Manual:Winning the game

From AACWWiki

Contents 1 Introduction 2 Victory Points (VP) 2.1 VP Accumulation 3 National Morale (NM)

Introduction

Automatic victory (or defeat) is achieved when one side reaches its minimum or maximum “national morale” (NM) level. However, if the game ends without reaching an automatic victory, the “victory points” (VP’s) of each side determines the winner. The side with more VP’s wins the war and the level of victory is based on the VP difference.

Victory Points (VP)

Each side accumulates VP’s every turn by controlling important cities and objectives or by destroying enemy units. The objectives screen (F9 key) shows on the left page how many VP’s you gain each turn (VP’s can be expended during the course of the game, as a currency, but remember, he who has the most at scenario’s end wins if nobody achieved an automatic victory). On the right page, each objective is listed with its worth (this amount is how much NM is gained/lost when capturing/losing an objective). Current VP level is also tallied in the upper left corner of the main screen and is your main indicator about how well you are doing in the game.

VP Accumulation

• Strategic city – 1 VP/Turn
• Objective city – 1-3 VP/Turn depending on the value set by scenario designer
• Destroyed units – Per each unit

Note: You don’t lose VP’s when your own units are destroyed.

National Morale (NM)

For both sides in the conflict, the will to fight is tracked by their NM. Beyond a certain level, you instantly win or lose the game. These thresholds will vary during the course of play depending on the political situation.

Important note: In 1864, the Union is more vulnerable to defeat through morale loss, as the hard-line candidate, Lincoln must achieve significant military victories in order to be re-elected president and continue the war.

Current NM is tallied in the upper left corner of the main screen, alongside VP’s (see above). The victory and defeat thresholds of both sides are displayed in the objectives screen (F9) of the ledger (and as a tooltip in the upper left corner of the screen).

NM is influenced by several factors:

• Capturing the objective regions set by the current scenario will increase the capturing player’s NM and lower the enemy’s by the values indicated in the objectives screen.
• Winning a battle will boost the winner’s NM while reducing the enemy’s according to the number of enemy units and generals put out of business.
• Promoting junior officers over senior ones or dismissing leaders with political favor will lower your NM.
• In the late years, war weariness gradually reduces each side’s NM.
• Some options have an impact on NM, as indicated elsewhere (for example raising exceptional taxes).

Below a certain level, as long as a side is still in control of its capital, it will start to regain NM (this is called war resilience). The rebels are particularly enduring in this aspect (Jefferson Davis “Just leave us alone!”).

Note: This makes it difficult to drive the NM of your enemy low enough to trigger an automatic victory unless he lost his capital.

In addition to automatic victory conditions, NM also has an impact on the following:

• Unit cohesion (i.e. how fast they move and how well they fight)
• Economic output
• Number of recruits