LAND COMBAT

[wegman58]

A couple of odd questions.

Do besiegers entrench? Playing AI, managed to get enough to Rangoon to keep it. Two years in it is time to break out and I'm wondering if the Imperial Forces have been digging in for the past 2 years.

Working on the same thing - When I was bringing in reinforcements (one of the West African Divisions) I realized that Pegu was insufficiently defended. Snuck in the back door. I imagine the supply situation around Rangoon is not good for the Imperials - when the Rangoon forces finally break out, will they go to Pegu or somewhere else?

AND one real odd one - the besieging forces have been showing 50,000 or so every day (this is the main theater of battle, several thousand aircraft lost in and around Burma), one day it showed 1,500 so I thought Japan was retreating and tried to kill the rear guard. Shock attack on all 50,000! 1:1 so not too bad but I've never proven an estimate quite so wrong. Next day I get my 50K around Rangoon.

[BBfanboy]

Besiegers in combat mode will build field forts. I don't know how high they would get after two years, but it should be significant on top of the terrain bonus.

Enemy units forced to retreat will follow a clear supply path away from the hex. They will not retreat into an occupied hex, even if all the surrounding hexes are occupied. In that case they will fight in place or capitulate and be wiped out.

How are you getting your detection on those 50K troops? Recon? Bombardments? Bombing? Enemy attacks on you? A probing attack by some of your units?
There are a lot of things that can affect the info available including weather, enemy forts, terrain, enemy mode (combat/reserve/move). E.G., if the figure of 1500 was from an enemy bombardment of your troops, it is likely that only a couple of his units participated in the bombardment and therefore the rest were not counted.

[wegman58]

The 1500 was an outlier. We're in the same hex and I thought that 'same hex' had a lot to do with it.

I bomb most reasonable better days, but the retreating folks from Pegu were a soft target and took most of the air power in Rangoon so no bombing for a couple of days. Enemy strength had shrunk over time, I was winning the artillery/bombing battle. And I would be thinking 'run away' with supplies cut off and the computer has withdrawn from place. Just rest up a bit more before the next attack. And lots of bombs.

[RangerJoe]

When you bomb, the attacking air units do a poor job of reconning but they will give you some detection. The best units are the ones with cameras like the Lysander. Now, most planes can recon but the dedicated units do a better job plus their pilots are usually trained so the skills should be higher. If the recon aircraft have a build in camera setup, that is better than trying to take any pictures freehand and/or just describing what you saw.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

When you bomb, the attacking air units do a poor job of reconning but they will give you some detection. The best units are the ones with cameras like the Lysander. Now, most planes can recon but the dedicated units do a better job plus their pilots are usually trained so the skills should be higher. If the recon aircraft have a build in camera setup, that is better than trying to take any pictures freehand and/or just describing what you saw.

Bombers performing their own recon while executing bombing missions raise DL by 2 points.

Non-recon type planes flying recon missions raise DL by 2 points.

Recon type aircraft flying recon missions raise DL by 4 points.

Non-recon type aircraft with cameras (Lysanders, etc.) flying recon missions provide more detailed and reliable information on force composition, but still raise DL by only 2 points.

It's always an advantage to be flying recon type aircraft on recon missions over your targets.

[wegman58]

What does land units in the same hex do for DL?

And again, I have checked the opposing forces almost every day for years (literally) in game time. All were consistent except for this one.

[HansBolter]

ORIGINAL: wegman58

What does land units in the same hex do for DL?

And again, I have checked the opposing forces almost every day for years (literally) in game time. All were consistent except for this one.

It depends if the target is a Base, Ground Unit or Naval TF. There are tables in the manual and a clear explanation of a complex subject everyone except Alfred forgets most of, myself included. I suggest reading 10.1 and 10.2.