Josey Wales

The Relationship between Soft Factors, Morale & Fatigue 
 
Preface
Hi all, I'm pretty new to the BFC forums but I've been milling about over at the FGM for a little over a year. I recently created the below post and it received a lot of positive feedback to the point that it has now become one of the sitcky threads over there.
I have been prompted to post the thread here and after a conversation I had in another thread on this forum, I thought that by placing it here, then non-FGM members can have a read through without me having to copy and paste snippets from the original post at the FGM.

Introduction

Whether selecting unit attributes in a quick battle or whether in game wondering if you should use your +1 Leadership squad or +2 Motivation squad to assault a farmhouse. it can be difficult to make an informed decision due to the fact that there is not a lot of information in the manual which explains how the attributes of Experience, Leadership, Motivation and Fitness (hereby collectively known as the 'Soft Factors') affect certain game concepts such as Morale, Suppression, Firepower and Fatigue.

The forums can be slightly misleading as some posts describe exactly how something works whilst others are more how people feel something is working and it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The information below is based on a painstaking process using the editor to separate out the impact of different factors by isolating them and testing them under different conditions. By isolating and testing these factors, the mechanics behind the concepts of Morale, Suppression, Accuracy, C2 and Fatigue start to reveal themselves and after several red herrings, dead ends and lots of repetition the information below has been teased out from the game.
2 videos accompany this post to explain some of the findings, however all of the findings can be backed up by video evidence.

The editor used was the one for Fortress Italy v2.00 Engine 4.0.

SPOILER ALERT - if you prefer the murkiness of not knowing how the Soft Factors affect gameplay then please stop reading.

Having said that the following information does not quantify the game concepts affected by the soft factors but instead generalises as what is likely to happen within a certain concept under certain conditions to units with high and low values for the soft factors.


Morale

Before being able to explain the characteristics of the 'Soft Factors', it is imperative to understand how Morale works in the game.

Morale reflects the psychological state of a unit and determines its ability to respond to orders and fight.

Morale states from highest to lowest are;
 
Ok > Cautious > Nervous > Rattled > (Shaken) > (Panic) > Broken
States shown in brackets () are temporary states.

The states Ok through to Nervous are simple gradations and a Nervous unit will not behave differently from an Ok one.

Rattled troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) will dash for safety, even if they are stationary when they become Pinned (or highly suppressed).

Shaken troops will cower in their current position in the hope that the pressure will ease. They will not respond to orders or fire their weapons.

Note: Shaken troops observed running for cover have been Pinned (or highly suppressed) in the Rattled state prior to becoming Shaken.

Panicked troops will try and run away from the perceived threat to save their own hides. They will not respond to orders or fire their weapons.

Shaken and Panicked states are temporary and will eventually revert back to one of the other persistent states depending on the situation and the Experience, Leadership and Motivation of the unit.

Broken troops will respond to orders but are 'Brittle' and will quickly become Shaken or Panicked if fired upon. Broken troops will remain Brittle for the remainder of the battle irrespective of their Experience, Leadership, Motivation and Fitness.

Morale is affected by 2 conditions of the battlefield and each of these conditions impact on Morale in different ways.
 
1. Combat Stress

Combat Stress has a persistent impact on Morale and is caused by casualty build up.

Casualties sustained reduce the Morale of the unit for the remainder of the game and is therefore known as a persistent effect.

Morale affected in this way cannot be regained (except under one specific condition - see Leadership). The impact of Combat Stress depends on the number of casualties sustained over time and the Experience, Leadership and Motivation of the unit.

Not only does taking casualties effect the Morale of the unit directly impacted, other units organisationally closely connected are also affected in the same way but to a lesser extent. The persistent Morale effect of casualty build up only effects other units via organisational connection regardless of geographical proximity.

Example 1 - 1st and 2nd Sqd of 1st Plt are separated by 500m. As 1st squad sustains casualties and suffers a persistent Morale impact, 2nd Sqd will also suffer a persistent Morale impact even though it is 500m away and has no LOS to 1st Sqd.

Example 2 - 1st Sqd of 1st Plt is within 10m of 3rdSqd of 2nd Plt. 3rd Sqd of 2nd Plt receives incoming fire and half of the unit is wiped out and the Sqd is instantly Shaken. 1st Sqd of 1st Plt receives no impact to their persistent Morale state due to the fact that they are in a different Platoon. 2nd Plt would have to take far more casualties before any of 1st Plt become affected.

