Gameplay and Mechanics

[SeaMonkey]

Seems to be a number of operations connected to this campaign, just how does this work? Like Panzer Corps? You take a core force along different scenarios?

I see KIA, SUP, and overrun, what other results of combat are tracked? What are the numbers by the cities, ie Kharkov 300 / 300?

How about a unit screen, I saw LAH, motorized, elite, experience 2 symbols, lightning icon means "attack strength", shield...defense, arrow...movement(what's the +2 significance) and then the tank image...armored strength? Now the blue dots, that's like a strength designation that coincides to the dots below the on map units, but that symbol that's a square with rounded edges containing .> oriented vertically, what does that mean?

The 100 in the upper right of the unit info box, looks like it has a "cents" sign, is that unit cost, so we can buy units? Units are divisional in size as the reserves were PzD for deploying with the LAH?

Now ...specifically, the supply barrels, explain this supply system in detail.

Time to fess up, release is imminent, we need to know, we have money, we are very discriminatory, this better be good![:'(]

[SeaMonkey]

OK, I had missed post #16 links in the other thread, so some of the questions are answered, but still...what about flexibility of the OOB?

[2xTom]

About the campaign, I'll quote a little from the manual first:

Campaign is played as a succession of scenarios in which you command in every battle fought by your side. The campaign doesn’t therefore represent the career of a single officer, but is rather an exploration of the historical and what-if battles of the time.

During a scenario, you can expend prestige points to “buy” units and reinforcements from the OKH/Stavka reserve that would not otherwise be available. Prestige points can be earned at the end of scenario, if your score is above a certain threshold.

So it's different from Panzer Corps in that you play all the scenarios every time. For scenarios that are happening in parallel (e.g. Edelweiss and Stalingrad) you can choose which one you want to play first, but you play all of them, every time.

You can not take units from scenario to scenario. I wanted to avoid unrealistic situations such as, e.g. Grossdeutschland (GD) going to Stalingrad or into the Caucasus when in reality it was shipped off to Army Group Center after Case Blue. So you can earn prestige and you can use that prestige to get stuff from OKH/Stavka reserve... but only such units that were historically available, or at the very least plausible at the time.

Again, on the example of GD, you can use it in the Stalingrad scenario (precisely at the location where it was at that date) although you have to pay heavily in prestige. But at least it's somewhat possible they would be there at the time and the game doesn't weer into totaly fantasy.

[2xTom]

Re: supply, you're right... an explanation was long overdue. Please check out this blog post that I believe explains the workings of the system well. I am even taking requests in the comments and there's time for another post or two between now and the release so leave a note if there's something of particular interest. [:)]

http://unityofcommand.net/blog/2011/11/ ... of-supply/

[mariovalleemtl]

Sound good.

[SeaMonkey]

Thanks Tom, nice and simple, the way supply should be.

Now about those CPU requirements, minimum specs, please!

[2xTom]

Hey thanks, I thought it would be interesting to check out the supply system like that. [:)]

Product Requirements :
OS: XP, Vista, 7
CPU: 1.6 GHz (2.0 GHz recommended)
RAM: 1 GB (2 GB recommended)
Video/Graphics: 32 MB Direct X Compatible Video Card
Sound: Direct X Compatible Sound Card
Hard disk space: 100MB
DirectX version: 9.0c

(from Unity of Command Product Info - Matrix Games)

[SeaMonkey]

Any chance that movement of an individual unit and combat be sequential in nature? Allowing a de-selection of a unit with remaining movement / action points, a subsequent movement / action of another unit and then re-selecting the previously moved unit?

[SeaMonkey]

I've also seen some references to motorization, is it possible to allocate a motor pool like function to units as an asset is added?

[nenad]

ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
Any chance that movement of an individual unit and combat be sequential in nature? Allowing a de-selection of a unit with remaining movement / action points, a subsequent movement / action of another unit and then re-selecting the previously moved unit?

