June 1761 – Montcalm moves out !
June 1761 sees some decisive actions. And a nice explanation.
Quebec is now under siege.
My army is less powerful than the garrison, but Loki100 is not moving, probably because a large part of the “power” of the garrison is actually fixed guns.
But the most decisive action is the French attack on my troops at Joliette. Despite an outstanding commander (Montcalm) and superior numbers, they lost decisively :
The French had a superior number and excellent leadership, so why did they lost ? Well, some of the reasons are explained on the picture (I was in defense, with good commanders). But the most decisive reason is frontage.
Amateur’s corner : Frontage
Introduction – Battles
I won’t get into details on how battles are calculated, but let me remind you quickly how it happens :
- First hour : the troops engaged shoot at the longest range possible (here : 3 for some of Loki’s guns – at this distance my troops could not shoot back). After a “round” of firing, everyone advances and fires again (range 2 : my troops were at range), and again (range one), and then assault (which tends to be much more bloody than the fire phases).
- After the assault phase, the second hour starts, and new troops are engaged, at maximum range again (which granted is NOT so logical, but it works quite well nonetheless). There can up to 6 hours per battle. If after the 6 days the battle is not finished… it will start again next day.
- Between each “hour” (or maybe “phase”), the game calculates which units retreat (which is okeish) or flee in panic (which is worse), and also if the general on the whole orders a general retreat.
- There are a few other things that can happen during a phase, like a cavalry charge with special rules, sharpshooting, etc, but let’s not get into that.
The question is – which units engage ? In a small battle, everyone does. But in a larger battle, there is a “limit” on the number of units that can be engaged in each hour. How is it calculated ?
The reference is on this
webpage – it is for AACW but it works exactly the same in WiA. Let me explain it.
CUQ, SUQ and Weight
Each terrain / weather combination has a “Combat Unit Quota” (CUQ) and a “Support Unit Quota” (SUQ – sorry). This is the maximum
weight of units (respectively combat units and support units) able to engage in battle each hour. You can have this number by opening the database
here !.
For instance, extracted from the file, here is the CUQ and the SUQ for the Forest :
The battle occurred in rainy weather (“mud”), so the CUQ was 130 and the SUQ 40.
Similarly, each element has a given weight for each “terrain / weather” combination. From the same file, here are the weight :
As you can see, the weight of regular infantry elements is 9, while the weight of rangers is 6 and the weight of light infantry is 7.
How many engages ?
For each side and for each hour, the game picks combat units randomly until the total weight of the unit picked is equal to the CUQ, and then adds support units until their total weight is the SUQ. So guns don’t lower the number of infantry you can engage, it comes in “bonus”.
In this case, as Loki100 had mostly regular infantry, he could only commit 130/9 =14 elements – thus Loki100 had absolutely no advantage in number in this battle – at least in the first rounds.
Meanwhile, as the English, I had rangers (weight : 6), Light (weight : 7), and 20 elements of heavy (weight : 9). This means that I committed at worse (for me) the same number of elements, maybe more (but light), and those elements had a good chance of being of better quality (heavy). AND I was in defense.
Similarly, even though he had guns, each element of guns (“wheeled”) weights 10, so he could only field 4 of his 8 elements of guns.
Every hour, new units engage battle and replace the one that fought, so having a superior number, even beyond the CUQ, can be useful as it allows you to bring fresh troops to the front.
Who engages ?
So who gets picked ? It is fairly random, but here is an edited copy –paste from the wiki on biaises in the randomness:
- If the unit is already engaged, large increase of the chance to be picked. This only applies after the first hour, of course.
- If not already engaged, the number of hits (i.e., health) an element has (e.g., militia have lower total hits than line infantry so are less likely to be engaged).
- If the element is routed, chance to be picked is reduced. If it is, tough luck.
There is no precedence advantage for different types of elements, and no bonus if you have just one of something (like a sharpshooter), but the element’s special ability will still apply to its unit even if not engaged (first fire for sharpshooter applies even as a special “fire” phase just for them, and then they are not engaged).
If supply wagons are present, the game engine will not assign more than one supply element to combat as long as there are other types of support elements (e.g., artillery) available to fill the Support Units Quota.
How many engages – part II
I lied a little because (still according to the wiki), there are some additional modifiers to how many units engage.
Armies in offensive posture get a -25% to their CUQ in Fort and City (attacking them is tough), and in very difficult terrains (NOT forest, more like swamps, mountains and hills) in rainy or blizzard weather . This did not apply to this battle.
All armies in open terrain (including woods, but NOT forest) get a bonus
- to their CUQ of 25*level of the leader * offensive/defensive (as applicable) rating of the leader,
- to their SUQ of 10*level of the leader * offensive/defensive (as applicable) rating of the leader.
So had Montcalm been in a open terrain, he would have brought his army a whooping CUQ bonus of 25*3(stars)*6(offensive) = 450 in CUQ. Huge. But not applicable here.
Other “terrain” facts that helped me
The terrain / weather combination also gives bonus and malus to attack and defense according to range. Let’s take an example. Loki100’s gun had a range of 4 :
Tough luck, it is hard to see a target from far in a forest, and everyone range had a minus 1 malus, and in any case max range is 3 :
That’s why my infantry with range 3 did only shot at range 2 :
That’s also one firing phase Loki100 did not have with his guns.
Moreover, even at that range, there is a 25% malus to fire :
There is also additional protection in forest for the defender, as you can see, and also a bonus to defense at assault (wrongly called “DefFire”, but it is assault as there is no fire at 0 range). Also note that my highlanders are better shoot than the French regulars, but more so much better in assault combat, so the fact that ranged combat was difficult advantaged them even more.
[Note that there are datas for range 4 and 5 because the developers never bothered to take them out. Those datas are never used – that’s why there are “better” than in range 3.]
So as you can see, good weather and good terrain can be a difference between like and death. On the first glance I should have lost the battle, but when you analyse what happened, it is fairly obvious why I won. Not that I would have forecast it, though.
A little alternative history
Hypothesis : Had the battle occurred in a clear prairie by good weather (CUQ : 180 + Montcalm bonus 450 = 630, weight of infantry : 4), he could have brought 79 elements in battle and all his guns, who would had shot at maximum range, against my 56 elements, most likely forcing me to retreat. But because Loki100 could not engage all his more numerous troops in battle, my “better” troops beat his army.
End of the amateur’s corner – hope it was clear enough
Now, just a few couple more events :
My reinforcements are coming :
Since Montcalm’s army is weakened, I will attack Montréal once the reinforcements are there !
And on the Ontario, much scouting is done :