The Union cavalry AI here is so dumb that it's maddening. It routs straight into the enemy, every time. And the units insist on doing a little spin before moving in the direction you tell them. Cavalry need so much micro-managing in this game, which is why they are so often ignored.
For Nansemond use lots of 20 P. To keep Union losses down, you have to destroy the artillery inside of the fort before the AI is able to destroy the ironclads. The AI on Legendary will kill the ironclads fast, so as soon as possible don't waste time targeting anything else with your 20 Ps other than the artillery inside of the fort. If the ironclads are killed you will instantly lose visibility inside of the fort, and after that the only way to see and kill the enemy artillery is to get very close with Union infantry, which is bloody and painful. - The ironclads appear at the start of phase 2. Have the 20 Ps in range of the fort at the start of the phase.
This is ridiculous,I'm on Legendary all my infantry units are maxed at 2K and that is what I put into the field at the beginning. 3 infantry and 3 artillery and the confederates all have 2900K infantry units and they just role over me. How can history guy hace 2.5K units and face smaller attackers? Surely there is something wrong with the scaling?
@@johnhardiman1970 On LG, we must get complete wipes of the AI in every battle, or the enemy manpower pool will begin to climb. Even with the AI manpower pool at the minimum, expect the AI to have almost all units of 3k and all 3-star units in most battles. - The early part of every battle is the desperate, "hold-the-line" phase. After that, the reinforcements arrive and the Union easily wipes out the AI. The challenge is to win the first phase. For that, I recommend good units with good weapons at 2500, almost all infantry. Detach skirmishers right away, and because detached skirmishers do better in prepared positions than infantry, rotate detached skirmishers through the prepared positions on the left. These prepared positions are easily flanked, and any unit in those positions is likely to rout. - The prepared positions on the right are unusually good. Most prepared positions in UGCW are death-traps, and best avoided, but the ones on the right are an exception. I put infantry units in those. Units on the right can rack up a large number of kills. - Be prepared to fall back all the way to the water line. Once reinforcements arrive, it is an easy win. - Detached skirmishers here will act as infantry units. - Have the commander near the action, and I fight this with a unit or two in reserve to fire into any melee. - I would bring all infantry to this battle if I fought it today, although in previous campaigns when I fought this in the past I brought one 24H. And every unit would be 2500. - Good luck.
@@johnhardiman1970 I forgot to mention that in side battles the AI usually scales to the average size of units in your entire army, while in most main battles the AI scales hardest to total army size. There are other factors, but average units size by unit type is important for side battles. This means that if you have a lot of small units in your army, that scaling would go down. In my CSA LG campaign, if you watch it, you can see that I drive scaling up in all battles. But in my Union LG campaign I build ballast units of 500 men each in a reserve Corps to drive down scaling in side battles. The point is that if you want to drive scaling down in any side battle, ballast units might work.
so with this battle using the units provided you can merge them to increase the strength.... the 1200 units route faster than the merged amount... also i recommend abandoning the left fortifications to the woods all but the extreme left one there put some skirmishers to delay him before your reinforcements get there... also you want all 24pounders here... 3 batteries i usually bring and then all infantry and one sniper for sitting in the middle of the map routing them before they get to the lines i stack my units in the trees and hold position. when the battle breaks out i take 2 skirmishers out around the southern flank to flank units that may charge the fortifications there... this is drastically helpful.... Remember flanking with skirmishers does massive moral damage and if you get two volleys into them with cannon fire they will route quickly before melee happens... now he will get one charge in eventually so when that happens pause the game and focus all arty and other units around the charged area on that unit to prevent from routing... also using the units provided while combining them is key... eventually you can combine three units to keep that units strength high! and that means loads of xp for your cannons while they take damage! also those reinforcements run them our around the southern flank and roll him up and come in from the right fo the map after killing all arty with like 6 skirmisher units 1 from each of the new reinforcements... this battle is all about routing before melee the better you do this the less casualties you will take and the more xp you will have .... you can wipe the map on legendary here... its all about focused attacks in legendary .... also you have two generals make sure their moral boost covers the most units and area that they can. the woods provide huge cover boosts usually those units end up around 1800 for me and i start at 2300 cav on this map is okay and makes killing the arty nice but you have to have skirmisher support ... cav alone won't do well because of the amount of arty he has and hidden units the ai has different tactics on this map each time i play it so sometimes they are less aggressive and that's what you want lol i think they get a random personality for some fights. i would replay from stones river through this and try to limit casualties ... you might run into man power issues later at the end
The three fortified positions in the north are poorly designed and they are easily flanked, which causes union units to instantly rout. I was surprised that you were able to hold them. It is possible to hold them, especially if the AI doesn't target the second position, but in most games the AI will be able to take all three of them. The fallback position at the wood line is actually better than the three prepared positions to the north. The three positions in the south are great, and I don't think that I have ever lost those. - The AI will always try to sneak around the flank and steal a victory location.
Yeah the wood line actually lines up well with the southern fortifications which are set up a whole lot better than the northern ones. The battery they give you was also 20 PDRs so they could have been used to attack the AI's batteries instead of trying to hold the line and getting wiped out.
