The First AAR!

[Adam Rinkleff]

So, like many of you, I am skeptical of new games, and this one hasn't exactly had the best marketing. It's not on steam, the only review I've seen is by a seemingly sponsored source, and the video looks great... except it doesn't really show the game. However, I heard the phrase 'Close Combat' and I had to take a look, because I remember the original Close Combat by Atomic, and that game was revolutionary. Even the US military used it for training. Unlike so many other games, Close Combat brought in a degree of realism, which included troops hiding in fear, getting shot by friendly fire, and surrendering for no apparent reason. "Don't shoot!"

I've always been disappointed at the lack of any follow-up to Close Combat, and fortunately it is clear that we now have a successor. With any luck, this game is still in its early stages, and will become even better, but it is already pretty good. If you ever enjoyed Close Combat, and wished for more maps, this game has what you are looking for. If you ever enjoyed Close Combat, and wished you could control more than a company, this game has you covered. If you ever enjoyed Close Combat, and wished for better AI, this game has that as well.

I've decided to create a sort of AAR, for people who are new to this and looking for some basic guidance. In this simplistic scenario, a single infantry company has been tasked with advancing about a kilometer up a dry river bed. An hour later, more than a hundred people were either dead or in need of serious medical attention.

Here is our battlefield:

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It doesn't look like much, but a kilometer up that wadi, a red infantry company has moved into position and their forward observers are calling in artillery fire upon a critical supply route. Of course, it's all just fun and games in the National Training Center, but someday this could be for real.

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It's very impressive how much room this game has. You can play just about anywhere, and I'm sure it's only a matter of time before I decide to add Normandy.

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There are plenty of options. If you think the AI is too weak, just try giving them extra combat power. Reduce your own air superiority. Jeez, if the Soviet troops are too weak, then why not give them equivalent training and morale? It makes no sense to complain about the poor performance of the Soviet AI, when you are simultaneously insisting that Soviet troops should have poor performance...

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Another good way to keep the AI challenging is to either force yourself to attack, or force yourself to defend with a weak garrison. People seem to like 'meeting engagement' battles because they are 'fair and balanced', but in real wars, one side is almost always either attacking or defending, and force disparity is a real problem. The nice thing about this game is you can pick your own challenge, and its pretty easy to set yourself up for defeat. Many people complain about the lack of multiplayer, but I see that as a strength. Although I hope multiplayer will be added, its good that the game does not cater to the 'even steven' carebearism of competitive multiplay. This is a game which can provide you with an unfair challenge.

Another thing I really like about this game is it introduces 'dummy' objectives. Indeed, objectives in wargames are for dummies! In real wars, you have an objective to guide you, but you don't win just because you take the objective. The opposing side doesn't just randomly agree, ok if you take that location and hold it, then you win. The objective concept exists in wargaming simply because its not clear how to convince people to fight, as some will just sit there and do nothing. The dummy approach is ingenious, as it taunts you with what appears to be an objective, only for you to realize that what you should really focus on is clearing terrain and winning the battle. The objectives thus exist primarily for the AI, and you (hopefully a human) just need to focus on winning. No more gamey suicide assaults on a meaningless objective for no reason other than to score a victory point!

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During my last attempt, I attacked up a similar road in some other valley, and I let the AI entrench armored vehicles which... well, they made it rather difficult to proceed. I put up a good fight, before I started looking for the surrender button (I don't think there is one, but it should probably be added). This time I've decided to keep it simple and restrict the opponent to infantry forces.

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One infantry company, one HQ team, one scout section, two machine guns, and two mortars. That's basically what you would have had in Close Combat. However, this game gives you a lot more options, and has a flexible means to add entirely new units. Yes, a WWII mod is clearly inevitable. For those of you unwilling to support the game now, I hope the developer issues the WWII sprites as an expensive DLC that is free for those who pay today. Too bad you didn't believe in this game when you had the chance...

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Finally, we come to the final screen. I don't reccomend the 'player character' option, it annoys me, but maybe you will enjoy it more. The main issue is I hate listening to myself walk or drive, and its more interesting to simply listen to whatever area your mouse is pointing at. I also don't reccomend you pause or use round lengths. Honestly, if you are pausing and complaining about the AI, well.. try not pausing?

