Demo, units not attacking and occupation problem

[Hammer757]

In the Demo tutorial, Return to St Vith, I’m seeing a few behaviors that I can’t sort out.

I have given 35 Tank Bn Hq an attack order ,the current time is D2, 2252 and the start time is d2 2116. The Hq and all subordinate are resting at the FUP. All units are “dug in”.
What else should I be looking at to determine what is holding them up? I went to all the trouble to calculate and coordinate arty fires and these clowns are taking a nap!
After taking the Lommersweiler Objective I inadvertently abandoned it but moved a unit onto and is defending it. It has been a few hours but it is still not “green” in the list. Ive read through the objective section in the manual and can’t find this addressed.

Thanks
Robert

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

Welcome Hammer757. Without a save, I'd say your units are fatigued and have opted to rest. They may well be clowns but supermen they are not. As the operational commander you have to manage the fatigue level of your force. You do this best by staggering the commitment of your forces such that part of your force is always resting while the other is active. Alternately you can commit the lot but phase your operation so they get time to rest between objectives.

 

[Hammer757]

Dave, the bit about clowns was a joke. I finally thought I had figured out how to work out coordinating arty with an attack and there was something else I didn't figure in.

SO if I need to determine the appropriate rest level before committing a a unit to a coordinated attack whats the tripwire that lets me know that? I gave an order with a start time and I didn't see anything to indicate that was too early. Their fatigue level did not seem to be any worse than other units that were responding in a timely manner.

Ill be playing through a few more times and will be looking for indicators

 

[Dave 'Arjuna' O'Connor]

The level of fatigue that can be used as a tripwire will depend on many factors. So it's not just a simple one value. It depends on the quality and fitness of the force, how close they are to their objective, whether there are enemy assaulting them, their current fatigue level, whether they are allowed to rest etc. Any unit that goes over 80% fatigued is going to be at risk or stopping and resting. Units assaulting accrue fatigue fast and even faster if under fire. So the longer the assault an the more intense it is the quicker they fatigue. You can issue an attack order and set the force to not rest. This will avoid the rest reassessment but be warned you may exhaust the force anyway and they may ignore your no rest setting. If you are going to put an attack in do so with rested troops, choose a short assault distance - ie choose a close FUP, but one that is also safe. Try and launch your attack well before sunset, unless you have fresh troops.

 

[Hammer757]

that's good dope, thanks Dave