My first thoughts re APOS.

[z1812]

APOS is a fine game. I just finished 2 quick battles that were enjoyable but had me thinking about the items below.

1. Can infantry units be split?
2. I find the equipment lists a little confusing if you wish to construct something historical.
3. I see that German infantry squads have a 50 mm attached mortar. Generally are the mortar sections generic or spilt between 81 and 120 mm?
4. I would like more flexibility in arranging a quick battle. Assignable victory locations would be nice and the ability to direct the sort of battle it should be. For instance meeting engagement or defense.
5. This is a problem with many wargames but never the less the enemy and friendly AI could use some work.
6. It seems odd that heavy weapons groups don't have troops as ammunition bearers.
7. Can mortars be broken off and attached to infantry squads. Will they fire without being spotted for by their commander?

Lots of testing for me to do to see what might be possible.

[Dane49]

I'll try and answer some of your questions,but bear in mind these are my own intrepetations of the game.

#1 No squads cannot be split.You can split your APCs from their accompanying infantry squad though and assign them a different set of orders.
#2 Can you be a bit more specific on this question please?
#3 50mm mortar section is genaric to most infantry platoons during the time depicted in the game.You can switch out squad sections in your platoon units if the force is available in the reserve pool ie..you can switch the 50mm mortar to a 81mm mortar if the reserve pool allows it.I don't ever recall seeing a 120mm mortar in the game that isn't considered an off board artillery asset and depicted or abstractly considered as such,but you do have 81mm mortar platoons to choose from.
#4 Generally the game assigns the victory locations on each grid of the map and determines the victory conditions for quick battles through a point system,but you do have the option of assigng your forces and the enemys forces either Attack,Defense or Recon missions in the options menu for quick battles,along with morale level and ammo level.
#5 Andrey said once it would take him 100 years to be able to program a tactically superior AI with a survival instinct.The idea being since the AI has never lived it has no fear of death.
#6 This is simulated abstractly,the further away that you move your guns from the ammo crates the longer it takes for them to go back and retrieve and replenish their ammo supply.
#7 Mortars can be broken away from their platoon leader but will not be able to fire indirectly at a target because they are not in command radius of a spotting leader,and then will only fire at targets that they can directly see themselves,and usually do so automatically unless you give them a hold fire command.Mortars cannot be attached directly to infantry squads.They are considered platoon assets when initially assigned to that platoon and thus only directed by the platoon leader.

[z1812]

2. I find the process for finding units rather cumbersome. Especially when referencing specific years and periods. Of course being new to the game perhaps there are more options than I am aware of. Or perhaps it is something I will grow used to.

Thanks for your answers. It is great to know I can adjust some QB parameters.

[Dane49]

There is a JMass quick battle mod that you can patch into the game to expand your quick battle force pool.

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/1613330/jmass_qb_mod_v1.0.zip

I had also made another suggestion for a quick battle option to be added to the game to simulate casualties from a previous battles.To where you can set the parameter for the forces at your disposal to simulate force strength after casualties from 90% down to 50% to be able to adjust in increments of 10.Fractions rounded up.

For example:A German squad has 12 men,I would like to simulate that squad is now at 80% strength after suffering casualties in a previous battle.12 x.80=9.6,with fractions rounded up I would be left with 10 men in the squad.This same 80% strength ratio would appy to the rest of the units in the German platoon also.
These ratios would be applied individually to each platoon but would not effect the crews of crew served weapons in an infantry platoon.They would be untouched by this application,this applies to HQ units as well.

Weapons and tank platoons would suffer these casualties to the weapons themselves,the individual crews would not be effected and still carry a full compliment to crew the weapon.

I think this would be a nice addition to be able to fight some quick battle campaigns without actually having to design a campaign scenario.

I can still simulate this in a round about way by having say 2 platoons in a company instead of three,but the problem I have with that is I'm only left with 2 leader commanded maneuver elements instead of 3 casualty ridden elements.