Useful Information [from old GCM forum]

[mike1984]

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Useful Information
Post by seal » September 28th, 2012, 12:40 am

This list is non-exhaustive and in no particular order and probably overlaps with what has been posted elsewhere:

1) Terrain: terrain features are everything in GCM and are definitely more critical than in SP because your opponent knows what you know, and thinks how you think, and if you do not take advantage of the terrain features that provide the various defensive bonuses – then they will take advantage of these features to a much greater degree than the AI. Walls, the Sunken Rd on Antietam, and breastworks on Culp’s Hill provide the best cover. Fences and woods provide about the same level of cover in GCM and are next in line. As much as possible try to form your battle-line to adhere to one of these terrain features – particularly if the enemy is out in the open. And if you attacking, do not frontally assault an enemy on one of these features (particularly walls) unless the situation is dire, you have an experience or numerical advantage, or the enemy that is situated on the wall or fence is about to be flanked. Also, get used to toggling the “T” button regularly in game as this toggles the terrain features on/off, allows you greater visibility when it is off, and ensures you are taking full advantage of the terrain features when on.

2) Flanking: as you probably know by now, flanking is the entire key to Civil War combat. If at all possible, this should be your goal in every battle because it will allow you to rout the enemy and drive them from the field in the most efficient and least damaging manner to your own troops. In order to accomplish this, the key is to have forces pinning the enemy to their front while you move forces along to their side to shoot into the exposed portion of their line. Flanking fire is probably even more devastating in the GCM than in SP and it is very rare for a regiment or brigade to be able to withstand it for very long before they break.

3) Arty: artillery is much different than in SP but can still be an effective tool if used properly. There are a couple of things you need to remember. Solid shot is the only type of ammunition that consistently damages the enemy infantry; counter battery fire is basically obsolete so you usually only would want to target enemy infantry; and you should not, unless the situation is dire, place your guns on the front line. The optimal place for your guns is 300-500 yards behind your lines – preferably on some elevated terrain with good fields of fire and, if possible, as close to the flank of the enemy as possible – so that you can take advantage of enfilade fire. You probably also want to leave your supply wagon close to your batteries because they are more likely to run out of solid shot over the course of a battle than your infantry is to run out of bullets – and, depending on the host, supply wagons can move very slow in the GCM. Ask Willard for more detailed information on this as he is the official arty guru around here.

4) Rifle Ranges: this is another major change. In SP, rifle ranges are 160 yds while in the GCM they are currently set at 200. You can focus an enormous amount of infantry fire on only a few exposed regiments of the enemy – if your infantry is carefully and meticulously placed. See MJP or Soldier about this.

5) Roads / LOS / Scouting: roads are your best friends in GCM because the troop speed on them has been increased substantially. This means that even if a road is not the most direct route to your destination it is probably still the route that you would want to take. Roads, particularly roads through woods, can also be used as an effective tool for flanking because you can transport a large amount of troops in a relatively quick and undetected manner wide around the flank of the enemy and then come crashing down on them like Jackson at Chancellorsville. Changes in the line of sight have helped in this. Norbsoft restricted the line of sight a couple of patches ago which has made it much more difficult to detect enemy troops – particularly if they are in cover – until they are literally right in your face. So a couple of things. Whenever you are marching toward the battle try to do so in as much cover as possible. Pay close attention to the toolbar near your compass at the bottom of the screen to see if there is a binocular icon there. If there is a binocular icon, then you have been spotted by the enemy. If there is not, than you are still undetected. Conversely, if you are the one on defense, and you see a dark and foreboding wood off to your flank, it might be in your best interest to send some skirmishers and/or a commander into those woods to do some scouting. That reminds me: there is a scouting house rule where you are not allowed to move your leader any further than 200 yds from any friendly troops (not just troops from your division).

