press Richmond in 1861. Just my two cents.

General Mark Nelms
6/3/IX/AoO
"Blackhawk Brigade"
Union Military Academy Instructor
Union Cabinet Secretary

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nelmsm</i>
<br />In my one PBEM campaign I only called for Volunteers and did not raise any taxes. I found that the Union usually has enough money for what it needs as long as it protects it's sea trade. I generally found that with the volunteers and the reinforcements coming on I had enough troops. You might consider mobilization in 1862 when you can start forming divisions/corps and can put more troops to use. I also cringe at giving up the National Morale and the VP as they are precious, especially considering that you are likely to lose 10 NM if you don't sufficently press Richmond in 1861. Just my two cents.

General Mark Nelms
6/3/IX/AoO
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First what causes the "10 NM" loss, I am not faimiliar with that one?

I really don't have a feel for VP and NM levels and how they change over the four years of war. I hope to make a post concentrating on them later; hopefully with a little better understanding of them and Foreign Intervention number. I do know there is no apparent cost of having troops early even if you can't use them (the only maintanence cost is from general supply which the Union has almost unlimited amounts).

I made the early call for troops and money because my experience has been Athena does so agressively. The Union initial forces can be overwhelmed and Washington taken. The Rebel side has an advantage here because they have better commanders initially who can get these extras moving. In PBEM it may not be the best strategy especially if the opponent is conserving their NM and VP levels.

But my greater fear are raiders disruptting and tying down troops in my rear areas so I raise large amounts of cheap militia. They can cover the home states while the regulars do the fighting. In 13b they reduced the tendancy of the AI to make the deep raids but even then I have had single enemy brigades wander up into Maryland and Pennsylvania and require an amazingly large number of units to drive off.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

I think there is a 10 NM penalty if not sufficently attacking towards Richmond in 1861, kind of a "On to Richmond" thing. I think this is in this game and the Grigsby game both.

General Mark Nelms
6/3/IX/AoO
"Blackhawk Brigade"
Union Military Academy Instructor
Union Cabinet Secretary

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nelmsm</i>
<br />I think there is a 10 NM penalty if not sufficently attacking towards Richmond in 1861, kind of a "On to Richmond" thing. I think this is in this game and the Grigsby game both.

General Mark Nelms
6/3/IX/AoO
"Blackhawk Brigade"
Union Military Academy Instructor
Union Cabinet Secretary

<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Any idea how this is implemented? In Grigsby's WbtS they have an automatic penalty if you don't attack Manassas on turn one but it has little net affect since you always lose which cancels any gain from avoiding it. After that they give you a bonus for attacking regions near Richmond to make it less costly to make the attempt. I am not sure how they could test for it in this game though.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

<b>May 1861 – Turns 3 & 4</b>

Again not many units have been released so very little activity but you get a taste of how aggressive Athena is when the CSA take Bowling Green from you. I shift the few mobile units I have to key spots that the automatic reinforcements won’t come in at, places like Harpers Ferry and Cairo.

Usually the only way to tell if the enemy has taken a major step like mobilization is to watch the Morale and Victory Points change turn to turn. For example, last month I call on Full Mobilization, which costs 5 Morale and 75 VP, and Exceptional Taxes. This month I needed more money so I also issued bonds. If you look at the results:

1 USA: Morale: 85 VP: 30 CSA: Morale: 100 VP: 50
2 USA: Morale: 79 VP: 12 CSA: Morale: 97 VP: -16
3 USA: Morale: 80 VP: 46 CSA: Morale: 97 VP: 33
4 USA: Morale: 83 VP: 83 CSA: Morale: 97 VP: 83

You can tell both sides did something on turn 1. Mine cost more Morale but whatever the CSA did cost them quite a few VP. Morale is the more critical number in terms of winning. It is what triggers the end of game and automatic win. If either side gets to 200 first they win. The Morale also has a minimum level, 40 for USA and 25 for CSA. These trigger automatic loss. Victory Points are only used if the time limit is reached without either side achieving a Morale Victory. In addition there is one other number that tends to steadily increase if the Union can’t get things moving. That is Foreign Help. It starts at about 2 and every few turns picks up in value. If it reaches 100 you are in trouble.

