I finally grabbed it the other day. Boy, do I suck. Two battles in and I’m about to lose my commission.
This released today.
That’s great! Ultimate General really hits the sweet spot for me – tactically interesting without overtaxing my feeble brain.
Oh nice! I picked it up over 4th of July, but haven’t gotten a chance to dig in yet.
So yeah, this is crashing on startup for me every time. Patch .90 did not do this.
I fucking hate Unity.
Reinstall directx?
This is amazing guys.
It basically fixes every issue I had with UG: Gettysburg, and throws a cool light weight management and economy layer on top of it so conservation of forces is fundamental.
It’s also polished as hell.
Except for the linear campaign, this is what I want my historical total wars games to be in terms of functionality, detail and need of micro. Battles play fast enough but not too fast, lines collapse in believable fashion and casualty levels seem realistic. Yet it is a blast to play with over 30 units and not feeling overwhelmed.
The low points are the aforementioned campaign, that could use some branching (but on the other hand, being linear, it manages to be MASSIVE, which is a plus). But basically you can wear down the enemy army battle to battle, but that does not seem to affect which battle you go to afterwards, nor does winning or losing battles, I think (winning or losing gives bonuses and minuses to both armies).
The other moment it does not shine is when you overperform in the field and receive scripted orders that are not relevant to the situation. I had this battle in which the Confederate forces attacked my army (that was ready fro an attack). I managed to turn the flank on the attack and roll over their forces, but the mission objectives kept changing and telling me to retreat and defend. By the end of the day I had the few remaining Confederate forces in a pocket, about to collapse. And the next day it was a defensive mission, a continuation of the supposed desperate defense of the previous day. Except the enemy army was so mauled that during the whole battle they did not attack and instead the battle was over in 5 minutes, fast forwarded, and without my “defending” units firing a single shot.
But the rest of the game is so fantastic I can overlook these, I think!
I could get really fired up by your enthusiasm, but my brain does a needle scratch sound effect when I read this:
I really liked what little I saw when was in early access, but I don’t know that I have it in me to play an RTS that’s just a sequence of canned missions. Especially if they’re as inflexible as you make them sound. :(
-Tom
It’s not that bad. The fact that enemy army strength is persistent battle to battle probably makes the battles themselves very different. In one battle I was supposed to be outnumbered, but the enemy could field enough guys and I had the advantage. the opposite also happened to me. Also, successes in one battle give you resources to stock on troops and weapons (your army is also persisten to the exact man and gun) and bonuses or minuses to following battles.
I say give it a go!
Any tips for getting through the first mission as the US? I’ve tried playing through it a couple of times on the middle difficulty level and just haven’t been able to get through the first part with enough troops left to avoid getting rolled over in the second part. Am I meant to play as the CSA first? A timed mission that requires a bridge assault into an urban environment is not exactly a gentle introduction to the game.
So the key to busting the bridge positions is to charge with multiple units and try to strip away supporting units. Multiple units have a huge bonus in melee against singletons so you should be looking to do that when your opponent is in cover. Both of the bridges have a decent defensive position but I recomment busting the southmost one by bringing up your artillery to case shot range, spending a couple minutes weakening the brigade there and then charging it with two or three of your own. Make sure there are no enemy brigades to shoot into the melee and focus on getting into their city and cover once you get across. The key to attacking in this game is finding places where you can be in cover close to where they’re defending, and if that’s not possible, to find places where the enemy brigades don’t have support so you can charge them. Situations where walls are present are a good indicator of this as the AI is very reluctant to leave such defensive positions.
The CSA introductory mission is no picnic, either. For whatever reason, the devs decided that new players should experience a baptism of fire.
A few thoughts on the first U.S. mission:
To drive away the enemy brigade on the west side of the river, make sure you’re delivering simultaneous fire from multiple directions, including both infantry brigades and skirmishers. That will drive out the enemy as quickly as possible, which means he’ll spent less time shooting back at your guys.
To soften up the brigade covering the bridge, get your artillery as close as possible and give them some time, as Panzeh noted.
During the subsequent town defense, dismount your cavalry – their mobility isn’t important, and they’ll be less vulnerable dismounted. Keep your artillery in the center of town, where they’ll be in a good position to fire on the armored train that shows up. Keep a brigade in reserve, and position them behind the enemy’s most likely point of assault. There’s no friendly fire, so when one of your brigades takes a charge and is caught up in melee, the reserve can pour in fire from the second rank.
When your reinforcements finally appear, have them run into town. This isn’t a good idea in general – in most battles, you want reinforcements to be relatively fresh when they start fighting, even if it means a longer wait. But in this battle, the town defense is so tenuous that it’s more important to get some warm bodies on site as quickly as possible.
So, I bought this game nearly a year ago, and only just last week started playing it. Holy cow, do I ever regret waiting so long.
This is such a well made strategy game that I was a bit surprised. The graphics are just good enough, but the campaign system is where it really shines. It loosely drags you along the path of the Civil War, but there are a host of side-missions that aren’t historical in nature. Winning these missions bestows upon you more money and recruits, but also impacts the main campaign by reducing enemy army size, or decreasing weapon quality or troop training. Losing them costs you precious resources and reputation.
Each battle is also loosely connected. Destroy the AI in one battle and enjoy seeing their ravaged brigades show up in the next. Likewise, you might think you’re overpowered, then you do a side mission where the AI surprises you with extra troops, bloodying you up so that you don’t have as many troops and resources for your next fight. I imagine on the harder difficulties you really have to pick and choose which battles to participate in.
