BGForums

Hey I am trying to understand the best way to compare military units to each other.

I was playing a game where I had a good mix of units, arties, tanks and some infantry both soft and hard varieties. I had low strength units though but their combat values (like soft attack, etc...) were high in their respective specialties.

Then I go to war with the AI and he has this large group of light infantry (the kind in the humvees) who have high strength. I thought I was going to beat him because while we had about equal numbers I had a great mix of units and based on those combat values all my units were superior.

but his humvee army totally dominated me I was shocked. I barely hurt him

So now I have to go back to the drawing board when it comes to how to size up my forces vs an enemies forces because those humee infantry are a lot more powerful than I thought.

So I guess it's all because of their strength. It seems to be far better to build a weaker unit but at higher strength, than a more advanced unit with default strength. Is that true? Because for the price of the weaker unit even after pumping strength up it's still cheaper than the more advanced unit.

But please teach me how to determine overall combat power of units.

Say I got a Light Infantry with 14 soft attack, 10 hard attack, 20/18 close combat attack/defense. It's max strength is at 100

Then I got an Engineer unit with 18 soft attack, 26 hard attack, 25/33 close combat attack/defense. It's max strength is at 50

Now, assuming these two guys got the same combat efficiency at 80%, is the engineer superior because of it's combat values or is the light infantry superior because it has double the strength?

Does double the strength mean that it doubles the combat values?

Any advice on this will be greatly appreciated, thanks!

I cant help much here.
This has come up a few times, and i dont think the exact formula was ever given.
Though some important insights were.

Ill try and find soem of the threads:
http://www.bgforums.com/forums/viewtopi ... c&start=15

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This post approved by Tkobo:Official Rabble Rouser of the United Yahoos
Chuckle TM

You also have to consider factors like the terrain each unit is in (i.e., was one or both in "close" terrain like a city or forrest?), relative unit experience, "combat time" (which is kind of like rate of fire), and supply levels (if one unit runs low of supply it becomes very vulnerable). Advancing / attacking units often find themselves in hexes with low supply value, meaning they do not replentish as quickly as the defender, who may be in or adjacent to a friendly city or base. The attacker may be "stronger" but engaged units use supply very fast; the defender gets replenished quickly, but the attacker does not, which is what makes those supply trucks, FARPs, etc. so important . The Combat Time factor was one I overlooked for a long time but turns out to be significant - some heavy-hitting units can be slow to "reload"; that is, they get fewer shots per day...

I think this is a really interesting topic and a very cool part of the game. The thread tkobo points to is, as far as I know, the most difinitive on the subject here. Experimentation is key, so please experiment and share what you see with us!

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Mitchell

Thats one of the things i love so much about this game, there are soooooo many factors you can strive to get in your favor in a particular combat that it really can be quite fun just striving to do better each time.

Its a good thing too, becuase the lack of variance in combat results would other wise turn me off pretty quick.
I normally dislike outcome systems that dont have some bit of variance to the range of possible outcomes.

2+2=4 is fine for math, but once you learn how to make the situation 2 + 2 everytime in a combat system,it gets boring.

BUT throw alot of variables in there that can be added in depending on the players and foes actions, and even a stagnant 2+2= 4 system can be an interesting 2+2+x+y+z-q-r-a= ? system

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This post approved by Tkobo:Official Rabble Rouser of the United Yahoos
Chuckle TM