France 14

[Volcano Man]

BTW Ed, did you approach the issue with the PzC engine of a player stacking units from different formations in the same hex to bring massive artillery support to bear in a small area? Since artillery in WW1 was so decisive in breaking up attacks, should the seams where two formations meet be the strongest in artillery support? I know this is a tough one to solve in a game simulation. Just wondering where your thoughts went on this.

Hmm, well, in FWWC the boundaries between two units can indeed be weak, because brigade HQ ranges are pretty small, and if a unit is outside of their parent HQ radius then they suffer a drop in quality. This influences units to be closer together and discourages mixing, unless two brigades are right on top of each other in which case they themselves become prime artillery targets. Not to mention, two close brigades mixed together make for a unit that is easier to swing around its flanks.

The alternative on their part is to spread out and mix, which results in a lot of detached units from the Bde HQ, and of course a lot of low quality units holding the line. Other than that though, not much was specifically done to address that, although the way the brigade HQs in the game are devised kind of discourages most of the worst mixing of units that we are familiar with.