I'll pause here and work on a follow-up post.

[Adam Rinkleff]

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Ok, this is cool. You can actually view the map in 3D, to gain a better idea of the terrain. As you can see, the ground is basically sloping up toward the northeast corner of the map.

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At the start of each battle, you'll need to set up your TRP registration points for any artillery. That's kind of a new concept, but basically, it will take time to aim artillery at a new location. The closer that location is to a TRP, the faster your artillery will aim. Since I expect I'll be mostly fighting around the objectives, I just set up both TRPs in the middle. On a larger map, you might want to think more carefully about where you will need to use artillery.

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I centralize my force. I like how you can post scouts further forward, and apparently can even infiltrate further, although that would probably be a mistake on such a small map.

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This is nice as well, you can check the line of sight for individual units. Here, I can see that my machine gun team won't have a line of fire toward the enemy's center, as the ground raises slightly in the middle and obscures the view. This might seem to be an excessive amount of detail, but its nice to see a game which recognizes that even an open field will not be truly flat.

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Rather than trying to guess where I could move the machine gun, the easiest way is to simply select the target area and see what regions have line of sight to that location.

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I also take a look at this ridge in the northeast. It appears that I will be able to move rather freely in the southeast, as the view is blocked by intervening terrain. If you aren't certain what this looks like in real-life, fortunately we can look at the real thing, since this is an actual location!

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You can see here there is a main road heading northwest, which bends sharply north, before turning west. If you move your eye about a kilometer or so north of that second bend, you can see the terrain becomes convoluted. We are essentially on the very edge of that morass.
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Before the battle, you should also set up some preliminary artillery targets. You may not need them, but you might decide you want them. I just set up some broad general zones, each covered by one gun. I leave the fourth gun free, as I will quickly adjust it to the first target.

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Another quick glance at the 3D view, which has a nice means of amplifying differences. Here, you can really get an idea how rugged things are getting in certain sections of the map. This convinces me that I can safely move a squad out on the flank, where it will be able to view the center without taking fire from the northeast.

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Likewise, I can push out on the west flank as well, where I will be shielded from flanking fire.

Ok, let's advance (and keep your heads down)!

[Adam Rinkleff]

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Well, the first thing I notice through my binoculars is that there are indeed infantry. Possibly some there, maybe there, but definitely right there to the east of the road. That will be the first target for artillery.

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Perhaps, I should have placed my scouts better, as they come under almost immediate fire. Meanwhile, my machine gunners open up at long range, wasting a lot of precious ammo. In the future, it's probably important to tell everyone to hold their fire until told otherwise.

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You can see I've redirected the artillery, while my machine gunners fire upon the hapless enemy scouts. However, my scouts are also rather exposed.

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I'm sure right about now the AI is wishing it could play against better AI. So long scouts, at least you found a target for the artillery.

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BOOM boom BOOM boom BOOM boom BOOM boom BOOM boom Well, I plastered them, but it looks like they have a lot of reinforcements.

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Meanwhile, my left flank also comes under bombardment, and is forced to fall back. So much for advancing...

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The next half hour was an intense experience of slowly inching forward. At least I was making progress, calling in artillery upon a succession of defensive positions. However, as I approached the objective, the artillery liasion informed me that I had already exceeded my quota, and no further support could be expected.

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Fortunately, I was able to call in a few personal favors, and someone scrounged up some smoke rounds from the depot. Finally, we took the objective!!!!!!!!

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As I surveyed the blasted landscape, I wondered what historians might say about this grand offensive...

[Adam Rinkleff]

Now, this is where most wargames end... I've taken the objectives, it's game over right?

Well, actually, the objectives are just marks on a map... they don't mean much of anything. Don't fall for the dummy objectives!

