Question to Glenn S regarding AT units

[Volcano Man]

Actually, it is baffling why the ALT fire resolution rule is not the standard way that PzC controls soft target combat resolution, IMO the reason it is not used is simply because it is not a default setting in these games. This in turn comes from the fact that the rule was added later on in the series and under the "Optional Rules" menu, which comes with some sort of stigma. It does make sense to use Alt fire resolution rule in PzC as standard but I think it is because it was added later in the series it has restricted its acceptance.

The other answer to your question on who it benefits, well, the answer is it benefits both sides, and neither. What I mean is, it is something that hurts both sides so that you shy away from creating "large stacks" of soft targets. So, on the defense, as we know the tendency in PzC is to create the mondo-mega stack of units (especially the practice of splitting down into companies) because you want to force the attacker to have to disrupt all the units in the target hex. IMO, this is unrealistic when done like this, but this is common practice and we all do it if the occasion calls for it. The ALT fire resolution rule makes this a minimal factor because all those split off companies would be getting residual effects, so it hurts the defender. On the other hand, the attacker is discourage from creating those huge assault stacks for the same reason so here, it hurts the attacker. The point is, there really isn't a clear cut benefactor when the rule is used, it just changes the way the game plays out. But if you want to look at it in great detail then you could probably give a slight nod to the attacker as the benefactor because it does negate the effect of the defender from creating the mass stacks to hold objectives.