Well I got 684 Conscription Companies from my mobilization but only $353,000. The problem here is you usually find the ration of cost to companies when raising brigades is about 1:1. Plus you need enough War Supplies but infantry usually doesn’t require too much WS. Luckily over time the Union collects money and WS but I did issue some bonds to help out.

The first thing I raise is 20 regiments of militia. Militias are very weak but have a couple of advantages. They are cheap and they arrive on the next turn fully mobilized. Also I can target which state they come in so I can get them where I want them quickly. They are the backbone of my garrison troops. To give them some mobile support I also raise some cavalry regiments. Then for offensive operations are start some groups of brigades that will eventually form divisions, two in Kentucky as well as one in Missouri, Illinois, and Pennsylvania. I ask for more western troops because the automatic reinforcements, McDowell’s army arrives in Washington. These reinforcements and draft troops unlike the militia come in not ready to fight. Generally they are locked with low cohesion which must build up over 3-4 turns before they are released.

But first to digress on what ACW calls a unit and what it represents. Their literature says the game consists of armies, corps, divisions, brigades, regiment, etc. This is only partially correct. What they model are armies, Corps, divisions, and groups of units. While they have a lowest component that they call an element and it looks like a regiment, battery or specialty unit. You really don’t control these. When you select to raise a unit you can choose one made up from different numbers of elements but they just determine the characteristics of the final unit. For example, you could raise an infantry unit that was pure infantry, made up of two infantry elements. It would more or less look like a brigade of two regiments. However, this is more like a demi-brigade than a real CW brigade. Likewise, to give the unit more power you could choose one with additional elements like artillery (6 pounders), cavalry, or sharpshooters. This will increase their stats in certain areas but they don’t really correspond to anything seen on CW battlefields. For example, if you look at the actual make up of McDowell’s army based on its elements it contains 108 six pounders imbedded in its infantry along with 48 heavier artillery type units. McDowell’s army only had 14 six pounders at Manassas. Expect to see these eventually go away. AGEOD I believe realized the mistake. But still don’t look to closely at a Unit it doesn’t represent much of anything other than a stat container.

The game revolves around at the lowest level groups of units (although you can have a group of one) with or without a leader. Leaderless groups actually have an advantage. They can always attack although at something like a 35% penalty. Groups with leaders are the nearest thing you have to a brigade or independent command.
The real organizational component of the game is the division. A division has a leader that has been given divisional command. The division can contain one or more units. Using this structure is rewarded through lower or no command penalty as opposed to being a group. More importantly it is the main component of the Corps allowing the Corps commander’s group to contain more units.
And the Corps is the primary component of the army and is the only organization that can support a fight involving an army from an adjacent region or coordinate its attacks with other Corps from the same army.

Now to look at what a division of McDowell’s Army of NE Virginia looks like:



Here is Tyler’s First Division. To the left, partly cut off are the Units making up his division. I have his division icon on the bottom selected so you get the black background pop up showing various stats on his division. You have lots of information but it is hard to quantify. Luckily they give you a quantifier called “Powerâ€

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by KWhitehead</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by nelmsm</i>
<br />I think there is a 10 NM penalty if not sufficently attacking towards Richmond in 1861, kind of a "On to Richmond" thing.
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Any idea how this is implemented?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

I believe you have to have a certain number of units within 2 regions of Richmond at one time within a certain timeframe. It's not very practicable at this time, so I think most people just take the NM hit.

Gen. Walter, USA
<i>The Blue Blitz</i>
3/2/VIII AoS

West Point Class of '01

Finally found the "On to Richmond" rule or at least AACW's commentary on it which is interesting read(first line is a response to a question as to whether is was 20 NM):

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">You incorrectly read the Richmond event. There is only a 10 NM penalty for 1861, which you can maybe prevent if you are successful in threatening Richmond. That particular event is almost non-achievable, but you are given a chance to achieve it. The game designers could have instead opted to just start the USA 10 NMs lower and not had the event at all.

