Leadership Modifiers

[rogue189]

After playing through the game, I realized that I rarely look at my leaders and what kind of modifier they provide.  Generally I just look at the squads and say "you go here" and "you go there" being more interested in capability rather than leadership.  How much more effectiveness does a good leader provide in game?

 

Also, I have a side note question.  I am playing the second mission of the American campaign and when the map loaded I only got one M1 tank even though I lost none in the previous mission.  Did I get ripped off by the game?? 

[Kieme(ITA)]

From the game manual:

 

Every unit has someone in charge of its soldiers, though not necessarily the same type of Leader. Leaders provide units with, what else... leadership. They help maintain internal discipline, direct fire to be more effective, and keep contact with other Leaders. The more Leaders you lose, the harder maintaining C2 becomes.

Leadership influence takes the form of a Leadership Modifier represented in the Unit Info Panel. The better the modifier, the more effective the Leader is in keeping things on the straight and narrow. Note that the modifier values are +2, +1, 0, -1, and -2. This means that a Leader can have no special effect on Leadership (0 rating) or even a negative influence (-1 or -2). Anybody that has ever served in the military, or studied it in historical texts, knows that some people should Game Manual 65

never have been put in charge of anything except washing dishes (and you don’t necessarily want to be the one eating from those dishes). CM dutifully simulates these poor Leaders.

There are two types of dedicated Leaders; Unit Leader and Assistant Leader. A Unit Leader is a soldier who has the training and rank to command the unit he is assigned to. The Assistant Leader has similar training and capabilities as the Unit Leader, but is of a junior rank and may not have all the skills necessary to command a unit over the long term. However, an Assistant Leader generally has the same chance of being a good Leader in a tactical fight, which is good because that is exactly what he’ll have to do if the Unit Leader becomes a casualty.

Squad-type units usually have a Squad Leader (Unit Leader) in charge of Team A, and an Assistant Squad Leader (Assistant Leader) in charge of Team B. When Squads are split up, like Weapons Squads normally are, this effectively means that the command responsibilities are split up. If one Leader falls to fire, the other one will not take over his responsibilities, because they are assumed to be physically separate units when split off as Teams.

When a battle starts, the name and rank displayed are that of the unit’s current senior Leader. Should that Leader fall in battle,

 

more about leaders importance depends on the skill level of the game you select.

Edited March 15, 2015 by Kieme(ITA)

[Stagler]

The more they get malleted, with a lesser leadership number they will go from okay to panicked to rout faster.

[rogue189]

Ok.  I read the manual earlier today which is why I was asking.  I remember in my Squad Leader days that the good leaders were used for the toughest attacks and the +1 or +2 guys usually just sat in the back since they sucked.  For those who never played Squad Leader you wanted low die rolls so a -1 or -2 leader was the best.  Since CM doesn't allow you to mix and match leaders I was just wondering how much of a difference it makes. Does CM use a "die roll" type system for simulating how the morale of the squad is affected?  Can a squad be rallied back from "nervous" to "cautious" to "ready" or is there an upper limit to what can be achieved once they have been shot at a few times?

[A Canadian Cat]

So, +2 is best in CM. A good leader does make a difference and will help rally their men better but I certainly do not leave the -1 and -2 squads off in the cord. It is supposed to be possible to go from nervous to cautious to OK. I don't know what the limits are though. I keep meaning to test it out but never seem to.

[A Canadian Cat]

I guess in the end under the hood there is something like a die roll going on but it is much more complex than that. I believe that the state of each soldier is tracks and what we see is a summary for the squad. When things rough you can see individual soldiers deciding to fight, flee or surrender. I have stopped thinking in terms of rolling the dice and just think of them as people.

[womble]

It's complex and pretty subtle. Just try and keep your troops in C3 as best you can, and you'll get better results out of them than if they're all leaderless.