Matrix Games Forums

Does terrain play a role in combat calculations? One of the things I enjoyed most in AACW, is the challenge of maneuvering into favorable terrain for a given battle.

There is a -1 dice roll modifier if a battle is fought in a rough terrain area. (Swamp, forest, mountain) The biggest modifiers seem to revolve around whether a unit has been hit previously in combat.

Terrain has a huge impact on the number of units committed to the battle (the size of the ultimate battle in the area). Any kind of rough terrain in the area will tend to reduce the size of the battle, which will help the side with better leaders and unit quality as the side with numbers won't be able to bring them all into the battle. This is extremely important and those that don't appreciate this will be missing a huge factor in the game. Also, the more population in the area, and the higher the current fort level, the larger the forces committed. The ideal place for a good leader to fight is in a low population area with rough terrain of any kind. In this case, a fort, may or may not be a good thing (probably a net good thing, especially in preventing overrun attacks).

Looks to me from the screenshots that the map in this game has fewer regions in Virginia than the map in AACW. True? How does that affect maneuver in the Eastern theater?

One of the things I thought AACW handled really well was depicting the vast expanse of the Western theater versus the cramped confines of the East yet still allowing enough room in Virginia to recreate the maneuvers that occurred there. I'm concerned that the map here loses some detail in the East.