For future Chanclorsville, I respectfully request you review SC's replay. I will put this in History Guy's terms: Day 1. You know Lee's attack happens on the first day. Get as many experienced men & 24lb units there as you can to beat them down. You do this very well. Day 2. For Hooker's corps, use inexperienced skirmishers that are easy to retreat with and you don't mind losing. The ultimate goal of the Union should have never been the Mississippi, New Orleans, or the blockade. I contend the loss of Thomas Jackson at Chanclorsville ruined their command in the East. Instead, lure Jackson towards Chanclorsville although you uncovered Jackson's maneuvers, assuming Lee will only feint, and send almost all 1st Corp artillery, cav, and the remaining infantry to flank and absolutely envelope helpless Jackson (North & South). Make Jackson your priority in the battle. Union strength should always counterattack against Confederate strength. Day 3: Defend in cover until it's time to envelop. Day 4: Kill em all. Good luck!
I hate that this game has union specific and confederate specific battles for each respective campaign...I wish you could play all of the battles for both campaigns
Some ballast units would have helped in this battle. For Nansemond river I would bring at least 4 20pdr parrots to kill his arty in the fort. As soon as the iron clads show up you can target them and kill them quick.. or bring a sniper with spotting. If you don't you will lose sight on the 3 batteries (assuming one or more doesn't have the stealth perk). The batteries in the fort will kill the iron clads quickly if you do not focus them down. Then its just mop up. Good Luck!!
Ouch, actually I think that battle turned out pretty poorly for you. You lost 6,000 of your own men including the entire cavalry unit, in addition to 1500 auxiliary units. A much stronger defense on your left flank is to fall back to the woods. The cover is better in the woods and the enemy needs to advance across open terrain directly into canister from your 24 pounders. By staying in the forward defenses you took more damage and the enemy units got woods cover of their own (when not charging). Your cavalry plan was great but you over extended them and keep pushing them even after their condition had dropped to zero. They were all exhausted for most of the battle, which is why they keep moving so slowly and you lost the one unit. After the initial two successful attacks you needed to pull back and let them rest for 10 minutes to get their condition up. Condition is so important, units are basically worthless with condition under 30. I really suggest you re-fight this one. Lots of tough battles from here on out and your going to need every advantage.
You made the comment " got a little carried away with my cavalry" and I say yes and so did Marshall Ney. Arty and lots of ammo for the next one.
Underrated napoleonic wars comment
14:30 "Let's see what kind of damage we can do back here." I used to say that to my ex-wife all the time!
The Union cavalry AI here is so dumb that it's maddening. It routs straight into the enemy, every time. And the units insist on doing a little spin before moving in the direction you tell them. Cavalry need so much micro-managing in this game, which is why they are so often ignored.
For Nansemond use lots of 20 P. To keep Union losses down, you have to destroy the artillery inside of the fort before the AI is able to destroy the ironclads. The AI on Legendary will kill the ironclads fast, so as soon as possible don't waste time targeting anything else with your 20 Ps other than the artillery inside of the fort. If the ironclads are killed you will instantly lose visibility inside of the fort, and after that the only way to see and kill the enemy artillery is to get very close with Union infantry, which is bloody and painful.
- The ironclads appear at the start of phase 2. Have the 20 Ps in range of the fort at the start of the phase.
This is ridiculous,I'm on Legendary all my infantry units are maxed at 2K and that is what I put into the field at the beginning. 3 infantry and 3 artillery and the confederates all have 2900K infantry units and they just role over me. How can history guy hace 2.5K units and face smaller attackers? Surely there is something wrong with the scaling?
@@johnhardiman1970
On LG, we must get complete wipes of the AI in every battle, or the enemy manpower pool will begin to climb. Even with the AI manpower pool at the minimum, expect the AI to have almost all units of 3k and all 3-star units in most battles.
- The early part of every battle is the desperate, "hold-the-line" phase. After that, the reinforcements arrive and the Union easily wipes out the AI. The challenge is to win the first phase. For that, I recommend good units with good weapons at 2500, almost all infantry. Detach skirmishers right away, and because detached skirmishers do better in prepared positions than infantry, rotate detached skirmishers through the prepared positions on the left. These prepared positions are easily flanked, and any unit in those positions is likely to rout.
- The prepared positions on the right are unusually good. Most prepared positions in UGCW are death-traps, and best avoided, but the ones on the right are an exception. I put infantry units in those. Units on the right can rack up a large number of kills.
- Be prepared to fall back all the way to the water line. Once reinforcements arrive, it is an easy win.
- Detached skirmishers here will act as infantry units.
- Have the commander near the action, and I fight this with a unit or two in reserve to fire into any melee.
- I would bring all infantry to this battle if I fought it today, although in previous campaigns when I fought this in the past I brought one 24H. And every unit would be 2500.
- Good luck.
