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I'm new and I'm at a loss to understand basic land combat resolution. The manual leaves out some important basics.

So there seem to be two separate aspects to land combat:
1) Odds, which affect the retreat chance of the defender
2) Damage which affects strength and effectiveness loss of the involved units

@1
How are base odds calculated? Is it strength * XP * effectiveness?
The retreat check resulting from the odds-ratio is explained nicely in the manual.

@2
The manual states that in each combat round, a different "stat" of the units (artillery, guns, tanks, fire arms) is taken into account. What does that mean? At this point the manual lists 5 rounds, which coincides with the 5 OPs that units have. So is it true that some stats are only taken into consideration if you attack multiple times in a single round? Is it reset when the enemy retreats? But then again I noticed that I can still do damage as the attacker in the "defender's guns" combat round (round 2). How does it work?

Obviously the game somehow determines your units "power" somehow.
Then the attacked unit checks how much of that power it can prevent (using its defensive value somehow).
Then any power that could not be prevented is turned into damage.
Each point of damage leads either to a loss of 1 strength (50%) or a loss of an additional 1% (?) effectiveness (50%).

#1 Odds are shown as a generalization of combat from the general's perspective. The fractions round down. It is the base relative combat strength of attackers vs defender with modifications for entrenchment, terrain, and weather.

#2 Damage is applies in a series of rounds. For example artillery before firearms, anti-tank before tank and applied to units.

The combat system is purposely designed to be a little ambiguous. I want players to get a feel for the game and attacks without min-maxing numbers. It reduces micromanagement and gives a feel of a commander's perspective.

eff X exp X strength = combat value. Then all the other factors come into play like tank factors, firearms, artillery, anti-tank, specialties, terrain, weather, and entrenchment.

The odds, tanks, and anti-tank impact retreat.

The values on the counters are applied to a modifier to get single or double digit values so players don't have to read 264 - 9 for a tank corp or a air counter with 43 a2a, 74 grouns support, 17 naval air, 29 strategic..... so many digits become tedious.

You do realize there is multihex attack I hope. Click the "?" to get some basic tutorials on how to play. The largest consideration is supply in the game and how to manage it.

ORIGINAL: AlvaroSousa
#1 Odds are shown as a generalization of combat from the general's perspective. The fractions round down. It is the base relative combat strength of attackers vs defender with modifications for entrenchment, terrain, and weather.

The values on the counters are applied to a modifier to get single or double digit values so players don't have to read 264 - 9 for a tank corp or a air counter with 43 a2a, 74 grouns support, 17 naval air, 29 strategic..... so many digits become tedious.

So the base "combat strength" that - in combination with entrenchment mods etc. - gets used to calculate odds is (eff * XP * strength)?

#2 Damage is applies in a series of rounds. For example artillery before firearms, anti-tank before tank and applied to units.

So all stats of a unit are active in a single combat action? It's just that there is a sequence within the combat action? So a unit that is strong on artillery might weaken (inflict more damage on) the opposing unit, so that the opposing unit in turn inflicts less damage? Is this the idea behind the different aspects?
It's just confusing as the manual mentions combat "rounds" but doesn't explain what a combat round is. Is a round a combat action (one attack, costing 1 OP) or something within a combat action?

You do realize there is multihex attack I hope. Click the "?" to get some basic tutorials on how to play. The largest consideration is supply in the game and how to manage it.

I was aware of multihex attacks, yes. Thanks for your anwers. Ambiguity is nice, but here it just seems as if the manual is missing out on very basic explanations, which might put off newbies who are not willing to search the forums.