Rules of Engagement

Each unit can have individual ‘rules of engagement’ set to control how that unit reacts to spotted enemy units. You can change these by pressing the buttons on the left hand panel above the unit graphic. The rules of engagement are divided into two categories: combat reactions, and movement reactions.

Rules of engagement can be changed at each waypoint, or at the start of the turn. The current state of a units rules of engagement are indicated by the two small coloured blobs above the unit graphic in the map, and the two icons above the unit graphic on the bottom left interface panel.

COMBAT REACTIONS

Combat reactions determine whether a unit will attack or not if it has no specific orders remaining for the turn.

Fire/attack on command: The unit will only shoot or attack if it is given specific attacking orders.

Fire/attack at will: The unit will attack the closest spotted enemy unit However, a unit will always take its ‘reaction time’ to acquire a target before shooting commences. Spawn units with close combat ability will attempt to move towards the spotted enemy unit.

MOVEMENT REACTIONS

Continue on sighting: The unit will continue with its original orders, ignoring any spotted enemy units.

Halt on sighting: The unit will stop as soon as it spots an enemy unit. This instruction does not apply to any enemy units already visible on the map at the start of the turn, only to enemy units that become visible during the turn. If the unit is a combatant, once stopped it will attempt to fire on the nearest enemy unit if it has ‘fire/attack at will’ set.

Retreat on sighting: The unit will move back to the previous waypoint where 'retreat on sighting' was selected, or back to the start position if this option was active at the start of the turn. Further sightings of enemy units will have no effect, and the unit will not move any further during the turn.

It is possible to use this option in a more sophisticated way by setting 'retreat on sighting' at several waypoints along a unit's route. This means that you can control the position where a unit may retreat to more effectively, since the unit will only retreat back to the last waypoint where 'retreat on sighting' was set.

Be careful with this setting because it may not be very useful if there are already many enemy units around. It may be more effective to set this just before a unit moves round an unexplored corner while it is still in a relatively safe position.

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