Confusion over commanders and purpose and leveling

[carlc]

So, new to this game, but longtime gamer (both historical warfare way back to Avalon Hill in the 1970s and fantasy computer RPG and strategy games). Here, I don't really understand where to put commanders, especially in thinking of Corps vs Division or Brigade. I am playing my first time through and finally got Grant. I put him with my Second Corps, but then noted that in a few scenarios, his corps didn't even get to play. So, then I put him over a Division in my first corps. But is that the best place? I can't see how the Division commander does anything, nor how or if they are leveling up. I only seem to see the Brigade commanders leveling up. Should I put him and Sherman into a brigade? Surely not. But then, how do I help them level up? Or, is it best to just put him over a Corps and not worry about it? Should I replace myself and put him over the First Corps? Any advice would be appreciated.

[Kristoph42]

I don't know the exact amount of xp a divisional or corps commander earns. I know it isn't a lot. It takes about 10+ battles for a divisional Brigader General to level up to Major General. The same holds true for a corps commander, I am sure someone will know the exact formula. The best and fastest way to gain experience is to lead a brigade on the field. INF or ART or CAV or Skirmishers. The downside is that they have a greater chance of being wounded or killed while leading a brigade. Cav officers seem to die the most, then Inf, then Art.

[MrMaximgun]

The thing that I know about division commanders is that they improve the command level for every brigade in the division, which improves their efficiency. It's not as much as for putting him in a brigade, but it definitely helps boost each brigade and I believe that the effects end up working out such that it's better to have a Brigadier general or Lt. General in charge of a division than in charge of a brigade, so long as he is higher ranking than the general's underneath him.

[carlc]

Thanks to both. I wish there was more clarity somewhere about the commanders. I mean, I get it that they add to the unit (or the division), but trying to level people up....????

[Malkor2]

1. It has to do with the command rating of the Officer and how that affects the efficiency of the unit. The efficiency of a unit can not be higher than the command rating, even if it is shown to be higher. In the Army Camp you might see that one of your units has a command rating of 70 but an efficiency rating of 90. For the actual fighting the efficiency of your unit will be capped at 70, even if it isn't shown in the unit's stats. Why is it important? Because the efficiency affects all the other stats of your unit.

2. That means you don't want to have a Colonel as a Division Commander when all your Brigade Commanders are Brigadier and Major Generals, because the command rating of a Brigade Commander cannot be higher than that of the Division Commander. I don't know for sure but my guess is the same thing is true for the Corps Commander. Which is the reason why you want to level up at least three Officers to Lieutenant General ASAP.

3. While what i said isn't such a big deal in the beginning of the game, because all of your troops will be fresh recruits, it is a big deal as your troops gain more and more experience. As an example, a Major can easily lead a 1500 men unit of Infantry. Now let's say that unit has seen lots of combat an gotten 2 stars. Now you want another Officer commanding the unit because the Major doesn't cut it anymore. You probably now want a Colonel to be in command because of his higher command rating.

Let's say a fresh 1500 men unit starts with 10 efficiency. Let's also say a Major with zero experience starts with a command rating of 30, which can go up to 45 as he gains experience. Now let's say the unit gets more experience and is now a 2 star unit with 70 efficiency. Since the Majors command rating can't go over 45, that unit would be limited to an efficiency rating of 45, despite having a rating of 70. Let's say you have a Colonel with a command rating of 65. Putting him in charge of that unit will raise the efficiency rating of the unit from 45 (because of the Major) to 65. Still 5 points less than 70 but much better than 45. Not having an Officer in charge whose command rating is as close to the units efficiency rating as possible will make your units less effective in battle.

The rule is: The higher the efficiency of a unit, the higher the command rating of the Officer in charge must be. You will never have an Officer with a command rating of 100 but 70-85 should be possible with Brigadier Generals and Major Generals. Which means starting out you want a Brigadier General as a Corps Commander and as Divison Commanders. As you make your way through the campaign, you want to replace them with Major Generals and depending on how well you do you might end up with a Lieutenant General by the time you reach Antietam. For your Brigades you can start with a Major in command and later on you will end up with Major Generals as Brigade Commanders. By the time that happens you should have 3 Lieutenant Generals as Corps Commanders and all your Division Commanders should be at least Major Generals. If you have more than 3 Lieutenant Generals you can use the others as Division Commanders for your best Corps.