6) Charging: charging is no longer very effective in GCM because of a variety of changes – the most damaging, in my opinion, being the extended melee time and the fatigue penalties of melee. The extended melee time will prevent you from breaking the enemy line in a timely manner and will likely result in the enemy rushing reinforcements to the scene to support your initial target before you can do away with them. The fatigue penalty will prevent your troops from melee-ing with one enemy regiment after another. In the old days, it was possible to concentrate an immense amount of force on one point of the enemy line, quickly break them at that vulnerable point, and then repeat as necessary once the enemy line had been breached. Now – charging should not be attempted unless it is an absolute emergency (such as when you need an obj toward the end of the game) or you hold a vast numerical advantage and the enemy you are attacking has no support in sight. A couple of things need to be remembered. You will need to get used to moving your regiments in attack column (which is this weird turtle-like formation) that is located under road column on your tool bar at the bottom of the screen. When you come within 300 yds of the enemy, you will want to switch to attack column (not just for when you are charging but for when you are moving generally) because road column has been slowed down substantially within 300 yds. Plus, road column is more vulnerable to artillery fire that can sweep down your ranks causing up to 20-30 casualties a solid shot. As defender, to counter a mass charge, especially if you are outnumbered, it is oftent best to just retreat. Basically, fire at the enemy till they get in your face and then run away. This will form a bulge in your line that will envelop them, and then you can fire into their flanks. Basically, it is no longer very wise to engage in a melee under any circumstances, whether as the attacker or the defender.

7) Casualty management / relinquish obj: keep a close eye on your casualties, and if a large disparity starts to form between what you are taking and what you are inflicting, then adjust your position. The way victories are currently calculated takes into account both casualty points and objectives so it is not in your best interest (or your team’s best interest) for you to hold an objective to the last man – if the points you will lose from having your division destroyed are not equal to the points your will gain from holding the objective. So … do not be afraid to fall back and relinquish objectives as necessary. You can always counter-attack later when you have been reinforced. Also, you will find that you will get more experienced troops faster the more casualties you inflict and the less you take … and then this is like a rolling ball because once your regiments get some experience they will dish out casualties in a much quicker and deadly manner, and then get even more experience.

8) TC’ing Regs: taking command of regiments is absolutely imperative for GCM. The take command button is the little flag on the right side of your toolbar at the bottom of your screen. When the flag is colored yellow, then you, and not the AI, are in command of the particular leader or regiment. Players have differing views on how to use TC-ing units so some may disagree with me here. But this is my view: at the very start of the battle TC all of your brigade commanders and artillery commanders and move them where you want them to go. At this point, leave all of your regiments un-TC’d. Once you get the brigades in line, or close to the line, however, then reverse the process. That is, Un-TC the brigade commander (so he will run around and provide support to the various units under fire) and TC the regiments so you can micromanage them. Occasionally, you may want to even Un-TC the regiments because they will adjust themselves to the most effective firing position. If you do Un-TC them, though, keep an eye on them because once they are done with one enemy target who has been driven off they might start to do things you do not want them to do – such as run out in front of the lines. The individual guns for Arty batteries should never be TC’d unless you need to separate them to hold an objective. Always leave Arty commanders TC’d.

9) Reserve of army / Reserve for div (resting regs): as a new player, you will start out in GCM with only one brigade of relatively inexperienced troops. After 2-4 battles, regardless of the outcome of those battles, you will gain another brigade and probably some artillery. So, at the start, it is critical that you stay close to the rest of the army (preferably in the center of the line where you are within easy distance of support). This will also avoid the common situation where one of the more veteran players on the other side with a massive division sees you out there on your own and decides to welcome you to the GCM by pouncing on you. Also, as Garnier has mentioned, regularly rest your regiments – particularly if they have taken substantial casualties or their morale begins to slip below half. They will be much more effective this way. Thus, it is usually wise to keep as many regiments as possible in reserve so that they can be rotated into and out of the line as necessary. Of course, it is not always possible to keep a reserve because even the most advanced player here will rarely bring more than 4500 troops to the fight – and sometimes all those troops are necessary for the fight.

10) Managing Divisions / Reinforcements: talk to Soldier, MJP, or Barlow about this. There is a whole science as to how to select the regiments that you wish to bring to the battle – which I still do not completely understand. Generally, I bring all of mine regardless of either their casualties or experience so I am not the person to talk to. As far as reinforcing your division, it is best to set that level at around 500-600 (although this might vary depending on how often you play). The thing to remember here is: the lower you set the reinforcement level, the more experienced your troops will be because the regiments will not be diluted by green reinforcements. However, a happy medium must be struck because having a Stonewall Brigade of 100 men experience level 6’s will likely be destroyed by a brigade of 500 men experience level 3’s. Generally, your goal should be to get 3 brigades with an average regiment size of 400-500 men with an experience level of 4 or 5. Then you will be able to go toe to toe with anyone in the game.

