Civil War OnLine
Rolling of the Drums
Player Support Page:
Reading the ROTD Position Report
At the start of each turn of a ROTD 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, railroads, 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. If the icon is a railroad icon, clicking will reveal the side
controlling the railroad. 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 3 squares of 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.
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 6/15/10.