HTTR (mini-guide): And even more tips!

[MarkShot]

At the same time as the screen shot above, I have a platoon of four tanks (PzKwIII J) that are entering the area from the East about 16Km away.

I see another opportunity to disrupt the Allies and quickly issue orders for them to make all due speed along the roads I still control and hit the Allied force in the rear.

They will cause more havoc among the Allies. Thus, further slowing down their advance towards the bridges and reducing their capability to quickly overwhelm the waiting road blocks to the East. The price will be the loss of two tanks. Once again, in the total scheme of things well worth it. As the sun sinks below the horizon, I will withdraw them and save my remaining tank section for creating more mischief the following day.

{It's a little hard to see in the screen capture, but there is a track through the woods up by the FUP big enough to accomodate a platoon of tanks.}

[MarkShot]

The next morning, my screen in the North West of Arnhem reports Allied units either forming for an attack or attempting to out flank the defenses there.

My tankers got a few hours rest had a few slices of that notorious German army hard bread and black coffee. Not much of a comfort for men who will likely not see another sunrise.

Orders are dispatched and they are to once again to race on secure roads to skirt the general engagement area. Then, they will make a hasty attack bursting out of the trees from behind the Allied force and hit them hard in the rear.

We see their orders here. Once again, there are no false hopes that two tanks will turn back the Allied tide. Just another small action of harassment and disruption; death by a thousand cuts.

[MarkShot]

Here we see just a brief glimpse of the heroic action by this tank section.

The dispatches from the battle are somewhat confused, but it appears that they managed to catch a couple of mortar platoons and some infantry companies totally by surprise.

[MarkShot]

As a final thought, hitting the enemy in the rear can do more than just surprise him. You are more likely to catch arty, mortar, and HQ units when you do this. Clearly, separating attackers from their fire support (by breaking them or forcing them to bug out) can be very significant. Also, forcing HQ units in direct command of a force to retreat or rout can be paralyzing.

An HQ unit retreating or routing will not perform replans or process new orders. What does this mean? This means that line units which have run into unexpected opposition or are part of an attack that is faltering will not be given updated orders to bypass or fallback and regroup. They are on their own and left to suffer whatever fate the enemy has in store for them. Also, the HQ will not process any new orders at this time. Thus, it effectively lengthens whatever order delays will be experienced by the force which needs to execute new orders. Not a complete decapitation strike, but close enough for our purposes.

Well, that concludes this installment of tips. Remember that a battle can be won with a decisive engagement, but it can also be won through a series of smaller measures each contributing to the overall outcome.

Until next time, may your arty be plentiful and may your tanks not get bogged in the polder!

[Golf33]

The question:

ORIGINAL: Paul Roberts

This raises a further question: what is the cost of attacking when you could just move? Why should we ever use move instead of attack?

I'm assuming that move orders take less time to plan and fulfill, but I'd like to make sure. Does an attack order cause more fatigue even when no enemy is encountered?

The answers:

ORIGINAL: MarkShot

You have already answered your own question. Move is faster (no FUPing) and a lot less stressful.

ORIGINAL: Golf33

In a Move, all units will travel in formation. They will also prioritise fire over movement. In an Attack, some units will remain behind in the reserve location. Units in the actual assault will prioritise movement over fire.

In a Move, your Speed setting will affect how fast all units travel along the entire route. In an Assault, your speed setting will only affect the move to the FUP; the assault will always be undertaken at Fastest speed.

In a Move, your Aggro setting will affect whether your units attempt to bypass (low Aggro) or deploy and engage the enemy (high Aggro). In an Attack, your Aggro setting will only influence what proportion of the force gets held in reserve (I think, have to double-check this one).

In a Move, your units will follow the path you specify, with the Route type you specify, along the whole route. In an Attack, your units will follow the path and Route type you specify to the FUP, but will always follow a Shortest path from there to the objective.

There are some considerations to start you off!

ORIGINAL: MarkShot

Steve,

In your very detailed analysis, you neglected to mention that forces ordered to [A]ttack are not required to pay parkway tolls at the toll plazas unlike forces which are simply ordered to [M]ove. [:)]

ORIGINAL: madmickey

One thing that you can do with a move is change the formation type and aggression level without order delay. I also assume that transition time for deploying armor units is faster than for infantry therefore quick moves to control open territory is much better with tanks. Still if I have a 30 combat power formation Is it a waste to attack a 1 combat power unit especially if I am worrying about the enemy moving reinforcement in the time it take me to launch the attack.

Regards
33

[Golf33]

The question:

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

even a move command is subject to a reorg phase unless you specifically order a formation type of In-Situ (ie: go as you are).

