Combat Power - Geometric not arithmetic?

[altipueri]

Page 131 of the manual says 9 is twice 8 which is twice 7 or words to that effect.

When I see an enemy unit with combat power 4 I think I need about 3 times that to have a successful attack on the 3:1 ratio - so as four units with combat power 3 is 12, that should do it; but they get chewed up.

Now I think I understand the geometric scale in fact I would actually need closer to 24 - i.e. 8 units of 3 - correct?

And this would be the approximate comparison Arithmetic to Geometric?

A=G
1=1
2=2
3=4
4=8
5=16
6=32
7=64
8=128
9=256

[Arjuna]

Your first estimate was right but please remember that these are raw combat power values - ie devoid of any other external factors like terrain effects, on call support from arty and mortars, current unit effectiveness etc.

[Lieste]

Roughly speaking - a single unit which is 2 'bigger' than the single enemy will give a 4:1 in raw odds.

When two units are similar sizes, the effect is similar to one unit of strength +1 to the biggest, combining two smaller units and one larger one can work the same.

(eg a 5 strength unit, supported by 2x 4 strength is roughly equal to a single 6 strength unit ~ and will only be 4:1 against a single 4).



For equal 'strength' units, the strength ratio is easier to see ~ being merely the ratio of numbers present.

For your example of a single '4' being attacked by a number of '3' units... you'd need 6 to reach 3:1 (each pair forms a composite '4' and three pairs give the desired ratio).



(Strength values may be 'meaningless' in certain contexts ~ eg a 1000m exchange of fires between *many* M5 Stuarts and M8 Greyhounds and a single Company of King Tigers... unless the lighter vehicles can get really close and hit flanks and rear (and get *a lot* of suppression) the King Tigers will just shrug of all hits while being able to kill with impunity.)

[altipueri]

Thanks for the quick replies.