ORIGINAL: Arjuna
I took a look at this scenario again today and stepped through the firing code again. To keep a long story short I agree with you that the direct fire casualties from long range are too high. So I have reviewed the rates and modified weapon accuracies for direct fire across the board based on range - ie a bigger reduction the greater the distance. Essentially there is no mod at all if under 500 but up to 50% reduction when greater than 2000m.
I also interogated the suppression code. It seems to be working OK now for bombardments but I noticed that it was nigh impossible to suppress anyone with direct fire. I have since changed this and run though the Tempe Gorge scenario. Seemed pretty good to me. I also put a mod in the Retreat code, which gets called before the suppression check, so that it now calls the suppression check and if it fails retreats in place rather than runs.
I'll be puting out a new build tomorrow and have asked our beta testers to pay close attention to this aspect. Here is a snap from the game I played showing B Coy 2/2nd Inf Bn nearly 80% suppressed and retreating in place - the suppression was due to direct fire from the German Mntn troops assaulting from the West:
Once again thanks Jim for the feedback. Maybe we should have you on our beta test team.[:)]
Great to see such a quick response, I was afraid it was too close to release to see any more changes. I’m also glad I was right, I would have hated to waist your time had my impressions of what had happened in the AAR been wrong.
Basically what I think the adjustment should strive for is to have support weapons (direct fire and artillery) suppress the enemies return fire enough to allow your assault units to close and carry the day. They should also cause casualties of course, just not enough to force consistent retreats unless the firepower being directed at the unit by said support is extremely heavy and sustained fire.
If it’s possible to differentiate range penalties by weapon types, I’d give rifles 100% at 200 meters and reduce their effectiveness out to 500 meters (say 30% at 500). It was a rare case to have an accurate rifleman at 500 meters range, but most men could hit what they were aiming at at 200 meters or less.
Thanks for the beta team offer, but alas my available time is sporadic at best, so I’m afraid I’d be a disappointment as a beta tester (not reliable enough for consistent input). I will spend time with the game once released and will gladly continue to post my impressions here though.
Jim
P. S. Thanks for your tireless efforts, this is truly a ground breaking system for wargaming and will probably prove to be a classic for years to come.
and will monitor this closely 