@@johnhardiman1970
I forgot to mention that in side battles the AI usually scales to the average size of units in your entire army, while in most main battles the AI scales hardest to total army size. There are other factors, but average units size by unit type is important for side battles. This means that if you have a lot of small units in your army, that scaling would go down. In my CSA LG campaign, if you watch it, you can see that I drive scaling up in all battles. But in my Union LG campaign I build ballast units of 500 men each in a reserve Corps to drive down scaling in side battles. The point is that if you want to drive scaling down in any side battle, ballast units might work.
so with this battle using the units provided you can merge them to increase the strength.... the 1200 units route faster than the merged amount... also i recommend abandoning the left fortifications to the woods all but the extreme left one there put some skirmishers to delay him before your reinforcements get there... also you want all 24pounders here... 3 batteries i usually bring and then all infantry and one sniper for sitting in the middle of the map routing them before they get to the lines i stack my units in the trees and hold position. when the battle breaks out i take 2 skirmishers out around the southern flank to flank units that may charge the fortifications there... this is drastically helpful.... Remember flanking with skirmishers does massive moral damage and if you get two volleys into them with cannon fire they will route quickly before melee happens... now he will get one charge in eventually so when that happens pause the game and focus all arty and other units around the charged area on that unit to prevent from routing... also using the units provided while combining them is key... eventually you can combine three units to keep that units strength high! and that means loads of xp for your cannons while they take damage! also those reinforcements run them our around the southern flank and roll him up and come in from the right fo the map after killing all arty with like 6 skirmisher units 1 from each of the new reinforcements... this battle is all about routing before melee the better you do this the less casualties you will take and the more xp you will have .... you can wipe the map on legendary here... its all about focused attacks in legendary .... also you have two generals make sure their moral boost covers the most units and area that they can. the woods provide huge cover boosts usually those units end up around 1800 for me and i start at 2300 cav on this map is okay and makes killing the arty nice but you have to have skirmisher support ... cav alone won't do well because of the amount of arty he has and hidden units the ai has different tactics on this map each time i play it so sometimes they are less aggressive and that's what you want lol i think they get a random personality for some fights. i would replay from stones river through this and try to limit casualties ... you might run into man power issues later at the end
The three fortified positions in the north are poorly designed and they are easily flanked, which causes union units to instantly rout. I was surprised that you were able to hold them. It is possible to hold them, especially if the AI doesn't target the second position, but in most games the AI will be able to take all three of them. The fallback position at the wood line is actually better than the three prepared positions to the north. The three positions in the south are great, and I don't think that I have ever lost those.
- The AI will always try to sneak around the flank and steal a victory location.
Yeah the wood line actually lines up well with the southern fortifications which are set up a whole lot better than the northern ones. The battery they give you was also 20 PDRs so they could have been used to attack the AI's batteries instead of trying to hold the line and getting wiped out.
For future Chanclorsville, I respectfully request you review SC's replay. I will put this in History Guy's terms:
Day 1. You know Lee's attack happens on the first day. Get as many experienced men & 24lb units there as you can to beat them down. You do this very well.
Day 2. For Hooker's corps, use inexperienced skirmishers that are easy to retreat with and you don't mind losing. The ultimate goal of the Union should have never been the Mississippi, New Orleans, or the blockade. I contend the loss of Thomas Jackson at Chanclorsville ruined their command in the East. Instead, lure Jackson towards Chanclorsville although you uncovered Jackson's maneuvers, assuming Lee will only feint, and send almost all 1st Corp artillery, cav, and the remaining infantry to flank and absolutely envelope helpless Jackson (North & South). Make Jackson your priority in the battle. Union strength should always counterattack against Confederate strength.
Day 3: Defend in cover until it's time to envelop.
Day 4: Kill em all.
Good luck!
I hate that this game has union specific and confederate specific battles for each respective campaign...I wish you could play all of the battles for both campaigns
Some ballast units would have helped in this battle. For Nansemond river I would bring at least 4 20pdr parrots to kill his arty in the fort. As soon as the iron clads show up you can target them and kill them quick.. or bring a sniper with spotting. If you don't you will lose sight on the 3 batteries (assuming one or more doesn't have the stealth perk). The batteries in the fort will kill the iron clads quickly if you do not focus them down. Then its just mop up. Good Luck!!
I do wonder how the capture/stealing guns and rifle work, it just seem so inconsistant all the time...
why not put in training?
Ouch, actually I think that battle turned out pretty poorly for you. You lost 6,000 of your own men including the entire cavalry unit, in addition to 1500 auxiliary units.
A much stronger defense on your left flank is to fall back to the woods. The cover is better in the woods and the enemy needs to advance across open terrain directly into canister from your 24 pounders. By staying in the forward defenses you took more damage and the enemy units got woods cover of their own (when not charging).
Your cavalry plan was great but you over extended them and keep pushing them even after their condition had dropped to zero. They were all exhausted for most of the battle, which is why they keep moving so slowly and you lost the one unit. After the initial two successful attacks you needed to pull back and let them rest for 10 minutes to get their condition up. Condition is so important, units are basically worthless with condition under 30.
I really suggest you re-fight this one. Lots of tough battles from here on out and your going to need every advantage.