Guides and/or Hints?

[Hero123]

Anyone know? Thanks

[Hofstadter]

There really isnt much out there. Theres little youtube videos out there, and the aars dont give much in the way of why something is done. It is unbelievably inaccessible.

[Black Watch]

Originally posted by Hero123:

Anyone know? Thanks

Originally posted by Hofstadter:

There really isnt much out there. Theres little youtube videos out there, and the aars dont give much in the way of why something is done. It is unbelievably inaccessible.

I so much want to get "into" this game but after many hours of trying to figure out what the hell is going on i am now on the verge of just giving up.

Bitten off far more than i can chew i think, OR...................... ?

BW

[Hofstadter]

Originally posted by Black Watch:

Originally posted by Hero123:

Anyone know? Thanks

Originally posted by Hofstadter:

There really isnt much out there. Theres little youtube videos out there, and the aars dont give much in the way of why something is done. It is unbelievably inaccessible.

I so much want to get "into" this game but after many hours of trying to figure out what the hell is going on i am now on the verge of just giving up.

Bitten off far more than i can chew i think, OR...................... ?

BW

I know exactly what you mean, ive been trying for ages but the game gives you absolutely nothing to work with

[andatiep]

If there is something you don't understand in the manual, please ask more precisely so that we can help you.

[Black Watch]

Thank you for resonding andatlep

I know from the ageod forums you have done some of the most incredable work ( resarch,detail,historical acuracy etc ) that i have ever come across in a cpu game and feel the need to repay you by learning this game ( for myself also, ofc :).

But as i said in a previous post "bitten off far more than i can chew i think" .

If there were something more precise i could ask i would, but i am compleatly and utterly lost by just about everything, feel like i am punching way way above my weight on this one.

And just to make it all the more frustrating the subject matter fascinates me.

JUST TO BE CLEAR I AM VERY LIGHT WEIGHT SO DONT LET ME PUT ANYONE OFF BY MY FAILURE TO GRASP THE MECHANICS OF THIS INCREADABLE GAME.....

So good luck andatlep with this and other games, god knows you deserve it.


BW

[Hofstadter]

Yeah thats basically how I feel too. I know everything about russia and want to play this but its mired in inaccessibility

[andatiep]

Originally posted by Black Watch:

So good luck andatlep with this and other games, god knows you deserve it.
BW

Thank you Black Watch. I also know what you feel because it remember me discovering the AGEods games years ago. There is probably many things to improve with the AGE system to make it more userfriendly, but they do with the means they have. And this is the only engine which allow volunteer designers in historical game to realize proper geo-strategical simulations for such kind of conflicts and events.

[PatchGatsby]

AGEods games are not easy to learn, but the complex mechanics lead to some really satisfying gaming. One thing to keep in mind is that once you understand the system, it is much easier to play any of their other games. I'm old, so this doesn't seem that weird to me, but you need to read the manual. Yeah, it is like 90 pages long, but that's where things are really explained. The game is meant to be realistic, and leading a massive army in real life is very complex, so yeah, the game is hard. When you start, make sure you read the objectives tab before you do anything. Then make a plan and try to advance and adjust that plan each turn. Read all of the messages that come up and take time to think about how they effect you. Double-click to go to the location the message refers to so you don't have to search the map. The hallmark of the AGEod games is the importance of organization, logistics, and leadership in war. The current state of a unit is more important than the stats it started out with. Try to get all of your units into a command structure. Sometimes it is better to hold units in reserve than overwhelm a leader's abilities. Continued...

[PatchGatsby]

Do not underestimate the importance of supply. Your units' power will plumet if they run out of food or ammo. Not surprisingly, they rout very easily. Use those little supply wagons and the armored trains in all of your combat stacks. Don't forget to build more as you go. Your unit's level of organization is critically important. Anything that you do besides stay encamped somewhere causes you to lose organization. This is a time when most communication would still be done by messangers so units lose cohesion very easily. Combat is incredibly chaotic. Your units will rapidly lose organization when fighting, even when you are winning. Keep in mind a turn is two weeks. If you fight for two turns, your men have been in the front lines for a month. Pull them back frequently to allow them to reorganize and regroup. Have a second army attack to keep the pressure on the enemy if you can. All of these factors apply to the enemy as well. Try to cut off his supply and attack his weak leaders when their organization is low. You will probably lose the first few campaigns as you get a feel for all of this plus managing resources and political decisions, but that is what makes it satisfying when you lead your forces to victory.

[Endymion]

Start out as the whites in the Ice March Scenario, or whatever it is called. It was called The Ice March in the original RUS. What you need to do is just capture a cetain city and hold it until the end of the scenario without dying, which is only around 10 turns.

Focus on accomplishing your objective quickly, don't engage the reds directly unless you are at an advantage in combat power, and even then you should be avoiding combat simply to accomplish your objective and get entrenched. Make sure you use the right stance for the job (It should be above the little unit settings panel where you make divisions and such.) Once you capture your objective in that scenario, use some small forces to destroy rails leading to it and have your main force occupy the city in a defensive stance so they can begin digging in. The point in this scenario is to buy as much time as possible.

