Initiative - mechanics

[captainjack]

Hi Gunja,
Every kill also generates suppression.
Some initiative functions are influenced by experience levels, but I'm pretty sure it's 1/2 point of suppression for every kill in all circumstances (so in your example, 3 kills = 1.5 suppression, which is rounded down to 1).

You've probably noticed that weather and terrain affect initiative significantly for most troop types (infantry tend to be OK in close terrain), and of these weather has the biggest effect as it comes in AFTER all the bonuses have been added in, so the only thing that matters is luck (0,+1, +2 die roll) and mass attack, meaning your hero and experience bonuses don't count.

[Gunja]

Thank you, captainjack.
This explains a lot of cases and especially the examples in this post, but unfortunately there are others that I still don`t get. For example I had the following results in a combat between a Crusader MK III and a Panzer II C. The Crusader won the initiative (9 vs. 5) and attacked with an unsuppressed strength of 10.
Than you have the following results:

Unsuppressed strength: 10
Miss: 26 %, Suppress: 11%, Kill: 63%.
Dice rolls: 81 11 100 35 30 31 64 27 60 17
4 killed 5 suppressed

So why are there 5 suppressed strength points? Based on the colour of the numbers it should be four. Based on the rule you suggested (1/2 suppression for every kill it should be 6: 4 kills = 2 suppression + the 4 already suppressed), or am I missing something?
Or does the initiative has anythingto do with it? But as far as I understand the difference in the effective initiative is important for 2 things: who shots first and how many of the damaged (killed + suppressed) units can shoot back, right? So all the weather and epxerience differences are already expressed in the difference betweend the effective initiative, are they not?

By the way, if anyone has a link to a foolproofed instruction on how to post images, it would be really appreciated. In other words, excuse me for not providing an screenshot.

[captainjack]

First the easy one: posting pictures is only possible when you have gone past a certain number of posts. I think it's ten posts so you probably can do it from now on.

Second: I would have expected 4 kills and six suppression but now you mention it I think it's [kills x (0.5 - (0.1 x *)]. Green unit has 0 stars, (0.5 - 0) = 0.5/kill suppressed. 3* unit is (0.5 -0.3) x kills = 0.2/kill. 5* = (0.5 - 0.5) x kills = 0 extra suppression.

Third: The usual initiative effects come only once the final initiative difference has been calculated. If I remember correctly, terrain caps on initiative are applied before experience, heroes, and any others. But weather caps are applied after all the bonuses but before the die roll. If you expect rain and snow, make sure you have some artillery backing your high-initiative units as they will otherwise lose all their initiative advantage.

[Gunja]

Thank you, captainjack. That must be it (didn`t play since yesterday but it seems to fit, it does a least in my example). I really appreciate your answer, it drove me actually crazy not to know, how the combat results screen works. I guess, the order of inititative effects is captured quite well in the combat results screen, I just thougt it might be important for the question of the indication of suppressed strength at the bottom of the screen in some hidden way. But as you convincengly explained, it must be the experience factor, that accounts for the difference between the numbers of dice rolls and the number of suppressed units. Thank you very much for your clarifications, it will help me a lot to enjoy the game with a better understanding of the underlying formulas.