Napoleonic Wars OnLine
Gathered In Their Masses
Player Support Page:
Reading the GITM Position Report
At the start of each turn of a GITM campaign, each player receives
a position report showing him or her the status and position of the
units
under his or her command, and information about the enemy that those
units
can detect. This help page explains the format of the report and how to
interpret it.
The position report contains three sections: Strategic
Map, Tactical Maps, and Unit
Status.
Each is discussed in turn below. Look at the sample
position report and become familiar with it before continuing.
Note that every player receives a different position report showing
the information that is visible to the units commanded by that player.
Information may be available on your position report that is not
available
on the position report of other players on the same side as you.
Similarly,
other players may be able to see things on their position reports that
are not visible on yours.
1.
Strategic Map
The first section of the report shows a portion of the strategic map.
This
map will show every strategic square within 5 squares of any unit on
which
the given player is commander or deputy commander. If the square
contains
impassible terrain - water, swamps, or impassible mountains - the color
of the square shows the terrain type. Otherwise, the color of the
square
indicates the nationality of the square's population. See the map
legend for details.
A square may contain either of two types of icons. First, it may
contain
an icon showing terrain within the square; forest, hills, mountains,
rivers,
and cities. If the icon is a city icon, clicking on the icon will
reveal
the name of the city, the side controlling the city, and the amount of
supplies stored in the city. Second, it may contain an icon indicating
the presence of units in the city. Blue flags indicate the presence of
friendly units, red flags indicate the presence of enemy units, gray
flags
indicate the presence of neutral units. There may be more than one
color
flag displayed for a given strategic square. In particular, red and
blue
flags in the same square imply contact between hostile units that could
result in a battle. Clicking on a flag icon will reveal the terrain, if
any, in that strategic square. It will also reveal the sides of all the
units present in the square, the approximate size of that side's force
in the square, and its composition by branch. I indicates infantry
units,
C indicates cavalry units, A represents artillery units, and H
represents
headquarters units. The letters will be listed in decreasing order of
number
of units present. Thus, IC indicates the presence of both infantry and
cavalry, but more brigades of infantry than cavalry, whereas CI also
indicates
both infantry and cavalry, but more brigades of cavalry. Strength
reports
will be accurate for friendly units but may not be for enemy units. For
strength reports, a "division" implies approximately three brigades
(including
headquarters brigades) present, "corps" indicates at least six, and
"army"
indicates at least 12.
Friendly units will be marked on the strategic map if they are within
3 strategic squares of any of the player's brigades, or within 5
squares
of an army headquarters unit. Enemy and neutral units will be marked if
they are in the same or adjacent squares, or within 2 squares of light
cavalry units. In general, the absence of a flag icon in a strategic
square
on the map does not mean that the square is empty of units,
unless
the square is within the detection ranges give above of the player's
units.
2. Tactical
Maps
The second section of the report shows the tactical maps of every
strategic
square where the given player is either commander or deputy commander
of
at least one brigade. The entire tactical map will be shown. The color
of each square indicates its terrain - see the map
legend for details. Each square is also marked with a number from 0
to 4 indicating the suitability of its terrain for defense, 0 being
least
defensible and 4 being most defensible. A square marked with an
asterisk
indicates the location of the named city on the strategic map located
in
that strategic square, and the name of the city will appear at the
bottom
of the tactical map.
Each square may contain an icon indicating the presence of units. As
on the strategic map, blue flags indicate friendly units, red flags
indicate
enemy units, and gray flags indicate neutral units. Clicking on a flag
icon will reveal the identities of the units present in the square. All
friendly units in the tactical square will be marked on the map.
Neutral
and enemy units will be displayed if they are the closest unit (or one
of several closest units) to any friendly unit along each of the eight
directions. A neutral or an enemy unit will not be marked on the map if
it is shielded from view by other enemy or neutral units between it and
all friendly units. Two players on the same side or allied sides will
see
exactly the same units on tactical maps that appear on both of their
reports.
One can locate a given tactical map within this section of the report
quickly by using the "Find" feature of one's browser to search for the
name of the strategic square within this section of the report.
3. Unit
Status
The third section of the report shows the status of every unit on which
the player is commander or deputy commander. The first line shows the
commander
and deputy commander of the unit. The second line shows the strategic
and
tactical location of the unit. Clicking on the word "strategic" will
display
the strategic map at the top of the report, and clicking on the word
"tactical"
will display the tactical map on which the unit is located. The third
line
of the report shows the unit's strength in men and batteries. The
fourth
line shows the quality, experience, morale, and fatigue of the unit.
(Note:
Morale is presently unused in the game, but is reserved
for later expansion.) The fifth line shows the unit's present supply
and
ammunition load. The sixth line shows the source for supply and
communications
the unit will use on the coming turn. (Note that the unit may specify
an
alternate supply source if it chooses to do so.)
One can locate a given unit's status report quickly by using the "Find"
feature of one's browser to search for the ID of the unit. One can
similarly
find all units with a given player as commander or deputy by searching
for the player's name, or find all units in a given tactical square by
searching in this section of the report for the name of the strategic
square
(eg, G7-T5).
Page maintained by Stephen Schmidt. Last updated 6-26-03.