Jacques' compendium

[tombo]

ORIGINAL: JacquesDeLalaing

My impressions so far:

1. You can buy replacements via the replacements card. When you buy the card, the replacements are immediately spawned at the highest ranking HQ that is closest to the map entry point of the replacements. You can immediately see the elements in the HQ unit.
2. At the start of each turn, elements are shifted from the highest ranking HQ(s) via the subordinate divisional and briagde HQs to the requesting combat units. This movement is automatic (and according to the manual also generates traffic points on the roads). Check out your replacement reports to see which units have received replacements.

How do units request replacement elements?
All units except battle groups have a TOE (table of organisation and equipment), defining their ideal paper strength and composition. If a unit is below its paper strength, it requests replacements accordingly at the start of each turn. You can check out what a unit is missing and requesting in the unit tab ("replacements"). Also note that the size of the bar on the right hand side on the counters indicates the strength of the unit compared to its TOE/ideal paper strength (the color of the bar indicates the current readiness of the unit). Note that a unit can only request up to a certain number of elements per turn. So a unit that is at 50% paper strength can not recover completely in a single turn, even if there are sufficient replacement elements available at your HQs.

By changing the standing orders of units, you can set your units' (and subordinate HQs!) priorities for replacements. You can find the priority setting in the unit tab under "standing orders" / RPLC.

Note that battle groups have no TOE, so they're never missing elements and never request replacements. If you want to reinforce a battle group, you need to merge it with another unit. (For battle groups, the bar on the counter probably represents base combat strength? Note that a battle group that falls below 50 power points suffers an additional malus in battle)

If you set an HQ to lower replacement priority, do all its assigned units also go to the same lower priority? Or do i have to set each unit separately?

[JacquesDeLalaing]

Can't tell for sure. You would need to test that out ingame.

I suppose that replacements go to the highest ranking HQ first (if there is a tie, they go to the HQ that is closer to the replacement entry point). Then, at the start of the next turn, they're forwarded to the subordinate HQs - here, the subordinate HQ's replacement priority settings might play a role. And then, in the very same turn, they're forwarded from the subordinate HQs to the combat units.

[Stelteck]

I tested it, if you select a higher HQ to, for example, 50% replacement instead of 100%, all the HQ and units below will request replacement only under 50% instead of 100%.

If a higher HQ is selected to 50%, and a lower HQ is selected to 50 also, all units attached to the lower HQ will request replacement only at 25% (50% of 50%).

BUT if a unit attached to the lower HQ is set to PRIO, it will override the coefficient of the HQ and the unit will be 100%

[Vic]

Hi Jacques,

Thanks for the in-depth and quantative feedback. Should have enlisted you as beta tester yes.

As for traffic point weight. Supply point is 0.2 traffic weight. Fuel 0.3 traffic weight. will update errata.

As for max stack vs attack directions manual is wrong, game is right. will update errata.

Tooltip is right on +150% for probe. Combat calcs where wrong. Fixing for next patch.

Your right about the 15% attack score penalty not being applied to battlegroups. Fixing this for next patch.

Rule clarification: Initial entrenchment is set at start of turn, but updated after movement and retreats.

Rule clarification: When doing ranged direct fire the attack score is the highest score the trooptype has (off or def)

Big fat bug on Fuel will be solved in the new patch. Coming ASAP! Not sure when i introduced it, but must have been with 1.04 apologies.

Best wishes,
Vic

[Vic]

ORIGINAL: Stelteck

I tested it, if you select a higher HQ to, for example, 50% replacement instead of 100%, all the HQ and units below will request replacement only under 50% instead of 100%.

If a higher HQ is selected to 50%, and a lower HQ is selected to 50 also, all units attached to the lower HQ will request replacement only at 25% (50% of 50%).

BUT if a unit attached to the lower HQ is set to PRIO, it will override the coefficient of the HQ and the unit will be 100%

Thanks! could not have said it better myself. Used your text for the manual errata!

[JacquesDeLalaing]

Thanks for the extensive answer! Looking forward to the patch!

I will re-write/update the first post. But it may take me a couple of days...

[JacquesDeLalaing]

Summary on entrenchment vs. artillery/mortar fire

This is what happens when an indirect weapon (arty, mortars) fires against an enemy element:

The firing element will use its highest attack rating (either defensive or offensive). The attack rating will be lowered according to the terrain in the target hex (using the "guns att-mod" of the terrain). If the artillery/mortar element has a direct line of sight on the target, it will get a bonus on its attack rating (according to the LOS %). Common standard factors also apply (HQ, XP, Readiness, uncertainty roll).
(Note that an indirect fire element does not lose any entrenchment when it conducts a fire action)

The target element's vulnerability or "hitpoints" - as the game calls it- are based on the element's "defense vs. indirect fire" stat (the value with the "i", after the slash). The hitpoints are increased according to the current entrenchment level of the element: each entrenchment point provides +1% on hitpoints. Note that against indirect fire, elements don't get any bonus on hitpoints for being "uphill". Common standard factors also apply (XP, Readiness, uncertainty roll).

The game then rolls for the firing element (0 - modified attack score) and the target element (0 - modified hitpoints). If the firing element's result is higher, it scores a hit. In the case of indirect fire, this can either be a kill or a pin (there are no retreat hits in ranged combat). A kill hit results in the element being eliminated. A pinned hit reduces the element's readiness by 25% of its current readiness. Also, the element loses entrenchment points until it reaches 66% of it's initial (=start of the turn or after movement/being forced to retreat) entrenchment level. E.g. if the element started the turn with 180 entrenchment points, it's entrenchment cannot be reduced beyond 120 by indirect fire this turn.

At the end of the bombardment, for each type of element in the unit (for each element card in the bar at the bottom of the screen, so to speak), the game sets the entrenchment points to the average of all elements of that type. So, e.g. if 10 engineer elements survive a bombardment with 180 entrenchment points and 5 - having suffered pinned hits - survive with just 120, then the new entrenchment level for all engineer elements will be set to 160.

At the start of each turn, elements gain entrenchment points according to their "entrechment cap." stat (40 for infantry, 20 for vehicles) until they reach the maximum entrenchment level of their current terrain (MX-ENTR). Engineers have increased entrechment capability and give a bonus to other units. You can also use an "Entrench" officer card to speed up entrenchment. In addition, each terrain provides some base entrenchment level (automatic entrenchment, A-ENTR).

Be very carefull with splitting up and merging units (see first post). You don't want to lose 4 turns worth of entrenchment!

todo: prevention of vigor recovery if under fire?
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TLDR entrenchment/preparation seems very essential to me - as it should be. The better entrenched a unit is, the smaller its chance of losing entrenchment to artillery fire, and the longer it will take artillery to tear down the entrenchment. As units generate entrenchment points every turn, low intensity artillery fire is of relatively little effect (particularly if there are many elements in the target unit, so the entrenchment loss averages out) and will tire out the artillery (keep an eye on its vigor!). On the other hand, it goes two ways: You should try to keep your units safe in the early stages of preparation. If your entrenchment is still bad, artillery might score hits more reliably, thereby slowing down your entrenchment process. You should keep in mind how long it will take your units to dig in to the full potential of the terrain - usually 4 turns (i.e. one full day!). When chosing your defensive position, you should also consider the guns' malus (guns / ATT-MOD) and the hide value of the terrain.