Retreat in PzC Smolensk '41

[Kamerad]

Hello,
I'm currently playing a PzC campaign Smolensk '41 as soviet commander. I've noticed strange behaviour of my troops, when they are under attack and have to retreat. Very often they choose the worst hex to retreat:



Are there any rules of choosing the hex to retreat? Or is it pure random?

[Ricky B]

I don't know if it is purely random, but I do believe it is. A number of people dislike the results, but to me it is fairly realistic in that you as a tactical unit get attacked and fall back, depending on the situation it could be to a point that traps you rather than freedom. Of course normally, the unit would be broken up here with some men getting away and others trapped, but since the game can't replicate that it is all one way or the other.

Rick

[Gordons HQ]

Hello,
I'm currently playing a PzC campaign Smolensk '41 as soviet commander. I've noticed strange behaviour of my troops, when they are under attack and have to retreat. Very often they choose the worst hex to retreat:



Are there any rules of choosing the hex to retreat? Or is it pure random?

Hello,
If you look in the Users Manual under Assaulting there is an explanation of where a unit can retreat and there are certain rules governing the retreat.
For instance a unit cannot retreat into an enemy ZOC or across a river.
The computer I believe picks the best retreat option if that is not available it picks the next one and so on until it finds somewhere the unit can retreat to.
If they cannot retreat then they suffer an additional penalty in losses.
I think that's about it and I hope that explains the retreats you are seeing in Smolensk 41

Cheers,
Gordon

[Ricky B]

To clarify one of your points Gordon, there is no analysis of what might make up the "best" retreat option - something could be done to make choices about what is possibly best but for a program to decide it isn't going to be the best all the time, as opposed to you the player choosing what is best for that situation. But for now, I am sure that there is no real analysis of valid retreat hexes and the system just chooses randomly.

Rick

[Nitram Draw]

I haven't seen a pattern when there is more than one choice.
Sometimes you can leave a good retreat route open and sometimes you just accept that they are toast!

[Mr Grumpy]

It just so happens that in a F14 game Rick and myself are playing my cavalry retreated into a hex they could not escape from two turns in a row, on both occasions there was a perfectly safe route to take.

So other than not retreating into a hex that would lead to an overstack (when another hex is available) i think the whole thing is random.

[Volcano Man]

Ahh, the dreaded "forward retreat" result, my favorite! (sarcasm) :hissy:

[Mr Grumpy]

Ahh, the dreaded "forward retreat" result, my favorite! (sarcasm) :hissy:

I see the pain from our Battleaxe game is still fresh after two years!! :eek1: :whis:

[Volcano Man]

Yes, and F14 Liege comes to mind. ;)

[Dog Soldier]

Some PC operational war games do make a ZOC check for retreats. If there is a valid retreat hex (not over stacked or terrain the unit should not enter in normal movement), then the hex with the least amount of enemy ZOC is chosen.

The hex being assaulted is evaluated with a value assigned to each hex side. For example, five if the hex on the other side of the hex side is occupied by the enemy at the time of retreat, and only one for an enemy ZOC. The hex where the attack is coming from would be given a ten. Hex sides with friendly units in the adjacent hex would receive an negative three. The hex side with the lowest value would be selected for retreat.

In the image posted in this thread the hex would look like this.


The best retreat route would be to the hex South East of the assaulted hex with a rating of positive three.

This may have flaws as I am thinking off the top off my head here. There could be times when the ratings work out equal for two or more hexes including the "forward retreat" hex. In such a case a random number would be generated to determine the hex retreated into to choose between the tied hex ratings.

Dog Soldier