Assault / Combat Model
Assault Phase.
Once the Maneuver/Deployment phase has finished, the Assault phase begins.
This phase is a joint phase with independent progress by either side.
Step 1. Place units in Matched groupings.
Each unit in the TF is placed in its correct position with front line combat units in the front line, Support units in support and reserve units in reserve. Each front line unit must be matched against a number of opposition units. The units must be evenly distributed. If at any point a greater than 2 to 1 match is reached, the outnumbered side must move a support unit forward to the front line. If no support units are available then the outnumbered side must move reserve units to the front line. After all units are in the front line no further limits are made upon the unit matching and 3 to 1 or greater is possible.
To handle different unit densities (especially between technological era's) we can use a formula for determining the over matching point rather than just say 2 to 1. We could instead use 2 x the units dispersion x # of combat elements as the matching point. (Eg. A modern light infantry division has a dispersion of 15 and 8 combat elements. This means it is not considered to be overmatched until 240 points worth of dispersed oposition units oppose it)
A Full Example. TF1 is composed of 3 british infantry brigades, a Cav Regiment and a Expeditionary Command unit with Artillery. They are opposed by 45000 zulu Infantry orgainsed into 15 x 3000 man impi's. The infantry brigades each have a base frontage of 20 and a overmatched frontage of 40. (This is determined from their dispersion of 5 and having only 4 elements. 5 x 4 = 20) The zulus have a base frontage of 18 (This is from their dispersion value of 3 and having 6 elements). The british has only the infantry in the front line to start with, the command unit and cav are in support. The zulu have placed 13 Impi's in the front line with 2 in reserve. The matching begins with the 3 brit infs being arranged against 3 Impis' each because the brits have a over matched frontage of 40. At this point there is still 4 more impis to allocate from the front line but the whol british front line has been over matched. The british must move another unit to the frontline. They choose the Cav, which has a basic frontage of 24 (dispersion of 6 and 4 combat elements.) and a overmatche frontage of 48. This additional frontage absorbs another 3 Impi's, but there is still 1 to go so the command unit is also shifted to the front line and matched against the last Impi.
Using the modern Light inf division (max frontage of 240) from 2 paragraphs above would provide complete coverage of the Zulu force with the 13 unit of 18 frontage ( 234 ). Obviously modern unit formations are considerably more dispersed than older formations they also carry considerably more firepower.
2. Divide support fire among units (equally) resolve counter battery fire et al.
The units that are in the support line of the taskforce get to use their distant range firepower to aid the front line units of the force. The amount they can provide is equal to = Sum of distant firepower / (1 + tech factor). The tech factor is 2 - a value for communications tech. This firepower is called the support pool. Added to this is any support from other sources such as air units or naval units.
A proportion of this support can be allocated as Counter battery fire. The maximum amount that can be used from each unit for counter battery is (10 + (training + experience) x 10) %. Counterbattery firepower is allocated directly against the oppositions support units. It will be left to the AI to determine the exact proportion used as counter battery. Counter battery can have limited effectiveness unless large amounts of support is used. It will often be better to use bombardment attacks before the battle starts to cause oposition support losses preceding a battle than during a battle. The various support elements on each side now suffer a combat round where they are attacked as a group by the counter battery fire factors of the opposition. any elements that suffer hits must then pass a morale test or have its fire halved for the remainder of the battle. The casaualties are still pooled and whole elements are lost, it is just that the damage also has a disruptive effect upon the entire supporting force.
The remaining firepower in the support pool is allocated to the Task Forces units evenly.
An example. A Russian Task force with 4 inf divisions, 4 tank divisions also has 3 artillery divisions. These 3 artillery divisions can supply 240 points of support. The Artillery divisions have a training level of 2 and experience of 2, the russian AI can therefore use up to 50% of this support as counter battery fire. If the AI devotes 80 points to counterbattery then the remaining 160 points is split between the 8 units in the front line giving each 20 point of firesupport.