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The heaviest fighting now occurs as my advancing force is exposed in a salient, and we struggle to clear a perimeter.
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The enemy even launched a brave counterattack, which I suppose critics of the AI would refer to as a "piecemeal attack". Of course, a decent wargame AI should conduct many such attacks, because they are actually quite common in reality. The thing is, when you are on the verge of exhaustion, just one more such attack might change the tide of battle. The only difference between a piecemeal attack and a brilliant counterattack is whether or not the attack succeeds.
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As the fighting continued, I was alarmed to discover that the AI had 'foolishly' kept a 73mm recoilless rifle in reserve, along with several fresh infantry squads. Why didn't they bring these out sooner... when I still had artillery? Well, clearly, I was not going to be able to mop up the map. I couldn't even clear the northwest, let alone the northeast.

Ultimately, I think this game is very much a success and likely to improve over time. The only flaw I saw in the AI's play is that it was somewhat over zealous in its use of indirect fire, wasting shells on minor targets or firing into empty space. However, that could be remedied by simply giving the enemy slightly more ammunition. In a larger battle, this engagement could easily have turned against me, as timely enemy reinforcements would have posed a serious threat.

[22sec]

Excellent and thoughtful AAR!

[pensfanvw]

Thanks! Good read.

[Missouri_Rebel]

Nice work

[Veitikka]

Some excellent text here, from what I've read so far. Perhaps the author will allow us to use it in the forthcoming Battle Generator guide?

[Adam Rinkleff]

ORIGINAL: Veitikka

Some excellent text here, from what I've read so far. Perhaps the author will allow us to use it in the forthcoming Battle Generator guide?

Yah sure, I'll help expand the manual if you want. I'm a writer.

For what it's worth, you can create a pretty significant 'campaign' within a single battle. I'm currently approaching hour five of the battle for Schneverdingen (July 1991), and I still haven't made contact with the Soviet main force, which is entrenched on a ridge several kilometers away.

If you increase the map size and the number of units, you'll spend quite a bit of time just clearing out all the enemy scouts, listening posts, obstacles, minefields, machine gun nests, and bunkers, while redeploying your AA and AT assets to protect the advance from roving aircraft and opportunistic vehicles, while making sure you don't over-concentrate and expose your advance to enemy artillery. I've been averaging about a kilometer per hour, but I suspect it's going to get a lot slower once the shooting starts in earnest. I could have moved faster, but that would have been suicide with all those gunships that were floating around earlier in the day, while those bunkers would have just mowed squads down. They did enough damage as it was. I took out one listening post, and with their final report they called in an airstrike on my scouts.

Night is approaching, and that's going to further complicate the situation. I've only just breached the outskirts of the town, and will have to clear it out house by house, but the main position is on the hill overlooking the town. I suspect I'll start taking heavy fire once I near the city center. They've put pillboxes inside the buildings. I've tried heavy mortars, artillery, rockets, and bombs... flamethrowers seem to be the most effective means of clearing them out.

There aren't many wargames out there that include a complete approach and reconnaissance phase, while I haven't even maxed out the settings. With the right selection of terrain and units, you can create some lengthy engagements. I suppose if I lose this battle, I'll just play the same map and put myself on defense. If I lose that, I'll just slide the map over to the west and repeat until I win.

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[Rosseau]

Well done! Hopefully, this will generate some more well-deserved sales.

I've also surmised from your AAR that the number of objectives you can include is dependent on map size. Duh!

[wodin]

Superb aar

[zakblood]

congratulation and thanks for the AAR [&o]

[Adam Rinkleff]

I am continuing my grand battle, and have entered the tenth(!) hour.

As I expected, the rate of advance slowed tremendously within the city, where I have to carefully sweep each and every building. Of course, it is nighttime, making everything more difficult. It is very easy to get lazy and impatient, taking shortcuts which get people killed. At one point, I must have missed a house, because suddenly a firefight started inside my perimeter. The developers should consider adding sewers. In another case, I did not properly sweep a wooded area, and a passing tank burst into flames. I am not proud of this moment. There have been several incidents where I was dropping illumination flares, trying to figure out where that enemy unit was hiding. In other words, it is like a real battle in real time. Long periods of quiet, punctuated by moments of terror.

