July 14, 2017 saw the official release of the hardcore tactical strategy Ultimate General: Civil War . The RTS genre, and even with the prefix “wargame is not for everyone”, has practically disappeared from our monitors. Therefore, for fans of the genre, each release of such a game is like a supernova outbreak in the sky. Even if the product is deeply secondary. Our patient was no exception.
Moreover, Game-Labs already had a previous experience of producing wargames “with a human face” – Ultimate General: Gettysburg . And now the same cabbage soup, only bigger and better – not one of the battles of the Civil War in the United States, but the entire conflict from 1861 to 1865. The game simply had to become a cult among fans of military strategies.
In Russia, the product also gained a certain popularity, although it dealt with a rather foreign topic for us, the confrontation between the South and the North, the planters and industrialists of the United States. The low entry threshold, addictive gameplay and detailed elaboration of the era allowed the maximum number of players to join. And we love military strategies, and even in a historical setting! In addition, very soon rumors spread about the use of the engine for the reconstruction of the Napoleonic wars.
Historical reference
Civil War 1861-65 in the United States, it was a transitional conflict, when the rapidly gaining strength of the industrial revolution began to globally change the world, which was reflected on the battlefield. Therefore, the archaic in the form of muzzle-loading farm guns was there side by side with casemate guns, sailing frigates butted with battleships, and railways and armored trains became a decisive factor in the logistics of battles. The Gatling machine guns will soon call into question the feasibility of dense infantry formations, and the golden age of cavalry has already passed …
The political background of the confrontation is too confusing for the citizens of our country, so it can be summed up in one phrase: “The world is ruled by money.” It so happened that the main flow of profits to the emerging state was provided by the cotton plantations of the south. Where finance is, there is power and ambition. For the rapidly modernizing northern states, this was a challenge, and a collision was inevitable. Moreover, slavery in this story never stood even in tenth place, in the list of reasons that prompted the start of the war. Moreover, it was canceled a lot after the start of the conflict itself, and some plantations under the leadership of the northerners worked until the victorious end.
This war was the first visual aid that battles are now fought not so much by people as by economies. The Southerners, who had a good officer corps and motivated recruits, started well, but already closer to the middle they were blown away by the superior onslaught of the federals. The naval blockade finally put an end to the prosperity of the Confederation. The moral of this fable is that an industrially developed state will always triumph over an agrarian one.
It was a rather bloody conflict that claimed the lives of more than 500 thousand people.
Campaign setup
The main menu offers a choice of three items:
- “Campaign”. Here you can go through story missions in chronological order, starting from the first Bull Run and ending with the storming of Washington, as part of a dynamic campaign. You will not be allowed to win for the Confederation – historicism is respected.
- “Historical Battles”. For those who do not want to bother with micro and macro management, preferring to immediately plunge into historically reconstructed battles. Here you can choose from all the significant and major battles of that era.
- “Custom Battles”. The community of the game is small, but very active. Activists have already riveted a bunch of good maps and scenarios for all the more or less known episodes of the war.
We are, of course, interested in the campaign. To begin with, you will be asked to create your general alter-ego, where you will consistently answer the questions in what specialty you graduated from the main military academy of the country of West Point, what kind of troops were commanded in the Mexican war and what career did you make after the war. All this will give you a certain starting skill set, which can be sorted by the following points:
- Politics – determines how much gold and recruits you will receive for battles.
- Economy – affects the prices in the store.
- Medicine – determines how many will be killed and how many wounded soldiers will be able to return to service immediately after the battle.
- Training – the higher the value, the cheaper it is to recruit veterans.
- Army Organization – increases the maximum size of the army.
- Rear – increases the amount of ammunition.
- Reconnaissance – shows information about the quantity, quality and even plans of the enemy (the amount of data grows with each level).
The campaign map on which missions appear
For beginners, I recommend choosing at the very beginning “Strategist” (+1 to the organization of the army, +1 training), then “Artillery” (+2 rear, +2 medicine) and “Politician” (+3 politics, +1 economy). In this configuration, you can slowly deploy the army in the starting battles. As you progress through the campaign, you will receive career points, with which you will continue to improve your skills. First of all, download “Politics” and “Medicine” to get the maximum recruits and gold. After all, they will not be enough for the whole game to form full-fledged connections. Next in line are “Training” and “Organization of the army” – the first skill is needed to create experienced detachments, the second – to increase the number of brigades, divisions and corps. The rest is no longer really necessary, but you can generally score on reconnaissance – save & load will help you.
