Brigade Combat Tutorial

[redcoat]

took me about 8 go's but i won the tutorial in the end.
just get creative and you'll stuff the rebs eventually,fighting against heavy odds with people not doing what they are supposed to? good enough game for me! cheers

[LaissezFaire]

I checked and I have the 1.4 version of the demo installed. Is this not the latest version?

[Little Powell]

That's late enough. There have been a couple beta patches released since then, but 1.4 is the latest major patch.

[Saddletank]

took me about 8 go's but i won the tutorial in the end.
just get creative and you'll stuff the rebs eventually,fighting against heavy odds with people not doing what they are supposed to? good enough game for me! cheers

I don't know that "beating the tutorial" is what LaissezFaire is necessarily writing about. The issue seems to be unrealistic responses by the AI.

I actually agree that at times the AI can seem inept. The games brigadiers all have skill ratings across a number of abilities and you'll definitely see a different response from a Hood than from a Meredith. Its possible that the range of responses is too high, with the ineptness of the most inept officers being too extreme, whereas the highly skilled actions of the best AI tacticians go unnoticed because its what we'd expect (because we have hindsight).

One of the features of the game that you raised, LaissezFaire, was the supply wagon behaviour and this is something I do wish NSD would adjust if they could. The sight of supply wagons wandering about in firefights is one of the weakest elements in a mostly brilliant game. A supply wagon should be coded never to go nearer than 1/4 mile to any visible enemy that its immediate superior officer can see. You'd need to Take Command of them to bring them closer. I'd like to see the "run/gallop" ability of supply wagons removed as well.

[Jack ONeill]

All,

I have to agree with LP. I think a bug HAS arisen within the Brigade Tutorial. With all the talk here, I have gone back and played it 3-4 times. Each time "Meredith" has done something lame, leaving me, (Cutler), to face the Enemy by myself. I don't remember it being this way when I played it in the early days. Meridith always was there in some fashion, fighting.

Jack B)

[LaissezFaire]

I just wanted to let people know that I haven't had any other issues with any other tutorial in the demo. Although not exactly perfect (and I can make allowances for it not being so on purpose), the friendly AI during the Division tutorial acted very logical and effective in making moves that made sense. I am not sure if I did it properly, but I tried to "take command" from the AI at one point, but the AI continued to move regiments around even after I gave them orders (after my orders were carried out; the AI did not interrupt my orders, generally). The Artillery tutorial was pretty simple and the Cavalry tutorial was okay, although it sounds as though some things have changed so that you cannot "run down" the Union guns like you should be able to, based on another thread I read in this forum. Doesn't sound like a big issue, though.

I have to say that I am still wrapping my head around what this game is, and I mean that in a positive way. I wasn't expecting a Total War game, and thankfully SoWGB isn't like those games at all. The units really feel like the large units that existed in real life, and generally the game really gives the impression of an actual Civil War battle. However, I think going in I was expecting something more like an updated version of Sid Meier's Gettysburg, but I think that comparison is mostly superficial. Where SoWGB stands apart from SMG and pretty much every game in the series is that the player doesn't feel like he's in total control; other units act like they have a mind of their own, and I can really see why some other posters here have said this game is more like a "battle simulation" than a traditional wargame. I won't make an argument for why this is a good thing because if you're on these boards I suspect you already know why; at the very least it's refreshing and, at best, it accurately reflects that real life battles aren't just strategists and tacticians moving soldiers on a map like chess players moving pieces on a board.

Long story short, I will probably get this game. The single player campaign as well as the prospect of multiplayer with other human players, I think, makes this two games for the price of one: a simulation with an unpredictable AI as well as a more traditional wargame with unpredictable human allies/opponents. The fact that I have a few lingering reservations, however, means this won't be an immediate purchase, especially since I have a few other games I'd like to get through before I add to my collection, but based on the demo and despite the troubles I had with this specific tutorial this feels like a definite if eventual purchase for me.

That's my two-cent review, anyway!

[Jack ONeill]

L,

Welcome aboard.

Jack B)

[mp_spc4]

I would like to add that when I played the Brigade tutorial Meredith left me to hang while I held the uneven terrain near the area where the tutorial began rather than moving to support Meredith's left. I made the personal decision to say frog it to my orders and skirmished with the advancing Confederates in the woods and let them try and flank me through the cornfield and the rough terrain on my left. The only thing that saved me was spamming Meredith with couriers to support me on my right. Remember, nowhere in the scenario does it say you can't send a courier. He came down with the Iron Brigade like Gabriel smiting Gomorrha and swept up the Confederate's left flank like a used tube of toothpaste. The only regiment I had retreat was the conscript regiment, all the other ones I forced to fall back to create a tactically advantageous positioning of my forces.

I plan on playing the Brigade tutorial again(until I can afford the actual game. ) and seeing what'll go differently. Oh, and what surprised me during the engagement was that one of the Confederate regiments that I thought I routed actually just laid down and hid in the rocks and popped up behind my whole Brigade while I was trading fire to regiments to my front. Those Alabamians really gave it to me for a minute or so!

[BGLaw4SC]

Nice screenshots, LaissezFaire. They really show the flow of battle well.

My advice for you, and I'm only a scrub myself, is to not abandon cover along the road and wait for them to come at you again. Reasons for this:

1) In advancing into the wheatfield you exposed yourself to unanswered fire from the remaining enemy, and increased the fatigue of your troops unnecessarily.

2) Try to avoid moving too much. Find good defensive ground and only advance to other good defensive ground after reconaissance shows that there is no enemy present nearby with the capability to "surprise" you in the middle of your relocation. Officers can help check things out as long as you don't let them get too close to the enemy. IRL this is known as the leader's recon.

Murphy's law rears its ugly head quite often in this game. You often find what you think you know about the situation, you don't.

Some scenarios are a breeze. Some scenarios will thwart you at every turn. Which makes it all the more satisfying when you finally find a way to deal with them.

Get the game. You won't regret it.

[Tac]

One of the issues I've noticed with the ai in my short time playing is that it doesn't seem very flexible, or able to compute and readjust on the fly. By that I mean the AI will lock onto one target and stay on that target no matter what. For instance, one rebel brigade marched past and did not engage with my union brigade. Instead of repositioning or picking a wiser target they continued to assault the same brigade as they went past and exposed their back to 3 other rebel brigades in the process. Not a wise move and certainly 0 benefit to what the AI decided to do. The rebel brigade that marched past was going after an obj, union support was in the rear, and the three other brigades it exposed its flanks to were visible within range and clearly ready to fight. With order delays the friendly ai need be more competent than that.

There's bad tactical decisions, which I'm glad to see that the AI makes and the player is forced to deal with.. then there are decisions that would never happen in real life. Hopefully the latter is addressed. Also, there's still the major pathing issue for couriers as well.

With that said the good still far outweighs the "bad", and this is still my favorite rts and I've played them all. Kudos to the devs.