Editing Total War: Warhammer/Tactics (section)

==Battlefield Mechanics==
Dynamic effects that can alter your unit's performance during the course of a battle, and things to keep in mind in general.

===Fatigue and Vigour===
As you may expect, running across massive battlefields, slogging through waist-high water, running up hills and shouldering through dense trees to ''then'' engage heavily armed (and armored) foes in a fight to the death can be a bit draining, be you man, elf, greenskin or even lizard. This will manifest in the form of gradually degrading combat performance as your units get worn down through the various stages of fatigue. Running and combat of any kind will start to drain vigour from a unit, while standing or walking slowly replenish it. Terrain does play a role in how quickly fatigue is lost (i.e., charging and fighting uphill is substantially more draining than charging or running downhill).
*'''Fresh''': The initial vigour level for any army not caught in Force March or Raiding at the beginning of any battle. Fresh to the field, no wear or tear and eager to spill blood on your command. There are no penalties at this stage (obviously).
*'''Active''': Your troops have performed some minor skirmishing or ran a modest distance, so the pep to their step is gone. A 5% melee attack debuff slightly hampers their combat effectiveness.
*'''Winded''': The starting vigor level for armies in the Raiding stance. Your troops have engaged in combat and/or have spent a significant amount of time running. A 5% speed and melee attack debuff and a 10% melee damage and reload speed debuff kicks in.
*'''Tired''': The starting vigour level for armies attacked while in a Forced March stance. Your troops have engaged in extended combat or have run about the field extensively. Exhaustion starts to take it's toll; a 10% Speed, Melee Damage and Charge Bonus debuff accompany a 15% Melee Attack and Reload Speed debuff.
*'''Very Tired''': Combat and maneuvering around the field have all but drained your soldiers. 10% debuffs to melee damage and armor, a 15% speed debuff and a 25% melee attack, charge bonus and reload speed debuff claims a heavy price from your soldiers.
*'''Exhausted''': The final stage of fatigue. Intense, extended combat after extensive maneuvering with little to no respite has put your troops on their last legs. A 10% melee defense and damage debuff, a 15% speed debuff, a 25% armor debuff, a ''30%'' melee attack and charge bonus debuff and a ''35%'' reload speed debuff severely cripple your exhausted units, putting them at a severe disadvantage against any fresh troops they may have yet to face.


This is a universal mechanic that applies to all factions, including Undead ones (they just have different names for the various stages), so you'll always want to keep this in the back of your mind as battles tend to wage on. These penalties (or lack thereof) can make a significant difference in a unit's combat performance, especially if they're further buffed (or debuffed) by magic, abilities or items to give them an edge.

===Morale===

Similar to Exhaustion, Morale determines the willingness of your units to keep fighting. Morale is affected by different factors: such as by being flanked, the death of your Lord, or being hit by artillery/guns. 

When a unit's leadership reaches a critical low, their banners will flash and the unit will begin to [[Squad broken|BREAK]]. Broken units will flee and attempt to disengage; their leadership will slowly rise so long as they're out of combat and the LORD is still on the battlefield. Since [[Squad Broken|BROKEN]] units can still regroup and return to the battle, it's a good idea to chase them away with light cavalry to stop them from regrouping. Otherwise, should they continue to take more losses, the unit will [[Squad Broken 2|SHATTER]] and will not regroup at all. 

Effects and Attributes that affect morale:
*'''Encourage:''' This affects morale positively. Encouragement is a generic buff given by Heroes, Lords, and certain units (like Cathayan Airships, Longbeards). They raise Leadership and can even help BROKEN units rally quicker. Multiple encouragements do not stack.
**'''Lord Dies/Lord Flees:''' On the other hand, when your Lord dies or flees, you army will take a permanent leadership debuff until the end of the battle. DISCIPLINED units will not need to worry, however. Great when you have an army of battle-hardened Dwarfs or Cathayans, absolutely fucked when they're Undead.
*'''Fear and Terror:''' Already mentioned above. Fear is constant, Terror is caused when charging. Causing Fear or Terror makes one immune to Fear/Terror.
**'''Unbreakable:''' As mentioned above, being UNBREAKABLE or IMMUNE TO PSYCHOLOGY makes you immune to psychological effects. Unbreakable units will also fight to the death, so long after the rest of your army has broken, they will continue to hold. Ungrim is notable for often being the last one standing (if he isn't focused down, that is)
*'''Flanks Secured/Flanks Exposed/Attacked in Flanks/Attacked in Rear:''' Positioning is important in TWWH, and unlike older TW games, there are no fancy formations that give you 360 coverage. When your unit's flanks are secured by another friendly unit, they gain a small bump in leadership. When a unit is attacked from their sides, or worse, [[Squad Broken 2|in the rear]], their leadership will drop and they will be more likely to break and disengage.
*'''Charging/Being Charged:''' Unbraced units will take a Leadership hit when they see a unit of [[Cold One|raptor-mounted raptors]] or [[Beastmen|chaos-tainted horsemen]] rushing at them. Having Charge Defense mitigates this. 
*Being tired

===Elevation===
No battle is ever truly fought on an even playing field (in this particular case, we're focusing on the the literal sense). From small hills to towering settlement walls, units may find themselves looking down upon the hapless masses crawling their way up the slopes, exhausting themselves over every inch gained, or they might desperately find themselves assailed by a hail of arrows from on high, well out of their retaliatory reach.

Elevation can play a significant role over the course of a battle. Units traveling up hills not only move more slowly (thus reducing charge bonuses), but suffer increased fatigue gains (up to 150%) and deal less damage to enemies fighting above them (up to 30% less). Conversely, enemies charging down hill lose less fatigue, do so more quickly (increasing charge bonuses) and deal up to 30% more damage against foes below them. The benefits/consequences aren't just limited to melee infantry however. To no-one's surprise, firing at enemies beneath your position confers a substantial advantage; not only does this allow your archers/gunners to shoot over potential obstacles, but it also gives them up to a 30% damage buff against their targets as well. Should your archers or gunners find themselves at the base of a hill or wall, not only do they suffer up to a 30% damage reduction, but their shots are far more likely to be blocked by battlements or terrain, wasting precious ammunition. These percentages are calculated entity to entity and based on the relative slope/height difference between the two (depending on the terrain, two different entities in the same unit might deal more or less damage than each other based on how they're engaging the enemy).

=== Hiding ===
Terrain can obstruct view of units, infantry units can hide in forests, and certain units can hide anywhere if far enough from the enemy and do not shoot. A very few units can even remain hidden while shooting. While hiding doesn't need much explaining against human players, it kinda does against the AI. If the AI can see any of your units it cannot see hidden units. This is most notable if your only visible units are air units since it'll do nothing but chase after them (and wait there if they don't have ranged or air units). But if the AI can't see any of your units it will immediately know where everyone is.