Strange movement costs in Mud

[Elessar2]

After some false alarms this past week I think I finally got a live one.

Note I cranked the base Mud penalty up to +4; minor rivers are now +1, major rivers +2.

[Two different movement options superimposed on the same unit note]



The tank in both cases is moving into a Field tile, outside of any Zones of Control, and the tank isn't moving from a road hex to a road hex (which in Mud doesn't matter anyway). The ONLY difference between the two tiles would be that river to the SE, which the tank isn't even crossing. So why would the river reduce movement costs by 3 on its own? Wouldn't the river possibly be at flood stage in muddy conditions?

The +4 penalty I noticed only applies to flat tiles with no trees; non flat/open hexes simply apply an additional +1 penalty in Mud, which since they already are +1 or higher for the base terrain penalties it isn't a big deal.

[El_Condoro]

Interesting observation.

I did a test and river hexes are not affected by mud modifiers. For the test, the map was mud, with a river hex directly south of a UK Corps that I had modified for the test to have AP 6.

When River is +1, it doesn't matter if Mud is 0 or +x, the cost to enter the river hex is still 2 (1 + River mod).

Conversely, when Mud is +1 and the River mod is changed, the penalty is the higher of the 2.
River (0) = 2 (1+ Mud)
River (+1) = 2 (1+ higher penalty, both +1)
River (+2) = 3 (1+ higher penalty, River)
River (+3) = 4 (1+ higher penalty, River)

As a final test, I gave the corps AP 10 and set the hex penalties for both river and mud to +3. If they were cumulative, the cost to enter the river hex would be 7 (1+ River +3 + Mud +3). It was 4 (1+ higher penalty, +3).

Summary: mud and river penalties are not cumulative. The Manual (p. 55) specifies that they are cumulative.

[Elessar2]

Version 1.29, bought and DLed from here.

[El_Condoro]

1.29. Steam version.

[BillRunacre]

Interesting observation.

I did a test and river hexes are not affected by mud modifiers. For the test, the map was mud, with a river hex directly south of a UK Corps that I had modified for the test to have AP 6.

When River is +1, it doesn't matter if Mud is 0 or +x, the cost to enter the river hex is still 2 (1 + River mod).

Conversely, when Mud is +1 and the River mod is changed, the penalty is the higher of the 2.
River (0) = 2 (1+ Mud)
River (+1) = 2 (1+ higher penalty, both +1)
River (+2) = 3 (1+ higher penalty, River)
River (+3) = 4 (1+ higher penalty, River)

As a final test, I gave the corps AP 10 and set the hex penalties for both river and mud to +3. If they were cumulative, the cost to enter the river hex would be 7 (1+ River +3 + Mud +3). It was 4 (1+ higher penalty, +3).

Summary: mud and river penalties are not cumulative. The Manual (p. 55) specifies that they are cumulative.

I've been running through this and you are correct - unless there is an Enemy River Crossing Penalty as that would be added on.