Operation Herkules_Alt scenario - Please remove from game database

[Ricky B]

...
The bunker changes the defenders/occupants to a hard target. Since they are a hard target, assaults work a bit differently, and the early war units have a range 0 hard attack value.  Range 0 values are special in that they only come into play in assaults, in which case they are used when assaulting hard targets.  Without that rule, it would be very difficult to assault bunkers (and you are likely always overrun by tanks with few losses inflicted).

A person with an eye for detail would say that the attackers here have lower values in the Alt scenarios than the stock scenarios, but also the defenders have a similar reduction to their values too, so its about even.

…

So I did a couple of things to look at this Ed and all. First the rules, assuming they haven't changed - this is what the manuals say:

First, in all rule selections, this applies:
Certain units have a Hard Attack value with a range of 0. This represents short-range anti-tank weapons that the unit may have. When these units assault attack against defending units that have at least one Hard Target unit, or when these units defend against an assault where at least one of the attacking units is a Hard Target unit, then this range 0 Hard Attack value is added to the assault value of the unit.

Then for Alt Assault:
Alternative Assault Resolution – when this rule is selected, the effective Assault value of a unit is calculated as a weighted average of its default Assault value and its Hard Attack value based on the proportion of the other side’s strength that is hard. For example, if all the other side’s strength is made up of Hard Targets, then the effective Assault value of the unit is the same as its Hard Attack value. If none of the other side’s strength is made up of Hard Targets, then the effective Assault value is the same as its default Assault value.

Summary of these rules - with alt assault off, the bunkers will be attacked by the assault plus HA factors combined. With alt assault on, the attack will be by JUST the HA factor. In a test I set up, I could validate that based on both the factors applied, and the results - alt assault off resulted in defender casualties of about double to triple those with the rule on, where the attackers had Assault=14, HA=4/0. I couldn't tell for sure, but I believe the defender still used its Assault value as the attacking units were all infantry.

So in the situation here, the attacker's job will be significantly tougher with Alt Assault than off, I can see that.

Ed, from long time ago discussions, I would swear you wanted Alt Assault to prevent early war infantry from assaulting enemy tanks, which have weak defense factors, and slaughtering them unrealistically using the combined factors as above - but that makes bunkers much tougher.

Mike, we won't remove the scenarios from the DB - as long as they are in the game, people will possibly play them. At least having them in the DB with comments mean people may see the comments ahead of time, without them they won't have a clue.

Rick