Overwhelming Forces
Overwhelming Forces
From SEOW v6.0.0 onwards, there is a new concept regarding the resolution of ground battles for control of important locations. This is the "overwhelming force" function, which is configurable as a campaign design setting in SEDCS v6.0.1 and later. Note that all weak and overwhelming force calculations are performed by counting units located within the Control Radius of the location being defended. Here is a list of valid locations where Overwhelming Force logic is used:
- Airbases
- Control Points
- Industrial Installations
- Railway Stations
- Supply Points
Overwhelming Force calculations are only used at the above locations - they are not used anywhere else where opposing forces meet.
Basically the Overwhelming Force feature is designed to help campaigns automatically deal with cases where a small force is facing a much larger force which, in real action, would rapidly be resolved in favour of the larger force, either through capitulation or total annihilation of the small force.
To achieve this result, SEOW now supports two new campaign settings parameters under the "Overwhelming Force Requirements" heading: Weak_Force and Overwhelming_Force_Ratio. These parameters can be adjusted by the administrator using the Territorial Control tab in the SEDCS. This allows the campaign administrator to determine the smallest scale battle that is automatically resolved by SEOW without the need for direct ground planning by commanders.
Weak Force: This value is the maximum number of objects that a small force can have to be classed as weak. The default value is 2, but any number from 0 to 100 can be selected. Let's us look at how this value is applied in a couple of examples.
- Consider a defending force of a single platoon of infantry, with strength 3 (i.e. 3 squads under a single platoon name and icon). This force has 3 objects (squads) so it exceeds the default Weak Force value of 2, therefore it does not qualify as a weak force.
- Consider a defending force of two platoons, one of infantry, with strength 1 (i.e. 1 squad) and a platoon consisting of a single halftrack. This force has 2 objects so it is less than or equal to the default Weak Force value of 2, therefore it qualifies as a weak force.
- Consider a defending force of a single Italian Truck Company (ItalyCarsColumnC) and a platoon of Semovente 47/32-40 SPGs (strength 3). The force then totals 8 (5 from the truck column and 3 SPGs).
Overwhelming Force Ratio: This value determines the minimum size that the larger force can be in order to overwhelm the smaller force automatically. It is expressed as a ratio; the default value is 5. That means the larger force must be at least 5 times larger (total object count) than the small force, by default. Any ratio from 0 to 100 can be selected.
Armour Corrections: Since armour can greatly bias combat actions involving other units, overwhelming force calculations also involve armour considerations separately. If armour is present in the small force, then the large force must have an overwhelming armour force as well to bring the rule into play. For example, with default settings, a small force with 1 infantry team and 1 tank can only be overwhelmed by larger force that includes at least 10 objects in total (5 times the defending 2 objects) and at least 5 tanks (5 times the single defending tank).
If an overwhelming force situation happens at an airbase or a control point, then SEOW will resolve it during the mission Analyze stage. All small force units will surrender and will be destroyed, and all large force members will be unharmed. The controlling nation of the airbase or control point will be assigned to the large force. Appropriate events will be listed in the mission statistics.