The answers:

ORIGINAL: Golf33
Moves aren't subject to a reorg phase as such, but on beginning a Move, they will shake out into whatever formation they have been ordered to adopt which will take a few minutes. It's still not generally the lengthy and vulnerable reorg that happens before an Attack though.

If you order Move In-Situ your troops will stay where they are. I occasionally use this to halt a move already in progress, by setting the formation to In-Situ; doing this does seem to incur orders delay however, as does restarting the move by selecting a different formation. Changes that don't require the whole formation to stop do seem to happen without delay.

ORIGINAL: Arjuna

If you set the formation type to in-situ for a Move, the force/unit will just stay where it is. It won't more at all. So don't use it for a Move task. ( Perhaps we should make it inactive for a Move task. I'll add that to the wish list ).

Further, a Move is one simple task conducted from the units current locations to the objective. An attack is a complex network of tasks one of which will be an advance to an FUP where units reorg and shake out into assault formation. This reorg does not take place in a straigt Move task. The only reorg task which may be imposed on any other task occurs involuntarily when a unit/force's cohesion is so bad that it must stop temporarily and organise itself.

Regards
33

[Golf33]

The question:

ORIGINAL: Mr.Frag

Ok, now I am royally confused ... why would an order to move NOT be subject to the very same sets of delays that an attack would be except for the actual timing of the kickoff?

Are you saying that I can effectively bypass Painfully realistic orders by running around with line formations each pointed at their own personal spot coordinated by my mouse instead of the command HQ? That doesn't sound right.

The answer:

ORIGINAL: Golf33

This is a confusion of terminology. In HTTR, the term "Reorg" refers to a specific type of activity - the reorganisation - which occurs in four specific circumstances only. Units conducting a Reorg are shown with the reorg symbol in the unit task icon ("F4" key). Units will conduct a Reorg only under the following circumstances:

1. After a reinforcement arrives by parachute/glider/aircraft.
2. When a unit's cohesion becomes too low.
3. When ordered to reorg by the player using the Reorg command (hot key "R").
4. When the unit has an Attack task and has reached the FUP, prior to beginning the assault.
<edit - thanks to MarkShot for the reminder:
5. When the unit has an Attack task and has completed the assault and is securing the objective.>

This is separate from Orders Delay, shown as a pink background to the task icon. All fresh orders from the player incur orders delay. Under some circumstances, changing the parameters (Speed, ROF, Aggro, Formation etc) of an existing order may not incur orders delay. Some situations which generally don't incur orders delay are listed below. The list isn't complete, so there is still room for you to experiment and discover some of this for yourself, but in general anything not specifically mentioned below will probably incur orders delay.

Move task
Changing Speed, Route, Aggro, ROF, and Losses.
Changing Frontage, Depth, and Facing.
Changing Formation, except for In-Situ, which does incur orders delay. If you set a Move-ing force to In-Situ, it will incur orders delay, and any further changes you make will not take effect until after it has processed the In-Situ formation order. Similarly, once the force has processed the In-Situ order and stopped moving, if you change the formation type, it will again incur orders delay and once it has processed the change it will start moving again.

Defend task
As for Move tasks.

Attack task
Changing Speed, Route, ROF, and Losses.
Changing Frontage, Depth, or Facing.
Changing Formation (except for In-Situ) during the move to FUP, or sometimes but not always during the assault.

Changing the objective of any task (i.e. the location of the final waypoint, the one that shows the task type), or the FUP of an Attack task (which shows the Reorg task), will always incur orders delay. Like setting In-Situ, no other changes to the order will be processed until after the new location has been processed. However, intermediate waypoints (the ones shown by a small circle with an upward-pointing arrow in it) can be moved without incurring orders delay - so if you are looking to bypass any resistance on a Move, or during the move to FUP phase of an Attack, it's a good idea to plot the route using waypoints every 1000-2000m and send a scout unit ahead. When the scout discovers enemy defences, you can move the waypoints to bypass the enemy.

Regards
33

[MarkShot]

Hi all,
Started the game a couple of weeks ago. Nice game. What I'm getting confused about is when I set waypoints. From A to B I would like to Probe between the points At B reorg and Assault to C. Only the last action is implemented. Did I miss the explanation in the manual? Is the move from A to B Probe by default?

Lifer

My response:

Lifer,

The game does not implement actions specific to each waypoint. I think Dave had put this on the wishlist for me.

It sounds to me like you are trying to combine the actions of recon and attack together. What I do:

(1) Use a single unit recon element to evaluate whether the route is open and that the FUP is safe for use. The unit terminates its travel at the FUP and keeps an eye on it. I use the [D]efend command for this.

(2) Follow the recon up with an attack order to a force to take the same route and FUP where the recon unit ended. Often you can issue these orders concurrently, since the recon will happen much faster. Later, if there are problems you can change the force's orders. Also, at the start of the game or with reinforcements, you generally have 58 minutes to conduct fast recon and issue orders on the the 59th. minute with no delays. (assuming that you are playing with order delays)

What follows is an example of this technique in action.

