Realistic Command & Control

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Does anyone know any games that have it?

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Sometimes I play OFP with a mod that adds ability to command bigger units and to create battle plans on battlefield. It was pretty interesting. Often, it was hard to comprehend the situation on battlefield without going to the front and looking around.

Is there anything like that in ARMA? Does it have morale, suppression, etc. etc. etc.?

 

[GarfunkeL]

Old Close Combats. You issued orders to the squad-leader / vehicle commander, who then tried to carry them out as best as possible. Squads could lose members when under fire and the stragglers were able to re-join the squad if they later found it. Squads might get pinned down or they could panic. Basically the game modelled individual moral, so one guy out of a squad might run away, while others are cowering in foxholes and one idiot is standing up and firing happily away.

Steel Panthers series (some of them) has "command & control" button, which, if turned on, means you can only issue orders to formation leaders and sub-formation leaders if they are in radio contact and units were also only allowed to act towards their "mission goals", though you could change these in the game. So you couldn't take command of an individual tank and re-route them across the map - you had to take the whole platoon and issue them a target etc.

Hearts of Iron (all 3) have a mechanic where you divisions get "disorganized" after combat, meaning they are unable to receive or carry out orders (depends on the game which one it is). Units out of regular army hierarchy are not operating as efficiently as units in it.

TOAW series have several levels, where some units are incapable of co-operating because of different service branch or training levels, units could have several different levels of organisation/moral/readiness/cohesion and units could get knocked out of combat so that you could not issue them new orders.

Very few actually model it that well. Unrealistic C&C is the prime reason why you can win easily even if the historical situation for your force was nearly hopeless. And AI stupidity, of course.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

Old Close Combats. You issued orders to the squad-leader / vehicle commander, who then tried to carry them out as best as possible. Squads could lose members when under fire and the stragglers were able to re-join the squad if they later found it. Squads might get pinned down or they could panic. Basically the game modelled individual moral, so one guy out of a squad might run away, while others are cowering in foxholes and one idiot is standing up and firing happily away.

Well, on the other hand, you magically keep contact with all the squads, know their exact position all the time, magically see all the special effects like bullets and muzzle flashes and bodies of enemies, magically see the precise location of every enemy soldier that they have spotted, you have magical artillery and magical mortars, etc. etc. etc.

Steel Panthers series (some of them) has "command & control" button, which, if turned on, means you can only issue orders to formation leaders and sub-formation leaders if they are in radio contact and units were also only allowed to act towards their "mission goals", though you could change these in the game. So you couldn't take command of an individual tank and re-route them across the map - you had to take the whole platoon and issue them a target etc.

Does it mean that I wouldn't have to babysit every squad?

Very few actually model it that well. Unrealistic C&C is the prime reason why you can win easily even if the historical situation for your force was nearly hopeless. And AI stupidity, of course.

Very true.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Well, on the other hand,

Combat Missions provide that other half, at least up to a point. If you'd somehow manage to combine the two...

Does it mean that I wouldn't have to babysit every squad?

If I remember correctly and it's been a long time since I don't usually play with it on and it's not on every version to begin with, you command the platoon leader and rest of the platoon follow them. You still have to manually shoot every squad, unless you want to leave all to reaction fire. So it's not very good solution either.

 

[Malakal]

HoI3 did try to do this and with very good ideas, unfortunately execution failed as always. Simply because AI is so horribly incompetent. Still since it also means that opponents are also horribly incompetent this might be what You are looking for.

In HoI3 You can delegate command of certain armies and army groups to AI and give it goals while it tries to complete them.

 

[oscar]

http://www.outofeight.info/2010/04/scourge-of-war-gettysburg-review.html

how much is shown on the map, where you can move the camera, and whether orders must be physically carried by horseback. If you want a truly immersive experience, historical difficulty is the way to go: it puts you on an even playing field with the strong AI, makes you rely on the unpredictable and delayed courier system for orders, and ties the camera to your avatar, so you never really know what’s going on. That type of uncertainty was key in the Civil War, and in that aspect Scourge of War: Gettysburg is very engaging. While I really like the idea of restricting the camera view, in practice it makes clicking on the correct place and issuing an appropriate facing direction very difficult since your view is so close to the ground. I personally choose a custom setting, picking the historical options except for a more forgiving camera to make placing exact orders actually possible.

 

[The Barbarian]

The Barbarian sees that there are no proper wargaming MEN of worth, here. So he must interject.

The OP is clearly looking for 'Conquest of the Aegean' and 'La Grande Guerre'.

They model 'true' CnC quite well, from Conan's experience.

 

[Orgasm]

The Barbarian sees that there are no proper wargaming MEN of worth, here. So he must interject.

The OP is clearly looking for 'Conquest of the Aegean' and 'La Grande Guerre'.

They model 'true' CnC quite well, from Conan's experience.

COTA is awesome in multiplayer. Supply, moral, geography, direction. All matter. Feints work. Encirclement. Cutting supply. Line of sight. Day and night cycles. All in all kinda like Starcraft =P
You can command exclusively the commanders and they will try to achieve your set objective according to their stats.

 

[Awor Szurkrarz]

I have the first game from the series - Red Devils Over Arnhem.
I like how I don't have to babysit every single unit.
I'm not very fond of operational warfare, though.

I'd prefer to command a battalion or a company.