The campaign mechanics are also just fun. Recruiting brigades, assigning commanders to the brigade, division or corps. Capturing weapons from battle outfitting units. Brigades also gain experience which gives them bonuses (+morale, +speed, +accuracy, +ammo, etc.) - but when they are depleted from battle there is a simple, but clever system of reinforcement. You can either reinforce with veterans or rookies. Rookies don’t cost anything except manpower (unless you have to buy them weapons), but doing so reduces the effectiveness of the brigade as a whole. Enough rookies will also level the entire brigade down so that they can not longer utilize their previously earned bonuses. Veterans allow you to keep the effectiveness and the bonuses, but they cost a crap-ton of money to recruit. Really forces you to balance your army.
The AI is also fairly decent. On occasion it will do something truly stupid… usually on a mission where the AI is supposed to attack and take an objective, but where it is badly outnumbered… the calculations will know that it is outnumbered and won’t attack, and will instead just stand in artillery range. Still, compared to Total War or Civ or most strategy games, it is very good. It scouts, it attempts to flank, it will move cavalry behind my lines and raid artillery and supplies.
Last night I was playing as the Union on Chickamauga. I had a long, map-spanning front line, with a huge number of reinforcements coming in. I was feeling pretty cocky, as I thought I had pinned down the main CSA force at a reinforced position that they weren’t going to breach (my left flank). My center was a little weak, but I had forces arrayed defensively in a forest across from a creek. The center protected two objectives. I had 2 brigades slowly making their way to be in reserve at the center location. Light gunfire is exchanged at that location for the first 1/3 of the battle, but nothing threatening. Suddenly, out of the blue a massive force of CSA troops and artillery appears and drives my brigades back. They blast through the center of my line with 5 or 6 brigades. Half their troops begin to roll my flank (my previous unbreachable location) while the other half starting pushing their objectives. I start running skirmishers from around the map to try and slow their advance, and any reserve brigade is sent running to the middle. Meanwhile, CSA cavalry is trying to seize unprotected objectives behind my lines. Eventually, I successfully push the CSA back out and plug the hole, but it cost me dearly. I was super impressed that the AI pinned my strongest position, then used the forest to hide a mass of troops that they then used to smash my line at the weakest point.
There are also some nice mechanics with moving troops around the map. Grab a division or a corp, then draw their alignment with the right mouse button. Or grab a single brigade and you can click with the left mouse and draw a line on the map directing their movements precisely. Supplies, that you pay for before battle, are required to keep the troops stocked up throughout the battle, so you have to move them around the map via wagon train, being mindful of enemy cavalry… and also doing the same to your enemy.
There are a few quibbles I have with the interface - like reinforcing your brigades in-between battles can be tedious, and it is impossible to simply moving commanders between units (as far as i can tell). I also wish it has better mod support because there is a good foundation here that could be expanded upon.
Anyway, I really enjoy this, and find it mostly superior to the Total War series. Thought I would share!
It is very very good indeed!
I don’t think it’s superior to Total War, specially in light of Three Knigdoms, but it is excellent.
My only gripe with it is that there’s no real branching in the campaign. You end up fighting the same battles pretty much every play through, although there are a LOT of consequences carried over battle to battle. But more branching into what if scenarios would have made the game perfect, imho.
It’s also pretty much a wargamer’s game. With a lot of interesting stuff being modeled and a flow that feels credible enough and avoids silly situations.
I suggest playing in some of the hardest difficulties, where you need to really preserve your strength.
Also, upgrading guns on some select brigades can really pay off.
I’m so glad to hear that you discovered Ultimate General! It remains a favorite of mine.
I hear you about the branching campaign missions - but I think it is the same issue you face with any Civil War game. People want to play the the major battles - Antietam, Gettysburg, Bull Run, etc. - so to get you there, they have to manipulate the flow of the campaign. I do wish they had included more of the Western theater. It is always underappreciated in media. Vicksburg isn’t included, and it is arguably the most important battle of the war!
I would love a more sandbox-like campaign for sure. It would be awesome to have an EU4-like alternative history structure, but remove it from the rails.
I admit that I haven’t played Total War since Rome 2 because I had kind of gotten fed-up with bugs. I will have to go back and look at the latest iterations.
Three Knigdoms is arguably the best Total War has ever been. Somewhat different with the hero units, but wonderful.
As for the sandbox-like campaign here… I suspect the AI is that good because the battles are -regenerated and certain tactics pre-scripted. I would be happy with a Panzer General style branching campaign. You could even force events to make sure some battles happened very frequently…
Good point. It is why I wish Darth had released the modding tools. Ironic, considering his fame is from modding Total War - but the suite of modding tools might have given us more campaign options.
Still, the campaign as it exists today is quite large, if still somewhat linear.
Three Knigdoms is arguably the best Total War has ever been. Somewhat different with the hero units, but wonderful.
I keep hearing that on every TW game. I end up buying them and the old Talking Heads phrase comes roaring back up - “Same as it ever was”.
As for Ultimate General: Civil War, I am glad someone else is enjoying it. I have not revisited it much since my post a couple of years ago but I remember this one fondly. A true sandbox campaign would be great for the Civil War with AI-generated armies and battlefields but I think UG:CW (as-is) is one of the best-kept wargaming secrets of the past decade.
Ok, what about: the best since Shogun 2 and arguably better than Shogun 2?
So far for me Shogun 2 was the peak of the series. Not anymore.