The way that Combat Stress is distributed to other units is vertical between different platoons and companies although it is horizontal between units of the same platoon.


2. Combat Shock

Combat Shock has a temporary impact on Morale and is caused by suppression.          Suppression has a temporary impact on Morale and the affect is removed once the suppression is lifted.

         The duration the unit remains suppressed for depends on the amount of incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained, Experience & Leadership of the unit.

         The temporary impact on Morale of being suppressed depends on the amount of incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained and the Experience, Leadership & Motivation of the unit.


Suppression Indicator

The Suppression Indicator is not merely a measure of incoming fire, more accurately it represents the units perception as to how much danger it is in based on the incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained, and the Experience, Leadership & Motivation of the unit.

Inexperienced, poorly led and unmotivated units suffer the greatest Morale impact from being suppressed whilst inexperienced and poorly led units can remain suppressed for sometime after the last shot was fired in their direction.
 
Pinned

If the Suppression Indicator becomes full the unit becomes Pinned. Stationary Pinned (or highly suppressed) troops will return fire but will not respond to movement orders until the suppression has reduced.

Troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) whilst moving to a waypoint will attempt to dash for cover. If no cover is nearby, they will hit the deck.

Rattled troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) will dash for safety, even if they are stationary when they become Pinned.

Experienced and well led troops recover from being Pinned quicker than inexperienced or poorly led troops.
  C2 - Command & Control

C2, or Command and Control, reflects the effect of having a unit being able to receive orders from and deliver information to its HQ team.

Being within a C2 link does not provide resistance to the persistent impact on Morale caused by Combat Stress.

Being within a close C2 link (Close Visual/Voice) does provide resistance to the impact on Morale caused by Combat Shock - troops within C2 range of their HQ unit are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale as they are less stressed by being shot at and the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded is reduced.

More experienced units pass on information to their buddies and superiors quicker than less experienced units. This includes verbal, visual and radio communications.

The range of visual and audio C2 is fixed for all Soft Factors, Morale and Fatigue states but will vary by terrain. In open ground;
: Voice range < 50m (unless the HQ is hiding in which case voice range drops to <25m)
: Close visual range <100m

  Experience

Experience reflects the amount of training and combat experience the unit has.

Experience levels from least experience/training to most experience are;
 
Conscript > Green > Regular > Veteran > Crack > Elite
Experience has 6 characteristics which impact on the unit;
 
1. Spotting - troops with higher experience are able to spot enemy contacts sooner than less experienced troops.

2. Firepower - higher experienced troops will engage at longer ranges and have greater accuracy than less experienced troops. They therefore tend to cause more casualties to the enemy than their less experienced counterparts during a firefight.

3. Resistance to Combat Stress - more experienced troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership and Motivation. 

4. Resistance to Combat Shock - experienced troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. They are more used to being shot at and better desensitised to the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded than less experienced troops.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership and Motivation. 

5. Suppression Recovery - experienced troops recover quicker from being suppressed (including being Pinned), they realise when the incoming fire has shifted away from them sooner than less experienced troops do.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership.

6. More experienced units pass on information to their buddies and superiors quicker than less experienced units. This includes verbal, visual and radio communications.

Leadership

Leadership reflects the quality of NCO's or other team leaders in the team or squad to organise and support the troops. Leaders can be of varying quality.

Leadership is shown as a simple modifier ranging from;
 
-2 > -1 > 0 > +1 > +2 Note: A Leadership modifier only applies to the unit with the Modifier (like all other modifiers). In other words it does not filter down to sub-ordinate units (see HQ Leadership Modifier Example).

Leadership has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under duress;
 
1. Resistance to Combat Stress - better led troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Motivation.

2. Resistance to Combat Shock - well led troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. The NCO's are better at encouraging the troops under fire and getting them to remember their training when faced with the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Motivation.

