Scourge of War Boards

So was the March column use to attack Arty units and to slip thru small gaps in lines every resolved ?? I think Column of company is more of a battle formation than the GAMEY use of MARCH COLUMN.......Imo..


AP514

AP514 wrote:

So was the March column use to attack Arty units and to slip thru small gaps in lines every resolved ?? I think Column of company is more of a battle formation than the GAMEY use of MARCH COLUMN.......Imo..


AP514

Well there's no way to prevent a unit in column from slipping through gaps in lines, but charging while in column formation (and in skirmish too I believe) will be disabled in the final patch. This will prevent the gamey captures of artillery.

Little Powell wrote:

AP514 wrote:

So was the March column use to attack Arty units and to slip thru small gaps in lines every resolved ?? I think Column of company is more of a battle formation than the GAMEY use of MARCH COLUMN.......Imo..


AP514

Well there's no way to prevent a unit in column from slipping through gaps in lines, but charging while in column formation (and in skirmish too I believe) will be disabled in the final patch. This will prevent the gamey captures of artillery.

Matt...was curious how close we might be to the aforementioned "patch"? Will be nice to see this non-historical issue resolved!

Thanks

J

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Little Powell wrote:

AP514 wrote:

So was the March column use to attack Arty units and to slip thru small gaps in lines every resolved ?? I think Column of company is more of a battle formation than the GAMEY use of MARCH COLUMN.......Imo..


AP514

Well there's no way to prevent a unit in column from slipping through gaps in lines, but charging while in column formation (and in skirmish too I believe) will be disabled in the final patch. This will prevent the gamey captures of artillery.

Matt...was curious how close we might be to the aforementioned "patch"? Will be nice to see this non-historical issue resolved!

Thanks

J

I would say pretty close, but there's no way for me to tell for sure. I guess to give you an idea, we were going to release the patch last weekend but more MP bugs reared their ugly heads. So we had to put it off for now. It'll be very soon though.

Now, if charge while in column is disabled, what's to prevent clicking the line formation button and then immediately clicking charge? Is there a delay after changing formation before the button becomes available? If not, this change won't make a difference.

Garnier wrote:

Now, if charge while in column is disabled, what's to prevent clicking the line formation button and then immediately clicking charge? Is there a delay after changing formation before the button becomes available? If not, this change won't make a difference.

Good point, and I noticed this the other day during an MP test. It's still possible to get gamey with it and hit line at the last second. Something we'll look into. Thanks Garnier.

Little Powell wrote:

Garnier wrote:

Now, if charge while in column is disabled, what's to prevent clicking the line formation button and then immediately clicking charge? Is there a delay after changing formation before the button becomes available? If not, this change won't make a difference.

Good point, and I noticed this the other day during an MP test. It's still possible to get gamey with it and hit line at the last second. Something we'll look into. Thanks Garnier.

Yes! Keen observation and many thanks!

J

Arty is already too powerful in my opinion. I fear that if even these semi-column charges that Garnier speaks of are done away with in next patch, it will become all but suicidal for inf to approach or attempt to capture arty - especially if arty is clumped together in mass batteries of 12 or more guns.

X Navy Seal wrote:

Arty is already too powerful in my opinion. I fear that if even these semi-column charges that Garnier speaks of are done away with in next patch, it will become all but suicidal for inf to approach or attempt to capture arty - especially if arty is clumped together in mass batteries of 12 or more guns.

X Navy Seal wrote:

Arty is already too powerful in my opinion. I fear that if even these semi-column charges that Garnier speaks of are done away with in next patch, it will become all but suicidal for inf to approach or attempt to capture arty - especially if arty is clumped together in mass batteries of 12 or more guns.

XNS is still smarting because he resorted to these gamey column charging tactics and still lost!!! :laugh:

On a more serious note though, and I will get back to XNS bashing later, the tactic described of changing into column, moving quickly upto the guns, changing into line and then charging is just as gamey as column charging.

I would recommend the following:

#1 - Tweak the speeds at which different formations can move. Columns more entirely too fast in open field. The should definately get a speed bonus on the roads, but they should have speed decreased and fatigue increased in cross country movement. As it stands now, players do not use the road network because it is just as fast to move brigades cross-country.

#2 - Increase the casualty, fatigue and morale malus on troops in column formation. As it stands now, columns can continue to charge despite being it with 2-3-4 canister shots. In reality, after that 2nd shot, there is no way those troops continue to run up to a battery of guns.

#3 - Increase the fatigue and morale malus for charging units all together. As is stands now, the game speed is a bit off as players continue to charge the same unit one after the other with minimal impact on the units morale and especially the fatigue.

#4 - Add a delay in changing formations by slowing down the speed in which the formation deploys. As it stands now, units move entirely too fast into and out of column/line formation. Slow that down because it is impacting games. What happens is that units are deployed very quickly - sometimes sprinted up to 150 yards of the enemy and switch into line without any negative hits. As a result battle lines can be deployed WAY TOO fast. By slowing down the deployment rate, battles will evolve more naturally, with units moved up and deployed into line much further away and marched up in that formation. Plus, it stops game column charging because if you increase the fatigue/morale/casualty rates, these deployments will need to take place much further away from the battle lines unless the commander is willing to risk the hits.

As for XNS's comments about artillery being too over-powered...

First, it is plain stupidity to charge a line of guns and troops that did so were mowed down. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Second, change your infantry tactics and don't attack head on. Don't punish artillery for being properly deployed by tweaking their striking power to compensate for your lack of skill in handling your troops.

Willard:

You bring up a number of good points. The most salient one being the ease of regiments changing formation while under fire. In tabletop play, there is a moral check before this can be done. If under fire, the odds of being successful are very small. I don't think such a check exists in the game. Also, in tabletop play there is always a moral check for both sides before a melee. I don't think this check exists in the game either.

These are the sort of issues that are going to be discussed for a feature patch that hopefully, will come out later this year. Keep coming up with ideas and observations. They, do get discussed.