Captured troops

[Rick614]

Are just troops that are not wounded captured? Take an 8 man squad that has not moved and after being reduced to 4 men surrenders. Do I not just capture 4 men even though at least some of the other 4 are just wounded? I want to go somewhere with this, I hope.

[busboy]

Well, as far as the game is concerned, it looks at the casualties you inflicted. The first 4 in that squad are wounded or dead, you get, say 1 point each for them. However, the 4 you captured are more valuable, as they may have valuable military information, ect. You get, say, 2 points for each of them.

You wouldn't get 3 points for first wounding a man, and then capturing him, nor would the wounded man "convert" into a captured. As far as the game is concerned, once they're a casualty to fire, they're out of the game, so they can't come back.

If you'd like, think that the folks in that squad that were "wounded" were either evacuated by medics during the fighting, or that when the squad was captured, they were either dead or too wounded to be of any benefit as a prisoner, so the game doesn't give you points for them as such.

Good question, I think. But considering the game just looks at the status of troops for points after the game, I think the game handles the question perfectly.

[Rick614]

I bring this up because I've always not liked how dead and wounded are determined randomly after the battle from total casualties. I would say that 99 per cent of prisoners are of no use at all and instead a hiderance. All I'm asking is if my troops overrun an enemy squad that has been reduced from 8 to 4 and lets assume 2 of those 4 are wounded when they surrender don't I capture the 4 healthy men plus the 2 wounded? No, there shuldn't be any extra points because they are both casualties and captured. In the time frame of the game and under the situation I don't think we can always assume the wounded are immediately evaucated and therefore immune to capture.

A long time ago before the figure representing the last man in the squad to fall was added there much discussion about this. Some people wanted bodies for each casualty. For killed this would be OK but what is a wounded man? Is he wounded so bad that he cannot move or does he have a serious arm injury to the point that he cannot carry a weapon but can retreat from the field. Then you have wounded man trying to make it to the rear that could be killed.

The problem I have with the body for the last man in a squad is that it can be a long distance from where all the other casualties in the squad were. It does not always indicate where the bulk of the casualties for that squad happened. I don't need to see bodies littered all over the battlefield but I would like to see in the AAR an overhead view with just x's and o's say to indicate where dead and wounded happened. That would mean that casaulties would have to be tracked at the time they happen. The status of each casualty is determined at the time it happens and not randomly after the game. Then that 150mm round that goes off right smack in the middle of a squad will more likely cause 8 deaths at the instance it happens rather than resulting in 3 deaths and 5 wounded after the battle. I know that would take serious re-thinking in order to keep the overall ration of killed/wounded correct.

That brings me back to question that if I break thru strong enemy position and they have 80 wounded in the AAR should I not assume that I have captured some of them. If most prisoners are a hinderance I would imagine field commanders thought poorly of wounded prisoners. I sure they would rather that they just "go away." That of course happened with unhappy results.

Anyway all of this would be for the rewrite. CMBB seems rock solid to me. I have taken to playing 300 point QB with all random settings. Win most of them but got waxed last night as the Germans in a night battle.

[Michael Emrys]

Rick, what you suggest would add to the realism of the game. My guess is that it was omitted because the necessary calculations were judged too cumbersome to justify their inclusion in a game that was designed to run on machines that are now five or six years old. As a consequence, a number of things have been abstracted for purposes of simplification. Whether such niceties will get included in the rewrite is a judgement call that BTS will make. No harm in asking though.

Michael

[ October 20, 2002, 11:40 AM: Message edited by: Michael emrys ]

[Rick614]

Michael,

I'm sure your right on the extra horsepower required to do what I suggest. What if there was actually a lose of 1 point for each captured wounded? Forget I asked that.