(05-23-2010, 02:06 PM)Bacillus98 Wrote: 4.) This one has been explained to me before, but I am still irked by the way a unit can be surrounded via ZOC's with small units, such as a few tanks. It would be great to have a way for small amounts of units to be able to "squeeze" out of encirclements to come back as reinforcements to other units. I just don't see how 5 tanks can exert a ZOC effective 3 km and not have some units escape. I understand the ZOC is an abstraction, but perhaps a limit can be used to see if a unit is truly surrounded, say X amount of men or X amount of vehicles. Often I have tried a counterattack while being surrounded only to fail because my battalion of 400+ plus men can't get past 3 recon vehicles. Perhaps there is something I am missing here in a military sense why the game doesn't allow it, so I could be wrong in my above assessment of the situation.
There are three different ways to set up ZOC. Tow are done through the pdt table. Look at the desert game titles for fluid ZOC that can be moved through at higher MP expense. The third way is by using the locking ZOC OR. But most people do not use that for PBEM.
As to the comment about a 400 man battalion not being able to assault a few A/C, I suppose that is why a reserve is needed. A few artillery bursts or an air strike in some game titles will disrupt or even clear those A/C off the board. An assault from the outside will spring you low morale (isolated, disrupted, low ammo) 400 man battalion. If the encircled battalion is not disrupted, it can help by joining the assault. In the early part of the war, or in the VM _alt scenarios, infantry have very little capability to deal with armor, so a few tanks or A/C could be a huge threat. A disrupted unit of any size would just sit tight and type for a rescue.
An extreme example would be the 1s British AB division at Arnhem. Weak SS infantry companies backed up by a small number of 20mm flak guns prevented an attack by an entire regiment of elite AB from breaking through to their comrades isolated at the Arnhem bridge.
In game terms this might look like a weak encirclement. Historically it did the job.
Another example would be in Korsun where the Germans evacuated the pocket. Axis units had to pass by a hill occupied by Russian tanks. The Axis units escaped. They were so shot up though as to be "eliminated" in game terms. They just were not effective for combat again. Many were disbanded and reorganized after the battle as the cadres were too small to be rebuilt.
When thinking about porous ZOC, one must consider the limits of
game terms. Would the unit escaping encirclement be of any use for the remainder of the game. Elimination of a unit looks like a massacre to the last man, but in reality small groups do and can escape. But they can not form a unit that would have any value in game terms for the duration of the game.
Dog Soldier
Fast is fine, but accuracy is everything.
- Wyatt Earp
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What would you ask JT to change if you are at TC3?
What would you ask JT to change if you are at TC3? 
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