[MarkShot]

In this particular situation, the Germans know that the Guards Armor Division are concentrated at Arnhem and plan to seize the Deelen Airfield.

I am assuming that their initial plan will be to block my movement North out of Arnhem. So, I will attempt to flank them and initial attack from the North.

Now, you are only seeing part of my plan as I have deleted any orders other than what I want to illustrate. Also, I am only show units with orders.

Below, you see {left to right} an armored car squadron unit (being used for recon), a light tank unit (being used for recon), and the Irish Guards force (attack force).

The recon units have received the mission to scout the route ahead of the attack force and to verify that the FUP is secure. If they report provide a good report back, then the attack will proceed; if not, I must revise my plans.

All three were given their orders at the scenario start during the period which orders delays are waived. They all started from Arnhem.

I am doing recon with two units, since I wanted to explore two slightly different paths to the FUP. The first path was quicker, but risked detection by the Germans. The second path was slower, but pretty much was out of LOS from the Germans. Thus, you can see that the two recon units have traveled different distances from Arnhem (bottom right).

It is also important to note that the attack force is traveling much slower than either of them as it moves by bounding overwatch.

In the next series of posts, I'll show you the individual orders.

[MarkShot]

Recon mission #1 ...

[MarkShot]

Recon mission #2 ...

[MarkShot]

The attack mission ...

[MarkShot]

Force order delay for the Irish Guards HQ (the attack force) stands roughly at two hours. (Also, note that this HQ is one of the better ones; shorter delays than what otherwise might be.)

[MarkShot]

Orders delay for one of the recon units stands at roughly less than an hour.

[MarkShot]

So, here are the points which I was trying to make through pictures:

(1) Use recon to lead an attack.

(2) You can issue orders concurrently. With no delays, the recon unit will very rapidly out pace the attack force due to its greater speed. For a short haul with order delays temporarily waived, you can have the attack force instantly respond to new orders.

(3) You can issue orders concurrently. With order delays in affect besides the relative movement speeds, the difference in relative delays will have the recon unit move out in advance of the attack force. Of course, you can always lag your attack orders if you want.

(4) Even when order delays are no longer waived, the distance that develops between the recon unit and the attack force should be sufficient that you can issue new orders to the attack force if the recon unit runs into trouble. The intervening distance and slower rate of the attack force's travel should give them adequate time to respond before they too find themselves in trouble.

---

Okay, I have to get back to my game and see how this all turns out.

[MarkShot]

Sorry, I just had to add one more screenshot.

Look at this. Recon for my three attacks on the perimeter of the airfield has revealed the roads are free of German road blocks and the FUPs are clear.

Yes, I think it is going to be a simply fine day at the Deelen Airfield today; well, at least, for the British!

{By the way, I haven't changed my textures back to take this screenshot for you. These are my preferred textures - the RDOA look. I like the high contrast of it.}

[madmickey]

How much and what type of forces including HQ used should you use to protect the arty firebase in Arnhem? In a 9-day engagement do you think the Brits could have hidden their firebase? I tend to think just ordinary sound detection would have lead the Germans to Brits arty base. An art regiment in the wood can be heard not seen. Historically what did the Brits actually plan to do about arty firebase?

[madmickey]

How much and what type of forces including HQ used should you use to protect the arty firebase in Arnhem? In a 9-day engagement do you think the Brits could have hidden their firebase? I tend to think just ordinary sound detection would have lead the Germans to Brits arty base. An art regiment in the wood can be heard not seen. Historically what did the Brits actually plan to do about arty firebase?

[madmickey]

something is wierd I post a message and it does not show up then I come back and it is posted

[MarkShot]

Madmickey,

Regarding not seeing posts until exit and reenter, it may have to do with the way your browser or proxy server is caching Web pages. Look at your browser cache settings; it should check to see if all objects are current upon each request.

---

I am not sure if you were directing your other questions to me.

Regarding the level of protection ... I am not sure without looking at the particular situation in detail. It's best despite having a security force to have the fire base some place which is less likely to be at an objective, on the way to an objective, or on or slightly off a major travel route. This is based on game play experience and nothing else.

Regarding what the Allies really did and realism issues ... I cannot help you there as I neither have military training nor qualify as an amateur historian. However, I can tell you that Panther and the beta testers do spend a lot of time discussing realism, abstraction, simulation, and game play issues. Arty has often been a topic of discussion throughout the evolution of the series. Also, among Panther and the beta team there are a few former gunners, military veterans, and no lack of amateur historians. Perhaps, one of them can shed some light on your questions.

Sorry I couldn't be of more help.