3. Suppression Recovery - well led troops recover quicker from being suppressed (including being Pinned), they realise when the incoming fire has shifted away from them sooner than poorly led troops do.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience.  Unlike the characteristics denoted by Experience, if the Leader of a team or squad is incapacitated, the Leadership value of the unit will change to that of the next most senior member who steps up as the Leader. This value can go up as well as down, for example, a unit with a +1 Leader incapacitated and replaced by a -1 Leader will suffer a hit on Morale which may be enough to cause a persistent drop in the unit's Morale state. Similarly however, if a -2 Leader is incapacitated and replaced with a 0 Leader, the unit will receive a boost in Morale which may be enough to cause a persistent increase in the unit's Morale state.

Note: In Engine v4.0 manual page 68 it states that a Leadership bonus will help "direct fire to be more effective". However, this has not been possible to reproduce using various tests. Whereas the difference in accuracy between Crack units and Green units is repeatable and obvious, the effect of Leadership on accuracy is not apparent.

  HQ Leadership Modifier Example

Reading some posts, there is a lot of confusion over how this Modifier works with HQ units. So I will clarify it here.

The Leadership (Ldrshp) modifier for all units (from Btn Hqs through to Plt Hqs down to squads and teams) only effects the unit that the modifier is for, in the same way that a -2 Fitness modifier only effects the fitness of the unit that the modifier is for.

In fact, it helps to think of the Leadership modifier in the same was as the Fitness modifier. An unfit Plt HQ does not make all of the squads in that platoon unfit aswell.

So a squad with a -1 Ldrshp modifier is not offset by the +1 Ldrshp modifier of its Plt HQ. The squad will still suffer the penalties of having -1 Ldrshp.

So how does having a Plt HQ with a poor leader affect the performance of the Platoon?

This is best illustrated with an example;
  Lt Bike is the Plt Leader of 1st Plt. He has a Leadership modifier of -2. All 3 of the squads in 1st Plt are Regulars with average ability NCO's so no Ldrshp modifiers for the squads. For reference 1st Plt HQ is also Regular.

1st Plt are on a patrol and 1st Squad makes contact with an enemy force. After a couple of minutes, the casualties from 1st Sqd begin to mount. Not only does this have a persistent Morale affect on 1st Sqd, it also has a persistent Morale affect on the other 2 Squads and the Plt HQ because of their close organisational link.

However, because the Plt HQ has Lt Bike with his -2 Ldrshp modifier, it suffers a greater impact on Morale than 2nd or 3rd Sqd does from the build up of 1st Sqds casualties.

After another minute of combat, the persistent morale states of the Platoon are;
  Plt HQ - Rattled
1st Squad - Rattled
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous As the combatants manoeuvre for position, the Plt HQ comes under fire. As the HQ team is already Rattled, it doesn't take much suppression to drop their Morale state temporarily into Shaken.

Now that the HQ unit is Shaken, the C2 link between the HQ and the 3 squads is cut. This makes the squads more vulnerable to the Morale effects of suppression (see C2 - Command & Control).

As 1st Squad is already under suppressive fire, its Morale state instanteously drops from Rattled to Shaken because of the loss of the C2 link (see C2 - Command & Control).

The HQ will take longer to recover from the supression than it normally would for a Regular unit because of its -2 Ldrshp modifier, meaning that as a consequence, the C2 link is broken for longer.

So we now have the following situation after 5 minutes;
  Plt HQ - Shaken
1st Squad - Shaken
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous If we rewind the clock and give Lt Bike +2 Ldrshp modifier, then re-run under exactly the same circumstances the situation would have been after 5 minutes;
  Plt HQ - Nervous
1st Squad - Rattled
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous This is because the Plt HQ would not have been so affected by the casualty build up of 1st Sqd so that when the HQ came under some suppressive fire, it was still in a high enough Morale state not to become Shaken by it and therefore the C2 link between the HQ and the Squads and the benefits it brings (see C2 - Command & Control) would still be intact.



Motivation

Motivation reflects the units dedication to the cause and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for their squad mates and commanders.

Motivation from best to worst ranges as;
 
Poor > Low > Normal > High > Extreme > Fanatic Motivation has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under duress;
 
1. Resistance to Combat Stress - better motivated troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Leadership.

2. Resistance to Combat Shock - highly motivated troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. They are less psychologically affected by being shot at and better desensitised to the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded than their less motivated counterparts.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Leadership.

