Here’s something that I think would reduce the melee madness to a more realistic level (i.e. very little) while in keeping with current game mechanics.
It would also prevent rambo’s approaching enemy lines while still allowing smaller melee skirmishes and chasing down lone wolves.
Current system: anything goes, really. Rambo is free to approach a huge enemy force and stab them in the back, without even a nod towards authenticity. The penalties (extra ticket losses) aren’t enough to deter such behaviour. Bayonets are often equipped at the start of the round with no tangible penalties for doing so. Not a round goes by without unrealistic charges to remove the enemy from a point.
Displacement by discipline
As it stands, each soldier has an invisible radius:
"x" is the individual soldier, with the blue circle his formation radius. He's currently "out of line"
When enough come together, they combine into a formation...
now he's "in formation", where he should be
These could be extended when the formation criteria is met (“in formation”), to a much larger distance – say 50ft.
woah. Only two buffed radii are shown, for clarity
The radius could then be effectively impenetrable for (non-formationed) enemy troops by perhaps extreme unrecoverable suppression which gets worse the closer they get, perhaps accompanied by panicked screams and shouts to alert the formation, thereby preventing them from doing damage:
This radius could then be utilised to move a lesser force off a point – displacing them via suppression and fear of overwhelming numbers rather than a stab fest, and forcing them to retreat off the point or have their character pretty much rendered useless by the effects of suppression. If a formation is approaching another, the formation with the greater suppressive radius (with the value determined by the number of men in each formation) doesn’t suffer the suppressive effect of the enemy radius (enemy formation radius not displayed for clarity purposes):
This means a well-ordered force could advance at the quicktime, maintaining their formation, and force a lesser-disciplined enemy to retreat without it coming down to a melee. The current undisciplined sprinting melee charges would be rendered useless and would be replaced by a tactical system favouring teamwork and organisation - displacing the enemy by discipline. Bayonets would rarely need to be equipped, aside from perhaps chasing down stragglers.
Shoot it down, chaps.