The game is now enriched with the Overland Campaign which includes the epic Battle of Cold Harbor and several other smaller engagements. Gradually the civil war battles are fought around complex trench networks that make assaults extremely costly.
On Day 2 of Battle of Cold Harbor, the Union army approaches the Confederates by digging trenches close to their defensive lines. The Confederate General will have to manage the progressively less resources and defend vs an increasingly stronger enemy, that is now commanded by the aggressive General Grant. The Union General must find a weakness to the impenetrable defenses of General Lee and maintain an army strong enough to continue the war. The challenge increases with the expanded campaign and thanks to your feedback we have improved a lot the gameplay & AI. Read below the summary of changes:

Patch v0.78 rev19029

New

• The historical Battle of Cold Harbor for both sides.
• Campaign expanded to Battle of Cold Harbor with 5 extra smaller battles.

The battle of Cold Harbor endures three full days, for day and night, increasing the toll of casualties. AI

• AI protects its own flanks better and attacks flanks more efficiently by making wider attacking lines.
• Charging decisions of AI should be working less aggressively and more effectively.
• AI presses on holding its ground and objectives much more, becoming an even harder opponent.

Balances

• 20 Pdr Parrots' long range damage is increased further.
• Decreased ranged damage penalty for Cover Level above 70%. It was too high before and could also make the AI to have worse decisions.
• Increased cover of some very wide fortifications that were too weak. Feel free to report about issues of specific fortifications to improve more if needed.
• Due to some game mechanics adjustments, melee and retreat should work much better than before, overall.

The Confederates must make a bold attack upon the Union right flank near Magnolia Swamp in order to secure their own left flank. Fixes

• Fix for campaign that resulted in weak AI armies in Legendary difficulty mode.
• Fix of timer issues in saved games.
• Fix of potential timer issues in Battles of Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, Stones River, 2nd Manassas and other battles.
• Fix of some bugs that could cause game instability.

Text

• Most in-game text (except the manual) has been refined for the English language. We now prepare for the translation to several other languages.

We thank deeply the following testers who voluntarily helped us to improve this patch:

• Koro
• Col_Kelly
• CSA_Watkins
• Andre Bolkonsky
• Wright29
• Mr.Mercanto

In this image we see part of the Confederate entrenchments at Cold Harbor. We hope with this patch we will please you with the content and game improvements. Let us know by writing in our forums: Official forum: Link Steam forum: Link Enjoy! The Game-Labs Team

[ 2017-04-03 20:05:52 CET ] [ Original post ]

Ultimate General: Civil War is a tactical war-game. Experience the bloodiest period of U.S. history - the American Civil War of 1861-1865.

MAIN FEATURES

Full campaign: Fight in the American Civil War campaign and participate in 50+ battles from small engagements to massive battles that can last several days over hundreds of square miles of terrain. Campaign fully depends on player actions and battle results. Historical battles can also be played separately.

Early access edition includes the following battles in the campaign:

• Battle of Aquia Creek
  
• Battle of Philippi
  
• 1st Battle of Bull Run
  
• Battle of Shiloh
  
• Battle of Gaines' Mill
  
• Battle of Malvern Hill
  
• 2nd Battle of Bull Run
  
• Battle of Antietam
  
• + 10 minor engagements different for each side

The following battles will be added when the game is fully ready in a couple of months:

• Battle of Fredericksburg
  
• Battle of Stones River
  
• Battle of Chancellorsville
  
• Battle of Gettysburg
  
• Battle of Chickamauga
  
• Battle of Cold Harbor
  
• Battle of Richmond
  
• Battle of Washington
  
• + 13 minor engagements different for each side

Army management: You are the general. You have full control over the army composition. Based on your successes and reputation you might get access to more corps, divisions and brigades. Keep your soldiers alive and they will learn to fight better, turning from green rookies to crack veterans. Lose a lot of your soldiers and you might not have enough reinforcements to deliver victories. Your reputation will suffer, army morale will drop and you will be forced to resign.

Innovative command system: You decide which level of control you want. Command every unit individually or just give them a main goal with one button click and watch if they can take that hill. Army divisions commanders can make decisions on their own and help you control the largest army. Draw a defensive line and allocated brigades will defend it like lions. Or design a deep flanking maneuver by just drawing an arrow and send the whole army to the enemy flank or the rear. Your generals will try to fulfill your orders, although "no plan survives contact with the enemy".

Officer progression: Historical unit commanders progress and become better fighters together with the player. The Officers rank up based on their units’ performance, but its war and they can be wounded or even get killed in action. New ranks open new possibilities and allow officers to lead bigger units without efficiency loss. Winning battles also opens new possibilities for you as a general, increasing skills such as reconnaissance or political influence.

Historical weapons: There is huge variety of Civil War weaponry from mass produced Enfield pattern rifles to rare Whitworths. Historical availability has also been implemented. Certain weapons can only be captured by raiding supplies or taken from the enemy on the battlefield.

Enhanced unit control: Detach skirmishers to send them to scout those hills ahead. Or merge several brigades into one bigger division if it’s needed. Dismount the cavalry to become less visible to the enemy or mount for fast flanking charges and supply raids. Supplies are extremely important and you have to plan and defend the provisions otherwise the battle might end for you early.

Advanced Artificial Intelligence: You will face a strong enemy. AI will flank you, will hit your weak spots and undefended high ground, will chase and cut your supplies and will try to destroy unguarded artillery batteries. AI will use terrain and will take cover and retreat if overwhelmed.

Terrain matters: Trenches, lines, fences, houses, fields – everything can help to achieve victory, if you know how to use it. Hills will allow you to see enemy units earlier. Rivers and bridges can become natural obstacles that will help you to defend. Forests can help you hide your movements and flank the enemy.

Beautiful maps: We believe that modern technology allows hardcore war-games to finally stop being brown on green hexes. Hardcore, deep war games can be beautiful. In our game, every historical battle landscape is accurately hand-drawn, utilizing data from satellite and historical maps. The topography plays immense strategic role and helps to understand how battles were fought and to learn history.