TURN #16
First, we deal with that Viet Cong incursion at our center. ARVN troops (yellow circles) assault, and ...
... no luck, the enemy are not dislodged.
We try our luck with the helicopter gunships. First one then the other circles around (yellow circle), fire (magenta circle), and ...
... score 2 SP hits. The Damage Results dialogs showed the usual "Unknown effects vs. unknown units". Still, by inspecting the game map we could see that the VC platoon's Strength was now reduced to 4.
Subsequent direct fire kills that damaged VC platoon outright.
Time now to do something about that VC "Enemy at the Gates" platoon just to the north of the Binh Gia town wall. We do a flanking assault from three different sides (yellow circles), and ...
... um, before we get to the results, in the map view two screenshots following, notice that the ARVN platoon assaulting from the southeast is Fatigued. Because Fatigued, its assault effectiveness is more or less cut in half, is around 50% of normal. Here is a snippet of game engine code (a peek inside the game's "black box"!):
As you can see, the AI_assault_attack_fatigued_effect defaults to 50. As an AAI parameter, it can be more or less than that default, depending on the quality of the nation's fighting forces etc. The ARVN are generally poor fighters, so (per the init.ai settings) their assault_attack_fatigued_effect value is likely less than 50. Conversely, given that the Viet Cong are generally excellent fighters, their assault_attack_fatigued_effect is likely greater than 50 (where the effect is the % of normal effectiveness; the higher the value, the closer it is to 100% effectiveness).
In other words, that Fatigued ARVN platoon assaulting from the southeast attacks at roughly half or less effectiveness. Too bad for that, but we need them to participate in order to attack from the other side, achieve the flanking effect, and add the bonus that provides.
(In the preceding code snippet, is that a lot of assault effects? You bet! Those are just a few of the over 150 AAI parameters set in the game's init.ai file, where each parameter is customized by nation, and more. In CSVN, there is
lots going on under the hood! To mix metaphors, it's a very stuffed "black box"!)
Back to the action. The assault ...
... succeeds! Defenders captured, at no loss to the assaulting ARVN.
Elsewhere, the ARVN bolster their defense at the imperiled Objective east of town, direct fire at the enemy here and there, likely scoring some SP hits, and generally withdraw closer to Binh Gia.
It's time to commit a couple of airstrikes (yellow circles):
Finishing up: ARVN artillery target the VC at the Binh Gia north wall (crosshairs, screenshot following); and the Aviation HQ races south to the Binh Gia Airbase (off screen, not shown).
The situation at the conclusion of the Turn #16, Side A ARVN phase (with the Fired/Fought Units highlight toggled ON):
We haven't taken a peek at the Victory Dialog for quite a while. All of those successful ARVN assaults have taken their toll: 96 VC Side B SP losses (magenta highlight). We have to think the Viet Cong attack might be on the verge of petering out.
Our Total Points: 139. Currently a Draw, but in the end maybe we can eke out a Minor Victory (200 points)?
