Dave's Words of Wisdome compiled by Daz

[Daz]

This thread is going to consist of game related answers, that Dave gives, to questions posted on the forums.
I'll be looking back through the threads over the next few evenings to dig some up.

If you find any please post them here, so we can try to consolidate all the useful info he has divulged to us over the last few years.
Hopefully it will save him having to repeat himself as well, so he can spend more time working on the long list of game features we have set him

I'm going to try and keep this thread near the top of the forum.
I guess it will ultimately depend on how many words of wisdom Dave manages to produce

 

[Daz]

Re: Aggro settings for units with an Ambush order.

From the game manual v 1.1

Page 69
The higher the Aggro Level the more likely the force will engage against enemy units it encounters. The lower the aggro the more likely the force will bypass enemy opposition or run away. Setting the Aggro to Max for an Attack or Probe will maximise the allocation of units to the assault and minimise that to the reserve

Page 73
Ambush = when checked, the force will refrain from opening fire until the enemy is very close...

1. What happens if I order an ambush with maximum agression level?
   
2. What aggression is best or recommended in an ambush?

I would set it to normal or high. The ambush setting will override the engagement of targets beyond the unit's ambush range, which is pretty dammed close. Once they do fire then they will be able to engage any target within their normal range, though the normal code for increasing the priority of close targets will mean they will most likely fore at the enemy threat that entered their ambush range. But this cannot be guaranteed. Now this ability to fire will then last for up to 10 minutes after they stop firing. Thereafter the ambush setting comes back into force.

 

[Daz]

Re: Losses level for units sent on Recon.

-> How I conduct rapid recon with a single unit?
What command (Probe, attack,move or ???) do I have to use?
Something else to do or to pay attention for?

This depends on a number of factors. First off choose a motorised unit unless the terrain you want reconoitered is rugged or not passable to motorised. Order it to Move but set the Aggro to Max so it will tend to fire if it encounters the enemy rather than advance. That way it be less likely to get too close. Set the acceptable losses to Min so that it will break off any engagements early. Check the Bypass option so it will reroute around the enemy. If you are using a Bn to co a recce in force, then you could consider checking the Attacks option as well. But for a single unit, I'd avoid doing so. If the purpose is to recce a road, then set the route type to Quickest as you don't want to avoid the enemy.

-> Nevertheless, I am confused.

Arjuna says:
...acceptable losses to Min So that It will break off any engagements early

The game manual page 61 Acceptable Losses Level Change says:
The Acceptable Losses level determines how many casualties your force will take before it warns you. Your units will continue to attempt to carry out their orders even after reaching this threshold, so in effect it is a reminder to you to consider changing your plan and issuing new capacity (less costly) orders. One exception to this rule is the sample order - units engaged in a trial will bunker down (see Launch a sample) if they assess the opposition is too great and setting a low level will cause Acceptable Losses them to do this sooner.

What is it now?

It's all about probabilities. The level you set either increases or decreases the probabilities of the unit responding to losses. This can occur in three ways. The first two relate to Delay missions and it is used to determine if a delay blocking position is untenable and the force should pull back. The third is in the StandardBunkerDownReassessment code. This can be called in all missions and determines whether or not the force will abandon its current plan and bunker down somewhere safe. So it's definitely more than just a warning. It does affect the probability of bunkering down.

 

[Daz]

Re:
1. Vulnerability of troops in wooded terrain to bombardments.
2. Fatigue, Rest and Recovery.

I couldn't find satisfactory answers in the manual and forums for these questions:

1. Nearly every terrain feature diminishes the percentage of vulnerability to (i.e. increases protection against) area bombardment. The sole exception seems to be forest/woods (as per page 202 of the game manual), that has 115% area vulnerability. Does this mean that a unit is +15% more vulnerable to area hits in the woods than in open ground? If so, why?

Next, two questions regarding resting units. I want to determine the optimal way to rest units that MUST remain in the front-line, in order for them to be able to put up an average defence but also to reduce exhaustion as best as possible. I know it's not ideal, but sometimes it is necessary.

2.1 - The manual states that "Resting units are not so good in a fire fight, so only order units to Rest if they are unlikely to be involved in serious combat." (pg. 116). What are the values that affect a unit's combat capability when resting? Are they similar to those that define different formations (firing, target, security)? Basically, how bad does a unit perform in combat when caught resting?
2.2 - Another quote. "Whenever units are stationary and either resting, defending or waiting, their fatigue will reduce. Resting troops recover fastest." (pg. 116) What are the recovery values of a unit when resting, defending or waiting? How fast do they lose exhaustion performing each of those orders?

Thank you

The effects of tree bursts are well documented - just google "tree burst". Main reason was that in a ground burst a good portion of the shrapnel is contained within a small radius of the blast area, whereas with an air burst more of the shrapnell tends to travel further. In addition the splintering effects can be very significant.

