Matrix Games Forums

Could someone clarify what the manual means by?
"Weakened units may automatically retreat when attacked, receiving 50% of their potential losses when doing so."

I have seen units automatically retreating without a fight, for example one unit with:
. Readiness: 31%
. Morale: 36%

But, I have not seen a 50% decrease in terms of steps, readiness or morale after the retreat.
Do I miss something? Or, is there a bug to investigate?

Cheers

I don't know the answer, but while on the topic I'd like to say that retreats don't happen very often, but when they do it usually sucks, and that is when you know it is a good game [when it sucks enough to throw things around the room and then keep playing!]. [:)]

Throw the PC gently then [;)]

Sometimes if I have left an tank unit something too much exposed in the front line and the opponent allows his half army group to to line up for its execution, then I pray for a happy retreat. [:D]

I think it means The retreat saves losses, not that the retreat inflicts an additional loss of 50% of the remaining strength. It simulates that by giving ground you take lses casualties so only take half the damage that would be inflicted if you stand ground. If it was 4, it reduces to 2. If it was 1 damage then it could be 1/2 rounded to zero, or it may be possible to retreat a unit without inflicting a damage point if its readiness & morale are low enough.

In the original game, and quite a way through SC2, there was no such thing as retreat. I couldn't tell you any reasons why a unit would retreat, but I will always play with this option on, as it provides more variables to the game. But, high morale Germans seem to hold their ground more, units with higher motorization seem to retreat more, and outside of those observations I am clueless.

The key determinant is the targeted unit's strength, so a strength 10 unit will never retreat, but a low strength unit could (without checking the threshold strength is either 4 or 5, I can't remember which offhand).

The calcuation is determined before each combat, so if a strength 10 unit is attacked and significantly reduced in strength, and then attacked again, it may retreat from the second attack (if its strength is low enough) whereas it wouldn't have retreated from the first one.

In my case, the unit strength was 5.

Actually, I knew I should have had my breakfast before replying, as I was still waking up!

The rules (taken from the Manual) are as follows:

Weakened units may automatically retreat when attacked, and the check for whether or not they might do so is if their estimated remaining strength after the combat is 5 or less. Fortunately for the defending unit, if they retreat they will receive only 50% of their potential losses, though they may in doing so leave a resource unguarded, and a follow up attack will have a very good chance of destroying them.

Thanks. Seeing some units retreating without combat, I am wondering if it would not be good to allow the attacking unit to attack a second time the same unit in the same turn. A kind of overrun mechanism if we could say so.

I'm a little confused as only combat initiates a retreat.

Do you mean that the retreating unit is escaping without any losses?

Yes, the unit has retreated without any step losses.

The unit was displayed with ? in term of strength. I move an unit next to it to attack it.
The unit strength was 5. It has retreated automatically and was still at 5 after.

Do you want a save game?

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e

Yes, the unit has retreated without any step losses.

The unit was displayed with ? in term of strength. I move an unit next to it to attack it.
The unit strength was 5. It has retreated automatically and was still at 5 after.

Do you want a save game?

I would think that the retreating unit has behaved rule correspondent, or not? Nevertheless, also in a fight without retreat there are results without losses. And if the attacked unit loses only zero or one strength point in normal fight there also remain only zero losses after a retreat with a chance to receive only 50% of their potential losses.

That is why I was asking for a clarification. I am not completely sure of the intended behavior.

I think the crucial thing is what the expected losses were before you initiated the attack, because the predicted strength after the attack determines whether or not it might retreat, though it is possible that the actual losses inflicted are zero.

Or to put it another way, if the attacking unit was all powerful then what you've seen is probably wrong, but if it were weaker, then it's perfectly plausible.

All right, thus no problem then. [:)]

Thank you Bill