People's Tactics/Command & Officers

People's Tactics has a command, supply and tranfer system that is the envy of many commercial games. Without a chain of command, your units will not be able to receive supply, be directed in battle or be reinforced (via transfers). The basic chain of command is that a formation has a tactical HQ, that a tactical HQ has a Strategic HQ and that towns deliver their production and supply to the Strategic HQ.

Strategic Headquaters (SHQ)
The Strategic Headquarters (most frequently refered to as SHQ) is a non-combat unit the highest level of command hierarchy. Supply and production is delivered from towns to SHQs. Regimes need at least one SHQ to do anything and can have up to fifty. SHQs are always land units.

Tactical Headquarters (THQ)
The Tactical Headquarters (most frequently refered to as THQ) is a combat unit in the middle of the hierarchy. THQs recieve supply and reinforcements from SHQs, and must be assigned to one in order to function effectively. An SHQ may have assigned to it as many THQs as the player sees fit (there are working/efficiency restrictions, that we will discuss later, but at this moment there is no design limit). THQs are always land units.

Formations
Formations are combat units at the bottom of the hierarchy. Formations recieve supply from their THQ, and must have one assigned. Formations recieve reinforcements from SHQs, but can only recieve reinforcements from the SHQ that their THQ is assigned to. A THQ may have assigned to it as many Formations as the player sees fit (there are working/efficiency restrictions, that we will discuss later, but at this moment there is no design limit). Formations may be land, air or sea units.

Changing command
Change Command Button You can set the chain of command for formations and THQ’s using the change command button. Doing this will use up the rest of the unit’s movement points, also, it will give a readiness penalty and increase the disruption of the unit. When the command of a THQ is changed, all formations assigned to that THQ will recieve disruption, but no readiness penalty.

It is vital that you set up a THQ for each formation, a SHQ for each THQ and a SHQ for each town. The counters of formations that have a broken chain of command will turn red to warn the player they are not receiving enough supplies to sustain them.

Officers
The chain of command is not abstract. Officers play an important role in Peoples Tactics. Officers have skill levels between one and nine in three different theatres of war. As a rule of thumb, a unit with a level nine officer will be one-and-a-half times more effective than a unit with a level 1 officer.

Next to that, fame points also have an effect. 1 fame point is about 20% improvement, 10 fame points about 60% improvement and 25 fame points about 100% improvement. Fame points are earned by destroying enemy units in combat. The higher the officer’s body count, the more skilled and deadly he will become.

However, it is not as simple as that. During a battle, all the officers in the chain of command are taken into account. The officer of the formation has a 50% influence, the THQ’s officer has an influence of 33%, and the SHQ’s officer has an influence of 16%. For a Formation, the lowest level, the impact of the Chain of Command is given by the formula (1*SHQ+2*THQ+3*UnitCO)/6.

Each officer also has a retreat value. However, all the officers in the chain of command, not just the one in direct control, once again influence the unit in combat.

The Officer Pool
Officer Pool Button You can swap officers using the officer pool button. It is possible to keep officers in the officer pool, or to dismiss them forever.

Mind you, that in larger scenarios it is an intelligent strategic choice to put your best people as high in the chain of command as possible. 16% bonus (SHQ) over 20 units or 33% bonus (THQ) over 4 units is more than 50% bonus over 1 unit.

Disruption occurs when you play with the chain of command. So make changes in officers and bosses sparingly otherwise your whole army will become disrupted and fight poorly.