You are also doing the math incorrectly. Above you state that this new event would take the CSA advantage to 100 - 65. Totally incorrect.
By the start of 1862, the CSA is sitting at approx 110 NM, while the USA is sitting close to 85 NM (assuming of course you don't meet the "Threaten Richmond" requirement in 1861. During the course of 1862, the USA will gather in 21 freebie NM points bringing them up to approximate equality with the CSA NM points.

Also as long as the USA is below 100 NM, there are random chances of a point gain each turn.

The new events are for 1862 to prevent the exploit of sitting in Washington for the entire year of 1862 to build an uber army while at the same time collecting the 21 freebie NM points for the player's inactivity. I'm sorry if this does not meet your own particular game play style, but there are other more experienced players that are frequently winning against the CSA usually by the end of 1863 or early 1864 by utilizing this ahistoric exploit. Surely by 1862, you can manage to move your USA army into the "Threaten Richmond" area. If not... By the way, keeping individual playing styles in mind, I try to provide ways for someone with different wants to easily Mod the game for themeselves. I've done this recently with several items. 1861 Corp formation. 1861 Division formation. Total Divsions allowed for either side (up to 99 with no ill effects). All of these will be much more easily modded for any of the campaign scenarios after the v1.12b update. Now that you've brought up this thread, I'll probably move these new Richmond events to the end of the USA Events.sct file to also make it easy to find and mod.

Unfortunately, this does not lend itself easily to large group discussions. Each time that this has been attempted by me for various subjects it has resulted in various degrees of disagreement, one time almost resulting in a Flame war over specific leader ratings. I would imagine this subject here, might also elicit the same opposing style of strong disagreement.

Instead the game is being slowly enhanced over time based on historical references and precedence and not according to balance itself. And for your information, there is quite a bit of player input along with actual player gaming experiences that are taken into account when they post their information. That's why I'm constantly reading and responding to different posts.

This is the way AGEod has chosen to work with all their games. Yes, all of them, not just AACW. And their emphasis is on Historical Accuracy not balance. If you want balance you'll have to play chess or something. What AGEod is trying to achieve is an historical gameplay situation that plays out close to what the real situation was like.

Look at it this way, there is no other game company anywhere that constantly interacts and responds directly as fast as AGEod. Quite a few of them don't even talk to the player/gamers or bother to inform them of upcoming changes until they are actually released.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">


LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

<b>June 1861 – Turns 5 & 6</b>

The Army of NE Virginia finally became available but McDowell didn’t get initiative. My cohesion is good but most of the units have not reached full strength. I tried to rebalance my forces so the Army wouldn’t be penalized for too large a force. The Army’s Power Rating is up to 738. Power Rating is the games quantification of all the factors affecting the stacks strength. I will get into this deeper when a real battle occurs.

Meanwhile the South goes on the offensive easily taking Bowling Green. Little I can do about it until I can gather some troops in the west. However I send Wood’s division (two brigade units) from Louisville to take Lexington where the South has only a single militia. That attack is successful and pushes them back in western Kentucky.

Meanwhile I am still trying to get the North prepared. I call up 5 more militia; two supply units in Kentucky and Missouri because I usually have problems here first, an ironclad and three artillery units. I also try to get my replacement pools up to about 5% of the number of units deployed. The Union gets the “all states mobilize therirmilitiaâ€

<b>July 1861 – Turns 7 & 8</b>

The war heats up as I see a message saying the CSA has called for Volunteers and issued 8% War Bonds followed by Exceptional Taxes the next turn. Athena sends the South’s main army under Beauregard up the valley to attack Harper’s Ferry. I will discuss the resulting series of battles below. Meanwhile in the West Union forces take Jefferson City without a fight and start moving toward Bowling Green. I also start converging forces on Gen. Polk’s raiders.

Now for the Battles of Harper’s Ferry. I say battles, plural, because the game does not lump everything together in a region and resolve it as one big set piece. Instead fights occur as troops arrive and meet some test to indicate they fight. The turn takes place over 15 days with each day processed as a step so you could have 15 battles in a turn in the same spot. It may even be possible for more since each uncoordinated group fights separately.

