Disadvantage of Fatigue

[TortugaPower]

Hello commanders,

I've only recently been diving into this game, and I noticed the enemy forces do a lot of moving at night to try to recapture objectives and probably to reposition.

The downside for them is it increased their fatigue (I'm seeing some of their units with almost entirely full fatigue bars). However, I can't tell exactly what effect this has on them.

A few things are rattling around my head:

1. My commander's persona finds it annoying to deal with the troops behind my "frontline", which I take as a legitimate strategy. However, are they able to get resupplied?

2. The AI probably wouldn't be doing this if Fatigue was going to lose them the battle, so is it a potentially viable strategy to go contest objectives at night, even if you have to retreat out at first light?

3. This is more of a game mechanics question, which with video games now we aren't always privy to (whereas with tabletop you always knew), but what exactly does Fatigue do? As I see it, it could: slow down enemy movement speed, slow enemy reaction to new orders, decrease combat effectiveness, and/or increase chance to retreat and/or surrender. I'm not asking for the exact formulas, but my idea of how fatigue will impact a unit could be very different than someone else's.​

Thanks for any help.
Tortuga

 

[Kurt]

You guessed more or less correctly , units with high fatigue levels will refuse to follow orders and just fall asleep . Your question as to whether this is an efficient strategy is a valid one , further AI scripting is the answer . If you want to prevent your enemy taking this approach then de-select the " no rest by default " , it should help .

 

[Daz]

Hi Tortuga.
To try and answer your questions:

1. Don't get to hung up over stragglers behind your lines.
   Its more important to concentrate on your objectives, than chasing them down. Of course every battlefield is different so the importance of this could be situational and depends on the size and condition of those you have bypassed.
   Economy of force is very important when dealing with them. i.e. don't send an entire Bn to take out a badly mauled enemy Coy.
   One of your strong Inf Coy, (best used if the enemy is foot Inf, as they will be able to retreat into woods and other non motorised terrain) supported by an artillery Battery or mortar platoon will do fine.
   To keep open your main lines of communication consider using a recon or motorised Inf Coy to patrol the MSR.
   Use artillery and rear echelon troops to occupy the important areas to your rear. Once they are dug in they will be very difficult for a bypassed straggler to dislodge.
   If you have friendly forces covering the roads and tracks forward of the enemy stragglers, they shouldn't be getting supplies. There is a bit of a bug in the supply at the moment however, that Dave is looking into.
2. Moving and taking objectives at night is a very important, and valid strategy, especially if your long range firepower is weaker than the enemy's and the terrain is relatively open. An infantry heavy force would be very wise to use the cover of darkness, against a mechanized force.
   It allows you to bring maximum firepower onto a concentrated location at close range (Coy position attacked by a Bn for example) without drawing fire from more distant units. An enemy concentration can then be taken out piecemeal from a flank. It also allows the attacker to close with the enemy without coming under artillery bombardment and allows easier encircling. The exception to this would be a danger close fire mission, that also has the risk of hitting their own troops.
   If the attack is properly co-ordinated its unlikely that they would have enough artillery to suppress all the attacks going in at the same time.
   If they have to retreat out at first light then they probably chose the wrong objective. Its not a good idea to occupy an objective that is going to be subjected to a horrific weight of firepower. Maybe consider taking out some of the other enemy positions that are able to observe and fire onto the objective at the same time, or before occupation.
   Its quite easy to become obsessive about capturing the games objectives, without considering other important user objectives. Like that hill 500m away that overlooks it.
3. Bad weather slows movement. The slower they move the less distance they travel per given time, but fatigue increases at the same rate per hour, so weather and terrain have an effect on distance travelled per % point of fatigue increase.
   Bad terrain and night actually increase the rate of fatigue per hour, so the effect of bad terrain, night, and the slowing effect of bad weather, on poorly trained, unfit men, can be quite devastating.
   These are all elements you need to consider when setting their objectives and adjusting your expectations of them accordingly.
   Morale, fatigue and cohesion are closely related and effect the performance of the unit in various ways.
   Fatigue is also effected by training and unit fitness.
   See the extracts from the manual below, for more info.

Night, Weather and Visibility


The main impact of both night and adverse weather conditions is on visibility. Visibility in turn affects the spotting of enemy units and the rate of movement. The poorer the visibility, the less reliable your reports of enemy units become, and the slower your units move.

In clear weather, visibility is worst at night, about 50% at dusk and dawn and maximum during the day. Rain, Snow and Fog also reduce visibility from a little to a lot, depending on how heavy the rain or snow is and how thick the fog is.

