Three questions

[jcrohio]

Was playing tonight and had two questions with movement

1. Had a leader move to recover a LMG - moved two hexes, picked up the LMG and then moved four more hexes - a
total of 6 hexes and picked up the LMG - should there be a +1 movement point penalty for picking up the LMG?

2. Had a unit moving on a road through smoke - actually saved the game and tried this a number of times - sometimes
it was penalized for moving through smoke and other times it was not - tried different combinations of when it
entered the smoke but always stayed on the road - sometimes it got five movement points and other times just four -
should there be a +1 penalty for moving through smoke?

3. Also I was curious if there are leader loss task checks (LLTC) and leader loss morale checks (LLMC). I have been
going through the ASLSK rules and ran into these and was wondering. Not sure if I have ever seen them.

Thanks
Jack

[genesismwt]

This is pure conjecture, but these are my observations:

1. I don't think 'actions' have a cost.

2. I think there is RNG used in this kind of thing. Everything is under the hood so why not. Let the hindrance provided by the smoke be subject to RNG also. Battlefield commanders don't have control over a tenth of what they see, so if smoke is subject to RNG, so be it.

3. I don't think so. I have not seen messages to that effect.

Remember, TotH is only inspired by ASL. Certain things are intentionally not included. Others, are left out due to programming limitations or problems. It's 85-90 Squad Leader, but it is it's own game. I appreciate that a lot of details are kept under the hood. It makes for much quicker play. Anymore, the only math I do in my head is for close combat.

[jcrohio]

Thanks Mike. Your three answers are what I suspected.

In response to your last sentence: I agree to an extent on keeping information hidden. The problem I have is that
I was not an ASL player. I had squad leader as a youth but never did much with it and gave it away. So I have no
background to base decisions on. I have found a lot of stuff on the internet and read it. So I am staring to
understand some of the rules. The TotH manual really does not explain a lot. There are many times when something
happens and I have no idea why. So I actually would like more information shown to get a better feel for what
is going on and what I can and cannot do. Maybe an option to show/hide details would be possible. I don't know as
I am not a programmer.

Jack

[genesismwt]

I am not a programmer either. Matrix and the designer will only confirm or deny questions about certain aspects of the game, but they won't say exactly how its done. Being inspired by ASL, not licensed by ASL, requires that there has to be differences so as to not infringe on copyrights.

I understand about wanting to know more. It would be nice if movement factor costs, and terrain effect modifiers were specified. However, I found that just by playing the training scenarios a few times, and then I went to the download scenario, Guards Counterattack and played that multiple times, I got a good feel for the game.

When I played my first game, I got out an ASL Quick Reference chart and terrain chart. I started playing, and only looked at the charts once or twice. At first, I was a bit concerned about the lack of charts and information. I felt that half of the fun of Squad Leader was pouring over the charts, calculating the odds, and then grumbling to my buddy about how bleak all my shots look.

I have stopped that now(except the grumbling about how bleak things look). TotH has helped my pick up the pace in squad leader. Now I call my shots, roll the dice, and then only pour over the charts if it looks like something might have happened. The play of the Toth is quick enough that I don't fret that I miscounted a move. I don't worry about early losses, or early bad shots. There's always next turn.

[UP844]

Picking an unpossessed SW requires one or more MF: in fact, if you try to pick one in a hex when you cannot move no more, a window will appear, stating you have not enough MF to complete the operation.

As regards to effect of leader loss/break, the only way to investigate would be setting up a test scenario with, say, 10 squads firing first on 10 squads, then on 10 squads with a "D" (7-0) leader. The second time you should see more broken squads because of leaders missing their MC (but this is not guaranteed with such a small sample).

[genesismwt]

Good to know! I just know that I have moved an inf for full movement and still placed a demo charge. Maybe that's a bug. When it comes to picking up sw's, I had given up on picking up in the movement segment. I usually just let the game do it for me in the admin segment. I admit, I was getting inconsistent results trying to pick up in the move segment. Most of the time I find the maneuver more important than the firepower, so I just try to end the movement and advance of a freshly rallied unit on an sw, rather than pick up during movement with someone more engaged.

[jcrohio]

Thanks Mike and UP844

Mike - Makes sense about infringing on copyrights - about picking up SW - I found that moving to the hex, selecting both
the SW and the leader (or unit), and then clicking on the hex until the recover button on the right appears works
- the only time it does not is if it fails its recover attempt which is rare

UP844 - I would think it costs extra but I was able to move a leader 6 hexes total and also pick up a LMG - I too
have had the message about not enough points so go figure

Jack