3. Resistance to Panic and Breaking - highly motivated troops can be Shaken but are less likely to Panic and try to run from the fight to save themselves. They are also more likely to recover to a positive morale state after being Shaken than less motivated troops and are less likely to become Broken and Brittle.

Fanatic units will not surrender.
Fatigue

Fatigue is the physical effect of running around and using up energy.

Fatigue states best to worst are;
 
Rested > Ready > Tiring > Tired > Fatigued > Exhausted
Tired troops cannot Fast Move.

Fatigued troops cannot Fast, Assault or Hunt Move.

Exhausted troops cannot Fast, Assault, Hunt or Quick Move.

More tired troops do not move slower than less tired troops moving at the same movement command, ie Unfit troops moving at Fast Move, cover distance at the same rate as Fit troops moving at Fast Move, they just won't be able to keep up that pace for as long.

Keeping troops stationary recovers their fatigue relatively quickly. Hiding troops has no additional benefit.

Troops will recover fatigue whilst at the Move but it is at a slower rate.

Experience, Leadership and Motivation do not effect Fatigue states or recovery times.

Fatigue has no effect on Morale either from Combat Stress or Combat Shock.

Fatigue has no effect on accuracy nor the range at which targets are engaged at.


Fitness

Fitness represents a units physical resistance to Fatigue.

Fitness states from best to worst are;
 
Fit > Weakened > Unfit  
Fitness has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under physical exertion;

1. Fitter troops tire less quickly from Fast Move (sprinting), Slow Move (crawling) and Quick Move (jogging).

2. Fitter troops recover from tired states sooner than less fit troops.

3. Weakened and Unfit troops recover fatigue on the Move extremely slowly.  
Closing

All of the conclusions made above have been arrived at through thorough isolation and testing procedures which can be backed up by video evidence.

There is more stuff in the CMx2 engine to dig up than what has been uncovered here but for now I'm unable to go further into this rabbit hole.

Hopefully the information presented here clears up some of the historical confusions that have been around on the various forums. It may also affect the way in which unit purchases are thought about, and hopefully it allows players to make better informed tactical decisions and enhance the way their game is played.

Josey Wales updated 24/09/17

+1 This.  The C2 in this game is pretty amazing.  IMO it could be more realistic if it was slowed down some but it's working just fine as is.  Also the above experiments were done on a test map under ideal circumstances.  If any of the HQ teams had been moving on foot (Foot movement breaks radio C2 in all titles except CMBS) the time to run the information up to Battalion would have been longer.   It's interesting to experiment/play with and discuss but definitely nothing to get upset about.  Its all good.     

I am largely agreeing with you. Info sharing seems a bit quick to me at times too. If I understand you correctly, you are advocating no info sharing during the game though (before the part I bolded), which strikes me as going to an absurd extreme. There are already impediments to communication, such as radios going out or terrain blocking visual LOS. I don't know if a tweak to those factors is called for; I am comfortable with their current values so far. Those things can slow down info sharing already, but in some cases it seems to be moving too readily. In the real world messages get garbled or misunderstood. I could stand to see that a little bit better modeled, but to be honest, a little of that goes a long way and too much will only frustrate and antagonize players, which is I think Rinaldi's point.
Michael

Two separate battalions on my test map.  One Infantry Bn. and one Pzjg Bn.  However the Pzjg battalion was mostly HQ units with a few StuGs for test purposes.  This is one of the things that make this interesting.  The StuG, belonging to the Pzjg battalion, does not report the contact to the 1st Battalion (not in the same vertical C2 as 1st Bn. and no C2 bridge to share  the information).  This I expected. 
However the scouts use the same StuG radio and are able to report the contact to their 1st Battalion HQ.  They must have had the StuG radioman temporarily switch frequencies to send the SPOT report .   At least that's what I'm telling myself so I can sleep at night.................      

Here is an interesting one.  A scout team from 1st Battalion uses a StuG’s radio (the StuG is from a Panzerjager Bn.) to send a report on a Soviet AT gun to 1st Bn. HQ.


Scout team moves to within 32 meters of the StuG and horizontally shares information about the AT gun. 



The scouts use the StuG's radio. If you look in special equipment the scouts have no radio of their own.  It does not matter if the StuG is buttoned or Opened Up as long as the scouts are on the StuG they can use the radio.  So this will not work for games that do not have tank riders.  However on map mortars can be two action spots (about 16 meters) away and use the radio.. 


