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 Post subject: Fatigue? What Fatigue?
PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 7:03 pm 
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In a one- or two-day JTS/HPS battle scenario with lots of combat action you probably wouldn't notice all of the effects of the Higher Fatigue Recovery Rates option if it is turned on, especially if you consistently play all of your games with that option turned on out of habit. You'd be used to seeing your units fighting, accruing and recovering fatigue as a result, and then fighting some more unless you've bled their fatigue levels white (or is it red?)! The point is, as long as there's plenty of combat action going on, you'd be missing an important, element of command: husbanding your troops' actual combat ability.

(If we define fatigue, as it has been done on this forum and in the game notes, as an overall reflection of both a unit's physical and psychological (battle stress) profile, then we are speaking more nearly of that unit's actual combat ability. A unit's size, or manpower strength of course, only represents the starting point for assessing a unit's combat ability.)

In a closely fought, single-day battle, wherein the Higher Fatigue Recovery Rates option has been selected, physical strength seems to be synonymous with manpower strength: that is, a unit may fight throughout much of day, losing fatigue only due to combat, and then reclaiming that fatigue in a consistent manner as the situation may warrant, as long as it hasn't completely gone into the High Fatigue level. It is only when one becomes involved with a truly large, multiple-day scenario, especially one in which extended marching and maneuver is an integral part, that this option begins to beg for legitimacy. It then becomes possible to experience the IRON SOLDIER!

Quite simply the commander may order his troops to move all night long, feigning any rest whatsoever, and then watch the miraculous regeneration of his minions within the first five or six turns of the new day as they continue marching happily down their roads of destiny. They become, in effect, IRON SOLDIERS, men who only temporarily feel the discomfort of deprived sleep as they continue marching and who, by the noonday meal, feel just as refreshed and ready to do battle as those who halted for the night. Moreover, they may retain their remarkable constitutions for days on end with nary any ill effects. To be sure they will exhibit lower fatigue levels as the night wears on, but they won't lose a step in the process, no matter how many moonlight marches they make. If you've graduated from the academy and are not quite confident of your skills in keeping your troops rested, ready and poised for combat, just activate the Higher Fatigue Recovery Rates option. Then you can simply sit on the roadside fence and receive the reassurances from your boys as they go swinging on by at the route step, "Don't worry, General! We can do this all night long without too much trouble at all!"

But use that option in something like the 140+ turn, Sherman's Advance on Atlanta, July 20th-23rd, 1864 scenario of HPS Campaign Atlanta, the 400+ turn, THE SEVEN DAYS: June 25 - July 1, 1862 scenario of HPS Campaign Peninsula or the monster 1300+ turn Campaign Overland May-June 1864 [H] scenario of JTS Campaign Overland, and you begin to realize that you're depriving yourself of a crucial element in these games. In fact, it may just impel you to disregard the Higher Fatigue Recovery Rates option all together!

Or, maybe not.

Its up to you and your opponent from the git go!

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General Jos. C. Meyer, ACWGC
Union Army Chief of Staff
Commander, Army of the Shenandoah
Commander, Army of the Tennessee
(2011-2014 UA CoA/GinC)


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PostPosted: Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:08 pm 
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While artificial to be sure, limits can be put on night movement. It requires PDT changes though. In a couple of scenarios I am developing, I have increased the movement penalty and am using the "Weather Option" to slow down night movement. This option has a parameter which one can use to limit movement to less than 100% by, ironically, increasing the factor. For example, if you wish to limit night road movement to half of that achievable during the day (6 hexes), setting the movement penalty to 200% will do the trick.

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PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2015 12:57 am 
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Recently I tested the "Hight Fatigue Recovery" rule and that brought me to the conclusion that I won't use it anymore because one night can be enough for a medium fatigued unit to be down to zero fatigue.
Maybe if the higher rates were x1/x2/x3 it could work but the current x1/x3/x5 is just too much.

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PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 7:29 am 
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If a unit with medium fatigue gets a decent night's rest, it could certainly start the next day with zero fatigue. I judge that based on real life, a company that made an air assault, lost 16 killed and 42 wounded, and was ready the next day to go it again. The residual effect was our losses, not our will or readiness or ability to fight.
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PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:39 am 
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I'll make another suggestion that is not going to happen but like all the others is fun to talk about.
There should be a boost in fatigue recovery between say 0400 and 0800 hours, lower during hours of darkness, and peaking during this time period. Why? Because that is when a unit wakes up, has breakfast, rations are issued, formation and role call, orders of the day are read, sick call is held, weapons inspections, prayers, and so on. Those are all important things, but in our games most players hit the road at first light, balls to the wall from 0400 onward. It just is not realistic. Take Gettysburg, for instance. Even though it was known that Buford would be fighting for his life and Gettysburg hung in the balance, Reynolds' First Corps got on the road at about 0800 after doing all those important things I just mentioned. It might be significant to note that Heth's Division was on the road at 0500 (he must have been a gamer) and in the ensuing fight it was the better-prepared Yanks who prevailed.
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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 9:28 pm 
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Well this test was done with medium fatigue at is highest level(599) and in average a unit lost 546.25 fatigue and out of the 160 units 97 ended with zero fatigue what I think is too much in terms of battle fatigue as every unit below 300 already acts unharmed by any setback.
As I said with x1/x2/x3 it could work out better but x1/x3/x5 is just too much, not only in the recovery itself but also in the spread because any high fatigue unit recovers normally so you end with a bunch of units still in high fatigue while other are down to zero.

To your suggestion, that is the point were units that still have some or even a lot fatigue will sit it out for some more turns and those that are down to zero could be doing all the usual stuff already in the middle of the night to get going early.
At least from the Napoleonic time I know that for example vanguard units often got going long before dawn.

But maybe an extra fatigue recovery value in the PDT for the dusk & dawn turns could help out a bit, or on Optional Rule as to what these turns should use regarding recovery either using the day or night recovery.

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PostPosted: Fri Jun 05, 2015 9:28 pm 
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Well this test was done with medium fatigue at is highest level(599) and in average a unit lost 546.25 fatigue and out of the 160 units 97 ended with zero fatigue what I think is too much in terms of battle fatigue as every unit below 300 already acts unharmed by any setback.
As I said with x1/x2/x3 it could work out better but x1/x3/x5 is just too much, not only in the recovery itself but also in the spread because any high fatigue unit recovers normally so you end with a bunch of units still in high fatigue while other are down to zero.

To your suggestion, that is the point were units that still have some or even a lot fatigue will sit it out for some more turns and those that are down to zero could be doing all the usual stuff already in the middle of the night to get going early.
At least from the Napoleonic time I know that for example vanguard units often got going long before dawn.

But maybe an extra fatigue recovery value in the PDT for the dusk & dawn turns could help out a bit, or on Optional Rule as to what these turns should use regarding recovery either using the day or night recovery.

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Lieutenant General Christian Hecht
Commander I Corps, Army of the Potomac
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"Where to stop? I don't know. At Hell, I expect."


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