Few questions....

[Nox0s]

1) Direct fire density bonus: I'm re-reading the section on it in the manual now and tbh I'm having a bit of a hard time trying to figure out when it's worth it to "stack" a hex or not. For example, if I have a trench and an improved position both covering an objective -- am I better off putting all 4 infantry platoons in the trench for the better cover or should I split them up to avoid the density bonus?
2) Does indirect fire get any density bonus similar to the above?
3) Indirect fire seems to be affected by smoke -- i.e. it suffers a penalty firing into it. Is this correct? If so that seems a bit odd. Why would smoke affect indirect fire lethality?
4) In the manual, there's a section with some tips from a playtester where he mentions that units digging in suffer a firepower penalty but I can't find any mention of this anywhere else. Was this something that was patched in later maybe?
5) What cover can vehicles benefit from? I only see them being excluded in the description for "special buildings". Is this the only case where they derive no benefit from hex cover?

[Tidavis]

I am not positive about this but I believe that any defensive bonus is only granted to the first 12 strength points in any given hex. Hit the "U" key. The stack goes from top down.

Again just going off memory, I think that units that are digging in suffer a 50% reduction in firepower.

To my knowledge, vehicles receive no terrain bonus.

Maybe it's time for me to read the manual again.[8|]

[scottintacoma]

Digging in has been a 50% fire power reduction since Talon Soft published EF.

[OttoVonBlotto]

ORIGINAL: NoxNoctum
5) What cover can vehicles benefit from? I only see them being excluded in the description for "special buildings". Is this the only case where they derive no benefit from hex cover?

iirc all units including vehicles receive the defense benefit for being in improved positions, ie all attacking units firepower is reduced by 25%.

[Nox0s]

Thanks for the input guys. Still kind of unsure about whether vehicles receive benefit or not from any kind of cover -- it seems the manual's a bit unclear on the subject.

For the density thing - am I correct in understanding that choosing to stack units in a high cover zone versus spreading them out is basically making a choice of whether you want your units to suffer fewer stronger attacks or many weaker attacks? What's been your experience -- is it usually worth it to stuff people in trenches or does the density penalty make too much of a difference?

I looked through the manual Tidavis but couldn't find anything about the only first 12 SPs being actually counted as "in cover" (though that would make sense --- only so many guys you can fit in a foxhole). Anyone else know about this?

[Tidavis]

I am just working off a very bad memory here. That may just be some legacy Talonsoft stuff there.

In my experience the more you pack in the more casulties you are going to take. Even if you are in cover.

You pack 200 guys into a trench line. Thats 200 hundred chances for than one tiny fragment of shrapnel to hit flesh. What if that shell is the lucky one and explodes dead center over the trench?

[Jason Petho]

1. This is best decided on a case by case basis, as the number of strength points, the attack strength of the attacking units, the number of SP's they have, the defensive strength of your forces plus any additional TEM's need to be considered.

As a general rule of thumb, stack all you wish in a bunker/pillbox but I would typically avoid over-stacking in a trench or improved position, especially in open terrain.

2. Section 5.15 - "Indirect Fire Density –: In addition to the normal modifiers (see Combat Results), in an Indirect Fire attack (only), each target unit's Strength Points are multiplied by the applicable nominal Attack Strength and the result is then divided by 6 to find the effective Attack Strength vs. that unit. (In other words, effective Attack Strength = [nominal Attack Strength * SP#] / 6)

Example: A 6 Strength Point target will have the nominal Attack Strength applied to it. A target unit of 2 Strength Points will have 2/6 (1/3) of the Attack Strength applied to it. The rationale for this calculation is that the Indirect Fire results against a single target unit of, say, 4 Strength Points should be the same as the total Indirect Fire results against two target units of 2 Strength Points in the same hex. The calculation will apply the indirect Fire Attack Strength against target units proportional to their Strength Points, thus resulting in a total combat result comparable to firing at a single unit of the same total strength."

3. Indirect Fire will receive a penalty based on the assumption that the target is no longer being zeroed-in on by the "spotters". This is an abstraction.

4. Section 5.24 - 'If a unit that is Digging In conducts an attack, its Attack Strength is halved (fractions rounded down, to a minimum of one)."

5. Vehicles gain defensive benefits from the typical terrain modifiers - forested, rough, etc. as well as improved positions. They do suffer penalties in building type terrain when being assaulted by infantry. They do not gain defensive modifiers from special buildings or bunkers/pillboxes.

Jason Petho

[Nox0s]

Hey Jason, thanks for taking the time to answer that, much appreciated.

[Jason Petho]

No problem at all. I hope the answers helped!

Jason Petho