Matrix Games Forums

Getting back into this great game and I am curious about the effect of losing an HQ unit ( bad, I know).

Specifically :

If the HQ unit of a battalion is destroyed can the remaining battalion units receive and execute orders as a group without their HQ, or do they need to be reassigned to another HQ ?

Are there any other negative effects on the units that have lost their HQ ?


Also wanted to take this opportunity to thank Dave and his team for continuing to support and improve this outstanding and unique Command Ops series.

And best wishes to Dave for a speedy recovery from his recent medical problem.

I believe the remaining units will select a new leader automatically. The same as happens when you lasso a group of units to give them a task - one will be picked as 'HQ' (you can then see which by, for example, following the command lines). Negative effects? I'm less sure what, but I'm sure there are many.

I often still see HQ's leading a movement, interestingly, and was looking in here for the latest comments on that but couldn't find. Someone suggested a solution that involved ticking some box or unticking it (maybe stragglers?) but I can't recall. Only mention it because it would be a sure way to lose your HQ if it always led into contact, and that used to happen (along with support units), but HQs - as you may have noticed from other threads - are at present a little hard to kill, so it doesn't happen too often that you lose them, at the moment.

ORIGINAL: phoenix

I believe the remaining units will select a new leader automatically. The same as happens when you lasso a group of units to give them a task - one will be picked as 'HQ' (you can then see which by, for example, following the command lines). Negative effects? I'm less sure what, but I'm sure there are many.

. . .

The negative effect on a force being assigned to a senior surviving unit following the loss of a headquarters is staff capacity.

A battalion HQ is staffed to handle its own and subordinate unit operations in the most effective manner. A company assigned the duties of a HQ at the loss of the Battalion command staff suffers because it is generally staffed to efficiently handle its own operations.


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Game Manual Pg. 143.

"Staff Capacity and Staff Load

"Exercising command over another unit requires a certain amount of attention. There are orders to write, reports to read, and administration to take care of, amongst other things. For this reason there is a limit to how many units any given HQ can effectively command, before the amount of work involved starts to overwhelm the staff available to do it. In the game, the Staff Capacity of a HQ (shown by the Capacity value in the Orders Delay Summary) indicates how many other units can be commanded before the HQ staff become overworked and inefficient. The Staff Load (shown by the Load field in the Orders Delay Summary) indicates how much work is already being done by the HQ."
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Details of the loss of efficiency are discussed in ensuing paragraphs.

Thanks guys