Ground Support is Broken

[Harrybanana]

Air Units flying Ground Support Missions are supposed to add their tactical strength to either the Attacker or the Defender in order to determine the Combat Odds. But this is not happening. This is not just a case of the Ground Support not showing up in the combat reports. It is a fact that Ground Support is not being used at all for the Combat Odds. I can give examples if required. This needs to be fixed.

Thank you.

[Flaviusx]

But if you set planes to ground support and conduct attacks, op points are expended. So where is this op point going? Down a black hole? Not saying you are wrong, but it is very strange.

[Nirosi]

What Harry saw with his tests, is that they do "fire". So they do kill steps and reduce effectiveness etc. But they are also supposed to modify the odds (which are not used for determining damage [confirmed by Alvaro], but are used to determine retreats, overrun and maybe other things to). But Harry's test show that they do not do this part of their role.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: Nirosi

What Harry saw with his tests, is that they do "fire". So they do kill steps and reduce effectiveness etc. But they are also supposed to modify the odds (which are not used for determining damage [confirmed by Alvaro], but are used to determine retreats, overrun and maybe other things to). But Harry's test show that they do not do this part of their role.

Exactly, thank you Nirosi.

[Flaviusx]

Thanks for clarifying, Nirosi, and yeah that is odd.

[Nirosi]

and yeah that is odd.

LOL

[AlvaroSousa]

I ran the sim and recorded the data as posted in the other post. They are flying and adding. If you want to argue too little that's another story.

[AlvaroSousa]

Which gives me a new idea

[sveint]

Baby steps

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: AlvaroSousa

I ran the sim and recorded the data as posted in the other post. They are flying and adding. If you want to argue too little that's another story.

What do you mean by "adding... too little"? In your post in a different thread you said air units add their Tactical Strength. To quote you:

ORIGINAL: AlvaroSousa

Let's do some math. Real example from 1942 scenario attacking hex 195,65 with the 3 units next to it.

4-5, 11,10, 9-5
vs
7-5

4+11+9 = 24
24 * 80% due to 2 entrenchment levels something generals can see = 19.2
19.2 * 90% due to forest (if I remember that 17.28

17.28 vs 7 = 2.46 rounded down 2:1 which displays on the hover.

Say both sides has a GS unit with an 8 modified tactical.... This figure is taken from the unit at 201,50 in the 1942 scenario stuka

If ONLY the defender adds his GS it is twice as effective mathematically on the odds.

17.28 vs 7 + 8 = 1.15:1 = 1:1 displayed

If ONLY the attacker adds his GS

25.28 vs 7 = 3.6:1 = 3:1 displayed

If BOTH add their GS value

25.28 vs 15 = 1.6:1 = 1:1 because it rounds down.

Defender GS is always twice as effective as attacker in terms of odds.

They both add equal damage to the attack though.

It only impacts odds and retreats

.


So are you now saying that they don't even add their Tactical Strength but some lower number? Because if you are saying that they are adding their Tactical Strength, then I say you better recheck your data, because this is clearly not the case.

And if you are saying that they are adding something less than their Tactical Strength (which IMHO is already way too low) than I have to say: With the greatest respect my Lordship, are you fucking kidding me??

[Harrybanana]

I ran another test. This time I setup an Attack which should clear up once and for all whether or not air units are adding anything to the Combat Odds and therefore whether or not they are affecting Retreat Results. I used the 1941 scenario and spent a turn beating up on a weak Soviet Unit to reduce its displayed strength to 1. I then put it behind a river in clear terrain and unentrenched adjacent to a 4 Attack strength German Infantry. Attacking without Ground Support for either side the German unit got the expected 2:1 Odds. Over 20 tests the Soviet Unit was retreated 4 times (20%). The German unit took an average of 0.6 Casualties and the Russian unit took 0.1 casualties. A typical result is shown below.

[Harrybanana]

I then did the same Attack another 20 times, but this time I added in the best Tactical Bomber Unit in the World at the time with a tactical strength of 8. If the air unit was adding it's tactical strength to the battle than the odds should be increased from 2:1 to 2 + 8:1 = 10:1. So this should be an automatic Retreat right. Even if the tactical bomber was only adding in 25% of its tactical strength (which would be a bloody joke) the odds would still be 2+2:1 = 4:1. So even in this case one would expect far more retreats than the infantry attacking by itself. But actually the opposite happened as the Russian unit only retreated 15% of the time (3 times out of 20). On the plus side it did sustain an average of 1.6 Casualties. Big deal, I would rather get the retreat.

[Harrybanana]

Typical Result using Ground Support.

[Harrybanana]

Alvaro, could you please look at my screenshots above and tell me what the combat odds should be for the German Infantry Division Attacking the Russian Infantry Corps with ground support from the Tactical Strength 8 Bomber unit. You don't have to give anything away by telling me how this is calculated, I would just like to know what the combat odds should be. I think this is a fair question since this should be displayed in the Combat Report anyway.

[AlvaroSousa]

The combat log is not showing the added ground support... that is why. It is included in the combat calculations.

I am remedying that so while the hover shows just the basic odds, the combat log will include the attacker and defender ground support.

Next...
When combat is that small between weakened divisions a fair portion of the time units won't do damage but retreat can still happen.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: AlvaroSousa

The combat log is not showing the added ground support... that is why. It is included in the combat calculations.

I am remedying that so while the hover shows just the basic odds, the combat log will include the attacker and defender ground support.

Next...
When combat is that small between weakened divisions a fair portion of the time units won't do damage but retreat can still happen.

I understand that the Combat Log is not showing the added ground support, so I am ignoring that. What I am not ignoring (but apparently you are) is that whether GS is used or not RETREATS HAPPEN WITH THE EXACT SAME FREQUENCY! If GS is not used a Retreat occurs 20% of the time, if GS is used a retreat occurs 20% of the time. In other words, GS is doing nothing to affect the odds of a unit retreating.

So I will ask you again: Using my example above, where a German 4 Strength Infantry Division with a German 8 tactical strength air unit providing GS, attacks a 1 strength Russian Infantry Corps in clear terrain and not entrenched across a River, what should the Combat Odds be?

[ncc1701e]

I am tired to do the calculation but here is a thread just for you Harrybanana: [;)]
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=5103482

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e

I am tired to do the calculation but here is a thread just for you Harrybanana: [;)]
https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=5103482

Thank you for this. While my tests would indicate that GS was being reduced by 100%, not just 40%, this is welcome news indeed. I look forward to testing the next version.

[ncc1701e]

Well I have done nothing, Alvaro did it.

[Harrybanana]

ORIGINAL: ncc1701e

Well I have done nothing, Alvaro did it.

Yes, I meant thank you for sharing the link with me.

Much bigger thank you to Alvaro for fixing this.