A few questions about Campaign 1776

[Leftie]

I finished my first game against the AI today. I managed to get a major victory and was somewhat pleased with my troops performance. There were few questions that came up during the course of the game that I haven't been able to find answers to.

I played The Battle at Cowpens, January 17th, 1781 as the Americans. Lots of my troops were militia. They seemed less trained and smaller than their British counterparts. But on the other hand it seemed like my weapons had a slightly longer range than the brits did.

On to the questions now.

If I have more than one unit in a hex, does it make a difference if I fire their weapons individually at the same target or if I just select everyone and fire at one? I understand that by selecting the units individually that you could fire on multiple targets but is there any added benefit of doing that if I want to hit the same target?

Can the American Calvalry fire or enter melee while on their horses? For whatever reason I could not seem to get my Mounted Calvalry to do anything other than move.

Also can line troops engage calvalry in melee combat? I was trying to get one of my light infantry companies to finish off a calvalry unit but couldn't get them to engage.

Sorry for all the questions but I haven't found the answers yet and figured that you guys might be able to help.

Thanks a million for taking the time to read this.

Ben

[KG_RangerBooBoo]

Don't be afraid to ask questions! Just because everyone else knew all the rules and tricks and tips right off the bat and you don't is no reason to be embarrassed. Okay, I'm kidding as their are several forums that are full of questions and we all had many of the same ones when we started. You can't melee mounted units with infantry. If this was simultaneous play they would just ride away. Cavalry cannot fire unless dismounted but they can get a charge bonus if they move, 2 hex minimum I think, and melee infantry. They can also melee other mounted units. The longer ranged American units are armed with rifles. Their disadvantage is that they have no bayonets and are therefore at a disadvantage when meleeing.

[Leftie]

Heh thanks for answering my questions Rangerbooboo.

[rahamy]

Here's a good article for you to check out as well:

http://www.geocities.com/camp1776/help/intro.html

[Gary McClellan]

As to firing individually vs as a stack, part of it depends on how you are playing the game.

If you are playing in "turns", that is to say, with auto defensive fire as units move, then, realize that every time a unit does anything while in range of an enemy unit, there is a chance of taking defensive fire. Thus, if you have a stack of three units, and fire them one at a time, you have three chances of incoming fire.

On the other hand, the advantage of firing individually is that you can "spread" the fire among various enemy units, wearing more than one unit down, and (hopefully) forcing more than one of them to take a morale check. If you are using "phases", that's enough reason to spread your fire there. If you are in "turns" then it's a balancing act.