Unit traits

Order of Battle is a series of operational WW2 games starting with the Pacific War and then on to Europe!

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Lukas
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Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 6:40 pm

Unit traits

Post by Lukas »

A list of special unit traits currently in the game:

airborne: Unit can be transported by air

submerged: Unit operates below water

submergable: Unit can dive underwater

camouflaged: Unit is invisible until an enemy unit moves into it

explosives: Unit can destroy bridges, supply sources, ...

bridgeBuilder: Unit can construct pontoon bridges

weakFlanks: Unit suffers more from outflanking attacks

tunneling: Unit can travel through underground tunnels

concealable: Unit can't be spotted from range or air in certain terrain types (ex: Jungle)

minelayer: Unit can deploy mines

mineClearer: Unit can clear mines

amphibious: Unit can switch to amphibious mode (shallow water)

kamikaze: Unit attacks by throwing itself at the enemy

singleShot: Unit can only fire once (ex: B29 Nuclear Bomber)

noSupply: Unit does not require supply

fieldArmour: Unit can trade speed for additional "field armour"

entrenchSupport: Unit assists adjacent friendlies in entrenching their position

carrierBased: Unit can operate from aircraft carriers

highRiskReturn: High randomisation in combat odds (ex: Jap Infantry in "banzai" mode)

guerilla: Unit does not suffer from efficiency loss over difficult terrain (ex: Australian Commandos)

assault: Unit has bonuses against entrenched positions
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R35
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Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2013 9:35 am

RE: Unit traits

Post by R35 »

Honestly, some of those sound awesome. Some of them would probably make otherwise weaker units be very useful. I have a few questions though:
weakFlanks: Unit suffers more from outflanking attacks
Could you give an example of such a unit?
tunneling: Unit can travel through underground tunnels
How does this work? Does the unit use existing/pre-placed on the map tunnels or is it able to build its own? How far can it travel this way and does it suffer any penalties for doing this?
noSupply: Unit does not require supply
Could you give an example of such a unit currently in game?
fieldArmour: Unit can trade speed for additional "field armour"
Is this like an instantly switchable unit or does it cost a turn or so?

A bit off-topic. I remember reading some suggestions some user made at Slitherine regarding PzC. Some of them made sense to me like the submerged submarine not firing back when it is attacked and maybe not turning (visually on the map) to face the attacker. Similarly, strategic bombers at least, not turning to face the fighters when they are attacked. Maybe some sort of trait that stops bomber aircraft that aren`t meant to have a dual role from turning towards the interceptors since in reality they`d just try to flee and use their usually backwards facing protection guns. EDIT: in fact they could just do the opposite to normal units and just turn their backs to the fighters each time they`re attacked. :D
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Lukas
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RE: Unit traits

Post by Lukas »

weakFlanks => bunkers (which are generally designed to face one way), slow turning turretless TDs (T28, Ferdinant etc)

tunneling => pre-placed tunnels on a few specific maps (ex Iwo Jima). The design is kept fairly simple: units can "warp" between tunnel entrances. It costs all their movement points. Tunnels also connect supply lines so a region that is cut of will get supply from another sector if they both have tunnels. Tunnels are also "camouflaged" so can't be seen until enemy stumbles upon them.

noSupply => mostly for "object" units such as minefields but certain Commando units also have it, allowing them to operate more easily behind enemy lines.

fieldArmour => Takes a turn. Represents the habbit of Allied soldiers to put wooden plates, sandbags and weld additional armour plating to their tanks for extra protection. Visualised on the unit model of course.


@ Subs & bombers: Already way ahead of you [;)] Bombers will turn away from attacker and fire their defensive guns. Subs will not fire back if detected when submerged, but only the unit that detected it can attack as well as any unit that has not yet moved. So you can't detect a sub and then move your whole fleet to destroy it in one blow. Sub can only travel 1 hex per turn when submerged though, so it takes some hunt & seek action to fight them effectively.

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Depth Charges fired VS submerged submarine
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R35
Posts: 362
Joined: Sat Aug 10, 2013 9:35 am

RE: Unit traits

Post by R35 »

ORIGINAL: Lukas

weakFlanks => bunkers (which are generally designed to face one way), slow turning turretless TDs (T28, Ferdinant etc)
It`s a very interesting feature. It also means the engine knows when a unit is being attacked from the flanks. Makes me wonder about having different results depending on the direction from which you attack an unit as a general feature.
fieldArmour => Takes a turn. Represents the habbit of Allied soldiers to put wooden plates, sandbags and weld additional armour plating to their tanks for extra protection. Visualised on the unit model of course.
You mean you`ve actually went through the trouble of having a separate unit graphics set for when the Shermans and such get sandbags loaded onto them? That`s some effort you`re putting into this product.
@ Subs & bombers: Already way ahead of you [;)] Bombers will turn away from attacker and fire their defensive guns. Subs will not fire back if detected when submerged, but only the unit that detected it can attack as well as any unit that has not yet moved. So you can't detect a sub and then move your whole fleet to destroy it in one blow. Sub can only travel 1 hex per turn when submerged though, so it takes some hunt & seek action to fight them effectively.
All sounds great! Everything so far is very encouraging about this game.
Depth Charges fired VS submerged submarine
Thumbs up!
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Lukas
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RE: Unit traits

Post by Lukas »

Makes me wonder about having different results depending on the direction from which you attack an unit as a general feature.

Direction or unit facing have no effect really, but a specific positioning of units. Any friendly unit adjacent to the target and NOT adjacent to the attacker or any other enemy unit that is also adjacent to the target (thus basically covering that flank) will count as "outflanking support". It gives a combat advantage in the attack. Similar to PzC's "mass attack" but slightly more complex. Basically attacks from opposing directions on exposed enemy units will give you an advantage.

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As you can see in this screenshot, the Japanese light tank will be receiving outflanking support from the top left infantry (marked will blue +). The bottom left infantry is invalid cos it's "coming from the same direction" (adjacent to the attacker), the top infantry is invalid cos that flank is being covered by the enemy AT gun.
(Also notice the AT guns being in a position to provide support for the defender)


PS: all these gameplay mechanics are still in testing phase and may still be altered or removed in the course of the game's development.
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