 To avoid detection move formations at night

However, moving units at night fatigues them faster than it does during the day. Poor ground conditions such as snow and mud reduces movement rates of all units.


Morale, Fatigue, and Cohesion


Because morale measures the will to fight of your units, it is a key value. Units with poor morale are unhappy with their lot and are more likely to retreat or even rout when fired upon. Morale is lowered as units suffer casualties and are fired upon. The rate of decrease is greatest for poorly trained and inexperienced troops. Morale level can increase (albeit slowly) if the unit is pulled out of the line and rested. Units also recover some morale by inflicting heavy damage on enemy units.

Fatigue is also an important consideration in your planning. Tired units (i.e. those with high Fatigue) move slower, fire slower and less accurately and are more likely to have their morale and cohesion lowered. Fatigue increases as units move and to a lesser degree fire. Units moving by foot fatigue faster across rough terrain. They also fatigue faster than motorised units when moving. Units become fatigued quickly if they are force-marched (by selecting the Fastest move rate for a task) and when moving at night. Unfit units fatigue faster. Fatigue can be reduced whenever a unit is stationary. It is reduced quickest if they are ordered to Rest. Managing your units, so that they do not all become severely fatigued, can create an edge over the enemy that you can use at a critical point. The best way to do this is to maintain a reserve, which rests.

Cohesion is important because it too has a significant effect on unit activities. Units with poor cohesion are more likely to stop and Reorg rather than obey their assigned order, at least until they have recovered a modicum of organisation. Units with low cohesion will also be more vulnerable to enemy fire and are less able to return fire effectively. Cohesion is lowered as units are fired upon, suffer casualties, force march, change formation and change facing. The rate of decrease is greatest for poorly trained and inexperienced troops. Cohesion is recovered when units remain stationary. It is recovered quickest if they are ordered to Reorg.

 

[TortugaPower]

Just wanted to follow-up and say thank you both for your replies.

Daz, that was an impressive amount of information you provided. I think I understand better how fatigue fits into the picture of this game. I don't fully understand how the supply mechanic works yet -- the only thing I check right now is the Control overlay.

"To keep open your main lines of communication consider using a recon or motorised Inf Coy to patrol the MSR."​

What's the best way of getting a group to patrol a critical artery? Move with attack option selected, and then move them back, repeating ad infinitum? Or maybe queuing up multiple movement waypoints would work (I just remember that you can't queue up multiple attack orders yet, as the penultimate waypoint acts as the FUP).

 

[Daz]

"To keep open your main lines of communication consider using a recon or motorised Inf Coy to patrol the MSR."

What's the best way of getting a group to patrol a critical artery? Move with attack option selected, and then move them back, repeating ad infinitum? Or maybe queuing up multiple movement waypoints would work (I just remember that you can't queue up multiple attack orders yet, as the penultimate waypoint acts as the FUP).

You don't need to patrol the MSR, unless you suspect you have bypassed enemy units to your rear.
If you do suspect enemy units to your rear, the most important times to patrol is a few hours before the twice daily (or once daily for Axis in some scenarios) routine supply runs, at 06:00hrs and 18:00hrs each day.

Send the patrols out a few hours early to give them time to remove the enemy unit from the route if they run into one.
Even if you don't manage to remove them from the route, if there is an alternate route, it will help the AI determine the best route to send the supplies down, as it will have an up to date intel picture of the enemy positions.

If your front lines are heavily engaged, you will need to maintain a supply route between the forward units and their respective bases, as they will be requesting emergency supplies that can be dispatched at any time of day, or night, so long as the base is deployed.
There is a yellow (urgent) message in the message log, when supply gets interdicted to a unit and the supply line in the display lines view will also turn yellow or red.
The unit info can also display a red or green indicator to indicate its supply state (F7 key).
This is a good time to check your supply lines.
This can also be caused by long range fire coming from the front, and as there is no indication in the game at the moment, as to where the interdiction took place. You need to use your judgement to decide.
If the supply column was interdicted in real life, you would almost certainly know where it took place, so I think it would be a valid reason to stop the game and surrender, to check there is not an enemy unit in your rear causing the problem. You just need to try not to look around too much and spoil the scenario for yourself.

The best formation is situational depending on the terrain, the suspected enemy location and the likelihood of the enemy still being there when the unit arrives. Road column in the narrow roads of the Ardennes, arrow head in the open desert, move order for enemy position unknown, probe or attack if it is for example. For a move order don't tick allow attacks until the patrolling unit has got a fair distance from the front line, or they will likely attack the wrong targets.