WINSPWW2 Sub-Tactical?

[vic]

I tried something like this a while back (DOS ver). I built "fire teams" of 3-4 men so that SP "platoons" really represented squads of (usually) 3 fire teams or maybe 2 FTs and a 3 man MG team. SP "companies" really represented platoons. I did this for a custom USMC OOB and posted on the old Yahoo board. I had one request for a copy and never got any feedback.

I tested pretty extensively and here's what i found:
1. lots of small fragile units (once they get around 50% casualties they tend to "pin" permanently) led to "boggy" gameplay.
2. the code produces very high levels of infantry casualties. even with infantry "toughened up" it's very bloody and small units just can't hang in there.
3. with more units, the 360 degree, all-weapons-are-used opfire thing is just unworkable. one unit moves and gets drilled by tons of opponents. one spends a lot of time watching opfire. likewise firing a unit ("pulling the trigger" during the player's phase) resulted in a deluge of return opfire.

the bad thing about all this opfire is that the game doesn't model "real time" well. it doesn't look at fire recived IN TOTAL and then assess damage. it lets units "pile on" sequentially. e.g. three four-man squads firing rifles should have the same effect as one twelve-man squad...but they don't. the three four-man squads will produce more casualties and more suppression because fire effects are calculated after each "round" is fired. three four-man units can get in (typically) a total of 18 "volleys" where the single twelve-man unit gets in 6.

managing infantry in SPWW2 is all about postioning units to deliver opfire effectively (e.g. interlocking fields of fire). against the AI it's easy...not so easy against skillful humans.

4. the game doesn't look at the number of MEN in a hex when calculating casualties (i.e. no regard to target density). it appears as if UNITS check to see if they are in a hex that has received fire.

it is (the "individual" idea) a neat thought but based upon what i tried the underlying sfw/file architecture makes it very problematic.

best,
vic