Eugen Systems: Zones of Control and Weapon Ranges

It's a slaughter, sir.  We crossed the river, hold all three bridges, own 90% of the map, and routed the enemy, but we didn't earn 4,000 points while doing it.

Eugen Systems:

Eugen Systems: Comparing Steel Division '44 and Wargame: Red Dragon

Eugen Systems: Zones of Control and Weapon Ranges

Eugen Systems: Airforces, AP, and Artillery

Only Red Dragon has a strategic map. But both games have battlefields, and in those battlefields, specific zones of control. For Steel Division, the entire map is split into two zones, those owned by the enemy, and those controlled by the player. The “Dynamic Front Line” indicates who controls which territory. It moves as the battle flows back and forth, as units advance, fight, retreat, and relocate. A map in the top right of the screen shows the entire battlefield, so the player can see the entire front line. It also indicates what percentage is under each faction's control. The team with more territory accrues points every few seconds. Points accumulate slowly. A team earns one point for controlling 51% of the map, and the reward increases incrementally. Controlling 60% of the map does not award the player ten points. Some maps use point value to determine the victor. For example, in one map, even though my forces controlled 87% of the map, with all three optional bridge objectives under allied control, I lost because I hadn't accumulated enough points by the time limit. The line looks cool, and it helps the player, but something feels wrong. It feels profoundly unhistorical to have an omniscient being indicate the general position of the enemy by moving the line as enemy units advance and retreat. It's impossible to make a secret maneuver because the enemy will see it as units advance, even though there are no units there to mark their movement.

Wargame: Red Dragon doesn't have a dynamic battleline. In any battlefield, certain small areas are marked with a square. These areas are only controlled if they have a command unit in them (command units are marked with a star). A moving command unit doesn't control the space. A dead unit doesn't either. Controlling areas offers numerous benefits. The player needs to control one area to deploy their air force. The player needs to control specific areas to bring on new ground units. Controlled areas also adds to the army's cohesion. Unit cohesion determines reinforcement points. These are awarded every few seconds, and are spent to deploy new units to the battlefield. The more areas the player controls, the swifter their army grows, though they need to protect more locations. Most battlefields have three to seven zones of control. If a team controls a zone it changes color to reflect the owner. No other spot on the battlefield changes color.

I already explained how Steel Division awards points for controlling a certain percentage of the map. Those are victory points. Wargame: Red Dragon awards control points to spend on new units. Steel Division also has a separate set of points to spend on units. In most campaign missions it awards these points every minute. The player receives the same value regardless of anything they do. Battles in Steel Division are broken into three phases (A, B, and C). Certain units can only be purchased during specific phases.

A few other words about reading the battlefields. In Red Dragon it is difficult to discern the formation of units maneuvering together. I mean, if I've selected a collection of units, and told them to move together to a location, assuming I am zoomed to the normal zoom, it will be difficult to see the units moving on the map, so an icon appears for each unit. But the locations of the icons don't correlate to the location of the unit. If three units are moving together, the unit on the left side of the group is just as likely to have its icon on the right side of the three. At the normal zoom it is also impossible to see the areas of control. Their square markings disappear as the player zooms out. They are only visible at close viewing. Also, I couldn't find a button to show the ranges of each unit. I mean, I can see on a unit the numerical value of the range, but I can't find a way to display it on the battlefield.

In Steel Division it is a simple task of clicking on a unit, and clicking a button to display an excellent range finder around the unit. It shows rings of varying distances up to the max range, and beyond. This setting also uses lighting to show where the line of sight is blocked, allowing the player to understand the terrain features.

Before a battle both sides choose their forces. In Steel Division the player listens to the briefing and picks from a selection of predetermined units. In Red Dragon the player moves units to fight the enemy in a specific location. In the latter the player has perfect information to the exact units at a battle. Reviewing this is essential for winning. Maybe the opponent has no air force, or maybe they have no unit capable of fighting your air force. Winning is often a matter of using units against the proper enemy units. When the player hovers over a unit in either game a graphic displays their attributes.

The units in Steel Division are either a group of men or a single vehicle. Steel Division shows a unit with its variety of weapons. Each weapon has an accuracy, rate of fire, Armor Piercing (AP) or High Explosive (HE) rating, Range, and Area of Effect. After the weapon information, there is more general information. A strength number indicates the number of people in the unit. Stealth, speed, and optics values are included as well. Some vehicles have an armor value. If they do, they can have a different value for each side. Armored units are nearly invulnerable to HE weapons. Defeating an armored unit requires a AP value near, or preferably better than the armor value. The game explains this concept.

Units in Red Dragon are similar, except that units are made up of groups of vehicles. Even infantry arrive in vehicles with minor combat prowess. Units have similar attributes to Steel Division. Every unit has one to four weapons. Each weapon has a range. This is the most important value. It tells whether the unit can attack ground units, helicopters, and/or airplanes. Weapons also accuracy, stabilizer, AP, HE, suppression, and rate of fire values. Like Steel Division, units also have a strength, size, optics, speed, stealth, fuel, and training values. Planes have slightly different attributes but the general idea remains the same.

The key is to figure out what a unit can defeat, and find those match-ups on the battlefield. This is even more true of Red Dragon. Each unit wields so many weapons, and many weapons can target two of the possible three unit types, it's essential the player figures out what the unit is actually good against. An infantry unit may be capable of hitting ground, helicopter, and air, but what is it capable of defeating? That is the essential question before pushing units into battle. The answer is simpler in Steel Division. Most units are only good at one thing, and it is pretty clear what that is. Most infantry are good against other infantry, and against tanks in close proximity. Machine guns and most artillery are especially good against infantry. For HE weapons, rate of fire and range are the most important information. For units with armor, like tanks, the player needs to attack them with equal or better AP; anti-tank and other tanks.

Because of the preponderance of vehicles in Red Dragon, armor piercing takes priority.

A conclusion in the next article.

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Eugen Systems: Comparing Steel Division '44 and Wargame: Red Dragon

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