11) Chain of command: there really isn’t any chain of command in GCM, and that is one of the reasons that I think that it has existed for so long while other SOW campaigns have fallen by the wayside. It is like a democracy. Everyone has their own input in strategy and troop placement, and as the battle unfolds they are adjusted accordingly. If you do not like a suggestion that some other player is telling you to do, then tell them that – but also tell them both why you do not like it and what you plan to do differently. As a new player, however, it is probably both in your best interest and the team’s best interest to follow the advice of the veteran players. The veteran players care about nothing more than winning the battle, and they will know how your division can be employed most effectively to accomplish that.

12) Restricted sight: we play with a 200 yard restricted sight which might take some getting used to. In contrast to SP, you cannot travel and scan all over the map like some supernatural entity. However, because you will rarely, if ever, bring more than 4500 troops to the field this restricted sight is entirely do-able.

kg sspoom » September 28th, 2012, 2:12 am

13) Under no circumstances get caught alone unsupported early in the game. Do not engage the enemy without support. No victory location or terrain is worth getting your division mauled early. If caught alone at the start march to your teammates and away from the enemy.

14) Learn the fighting withdrawl. Learn how to disengage in a hurry, basic things like TCing individual regiments and giving them formation commands and distant waypoints. If necessary 1 regiment can buy a lot of time for the rest to get away.

15) Once your initial division commands are given at the start of a battle(or before if you prefer) TC ALL Brigade commanders and battery commanders. They will wander off on their own if left to their own devices.

kg soldier » October 30th, 2012, 7:19 pm

16) Once you make contact with the enemy, stop giving brigade movement commands and start moving each of your regiments individually.

Defense: As I approach a destination, I will individually order my regiments to where I want them (on the fence, near the edge of the woods, etc.), even if there are no enemies in sight. In order to be an effective defensive force, regiments should be slightly overlapped. You shouldn't stack them all on top of each other (bad form), but there's nothing wrong with compacting your lines and getting the maximum firepower you can from your brigade/brigades.

Attack: Learning to move your regiments as a single unit (without using brigade commands) is paramount to mastering the attack. If you move regiments into firing range one at a time, they will get shot up big time. You need to bring several regiments into firing position (preferably against only one or two enemy regiments) almost simultaneously. The key is giving short movement orders to each regiment and watching them until they get a target and then stop them. The skill is doing this for several regiments at a time. Give each a short move order (to a spot you think is in range) and then watch the lead unit until it gets los; then move to the next and stop it when it gets los, and so forth.

Comrade Chernov » October 31st, 2012, 2:30 am

17) This has to do with what Soldier was talking about in maneuvering Regiments. When deploying off of the Road, and into Battle formation, I find it's best to start moving your men off the road further back from the enemy (around 350-500 yards from the closest enemy Infantry regiment), TC your regiments, form them into attack columns, and - if no enemy Artillery is firing on you - mass them in a spot with your Division/Corps commander (whichever has the camera centered on it) behind them. That way they'll all be close together and accounted for, and you have enough room to maneuver your men into position before you're engaged with the enemy.

I, personally, am used to being able to issue orders to multiple units at once because I've been playing Total War the past 4-5 years of my life...but this is the closest thing I can think of, personally.

Matt » March 23rd, 2013, 10:50 pm

18) Though the days of what Seal refers to as the "Mass Charge" are over in the sense as to how he is referring to it, charging can still be an effective tool. For example, when facing a numerically inferior enemy who holds a terrain advantange over you, you can charge his position to drive him off it. So let's say there are 4 regiments defending a stone wall and you have 6 or 7 regiments facing them. Often times you won't win a firefight even with the numerical superiority. However, putting those regiments in assault column and driving them at the wall will usually cause the defending player to fall back off the position for fear of being melee'ed at a disadvantage. So charges to take ground not necessarily engage in a melee are a method by which you can break a deadlock where you are otherwise losing a firefight or when you don't have time to stand and trade fire.

