Element values explained

[BigDuke66]

As the manual lacks such explanation, is anyone able to explain the values on the various element screens?
Especially the double values(X/X) in the combat screen like firepower for example leave me clueless.

[enf91]

Offensive Fire refers to the unit's chance to hit when in Offensive or Assault posture (multiplied by 2.5% or something).
Defensive Fire is the same, but in Defensive or Passive posture.
Fire Damage is hits/cohesion.
Assault Damage is the same.
Assault is the probability of hitting in Offensive/Defensive posture (offensive first, defensive second).
Patrol/evade refers to this unit's ability to [prevent enemies from escaping]/[escape]. Usually important only for small stacks (smaller than a division or so): big stacks can't evade well.

[Gray Fox]

Here is the link to the AGEWiki on combat resolution. Many of the element values plug into the equation:

http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/Combat_Explained#Hitchances_in_the_Fire_Phase

As you can see, the off/def values are unfortunately not simply multiplied by 2.5% to get the to-hit chance. By checking battle-logs after combat, I've found most elements to get a to-hit chance after all modifications of roughly 20-40%. Entrenched artillery get a bonus and I have seen over 100% for deeply entrenched cannon. For example:

*** Start of action # 12 1007133 1st OH Lt., Bty.I vs 1002496 Manassas Guard ***
8:47:45 PM (Reporting) 1st OH Lt., Bty.I - Commander: Phil. Kearny Cmd Coeff. %: 125
8:47:45 PM (Reporting) 1st OH Lt., Bty.I - Unit Commander: C. Hamilton Cmd Coeff. %: 103
8:47:45 PM (Reporting) Battle effectiveness with leader rating: 128.00%
8:47:45 PM (Reporting) Attacker DmgDone: 2 CohDone: 12 AsltDmgDone 4 AsltCohDone: 30
8:47:45 PM (Reporting) Attacker ToHit: 23.00 rolled a 6 scoring a hit Defender remaining Health&Cohesion 11 / 49
8:47:45 PM (Reporting) *** End of action ***

On the Combat menu screen for a given element:

Firepower is the "Relevant Firepower" number in the equation for offense/defense.

Initiative is used to determine which element fires first, your unit or the enemy. If you fire first, then the enemy take damage before they fire, giving them reduced chances to hit and cause damage in return. A random number roll is involved, so the high initiative element doesn't always fire first.

Protec./Pen. is an intrinsic ability of some elements to use cover to reduce enemy to-hit chances. For most elements it's zero.

Ranged Damage is to Hits/Cohesion of the target.

Assault Damage is one number, so it is probably cohesion damage. The enemy routs and then may take hit damage in the pursuit phase.

Frontage Closed is a factor used for determining how many of these elements can fit on the battlefield in closed terrain during one round of combat. If you use the terrain filter on the main map, it will give you an example of how many combat and support elements a region will allow if you cursor over that region.

Range is exactly that, the max range at which this element can start firing. Terrain and weather also affect this.

Rate of Fire is only used in the first round of combat. Every round thereafter the element only fires once.

Discipline is the "Troop Quality Modifier". The higher the number the better the element will perform.

Assault is the base value to be modified when this element is in Offense/Defense for to-hit chance.

Frontage, open is as above except for Open terrain.

Cbt Signature is not explained anywhere. I used the search feature for the Wiki. I did a further search of just "signature" and found this:
"The selection of the enemy unit depends on the weight (total hits of the unit time their combat signature of the enemy units). This means that the elements of your unit are more likely to target the elements of a big brigade than to target a separate unit (with less hits). "
So the Cbt. signature is a factor in determining whether your element is targeted by the enemy.

Icons on the element menu have an explanation of their meaning if you cursor over them.

Experience adds to an element's combat values.

Hits are the amount of combat hits the element has remaining/total number of hits.

Cohesion is the same, cohesion remaining/total cohesion.

Finally, the number of men or horses or cannon the element has remaining/in total.

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I hope this is of help to you and not TMI.

[BigDuke66]

Thanks that was very helpful.

[bommerrang]

Gray Fox - where do you view the "battle log"?

[Gray Fox]

You're welcom Big Duke. I did finally find "Cbt. signature" and I edited my post to add it.

Bommerang, on my computer it was in the "Logs" folder. So to get to it I went to Documents/My Games/Civil War 2/CW2/Logs.
The battle logs are temporary files that get over-written with each new turn's combat. So if you fight a battle that you want to scutinize, you can Alt-Tab out of your current game and copy the battle log to your desktop for editing and saving. It's a long read to get to the interesting parts. Good luck!

[ArmChairGeneral]

The last time I looked closely (several patches ago) all the Combat Signatures in CW2 are the same. I assume that it is dial that is used in some of the other games, but unless the devs tinkered with some of the elements in recent patches, for us it is just an extraneous stat.

Since the Combat Sig multiplier is 100% for everything the net effect is that elements with more hits are still weighted more heavily than ones with less, so Fox's takeaway summary still holds even though the stat itself is not utilized.

The number of men horses and cannon are for flavor only, each model has a set number of men that a hit (heart) represents. The game does its internal calculations in terms of hits, rather than numbers of men. This sometimes makes number of men an unreliable estimate of combat performance. Some instances of perceived imbalances and ahistorical force sizes that people have brought up in the past stem from the fact that the number of men shown is notional rather than mechanical.