Yep, it is exactly like this. You can even reinforce a unit in the midst of the sequence. Added steps/specialists will be suppressed for the turn though.

ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
I've also seen some references to motorization, is it possible to allocate a motor pool like function to units as an asset is added?

Motorization is fixed to unit type. Motorized divisions differ in stats from their non-motorized counterparts. Difference is mostly in mobility but for some units (German regular and SS) in strength too.

[SeaMonkey]

Thanks for the replies nenad, but for the future, can we hope for the motor pool attachment....among others, like recon...the ground and air type.

[nenad]

ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
Thanks for the replies nenad, but for the future, can we hope for the motor pool attachment....among others, like recon...the ground and air type.

You can attach a recon specialist in some scenarios. It doesn't directly affect unit's MPs but it does increase its mobility in respect to enemy ZOC.

I wasn't working on the game design so I can only speak from the perspective of intensive playtesting. Tom will probably have more to say on this. But from what I can deduce, the core game mechanics are rather flexible and scalable to allow for all kinds of things to be modeled according to particular theater or scenario specifics.

So yeah, no reason not to include various motor pool attachments, if the game designer choose to do so. And, of course, player's suggestions for things like this are always welcome.

[SeaMonkey]

Again thanks, how's the FoW features? Does the AI, or a human opponent have a lot of flexibility to deploy a mobile counterattack force without it being disclosed?

Also, one of my favorite games was from SPI called Panzergruppe Guderian, is there a scenario that matches that scale, is modding something that is easily accomplished?

Every screenshot has shown a solid front, although I am aware of the fluidity of the maneuver/combat mechanics, are there scenarios with less unit density? Is there a possibility of a unit breakdown feature, perhaps a formation creation built upon a kampfgruppe scheme?

[SeaMonkey]

As you're probably aware of, the CAS dynamics were something that really changed the lethality of combat in WW2. I've read where UoC is a bit deficient in that category. It seems the designers would want to incorporate more of the close air support characteristics and of course introduce the counter in the form of an AA attachment. Any Beta conversations in that arena that you can divulge?

[nenad]

ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
Again thanks, how's the FoW features? Does the AI, or a human opponent have a lot of flexibility to deploy a mobile counterattack force without it being disclosed?

No FoW, everything the player/AI does is instantly disclosed.

Also, one of my favorite games was from SPI called Panzergruppe Guderian, is there a scenario that matches that scale, is modding something that is easily accomplished?

There are no extremely large scenarios. However, the system, with it's quick playthrough, lends itself quite nicely to scenarios with a large number of units. You can expect some big ones in the future.

Modding shouldn't be a problem. As stated on the product page - everything is open.

Every screenshot has shown a solid front, although I am aware of the fluidity of the maneuver/combat mechanics, are there scenarios with less unit density? Is there a possibility of a unit breakdown feature, perhaps a formation creation built upon a kampfgruppe scheme?

Yes, there are less "dense" scenarios.

Units can be reorganized.

No formations per se. Specialist steps are standing for the combined arms aspect to extent. In future installments it'll probably be possible to add more than one specialist. This would quite effectively simulate kampfgruppen.

As you're probably aware of, the CAS dynamics were something that really changed the lethality of combat in WW2. I've read where UoC is a bit deficient in that category. It seems the designers would want to incorporate more of the close air support characteristics and of course introduce the counter in the form of an AA attachment. Any Beta conversations in that arena that you can divulge?

It's probably the matter of scale, but I'll have to hand the mic to Tom here.
You can attach an AA specialist though.

[2xTom]

I'll try not to be redundant and cover only the things nenad wasn't able to. Although he did become quite a wargamer for your regular graphics designer, eh? [;)]

There is no FoW because we don't know how to make the AI exploit it. And if we don't then we're just keeping the player in the dark for no good reason. We are open to adding FoW in the future. I agree it would spice up the multiplayer.

Close air support is a theater asset. This means you get a set number of "hits" per turn and you can use it anywhere on the map. It works almost exactly as land attacks except it's tuned so that it causes suppression (mostly) insted of kills.

