By whose order?

[Amish John]

I was just playing TC2M and ordered my division to form assault columns. After waiting for my scattered brigades to gather in my area I watched with pride as my boys formed the assault columns. It took a good bit of time, but that's to be expected and as it should be in real life. However, just as they were about half done forming the assault columns all of a sudden the whole division just started going off in another direction. What the hell? Then I spotted a lone Confederate regiment off to my right. My whole division decided on it's own to disregard my orders in order to attack this one lone regiment.

I hope we won't have this problem in SOWG.

[Kerflumoxed]

Hi John,

Have noted similar "movements" at times but have always supposed that the supposedly minor threat that was perceived by the effected unit commander to be simply protecting his flanks (or whatever) from a threat, no matter how major or minor it was. Am reminded of the attack/fire directed at Armistead's flank as he reached the renown Stone Wall at GB. Unfortunately for his men, there was no flank support available...and we all know what happened!

J

[Amish John]

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Hi John,

Have noted similar "movements" at times but have always supposed that the supposedly minor threat that was perceived by the effected unit commander to be simply protecting his flanks (or whatever) from a threat, no matter how major or minor it was. Am reminded of the attack/fire directed at Armistead's flank as he reached the renown Stone Wall at GB. Unfortunately for his men, there was no flank support available...and we all know what happened!

J

I understand the concept of protecting your flank but you don't reposition your whole division to protect it from one regiment. I was the division commander and my 4 brigades just can't go off on their own chasing a lone regiment. That's nuts. It's not like the brigades were way off somewhere out of my command sphere. I was right in the area where the division was forming and all the brigades were in my area when they all took off. It would have been nice to get a message from the brigade commander closest to the enemy advising me of the enemy presence so I could decide what to do or have that brigade commander sent a regiment or two to counter the enemy regiment. Hopefully, we're discussing a problem that doesn't exist in SOWG.

[Jim]

AJ, from the sound of this you did not have the division commander TC'd. If you do not have them TC'd then the AI will react to conditions as it sees them. Also, the unit will respond to commands from superior AI officers. This is the system working as it was designed to do and the AI will respond on its own in GB as well.

-Jim

[Amish John]

Jim wrote:

AJ, from the sound of this you did not have the division commander TC'd. If you do not have them TC'd then the AI will react to conditions as it sees them. Also, the unit will respond to commands from superior AI officers. This is the system working as it was designed to do and the AI will respond on its own in GB as well.

-Jim

Jim, no I didn't have the division commander TC'd and I understand because I didn't that the AI will react. The AI reacting is not the problem. The problem is how it reacted by throwing a whole division at a single regiment. If the superior AI officer is telling the whole division to attack the one enemy regiment, I think this AI commander needs to be reassigned to a desk job at the War Department

[O. O. Howard]

I have experienced the same many times. Just recently I sent a division from my reserve (and far from the fighting) down a road to move around the enemy. The commander wasn't TC'd, but there weren't any enemy near and I wanted him to move down the road and then act on his own if the enemy showed up. I was busy looking at other things and only too late realized that my order had apparently been countermanded and the whole division was marching right to the center of the fighting, which was quite distant from what I had assigned.

It is frustrating, but I suppose that kind of thing can happen. At times like that it is easy to imagine what Meade felt like while watching the 3rd corps march out on 2nd July.