American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

<b>How are short and medium range AI fire settings determined?</b>

This is a query that I expect probably only our game designers will know.

When artillery ammunition is short, it may be game determining to know, especially in turn based play.

Long or maximum range is self evident according to the type of arm.
It would be nice to know what the formula for minimum range of small arms is but it is not as important. However, since we're on the subject...? How about it?

This is especially a problem with artillery which has so many types of guns with different ranges and firepower effectiveness, and that gives rise to my inquiry.

Are the settings divided into thirds with the short range for 3 in rifled cannon at 3 hexes?
That would put a 30 lb Parrott gun at 4 hexes, and a 12 lb howitzer at 2 hexes for short range.

If I had my druthers, I would want <b>medium range</b> at the point where firepower is doubled for each type of cannon.
That would be 5 hexes for 12 lb howitzers, 8 hexes for Napoleons, and 12 hexes for 3 inch rifled cannons.
Short range is more problematic.

I copy below the entries for several different types of common artillery for quick reference.

BG Ross McDaniel
2nd Bde, 3rd Div, III Corps, AoG


3in Rifled:
8 at 1 hex
6 at 2 hexes
5 at 3 hexes
4 at 5 hexes
3.5 at 10 hexes
2 at 12 hexes
1 at 14 hexes
0.5 at 21 hexes

Napoleon:
14 at 1 hex
11 at 2 hexes
7 at 3 hexes
5 at 4 hexes
3 at 6 hexes
2 at 8 hexes
1 at 10 hexes
0.5 at 13 hexes

30 lbr Parrott:
20 at 1 hex
16 at 2 hexes
10 at 3 hexes
6 at 4 hexes
5 at 5 hexes
4 at 9 hexes
3 at 14 hexes
2 at 18 hexes
1 at 23 hexes
0.5 at 27 hexes
0.25 at 36 hexes

12lbr Howitzer:
15 at 1 hex
11 at 2 hexes
5 at 3 hexes
2 at 5 hexes
1 at 7 hexes
0.5 at 9 hexes

Hi, Ross,

Here is what the manual says:

<font color="orange">The Auto DF Dialog can be used during a player turn to establish the Automatic Defensive Fire values for that side. Values may be established for infantry and artillery. There are two possible settings for infantry: Min and Max. At the Max setting, Automatic Defensive Fire will fire at any target within the maximum range of the infantry unit. At the Min setting, the ADF will only fire at units within the minimum range for infantry as established by parameter data. This minimum range is usually 2 hexes. There are three possible settings for artillery: Min, Med, and Max. At the Max setting, ADF will fire at any target within the maximum range of the artillery unit. At the Min setting, ADF will only fire at units within the minimum range for artillery as established by parameter data. This minimum range is usually 4 hexes. At the Med setting, ADF will fire at any unit within the minimum range but only randomly fire at units between the minimum and maximum range.</font id="orange">

So medium doesn't even mean medium; it means minimum plus some random number of artillery units that will fire at whatever is within maximum range.

Minimum is determined in parameter data and is usually 4 hexes, no matter the gun type; 2 hexes for infantry.

I think the program is capable of allowing players to set specific ranges, with max range being the default; but that is not how they elected to implement this feature. I know it sounds anal, but it is essentially what the phasing player does each turn; determine exactly which units he is willing to fire at what specific range, and even which specific target, at whatever range. I think if a player is willing to assess the situation for each unit each turn and program accordingly for the ADF, he ought to be able to do it. If he chooses to just leave everything at default, he can. If he wants to set the ranges for some units and leave others at default, he ought to have that option as well.

Keep in mind that the problem with setting ranges only comes into play with ADF. It is not a factor when playing manual DF. Then, you can indeed fire at the exact range you wish to for each unit, and specify the target just like the attacker. I think it has a significant effect on play balance.



MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">...ADF will only fire at units within the minimum range for artillery as established by parameter data. This minimum range is usually 4 hexes. At the Med setting, ADF will fire at any unit within the minimum range but only randomly fire at units between the minimum and maximum range... <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Thanks for finding that, Mike.

However, there seems to be no particular minimum range identified in parameter data except the adjacent hex for all except one class of artillery. I don't believe that that was the intent of the quoted description.

On what basis would minimum AI range setting be 4 hexes for artillery, even generally? I would argue for 5 hexes, that being maximum range for infantry rifles, so that artillery could return fire and defend itself when the enemy starts getting close.
Would a minimum setting fire beyond that randomly, as medium range setting does, and if not, why not, when medium range does?

Is random response fire set at 50:50 probability, or is it more like 10%?

What variances for minimum/medium range settings for a 12lb howitzer with 9 hex range versus a 30 lb Parrott rifle with 36 hexes range? Is it by a predictable formula or was it set by a designer's best guess?
I consider an arbitrary but reasonable range is an acceptable decision. Decisions must be made and no one has perfect information.

And what percent likelihood will artillery set at medium range fire out to maximum range? That random response fire sounds pretty crappy to me, especially when I am trying to conserve artillery ammo.

BG Ross McDaniel