Soldier Screen

[rbilly]

I'm a "Close Combat" rookie so forgive my if this is obvious . . . what is the difference between the symbol of a soldier running with a weapon vs. the symbol of a soldier running without a weapon? These are shown as part of the individual soldier stats. BTW, great game!

[ineffable]

Number of acts of bravery or cowardice.

[rbilly]

Wow, it seems that I have a number of chickens in my company.

[ineffable]

I've always understood acts of cowardice to represent failed morale checks rather than individual cowardly actions. A routing soldier may fail several more morale checks between the time he breaks and the time he may ultimately exit the map. One aspect of cowardice that seems evident is that ordering heavily suppressed soldiers to retreat while under fire contributes to their morale failure. If there is enough distance from the enemy, putting them in Ambush until enemy fire is diminished, then moving to the rear, works better than ordering a unit to Move Fast to a position out of LOS.

Acts of bravery has traditionally meant participating in a unit taking an objective. However, what constitutes an act of bravery seems to have been expanded on the old definition. For one, soldiers on both sides are noticeably more capable of taking out armored vehicles without dedicated AT weapons.

[rbilly]

Maybe another stat such as "battle stress related incapacitation" could be added (from a guy who knows nothing about how difficult that would be to implement). It seems that "Acts of Cowardice" should be reserved for things like running away and leaving the rest of your squad exposed to enemy fire.