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An observation on casualties


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On almost every scenario I've played I've found that KIA outnumber WIA on both sides, which seems opposite of real-life situations. KIA outnumbering WIA in armor vs. armor battles makes some sense realistically, but it seems to be this way in every scenario. Only when I actively spend the time moving troops around to give buddy-aid to the wounded before the scenario ends can I get a KIA to WIA ratio of like 1:2. Anyone know what real-life casualties would look like if medical aid was not administered within 10min or so of debilitating injuries (red casualties in game)?

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Never made that conclusion even after 100's of hours playing this game. If you are using buddy aid properly then you should have more wounded. Getting my wounded men out of harms way is always priority one when I play. If I need to park a vehix in front of the downed man so that a squad can attend I do it. I always try and play as realistically as possible. I think you might just be seeing something that looks like a pattern but really isn't.

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KD ratio is very much dependent on what action took place. Heavy tank battle where most takes brewed up? Nearly all KIA, few WIA. Extensive gunbattles will see a more expected KIA/WIA ratio. Bathe the map in HE goodness, more KIA then usual. Kinda neat. In CMx1 there didn't seem to be much difference if you showered enemy with 14" Naval guns or 3 ich mortars.

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What did I hear was the 'downside' to heavy body armor? You drastically reduce casualties overall but a greater proportion of remaining hits would be head/neck shots since that's one of the few exposed surfaces left. Another factor in this particular title may be that everyone fights to the death. No surrender, no mercy. A wounded man mat find himself riddled with bullets. Syria's sorta like the Pacific theatre WWII in that regard.

And yes, AI does 'pursue' buddy aid. I've seen members of entirely different units crawl to a wounded man and administer aid.

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I have definitely seen the AI pursue buddy aid, both within the same unit and with members of a different unit, however it is only within the same action spot. A few times it looked like a fallen man was right next to my squad, but it was the next action spot over so nobody went over to give buddy aid until I moved the squad one spot over.

Doesn't matter much unless you have to move your squad completely out of cover!

I've also seen events turn WIA into KIA, the most spectacular of which was when one of my strykers with squad still inside got knocked out and set on fire, but not blown up. Just after the squad exited the vehicle they got cut down by machinegun fire and most were WIA, but unfortunately right next to a burning vehicle. As you can guess a secondary explosion soon turned most of those red circles brown. :D

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I just played two games and on my side I had hardly any KIA, but fair numbers of WIA. Most of my KIA in one battle were sustained in a single failed assault, and in the other when two LAVs were brewed up by AT-14s. In the latter battle the two LAVs accounted for 6 of the 9 KIAs I had.

Now, on the Red side... not the same in the first battle. Why not? Because I had the bulk of their forces pinned down and hit them with 155mm air bursts in one spot and 60mm airbursts in another spot. Having a bunch of AAVs pump Mk19 grenades at them the whole time certainly didn't do them any favors.

Steve

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I was about to agree with you then I thought - could this simply be the result of added info after the new patch? Previously it was hard to distinguish KIA from WIA before the end screen - they all had the same bright red circles. Now the KIA circle changes to dried-blood-brown. Since its more obvious now perhaps it just seems more common. :rolleyes:

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I haven't noticed what the poster mentions, but I have always thought that the number of uninjured (or not dead) troops on both sides seems really small by the time one side calls it quits. Something like 80-90% + casualties?

Aren't these kind of insane casualty figures for a combatant group to experience before throwing in the towel?

Can this be influenced in scenario design?

I realize the game limits the number of on-screen units to a small tactical level game - And it might drastically impact the length (or viability) of some missions - but....still :)

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I was about to agree with you then I thought - could this simply be the result of added info after the new patch? Previously it was hard to distinguish KIA from WIA before the end screen - they all had the same bright red circles. Now the KIA circle changes to dried-blood-brown. Since its more obvious now perhaps it just seems more common. :rolleyes:

I'm talking about the stats screen at the end of the mission.

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Unfortunately, the nature of wargaming dramatically warps the casualty figures. Usually it's a fight to the death, literally, because hey... why not? I mean, what does each side have to lose by resisting and not melting away to fight another day? So the casualties are always higher than they would be in real life due to a plethora of "artificial" game issues. Most CMx1 games were like that too.

Having said that, the Taliban in Afghanistan has shown that such large casualty figures are not necessarily unrealistic if caught out in the open with a prepared Western defender. I've seen several battles where there were triple digit dead on the Taliban side, a few to none on the Coalition side.

I only see high Blue casualties when playing Blue if I've messed up big time and then keep on trying instead of packing up and going home. Or sitting tight for a few hours until reinforcements arrive like they would in real life (but not in the game, obviously).

Steve

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