HistWar : The Wargame

The game difficulty is determined by many options:

 

• Fog of war : There are multiple levels of fog of war that can be applied to enemy as well as friendly units. In the most advanced setting, the commander in chief will only learn the position of enemy troops after a certain delay. This delay represents the time needed for a messenger dispatched from the scouting unit to reach him. This unknown adds to the uncertainty to what Von Clausewitz, military theorist, referred to as “friction”.

 

• Order delay : Although it is possible to play without delayed orders, adding delays is more realistic. The order is not executed when it is thought of but when it reaches all its target units. This can take some time, even a long time…the delay is affected by the value of the commanders, the number of units in a Corps, division or brigade, and language barriers. In the advanced mode this could take more than an hour; you will have to anticipate enemy movements or let your Marshals react.

 

• Interception of messengers : What an opportunity it is to intercept enemy dispatches. Take full advantage of that and exploit the weakness revealed by the enemy plan.

 

• Loss of corps commanders : This option allows the loss of corps commanders. This will greatly affect your army.

 

• Ammunition : unlimited or historical. This will change how you manage your units. If artillery runs out of ammo, it will leave the field.

 

There are multiple levels of AI that simulate the chain of command:

 

• Army: In Solo, this AI formulates an initial tactical plan at the beginning of each battle. As the battle unravels, it will adapt to take advantage of any weakness your army might have. Although the AI does take initiatives, it might decide to avoid a battle if its enemy is camping on good defensive ground.

 

• Corps: This AI takes orders from the player or the Army AI. These orders are on a tactical level: To deploy or engage in diversionary actions along a defined line, defend a sector, support another corps to synchronize their progression, or to march to concentrate troops easier in a defined sector. Each order can have many parameters such as time of execution, formation, organization, and reserve ratio. Thus one can try to best simulate the engagements of the era.

 

• Division or Brigade: This AI facilitates more complex movements. A good commander would use it sparingly.

 

The Corps, Division and Brigade AIs ensure a good cohesion and a synchronized movement to the front. They will also help determine the units that are in difficulty and replace them as best as possible with fresher units as to try and maintain the moral and cohesion of the whole.

 

• Regiment: This AI will try to carry out the orders received. The unit moral will be crucial in determining the outcome. Each regiment has its own characteristics (valor, initiative, retreat and rout thresholds among others) and its own attributes (moral, fatigue, cohesion…) that regulate its behavior. Thus, a unit can sometimes rout with little casualties if it sees a friendly guard unit retreat or rout. This AI is quite complex; for example, an infantry unit will form a square when threatened by an enemy cavalry. The latter will ask for artillery support to blow wholes in the square before charging it…

 

While the default behavior is for these AIs to be active, they can be all disabled to the point where a unit will look out for itself but wont take any initiative. In this setting it will be up to the player to micro manage these tasks.

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