Matrix Games Forums

The Force Editor is one of the things that has developed a lot faster than the manual to explain it has.

There are a few values that I either have little to no idea about what to set:

These values I understand, but do not know good values for:

Precision Guided Weapons Level
Electronic Support Level

For example: what values would the US have in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, 80s?

Norm told us that a Force Supply Stockpile level of 40 was the highest it should realistically go, and that this was the value for US forces in general. A note like that regarding some of the new values would be very helpful.

And these I don't even know where to start with:

Force Pestilance Level
Attrition divider

Any help is appreciated

ORIGINAL: Ecthelion008

Force Pestilance Level

% of equipment units lose every turn. For infantry etc., half the equipment is lost and half goes to replacements. For vehicles and guns and so on, it all goes to replacements. This effect becomes more severe for units in hostile conditions; e.g. jungles or very cold weather.

Usually zero. 1 or 2% if pestilence should be an issue. Some designers have experimented with using very high (20-30) levels to simulate the disintegration of a force.

Attrition divider

All combat losses are divided by this figure. The default is 10 and I would suggest you always use this figure unless you find that the rate of losses in your scenario overall are significantly too high or too low. Lowering the attrition divider even a couple of points can produce extremely bloody results. Raising it to 20 or more will make it very difficult for units to cause casualties, and as a consequence may produce a lot of round-burning attacks. This is probably the most powerful variable in the game so be very careful with it.

Really? Is that what it does?  I thought those sorts of things were controlled by the Loss Intolerance variable.  I had thought the Attrition divider controlled the amount of losses you take from moving your units, like to desertion and breakdowns, whereas Pestilance works on all units, even dug in ones.

ORIGINAL: Ecthelion008

Really? Is that what it does? I thought those sorts of things were controlled by the Loss Intolerance variable. I had thought the Attrition divider controlled the amount of losses you take from moving your units, like to desertion and breakdowns, whereas Pestilance works on all units, even dug in ones.

The attrition divider should be modified to fit the scale of your scenario. A divider of 10 can often be too low with say 6-hour turns as units in combat will take too many losses. You'll see divisions that took weeks to be destroyed historically take days in TOAW. Not realistic.

ORIGINAL: Chuck2

The attrition divider should be modified to fit the scale of your scenario. A divider of 10 can often be too low with say 6-hour turns as units in combat will take too many losses. You'll see divisions that took weeks to be destroyed historically take days in TOAW. Not realistic.

There are a myriad of other factors besides turn length. Take my Rhodes scenario. There, one might have two battalions partially engaged on a typical turn. If I changed it to 20km/hex and brigade units, then the entire force would be engaged every turn. So you can see how there's not a straight-line relationship between turn length and desired attrition divider. I would recommend only modifying the latter after a problem has been revealed through testing.

ORIGINAL: Ecthelion008

I thought those sorts of things were controlled by the Loss Intolerance variable.

Loss intolerance is a multiplier (in %) for the value of the loss penalty for that force. Loss penalty is keyed off the AP strength of equipment, so it has more to do with force preservation than casualty-shyness.

ORIGINAL: golden delicious
The default is 10 and I would suggest you always use this figure unless you find that the rate of losses in your scenario overall are significantly too high or too low. Lowering the attrition divider even a couple of points can produce extremely bloody results. Raising it to 20 or more will make it very difficult for units to cause casualties, and as a consequence may produce a lot of round-burning attacks. This is probably the most powerful variable in the game so be very careful with it.

The Attrition Divider was provided to correct loss rates for time-scale. And, all else being equal, loss rates will need to be varied proportionate to time-scale. But all else is often not equal, and the best setting should be determined by experiment.

The default setting is probably best calibrated for the mid-range TOAW settings, which would be World War II ETO battalions/regiments at 1-day turns. Stray from that by much and expect to need to adjust.

ORIGINAL: Curtis Lemay

The Attrition Divider was provided to correct loss rates for time-scale. And, all else being equal, loss rates will need to be varied proportionate to time-scale. But all else is often not equal, and the best setting should be determined by experiment.

Quite. And there was I expecting you to disagree violently.

I'm one of those kids who went to school on the short bus so... [&:]

In my Middle East 73 Scenarion what would you recomend the values be for those variables and why?

I learn best by example I guess...