I generally move across the front, adjusting units and ordering them to leapfrog forward to the next position. By the time I get back to that section of the front, they are ready for new orders. Sometimes, nothing happens, but you never really know when the calm will break. In other games, I can simply move forward, occupy a good defensive position, and wait for the AI to suicide charge upon me. It is disconcerting to realize this isn't happening. I keep celebrating the empty glory of another success, clearing out a neighborhood with good lines of fire... and then realizing that I need to advance into the next, and the next, and somewhere the enemy will be waiting.

Shortly after 0200, I secured the first objective. It was a rather unique looking building on the map, and I did a quick google search to see what it was:

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When I went back to the map, I was impressed to note that the terrain box even said this was a church. Kudos to the developers for such accuracy on a large scale.

This objective was, however, undefended. After all, the enemy saw no real strategic interest in an old church, and the 'dummy' objective was simply a recognizable landmark chosen by one of my staff officers. Frankly, I have no idea where the enemy is, and I have only encountered isolated units along what used to be the front. However, where is the main body? I have no idea where the enemy has chosen to make a stand, but I imagine I will find them eventually. The dummy objectives are great, because I need to make my own plan, and determine my own objectives. Do I actually want to assault that hill? Maybe I should try to encircle it. There's no artificial timer or victory point condition to worry about, I just need to keep my people alive until I figure out what to do.

I am not especially proud of the fact that I have had ten hours to spend on this battle, nor that it has taken ten hours to move five kilometers (and that's only on my right flank, against light resistance). However, I do think this is realistic. From a gameplay perspective, it sounds really boring, and I'm sure some people would prefer a more immediate engagement. However, I haven't lost interest because there is always another task to do, never enough time to do everything, and every now and again I am reminded that my mistakes are getting people killed. Like the time I thought it would be safe to order a vehicle to cross an open field, well behind the front, only for a distant helicopter to blast it with a missile. Complacency is a seductive threat.

One advice I would give to the developers, is there should be a possibility for the AI to counterattack or conduct a raid. Especially at night. I would suggest a small random chance, say 1% per hour, which would generate reinforcements amounting to x% of the total strength. These would spawn in the enemy's rear, and then begin advancing toward some weak point in the attacker's front. This would certainly encourage me to stay more alert on my flanks. I've found myself shuffling more of my troops into the advancing salient, but there needs to be a possibility that the defender will detect a weak flank and attack even though there is no objective.

Ultimately, I made this engagement because I wanted to see if the game allows longer battles, and it certainly does. I will continue to expand my position, and will probably reach the main defensive line before or shortly after daybreak. It possible that the city will be almost entirely undefended, and most of the fighting will transpire in the large forested ridge which lies to the northeast.
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-Also, the introduction of civilian units is really novel. At 0238, Bravo Three Sierra reported a wheeled vehicle at Juliet Seven Seven Lima Six Eight, within the city's wooded park. Should I call in artillery? An airstrike? Divert some infantry squads, or a tank? This could be an armored personnel carrier, or a local delivery driver who has decided to try and hide. I'm just not sure. I guess I'll drop some flares. Update: It was a school bus.

At 0323, I'm continuing to advance house to house, every street and parking lot appears sinister and dangerous. However, there's nobody here. Not a sign of the enemy. Am I paranoid? Maybe the game is just really easy and I should just select everyone and tell them to storm the objectives. Surely, the AI is just stupid and incapable of defense. Suddenly, there are a few bursts of automatic weapons fire. Shouting, screaming, I open fire upon one of the preplanned artillery grids, quickly adjusting mortars to the area. My squad is under fire, popping smoke. They are panicking, reporting fire from the front, and the rear? It's all over in seconds. Suddenly, everything is quiet. The entire squad has been gunned down. I've got no idea where the enemy is. I had a second squad advancing on the other side of the street. They've got no idea where the enemy is. Urban combat, at 3 in the morning...

