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#6
In the following series of posts I will introduce the basics of combat mechanics for all arms, i.e., infantry, cavalry and artillery. Then I will delve a bit deeper into individual arms in later posts.
*The four vital variables for a unit are morale, stress, fatigue and cohesion.
*If the unit stress exceeds the unit morale at any instant, the unit simply routs.
*Simply put, stress is accumulated by what the enemy is doing to us and morale is increased by what we are doing to support our own unit.
*Units start out with zero stress. Although this could vary in special circumstances. If the unit had lost its leader or a flag or standard in the previous day's battle, it would start out with a non-zero starting stress.
*Units start out with a good bit of starting morale. Naturally, the elite units have the highest starting morale. Veteran units have lower starting morale. Trained units will have lesser starting morale and militia have the lowest starting morale of the four.
*Morale for an unit could be enhanced by several factors : proximity of a high ranking leader, artillery support, good cover for the flanks.
*There is one another way of increasing the morale to fever pitch. That is letting one of the legendary leaders lead from the front. The three legendary leaders are Napoleon, Wellington and Blucher. If they are leading from the front, there is a small but non-zero chance that they could be killed by the enemy. If that happens the battle instantly stops and the whole army routs. That's the chance you take while leading with the legendary leaders.
But Napoleon, Wellington and Blucher all seemed to live a charmed life on the battlefield and as someone said "the hand of Providence was upon them" even when shot and shell were flying thick. Thus the game reflects this.
*Now, coming to the unit stress, this is classified into two categories :
Type A : Proximity stress
Type B : Stress due to casualty pulses.
A) First the proximity stress: The very act of closing with the enemy induces a stress in our unit. This proximity stress gets higher as the range to the enemy keeps shrinking. This models the innate fear factor and reluctance of humans to get in harm's way. Of course elite units will experience lesser proximity stress for a given range compared to say a militia unit, but the proximity stress is there nonetheless.
B) When a unit incurs casualties either due to enemy musketry or cannon fire or melee with an enemy, this casualty impulses within a given quantum of time result in stress impulses that add to the base proximity stress.
Thus total stress = proximity stress + sum( stress spikes due to casualty impulses).