Effects of Motivation

[Cpl Steiner]

Hi,

I've been experimenting a bit in the editor with "Motivation", one of the "soft factors" you can modify for a unit.

From my brief few tests I think I can safely say that a unit with low or poor motivation is more likely to hit the dirt and/or cower when under fire than one with extreme or fanatic motivation.

As I said in a previous post in the main forum area, this could be one of the reasons why people are complaining that too many American troops are becoming casualties to wildly aimed AK fire from Uncon and Syrian Militia forces. If the motivation of the American forces is high, they will tend to stay up fighting rather than get down into cover.

Given that the US is so much more reliant on artillery and air assets to kill the enemy, and that casualties are so much harder to justify than for non-US forces, I think scenario designers should seriously consider lowering the motivation of normal US units to low or even poor. This doesn't necessarily mean they don't want to be in action. It just means they don't want to get their head blown off if they can avoid it!

The effects of such a change might be quite dramatic. I would imagine that for a typical scenario, the US side would take less casualties because a sizeable number of men in each squad will be prone or cowering rather than kneeling or standing and returning fire. Once "pinned down" in this way, they can then call in artillery or air power to destroy the spotted enemy.

The opposite side of the coin, of course, is that Uncon-type units should have extreme or fanatical morale. Many will be seeking martyrdom , so they aren't going to be as worried about being shot.

Maybe when the Marines module comes out Marine units could be given normal, high or extreme morale in contrast to normal US infantry units, simulating their "gung ho" spirit, and the historical fact that in many combat situations the marines have suffered higher than average casualties due to their greater willingness to get up and fight rather than crawl around in the dirt.

Thoughts please.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

It would depend on the scenario. In a scenario with no artillery for instance, it would just be frustrating for the US player because his men are always taking cover from every little shot.

It's an interesting idea though, and could work quite well in places.

-FMB

[Chelco]

Hi Cpl,

That's a very good point.

As you mention in your post, there is a chance that US troops with lower motivation will cower. I wonder how negative the impact of that could be. For example, if caught in bad cover they could be picked out one by one without firing back or even looking for better cover.

Cheers,

[Darkmage]

does that mean high motivation troops are less likely to go into the crawl of death if caught in a street?

[Paper Tiger]

One important aspect of lower motivation is that you increase the chance that soldiers within poorly motivated units will rout. I have lots of poorly motivated troops in some of my campaign missions and when I read the AAR at the end of the mission the number of MIA is pretty substantial. Somehow, I doubt that lots of US troops would 'bug' out of a combat like this.

[Cpl Steiner]

Originally posted by Paper Tiger:

One important aspect of lower motivation is that you increase the chance that soldiers within poorly motivated units will rout. I have lots of poorly motivated troops in some of my campaign missions and when I read the AAR at the end of the mission the number of MIA is pretty substantial. Somehow, I doubt that lots of US troops would 'bug' out of a combat like this.

A good point. I don't want to see US troops routing at the first sign of trouble.

If Motivation isn't the answer, then perhaps high experience levels should have a similar effect? In other words, BFC should take into account the experience level of troops and change the game engine so that veterans and above will stay low in cover a lot more and pop up to shoot at the enemy now and again rather than just stand there firing forever.

[gibsonm]

Have you noticed any change / improvement with the adjustments to this in 1.08?

[Paper Tiger]

Not yet as I'm presently sitting in front of my computer waiting for it to download. (Gamersgate customer so no incremental patch for me!) However, as soon as it's up and running, I'll be giving the missions with the poorly motivated Conscripts a run to see how they've changed.

[Webwing]

Cpl Steiner,

The settings in the editor have always intrigued me. I guess it's a bit like tweaking a car in a race sim. Gear ratio, camber, etc. Never got the hang of that, by the way. :confused:

I have started some tests months ago trying to figure exactly how to use those settings. Pretty elusive stuff!

-