19) Keep your line of battle straight when on the defensive. If you have bends in your line such as a refused flank, the corners are extremely vulnerable because the attacker can put 3-4 regiments firing at your corner regiment simply because his lines are longer. If you get caught with a "corner" in a your line, experienced players will chew you up. Before stacking was removed, this was deadly. Even with no stacking in the current GCM, mathematically, the person on the outside of the curve has a longer line and can still deploy 2-3 times more firepower at the angle in the line. In addition, when setting up a defensive line deep in woods, it can be sometimes be effective to have a concave line (i..e. the center deeper back then the ends of the line). This can sometimes cause the attacker to advance himself into a "corner" of your making as he tries to come to contact with your regiments and it allows you to have a longer frontage (i.e. more regiments firing) over the same space.

by Willard » March 5th, 2015, 4:06 pm

I think the key point is for each player to honestly assess, understand and play within your limitations but maximize your abilities.

English » April 11th, 2015, 11:36 pm

Don't confine yourself to roads all the time. Though they are faster, they may not be the fastest, or the best. Sometimes, a direct approach over open ground will serve one's purpose better than an elongated path using roads.

[KG_Soldier]

Don't fight from the edge of the woods on defense.

If the enemy has guns targeting your regiments in the woods and your guns do not have line of sight on attacking regiments in the open, FALL BACK deep enough into the woods so that the enemy guns cannot shoot at your boys.

Artillery support trumps woods defense. You will lose those firefights more often than not.

I almost never set a line near the edge of a wood. Always watch for the binocular symbol.

Set your line and wait for the enemy to come into the woods and in range.

[mike1984]

Rushing to the objectives isn't always the best strategy. In fact, it usually gets a team into more trouble than it's worth in objective points. In standard GCM games, where there are multiple objectives worth between 15-20% and most of the points are awarded in the last 30 minutes, holding an objective early does very little for your team's chances of victory.

You're better off taking a minute or two, coordinated some sort of plan with the rest of your team, then marching your division in a direction that will concentrate the army (or at least your corps) before concerning yourself with getting to the objective. Often, the army that's concentrated early will be able to maul part of the opposing army. If you can essentially destroy an enemy division, eliminating it from any real participation the rest of the game, that's an enormous benefit later in the game once the armies become worn down and every regiment is needed.

The same goes for your division. That's why sspoom made the point about not being isolated early in the game. You don't want to be on the receiving end of a concentrated attack by the enemy. It's not much fun losing most of your division in the first 30 minutes, then only sitting around with a handful of usable regiments for the next hour of battle.

[KG_Soldier]

For God's sake don't be aggressive when you're not supported.

See the left flank of the rebels in this replay:

http://www.sowmp.com/gcm/battles/battle/48089

[mike1984]

There's nothing wrong with taking just a few regiments (3-4) and NO GUNS before you're more experienced at unit management. Guns are a pain in the ass for even experienced players who know how to use them well. You're much better off becoming 100% fluent at infantry command, then slowly bring in some guns (2-4 guns, max.).

There's no set number of battles before one is "experienced," because it also depends on things like frequency of play. So if you play 10 battles in 6 days, you'll get the hang of things much more than someone who plays 10 battles in 6 weeks.

But a big one is to take a small brigade (3-4 regiments) and leave the artillery at home. Become a master at TC'ing and micromanaging your infantry before anything else.

[Mark]

One of the main points I can add is pay attention to the binoculars! Always check whether your forces are in the enemy's line of sight. Set your battleline far enough back in the woods, for example, that you cannot be spotted and shot by the enemy's artillery. Soldier describes this well above.

However, what separates a superior general from an average one, in my opinion, is artillery placement and prevention. Even in open fields you should use the shift key to scout the terrain. You will almost certainly be able to find nips and creases. Hide your infantry there! Do not send them out until your batteries are under threat. A lot of GCM generals simply lose their minds when faced with a well positioned gun line: adapt your infantry lines accordingly.

Also, when practicable in woods fighting I try and advance a brigade in line to make contact with the enemy. I try, again when practicable, to position my second brigade at an angle behind my first brigade. Then I retreat my first brigade. If the enemy follows I roll up their flank. This is a particularly good tactic for fighting in large woodlots. If you are playing with fog of war activated the enemy can never really get a good handle on your size and strength.

When in doubt.... ATTACK!

[johnd5555]

Mark... you refer to "shift key" scoouting of terrain....can you elaborate ? I don't know this technique.

[Mark]

Simply hold Shift and it will bring you down to the lowest level of observation. Then scan the terrain. You will see where the defilade positions are located. You can easily hide whole brigades out of sight of the enemy in what would appear to be open terrain.

[KG_Soldier]

oops, double post.

[KG_Soldier]

Or just use the mouse wheel.