Bob,
As to your first idea. It is there already. It is DISRUPTION. The reason it doesn't work correctly is not the engine's fault, but we gamers' and designers' faults. We think every unit should be an A or B rated unit. Here is where the system's limitations come into conflict with our expectations.
The Morale/Qualtiy issue is set to a D6 system where 1 is low and 6 is high. How that is expressed to gamers is 1 is F and 6 is A. A unit must get a Morale/Quality check of over their rating to fail. If the failure happens from DEFENSIVE FIRE then the unit DISRUPTS. If the failure happens from OFFENSIVE FIRE or MELEE then the unit ROUTS.
Now there is a multitude of bonuses (negative and positive) that can be added to that Morale/Quality check. If a unit starts out with an A(6) or B(5) rating, or even a C(4) rating, odds are it will pass its Morale/Quality check. Its kind of tough getting a unit rated A(6) to fail if no modifiers are considered.
There are two solutions to this problem. The best one is for John to go into the program, and set his Morale/Quality to 1-9, and code the game so units cannot be rated above a 6 in the OOB file. This would allow good units with stout leadership to fail once in awhile, and almost insure bad units with no leadership to nearly always fail. I doubt this will ever happen. This then leaves us with the second solution.
That solution is to lower the rating levels of units across the board to where you only see an A rated unit if it is in the Iron Brigade or in Stonewall's Brigade, maybe not even then. Maybe they should be B. The rest of the army should start with D, possibly C. Since there are penalties for E and F care should be taken using those ratings. So you end up with two armies that have 90% of their units rated D. Suddenly, Bde Commanders, and Div Commanders have to lead attacks to make sure they hit home, and Corps/Army Ldrs are running about rallying people ... General Lee at Gettysburg, "It is all my fault," type of encouters.
I doubt that will ever happen either, because we would all whine that the 2nd Tennesse or 13th Rhode Island should be an A rated unit because on Christmas Day in 1862, they held their ground when acosted by a Troop of Brownies who were trying to take their rum rations from them. [:p]
Now the best solution would be for us lazy, b*** designers to not use one OOB file per campaign, but use one per scenario, and use the ORG file mechanism to link losses from one battle to another. Then you could see the following occur....
First battle of a campaign everybody is rated high 'cause their full of p*** and vinegar that they're gonna kick Johny Reb's or Billie Yank's b***. Depending upon the outcome of such battle, Billy Yank might find his units' Morale/Quality ratings lower in the second battle 'cause he did get his b*** kicked, or maybe Johnny Reb's Morale/Quality is lower 'cause, even though he won the First battle, his army is worn out since it was only a Minor Victory, and now his units have to fight again, and they haven't seen a hot meal since before the first battle. I think you see my point.
Why doesn't this happen? You've been patiently waiting for me to finish 'le Tour' up, over in the CCC, haven't ya'? It takes time to do what I spoke of above, and most of us don't have the time, or make the time, or haven't spent enough time YET to learn how to completely exploit the Campaign Feature. It is the most powerful tool John could have given us to model the reality of war, along with the ability to create scenarios and modify OOB files there is only one factor left that keeps us from doing better at utilizing the game engine to its maximum capability, and that is time. Time to learn, and create.
Sadly though, if I recall correctly Campaign Gettysburg is locked as to its OOB files. Is that right? I understand John did that so we could make all the Eastern Campaigns, since the maps and graphics are available, but I sure wish he would reconsider. *sigh*
(As an aside, I would love to have John tell me, "make such a campaign Al, and send it to me. If, I approve I will add said campaign, and its associated files to the game engine code.) HINT! HINT! HINT! [:D]
Well for those who are intrigued by the above ideas, join the CCC. I am all over making campaigns that would show an army's ups and downs during a campaign. Hope to see you there soon!
As to your second idea, it can be handled in a similar manner.
MajGen Al 'Ambushed' Amos
3rd "Amos' Ambushers" Bde, Cavalry Division, XX Corps, AoC
The Union Forever! Huzzah!
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