Fatigue is a complex system. It is not just a straight lookup as there are a wide variety of modifiers that apply depending on the circumstances - eg what task you are doing, what the current weather state is, fitness, supply, night, temp, urban, proximity to enemy etc. However, the standard fatigue accrual and recovery rate to which the modifiers apply are:

Accrual = 0.6
Recovery = 1.0

This applies to a unit's rawFatigueLevel. If the unit's rawFatigueLevel is 1,000 then that equates to 100%. So divide these standard rates by ten to convert it to a percentage value. The fatigue adjustment is done once per minute.

Eg1 A unit at 50% would take 500 minutes ( 8hrs 20 mins) to recover, assuming no modifiers and no interruption.
Eg2 A fresh unit would degrade to 50% after 833 minutes ( 13 hrs 53 mins ), assuming no modifiers and a continuous effort.

In general you recover quicker than you tire. After all most of us get by with eight hour or less of sleep per day.

 

[Daz]

Re: Realistic V Painfully Realistic game difficulty options.

CO2 "offers 'realistic' and 'painful realistic'.

Either something is realistic or not!

So what is the 'real' real life realistic setting now?

Painfully realistic is probably the closest to real life orders delay but a lot of players find it a tad excessive and prefer a faster game, hence the 'realistic' setting below it.

 

[Daz]

Re: Combat Power to achieve a secure objective.

Hello everyone!

Sorry if this is more or less commonly known, but I have searched around and I couldn't find anything on the subject, so here goes: is unit strength taken into account when calculating the occupation of objectives?

I'll give a quick example — in one of the smallish scenarios, I was defending an objective with a full battalion, including two light armour companies. All units were in command, well supplied, and essentially full strength.

Just within the objective radius there were three German infantry companies that had been routed twice, were almost wiped out (red with a tiny yellow corner in the status box for strength) and were essentially cowering deep into a forest (so I couldn't shoot them to ribbons without moving outside the town).

And yet, the objective was contested (no green outline), when I would argue my control of it was basically undisputed, as German strength was reduced to trading insults from behind rocks.

Now, in larger scenarios with relatively open objectives, I have no issue, but in smaller maps with abundant cover and concealment, and with comparatively large objective areas, I find that my games frequently end up splitting battalions into companies and rather inefficiently ordering them to scatter to push the enemy away inch by inch until they are just outside range, so it's 20% battle, 80% chasing enemies from rock to rock shouting "shoo!" so they don't cheese-assault my objectives in the last two hours.

Has anyone experienced this?

Cheers, and thanks for reading!

Doolan, thanks for the feedback. If the objective is a secure objective then you need a 10:1 combat power ratio within the objective perimeter. Routed units have low CP so you should be right there. But it is best to evict any enemy from the perimeter. I appreciate what you are saying about the impact of close or covered terrain. What would you recommend?

BTW if the objective type is a Defend then all you need do is exist within the objective to achieve it. You don't need to achieve a 10:1 combat power ratio. Also note that its combat power and not just firepower or persQty. So it takes into account unit effectiveness etc.

 

[Daz]

Re. Recon units

What do recon units do? Do they have some kind of bonus to sighting\reliability of intel or are they really just other kind of simple line units?

They certainly can act as a line unit. They will have a higher recon value than any other type of force. As such they will more than likely be allocated to the advance guard during moves by the AI. A force with a high recon value has a positive effect on the determination of the force's overall force ratio viv a vis enemy forces. This is used in the planning and assessment code in numerous places and can affect the likelihood that a force will undertake probes and attacks etc. They do not have a greater probability of detecting enemy in line of sight checks. But that's something I have been considering. It's not there yet though.

 

[Daz]

Re: Toning down of Artillery Responsiveness.

In the CO1 demo and generally when I set my arty to defend, they would fire in support of all units, especially in defense. In fact it was so good, beyond some targets I wanted to bombard, I let the AI handle the arty.

In CO2 I can't for the life of me figure out how to get the same level of support. The Arty doesnt fire in support when I set them to defend, and when I attached them to a high level HQ and set that HQ to defend, they BARELY fire in support, and even then I think its just stuff they had a LOS on.

I'm not sure if this is a bug, or if I am just missing something with the new engine (which is different then the Demo I played). Anyone have any idea's?

We have toned down the ability of arty not directly subordinate to the calling unit to respond

Okay, so is there a way I can subordinate an artillery unit to say an attacking battalion, and not have it get moved around by the AI? Because the AI HQs tend to drag all their attachments with them to whatever waypoint I ordered an attack at, but I'd like for my arty to stay in the rear and not get brought to a front line town.

I'm new to the game, but the only way I know to attach units is using the ctrl key and selecting the desired units/HQ and issuing an order. Maybe there is a better way to do this?

wokelly,

Welcome. No at the moment you have three options, namely:

1. subordinate the arty to say a Bn HQ and yes it will move it if need be
2. leave it subordinated to a higher HQ
3. order it directly yourself

At the moment we don't support the concept of "support" for arty. It's on the wish list.