When moving multiple groups which aren’t Corps into a region you will often see each fight separately and usually get defeated separately.
The battle starts in Early July when Beauregard and his Army of the Potomac move on Harper’s Ferry. Unfortunately for him making a clear cut victory he doesn’t arrive until day 15. The resulting battle against Bank’s defending force is a stalemate. One criticism I have of ACW is the battle resolution animation screen is its too fast (only up for seconds) and totally confusing. I have never figured out whether the red/green bar is telling me I am winning or losing before it disappears and is replaced by the final result screen below:



Now this screen does tell you the results but it’s so complex that it is difficult to turn the data into a solid judgment of what was going on and who was the stronger force. So let us take a look at it line by line.

The first line tells us where, when and who won the battle. It’s the Battle of Harper’s Ferry in Early July of 1861 and takes place on Day 15 of the turn. The result was a Stalemate which means both sides will probably be still in the region next turn.

On the left the Union is commanded by Gen. Banks who is rated 2-0-1 (really bad but I will cover some other time) with three subordinate generals (the stars) and 16849 Men, 4146 horses (hopefully with riders), and 12 Cannons. On the right side the CSA commanded by Gen. Beauregard(4-2-4) with four subordinate generals and 18072 Men, 3925 Horses, and 72 Cannons.

The next line shows rows of icons with multipliers beside them. These are the “unitsâ€

<b>August 1861 – Turn 9 and 10</b>

A lot of event happened at the end of the previous turn. I found one explaining the disappearance of Gen. Patterson. He must have made Lincoln mad because he was removed. Also Congress passed the First Income Tax Law raising $200,000 for the war effort. And it was only 3% on incomes over $800. Don’t you miss the good old days?

But I also got bad news. I got a message saying “Lack of Immediate offensive costs me 10 National Moraleâ€

<b>September 1861 – Turns 11 & 12</b>

Beauregard and his army disappeared. I assumed it moved back into central Virginia so sent the 9th and 6th Divisions to capture Winchester. Unfortunately for them Beau was still there so they got a bad whipping. Beauregard’s army is still showing bright red on supply levels but it hasn’t translated into any problem in battle. McDowell continues to fail his initiative checks so all I can do is move to try to cut the CSA AoP’s supply lines and retreat routes. But at least I do get McDowell to move his army into Winchester, he just won’t fight.

I combine these movements with raiders into southwestern Virginia to threaten the railroad to Tennessee and attacks on Manassas and movements toward Fredericksburg. While I don’t take the critical depot below Winchester I do get a division in the region. Gen. Runyon’s move on Manassas is partially successful. He gets to tear up the railroad but is driven out of the region by the garrison. One raider moved into the Charlottesville area but is later driven out. But again the railroads are destroyed. And, further to the west raiders out of W.Va. penetrate all the way to the main rail lines from Virginia and move east and west along it.

Meanwhile along the Ohio Union forces continue to chase Polk’s command winning a series of battles but failing to eliminate the force. Polk re-crosses the Ohio and may yet get away. This mostly demonstrates how effective raiders are. Probably two or three brigades have occupied five groups, some quite large, for five or six turns. Not a bad return for the South.

Further west McClellan is still trying to take Bowling Green from a couple of militia units. And doing poorly at it.

Meanwhile in the Paducah area the Union finally starts moving with a little help from U. S. Grant. Columbus is taken and I try to get enough troops together to take Island 10. In the past I have had a problem here. I have never been able to take the Island so I am going to have to do some research on what I am doing wrong.

And, in the far West Fremont’s little army that is marching on Springfield gets whipped by a bunch of Indians.


LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

<b>October 1861 – Turns 13 & 14</b>

Beauregard is still in Winchester and still beating the hell out of McDowell. Even though McDowell out numbers him and Beauregard has no supplies, which have yet to affect combat. The second battle there resulted in the Union taking 4 Morale losses for it but I finally saw the number of troops in supply drop from 100% to 70%. I tried to tighten the circle I have formed around him so when he does start losing he will lose the whole force. But in this game it is very easy for an army to slip away especially if you can’t control the surrounding regions with very large forces. I do have the help of winter and the taking of Warren allowed me to destroy the Strasburg Depot.

