Ultimate General: Gettysburg
When considering one's tactical positioning in Ultimate General, there not a more critical feature than cover. In both Gettysburg and Civil War, every possible location is assigned a cover value based on its features, whether a farmhouse or an orchard. When a brigade stands at rest or passes through, Ultimate General awards it a temporary cover value. Rated 0 to 100, copious cover will allow a brigade to withstand ferocious enemy fire, shielding the unit's morale and men from depletion, while minimal cover risks lives and material.
In Ultimate General: Gettysburg,
cover is based on features like houses, towns, forests, walls, wheat
fields, and rock formations. The cover values assigned to these
locales reflect the common sense results a player would expect.
Sometimes the player might encounter difficulty positioning their
forces just so on a feature (especially narrow stone walls) to
acquire the benefit of the cover, but overall the system works well.
Ultimate General: Civil War
took the same mechanic and tries to improve it. The developer added
two new features, fortifications and deployment areas.
Fortifications come in two varieties, raised forts and makeshift
walls at key junctures. Both, one assumes, provide the best
protection to defending forces. Yet, this is not so. In Civil
War forests offer a cover value between 50 to 100 depending on
how a brigade is positioned and how dense the forest is. Yet, forts
are not guaranteed to provide this quality of protection.
Fortifications never provide as little as 50 cover, but rarely do
they ensure 100. Instead, a value of 85 to 90 can be expected,
though there are forts with a value as low as 72. Nor do massive
raised earth, wood, and dirt forts provide the protection they
deserve. These behemoths don't seem to offer any additional shelter
against rifles, artillery or bayonet charges. A particularly
egregious example which combines both these flaws was evident in a
raised artillery fortification. Not only did the fort provide a
unremarkable 87 cover (remember: forests with 100), but it was
overrun by a frontal cavalry charge. The enemy rode right up the
sheer embankments and over the wooden palisade, men, horses, carbines
and all.
In a curious case, halfway through
Civil War, buildings began to lose their passive cover bonus.
Instead, Civil War introduces a new mechanic which applies to
fortifications, walls, buildings, and farmyards: the deployed
position. Seeking to address the fiddly aspect of perfect
positioning required in Gettysburg,
Civil War eased the uncertainty of deployment. To
deploy a brigade into a locale, the player needs to select the
brigade and then click the location button which appears. While this
solves one problem, it spawned another.
While flanking fire was an effect
tactic in Gettysburg, the impact on morale was intensified in
Civil War. Any brigade which receives a single round of fire
on its flank is devastated: liable to break and run. Unfortunately
fortifications seem to make a brigade more susceptible to flanking.
The worst case of this was a raised fort with a deployment zone for
each of its four sides. A player might assume a fully garrisoned
defense would be immune to flanking. One could even imagine that a
single brigade defending such a fort couldn't be flanked unless the
enemy was inside. But, in the following image one can see an
example. Union forces have surrounded the north and eastern sides of
the fort. In spite of Confederate brigades occupying the only four
deployment zones, the eastern most brigade is flanked by the Union
fire originating from outside. While I don't have a screenshot of
this event, I assure you, reader, that this occurred as pictured.
Overall, fortifications (and other
forms of deployment locations), whether massive raised constructions
or hastily erected walls, are inferior to the safety of the woods.
The forts rarely provide a better cover bonus than a forest, and
though they do not require fussy micromanagement, they are
unreasonably easy to flank. Though one must use forts in desperation
if there is no other available cover, a nice grove of pines is
preferable to the sturdiest wall.
Two other issues relating to cover in
Civil War deserve notification as well, though discussion of
their failures must be passed over. One: cavalry can charge a
fortification, rout to the other side, regroup, and charge the
enemy from the rear!
In the final Battle of Richmond, some
buildings no longer provide a cover bonus, nor offer the option to
deploy into their protection.
Aside from the issue of cover, the
differences in combat between Gettysburg and Civil War
are minor with the latter having faster action, less loss of morale
and stamina, and a large variety of weapons. Yet, victory isn't all
about the fighting, but how a battle is fought.
Both games use a timer to impart
practical information to the player. Battles are broken into
sections, and Gettysburg includes a timer for each. In every
instance, a section is concluded when the timer expires. The only
method to extend a section is to contest a victory location by
assaulting it. Then the timer extends into a clearly defined
overtime, after which, no matter the state of the battlefield, the
combat concludes.
In contrast, Civil War doesn't
know what to do with its timer. An untrustworthy, deceitful, and
inconsistent timepiece, one can't predict its conclusion. When time
expires in Civil War the player is rewarded with one of four
possible outcomes, none of which are displayed in advance. Sometimes
the entire battle ends and the results are displayed. Occasionally,
the player (or the enemy) receives reinforcements. If the battle is
expansive enough, Civil War may redirect the player to a
different part of the battlefield, leaving the prior section in a
sort of unresolved limbo. If the battle does not end, the player is
awarded a new timer, which upon its conclusion returns the player to
the prior aspect, or ceases immediately. In any case, the ability to
contest a location for overtime has vanished, eliminating the option
to launch a desperate last contest, and reducing tension as a result.
One improvement Civil War
implements is it allows the player to toggle between one of three
speeds; normal, fast, and faster. But this is not really a
refinement. One never needs to increase the speed in Gettysburg:
the entire experience is tense and facepaced. On the other
hand, Civil War's contains numerous battles where the enemy is
routed, but the game continues needlessly. For these situations the
fastest speed is a boon beyond measure.
Reader you might be wondering what else
there is to relate of this disappointment, which I failed to
anticipate as Stonewall Jackson's men failed to anticipate his return
after the battle of Chancellorsville. Certainly, there is more to
tell. Next week, a dispatch.
Recent:
Relevant:
Comments
Post a Comment