I have a game going with a new player and he asks a lot of questions-usually good ones. I am including them in this and invite everyone to comment.
Q. Question for you on assaulting. As you can see from the replay, I assaulted with single units rather than massing the attackers all at once. My primary reason for doing it in this situation was to try to win "on the cheap" and to be able to move the uninvolved units further. As a general rule, what do you find better clears a hex, several successive assaults at lower odds or fewer attacks at higher odds?
A. Disrupting the unit first, leaving it a retreat path open for it, and then minimum assault to clear it. I assumed you wanted to force the enemy to retreat, not eliminate it. If eliminate it, then do not leave it a retreat path. As far as the size goes it depends on the size of the defender. I try to avoid assaulting undisrupted units-usually cost prohibitive. Single unit assaults lead to multiple DF against you and more chances of you being disrupted.
Q. Same kind of thing for fire combat. But here I'm more interested in causing fatigue rather than losses. Do I max enemy fatigue by firing individual units or is it better to mass them? From what I can tell of the way automatic defensive fire works, it seems as if every time I do something in a hex under observation (fire, assault, change mode) I make myself liable to defensive fire, so in that sense, the fewer times I "activate" my units the better.
A. I do not fire at units to cause higher fatigue. I fire to disrupt units. Once disrupted I switch to other available targets. When I am on the defensive I tend to minimize my shots especially when faced with multiple units. Many times if forced to fire I fire in stacks to minimize DF back. Fatigue is not the issue, disruption is. I try not to get my units disrupted by defensive fire in my turn-my opponent doesn’t use MPs to do so so basically a free shot. It means he does not have use fire (and MP) to disrupt me in his next turn, will face less DF before he assaults, and can clear the hex with minimum force.
Q. Am I correct in thinking that if I try an air mission (either strike or recon) and I get a message of either "intercepted by enemy aircraft" or "intercepted by SAMs", that while I don't get the air mission that turn, it is available for use again the next turn, i.e. unlike a successful mission which is "used" and has to pass the parameter data check to become available again.
A. As far as I know yes.
Q. Is there a quick way (in the editor possibly) of seeing the combat and movement values of the various unit types, or am I going to have to check them out in the unit view and write the stats down somewhere?
A. I think the OOB Editor is your best