Next, try out the finnish civil war as the whites once more. Follow the same rules here, attack when you have a large advantage. If able, make an army and some corps. Corps that are attached to the same HQ and are in adjacent provinces can support each other if attacked. Use this to your advantage whenver possible. In this scenario you want to move as quick as possible to capture the key cities. Whenever possible, delay the red reinforcements, cut off escape routes, and encircle the enemy. Even if you aren't necessarily winning all the battles, you get lots of reinforcements that you can ship in quickly, so if you can destroy the rail connection to Petrograd you will leave Helsinki vulnerable. If you lose a battle, make sure your units are well-supplied, and try and get them to a safe location to recover. Use the reinforcements tab to make sure you have a few reinforcement chits (You don't need to match the red number above the number of chits you have, just make sure you have some chits if it is red) so that your units are able to recover. Once they recover, send them back out into the field. Units can recover very quickly if you are smart.

Speaking of supply, it's basically voodo magic to me, but if flows out of supply-producing areas. Rule of thumb is that it travels 3 areas. If it hits a structure that can store supply, it can travel another 3 areas. In poor conditions (Bad Terrain, Weather, Etc.) It flows fewer provinces. You'll want to keep important armies stocked with 2-3 supply wagons. Supply wagons can store supply so your armies can take more supply with them. 2 wagons can make a depot. Depots can store supply and extend supply lines, and also provide a structure that your units can dig into. It's important to build a chain of depots so your supply can flow properly.

While we're on the topic of game mechanics, make sure to have a decent reinforcements pool and build a good amount of units when possible. The general strategy is to keep a ratio of 1 artillery to 3 infantry. I don't understand the inner workings of division composition, but the manual has more info.


Once you have mastered the Finnish Civil War, jump into the grand campaign as the western/southern whites. You'll want to sweep down to the coast to cut off the Caucusus from Tsaritsyn, and then after that try and pacify the Caucuses. The rule of thumb with fronts in this game is to deal with them as quickly as possible to not let the reds get a foothold. Deal with problems quickly and decicively, and always finish the job. Once you are finished with the Caucuses, you have the choice to try and capture Tsaritsyn, which is a huge task. You will want to try and encircle it completly if you do so. Remember that Tsaritsyn would go on to become Stalingrad, do not repeat Hitler's mistakes (Or give Hitler the mistakes to repeat I guess since that hasn't happened yet) . If you don't have enough forces for a prolonged siege, and then occupation of Tsaritsyn, do not go to Tsaritsyn. If you fail to cut off reinforcements to Tsaritsyn and start getting bogged down, retreat ASAP. Otherwise you can face a crushing defeat that may cost you the game, and at the very least cost you many many turns.

The easier option is to try and pacify the Ukraine. Try and capture the entirety of the Donbass area, and watch out for Makhno. Once you've captured Donbass, try and link up with Crimea and then it's up to you where to go next. You can try and push north to Moscow and bypass Tsaritsyn, or consolidate your northern forces and encircle Petrograd.

So to recap:

Play it safe until you get the hang of the game and only attack when you have an advantage in leadership and combat power. Always make sure you have enough Command Points and supply for a stack. Never start a job if you can't finish it. Make clear goals and set them. It might not be a realistic goal to use your arkhangelsk group to take petrograd, but it might be realistic to use it to help out the Siberian Whites, or capture a city so you can start building up troops for example.

I hope this guide helped you.

[=CAW=aldarions-lament]

Yeah man start with the smaller scenarios set in 1917-18. Then move on to the Western whites in the grand campagin. DO NOT play the grand campaign or the Alternate History Grand campaign untill you have won these early games

[=CAW=aldarions-lament]

Also go into options and turn off activation roles off (it simulates stupidity by your genrals but is much too random for me) This stop your units locking up and refusing to move quite so often

[=CAW=aldarions-lament]

Main pointers
In the far right corner will be a picture of a letter that may have a number in red beside it. This is the comand penalty for movement and combat. Reduce it by adding leaders and setting them as divison comanders and then adding units to those leaders division by selecting the leaer and the unit then clicking the + button next to the promote to divison comander button. Also radio trucks (signals)

The purple bar next to a unit card represents organisation/cohesion.
The green bar represents actuall troop numbers.

Units lose cohesion walking long distances (use rail if possible) fighting, being in the open in bad weather or in agressive stance (since they are on high allert and on partol)

Units regain cohesion when they do not move in defesive or pasive stance (passive gives more but has bad penatiles if you get attacked)

Units get rienforced when the stay still for an entire turn and do nothing if tthey have access to a supply network and you have national reserves (get more in the top left). More rienforcements if: Near a city/ depot, in passive stance, you have more rail units to ship reinforcements

[kevinorf]

Excellent tips. Thanks!

[Calvin809]

I just bought the game and am downloading it. I have some experience with Civil War II and Alea Jacta Est. This may help. http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/Main_Page

Also find the manual for Alea Jacta Est and take a look at it. It seems to go more in depth on mechanics but according to the developers on their forum they have changed a few things from the Roman wars to wars with guns when calculating battles etc. (I haven't seen the manual for this game yet).