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Mount & Blade: Warband >  Workshop > King85's Workshop > American Civil War Revived > Discussions
American Civil War Revived
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 This topic has been pinned, so it's probably important
King85  [developer] 7 Jun, 2023 @ 9:37am
Tips for Playing the Mod
This is a list of important information about the mod's gameplay that new players will find especially valuable, and veterans may find it worthwhile to look over as well. These will hopefully help players get a better understanding of the game's mechanics, and have more fun as a result.


  • The gameplay of the mod is best suited to playing as a commander. You can enlist as a common soldier with an army, but the AI will never be as intelligent as a human when it comes to commanding troops. If you choose to play as a commander, you can just recruit soldiers, build an army, and then start fighting whichever side you choose to fight against. Keep attacking enemy parties and eventually you will be offered a "promotion", or you can request one from the highest ranking general of the army you wish to serve with.

  • I recommend that you have cheat mode activated, because you may find it necessary for certain tasks and situations.

  • Some of the randomly generated maps are honestly terrible. If you start a battle and the map is trash, you can press tab immediately to retreat from the battle without taking any casualties, then go into the battle again, and the map will change. Battles on the campaign map will generate three different maps to fight on in any given location, but if none of them are to your liking, I recommend using the cheat mode to teleport, let the enemy go a little bit, and teleport back to them, so a new set of maps will generate.

  • SAVE OFTEN! Especially before combat! Combat is deadly! Being shot once is enough to kill you, or take away the vast majority of your health. Be careful with your life. Do not rush out blindly into combat, you WILL be shot. Strategy has a key role in this mod. Blindly charging enemy lines is not going to work.

  • Survival requires skillful use of soldiers lives. Keep them alive, and use cover. You can have them shoot over a hill and bring them back behind it to reload, for example. Keeping men in the open is generally a bad idea.

  • Maneuver and flanking are highly advantageous. If you can get your battle line close to the enemy, and are able to open fire on them before taking many casualties yourself (preferably none), you will devastate their lines.

  • Be mindful of splitting your forces and moving units without support. The enemy can attack at any moment, especially if they sense an advantage or that they are in a bad position. Separated units can easily be cut off and surrounded by cavalry.

  • Ammunition is not unlimited and that goes for both you and the enemy. It might seem like the shooting can go on forever, but watch, eventually the men run out of ammo and will go into melee mode. Soldier's use the historically correct amounts of ammunition. Infantry have 40 cartridges, carbine equipped cavalry have 60. The extra 20 rounds are representative of how historically, cavalry troopers would stuff extra bullets into their pockets and saddle bags.

  • Do not underestimate the power of cavalry, but do not overestimate them either. A skillful cavalry commander can lead his troopers on the flanks and behind the enemy, to harass their lines with his men's revolvers and carbines. If executed well, a cavalry charge can also wreak havoc on the enemy.

  • Cavalry are highly mobile and versatile, however, they are just as vulnerable to enemy fire as soldiers fighting on foot, and if their horse is killed or wounded under them while they are far from friendly lines, they face a very slim chance of survival. A cavalry charge made head on, directly into enemy lines, will usually end in disaster. Charge from the flanks or behind, and when the enemy's focus is not on you.

  • Cavalry charges can be devastating for you and your men if you are unprepared. Always take into account the composition of the enemy's army, and respond accordingly. Use terrain to your advantage; high ground, deep water, and dense woods will break the momentum of cavalry charges and make it easier for your men to pick off the riders. Remember, your men wear no armor, a solid cut from a cavalryman's saber will most likely be certain death. Keep the men close together, and when the enemy cavalry gets too close, switch to melee only so your men are not reloading while they are being attacked.

  • As your men progress and gain experience, the weapons they are equipped with will change as well. Militia units and recruits start off with low quality rifles and smoothbore muskets. Confederate troops even use the Springfield Model 1816, a flintlock musket, in their desperation to arm all their soldiers. Confederate infantry soldiers use lower quality weapons for longer than Union infantry, but eventually are fully equipped with quality rifles, either those manufactured by the Confederacy, imported from abroad, or captured from the Union. Union soldiers have more standardized, quality equipment from early on, with greater access to breech loading weaponry and exclusive access to repeating weapons.

  • Confederate mounted infantry start off at an advantage to their Union counterparts, being better horsemen and having access to better weapons. However, this advantage quickly changes as Union troopers soon ditch their muzzle loaders for breech loading carbines. Confederate mounted infantry will eventually discard some of the lower quality equipment, but never have exclusively breech loading weapons, and have no access to repeaters.

  • Spencer repeating carbines are only given at random to battle hardened Union mounted infantry, due to the fact that they can fire 7 rounds before reloading, compared to all the other breach loaders that fire one. Too many Spencers would be too unbalanced against the Confederacy, and historically, the Spencer was only used later into the war. The Spencer Carbine was the fourth most popular cavalry carbine, behind the Sharps, Smith, and Burnside Carbines.

  • Skirmishers, marksmen, and sharpshooters are the most accurate riflemen available to both sides. They are good to have spread out in front of your main battle line as a screening force. They are best suited for long range combat, and are vulnerable to cavalry and line infantry if left unprotected. They are best used when deployed in front of your main battle line in loose formation in order to find and fix the position of the enemy, and then withdrawing behind your infantry once their job is done. They can then either provide supporting fire from the rear or the flanks, or they can close ranks and join the main battle as a separate line unit, but remember that they are weak in melee.

  • Union sharpshooters are equipped with the best rifle muskets available, making them a formidable ranged unit that is capable of putting down effective fire from a distance. Confederate sharpshooters also have access to some of the best rifle muskets, including the well regarded Whitworth rifle. Both sides' sharpshooters will also have some rifles with telescopic sights mounted on them, making them accurate and deadly units at long ranges.

  • Volunteer and Regular units come with both a regimental and national flag bearer, and with the addition of new generic flags, the standard volunteer and regular infantry units can represent the multitude of historical regiments that are not unique enough to warrant being their own individual unit.

  • All of the special regiments in the mod have their own flag bearers, that carry the proper regimental and national colors that the regiment carried historically. This helps to visually separate the Stonewall Brigade, or the 20th Maine, for example, from the standard infantry units by having their own battle flags that clearly distinguish them on the battlefield and make them look and feel like a proper military unit of the time period. The majority of special regiments in the mod, with a few exceptions, will have a unique appearance in uniform and weaponry, along with their unique flags.


  • Flag bearers and officers can be found at the end of the infantry upgrade tree. I recommend using the cheat mode to upgrade 3 - 4 soldiers from the unit(s) of your choice to be the two flag bearers that carry the regimental and national colors, and one or more officers. That way you can enjoy them right away, without having to go through the whole upgrade tree. Also, since the flag bearers don't get involved in combat because they lack weapons, they will not upgrade to officers on their own, so you will need to use cheat mode to get new officers. If you wish to avoid cheating to get officers, you can equip one of your companions with officer's equipment, and assign them to an infantry unit, and they will fight in the ranks if on foot, or if you give them a horse, they will follow alongside the unit, simulating a subordinate officer under your command leading the unit.
Last edited by King85; 15 Feb @ 10:35am