Any good guides on how to battle

[Nuggs]

I just played the battle tutorial and it was awful. I get what things in the UI are supposed to do and at least ill give the tutorial that. What i dont get is the terrible way you have to move and order units around.

I was ordering jacksons units to move to the hill i was supposed to take and all my infantry were just taking random roads miles appart from eachother so they all showed up on the hill at different times instead of together. My stonewall brigade gets there and gets instantly routed because my men we quite literally turning in circles and walking forwards and backwards not getting into line. And then one brigade decided to always move in column formation while on the front line rather than in line formation as i had them set to so i couldnt turn them to face properly.

And then my HQ guys were always seemingly to close to the fighting. Its annoying i was given no way to only move my HQ unit to safer distances or just move them individually as when i click on the HQ guy it just moves my entire division.

Maybe im just missing something. but the tutorial in game did jack all to teach me how movement actually works. Half the time i felt like my units just did what they damn well pleased rather than what i told them to do. Battles feel clunky and unoptimized and is not beginner player friendly at all. especially when the battles play vastly different from other games in the genre.

Was hoping someone could perhaps link me to a good guide on how battles work. I want to like this game but i feel like im going to wind up just auto resolving all my battles which feels like if i do half the game is gone. Maybe its just me not understanding things but the battles feel gross and not smooth.

[CoachMac]

Camon has a very good analysis of the Napoleonic approach for battles.
Worths a read.

[d3mi]

If your coming from the total war series or equivalent RTS genres games. This is going to seem very slow to you. I can only stress that once you understand the nuances of the game, It becomes a lot more rewarding, and a lot more interesting.


First: I would read the manual, it is extremely helpful. You can find it in your installation folder.
Second: begin by familiarizing yourself with Napoleonic warfare. As well, terms like Order of battle or OOB. It is very important in this game to understand who is in command of your troops off the get go. Especially when your dealing with larger armies.
Third: This game has a stiff learning curve, your not gonna get it over night. But if you have experience with the period or military experience you might get it quicker than others.
Fourth: Jump into a few battles to test out your own skills and strategies as you begin to understand the way the game functions and plays.
Fifth: Have fun!

Another thing to also take in is that some of the features in the game are currently not working as well as intended like the readiness system. I would recommend turning it off for the future.

[d3mi]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2329673172

[d3mi]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2206297729

[d3mi]

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2416574025

[Have A Drink On Me]

select Alt to move your commanders without moving their entire organization… to just move the commander - Alt + RMB

[Bibb]

Use individual unit movement orders. If you move units in formations, the AI will mostly mess things up. Badly.

[Jean]

Another tip is not to move to your goal in one manuever/movement order, rather move ahead maybe half a kilometer at a time (depending on how far your goal is).

By moving units into uncharted territory or moving units too impatiently, too close to an enemy position, you will risk units engaging in piecemeal fashion.

[hockey160029]

Originally posted by Jean:

Another tip is not to move to your goal in one manuever/movement order, rather move ahead maybe half a kilometer at a time (depending on how far your goal is).

By moving units into uncharted territory or moving units too impatiently, too close to an enemy position, you will risk units engaging in piecemeal fashion.

On the flip side, your goal as a defender or in a meeting engagement is to do exactly this to your opponent. Catch them in column, engage only a portion of the enemy at a time with as much of your forces as possible.

Many times it makes more sense to let the enemy take the objective and then show him a threatening force to his front while moving most of your forces or some of your most powerful forces to his flank just out of reach of his weapons. Assemble them into battle line and then advance and crush the flank. Of course beware of the frontal demonstrations turning into full blown battles or you will become the next Gen Burnside at Fredericksburg!