regimental commands

[Bismark776]

There are a few things in TC2M that involved how you order regiments around that I was wondering if they'll be the same in Gettysburg. The biggest one is the fact that when, at the brigade commander level, you order your regiments into a brigade level formation, they immediately change there regimental formation. If there was a way to order units to change formation only upon reaching their position then that would be great. That way you could order your brigade to form a line but ensure that they'd advance to those positions in column.

The second issue I've had is that it is very difficult to tell exactly which unit a regiment will charge if you issue the charge command. Sometimes my regiment charges a battery and only takes one of the guns before stopping. Then I order another charge to take the other guns but my regiment chooses some other enemy regiment to target instead. This can be pretty frustrating.

[Little Powell]

Bismark776 wrote:

There are a few things in TC2M that involved how you order regiments around that I was wondering if they'll be the same in Gettysburg. The biggest one is the fact that when, at the brigade commander level, you order your regiments into a brigade level formation, they immediately change there regimental formation. If there was a way to order units to change formation only upon reaching their position then that would be great. That way you could order your brigade to form a line but ensure that they'd advance to those positions in column.

The second issue I've had is that it is very difficult to tell exactly which unit a regiment will charge if you issue the charge command. Sometimes my regiment charges a battery and only takes one of the guns before stopping. Then I order another charge to take the other guns but my regiment chooses some other enemy regiment to target instead. This can be pretty frustrating.

As far as your first question goes, I will have to check this out when I get home because to be honest, I've never paid much attention to it. I think regiments will march in whichever brigade level formation you give them. For example, if you order them to line up in line formation behind a fence, they will march in line formation to get there. Again, I might be wrong about this, but I will check later. There are several more cool formation options though, but it's not my place to spoil them..

Second question, it has been requested to have a "choose charge target" function to avoid the problem you've described, but I'm not sure if it will happen or not. As Norb has stated; there are features that may not be in the initial release, but will probably be in a patch or later release.

[civilwarbuff123]

I believe Bismark is right about the whole brigade formations thing. I have noticed before that units in a brigade will begin to march to the ordered location in line formation.

[Amish John]

Another thing that bothered me about formations was that when an infantry brigade was marching along a road in column and then halted, the column would halt in a perfectly straight line even if the road they were on wasn't straight. So while the first regiment in the column would be halted on the road (or at least part of the first regiment), the subsequent regiments may end up in the woods or fields or swamps when halted. It would be nice if everyone could stay on the road when the brigade halted.

[estabu2]

Amish John, them boys need to start their fires to eat some grub!!!

[Hancock the Superb]

I hear a lot of complaining about line formation. I have news for you. Most civil war unit marched in line formation anywhere on the battlefield. You would need a half a mile walk to get the commander to advance in column, and if that regiment was advancing to the enemy, it would go in line formation because shells and whatnot would take out too many men in column formation. So, I believe that regiments should be ordered to march in line unless they were 500 yards away from the enemy. It might be slower, but fewer men were lost.

[Amish John]

Hancock the Superb wrote:

I hear a lot of complaining about line formation. I have news for you. Most civil war unit marched in line formation anywhere on the battlefield. You would need a half a mile walk to get the commander to advance in column, and if that regiment was advancing to the enemy, it would go in line formation because shells and whatnot would take out too many men in column formation. So, I believe that regiments should be ordered to march in line unless they were 500 yards away from the enemy. It might be slower, but fewer men were lost.

Historically that may be true. However, since we will be in command, we have the option when to deploy even if it isn't historically correct or not a smart move. All I think Bismark is asking is that he wants to be able to designate a point on the battlefield where he wants his brigade deployed in battleline, have them march there in column, and not have any of the regiments deploy into line until they each reach that initially designated spot. He wants to be able to tell them when he is giving them their initial destination point that they are to deploy at their destination and not have them all start deploying into battleline as soon as the first unit reaches the designated point. Bismark, am I interpreting your request correctly?

[Amish John]

estabu2 wrote:

Amish John, them boys need to start their fires to eat some grub!!!

Yeah, but they need to do that at the side of the road when the brigade halts, not 200 yards deep into the woods. They'll get poison ivy and ticks.

By the way, wouldn't that be great to see when a unit stops there would be a command to let them boil coffee. We'd see all the sprites gathering wood and grouped around little fires. Not bloody likey.

[Little Powell]

Amish John wrote:

estabu2 wrote:

Amish John, them boys need to start their fires to eat some grub!!!

By the way, wouldn't that be great to see when a unit stops there would be a command to let them boil coffee. We'd see all the sprites gathering wood and grouped around little fires. Not bloody likey.

Yeah! There could be a little coffee cup button on the tool bar. When clicked, the commander yells out "at ease boys" and the camp fires ignite.. :laugh:

The benefit; the units fatigue level goes down faster. The downside; they are more vulnerable and take longer to get into attack formation. :laugh:

[Hancock the Superb]

Perfect!