Then you will be required to decide on the side. For a beginner, it is easier to play for the Union, since here they give more resources and battles are mainly defensive in nature. On the other hand, cult generals are fighting for the Confederation, brigades start immediately with one star of experience, although it is more difficult to fight. It’s up to you to choose, of course, but the first mission for the Yankees with an armored train is too difficult, unlike the Dixie with their assault on the Potomac Fort.
In the store you can buy new items from the weapon world
Intermission
After completing the first mission, you are taken to the inter-mission screen, where the main preparation for the upcoming battles takes place, the army is reorganized and the resources earned are spent. Below are the tabs:
- “Army”. Main bookmark. Here brigades are formed, replenished and pumped, new divisions and corps are created, officers are appointed.
- Arsenal. A military store where you can buy new weapons and sell captured ones.
- “Barracks”. Here is the recruitment and maintenance of officers. You can find out who is in reserve and who is wounded and is on vacation.
- “Career”. Career points received after completing missions are distributed according to the skill table (see above).
In the upper right corner there are numbers in a laurel wreath. This is your reputation, which is earned in successful battles. The more it is, the more inspired the soldiers under your command are. However, after reaching 100 points, it stops accumulating. But this is only one layer of application of their fame. Next to the wreath is the Capitol icon, by clicking on which you can ask for help from the authorities for points of your reputation. Send, for example, additional recruits, or some exotic weapon, or help with an outstanding general.
At the very top there is a giant “Battle Map” plate, where you select the available missions. It is better to complete tasks according to historical dates – each stage is divided into two small battles and one large one. Moreover, if you have gone through a large-scale battle, then it will no longer be possible to start small ones. Therefore, it is better to complete them first, get all the due payment, pump the troops, and then only get involved in the decisive battle. It is quite simple to distinguish a small collision from a large one – for the latter they give more (money, recruits) and it is, as a rule, historical.
Full disposition with advanced reconnaissance
Tactical interface
After the distribution of resources and uniforms, you are transferred to the tactical map, where the battle itself will take place. Initially, you are given a disposition and combat missions that must be completed. But you shouldn’t really trust this data – during the battle, everything can change a hundred times, so just keep the mission goals in your head and react to the situation based on your needs. During the deployment phase, you will be prompted to select and place teams. If the corps does not fit into the mission stack, then you can click on the icons below and select the required composition of troops for the current operation.
Troop control is quite intuitive and simple. The basic principles are taken from the classic RTS – select LMB, RMB send into battle. Interesting opportunities have been added: if you select a brigade and hold down the LMB, you can draw a route line, which is very convenient for tricky maneuvers; if you hold down RMB, you can set the shelf turn at the point of arrival. And when several units are selected, then by squeezing you can draw a front line, which the soldiers will occupy without delay, for example, for defense. And yes – take advantage of the tactical pause in order to have time to issue orders. This is not a mouse clicker, but a rather thoughtful strategy.
Below are the main buttons. There are modes of movement (hold position, run, retreat), shooting, “attack!” (hand-to-hand combat), dismounting for the horsemen and the isolation of skirmishers. All this is quite simple and not difficult to understand. Periodically glance at the minimap in the corner – there you can grasp the essence of everything that happens in battle outside of your field of vision. In the upper right corner, your goals and their completion timer are displayed. Remember that the fight can continue even after the countdown is over if the computer thinks that not all of its energy has been expended.
On the side to the left is an information panel, where you can always find out both a general and a detailed overview of your units. If no one is selected, then the window reports the general corps information: the total number of soldiers, supplies, morale and physical condition, the percentage of losses in battle. When you click on a brigade, the commander, the number of losses and kills, supply and reloading, is displayed, in addition to the scale of spirit and condition, there is the “cover” parameter, which makes it clear how much your soldiers are covered from enemy fire. By pressing “i” on this panel, you dive into more detailed characteristics, including the type of weapon and its performance characteristics. When you hover the cursor over a unit, you can find out brief information on the pop-up icon, including the percentage of visibility on the ground.
Outcome
At first, the game interface is scary and mesmerizing. But in fact, everything is simple, accessible and clear. Even when I was mastering the pre-release version, in which there was no Russian language, after a few hours I was quite cheerfully managing medium-scale operations. Complexity and depth here comes with time and this is a definite plus of the product. In the next guide, we will tell you about the types and types of troops, and also tell you how to form and recruit them correctly.