4. Leveling up Officers is quite important. But the question should not be what is the best way to level them up but what is the safest way to do it. Remember, we want to keep them around and leading a unit of Infantry in battle has a good chance of getting the Officer killed. The safest way to level them up is to turn them into Corps and Division Commanders. But those get way less experience then the Brigade Commanders so that takes a lot of time. A Corps Commander cannot die but Division Commanders can be wounded and killed, just like the Brigade Commanders. On a side note, an Officer who gets wounded during battle will not get any XP. We want our Officers to be safe, yet also make some nice XP. I usually put Officers i want to level up in command of my Artillery. They are safe and gain some XP. If you want to level them faster you have to put them in command of your Infantry.

Some tips: If you want to level an Officer fast and put him in charge of an Infantry unit make sure that unit is not fighting in the front line. Avoid heavy losses because that just increases the chance of the Officer getting wounded or killed. Make sure that unit only attacks enemy units which are firing on other units and that it cannot take flanking fire from the enemy. Remember that flanking fire gets you more kills (and hopefully more XP) than just duking it out with the enemy. So put your unit with the Officer you want to level fast into a position where they can hit the enemy with flanking fire.

With Artillery it is much safer and easier but also slower. It all depends on how you use your Artillery. Playing as the Union at Malvern Hill will do wonders for your Artillery. A Battery of 24pdr Howitzers can rack up 3k kills and more very easily during that battle. If you are attacking however your Artillery will not make that many kills simply because it moves very slow and isn't very effective at long ranges.

TLDR: Command rating caps the efficiency rating of your units. The higher the efficiency rating of a unit, the higher the command rating of the Officer needs to be or the unit will be less effective in battle. Division Commanders determine the command rating of Brigade Commanders because the command rating of a Brigade Commander cannot exceed the command rating of the Division Commander. And while i don't know it for sure, my guess is the same is true for the Division Commander in relation to the Corps Commander. I hope that helps and clears things up a little.

P.S. RNG will of course mess things up. I had instances where one of my units (in the woods with 90% cover) took enemy fire, 21 men got killed and the Officer was also killed. So make sure to have a nice reserve of Officers (from rank Colonel and above) because you will need them.

[carlc]

Thank you Malkor2. Couple of questions. First, where do you actually see the efficiency rating? All I can see is the nondescript bar under their picture which seems only related to where they are in the current level. At least in the Camp level, I can't see it. OR, I see that there is a "Command" bar for the unit, but it says in the description that its from the Unit commander and the Division commander...but it doesn't distinguish who has what level.

The leveling up part is really the confusing part. I mean, right now I still have Grant as a Division Commander when obviously he needs to be leading a Corps. Heck, I should put him in charge of the first corps, but I don't know if I can do that since my avatar is there. But...if there, I don't seem to see any forward progress on his level. Or, at least, I haven't seen mine change (or the General of the Second Corps).

Lastly, when commanders get wounded, is there any rule of thumb as to how long it takes for them to return to action?

[Malkor2]

A wounded Officer will return to duty after you finished the next Major Battle. If an Officer gets wounded before a Major Battle, he will return to duty after that. If he gets wounded during a Major Battle, you have to wait until after the next Major Battle before he returns to duty.

Example: Officer gets wounded before Antietam and returns to duty after Antietam. Officer gets wounded during Antietam and will return to duty after Fredericksburg.

The efficiency and command level of a unit can be seen in the Army Camp by clicking on the unit. Click on a unit with an active Officer and a tab will open up which shows all the stats for the unit. The numbers are shown on the right side of the tab. If you want to know where you can see the command rating of an Officer that is sadly not possible. The only way to get that info is to assign the Officer in question to a unit. Once you did that just click on the unit and the tab will show you the command rating along with efficiency and everything else.

Your Avatar is just another Officer in your Army. You can have him lead a Corps, a Division or a Brigade, it doesn't matter. He can even die and it won't matter. If Grant is your only Major General then you have two options:

1. Make him the Commander of your 1st Corps.
2. Make him a Brigade Commander and level him up quickly so he becomes a Lieutenant General and then make him a Corps Commander.

Like i already said, the fastest way to level up an Officer is to assign him to an Infantry unit. A slower but safer way is to assign him to an Artillery unit. Division and Corps Commanders also get some XP during each battle but way less than all the Brigade Commanders. So it will take a lot of battles before they level up. You have to decide if you want Grant to lead one of your Corps or if you want to level him up fast. And getting that first Lieutenant General will be a huge difference.