Scourge of War Boards

I can understand why a unit would be unhappy bout being surrounded, so the morale bit i get - but im curious why a unit on your flank firing at you causes more damage than a unit right ahead of u...

Must be harder to hit a regiment that you can hardly see side-on than one spread out in front of u??

tnx

The regiment doing the flanking is not being fired upon to any extent. For them it's target practice. If you were a defenseless target, what would you do?

Yes, and a flanking regiment can aim a whole lot better, inflict more damage when they aren't dodging bullets.

So a better approach would be to decrease a regiment's firepower proportionately to the amount of fire (measured in casualties) they have taken in the last X seconds.

You need to learn something about linear combat.

Among many things, discipline was very important to maintaining proper alignment, rates of fire, etc. This was how order was maintained on the battlefield. Troops didn't have freedom of action to make changes on their own. In a linear formation officers had few options to being flanked. They would call up support, refuse a portion of their line or fall back. When you fired at a linear line from head on you could hit one or two guys, that is the first or second line. When you fired at a linear line from the side you could possibly hit any one of a hundred men depending on the elevation of the rifle. The hit percentage was greatly increased. Also, troops receiving fire from the flanks became unnerved very easily and would not stand for long in that type of fire.

Interesting - I didn't know this either and had wondered about it.

"im curious why a unit on your flank firing at you causes more damage than a unit right ahead of u..."

This is a principle that applies to combat today as well (interlocking fields of fire). Think of it this way- if you are shooting at a line parallel to you, your bullet either hits the man in front of you or misses completely. Now if you are shooting at a line roughly perpendicular to you, your shot might hit your target, or it might miss and hit the man to his right (behind him from your perspective) or the man to his right, and so on and so on. Your chances of hitting some part of the line with any given shot are far better when you are facing them at an angle. Its the same deal today- you are better off with two machines guns straight in front of you than you are with one at your 10 and one at your 2. Thats a kill box.