By 0333, ten minutes too late, the situation becomes clear. Advancing along the south edge of the road, the squad took frontal fire from a position to the northeast, approximately a block ahead. This position could not be seen by the squad on the north side of the road, as their line of sight was blocked by houses lining the north side of the road. Although the southern squad attempted to fall back, they were then hit by a second enemy position, hidden in rubble to the southwest. Although I criticize myself for moving too slowly, this is the third or fourth time that enemy troops have appeared in the rear. Perhaps, I am moving too fast, and have spread myself too thin. It's disconcerting to have nearly two battalions, including armored vehicles and tanks concentrated within an area of 1.6 km^2, and yet the enemy is still managing an ambush. Honestly, at 3am, its really hard to spot three enemy soldiers who have hidden themselves within a collapsed building. If I pour even more troops in, they'll be exposed to concentrated artillery. Otherwise, squads are pretty much on their own, as someone just 50 meters away won't be able to help.

At 0344, we encounter an OT-55A flamethrower tank, lurking within yet another pile of rubble. The infantry fire a swarm of rockets at the beast, but they impact harmlessly upon the concrete slabs and exposed rebar within which the tank has established itself. Finally, one rocket hits the turret, doing no damage. And another, with no damage. Elsewhere in the city, as the advance ground to a screeching halt, one of our armored vehicle burst into flames. The fatal shot came from behind, from a position so well hidden, that friendly troops could not see it even though it was just twenty meters away. I guess the Cold War is about to heat up.

At 0414, the AI proved that it isn't powered by a potato. I finally decided to start dropping cluster rounds on that tank, figuring it would just sit there and die like a champ. NOPE. After the first volley, all the sudden I could hear a tank engine revving up, and yep that thing is moving, coming right after my infantry with a flamethrower.

[goodwoodrw]

This AAR reading like a Clancy book, hurry up and print the next page[:D] Very absorbing read. thanks

[Phoenix100]

Very cool AAR. And helpful. Thanks. They should pay you.

[Adam Rinkleff]

The image below shows the position of the unit which took out my APC from behind. I had been through this area with several squads, moving both immediately south and north of the enemy position, but apparently I didn't explore this exact hex. Later, I posted a machine gun team here, and they didn't notice the enemy either. I am curious how much of this was due to the effects of night, but I would go so far as to argue that even during the day there should be at least a chance that such a unit is not noticed. Indeed, there should even be a chance that you walk a unit through a building, and still don't notice that enemy are hidden inside (in the attic, basement, upstairs closet, maybe even inside the wall). I hope the developers keep improving things and follow all my sage advice.[:-]



As dawn approached, we weren't surprised to find that the flamethrower tank had a buddy, parked in the next block. Once again, we called in artillery, and it moved. This time, instead of attacking, it pulled back to a secondary position. We followed up with more artillery, and finally it decided to advance and take out the spotters. Ultimately, both tanks were destroyed without loss. Once the artillery got them moving, they became easy targets for antitank infantry, as the enemy had just as much trouble spotting us. Engagements within the city are very one-sided. Either their unit is wiped out in a flurry of fire, or ours is lost. Once someone is spotted, it's pretty much over. Considering the size of the map, I wonder whether I will have enough units to keep advancing. At this point, I'm not sure who is winning the battle of attrition.

As dawn broke, there was a tragic incident. Our staff has meticulously established preaimed artillery zones across the front, and kept shifting these as the advance proceeded. In many cases, the zones have not yet been updated, and friendly infantry are already inside the danger zone. Well, one young staff officer panicked when word came that the second flamethrower tank was attempting to advance. Someone said tank, he heard tanks, and concluded that the enemy was attempting a counteroffensive. In his haste, he issued a command to fire upon every zone, and at least one soldier was killed by the barrage.

The elation of daybreak quickly evaporated. During the night, the complaint was "We can't see them." Now, the complaint was, "They can see us." As another squad came under fire, exposed in broad daylight in the middle of a street, I once again noted another improvement over Close Combat. With the predecessor, one always could tell where fire was coming from. However, now it's not clear. The enemy could be within any of those houses, or that warehouse, or that copse of trees, or that warehouse, or those houses, or that copse, or that house, or that warehouse, or maybe that pile of debris?



And then there's the railroad. If I thought streets were bad, terrible voids... what about this railroad? Wait, are we seriously going to try and cross that? Hmm, maybe not right now, let's focus on the northeast sector, get into that forest and move up the hill.

