Markwooda, you are quite right, here is the original post, however I can't post the 43 replies, They are private for "Grenadier" only. As the original post there was mine I am free to share it.
Since I purchased HLG on the day of release, I have become captivated and immersed in JMM's marvelous creation. At present I am not working so I spend at least 4 hours per day every day, fighting battles. During this time I have arrived at a conclusion:
That there are two changes that need to be made, which will have a major impact on the control and realism of the game, and will elevate JMM's creation to the level of genius.
The first and in my humble opinion, the most important mod HLG will ever receive, is the introduction of Divisional Command. I don't think HLG will be complete and will truly imitate the tactics of the time without it. A Corps Commander gives his orders to Divisional Commanders, Divisional Commanders to his Brigades and Regiments. As it stands right now we can issue an order to a Corps Commander and to an individual Regiment but not to the Division. The Division Command is essential for tactical reasons e.g. establishing a Bridgehead or taking a village or town. After all Reille did not order his whole Corps or individual regiments, to take Hougoumont, but rather Prince Jerome's Division. I know that we can order individual regiments to act as a Division but we can't give them "Attack, Defend & Diversion orders".
The second change should address the "Support Order". This order should stay, I believe it has been much misunderstood. As I understand it, the order instructs a unit to support another unit that has been given a mission. If that primary unit fails by Rout or any other means, the support unit takes over the mission (see the manual chapter 3 "User Interface", "Support a Unit"). The giant error many including myself, have made, is to use this order believing it will protect Artillery from attack, especially by Cavalry, even to the extent of reporting its non performance as a bug. I don't think, and correct me if I'm wrong, that this order was designed to protect, it was designed to support, so the second Mod I would like to see, is a new Regimental Order "Defend Artillery" or something like it. This Order would establish a Doctrine to the unit given the command, to:
"Defend the Artillery unit as it's secondary mission, with it's own self defense as its primary mission, until relieved of that duty".
The parameters e.g. at what distance an enemy unit becomes a threat to the Artillery being supported, would be better understood by JMM. This order should probably only be a Cavalry option, as it is Cavalry that is the most dangerous threat to Artillery, and the threat posed by Infantry attacking Artillery is far less. By keeping the "Support Order" as it is and introducing the new "Defend Artillery Order" the complaints of many about their Artillery being wiped out ad hoc by marauding Cavalry without any support, is solved. That is not to say that Artillery was not lost to Cavalry but not at the rate we see in the game.
Thank you for tolerating the ramblings of this "Old Gronard" but it is by sharing our thoughts, even when flawed, that progress is achieved.
