Simulation Rules: Officer Attributes - Part I

Each officer who has a field command in a skirmish or battle is assigned Commander Attributes which affect performance in the TC2M game during engagements, particularly when under AI (Artificial Intelligence).
The attributes are:

• Initiative: Higher initiative ratings increase the speed that a commander rallies broken units.  
• Leadership: Higher leadership ratings increase the distance from which a commander can influence / support a unit.
• Loyalty: Higher loyalty values reduce the number of deserters when a unit is routed. This means that more men will be returned to the order of battle the next day of the campaign.
• Ability: Higher ability increase the morale bonus applied to subordinate units.
• Quality: Higher quality increases the speed at which commanders under artificial intelligence move to support or rally units.
• Style: Attributes include random behavior by the commander and include Cautious (0), Defensive (1), Balanced (2), Bold (3), Daring (4).

Commanders are randomly assigned values from 1 - 6 based for each Commander Attribute based on a roll of a die either in the opening order of battle or when they first appear in the simulation.  As an example, here are the values that were assigned to Captains Shearer and Winfield in the recent example:

 

	Initiative	Leadership	Loyalty	Ability	Style	Quality
Captain Crawford W. Shearer	5	6	4	1	4	2
Captain John Quincy Winfield	5	5	6	1	0	2

By the luck of the rolls, the two commanders were not too different. The main difference is in style. Shearer and units under his command would be much more likely to be aggressive than Winfield. 

Low Commander Attributes in leadership and ability could substantially affect unit performance compared to units with higher values. But... in THE WINTER WAR, all command attributes except style could potentially be upgraded based on experience, which is coming in the next post.