To further distract Athena I launch a force against Fredericksburg which finds K. Smith in its way and continue my raids and rail burnings in southwest Virginia.

Out West things get a little better. McClellan doesn’t get initiative but does manage to force A. Johnston back into the Bowling Green defenses where he is besieged. Grant moves on Fort Henry but Gen. Halleck in a sudden frenzy of activity managed to take Fort Henry and Donelson. Also a small force in eastern Kentucky takes Clarksburg.

While I wait for a miracle to activate McDowell or Beauregard’s army to starve to death I thought I would visit the Navy. The game has an extensive naval system that covers blockades, commerce raiding, bombardment of forts, river operations and amphibious landings. You have some 30+ types of ships you can build. In the screen shot below I show the two key parts of naval allocations, the Blockade box (Atlantic shown but also one for Gulf) and the Atlantic Shipping Box:



You can allocate ships to the Blockade box to implement what is called a blue water blockade of the south. Here you can see my blockade level is 25%. Below it in the Shipping Box you can allocate ships for trade and transport. To the left of these are the outer coastal regions and the coastal regions which you can also blockade and move troops through on transports. Since I am not that familiar with it I had asked on the AGEOD Forums whether blockading was worthwhile and how to do it. Here is a very good summary of naval tactics a member posted:

<font color="yellow">You need to be blockading both the Gulf and Atlantic blockade boxes with about equal strength, because the overall effectiveness of your blockade is weighted towards the weakest box.

You should have started with 5 blockcade squadrons in the Atlantic box but only 1 in the Gulf box, so unless you have added more to the Gulf, you're not going to get your blockade numbers up.

The most effective ships for blockades are, not surprisingly, blockade squadrons. In addition to the ones that start in the blockade boxes, you get a few of these squadrons for free in 1861, but they'll be locked for several turns. When they unlock, send them to the blockade boxes -- especially the Gulf. You certainly have the resources to buy a few more blockade squadrons, and I think it's a good idea to.

Also, when you send more blockade squadrons to the Gulf, make sure to send a couple of transports with them. Transports carry tons of supplies, so they'll keep your blockade squadrons happily fed for much longer before they have to return to port.

The biggest issue with the Gulf is that it's a longer trip to get there from your Atlantic ports. But, you don't have to send them all the way back to resupply -- they can get supplies from any harbor, and the US owned Fort Pickens on the Gulf coast has a level 1 harbor.

For catching blockade runners, the regular blockade squadrons are fine, and can be augmented with additional frigates.

Also, don't neglect the shipping box. You need transports in the shipping box to get supplies transferred between coastal ports, and you need some fighting ships -- frigates -- to hunt down raiders.
I honestly don't know whether it makes any difference whether units in the naval boxes are stacked or separate, but for myself I always stack my unions fleets together and separate my CSA ones (except shipping box raiders).

The way detection works is that it's the larger force's patrol value compared with the weaker force's evasion value that determines whether you can locate them and attack. On land, patrol values are added for all elements, while evasion is based on the average for a unit. I assume it's the same for naval units. I don't know if patrol value is added at the stack level or for the entire box. It might be the entire box, because on land the patrol value is added for the entire region. Either way, I'd rather have the stack together so that when I do locate the raiders I have overwhelming force and can inflict maximum damage.

Evasion is not added up but averaged across all elements. On land this is done at the stack level. Not sure about the naval boxes. But, there is a small stack bonus for less than 4 units, so it definitely pays for blockade runners to spread out.
I have found that squadrons grouped together, and some independent steam frigates or sloops (or whatever) operating independently are the best way to up your box percentage. Of course, don't forget to put some ships in the shipping box, as well, as protection for your supply boats.

Also, make a naval engineer or two and put them on a small fleet (couple of men-of-war and two supply boats). Then send them to Ft. Pickens (if you still have it). When the fleet arrives, build a depot and drop off the naval engineer. You will have supply and the engineer will help you get the ships to recover cohesion quicker. Plus, the depot pulls replacements for you fleets and the fort's garrison more efficiently (I think).
Like airpower in a certain WWII game, ya gotta make a commitment to The Blockade. I play with the Standard Rule, being a salty type.