 

Thanks the stories, HT. I fully agree that WEGO is one of the most appealing features of CM.
Here's one of my own moments, that I found both nerve-wrenching and hilarious at the same time (from a recent replay of my own CMBN scenario "Tiger by the Tail"). I had ordered this guy to move left around the buildings to left. The plan was that he should then ambush the King Tiger with his PIAT from within one of the buildings. But apparently that wasn't exciting enough.
 

YEP! YEP! YEP! Exactly why I've been running my face on here about WEGO forever and a day.
I remember the very first game I played of BN back when the demo came out. I had ordered a squad to run through a farmyard towards some cover. To my surprise there happened to be a couple Germans in a near by house I hadn't counted on. My guys were trotting right past them, fish in a barrel, stacked up to be mowed down. The last guy in the squad spotted them, stopped mid stride and shot a rifle grenade through the window they were standing in and killed both of them. Then he continued on like it was no big deal.  Not as dramatic as your cool stories of course but it was the type of fidelity in a WWII scene I'd been pining for since CMBO. Basically, 10 years of dreaming come to fruition. Beautiful moment.
I started a thread like this for SF many years back that got pretty big. Hopefully this thread will balloon like that one did. I love reading these types of posts. I want more.
Great stories, man. Thanks!
Mord.

There is always a debate about which way is better to play the game, WeGo or real time. For me, it is WeGo all the way and the following two moments sealed the deal for me:
The first PBEM match I ever played in CMBN was a quick battle against a friend from college. I was trying to advance under fire into the next set of buildings in a town. The squad I was moving came under fire and all the men but one ran up to a fence, jumped it and rushed into the safety of a building. The straggler, held tight at the fence and cowered. The turn ended with him kissing his butt goodbye, bullets bouncing all around him. I figured it was only a matter of time until he died, so I tried to move the squad into a better position in a different building. When the next turn started, they cancelled their movement order. The squad leader ran out of the building and stood over top of the cowering solider. He turned and fired in the direction of the incoming rounds. Several bursts of fire came flying at him but nothing hit him. The guy on the ground stopped cowering but he still refused to move. The squad leader fired another burst and then another at the enemy. He then turned and faced the guy on the ground. With only a few seconds left in the turn, the cowering solider got up and ran ahead of his squad leader into the safety of the building.  Neither guy suffered a scratch. I must have watched that turn at least a dozen times. I told my friend and he could not believe it when he watched it over and over again as well.
The second time I was truly impressed by this game was another CMBN battle. I had an entire platoon moving from one section of woods, across the road and into another set of woods. There was a two man scout team in the woods who opened fire as my men moved out. They hit one man and then began to take a whole platoon worth of return fire. One scout was killed right away but the other took careful aim and fired. He shot a guy from my platoon who was just about to throw a grenade. This man dropped dead and dropped his live grenade. It went off and killed three men in my platoon and lightly wounded several others. Unfortunately, one of the men who was killed also dropped a live grenade. It went off killing another 4 or 5 guys and lightly wounding a bunch more. My entire platoon panicked and ran away.  I had to watch 4 or 5 times just to figure out what had happened and then another 20 times to finally believe it was true. It was such a clear demonstration of the randomness of war I was too impressed to be mad.
I saw neither of these events on the first play through of the turn and it was only because I rewound the turn to see what had happened on the other side of the map that I even saw it all. If I had been playing in real time, I would have missed them entirely. Once I found out about this little program called FRAPS, I always load it up first just in case another one of these moments happens again, I can have video evidence to share with you all.
 

I had the same problem the first time I used the German light Infantry gun in an indirect fire role, hitting buildings, trees, or anything, except the enemy. Obviously, the main job of the "Pack" was give the Airborne a chance of hitting back until they could establish Radio contact with heavier arty.

Nice demo of the Coy HQ providing C2 to the fireteam as well.

MOS thank you for making the effort to redo this. I did have trouble trying to follow the original but it's really clear and obvious with the images and your explanations.
I think some testing needs to be done to prove that having a tentative contact makes acquiring an actual LOF of fire to the contact quicker. I hope it does.

Below is an example of a Company HQ filling in for a Platoon  HQ when the Platoon HQ was not available.  A battalion or company HQ may provide voice and close visual contact, but not radio or distant-visual contact. 4.0 Engine Manual page 67.  




