No sure if this works for MP game but at least for player vs. player play I have these recommendations.
I recommend to switch ON:
- "Manual Defensive Fire" to get away from turn gameplay to phased gameplay(no worry it will be the same "workload" if turning on "Automated Defensive Fire") and to make defensive fire really have a chance of stopping the enemy what happened often enough in the civil war but does seldom work with the opportunity fire in the turn gameplay as that only fire with 50%. Phased gameplay leads to a more realistic battlefield behavior.
- "Higher Fatigue Recovery Rates" because with defense now much more effective(with the Manual Defensive Fire Rule) the attacker usually goes for a melee but with the high fatigue values one can gain in a single melee a unit may not be able to do anything for more than one day, also because I saw units gain fatigue in a melee so high that it should have been impossible at least by the way it's explained in the manual.
- "Partial Retreats" because the optional rule "No Melee Eliminations" from the Napoleonic series missing in the CW series and so something to prevent whole stacks from being wiped out would be good. Also defenders that were already in a Melee can be again part of a Melee if in a hex with a unit that did not have a Melee in this turn what makes it more likely the such stack good be eliminated too easily.
- "Optional Fire Results", one can argue that with 20 minutes turns the results of fire combat should be closer to average results so one could turn them on.
- "Optional Melee Results", one can argue that with 20 minutes turns the results of melee combat should be closer to average results so one could turn them on.
I recommend to switch OFF:
- "Rout Limiting" to make the player use his forces with caution, use his leaders to stop spreading of "panic" and separate his attack columns by brigade/division(what is also fostered with the "Mixed Organization Penalty Optional" Rule that gives -1 morale modifier when units from different brigades are in the same hex).
- "Full Melee Defensive Fire" because it only works in turn gameplay but I highly recommend phased gameplay for a more realistic battlefield behavior.
- "Proportional Opportunity Fire" because it only works in turn gameplay but as said I highly recommend phased gameplay for a more realistic battlefield behavior.
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Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac
"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."