Manual clarification - HPS/JTS Civil War series - Printable Version +- Forums (https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards) +-- Forum: The Firing Line (https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: Black Powder & Cold Steel (https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards/forumdisplay.php?fid=163) +---- Forum: The American Civil War (https://www.theblitz.club/message_boards/forumdisplay.php?fid=164) +---- Thread: Manual clarification - HPS/JTS Civil War series (/showthread.php?tid=66407)

Manual clarification - HPS/JTS Civil War series - BigDuke66 - 05-01-2014 So now I have finished also the Civil War manual, I'm glad that the engine seem to be a bit easier and I found less problematic passages but still some things are not clear to me, hopefully someone can step in and help. 1. Page 26 of the Campaign Overland manual "Each defending Artillery gun counts as one third Stacking Point (this depends on Parameter Data but would normally work out to 8 men per gun)." Is it Stacking Point or Strength Point? Stacking Point would be 50 per gun but Strength Point depends on value in PDT, that is usually 25 in Overland so 1/3 of it would be 8, so seem Strength Point is meant and not Stacking point. Can someone confirm this? Answer found by testing in the Getting Started scenario of Campaign Ozark: Stacking is incorrect as that would be 50 men per gun, Strength Point depends on the value set in the PDT, that is in this case 25 men so 1/3 of it would be 8. A Test in Campaign Ozark shows that each gun is counted as 8 men for melee so Stacking is wrong and Strength correct. 2. Page 33 of the Campaign Overland manual "When a unit suffers casualties due to combat, it will take a Morale Check to see if it Routs or becomes Disrupted at the end of the Phase." 1st question: Will it maybe or definitely take a moral check? Page 40 indicates maybe, based on the calculation: loss / (loss + 25) 2nd question: What if playing without phases, when is the Moral Check done, instantly? 3rd question: How often can a Moral Check be triggered in a turn/phase? For more detail read post #3, still I don't consider the question fully answered and solved so I won't add it here but leave it in post #3 for now. 3. Page 33 of the Campaign Overland manual "The resulting Morale value is compared with a random Die Roll from 1 to 6, and if the Die Roll exceeds the Morale value, then the unit fails the Morale Check. A unit that fails the Morale Check during a Defensive Fire Phase becomes Disrupted, while a unit that fails the Morale Check during any other Phase becomes Routed." 1st question: What happens if it passes the Moral Check during any other Phase, a fail leads to a rout but does a pass lead to disrupted or simply no effect at all? 2nd question: Does an already Disrupted unit that fails the Moral Check during Defensive Fire Phase stay Disrupted or will it now Rout? 3rd question: What if no phased gameplay is done, when does a unit disrupt and when does it rout? For more detail read post #5, still I don't consider the question fully answered and solved so I won't add it here but leave it in post #5 for now. 4. Page 35/36 of the Campaign Overland manual If a unit has Medium Fatigue, then • 1 is subtracted from its Morale value during Morale Checks. • 10% is subtracted from the melee strength when the unit participates in a Melee attack. • 10% is subtracted from its fire value when the unit fires. If a unit has High Fatigue, then • 2 is subtracted from its Morale value during Morale Checks. • 20% is subtracted from the melee strength when the unit participates in a Melee attack. • 20% is subtracted from its fire value when the unit fires. If a unit has Maximum Fatigue, then • 40% is subtracted from the melee strength when the unit participates in a melee attack. • 40% is subtracted from its fire value when the unit fires. Artillery Rule The Fatigue affects described above are doubled for Artillery Units. See the section on Design Notes for an explanation of this rule." Does it mean that the effect on Melee, Fire and Moral are all doubled? So an artillery unit with max fatigue would have -80% Melee Strength, -80% Fire Value and -4 on Moral? 5. Page 36 of the Campaign Overland manual "Recovering Fatigue A unit may be eligible to recover Fatigue at the beginning of a player’s Movement Phase provided it has not Moved, Fired, participated in Melee, or been Fired upon with any effect from the time of the player’s previous Movement Phase. For each such unit a random value from 0 to twice the applicable recovery rate, determined by Parameter Data associated with the current battle, is subtracted from the unit’s Fatigue value. See the Parameter Data Dialog in the Main Program Help File for the recovery rate values." In the PDT is just a percentage listed, how is that calculated? So that is it, at least I hope(again) so. Sorry for so much stuff to read but I wasn't sure if all the manuals from all the games of the series are really identical and so I copied the passages from the Overland manual to be sure everyone knows what I'm talking about. Thanks for anyone who takes time to works through this. PS Stumbled over another thing not mentioned in any way in the manual. Elevation movement cost seem to be twice as high when going from lower to higher ground. Just tried it on the Antietam Getting Started scenario and when going with an infantry reg. in line formation from a clear hex down to a clear hex the costs are 3 points(2 clear hex + 1 elevation) but when reversing this movement it costs 4 points(2 clear hex + 2 elevation). Elevation costs are 1 so it seems doubled for going from low to high ground. Can someone confirm this or do I miss a different modifier? RE: Manual clarification - HPS/JTS Civil War series - BigDuke66 - 06-05-2014 Added another question at the first posts bottom as PS. RE: Manual clarification - HPS/JTS Civil War series - BigDuke66 - 07-22-2014 Ok from a different source a got a bit more clue of the things and questions listed under 2. in the first post. First a bit more clarification to that sentence, the "or" is lacking a precise explanation as units that have casualties due to defensive fire can only be Disrupted but units that have casualties due to offensive fire or melee can only be Routed by it. So the sentence is a bit strange as it forgets to distinguish that the result(Disrupted or Routed) is depending on the source of the casualties(Defensive Fire or Offensive Fire). That is also explained a bit further down but still this sentence is more confusing than explaining. To the questions I listed. 1. It looks like it will MAYBE conduct a moral test, if this happens is based on the test based on this formula "loss / (loss + 25)". 2. It seems clear from gameplay that in turn gameplay the tests for defensive fire are conducted instantly each time a unit takes casualties from defensive fire, while in phased gameplay the test seems to be made at the end of the Defensive Fire Phase. 3. Here the difference could be that in turn gameplay that each time casualties from Defensive Fire occurit can lead to test and if failed also to a Moral Check while in phased gameplay the casualties from Defensive Fire are summed up and only a single test is made to see if a Moral Check has to be done or not and if so also only a single Moral Check is done. How this works with Offensive Fire is unclear, either there is a test made for each time casualties were taken from offensive fire or casualties are summed up and a single test and if fail a single Moral Check is done is unknown. From a statistical perspective it would be interesting how turn vs phased gameplay differ here, are the multiple test with lower casualties in turn gameplay or the single test/Checks with higher casualties in phased gameplay in any advantage? RE: Manual clarification - HPS/JTS Civil War series - BigDuke66 - 07-22-2014 PS By testing 1. in the first post was answered. See there for more details. RE: Manual clarification - HPS/JTS Civil War series - BigDuke66 - 07-24-2014 Ok again from a different source a got a bit more clue of the things and questions listed under 3. in the first post. Defensive Fire can only cause a Disrupt result whether Turn or Phased play. Offensive Fire and Melee can only cause a route result whether Turn or Phased play. One exceptions might be a routed unit retreating through a unit Disrupts that unit but there is really no morale check on this one has it happens automatically. To the questions I listed in the first post. 1. So failing the Moral Check in any other phase simply leads to a Rout. 2. This is still not clear but likely it is like said in the manual, during Defensive Fire a unit can only be Disrupted. 3. As said, Disrupted in Defensive Fire Phase or by Defensive Fire in turn play, Routed in other phases or by Offensive Fire or Melee.