 

Some stuff in general: There are many benefits in general from C2 page 66 of the 4.0 Engine manual explains some.  Also @Josey Wales did some testing which in part states Troops within C2 range of their HQ unit are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. Troops within the C2 link are less stressed by being shot at and the immediate impact of seeing team/squad mates killed & wounded is reduced.  The C2 effect is noticeable with senior HQ's over their junior HQ subordinates. For example, a Platoon HQ being in close visual C2 link with its Company HQ provides a clear resistance to the temporary Morale effect of being suppressed. 
Link to Josey Wales topic:  http://community.battlefront.com/topic/125728-the-relationship-between-soft-factors-morale-fatigue/?tab=comments#comment-1723417 
Some stuff specific to the information reference the two tanks:  The 4.0 Engine Manual pg. 68 states one of the benefits of good communications is spotting of enemy units.  It also states a unit isolated from C2 wouldn't be able to target something it didn't spot itself.  (I paraphrased both of those statements) 
The AI can't shoot at tentative contacts but it can generally acquire a confirmed contact quicker if it has a tentative contact to begin with.  (This is my opinion from playing the game I have not experimented with it.)  
And to paraphrase something @womble posted in February 2015 - In terms of situational awareness an intact C2 network will pass spotting information down to the fire teams more quickly, giving them an advantage when trying to acquire the hostile for themselves.   
Link to womble's post: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118133-leaders/?do=findComment&comment=1582020
 

4th Tank Battalion Recon is selected but has no information about the Armor or the disposition of 1st Battalion units.  As a result it shows no contact icons on the east (right) side of the map.  
 
1st Bn. Bravo Company XO Team moves to within horizontal information sharing distance (4 Action Spots) of 4th Tank Bn. Recon Team and horizontally shares contact information.  Now when 4th Bn. Recon is selected it displays contact icons on the east (right) side of the map.  Contact icons fade with age so the Tentative Armor contacts for the Tigers are very light.   
 
The 4th Tank Battalion Recon Section HQ is selected but has no information about the OpFor Armor or friendly contacts.
 
4th Battalion Recon moves to establish C2 with Recon Section HQ and vertically relay the spotting contacts from the east side of the map.

Ok. So, now that they are all aware that there is a tank in the vicinity of that building will that increase their spotting ability once they approach the area? Give them a bonus say, in getting LOS on it? Outside of the coolness of all that information being shared between teams and HQs and tanks (and it is cool), what is the benefit in game playing terms? How does it translate?
 
Mord.

The 4th Tank Battalion Recon team moves into distant visual contact of the Recon Section HQ and from 330 meters reports the Armor & some friendly unit dispositions to the Section HQ (Vertical information sharing).  The Recon Team was given a Pause while moving so they would stop and kneel instead of stopping and going prone.  Kneeling facilitates spotting at distance and when in tall grass/crops.  
 
The Recon Section HQ is selected and displays the new contact icons. 
 
The Recon Section HQ radios 4th Battalion HQ with the contact reports and 1st Battalion unit dispositions.  4Th Battalion HQ then shows the contact icons when selected. 
 
In summary.

VERY COOL GAME!!!

Bravo Company HQ radioed 1st Battalion HQ with the report of the Armor.  1st Battalion HQ then showed tentative armor contact icons after it received the report.  
 
4th Tank Battalion HQ is selected but has no reports of the Armor, so shows no contact icon. With no common higher HQ and no liaison in place between 1st Infantry Battalion and 4th Tank Battalion the 4th does not receive any reports about the Tiger.  
 
A 4th Tank Battalion Recon team is selected but has no information about the Armor, so shows no contact icon.
 
Back at 03:53:00 the XO Team of Bravo Company / 1st Infantry began to travel over to 4th Battalion’s A/O to report. 

Bravo Company HQ is selected but has not yet received the report of the Armor, so shows no contact icon. 
 
1st Platoon HQ radios Bravo Company HQ with the report of the Armor.   
 
1st Battalion HQ is selected but has not yet received the report of the Armor, so shows no contact icon.
 
