Assessments - 3, GPA: 3.7
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Four years ago, France surrendered to Germany, and the remnants of the British Expeditionary Force fled from the beaches of Dunkirk. Now the Allies are ready to strike back. Their goal is to liberate western Europe. The Germans’ goal is to hurl the invaders back into the sea. Failing that, they must harass and delay the Allies and make them pay for every foot of ground. In this campaign, the fate of nations hangs in the balance. The campaign you’ll be fighting in Close Combat took place in Normandy between June 6 and July 18, 1944. It begins late on D-Day as units of the American 29th Infantry Division reach the high ground above Omaha Beach to meet the German 352nd Infantry Division. The campaign ends 20 miles inland at the strategic town of Saint-Lo. During those six weeks, soldiers of the Allied and German armies endure some of the closest and most vicious combat of World War II, across one of the most bizarre terrains ever contested in any war: the Norman hedgerow country—the bocage. It’s a place where rulebook tactics don’t hold up; where a defense based on infiltration and ambush kills men and tanks who seldom see the enemy; where adaptability and improvisation become as important as tanks and guns in pressing the attack. No matter which side you choose to play, Close Combat is an intriguing mix of historically accurate weapons and terrain, realistic combat psychology, and opportunities to change history through superior skill and leadership. The Close Combat campaign consists of six operations, each with distinct challenges and opportunities. The decisions you make and the leadership you provide decide the outcome of each operation, and shape the campaign to reflect your effectiveness as a commander. Close Combat Close Combat Game Theory Historical accuracy and realistic psychology make Close Combat different from other strategy games. The forces, the locations, the weapons, all reflect the reality of the Normandy Campaign. And the Close Combat artificial intelligence (AI) tracks not only every round fired, but also the physical and psychological states of individual soldiers and their teams. Because the AI uses this information to vary soldier and unit performance in every situation, every game is different. You Lead Human Beings, not Superheroes One of the first things you’ll notice when you play Close Combat is that you can’t always make things happen when or as you want them to. Close Combat challenges the player with a realistic representation of complex and unpredictable human behavior under the stress of combat. For example, when you order your units to move or fire, they may respond immediately and move or fire quickly, or take a while to respond, or not respond at all. They may also react in a way that has nothing to do with your orders: They might take on an entirely different target, or dive for cover, or hide, or run away. This is because your soldiers behave not like robots or superheroes, but like—human beings! Your troops’ human behavior doesn’t mean their reactions are out of your hands, however. The better you lead your men, the better they respond to your orders. Players who lead their squads into trouble—whose decisions result in squads becoming overly fatigued, suppressed by incoming fire, ambushed, captured, or killed—will find that their units’ performance deteriorates: Incoming fire makes the men want to seek cover, and reduces their desire to attack. Fatigue also reduces the likelihood of soldiers hitting their targets, or obeying future orders that require physical effort. If the fire is heavy enough and their cover is insufficient, soldiers may disregard orders and stay put instead of moving and firing. As each side takes casualties, its cohesion—the willingness of its soldiers to fight—deteriorates. And if a player’s leadership has resulted in heavy casualties or sufficient accumulated stress, soldiers may break and run. Close Combat bases its psychological model on a study of the behavioral effects of combat stress by Dr. Steven Silver of Temple University. The game tracks the cumulative physical and emotional stress that soldiers and units on both sides experience. Given their current state at any point in a game, it determines whether or not soldiers will carry out orders, and how quickly and effectively they will carry out those orders. Chapter 1 About Close Combat You can choose to exercise “super” control over your troops by setting soldiers in the “always obey orders” mode before starting a game, but you can’t switch them out of this mode during play, and gains made this way usually lead to increased casualties and decreased team performance. For more information, see the section titled “Who’s in Control? You Choose.” Taking Other Realistic Factors into Account You’ll notice as you play that Close Combat tracks soldier fatigue and adjusts soldier and squad performance to reflect cumulative fatigue. As in actual battle, men who have run long distances carrying heavy l...