Attack/Defend in CMBB

[Gaylord Focker]

In quick battles, why does the attacker always by default have more points to spend? The attacker did not always have the luxury of out numbering the defender. Especialy on the Eastern Front.

[ July 06, 2002, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Gaylord Focker ]

[Determinant]

Originally posted by Gaylord Focker:

In quick battles, why does the attacker always by default have more points to spend? The attacker did not always have the luxury of out numbering the defender. Especialy on the Eastern Front.

The attacker gets more points by default because he can generally choose when and where to attack. An attacker would be unwise to attack where he did not have some qualitative or quantitative advantage. History is of course littered with attacks that were executed without an advantage - the abortive Nazi assault on the Kursk salient being a case in point.

On a practical point the attacker needs the extra points because otherwise he will almost always be beat by the defender and that does not make for a balanced default game.

[Michael Emrys]

If you don't care for the default setting, you can always add or subtract something from the attackers points. Also, if you are the attacker, you don't actually have to spend all your points.

I think you should understand though, that the attacker bonus in CM is actually quite modest. Most soldiers would tell you that a 3:1 advantage is what they would try for to be able to attack with any assurance of carrying the objective. Yeah, a lot of battles were fought at shorter odds than that. A lot of those battles fizzled too.

A defender has certain advantages in most engagements. He is dug in, whereas the attacker must move--often over open ground--in order to get within range to engage the enemy. The defender often has surveyed the battlefield and may have cleared lanes of fire as well as put down wire and mines where he wants to delay the attacker while his pre-registered artillery drops on them. The defender usually will have stockpiled quantities of ammunition at his firing positions, whereas the attacker will have only what he can carry into battle. All of these factors act as force multipliers.

Michael

[ July 06, 2002, 06:14 PM: Message edited by: Michael emrys ]