At 03:52:20 Bravo Company makes radio contact with 1st Battalion. Prior to this Bravo Company was having problems reaching Bn. on the radio. If you look at Bravo Companies C2 links two & three screenshots above you will see Bravo Company had no C2 with Battalion for a short time.  Both HQs were stationary so in theory should have been able to communicate.  I’m not sure if this is intended behavior but it does happen occasionally.  Intended or not I think it adds realism.
 

1st Platoon HQ is selected but shows no contact icon for the German Armor.  No C2 with the scout team means there is no way for the scout team to report the Armor contact. If the scout team is KIA the information about the Tiger tanks will be lost with the scouts.  
The scouts move to report to 1st Platoon HQ which still has no contact icon for the Tiger. The contact has changed back to tentative because it is now the last known location for the Armor.  
As the scouts approach 1st Platoon HQ they come within close visual C2 range (12 Action Spots).   
The scouts report the tentative armor contacts to 1st Platoon HQ at about 10 Action Spots.

The scouts move out to locate the German Armor. 
 
The scout team obtained tentative armor contacts, however they are out of C2 and unable to make a SPOT report back to their platoon HQ.  
 
The scouts obtain a confirmed armor contact for German Tigers however they are still out of C2 and unable to make a SPOT report. 

Hi guys
Even if i watch the forum every week, i don't find the need to post. I play all the games since the first CMBO and i still like it after all those years. Today i just found a channel on youtube that can be interesting especially for new players. It's called
G.I. History Handbook
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFwP2RKKNYv7o8DJwYO9KxA
there are only 3 videos but i think they are very well made. I don't know if that was allready mentioned on the forum but i think it was great to share the link.
There is another reason why i decided to talk about those videos. On the video about infantry tactics there is an indication of the practical range of BAR automatic rifles.
With the last uppdate of the game, BAR and Bren have been limited to less than 200 m in automatic fire. I know that this was allready mentionned on another thread but i don't know  if
Battlefront answered to it, if it's a bug or not. I think this totally cripples allied infantry. German squads can use lmgs at 600 m or more and have an unrealistic advantage i think.
On the vidéo, it is indicated that lmg can be used on groups of men from 500 to 1 000 yards, 400 to 900 m. Rifles are used at about 400 m . In the vidéo it's at minute 10 and after.
I guess that for the Bren, it was more or less the same. I don't think that at long distance, those weapons shoot only single shot, especially at groups of men. I just hope that this can
be changed in futur patch.
I hope that people will enjoy the link and that the maker of the video will keep is very good job. I wish there was something like this for other nations.
best regards
Furinkazan
 

That's a good point.  I never thought of that. 

Since buddy aid does affect the number of men KIA vs WIA, the game must be tracking the number of men who received buddy aid. If this is true, I wonder if it would be possible to have this stat show up on the AAR screen to show us how many men survived due to buddy aid. 
I don't think it should have any impact on the score of the game as the AI does not move any of its men over an action square or two to give buddy aid.

Multiple tests were done and the statement below is true;
"Being within a close C2 link (Close Visual/Voice) does provide resistance to the impact on Morale caused by Combat Shock - troops within C2 range of their HQ unit are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale as they are less stressed by being shot at and the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded is reduced."
If you're not seeing  any observable difference when a unit is in C&C or if a Co CO has taken over command then I can only think that you have not set up the parameters so as to be able to see it. The unit needs to be suffering from Combat Shock, i.e. it needs to be under incoming fire and then tests can be run to remove the close C2 link by moving the HQ unit out of range and/or back into range to see the difference. I have demonstrated this in the video accompanying the post 'The Relationship between Soft Factors, Morale & Fatigue'.
A change in the Morale state is observed when the close C2 link is removed/replaced if the current Morale state is being caused by Combat Shock (suppression). It is repeatable and therefore statistically relevant.
The Coy HQ and Bttn HQ perform the same role in this respect as a Plt HQ and can be used to step in should a Plt HQ become incapacitated.
If you're expecting to see an effect on a Morale state which has been arrived at by Combat Stress (the build up of casualties within the unit or by units closely associated organisationally) then I'm afraid that you won't see one regardless of if the unit in question is within C2 link or not and irrespective of if the C2 link is being provided by a Plt HQ, Coy HQ or Bttn HQ. This is because a Morale state which has been arrived at as a result of Combat Stress cannot be recovered from.

That most certainly is, no qualms there.