Questions about terrain...

[Greybeard]

Hello GunSlinger,

Crossing a stream takes patience and the ability to accept stuck equipment..

IIRC the game engine looks at several factors..

1) The Terrain on either side of the crossing point
2) The weight of the vehicle
3) Is the vehicle tracked?
4) speed of vehicle
5) crew expereince
6) depth of crossing point

Effects of above:

1) worst place to cross is mud/swamp on any side of stream. best is clear terrain
2) Tanks are far more likely to get stuck than HT's so don't assume that because a HT makes it, that a Heavy tank will.. A tank with a movment showing something like 13/2 (the /2 is the key) indicates that the vehicle is equipped with fording gear.. which lessens the chance it will get stuck..
3) tracks allow better footing, so are less likely to stick than wheeled vehicles.. trucks of all types are especially prone to getting stuck in a stream
4) You want to pull up next to a stream and stop, next turn, move into the stream, following turn you move out of the stream.. trying to blast across in a burst of speed is a big -no-no
5) Expereinced crew seems to help (70+ expereince). They seem to be able to better fiind the best crossing point (remember the hex is 150 feet across)
6) Deep water (-3) is always to be avoided except by amphibs. -2 can be crossed at about the same risk as crossing mud - if you follow #4.
-1 is a ford which is a shallow area with a fairly stable bottom.. but still best to cross per #4 above as you can do so safely about 90% of the time no matter how large a vehicle.. 'ford' hexes are also coded to be less likely to cause a vehicle to bog down..

Using a stream as a flank defense is OK - but you need AT guns and MG's to cover possible crossing points (see #1).. and a few troops to back up the guns.. have some transports available incase the opposition doesn't show up, then you can move the troops elsewhere.

Greybeard