Each frontline unit matchup is now treated as a seperate little combat to resolve.
3. Determine range at which combat is started
Each match up of units gets to fight. This combat starts at a starting range and works in towards hand to hand. The starting range is determined by a test modified based on the terrain. Given an open flat terrain the starting range will be the longest of the battling units. In other terrains a test is done based on terrain values. For each range we need to use the terrain's openness factor to determine if we get the longer range combat. (EG. In wooded country there is only a 50% chance of getting medium range fire and a 20% chance of long range fire) Using the shortest range without a test we move out ranges until we fail a test. (Using the wooded country example we automatically get short range fire have a 50% chance of medium and if we pass that get a 20% chance of long. This determined range is the "starting" range
These matchups are treated for starting range as they may face different terrain conditions etc.
4. Begin combat resolution cycle
Starting at the start range we resolve a round of combat and then resolve
again with the range reducing until all sides refuse to advance.
4.1 Combat resolution
4.1.1 Determine firepower available vs each opposition element type.
The running example for this will be a German Infantry division vs a Russian infantry division and a Russian tank brigade.
Step 1 . We find the opositions total number of front line elements and determine their types. The Russian infantry division has 10 rifle battalions, a recon battalion and 2 heavy weapons battalions. (13 man based elements) The tank brigade has 5 Tank battalions and 2 battalions of assault Infantry (5 x GCV and 2 man)
Step 2. Determine firepower vs each type at the current range. Eg. The german division has a firepower of 600 vs man type troops at this range and 250 vs GCV type troops. (10 battalions of inf at 40/5 points each plus 1 battalion of infantry guns at 70/50 points and 1anti tank battalion with 30/100 points, support from other elements and units add another 100 points of anti man firepower and 50 of anti GCV.)
Step 3. Apportion Firepower Vs each type. We have 20 total elements being engaged by the germans 15 of which are man type and 5 are GCV. Direct apportioning would allow 15/20 of the anti man firepower vs the man elements and 5/20 of the anti-GCV vs the GCV's. But this is in no way accurate. This is because certain troops are specialists and there fore not normally adding to other firepower types etc (The AT gunners are not adding much to anti inf fire so why should there be a drop in Anti inf firepower if they fire at tanks.). There are ways of getting around this problem my suggestion is to add half the difference between the # of that type of element and the total # of elements(rounded down). This means that for the above anti man firepower split we actually use (15 + (5 / 2 rounddown)) / 20 as the proportion for Anti man firepower and (5 + (15 / 2 rounddown)) / 20 for anti GCV firepower. This gives 17/20 x 600 for total firepower vs Man type units and 12/20 x 250 for total firepower vs GCVs. (510 and150 respectively)
Step 4. Break firepower up against each element directly. Divide apportioned firepower by the number of elements of that type that the opponent has. For example using the russian units above there will be 510 firepower distributed evenly across 15 man type units, this equals 34 for each element. The rifle battalions will receive 340 firepower, the recon batt 34, the Heavy weapons and assault infantry will receive 68 each. The tanks are receiving 30 points of firepower each meaning as a type they are receiving 150.
We should now know how much firepower each element type is being attacked by.
4.1.2 Determine the number of attacks on each element type.
Step 1. Determine the Gross firepower by the elements final defence value. The final defence value is equal to = (Defence + Experience + Terrain mod + Command mod + other (other consists of tactics values and other areas like fortification values)) X (Armour - Armour Pen (Min 1)).
Continuing the above example the infantry have a defence of 10, the recon 12, the heavy weapons and assault inf`antry 8 and the tanks have a defence of 5. They all have a experience value of 2 and terrain gives a mod of 3, there are no fortifications, and the commanders abilities have given a mod of 1. The tanks have a armour rating of 5 while the german inf have Armour penetration of 2 at this range. The final defence values are therefore 16 for the infantry, 18 for the recon, 14 for the Heavy weapons and the assault infantry and lastly 33 for the tanks( ((5+2)/1 + 3 + 1) x (5-2) = 33).
