Quesiton about combat width

[leo1993]

If I have 2 divisions of width 2 and 1 division of width 4 on the enemy side, how are they engaged?
Put another way: 4 units of width 2 and 2 untis of width 4

From what I saw only 2 diviosions usually take damage / are in combat.

Anyone know specifics? I'd image a single 4 width unit has to fight 4 1 width units, but that might no be the case.

 

[Friedericus Rex]

Frontage is determined by the attacking side and will be filled to the first division exceeding the limit. So an attack from one province will have 10 frontage and will allow six binary divisions (combat width 2) to engage, 5x2 combat width wit the sixth division being the first one to exceed the limit.

 

[leo1993]

Frontage is determined by the attacking side and will be filled to the first division exceeding the limit. So an attack from one province will have 10 frontage and will allow six binary divisions (combat width 2) to engage, 5x2 combat width wit the sixth division being the first one to exceed the limit.

I already know this.

Let me put it another way:

A 4-width unit engages a province with 4 1-width units.

Does the 4 width unit deal damage to all 4 of the 1-widths, or does it focus fire on the first. Is the damage reduced for the 4 width having to fight 4 units simontaneously? Does it deal the same amoutn of damage to each one? Or does it simply fight the top of the stack one first?

I've noticed that only ONE to three unit usually take damage. As such it is very hard to complete a human wave attack.

 

[Friedericus Rex]

I already know this.

Let me put it another way:

A 4-width unit engages a province with 4 1-width units.

Does the 4 width unit deal damage to all 4 of the 1-widths, or does it focus fire on the first. Is the damage reduced for the 4 width having to fight 4 units simontaneously? Does it deal the same amoutn of damage to each one? Or does it simply fight the top of the stack one first?

I've noticed that only ONE to three unit usually take damage. As such it is very hard to complete a human wave attack.

You noticed correctly, all divisions in combat will target a random enemy division. Not sure if the target stays the same until it retreats, or a new target is picked every "round", but I think it's the latter. Divisions don't suffer a penalty to damage from fighting multiple units as they technically only fight fight one at a time, but will of course take more damage if being outnumbered.

 

[Caesarianus]

If I have 2 divisions of width 2 and 1 division of width 4 on the enemy side, how are they engaged?
Put another way: 4 units of width 2 and 2 untis of width 4

From what I saw only 2 diviosions usually take damage / are in combat.

Anyone know specifics? I'd image a single 4 width unit has to fight 4 1 width units, but that might no be the case.

they shoot imo at random targets in the frontrank - frontrank is like the other guy said used. the width available is basically 10 adding 5 for each additional province the attack comes from and sometimes modified by combat events.

 

[Kovax]

I've noticed that damage seems to "congregate" on one or two units in a stack over the course of a battle, but that might be because of reduced ability to defend, or other factors. Frequently, one unit drops to 0 Org, while the others are only down to half or so. There's some apparent tendency to attack the same target (not sure why), but each "round" seems to have at least a chance to attack a different target instead, so the "weak" unit's ORG and STR may drop for a while, then damage shifts to another target for a round or two, and then shifts back.

 

[themousemaster]

I've noticed that damage seems to "congregate" on one or two units in a stack over the course of a battle, but that might be because of reduced ability to defend, or other factors. Frequently, one unit drops to 0 Org, while the others are only down to half or so. There's some apparent tendency to attack the same target (not sure why), but each "round" seems to have at least a chance to attack a different target instead, so the "weak" unit's ORG and STR may drop for a while, then damage shifts to another target for a round or two, and then shifts back.

Indeed, one division gets the "lions share" of the shooting in any given fight.

I believe that is to represent that, in actual combat, the divisional leaders are trying to concentrate fire on specific targets.

Occasionally, the "main target" will change mid-fight, but the chance is low. 99.9% of the time, whoever takes the first bullet, will take 75% of the bullets, until they retreat or win.

Which doesn't mean that one unit will ALWAYS go down fast; although one unit is taking the brunt of the damage, it's still all units' stats that are getting throw into the calculation before the damage is applied, so more divisions will still reduce the damage to the main target, just not by "taking the bullets" for them.




It is a mechanic that can be somewhat abused if you want (if you have a real good combat reinforce chance, you can send in a super-resilient unit to fight first, then have other supporting units join in the hour after).

But it does make some logical sense that enemy commanders will want to knock out any given asset as fast as possible rather than dividing all their fire.