* The investment is worth it, IMO. 'Sides, I like my jolly tars - one area where those perfidious Rebs take a back seat.

* Various people say that BlkSqdns are best for the BlkBoxes. I haven't crunched the numbers, but am willing to grant the point. Use BlkSqdns with a Frigate or two, and one or two Brigs (the latter for the scouting component).

* In the early game, 40% or so is all you can reasonably expect - you have other things to do, you can't pour everything into the Navy. As you build a bigger Navy, you can get to 60%, maybe more. These are the Boxes, natch. I keep enough Union Shipping with a modest escort force to ensure 100% Sea Supply/Transport abilities - I could care less about the $$ and WS; even with Light Industrialization, I have more than enough WS by mid-'62.

* Now, for the close blockade - I effect a 'semi-close' Brown Blockade. Some spots you can do a true Close Block - Bogue's Inlet to block Morehead City, NC, is an example. CSA guns can't hurt you there, although there's a fort nearby. Hover the mouse over the Harbor icon on CSA cities to see where the Block Point is. In the example just mentioned, you can effect a true ClsBlk and suffer no damage from the shore batteries. For other spots, e. g., Charleston, SC, I park myself off the river mouth. I'm not truly blockading the Harbor (see Tooltip per above), but I'll engage a fair amount of Runners. I'll miss a bunch too, no matter my Aggression, but...well, I dislike having to build new ships for sunken ones. If your units lose a battle (rare) or are weakened, they can end up shorewards a water region, inside an estuary. Not Good. You'll lose ships on the way out to the batteries. Ships are expensive and take months to replace. I don't like losing ships, at all, unless it's for a major objective.

* My BrownBlock Sqdns are one (1) BlkSqdn with 2 Brig Sqdns (four Brigs altogether) and one (1) Transport Sqdn. 12 Elements, enough for any region on the charts (only a landlubber would say 'map').

* I don't build a whole lot of Frigates - *sigh*. Too bad, lovely vessels (I don't mean the stinkpots). I generally use these for my 'semi-Blue Block': cruising one region outwards, to sea - you'll catch the occasional Runner out at sea.

* Put Transports with as many fleets as you can - they stay out longer. Keep some TPs at Pickens, the Keys, Monroe, and anyplace you grab, also, to attract Supplies.

By mid-'63, you should be able to effect a 50%+ Blue Block, have a more than good sized Navy and be putting the squeeze on up close and personal. If you wanna bring Monitors south beyond the VA Capes, ya gotta seize the NC coastal forts, otherwise it's just throwing tin at the bottom of Cape Hatteras.

Don't forget the River Navy either!

!!! What the heck is the difference between a Monitor and an Ironclad??? I don't mean River Ironclad - if you build Monitors, some come out with the "weather canopy" on them in the GIF and are denoted 'Ironclad'. Flavor only, or is there a real distinction?</font id="yellow">


LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

<b>November 1861 – Turn 15 & 16</b>

I am trying to get more troops to Winchester to replace my losses but Beauregard continues to survive and seemingly thrive there in spite of being completely cut off. I lost another Battle of Winchester costing me 3 more Morale. I must have lost over 10 now in spite of having an army twice as large and in supply or was. Snow has now covered the north in parts of Virginia making my supplies a problem. One victory though. My assault on Manassas takes that region further isolating Winchester.

This is one of the frustrations with this game. It is very difficult to determine why things are happening the way they are. Since Winchester seems to be a losing proposition I decide to restructure my forces and move McDowell and the A. NE Va back to Harpers Ferry where McClellan will meet it and take command. Oddly this result in the best fight McDowell has put up. While the South still wins at least Beauregard took losses and for a change got no Morale points. And, most of the forces including McDowell’s get initiative in their new locations. Next month we will see if anything becomes of it.

Elsewhere in the West a series of small fights occur mostly against raiders with the Union winning. It takes a while to get Union forces organized and moving in the west. One significant victory though, McClernand takes Bowling Green. This will put most of Kentucky in Union hands and free troops to begin trying to invade Tennessee.


LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)