Overview
Part of the “Best Point: Military Tactics for Dummies’ project, this guide focuses on the environment of the battlefield. It is a collection of useful information in regards to seasons, terrain, cover and other battlefield features.
Introduction
The goal of this guide is to clarify the different non-unit related elements and factors one can find on a battlefield. It uses a mixture of text, tables and illustrations to present a clear picture. Most information within is not readily found or accessible without delving into the games files or being familiar with the game, but
This guide is part of the “Best Point: Military Academy for Dummies” curriculum. The ultimate goal of said project is to offer a complete and in-depth guide on anything and everything related to the tactical battles in “Grand Tactician: The Civil War”. It strives to combine information gathered from the game files with opinions from the playerbase to create useful guides for both new and experienced players.
For more information on helping with the project, hop on the unofficial discord[discord.gg] and shoot a message to Fail_Knight.
This steam guide corresponds with the “Battlefield Environment” section of the Best Point project.
Seasons
NOTE: This guide uses the “Seasons” header for anything related to the weather, even if it is not truly linked to the season.
The season during which you fight has more impact on a battle than one might suspect. This impact can range from weather phenomena and frozen rivers to short fighting hours, and all these factors can serve to drastically alter the feel of a battlefield.
The main impact of weather is on the rate of fire of units.
NOTE: If there are other battlefield consequences to weather types, this guide is not aware of them (yet).
Weather and Effect on RoF
Temperature is mainly important for one reason, freezing. Should the temperature drop low enough, it is possible for streams and rivers to freeze over, potentially transforming a difficult obstacle into a minor inconvenience.
Average Temperature and Possibility of Snow
NOTE: These are average temperatures and can vary by ~10°F.
NOTE: Snow is only possible with temperatures <46°F in winter.
Fighting hours are of critical importance for any battle. They dictate how much time you have to execute your tactics before the next resupply and deployment phase, meaning they can make or break entire stratagems if not accounted for. The difference between fighting in the middle of winter and the height of summer is 7 hours of combat, almost an entire extra day when using the winter as a baseline. Since the period at the end of a day is used for redeploying, resupplying, resting and recovering morale or even retreating it is vital that you don’t operate under the wrong time scale assumptions.
Day start and end times with maximum duration
NOTE: Battles starting outside of fighting hours will fast forward to the start of the next day.
Geography
Geography relates to the physical features of the battlefield. These features can be both natural or human made in origin. In in-game terms, they include the type of terrain beneath a unit’s feet, objects and features that can provide cover and locations where the battle area is constricted (choke points).
Geography – Terrain
Terrain is an important factor in any battle. Based on the influence a particular terrain has on movement speed, cohesion, fatigue or concealment, entire areas of the battlefield can be rendered unsuitable to fight on (or suitable to force the enemy over).
One of the key things to be aware of is that while terrain imposes (significant) movement costs, these are not actually taken into account for most pathfinding. When giving long distance movement orders it is entirely possible for units to march over some of the most punishing terrain imaginable instead of taking a longer but quicker alternate route.
Terrain Types and Their Effects
*: Conditional on crop height.
Bridges
All bridges, both the permanent ones and the temporary pontoon bridges, fall under this terrain type. Together with the Road terrain type it is one of the two terrains that has no inherent movement speed cost increase, or in gameplay terms, it does not affect movement speed. It has a low cohesion penalty and also has the second lowest fatigue cost for traversal, only beaten by Roads and Grasslands and matched by Pontoons.
Creeks
A fairly common terrain type found on many maps. It is mostly found around the small streams that are not worthy of being called a full river. Like all watery terrains (Creeks, Crossings, Rivers and Swamps) it imposes a severe movement speed penalty, making it prime defensive terrain and severely delaying any movement over it. If you have to move laterally to a creek, keep some distance from the stream so that you don’t suffer too much from its slowing effects. Creek terrain also imposes a moderate cohesion penalty and has a very high fatigue cost per hour.
Crossings
A somewhat rare terrain type, it can be found on some maps at places where units can ford larger rivers without relying on bridges or pontoons. Like all watery terrains (Creeks, Crossings, Rivers and Swamps) it imposes a severe movement speed penalty, making it prime defensive terrain and severely delaying any movement over it. A crossing has a moderate to high cohesion penalty and a moderate fatigue cost per hour.
