Morale question, also wounded officers

[Proletariat]

Is there something funky about the morale system I'm not understanding. I'm defending at Fredrickberg, and a unit behind breastworks routes after a single volley from a unit that is equal size, when it was at 99% morale... How did he go from 99% to under 30% with a single volley, while under cover? I don't get it.

Also, is there a way to stop so many wounded officers? I'm losing nearly half my officer routinely in each battle. That seems FAR too high, especially since I'm defending not charging into cannon fire.

And as an aside, so the units have to run SO FRIGGIN FAR from the front line when routing? they are practically across the map before I can control them again.

[limith]

Some in game cover is bugged and will result in your units losing all morale in one volley. The top corner one in the southern front line is bugged. You just have to learn this trough trial and error (save often). The tip there is to not use the fortification, just park a unit on top of it, and send some infantry to cover it's flank.

Use units with more men to reduce wounded officers and pull them out when they reach ~25% casualties. Also avoid being hit by AI artillery, seems to increase chance. Lastly, don't get hit from flank or rear. Otherwise, it's all RNG.

For routing, keep your general nearby.

[Proletariat]

Yeah, it was definitely that top corner one. Well damn.

Also, I counted and I had 9 wounded officers and 3 dead. Man, Fredricksberg hated officers.

[Malkor2]

Losing Officers hurts a lot, especially when it's a BG or MG. I remember when i first played this game as the Union on Colonel difficulty that i lost 13 Officers at Fredericksburg. Six were killed at Maryes Heights and the other 7 were wounded at Prospect Hill. It is mainly RNG but there are a few things you can do and should keep in mind in order to minimize losses among your Officers.

1. Don't let a unit suffer too many losses. The more losses a unit takes, the greater is the risk of the Officer getting killed or wounded.

2. Avoid cannister shot from Artillery unless it is absolute necessary. Only take cannister in your face when you know that you can kill that Artillery unit. And never run up to more than one Artillery unit because at that point you're just commiting suicide on behalf of your Officer. Better use Skirmishers and/or Cavalry to take out Artillery. With Infantry and Skirmishers i would wait outside cannister range until the Artillery has fired and then run into range and start shooting. Make sure to tell your Infantry to run and hold their fire until the Artillery is in range of their firing arc. That way you will deal more damage with a single volley. While your units can even shoot at enemies who are outside of their firing arc you deal more damage to units who are inside that firing arc. And when taking out Artillery, especially on MG and Legendary difficulty, you want to make sure that Artillery is not getting away or firing cannister right in your face.

3. Avoid taking fire from the flanks and behind. That also seems to increase the chance of losing an Officer.

4. Melee combat can also end your Officers career really fast. Make sure your units aren't alone when they get charged by the enemy. Or when you're charging the enemy.

5. Use cover whenever possible.

While all this is helpful and will reduce the risk of losing your Officers it is still RNG. During the battle of Gaines Mill playing as the Union i got distracted by microing my Cavalry and when i shifted my attention back to my Infantry i saw that one unit had went from 2k men down to 600. I was surprised but mostly shocked to see that the Officer was still alive and well. And on the other hand i remember Shiloh as the Union where one of my units was in the woods, with 100% cover, and as soon as that unit took enemy fire for the first time the Officer was wounded. All that said however, let's be thankful the devs didn't take it too far with losing Officers. Because the real numbers of killed and wounded Officers during the Civil War are far worse than what we're seeing in the game. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia alone by mid summer of 1864 had lost almost 8k Officers. 1600 had been killed and more than 6k had been wounded.