Bridge attack

[Ricky B]

[FLG]

People have made some good points here, which we would need to account for if we are ever to have a chance of an implementable bridge attack command. To summarise

1. The destruction of bridges was primarily a theater/strategic level decision

2. The introduction could lead to gamey play

3. Games are currently balanced and introducing this as a back fix could mess some of them up

4. In WWII it was a difficult mission and still an uncertain mission in 1985

5. It could require a significant amount of reprogramming, which means time and money and hence unlikely to happen.

Firstly to avoid excessive use of such a rule I would suggest only specifically designated air units being able to make such attacks. The heavier type bombers in WWII and forces with appropriately guided weapons in the modern campaigns.

Secondly, the problem with difficulty could readily be addressed by applying a suitable value for the percentage success of such a mission. We could also have a significant negative modifier if AA forces are in the vicinity of the target, to give the defenders some chance.

These two factors should help to significantly offset potential gamey play.

Another potential way to address this and point 1, the strategic element to such a decision, is to limit possible number of attacks. Maybe no attacks for smaller scenarios and just 2 or 3 for the really huge scenarios.

Now the nutty issue of implmentation. Whatever we choose must be simple as possible to avoid costly programming issues.

Here is my suggestion:

1. First to avoid problems with spotting of an area unseen during the attack, any such attack must be preceded by a recon mission.

2. Once one of the two hexes, connected by the bridge, are spotted by the recon mission an appropriately equipped air unit is used to target either one of the two hexes containing the bridge

3. At this point the bridge selection screen, used for the engineer's damage bridge command is then called up and the player selects the appropriate bridge to attack. I would also suggest the air unit can not be disrupted.

4. The attack proceeds, the percentage chance for bridge attack, defense factors, etc calculated. Including possible interception of the mission.

I would hope we could build up a working idea from these simple ideas.

[Ricky B]

Good summary and potential ideas, although there would still be AI play of it - probably not important if the liklihood of success is low, and I do think you need some repair prospects, as many rear area repair units, as opposed to operational bridging engineers, are not in the game - they would normally be tasked with fixing many smaller bridges quickly.

Rick

[HMCS Rosthern]

"The final blow in the preparatory campaign against enemy communications was the attack on bridges over the Seine, the Oise and the Meuse. The technique for these attacks was worked out by the Ninth U.S. Air Force, which used fighters as dive-bombers with spectacular success. By June 5th, of the 24 road and rail bridges over the Seine between Paris and the sea, 18 had been destroyed, three were closed for repair, and the remaining three were under such threat of air attack that they could not be used for any large-scale movement in daylight." - Wilmot, Chester, "The Struggle for Europe", Collins St James's Place, London, Second Impression, February 1952, pg. 212.

I am not suggesting that this is justification for a rule to allow air attacks on bridges, because this was a special effort in preparation for D-day. I do not think there is a PZC game that would have a scenario where this capability would be present. But it does show that there was a capability and that it did happen in these special circumstances.

By the way, I would recommend this book for all PZC fans out there, especially the western front grognards. This old edition was beautiful colour maps, for the time. While not having in-depth coverage of all the battles, it reasonably covers Normandy, Market Garden, Bulge. If you see it, get it. I got mine at a used book store.

[Sgt Fury]

This sounds very much like strategic air operations, regardless of the type of aircraft involved. I'm thinking this operation was planned for months, with good air recon, as opposed to "hey go blow up this bridge right now". My 2 cents.

Fury

[Arimus]

Assuming the game programmers have a limited amount of time to implement game changes, I would hate to see them spend it implementing air attack on bridges instead of something like event-driven objective changes for the AI or individual unit destination objectives.