The game appears to be modeling psychological incapacitation. Of course, close combat had morale, but the troops always recovered. However, I've got one squad that has been panicking all night long, and they are still panicking. They are basically on the verge of mutiny. One contact with the enemy and I'm sure they'll either surrender or run away. I've just got them sitting in a house on the edge of the perimeter, hoping they'll at least report if they see something. Clearly, I can't expect them to advance.

Shortly after 05:00, the entire front erupts into one large firefight. Isolated enemy squads that were bypassed during the night begin firing from the rear, supporting entire platoons located across the railroad. I'm glad I didn't attempt a premature push across. Meanwhile, my tanks sit idle, unable to spot targets and too valuable to risk pushing. None of my artillery or mortars appear to be worth a damn.

As the sun peaks over the horizon, a pair of MiG-21s arrive, hunting my hapless tanks. I request a Kiowa observation flight to assess the situation south of the city. The pilot reports heavy fire and immediately withdraws. Another MiG-21 appears, strafing infantry as they approach the warehouse district. And then another, which strafes the infantry before bombing a tank. And then two more... an M132 brews up, igniting the fuel for its flamethrower. Machine gun fire erupts from the industrial complex across the railroad, shielded from artillery and mortar fire by thick steel beams and wrought iron furnaces. South of the city, we bring an enemy APC under artillery fire, but it simply drives off unscathed.

North of the city, we sweep the forest, approaching the hill. There is no sign of the enemy here, but nobody can be certain that enemy units haven't hidden themselves inside our perimeter. By 0700, we secure the crest of 101, and are perplexed by the utter lack of enemy defenses. On the map, it appears that this must be a critical objective. However, the trees block any meaningful view of surrounding terrain, and there are plenty of nearby hills. Perhaps the enemy is on 85, or 86, or 76? Maybe they have established a line along the lakes to the east? We know that they are south of the city, and across the railyard. Its only 7 in the morning, so everyone needs to wake up and get ready! What do you mean you didn't get any sleep last night? Let's go!

I would guess that the AI has spread itself out evenly across all of the objectives, infesting this side of the map with a lot of small and relatively isolated formations. However, with the dummy objectives, its impossible to know where exactly they are. For example, the objective 6 group might be somewhere deep in the forest. On the other hand, it might be immediately adjacent to groups from 10, 4, 8, and 7. I could continue to see lots of isolated positions, or I might see a very large concentration along the river northeast of the city.

A more concentrated linear defense could be constructed by placing all the objectives in a line, or grouping several right next to each other. For example, if I had placed every objective inside the city, then this battle would certainly be very different. That would be a more fast-paced action-oriented battle, whereas this one involves a lot of scouting and incremental advances. Regardless, it keeps my interest, because I can always advance to just one more house, across one more street, let's just reach that next position. With the same map and the same units, you can create very different situations. If I had placed every objective in the city, this battle would probably be over, as the city would have been plastered by my artillery. So spread out objectives are probably more realistic, as the enemy is seeking to delay my advance and avoid contact. I will be curious to see whether they try to counterattack and retake objectives.

My primary intent with this battle was to consider the complaint about this game not having a campaign mode. I mean, what? Do you have any idea how long it would take to play a full campaign consisting of battles this size? This engagement is currently on hour 15, and I don't see it ending today. By today, I mean, like, literally I could play all day long, and all night long, and this still won't be over. Maybe I can clear it out within two days. I wonder how many tanks they have... I haven't seen any artillery fire, but I bet they've got some guns.

[Adam Rinkleff]

Well, the battle ended prematurely, shortly before 10am. I am not sure why. If anyone has any ideas on how to prevent that in the future, let me know. Clearly, both sides had a lot of strength left.

[Eambar]

Great AAR - city fighting at night - about as tough as it gets!

The only way I can see to keep the battle going longer would be to increase the victory points on the Objectives screen - not tried it yet but seems like it could work.

Cheers

[Adam Rinkleff]

Yah, I'm hoping the developers provide some more insight into how victory conditions are determined.