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Hi, i'm taking a shot at modding, and i have a question: in the USER.xls files, when i go editing the Units data, there is a "Crew" column. I get that this is the actual number of "X" in a subunit, but what game effect does it have? The units are either active (runner) or inactive (fallen out, destroyed), there is no actual "kill count" IIRC.

Does a bigger Crew number mean that the subunit is harder to "kill" and/or its attacks are stronger?

Thanks in advance.

That crew number is the number of people in the subunit. Like a tank crew or ATGM team. There is a small modifier in the code for infantry sub-unit size if I recall correctly. Sub-units are killed or fall out. We do not look at the individual number of troops/crew. A fall out is assumed to be enough wounded or killed troops in the subunit to no longer be combat effective and killed is more dead and wounded than alive and therefore no longer functional at all.

Hope that helps.

So there is a small effect for infantry, but it doesn't matter very much, i take.

Another question: the amount of "attacks" a unit dishes out every minute, depends on the number of the subunits? So (assuming they are made of the same exact subunits), if i have a 8-subunit strong unit and a 16-subunit strong opponent, the opponent will make twice as much attacks than me? Or he will attack the same times, but each attack will be twice as strong?

Thanks for all the replies. [:)]

Correct, the troop size (crew) has a very minor impact on the overall unit capabilities. The number of subunits in a unit matters, but it is not a cut and dry answer. Size of the unit, think of it as foot print, has impact on firepower making it greater, but also makes for a bigger target and getting hit more (also have to factor in cover). So a small number of subunits in a unit has lower firepower by comparison, but can harder to find and hit (again factors for cover will vary things). One last piece of the puzzle are the unit's soft factors (training, readiness, and morale) also impact the equation and they change as the fight progresses. This does allow for a smaller highly trained force with high readiness and morale in good cover to hammer a larger unit that is poorly trained and low on readiness and morale. As it should be.

Sorry there is no A+B=C easy answer. No chess game here. [8D]

Of course, of course, but i was interested in knowing all the mechanics, and the "crew" one was eluding me.

So, to summarize: given equal values to ALL other factors, more subunits means stronger (but not more, so the amount of "firing animations" is the same) attacks per "phase", somewhat proportionally to the size of the unit, but the unit itself becomes easier to spot and to hit. Am i right?

Sounds like you have it. Rate of fire increase, assuming a unit is capable, still shows as one attack event/fire line. You can look at it as shooting is happening over the duration of shooting cycle and then gets "cleaned up" with a fire line and losses tally.

Awesome, thanks for all the fast and accurate replies. [8D]