Forum

So the new terrain type called Built-up in Urban Operations is described as "urban environments not yet in ruins".

I'm trying to figure out how to explain that to my players. It seems like the main point is that this is area with buildings close enough together to provide numerous cover opportunities for combatants, so what I'm interpreting that to mean is it can be either multi-story buildings or single family residences but the main thing is that they don't have a yard and are right up on the street, and are built close enough to each other and would at most only have a narrow alleyway between them.

Thus a suburb area with more standard American style large yards would not be considered Built-up.

Does that sound right or am I missing something?

I'd go along the same route. Apartment buildings next to each other, high risers, commercial blocks, occasional warehouses and small factories even but very little space.
And that little space is now filled with rubble from the buildings that while not totally ruined, have been hit with bombs and artillery shells. Barricades from the war and also from the present, built by people living there, car wrecks and burned out buses.
So imagine the following image from Nowa Huta, Krakow, old "soviet style" architecture and look at it throught the lense of war. https://krakow.wiki/wp-content/uploads/ ... ahuta2.jpg
(Kinda reminds you of Big Playground btw doesn't it?)
Or the following from Katowice center: https://cdn.theculturetrip.com/wp-conte ... towice.jpg
Also remember that many European cities have the "old town" where architecture can be hundreds of years old. This one from Warzaw. https://as1.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/02/13/81/4 ... 6wr5Gg.jpg

Looking at those pictures and imagining what artillery attacks (maybe even nearby nukes) would do to the area and thats it imo. Built up areas. Not totally ruined and more familiar living than what forest might offer for city dwellers.
The following is a 3d render contrast of Warzaw after WW2. https://external-preview.redd.it/5HdHaG ... 61e991cd07
Now that's a ruined built up area...

I'd say "built-up" is basically pre-war urban terrain, in some cases with light damage from the war. The distinction between "built-up" and "ruins" is that the roads are usable in "built-up."

I'd argue the American style big yards could be classed as built up, if you wished. While not as built up as close inner city living, i think many of the same characteristics are in play, just not as intensively as old european style cities or USA type capital cities.

Houses, fence lines, ally ways, multi story buildings, sealed roads (possibly unsealed roads. For instance we have dirt lane ways behind many homes in australia), all passes for built up terrain in my book.

Game wise, i think built up terrain could mean very close encounter ranges such as two groups rounding a corner block and running into each other. Either at range 0. Or 10m, 20m for instance. With the other extreme also in play, such as long range encounters 200 or 300m when looking along road ways for example.

Lots of cover (brick or rock walls). Lots of concealment (hedges, plywood walls). Lots of opportunity for ambush. Potentially innocent civilians are in play. Basements even. stormwater pipes (1 - 3m in diameter) could open up underground movement.

I've been giving this a lot of thought as I've been considering a Pennsylvania-based campaign and would need to do my own maps.

There are many different definitions of "built-up area" but I think the one that applies here is an area of high population density combined with a built environment. If you think of it on the basis of what it is not, you are basically looking at things that are not rural or naturally occurring. So, wide-open suburban residential areas would definitely be considered built up based on the population and that much of the natural environment has been replaced with yards, parks, and the like. I live on the far western edge of the New York City metropolitan area and go east into New Jersey for work. It's a gradual shift, so the exact line is hard to place, but you definitely get to a point where, despite the greenery and open space, your movement gets restricted because of man-made development.

Yes, functionally it means there are clear roads, but plenty of cover options. Narratively I guess it would be something like "You can't play a game of baseball/football here without probably breaking someone's window." So if you are in a city or suburb, you are usually in either built up or ruins. unless you are crossing a vacant lot or greenspace.

Looking at Karlsborg in streetview (https://goo.gl/maps/xnkBYeMEDnRtbDMG6) near where they have the edge to a "buildup" area on the map, it makes that fairly clear.