moving through "corners"

[lettowvorbeck]

I am completely new to SC games, only trying out the demos of SC2 and the latest one. For SC2, I was bothered that you had to basically have two lines in order to make a continuous front or a unit could slip through by moving through a box corner. Is this feature still in the game and will it be in the WW1 game, too?

[Bill101]

The Zone of Control penalty is tougher in the WWI game and this effectively prevents units from charging through a gap like the one you're referring to.

Most of the time the front lines (when they aren't totally fluid) do tend to follow a path that doesn't require many troops to be used to guard any gaps. Occasionally they don't and a few more units may be required, but it's normally at key points of the line rather than everywhere. Plus, even if the enemy were to attempt to exploit a gap, they generally can't get further than one tile without your having a chance to react.

Obviously if the gap you leave is wide enough then the enemy will enjoy exploiting it big time, but so far this hasn't been an issue in WWI testing.

The tougher Zone of Control penalty also goes some way to represent the difficulty of exploiting a break in the enemy's lines, which was a common problem at the time. But it doesn't mean that the front lines will be static for long. In fact, the desire to avoid totally static front lines was a significant factor when designing the new map of Europe for this game.

[lettowvorbeck]

Thanks a lot. That's what I wanted to hear.

Another thing, if I may. Do units auto retreat? When I was playing earlier demo versions of other SC titles, units would just sit there and get pounded over and over until eliminated.

Thanks again.

[Hubert Cater]

I can confirm that a retreat option will be available for the first time in the Strategic Command series with this release

[Arinvald]

Excellent! Now release this sucker!

[lettowvorbeck]

Great! thanks

[SeaMonkey]

Hubert, don't you think your walking a "fine line" of over divulging for this release? I mean a retreat option? WTH!!!!:confused: What will the AI do with this, other than "Elf" it up!

This SC release is really "out of character".:cool:

[abukede]

As a beta tester... without giving anything away I can simply tell you that Hubert has outdone himself with this game. It is incredibly fun, fantastic and very thought provoking strategy wise.

[aesopo]

This is AWESOME! Hopefully you can allow multiple attacks simultaneously

[Hubert Cater]

Good one SeaMonkey

[jon_j_rambo]

Far as retreat option, does the defender set their troops to "lite defense" and stuff like that?

[Hubert Cater]

Still too early to say as we are in the testing phase, betas will see it in the next build, but as soon as it is finalized I'll be happy to provide more details.