Some excellent points. My main suggestion is that we need a "self-preservation" rule. I have rarely seen it in computer military sims, either in my hobby life or professional life. I have seen the defensive force (or OPFOR) fight to the last man, which I call the Alamo Defense.
In real life, if the enemy can flee, they will, as Forest did in 1862, rather than surrender. Finally if no chance to flee or retreat, they would surrender. Once the enemy had given up in the Civil War, you had to collect them, and guard them, reducing your force. I guess I would like to see the rout rule after attack be modified so that the commander could call a retreat before standing and dying in battle. I have no clue how that would be written in code, but this would
1. be more realistic
2. lower KIA
3. allow break outs and
4. cause more manuever battles.
The charge at Gettysburg day 3 had a brief moment of hand to hand combat but it ended quickly. The Confederates hoped to the last that the Union would break and run. They didn't due to superior fire power and thus held the field.
A melee resolution of Pickett's charge would be bloody and very unlikely. The rebs retreated from the top of the hill, while the boys in Blue were too fatigued to follow. In HPS, we would slug it out to very near the end. In a battle game, you don't care how many of your troops are left so you keep on fighting to win points.
I am currently in a seige warfare fight in the Atlanta Campaign and I am faced with a time frame and a limit on how to move. I can't go on and ignore the bunkers and breast works I face at a battle like Resaca. I can pound my troops at his breatworks, and keep on pounding regardless of slaughter, because I have to break his lines to take the victory point spots. His troops have to stay as well and defend for the same reason, to protect spots on the map. That is why we have unheard of causilities. IF my troops refuse to attack, or his refuse to stand, it makes for a more interesting tactical game.
Is it possible to write the code like that? I bet it would be very tough.
http://www.resacabattlefield.org/Here is one quote from the webpage "Johnston seemed to already anticipate Sherman's next move, to possibly flank him out of his army's strong position at Resaca, just as he had at Dalton. But when Walker arrived, there was no sign of Northern troops"
It was a 3 day battle. I have 45 turns to win it. I don't have room on the game map to move around him.
The battle ended this way, with both armies facing each other but not able to budge the enemy. Then "With his position flanked . . . , Johnston had little choice but to pull out of Resaca. He did so skillfully, leaving absolutely nothing of value for the Union troops behind but for his lost battery. (Scaife, p. 37) About 3:30 a.m. on May 16, the Confederates set fire to the bridge, thus destroying what Union artillery could not from a distance throughout the course of May 15. ........The fury of the Confederate resistance at Resaca made a profound impression upon Sherman's mind throughout the rest of the campaign. It would be five long weeks before the Union commander would try another major assault upon any entrenched Southern positions. The nature of the War Between the States had changed forever. It was now a matter of trench warfare that the rest of the world would not come to understand until some 50 years later in Europe."
Maybe I am just lousy at trench warfare?
MG Elkin
3rd Div (2nd Cav) XVIth Corps AotT
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