How does the desertion event work?

[OneArmedMexican]

Playing the Red side, you periodically get the message:

"Soldiers are deserting the ranks of the Red Army. We should create more political commissars."

I did that. By now I am in the summer of 1919 (and crushing the White side ), each of my stacks contains a political commissar. Additionally the majority of my divisions include one element of Cheka troops.
This messures seem to have helped; desertion has become rare. Until this turn: this time, I lost more than 200 hitpoints in militia units due to the desertion event! Worst desertion wave to date! Even worse more than half of the losses occured in stacks which I thought protected by my commissaries and cheka units.

I looked up the responsible event:
[INDENT]
SelectFaction = $RED
SelectRegion = $Moscow
StartEvent = evt_nam_RED_RedArmyDeserters|999|1|NULL|NULL|$Moscow|NULL

Conditions
MinDate = 1917/12/01
MaxDate = 1921/12/30
Probability = 20
SelectSubUnits = Families $famRegular $famMilitia
EvalSubUnitSel = NULL

Actions
AlterCuSubUnits = ApplyToList;Attempts 30;SkipAttribs 50 *PoliticalUnit*;ChgCohesion -30;ChgHealth -30
DescEvent = evt_desc_RED_RedArmyDeserters[/INDENT]

Now I need some explanations: How does this event work exactly?

1) The probability: 20 means a 20% chance each turn for the event to trigger. Shouldn't this be influenced by the number of political units, too?!

2) The affected units: if I am not mistaken, only militia units (Red Guards), regular infantry belongs to famLine. I am wondering: which units belong to famRegular?

3) How many? Is that what "attempts 30" is for? Max. 30 elements are hit by desertion?

4) And now the crucial part: What effect have political units? "SkipAttribs 50 *PoliticalUnit*"! What exactly does this part do?

Sorry, for this very detailed question. This event has me puzzled since I got RUS. Any help would be appreciated.

[lycortas]

I am very interested as well. Should the FamRegular be changed to FamLine?

Remember, the Bolsheviks estimated that between May of '18 and June of '20 70% of all Red soldiers deserted. The Whites were probably worse.

Mike

[andatiep]

------------
1)
MinDate = 1917/12/01
MaxDate = 1921/12/30
Probability = 20
=> It means this event will appear for sure between the minimum date and the max date. But untill the last turn (1921/12/30), each turn, it have only 20% chance to happen.


2)
I suppose regular infantry include this two sub-families : Line infantry and Light infantry.

3)
Yes, you was right, Attempts 30 means it will try to desert 30 units, not more.

4) Only 30 units will be tested, but since there is a 50% chance set to the parameter SkipAttribs 50 *PoliticalUnit*, it means each unit have only 50% to get desertions (if a political unit is in the stack...). That means that when this event happen, you have an average chance to get 15 units with desertions ...but if you really don't have chance, it could also be 28 units...

NB: here desertions give a -30 in their current cohesion and Health values (which is not a %, which means that if you have a unit with already 35/70 in health, it will then be in a deep red with 5 health value...).

[OneArmedMexican]

Thank you for the answer!

------------
1)
MinDate = 1917/12/01
MaxDate = 1921/12/30
Probability = 20
=> It means this event will appear for sure between the minimum date and the max date. But untill the last turn (1921/12/30), each turn, it have only 20% chance to happen.

Yep, that part was clear.

2)
I suppose regular infantry include this two sub-families : Line infantry and Light infantry.

I think that is wrong. Regular infantry is famLine; light infantry is famLight. I haven't found a single element model that is famRegular, yet. Therefore, it seems only milita is effected by the event.

3)
Yes, you was right, Attempts 30 means it will try to desert 30 units, not more.

Could you clarify? Units or elements? My guess is elements.

4) Only 30 units will be tested, but since there is a 50% chance set to the parameter SkipAttribs 50 *PoliticalUnit*, it means each unit have only 50% to get desertions (if a political unit is in the stack...). That means that when this event happen, you have an average chance to get 15 units with desertions ...but if you really don't have chance, it could also be 28 units...

Does that mean if there are no political units in the stack, there is a 100% chance? And are you sure about your explanation of the command "SkipAttribs"? It just doesn't sound like a scripting command effecting the whole stack.

[andatiep]

units or elements? My guess is elements.

Elements.

Does that mean if there are no political units in the stack, there is a 100% chance? And are you sure about your explanation of the command "SkipAttribs"? It just doesn't sound like a scripting command effecting the whole stack.

All what i could say is from here :
http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/AlterCuSubUnit

[OneArmedMexican]

Thanks a lot!

AGE wiki is great.

In case any of the developpers are reading this thread, shouldn't the two White factions have a desertion event, too? I think, lycortas was right with his remark: the Whites had their own problems with desertion.

[andatiep]

Thanks a lot!

AGE wiki is great.

In case any of the developpers are reading this thread, shouldn't the two White factions have a desertion event, too? I think, lycortas was right with his remark: the Whites had their own problems with desertion.

Don't cry . They already created such events in the last patch.

I personally still wish more of it and i planed to MOD some. Check here when it will be ready :
http://www.ageod.net/agewiki/A_RUS_wishlist_mini-MODs_workshop#Mini-MOD_.22Massive_desertions.22

[Seb]

Thanks a lot!

In case any of the developpers are reading this thread, shouldn't the two White factions have a desertion event, too? I think, lycortas was right with his remark: the Whites had their own problems with desertion.

The Siberian Whites have (lesser) desertion events in the last patch. We were thinking about the Southern Whites... but we do not want to destroy the balance of the game.

[OneArmedMexican]

The Siberian Whites have (lesser) desertion events in the last patch. We were thinking about the Southern Whites... but we do not want to destroy the balance of the game.

Fantastic! I didn't notice that this had already been implemented. I am still playing my first campaign (as Red) with the new patch.

As concerns the Southern White: I don't think a desertion event with a lower chance (e.g. 10% per turn) and a smaller number of affected elements (let's say 10 elements) would destroy the balance.

Thank you for the great answers, this has been really helpful.

[ERISS]

The Siberian Whites have (lesser) desertion events in the last patch. We were thinking about the Southern Whites... but we do not want to destroy the balance of the game.

To balance, you could increase Red desertions when they are in Ukraine (I think that would fit History too).