Fences & Walls
A terrain type that can be found on most maps, though more common on some. The immediate area near to a fence or wall usually belongs to this terrain type. It is one of the more punishing terrains to manoeuver over, making it suitable for fixed positions but not for more mobile warfare. It imposes a severe movement speed penalty, as well as a significant cohesion malus and a very high fatigue cost.
Fields
Fields are of an unusual terrain type in the sense that they work slightly different depending on the height of their crops. If the crops are of sufficient height, fields convey a concealment bonus of some significance. Not enough to hide until an enemy stumbles into them, but perhaps enough to make a location seem empty at a distance. Fields penalize units with a moderate speed reduction and minor cohesion and low to moderate fatigue debuffs.
Forests
Forests are quite a common terrain type, with some maps being nearly entirely covered with it. It has a large impact on speed, reducing it considerably, and imposes moderate penalties on cohesion and fatigue. It does offer a (constant) concealment buff, which is nice.
Grasslands
Grasslands are amongst the most ubiquitous terrain types in the game. In many ways it is the ideal offensive ground, imposing the lowest speed penalty save for Roads and Bridges and having no cohesion penalty associated with it. It does have a minor fatigue cost per hour.
Pontoons
Pontoons are a rare terrain type that can be found in similar places like Bridges, but is a slightly worse terrain. It reduces movement speed, though not as low as most other terrains. It has a low cohesion penalty and also has the second lowest fatigue cost for traversal, only beaten by Roads and Grasslands and matched by Bridges.
Rivers
Rivers are the most punishing of all the terrains. Like all watery terrains (Creeks, Crossings, Rivers and Swamps) it imposes a severe movement speed penalty, making it prime defensive terrain and severely delaying any movement over it. It also has an astounding debuff to cohesion, reducing it to naught on nearly any unit. Even its fatigue cost is extreme, capable of tiring out units rapidly.
Roads
Roads are as close to the ideal offensive terrain as one can get. There is no movement or cohesion penalty associated with this terrain, and it would take hours to exhaust a unit when only marching over this terrain type.
NOTE: It is unclear if all roads and tracks are of this terrain type. More testing needs to be done in this regard.
Swamps
Swamps are not very common, but maps that have it tend to have a fair amount of this terrain type at once. Like all watery terrains (Creeks, Crossings, Rivers and Swamps) it imposes a severe movement speed penalty, making it prime defensive terrain and severely delaying any movement over it. In fact, it is the terrain that reduces movement speed the most. It comes with a high cohesion penalty and moderate to high fatigue cost as well.
Geography – Cover
Cover is a common part of any battlefield and can be used to shelter units both from view and from incoming fire. Depending on the origin of the cover we divide it into 3 categories. Natural cover is cover formed by the plants and geographical features of the battlefield. Premade cover is made by human hands, but its presence on a battle map is a predetermined fact. Constructable cover is made by human hands and can be erected in the deployment phases or during the battle itself. Constructable cover does not carry over to subsequent battles in the same location.
Cover Types and Their Effects
*: See Forests text below.
**: See Parapets & Abatis/Obstacles text below
Natural cover are those types of cover that originate from naturally occurring terrain features like vegetation or running water.
Creeks
Creeks are amongst the lightest covers available in the game, with only standard roads and simply no cover offering less protection. This type of cover is plagued by the fairly harsh terrain type that is associated with it. While this helps somewhat in defending a creek based position, it is also a risk for the defender because it can affect his units too. Creeks give low protection and low concealment.
Forests
Forests are unique in that this cover type automatically applies when on a forest terrain type. There are no clover positions that have to be manned to get the benefits. This type of cover grants low protection and moderate concealment.
Premade cover are those types of cover that are of human construction in origin, but that come predetermined with the map.
Buildings
Intact Buildings
Destroyed Buildings
Ruined Buildings
Fences
Fences are a quite common type of cover and tend to be clustered together to some extent. Fences offer a low cover value and low concealment.
