2nd Winchester (Union campaign) is awesome!

[Wright29]

While Gettysburg was a ton of fun, the highlight of this patch for me has been 2nd Winchester. The Rebs really bring it hard- attacking weak points in my line, melee charging with multiple brigades, and trying to encircle me with their superior numbers. It had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It is a great mission that I look forward to playing on Legendary. Well done, devs!

[Harconn]

Just place your troops into the city and the AI won't do anything. Won the battle with <1000 men lost. No fun at all, but I did not know that this tactic would destroy AI behavior.

[brett.a.hankinson]

I did this and got mobbed

[korben dallas]

Originally posted by brett.a.hankinson:

I did this and got mobbed

Me too. Most of the fight was a chaotic melee and I lost more than I gained. Legendary difficulty though

[[HAN]falcofyc]

Originally posted by Harconn:

Just place your troops into the city and the AI won't do anything. Won the battle with <1000 men lost. No fun at all, but I did not know that this tactic would destroy AI behavior.

i got killed 7000 men as Union, CSA all equiped with Fayeteville, they kill more men than me, im in 100% cover

[HelloLittlePink]

fun? In current patch it's impossible to get more than what you lose in this battle since the confederates are all 3 star vets and equipped with Fayetteville. Unless you are going for that one career point there's no point to even play this battle.

[Neoivan]

This battle needs to be rebalanced while playing as the Union. At present it's near impossible to defend the town without an entire Corps of 24 brigades; it's also so difficult because the player has roughly 22K+ and the AI has over 35K, three star vets, 100 guns, and can easily just steamroll you with charges. The defenses have many gaps that can be easily overwhelmed with the small force you have and even if you only defend the Military outpost, you'll get run over on one side and the earth-work defenses provide nothing. It's possible to flank on the southern bankment, but then it becomes a bag of nope.

The trenchworks are still not working properly. One vs one brigade and my brigade, via 1 volley, just one, went from 100% morale to 55%. ONE volley did that to my brigade. Another and they ran like cowards.

Unless I am playing awfully, which is possible, this battle needs a serious rebalance.

[GeneralPITA]

2nd Winchester was adjusted several times before release. I had an opposite problem where the AI wouldn't cross the creek to the north.

The rewards are minimal for this side mission, so I'd prefer devs devote their time to more impactful matters.

[Fluffy]

To me the problem is two fold, one the CSA have too many man after losing all the battles they fought versus me. As in there has been no sign of attrition which realistically after 2 years fighting was showing for both sides especially the confederates. They went into Gettysburg because a rumor of shoes being there.

Second the confederates continue to zerg rush unrealistically like all battles before them. Sometime after a single volley or they just charge without firing at all. No commander in his right mind would do that if he knew cannon were there and the position was fortified.

Those are thing that need to be address for me at least

[HelloLittlePink]

Originally posted by Fluffy:

To me the problem is two fold, one the CSA have too many man after losing all the battles they fought versus me. As in there has been no sign of attrition which realistically after 2 years fighting was showing for both sides especially the confederates. They went into Gettysburg because a rumor of shoes being there.

Second the confederates continue to zerg rush unrealistically like all battles before them. Sometime after a single volley or they just charge without firing at all. No commander in his right mind would do that if he knew cannon were there and the position was fortified.

Those are thing that need to be address for me at least

Yeah the AI is set to be as offensive as possible since their army size is ONLY RELEVANT TO YOUR ARMY SIZE and casualty rate is definately the last thing to be considered in its tactical "thinking". Like you said, the AI just gonna zerg rush your outnumbered and outgunned army all the way and make the you feel being totally trolled :(

[apocal43]

Originally posted by nigimingi:

Yeah the AI is set to be as offensive as possible since their army size is ONLY RELEVANT TO YOUR ARMY SIZE and casualty rate is definately the last thing to be considered in its tactical "thinking". Like you said, the AI just gonna zerg rush your outnumbered and outgunned army all the way and make the you feel being totally trolled :(

The thing is, they frequently win the local engagement doing that.

[braden1308]

I just played Winchester 2 on colonel and my 2 and 3 star brigades were slaughtered, they routed so badley I couldn't cotrol them, the AI hit me from all sides all at once and just mobbed me. Some of my brigades were behind fortifications and some were in forrested area. I think I am going to wait until there are a few more patches out before I play again, right now this isn't fun it's agonizing.

[Wright29]

Well I liked this mission because it was challenging. I had to go back and play it three times before getting the 3 to 1 kill ratio I like to achieve. I would be disappointed in this game if I were able to clean house too easily. I encourage people to go back and try something different!

[apocal43]

Originally posted by Wright29:

Well I liked this mission because it was challenging. I had to go back and play it three times before getting the 3 to 1 kill ratio I like to achieve. I would be disappointed in this game if I were able to clean house too easily. I encourage people to go back and try something different!

How did you manage?

I'm beginning to realize that having a lot of 1000 man brigades has finally come to bite me in the ass since the enemy is scaled on my total army size, 2nd Winchester has limited brigade slots to bring in and there isn't any open ground the enemy is compelled to wade through while my howitzers work them over.

[Wright29]

Well you need large infantry brigades preferably maxed at 2,500 and need them to be all 2-star or more. If I recall, you deploy 13 units- 8 infantry, 4 best artillery units, and your best melee cavalry maxed at 750. Have every single infantry deploy skirmishers. Deploy facing the west with 4 infantry in the woods to the west, 2 in the woods facing the northwest, and 2 facing south. Do not use any of the fortifications and don't bother with the fort to the east yet.

During the actual battle, it's mostly about crisis management and shifting brigades around to deal with melee charges. Use skirmishers on the flanks to slow down their eastbound movements. As they inevitably move to the north and to the south of the town, shift your brigades to match them as close to 1 to 1 as possible. When they charge, move your general and melee cav to counter.

Artillery management is very important in this battle. Don't let your artilery get involed in melee or shooting contests. Keep them in the center of town so they can rotate to concentrate on any individual charge. Let the grape shot do most of the damage for you. It can be a double-edged sword though if they spend too much time and energy rotating. You have to manage them and make sure they are shooting and not rotating stupidly all day.

Don't get sucked into heavily defending the fort to the east. You'll end up stretching your lines too thin. Let the Rebs take it and counter-attack at the end of the mission at the expense of losing the woods to the west.

Hope that helps.

[apocal43]

Originally posted by Wright29:

Well you need large infantry brigades preferably maxed at 2,500 and need them to be all 2-star or more. If I recall, you deploy 13 units- 8 infantry, 4 best artillery units, and your best melee cavalry maxed at 750.

Bruh. Like... jesus christ. I don't have that many 2- or 3-star brigades across my entire army and most of my melee cav is new-ish. Thanks for the advice and all but you're basically saying I need a top-notch force, maxed out in size and pushing the limits of experience to get through this side battle.

Does anyone else feel like this is a bit... "off?"