MechFO
Posts: 669
Joined: 6/1/2007 Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: 76mm quote:
ORIGINAL: MechFO The problem for me is mainly that the relative losses and the combat result don't add up. RETREAT is defined in the manual as a forced displacement, I checked to be sure, and that definition is repeated ad nauseam. So this wasn't a delaying action (which is it's own discussion). This was by any measure a highly successful defensive action, so it should be a HOLD. If it really was a RETREAT, then German losses can still be rationalised, but Russian losses are way too low. It seems to me like you are wrapped up in semantics, I don't think that the distinctions that you are making between a "HOLD", a "delaying action" and a "retreat" are necessarily valid. The Sovs retreated, so I don't see why it should be a HOLD? And why couldn't a successful delaying action be shown in the game as a retreat? Delaying actions generally do involve moving backwards under enemy pressure, not staying in place. Finally, I don't understand why everyone considers these Sov losses so unbelievably low. As stated in a previous post, these turns are a week long...how do we know that the Russians did not retreat at night, or in the fog? As far as I know, clear weather for a weekly turn does not mean sunshine 24/7... Well, everything is ultimately a matter of opinion but, the semantics matter because HOLD, RETREAT and delaying action implicate very different outcomes at the tactical level. This in turn determines what reasonable loss results can be expected. Unless one knows what the results are actually meant to represent, loss mechanics remain a black box which IMO they should not be. A delaying action being represented by RETREAT doesn't make sense in terms of the game mechanics. There is no way to tell a unit that you would rather trade lower losses for real estate, or vice versa, and this is a critical distinction. Also there is no disengagement penalty during the movement phase. So IMO, and based on the manual, a delaying action is represented by a unit surviving an attack during the enemy phase, and then moving during one owns phase without penalty. This is important because any foot unit can NOT be expected to perform a successful delaying action against a motorized unit capable and in the process of further attacks.
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