Railroads
Railroad Banks
Railroad Banks are an uncommon cover type, but when it is present it often comes in the form of one long segment, offering a convenient linear position. It is slightly better than normal fences and creeks, but loses out to most other cover types in one or both aspects. It offers low protection and concealment.
Unfinished Railroads
Unfinished Railroads are an unusual cover type, just like their finished cousin, but again come in the form of long lines that make them suitable for lodging positions on. It offers a low to moderate cover value but only low concealment.
Roads
Normal Roads
Normal roads are very common on most maps, but they no longer allow units to snap to them when aligning units. They offer very little cover and concealment.
Sunken Roads
Sunken roads are an uncommon cover type, though they are more readily available on some maps. This type of road does allow units to snap into alignment and offers medium protection and concealment.
Stone Walls
Stone Walls are basically the premium fence. They are less common, but offer better protection and obfuscation. This type of cover offers moderate protection and low to moderate concealment.
Constructable cover can be erected during a battle. Breastworks can be made during the fighting hours or the deployment phases while improved parapets are limited to the deployment phases. Construction during a deployment phase requires the army to have available engineering points.
Breastworks
Breastworks are the easiest constructable cover type.While not as good as some the premade cover types, it can still be an improvement compared to fences and the like. This cover type offers low to moderate protection and concealment.
Parapets
Parapets are a constructable cover type, but are limited to the deployment phases at the start of a battle or a new day in regards to actually being placed.
Level 1 – Earthen Parapets
Earthen parapets are the first tier of trenches and offer medium cover value and medium concealment.
Level 2 – Reinforced Parapets
Reinforced parapets are the second tier of trenches and offer high cover value and high concealment.
Level 3 – Parapets & Abatises
Parapets with abatis are the third tier of trenches and offer high cover value and high concealment. They also come with an abatis of sharpened tree branches that slows down approaching units.
Level 4 – Parapets & Obstacles
Parapets with obstacles are the fourth and final tier of trenches and offer high cover value and high concealment. They also come with an abatis of sharpened tree branches and spikes that both slow down approaching units.
Geography – Choke Points
Choke points are those locations in the battle map where the combat area shrinks. This can take the form of either a hard choke point or a soft choke point depending on the layout of the terrain and geographical features like rivers and bridges. The main difference between these two types is that a hard choke point will always function as a choke point, even if there are no opposing forces present, whereas a soft choke point is only a choke point if there are opposing forces to enforce the narrowing of the combat area.
A hard Choke point is a place where there are only a limited number of routes to get from point A to point B. There is no way around the choke point without taking a massive detour and the choke point itself is often very narrow. The most common hard points of this type are bridges, crossings and pontoons on rivers, but it can also be a stretch of land enclosed on both sides by rivers without any traversal locations nearby.
A soft choke point is an area where there are multiple routes to get from point A to B, but due to terrain or cover one of these routes is of superior quality compared to the alternatives. The choke point only starts functioning effectively if there are enough forces to deny the alternative routes that are present. The most common soft points of this type are areas of easily traversed terrain flanked by harsh terrain and gaps in stretches of cover.
Entry Points
Entry points are locations at the edge of the map from which supplies flow to armies during battle and from which potential reinforcements can arrive. Several factors influence the initial ownership of these points, but generally you can assume that an army with good readiness will hold more entry points when giving battle. Entry points also serve as exit points for routed and retreating units.
Reinforcing corps and armies can only arrive on the map at one of its entry points, and only those owned by their side. Should their expected entry point be captured by the enemy, the reinforcements will try to reroute towards another owned entry point, but this will delay their arrival.
Note: It is unclear what happens to reinforcements should there be no available entry points.
Note: It is unclear if reinforcements can reroute to neutral entry points.
After the fighting day ends, but before proceeding to the deployment phase, armies are resupplied. These supplies come in from the entry points controlled by the correct side. Before the external supplies are brought in, there is a process in which ammo is exchanged between units in the same groups. Afterwards, all units within the command range of their direct superior should receive fresh supplies, unless there are enemy units intercepting the supplies between the entry point and your own units. Distance and the administration skill also play a role, but these are less important.