April DevBlog - Campaign Units

Mon Général!

The campaign layer features are taking form with the unit system being added along with orders, delays and interaction. In this blog, we’ll describe some of the unit system related changes vs. GT1.

Campaign Units & Management

In a campaign, the most important playable elements are the units on the map. As is the case in GT1 (The Civil War), the units and commanders can be managed by the player. While most of the main mechanics are similar as before, there are quite a few changes introduced in the Napoleonic Wars.

In GT1 the units on the campaign map are hierarchy based. In the main campaign, armies and corps are movable elements, while garrisons are fixed as divisions. Garrisons can only be placed in fortresses (and forts always have a garrison.) Even if Whiskey & Lemons introduced a system where units could be garrisoned, behind the scenes this is handled with the same fort logic, only the fort is instantly “built” and has much less defensive power than proper fortifications. This system is rigid in nature: in case you have an army with three corps, then you will have four units on the map to manage and move.

In the Napoleonic Wars, we’ve made this a bit more dynamic. Instead of automatically placing hierarchies on the map, units are now built into what we call “containers” (as a technical term.) What such a container contains is not strictly limited. So, a movable element on the campaign map (“container”) can be anything from a single unit to a full army, or something in between. In the 1:1 scale Italian campaign the armies are built from battalions/squadrons/batteries, brigades and divisions. Want to move the army commander and two divisions as one element, while the third division operates independently and a few battalions are placed as garrisons? Now it’s possible.

Another change is with the commanders. With the battalion scale, you’ll have your core team of officers for the higher hierarchies (brigades, divisions, armies) and a limited reserve of available officers to replace them if needed. The pool of replacements will only slowly replenish, which means you will have to make do with the officers you have appointed at the start of the campaign, cherry picking from the nation’s whole pool of officers is not possible (in Italy.) But more about commanders later…

Campaign Unit Main Mechanics

Civil War veterans will find the campaign units familiar: there’s the commander with his attributes, unit experience, strength, attrition, morale, training, readiness and condition, in addition to upkeep costs and supplies. The quite abstract “intelligence gathering” from GT1 has been beefed up for an easier to understand reconnaissance system for units, while intel is also provided from other sources.

The number of men is not just one figure. First there’s the full strength, ie. how many men there should be in a unit. For example a battalion could have a full strength of 1000 men. But then there’s the book strength, ie. how many of those 1000 positions are actually manned. This contains also the combat-ineffective men: the wounded, the sick and the ones that are missing. So, while the before mentioned battalion may have a book strength of 700 men, number of effectives, ie. the men actually fighting, is usually much less. During the Italian campaign, among the French and Austrian units, 500 effectives was a common figure, a mere 50% of the full strength. On a good day. On bad days, even without combat, this can drop further, for example due to a spreading disease.

Experience fortifies morale and makes the units more effective in combat. Training increases the skill of the soldiers, but also their fitness and discipline. Condition affects everything, as men in rags and no food will have disciplinary and morale issues and are at risk of failing health. Paid wages allow the men to purchase required equipment that the state does not provide. Issues with payments were very common during this era, so the men probably won’t go on a strike over a few months’ missed payments, but as arrears accumulate, morale and discipline will falter, which may lead into troubles with the local population and desertion.

Readiness was retrofitted to GT1 as a separate mechanism, with its unique drivers. In GT2 readiness is better embedded in the unit mechanics, and is not as limiting to operations as before, which could be infuriating at times. So, instead of “hard limits” on what you can order your units to do, readiness has a big impact on order delays and ability to react to threats in a timely fashion. As a result, units with low readiness will be less effective, but not unable to perform given tasks. Rather, some order types can be unavailable due to insufficient morale or training.

Reconnaissance & Skirmishing

Reconnaissance is mostly conducted by light cavalry and light troops in general. Recce screens and patrols are automatically dispatched. When your units are ordered to conduct a forced march at the best possible speed, recon units have little time to scout ahead, and will do so mainly along main routes. With orders for a more battle ready tactical movement or screening, reconnaissance is more methodical, covering a wider area and a longer distance.

Specifying engagement orders to your units allows you to have them avoid combat, actively skirmish with the enemies, attempt to commit to a field battle, or to pursue an enemy unit. Fighting is initiated when the recon screens make contact. The initial small unit skirmishes may grow in intensity as more units are committed. A strong reconnaissance screen is able to push the enemy scouts back and to prevent them from gaining eyes on the main body, severely reducing intel the enemy is able to gather.

While there is skirmishing in GT1 on the campaign map, this time around there will be less of a shroud of mystery around what is going on and why. When a skirmish is initiated, details of this action are shown on the map as part of an overhauled information/tooltip system.

Steam post image IMAGE

A pre-alpha screenshot shows some test units engaging in minor skirmishing near Voltri.

Everything shown is subject to change

the map and city element graphics are all placeholders, UI is work in progress.

The development continues on track with the main focus being building the campaign layer features, while artists are working on audio and visual elements focusing on improving the battle layer before moving on to campaign.

En avant vers la victoire!

Grand Engineer Corps