Grand tactic's in operation

[JRCDave]

So you are saying that if you overlap interception circles of smaller armies you can cover a much larger area. Very good! You could cover a risky border like this with 3-5 stack armies and seal off a border. Put a few in a fort at the front and have a very strong defense.

_________Border__________Border___________Border___________

Army Army Army Army Army

Army Army Army Army

[JRCDave]

OK, that dis not format quite the way I typed it but I hope you can get the drift.

[Didz]

So you are saying that if you overlap interception circles of smaller armies you can cover a much larger area. Very good! You could cover a risky border like this with 3-5 stack armies and seal off a border. Put a few in a fort at the front and have a very strong defense.

Yep! thats about it.

Or to use it for the purpose Napoleon intended it to be used for, but placing four armies in a mutually supporting square formation, so that each army is within the reaction zone of the other three, then they create a bigger interception zone and no mater which direction they are attacked from all four should turn up to fight the battle.

Is the following a bug, or a feature? The 1st stack you move, the opposing force's intercept zone shows red. If you stop that stack just outside the zone, then move up another, the same zone is now shown mostly orange, and you can move into it without triggering a reaction.

Is there some kind of influence map calculation/highlighting going on here? Or is it just that the opfor doesn't react because it thinks its outnumbered?

I'm not sure I sort of dismissed it as a product of having a Red Enemy Intercept zone overlaid by a Yellow Friendly Reinforcement Zone. It didn't seem to affect the behaviour of the enemy unit.

[Dayve]

I find the AI reacts identically no matter how you lay out your forces, and so i use the exact same tactic for every battle. A long line of muskets, with an identical long line of muskets behind it, and more muskets to the right and left of the line but not on the flanks. The AI will engage your front line and send 1 or 2 units around to "flank" you, at which point you drag units from the second line out to deal with them and then put them back when they are dealt with.

If a front line unit takes lots of casualties, you withdraw them and bring up a full one.