New player advice on maneovring to attack

Hi,

I'm playing SOWWL KP mod and think it's brilliant. Really good to watch the AI form up and apply a decent level of logic to your orders at the click of a button. I have a couple of questions though for any long time users who'd be kind enough to answer:

1. When I give the AI movement orders I start of in hold per the manual. When the contact the enemy I let the AI form up and then normally issue a defensive stance to begin the firefight (as I understand probe, attack and allout attack is reserved for attempts to break a weakened opponent). Is it best to amend the movement order at that time to the objective/terrain that you'd like to claim from the enemy that they're currently sat on? Does it matter with how precise you are with the movement destination?

2. The AI even when in full out attack stance can sometimes sit for large amounts of time, even under artillery fire, and not move against the enemy. If this happens is it a reflection of it waiting for artillery to reduce them first or should I reissue the order or TC some units to get things going?

3. Is there any advice for manoevring against cannon and what stance to use with the AI? Cannon can hold down attempts at attack and even on defensive stance the AI can feed individual battalions into their firing line with little chance of success or degradation of the enemy. Does anybody have any tips on how to unlock defensive points like this and how best to use the AI to do so?

Finally if there are any guides floating around please let me know.

Thanks for any responses and for the mod once again.

Welcome to the forum.  I'll try to answer your questions but know that the calculations done by the game engine use quite a few dice rolls and so no guidance will be 100% accurate.  They are more of a general guidance.

1. The stances that officer have determine quite a few behaviors.  Probably the most important from a player's perspective is the action-distance.  The more aggressive the officer stance, the greater the distance to the enemy before the officer decides to attack.  For example, with a Hold at All Costs stance, the brigade commander won't respond to the enemy until it is within, say, 50 yd.  With an All Out Attack stance, the range changes to 1000 yd.  However, these distances are modified by the overall morale of the brigade, the characteristics of the individual officer and the presence/absence of other nearby enemy troops.

So, if you want to maneuver a brigade onto better defensive ground that is close by, I suggest keeping them at a very conservative stance, Hold or Hold at All Costs.  If you want to take some good ground away from the enemy, launch your attack with Probe or Attack.  Keep that stance until you capture the ground and then change the stance to Hold or Hold at All Costs.  BUT be aware, if your brigade has enemy troops close by on the brigade's flanks, your men will quickly fall back unless you face them so as to neutralize the threat.

2. As I explained above, an officer's decision to attack or how energetically to attack is partially/largely governed the officer's own characteristics, Ability, Command, Control, Leadership, Style and Experience.  For example, historically the Austrian officers were very poor in showing any kind of initiative.  If they were ordered to attack, they would delay the attack or not even carry the order out at times.  This behavior is reflected in the KS OOBs.  So, if you are Erzherzog Karl, (Archduke Charles), and you want to launch an attack and be sure it is carried out, you will have to take direct command of the units yourself, (TC them), as he historically had to do.

2 1/2, 3. Attacking a battery is never easy.  The skirmishers that self-detach will do so and can actually cause quite a bit of damage to the battery.  The best way, the way we who play the game several times a week attack a battery is with light or medium cavalry.  Preferably, this is done by a flank attack, but if necessary, it is done head-on at a gallop.  Covering the distance quickly is the key.  However, this maneuver is not always available, so infantry has to be employed.  Since they move much more slowly, this attack should be done via the battery's flank.  Any attack on a battery is difficult early in the battle as they are always well supported by their infantry and sometimes cavalry.

The best advice I can give is to maneuver and attack/defend as was done historically.  The KS mod tries to recreate how battles were fought in the early 19th century.  Modern infantry and armor tactics won't work very well with the mod, unlike the vanilla game.  There is plenty of info online concerning battles of this period.  Old fashion books even exist!

Happy gaming.

Thanks very much for your tips - very useful, I'll be brushing up on my period tactics as well then!

One other question from what you said: the manual says that defend and hold are used to engage the opponent with fire rather than attacking in column looking to close with the bayonet. Is the rhythm of a battle then to initially close with defensive stance to exchange fire and then switch to attack when you see an opening and/or they are worn down or will that use of fire and line formation be done with attack and probe as well?

Typically, once a unit stops to fire, commanders found it nearly impossible to get them moving forward again. That is why assault columns were used in the attack. They move forward to make contact with the enemy as fast as possible. When I launch an attack, I put the brigades on probe or attack and set the brigade's destination to be somewhat behind the enemy line.

This doesn't mean the attack will be successful. If the defenders fire is intense enough, the attacking columns will halt and try to return fire. Again, that is a historic outcome. The point of attack must be weakened first by artillery fire if possible. This was the purpose of assembling a grand battery. Sending along a cavalry reg. or two in support of the infantry is the icing on the cake. Once the cavalry approaches, the defenders will form squares which makes them easy targets for the assaulting infantry. Of course, if the defenders bring their cavalry forward, your infantry will stop and form squares, making them wonderful targets for their artillery.

It's not easy to be a general.

Hi,

Just a quick question :

If I understand well, when a stance is given to a general, he will keep it until I give an order for him to change it.

If the stance of a general is set on neutral, will he change stance/tactics depending on the situation he's facing?
Can he take initiatives?

If the general is not given a stance, only his personal characteristics are used to determine what he will do. If he is defensive by nature, he may not move at all. If he is aggressive, he may attack a near by enemy, but at a much reduced intensity than if he was given an attack stance.