Step 2. We divide the firepower by the Final defence value to determine the number of attacks received by the various element types. The various element types therefore receive the following number of attacks. Infantry 340/16=22(round up), Recon 34/18=2, Heavy Weapons and assault infantry 68/14=5 and the tanks 150/33=5
4.1.3 Resolve the attacks.
Step 1. Each attack has a chance of causing a hit or casualty to the target equal to the following formula.
Attack % = 10 + (training + experience) x attackers type factor + commander.
The attacker type factor: 4 for men, 3 for all others except SCV which is 2. This factor takes into account the fact that the training and exprience of the unit have a reduced impact as the actual personel are removed from the actual "loop" of combat. This is countered by the ability of vehicles to carry more firepower and in their higher mobility etc. (Space combat vehicles are most effected as almost all engagements would actually be computer and robotically directed.) This may be dropped.
Example: The german infantry division has high training(4) and is experienced(3), they receive no bonus from their commander as he has decided to stay behind the lines and not be an inspiration. Being a man based unit the attack % = 10 + (4 + 3) x 4 + 0 = 38%. Now working with this as a base the Russians will probably take 7-8 hits on the inf, may take 1 on the recon and probably 2 each on the heavy weapons, assault inf and the tanks.
The resulting successful attacks are taken as hits. The hits are accumulated vs that element type and a element is marked as destroyed if more than the normal hits have been scored against that set of elements. Left over hits can carry forward to the next round.
Step 2. If a commander is choosing to inspire his troops etc then he may die at this point as he gets involved with front line units etc. (Currently no method devised)
The combat at this range has now been completed for these units and we now check to see if the various units close further.
4.2 Advance (or continue combat) test.
In all cases combat will involve either both sides attempting to reach each other (an encounter battle) or one side is attempting to reach a defender (assault). In an assault the side that is defending will always be involved in the combat (The side does start testing once hand to hand is reached, but in an encounter battle both sides must test to continue closing the range. The range will reduce until all sides have failed the advance test.
Advance test = ((morale + training + experience + (Mobility / 2) + Generals morale bonus) * 5) - 2 per 1% damage taken so far in the battle..
Example from above. The germans are defending and the russians attacking, the Russian Infantry division will probably suffer around 11 hits (each assumed at 1% of pre battle strength), morale is 11, training is 2, experience is 2, mobility is 6 and there is no bonus from the general. The advance test requires a (11 + 2 + 2 + (6 / 2)) x 5 - 22 = 68%. The tank brigade will probably suffer 4 hits it has similar stats except for the mobility which is 10 this gives a (11 + 2 + 2 + (10 / 2) x 5 - 8 = 92%. The chances are that the tank brigade will advance but the Inf division may cease combat.
If a unit fails the test it stops and ceases to take part in combat unless it is a defender in fortifications. In which case it loses a level of fortification. Effectively fortified units gain a free morale test for each level of fortification as well as a modifier for the fortifications.
All units that pass the test go back and repeat the combat resolution cycle at the next range. (???? Should we allow the stopped unit to continue fighting at half value or something at the stopped range until it fails again to show a disrupted force still assisting their friends somewhat ????)
Once units have joined melee combat they find it difficult to seperate, I would like to see the melee continue after a side has failed its check for one additional round with the failed side having halved FP.
In ancient battles only short and hand to hand ranges are generally used. This along with low ranged firepower almost guarantees that the advances will be successfull, this starts to change as firepower climbs and longer ranges are used.
Both sides can fail simultaneously.
5. Morale check at conclusion of combat cycle.
The actual morale value of the units involved in combat is altered to show the effects of the combat and a further set of tests is carried out to determine if the troops are still active and can continue in further combat later in the strategic turn. ( Really only used in higher mobility modern combat where a unit/TF could fight several short battles over a long distance in a short time.) Units that pass this check could also fight a round of pursuit combat vs a retreating foe.
6. Combat finalisation and preperation.