Supremacy 1914 Combat System Guide

Supremacy 1914 Combat System Guide by Mor_Rioghain

Everything you always wanted to know about combat, but were afraid to ask.
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1 Introduction
2 The general principles of the combat system
3 Number of Troops
4 Morale
5 Mobilisation
6 Support Fire
7 Forts
8 Multiple combat
9 Naval Combat
10 Infantry range

1 Introduction
This is a guide to help you better understand how the combat system works and how all the elements interact.

2 The general principles of the combat system
Combat works in rounds. Every hour, a combat round is created for each fighting army. A combat round consists of both armies attacking each other, as well as each army defending against the attack. Each army will have it’s independent timing. After an army initiated a combat round it will have to wait 1 hour before it can initiate another. This is known as the cooldown period. It applies to both close combat and bombardment.
The key value in this system is an army’s strength. Strength determines how much damage an army can deal and take. A function of the attacking armies strength, the defending armies strength and a random factor will determine how much casualties the defending army will take.
Note that attacking and defending are not used in the strategical sense of the word.

3 Number of Troops
This is the first important factor in the combat system. The number of troops in an army is a major component in it’s strength. Infantry units will have a strength rating based on morale and mobilisation while the strength of mechanised units is based only upon mobilisation.
The number of troops will determine how long an army can hold out in battle. Do note that large infantry armies will fight at slightly reduced strength levels because of the inability to function at full potential with so many units crammed in one spot.
the number of troops in an enemy army can be estimated by the name of the army:
Brigade: up to 9 units
Division: < 25;
Corps: < 50
Army: < 100;
ArmyGroup: more than 100

4 Morale
Morale is the second important factor in the combat system. An armies moral determines the strength of it’s infantry units and infantry units alone. This means that facotry produced units (artillery, tanks, railguns and battleships) are not affected by morale. There is a positive correlation between the two, high moral means high strength.
Morale, just as the number of troops, will vary during combat. For every unit an army loses, there will be a small loss of morale. If your country and your soldiers run out of grain, the morale of your troops will start dropping.
Defeating an entire enemy army will give a small morale boost. The morale of a newly trained unit will be the same as the province it has been trained in. An army’s morale will also change slowly towards the morale of the province it is stationed in. The morale of armies on the sea will change towards 50%.
When armies merge, their morale will be the weighed mean of the morale before the merging.

5 Mobilisation
Mobilisation will influence the strength of an army, much like moral does, It however affects both infantry and mechanised units. It also determines the movement speed of units not located on railways. Low mobilisation will obviously slow down armies.
Mobilisation is dependent upon oil availability. As long as you have enough oil, your mobilisation will increase to 100%. If you run short of oil, it will drop.

6 Support Fire
Also known as bombardment, support fire is nothing more than having your artillery, railgun and battleship units fire at the opposing army. This can be done as support for a close combat, or done separate just to destroy enemy armies.
Bombardment works much like regular close combat, with the difference that only one army will be attacking. It’s attack strength will be determined by the bombardment units that are in the army and in range of the target.

7 Forts
Forts will help the defending army by reducing the damage an opposing army will inflict, while leaving your damage at the same level. Note that in this case defending is used in the strategical sense of the word. At the moment you will only get bonuses from forts in province you control and only when your army is in the garrison or very close to it.
Forts will be damaged by attacking army, gradually reducing their effectiveness over the duration of the battle.

8 Multiple Combat
If more than 2 armies are fighting in one location, you have multiple combat. Multiple combat is no different from regular combat, though you have to remember that an army will fight in any and all combats it’s involved in. This can lead to an army attacking several time per hour, once against each opposing army. Under the current system, an army is only capable of attacking 1 army at a time but it can defend against any number of enemy armies. Note that attacking and defending are used in a strategical sense.
A special case of multiple combat is where 2 armies are moving and/or are giving orders to attack each other. This will result for both armies in attacking as well as defending against the opponent, in the strategical sense. This will cause 2 battle rounds to be created for these armies per hour.

9 Naval Combat
All units are equal on the sea, except for battleships. Artillery and railguns are not able to bombard while embarked
and are thus limited to close combat. Artillery, railguns and tanks will have their strength reduced to 0.5 while Infantry will have their strength halved when embarked. They will also have their speed set.
Units will remain embarked until they have fully disembarked at a port. During the disembarking they will retain their reduced strength and artillery and railguns will not be able to bombard.
Battleships are the only units capable of bombarding while on the sea. They are also faster than embarked units.
The same formulas for combat still apply while on the sea, though one should remember that strength is greatly reduced.

10 Infantry range
Contrary to popular belief, infantry in the first world war were equipped with ranged weapons known as rifles. These rifles allowed them to engage the enemy from a very short distance, and this persists in the game. Infantry brigades have a small range, allowing them start combat even though they seem to be a few minutes away from their targets.