GAME MANUAL - Steam

HEARTS OF IRON DARKEST HOURhowever, so his two divisionswould benefit from his traitsand skill. If they are defending,their ratings are combined andthe 75% overstacking penaltywould be removed sincethey can jointly command 4divisions. However, since themajor general is personallyoverstacked, neither of his twodivisions would benefit fromeither his skill or is traits. Inthat instance, the one divisionthat is being “handled” by thelieutenant general (foroverstacking purposes) wouldnot benefit from the lieutenantgeneral’s skill or traits either.As you can see, the best ruleof thumb is to never overstackan officer!Envelopment and Multiple-Front AttacksOne of the most effectivetactics that can be employedby an attacking force is tolaunch their attack fromseveral different provincesagainst the same target. Thisis for two very importantreasons: the defender willsuffer an attack and defenceeffectiveness envelopmentmodifier, and the attackingleaders may stack theirdivision limits to bring a muchlarger number of divisions tobear against the enemy.When a province is attackedacross more than two borders,the defending forces willreceive a 10% envelopmentpenalty for each extra angle ofattack.For example, if you can attacka single enemy province fromfour different adjacentprovinces, that enemy willreceive a 20% envelopmentpenalty to his attackeffectiveness andhis defence effectiveness. Ifyou have paratrooperdivisions, you may also usethem for “vertical envelopment”,meaning that thisairborne invasion is treated asa separate angle of attack forthe purposes of determiningan envelopment penalty. Alsokeep in mind that whileparatroopers are not nearly aseffective in combat as someforces, they are also notsubject to any penalties fromdefensive fortifications. Anaval invasion force alsocounts as an angle of attack,although they are subject topenalties if the provincecontains coastal fortifications.The other benefit is that eachprovince’s attacking force ishandled separately for thepurposes of determiningoverstacking. If two generalswere to attack from the sameprovince, they would be ableto use only one of thosegeneral’s command ratingsand could only attack with ninedivisions before incurring anoverstacking penalty. If thosesame two generals attackedfrom two different provinces,they are not considered to becombined so each of themcould command nine divisionsin the attack, enabling a totalforce of 18 divisionsto participate without penalty.Be careful, though. Thisdoesn’t let them stack theirratings to eliminate a penalty.For example: If a generalwith five divisions and majorgeneral with two divisionsattack from the sameprovince, there would be nooverstacking penalty appliedto the major general’s “extra”division because the rating ofthe overall commander of theattack is used for determiningthat penalty, although neitherof the major general’sdivisions would receive hisskill bonus or trait bonuses. Ifthose same two officersattacked from differentprovinces, the general is nolonger able to take commandof the major general’s “extra”division. As a result, the majorgeneral’s two divisions wouldforfeit his skill and traitbonuses and one of themwould also receive the 75%penalty for overstacking.It is fairly easy to overlooksuch an error because theleadership summary at the topof the Combat Details willdisplay the sum of those twocommanders’ ratings. In theabove example, having thegeneral and major generalattack from the same provincewould have the summaryindicate that the general is incommand and that he hasseven divisions with aleadership capability of ninedivisions. If they attack fromseparate provinces, thegeneral would still be identifiedas being in command andhaving seven divisions, but histotal command allowancewould be listed as tendivisions (his nine, plus themajor general’s one) so youmight not notice that there isactually a situation where oneof those divisions is beingheavily penalised.Attacking an AttackerThere is a rather curioussituation that can arise quiteoften where an attack hasbeen launched against aprovince and then the attackeris, itself, attacked from adifferent province. In this case,the field command that isboth attacking and defendingwill actually participate in bothbattles simultaneously. It willperform normally in thecombat that it initiated, but forits defensive battle, it will haveforfeited any advantages thatentrenchment or provincialfortifications would have givenit, and it will receive anadditional 50% flankingpenalty. Needless to say, thisis a situation that you shouldavoid having happen to you ifat all possible, and that youshould look to exploit such anopportunity if it arises.121