Question about couriers in SP

[Wraith7216]

In the SP game can couriers only be used to relay your orders to subordinates, or can they also be used to request assistance from superiors? I've tried requesting reinforcements from my CO but it doesn't seem to have any effect. Thanks.
The more I play SoW the more I love it, so addictive it's like electronic crack!!

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Wraith7216 wrote:

I've tried requesting reinforcements from my CO but it doesn't seem to have any effect. Thanks.

Reinforcements will be provided if certain conditions are met:

1. You must be engaged with the enemy. If you only see the enemy massing and preparing to steamroller over you, you will not receive any help. You have to be actively fighting.

2. Your CO must have troops that are not engaged themselves. A commander will not order troops to pull out of a fight and rescue you.

3. The time it takes for the orders to pass through the chain of command via couriers can be a long one. It is not unusual for 30-45 minutes to pass before any help shows up.

There is I believe a bug in the game. If a unit is en-route to your location to help out, sometimes the commander will receive an order from his superior, countermanding the reinforcement order, to go somewhere else. Sometimes that location is his original starting position! That seems to happen ~20-30% of the time.

Hope that helps.

[Wraith7216]

Thank you very much MTG!!!

[Martin James]

Wraith7216 wrote:

I've tried requesting reinforcements from my CO but it doesn't seem to have any effect. Thanks.

Reinforcements will be provided if certain conditions are met:

1. You must be engaged with the enemy. If you only see the enemy massing and preparing to steamroller over you, you will not receive any help. You have to be actively fighting.

2. Your CO must have troops that are not engaged themselves. A commander will not order troops to pull out of a fight and rescue you.

3. The time it takes for the orders to pass through the chain of command via couriers can be a long one. It is not unusual for 30-45 minutes to pass before any help shows up.

There is I believe a bug in the game. If a unit is en-route to your location to help out, sometimes the commander will receive an order from his superior, countermanding the reinforcement order, to go somewhere else. Sometimes that location is his original starting position! That seems to happen ~20-30% of the time.

Hope that helps.

That's great advice MTG, thanks. Are you sure about the bug though, or could it be design intent? Surely you should not be sure your commander will send you reiforcements every time 1-3 are met, just because you ask for them. You are the subordinate and he is the boss after all. He has the bigger picture, may have his own plans for those troops, have you down as a timid commander, or just feel he needs to hang on to those reserves for future contingences?

Martin

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Martin James wrote:

Surely you should not be sure your commander will send you reiforcements every time 1-3 are met, just because you ask for them. You are the subordinate and he is the boss after all. He has the bigger picture, may have his own plans for those troops, have you down as a timid commander, or just feel he needs to hang on to those reserves for future contingences?

That is all true. Sometimes he just will not send help. But the instances I am referring to are times when the help is on the way, sometimes within a couple hundred yards of the fighting, the help receives a courier message and away they go.

One can also see this strange behavior when the player's command is ordered to be the tactical reserve. Sometimes, again perhaps 20% of the time, the battle is going badly and the player is ordered to move to some part of the map that is absolutely irrelevant to the battle.

I think what is happening is that there are two 'loops' that are performed in the program. One deals with the movement of units to search out the enemy. The other deals with the battle itself. Once the battle begins, the 'search for enemy loop' does not shut down, but continues to run. There have even been times when I've been heavily engaged and receive an order to move to some quiet part of the map. Not often, but it does happen.

[Martin James]

That's interesting. Thanks for clarification.

Martin