So even though you can use air attacks anywhere on the map, it's really only useful as close air support, to soften the enemy before hitting them with infantry or tanks. Air attacks are modified by weather, terrain, entranchment and unit experience (green units are more vulnerable).

You can reorganize units: break them down into steps so they appear in the force pool on the next turn. You can then add them as reinforcements, but since reinforcements arrive suppressed, it's at least another turn before you can use them effectively.

So it's not an exact simulation of the kampfgruppen (2 turns is 8 days) but experienced players will preemptively reorganize weaker units and keep some steps in the force pool for flexibility. You can also add specialist steps as Nenad noted, but in desperate situations you will not always be able to make the most logical matchups. For example, the German defensive line in January 1943 (Race for Rostov scenario) looks decidedly improvised like that.

[nenad]

ORIGINAL: 2xTom
I'll try not to be redundant and cover only the things nenad wasn't able to. Although he did become quite a wargamer for your regular graphics designer, eh? [;)]

Hey, I've already put the disclaimer in [:D]

I may not be much of a wargamer but I do know a soundly designed system when I see one. Speaking form 25+ years of general gaming experience and a couple of game designs under belt. You can polemize on particular design choices, of course, but the whole ruleset and its implementation just "feels right" when playing.

Re FoW, maybe it's just a personal preference but I'm glad it's absent. Apart from solely entertainment value of watching AI organize defense lines, it gives you sense of control over things. You can actually develop your strategy instead of just doing perpetual hit-and-miss rounds into the darkness of FoW. Pretty much like chess where you cannot blame your bad moves on some crucial piece of information being hidden from you by the game. It's all up to your skill.

[SeaMonkey]

I'm seeing a lot of good posts on this game and the forum seems to have endorsed it, finally something a bit different in this scale. I would like to see more depth added to this game, as I've said before, but good things take time.

So about combat, since turns are covering four days, is there a combat bonus for a unit conducting a "prepared" attack? What I mean is, if a unit is in full supply and hasn't moved I would think it would be in a postion to initiate a more planned, set piece battle, hence the combat bonus. Is this feature a part of the combat model?

Ohh, and that FoW thing, any chance we'll see that included in the next edition, DLC, or patch?

[nenad]

ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
So about combat, since turns are covering four days, is there a combat bonus for a unit conducting a "prepared" attack? What I mean is, if a unit is in full supply and hasn't moved I would think it would be in a postion to initiate a more planned, set piece battle, hence the combat bonus. Is this feature a part of the combat model?

No, not directly, but yes. There is no explicit bonus in form of odds shift for this. However, this aspect is indirectly realized through several things.

The most important of them is supply. Out-of-supply units are penalized in combat via gradual suppression and reduced MP/AP. The longer the unit out of supply the greater the penalty.

Secondly, specialist attachments with towed equipment (e.g. artillery, towed AT, AA...) are participating in combat only if unit hasn't moved. Otherwise, they are suppressed. This is particularly pronounced on Soviet side with infantry + artillery combo where clever orchestration of units can make them much more dangerous on that account.

And thirdly, since in UoC you can move/attack in an arbitrary sequence as long as there are MP/AP left, by attacking first, the unit's MPs won't be negated by ZOC so there's a boon of additional maneuverability after seeing the combat outcome. This is very beneficial in case of overrun.

Hope this answered your question.

ORIGINAL: SeaMonkey
Ohh, and that FoW thing, any chance we'll see that included in the next edition, DLC, or patch?

Possibly, yes. Especially for PvP

[SeaMonkey]

I'm liking that philosophy of initiation for combat execution, makes perfect sense, thanks nenad. Any plans for incorporating a retreat feature? Maybe something that is dependent upon the amount of steps left of unit strength. For example, once the unit is reduced to half strength and has lost its entrenchment level, it becomes susceptible to a single hex retreat, more losses, perhaps multi-hex retreats would be in order.