What Huib (and others maybe) don't like about PzC

[JonS1]

Seems you missed my point completely JonS1

Possibly. That'd be because of your list. All the factors you listed are already in the game, and are already under the control of the opposing players. Why would you duplicate their effects by making them a factor of a 'minefield-clearance-algorithm'?

Your discussion should not start from the premise that others are "stupid".

I agree. That shouldn't be necessary. Experience is, however, a remorseless teacher.

Finally, there are far better tactics to stop engineers from clearing a minefield than direct fire on the engineers.

In-game, or IRL? AFAIK, in the game currently, the only ways to prevent an opposing sapper from clearing mines are
a) preventing them from entering the mined hex
b) disrupting them once they're in it.

I suppose one might add
c) assaulting the mined hex with the opposing engineers in it.

But that's it. Currently, any volume of fire resulting in any number of cas and fatigue will have zero (0) effect on clearance unless you disrupt the sappers. Or you assault them out of the hex.

Once again JonS1 you missed my point completely. I will try to elaborate for you so you do not draw the wrong conclusion again.
Any good player with experience does not need FOW turned off to estimate with reasonable accuracy the strength and condition of the enemy units which are in LOS.

Yes. Quite. A blinding flash of the obvious there, thank you. However, an 'estimate' with 'reasonable accuracy' is something very different to a "gamey attempt to place enough fire on the engineers to tip the unit's strength to 1-3 men below the 'magic' number to prevent clearance". Unless the 'magic number' was close to 100 or 10. But that would be stupid.

You also nicely elided the comment about dependent-on-unit-size vs. affected-by-unit-size. Well done. 'Estimating with reasonable accuracy' is critical for gamey tactics if you go the dependant route. If you got the affected route it's a nice to know in terms of overall intelligence, but 1-3 cas more or less is going to have negligible effect on a given clearance attempt. With the affected route, there is no 'magic number', other than zero (0).

I would tend to believe that engineers sent to clear minefields prior to a main assault were small in size, probably no bigger than company size.

I would tend to believe that you have no idea what the words FOR EXAMPLE mean. Make the 100% figure 200 men, or 179, or 83, or 1852. The specific size doesn't matter. It is simply lining engineering tasks up with the way fires are currently handled - all else being equal, larger units (up to a certain maximum) will be more effective than smaller units.

In the end it just comes down to how much complexity is adding to the game or detracting from it.

True. Let's go back to first principles: is double dipping adding to the game, or detracting from it?