WIA FAQ
From AGEWiki
Many thanks to lordlefty for beginning this in the forums
Combat
Should combat units avoid attacking in Wilderness or Mountains because of the severe attacker penalty?
If avoidable (which in most cases its not ) generally its better to not attack in difficult terrain (wilderness, mountains, marches, wooded areas...) But as everything, it depends of the situation and several factors besides the basic attackk/defense bonus. Here are other considerations:
Unit type: Regulars, cavalry and artillery should fight as much as possible in clear terrain. Irregular forces (Indians, rangers, partisans) thrive in difficult terrain and can give even trained regulars many problems there, as they have a bonus on mostly any terrain but clear. Irregulars, attacking or defending in wilderness is the way to go if they will fight mostly regular troops.
Range: Battles in difficult terrain start as shorter firing range (no clear fields of fire). This is bad for artillery, but good if you have no artillery on your side.
Frontage: This is the max number of elements that can participate in battle at once. Let's say in the first line of battle. Frontage value depends on terrain, weather, type of unit... Big massive battles with lots of units fighting each other at once can happen only on clear terrain. On difficult terrains, the frontage is limited. This is an advantage to small armies attacking or defending against bigger armies, as the big one will not be able to bear all their numbers on the attack at once (but they are still important as the second line element will cover the gaps created by retiring or destroyed first line elements. Besides, in difficult terrains, irregular units take less frontage than regulars, so more can fight at once. Another advantage for irregulars when used on their preferred terrains.
Even though combat units don't get a defense bonus in Wilderness or Mountains, is it a good tactic to defend in these regions since there is a severe attacker penalty? But what happens if your forces are defending, get attacked in either a Wilderness or Mountains region... and then counter attack that turn? Do your units also suffer the severe attacker penalty?
Yes. A unit on offensive stance will not get the terrain benefits. Only the defensive one will. It does not matter that your forces are already in the region. If you are on offensive, you are considered as seeking the enemy and attacking him. Notice that both sides can be on offensive and neither get the terrain defensive benefits.
Is one of the better defense positions to be defending behind a Major River / Lake in a Woods region?
Rivers are very good areas to set up a defending line. Regarding the woods as perfect defending terrain, it depends: If you have plenty of artillery, calvary and regulars, it is better to defend on clear terrain behind a river, specially if the enemy is strong on irregulars.
What are the optimal ROE settings for a small force? Should a small force avoid combat when moving?
It completely depends of the situation. If you risk finding bigger and stronger forces on you way, evade. If your force can be expected to catch some weak force, don't evade. In general, move on defensive as it costs you less cohesion than on offensive and it's safer if you stumble on an enemy force (defensive can use terrain to their advantage). On very safe areas (no enemies around) you can move on passive for still less cohesion loss.
Should Indian units always have their ROE setting for ambush?
Ambush only works for stationary units. So if you are moving around it won't do anything. Its really tricky to manage an ambush.
If you don't have a specific task for a force, is it better to remain "inside" a structure? Or outside a structure, so it can retreat if attacked by a superior force?
I use to leave small garrisons inside (safer against small raids) but bigger field armies and irregular forces outside so they don't get trapped. Of course, having a fort or fortress makes it more interesting to stay inside, but be prepared for a siege or a "do or die" battle with a force inside a structure if a strong enough enemy force attacks.
How do you calculate the relative strength of an enemy unit - especially with fog of war = ON?
Tooltips will give you different levels of information depending of your detection value. Use Indians, spies or irregulars on adjacent regions (and have ROE on evade combat!) to have better information. The little colored balls on the base of the stack will give you general information about size (number of balls) and health (color of balls). With the supply filter on, the color will reveal their supply status (green good/red bad).
Forts
What happens; in game terms, when you order a force to sally out of a fort?
When you order a garrison to sally out, it means they will sally BUT ONLY if and when an outside friendly force arrives in the region and attacks the besiegers. So its basically a way to coordinate your units inside a structure with an eventual rescue force so they join strength in evicting the enemy from the region. If there is no friendly "rescue force" arriving during the turn the sally button will have no effect. To actually order your garrison to sally out by themselves and attack the besiegers you simply have to drag the stack out of the structure and on the same region with an offensive posture.
Leaders
Is it "safe" for Leaders to travel alone? Or should Leaders always be stacked with combat units?
Yes, its pretty safe. They have good evasion rating so they can cross enemy controlled and occupied regions with little chance of capture/death (like 95% chance or so). remember to always put them on evade combat. I have them stacked with troops except when I want them to travel far away to maybe lead another force in a different colony. They move much faster alone.
What are the restrictions on promoting a Leader?
You can only promote a Leader if he has seniority of 1 or 2...or if he has gained a certain amount of seniority in a single turn. If you don't promote them, they will lose a seniority point each turn that you don't promote them.
Map
Is Boston a region?
Yes. Boston is a normal region, but small. This region was added with the 1.04 patch and the surrounding regions reorganized to better represent the Boston siege situation.
Miscellaneous
Naval stores and sugar supplies are not mobile. They are there for you to protect and the enemy to take / destroy and gain victory points from them. Not very important, just a little flavor thing.
Does BOA2 operate with simultaneous turns like BOA?
Yes. It uses the same engine, AGE: Adapative Game Engine.
Does BOA2 have a full campaign?
- French and Indian Wars 1755-1763
- American Revolution 1775-1783
- War of 1812 1812-1815
+ many shorter scenarios
Movement
When should a unit attempt a forced march?
Obviously, when you are on a hurry to arrive somewhere. In game terms I use it mostly when a stack planned move takes 31-35 days, so, if successful, I will end my movement under 30 days and arrive at my objective in just one turn. The % success change depends of the unit type/quality. Usually militia/wagons and the like won't make it. Use it mostly with light forces that have high % chance of archiving it.
When marching a force to contact with the enemy, is it better to move your force short distances (maybe just 1-2 adjacent land areas) in order to maintain cohesion?
Moving reduces cohesion and combat power. Sometimes its better to arrive sooner but weaker than later but stronger. In general, let the troops rest from time to time or move in 15-20 days long movement so they are fit enough for a battle.
Can calvary only charge in clear terrain?
Calvary may charge in clear, plain, desert, and any open terrain.
Supply
Is it wasteful to have a force with two (2) supply wagons?
Each supply unit carries a fixed supply amount that you force will consume. So having 2, 3 or more will give them more turns without starving or the need to resupply. So again it depends of the force size, your number of wagons and the force mission.
I need a quick overview on how supply works?
The Supply system in BOA2 is one where there is no supply network. Each supply source is a bit like an island generating supply for the region it is in and the adjacent regions. If you want to be resupplied, you have to fall back to such a region, and that's all. You can consider wagons as your 'manually handled supply network' though.
See also Supply for details
Zones of Control (ZOC)
I noticed when I play sometimes that on the normal map view a province will be colored red?
That must be a ZOC (Zone of control). The stack currently selected cannot enter the red zones because an enemy stack or fort in the same region is exerting a ZOC on him that won't let him go deeper into enemy territory. But they can move to surrounding regions where they already have enough military control. Light units (Indians and the like) have high evade and are not usually affected by ZOC. Check page 24 on the manual (paragraph 7.5) for full information.
