Fire Combat - InfantryPosted by Ken Whitehead on Saturday, September 10, 2005 (CST) To understand the Fire Combat system you must have a good grasp of how the game calculates the number of casualties that will be generated by one unit’s fire on another. Fire Combat – Infantry Small ArmsTo understand the Fire Combat system you must have a good grasp of how the game calculates the number of casualties that will be generated by one unit’s fire on another. Fire casualties are calculated using the standard Combat Factor which is a unit’s fire power relative to a standard 1000 man unit. This value is calculated by the formula: Combat Factor = (Weapon Effectiveness) x (Unit’s Modified Strength) / 1000 The Combat Factor is then multiplied by the Low Range Value of 5 and the High Range Value of 25 which generates the possible range of casualties due to the fire. This means that a full strength regiment of 1000 men with a weapon of effectiveness of 1x will generate casualties between 5 and 25 men. The actual number is determined by a random number generator which will select a number from 5 to 25. If you are using the optional fire rule two numbers will be generated and then averaged to give a slightly more centered number. The player should remember that on average his 1000 men will only create 15 casualties with a 1x weapon modifier. In addition to casualties there are two other results of firing which also should always be kept in mind. The first is fatigue inflicted on the target and is equal to the number of actual casualties to three times that number again depending on a random generator. The second is the possibility that your unit will run out of ammo, which is based on a percentage probability set in the parameters (usually 5% chance). This makes fire combat always a trade off between the casualties and fatigue it can cause versus the possible loss of ammo. How serious an effect loss of ammo is depends on how many wagons you have and whether they are close enough to be used to re-supply your units. There is also a fourth indirect effect that is in some ways more important. That is the morale check triggered by fire combat. The chance of a morale check is calculated based on the ratio: loss / (loss + 25). This translates to our hypothetical 15 average casualty also having a 37.5% chance of causing a morale check. Since a morale check can lead to disruption in the case of defensive fire or the even more devastating route in the case of offensive fire, it should always be taken into consideration. Let’s look at some number crunching for what we will consider a typical set of situations using some typical regiments. Our typical regiment with be a class “C” unit of 500 men armed with rifles. First our typical enemy moves his typical regiment adjacent to our typical defender. Our defender will be able cause 20-100 casualties (weapon 4x) for and average of 60 compared to our attacker who will cause half that (10-50 with average of 30). In addition our defender will have an average chance of causing a morale check of 70%. Since our typical unit has a morale quality of C (33% chance of failure) which if my memory of statistic is correct comes out about a 25% chance the attacker will disrupted. If the attacker is disrupted then his fire power is further reduced by half since this takes affect before his fire. During the attackers fire assuming no disruption his chances of causing morale check are much lower (55%) and that causing a route is only 18%. But on the plus side the defender failing the morale check generates a route not a disruption which is far worse in affect. Since the defender is always stationary and the attacker usually is moving adjacent, the defender in the first combat round has a 2:1 fire advantage over the attacker. In subsequent rounds the fire will be equivalent other than affects like disruption and route reductions. This leads to a number of observations. For the attacker, if you aren’t planning to take the position by melee, you must have more units in the line than the defender. The rule of thumb is 2:1 advantage assuming the defender does not enjoy any significant terrain advantages. This give you almost equal fire on the first round and superior fire power on following rounds. You will also need reserves to fill in the gaps as those disorders turn into routes on the Defender’s turn. For the defender, if you must hold a line you and don’t have a significant terrain bonus you must prevent the enemy of getting the 2:1 advantage. Otherwise you should yield ground to improve your defense. What I mean by that is a defensive line that is always stepping back will deprive the attacker of his full strength fire turn. When the attacker moves adjacent you will always fire at full strength and he at half. On your turn you step back at least one hex preferably two so that the attacker’s full strength fire is reduced by distance. For our typical regiment in clear hexes this would result in 1st Defensive Fire average kill of 60, 1st attackers fire average kill of 30, step back two hexes, Attacker now fires his Defensive fire but still at only 30 kill, and Defender now fires Offensive fire but at considerably reduce potential of only 15 kill. Then the whole thing repeats itself as the attacker moves adjacent again but the kill ratio is 75 to 60 in the defenders favor before taking the affects of disruptions into affect. Firing Unit Modifiers:
Target Unit Modifiers:
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