thermal imaging...
 

Well, I'm playing a campaign, with cccp, I took a sort of Guard tank battalion, with T64b and etc...

After a couple of battle, to be honest simple battle, against canadian, us army pop up with a swarm of M60 TTI rise...meeting engagement battle...I have lost every win possibility around turn 20...then it come the slaughter house, the TI superiority it's overwhelming, add to this a snow scenario with restricted visibility and that's it.

Only my bmp-1 k "korshun" ( btw...it's that the BMP version with ground surveillance radar?) could see them, the rest of my army was almost blind...

How do you manage these situations?

P.s. why a lot of enemy infantry pop up from no where ??
P.s. why seem that my infantry can see a crap instead the enemys can see miles?

Re: thermal imaging...
 

In limited visibility If one side has TI and the other doesn't it can be a HUGE advantage!

In general a whole bunch of stuff affects how good you are at spotting other stuff - not least Troop Experience, movement and Troop Type. A stationary, high experience, infantry stand will be MUCH better at seeing stuff than an inexperienced, moving AFV.

Stuff doesn't "pop up" it was previously unseen...

Re: thermal imaging...
 

This is why its a major growth area at the moment open terrain & you can pick off your enemy before he sees you like the Gulf War turkey shoot.
Snow makes this hard as you need to use your troops as scouts to find them then attack somewhere suitable.
If its an open map you are in big trouble otherwise you need to pick areas within your vision range for the battles.

Unless you are talking late 90s+ Russian troops generally have better night vision than USA in the game as a rule.

Re: thermal imaging...
 

The "key" to beating an enemy with better vision then yours is use the terrain to limit their opportunities to fire beyond the range you can see. Hide behind hills, in woods, behind buildings, ambush the suckers at short range. Also make full use of your Infantry AT.

Re: thermal imaging...
 

^^^That's it in a nutshell.^^^ Not so easy in open desert though...

Re: thermal imaging...
 

What Suhiir said is what I do as well. TI gives you a range advantage, so you want to negate that. Other tricks:

1) Start shooting the moment you see the enemy tanks. After they pop smoke, go into defile, retreat etc. The catch here is that you can make them expend all their smoke then, so they will be much easier to deal with when their smoke's out.

2) Try to predict their route of advance and make a killing ground with multiple tanks/ATGMs. Your assets should be at least on both flanks of the enemy advance, and preferably to the front as well. If you do that, you will always have at least one hull/turret flank shot, in which case the enemy tank's dead.

3) Buy DPICM artillery and the moment their advance is halted by something (infantry is the best in that) bring the steel rain of death upon them. M60's are particularly vulnerable to this.

4) Make them focus on your infantry (by having the latter fire at the enemy tanks) and then bring a tank and whack when they are out of shots for the turn.

These/a combination of these help me defeat TI equipped enemies on a regular basis. The fact that tanks with TI are WAY more expensive also helps.

Re: thermal imaging...
 

Nice hints chaps.
Another question that I have is: the NATO infantrys , americans and etc, seem to be more effective than mine Volgograd oblast guys; they stand more under fire and use the f$*^% LAW as snipers...is this related to training or what? They also seem to have better vision /spotting range...and maybe morale because sometimes I unleash Grads upon them for a couple of turn but they still operative...when a couple of mortar hit suppress my guys.

A thing related to campaign: the campaign propose to press on the attack, after a won in a meeting engagement, but my force were usually so dilapidated that I never dear to press the attack on...it's normal? Maybe it's something related to CCCP vs NATO situation...

Re: thermal imaging...
 

Training and experience are big factors in the game, as is weaponry.

Factors concerning vision/spotting are:

Movement - Stationary units are harder to spot and have a better chance to spot others, conversely moving units are easier to spot and less likely to spot others.

Entrenchment - MUCH harder to spot, bonus to morale, harder to hit/damage.



Artillery/mortars/rockets/bombs are all damn useful, but don't expect to actually destroy much with them. Mostly they suppresses the enemy so they fire less and their morale is lowered. Hit them with with indirect fire then get in close with infantry to destroy them. That said, if you can catch them in the open and moving then yes, indirect fire can be lethal. But stationary ... not so much.

Never fight one-vs-one, gang up on an enemy unit and destroy it ASAP.

Computer generated campaigns are pretty much even odds fights every battle. You have to fight "better", you can't afford to trade one-for-one. The AI isn't terribly smart. Usually it's best to find a good defensive position and let them come at you for the first 1/2-2/3rd of a game then mop up whatever is left.

Depending on specific time period the balance swings between the CCCP and NATO. Till about the late 70's the CCCP tends to have the advantage, in the 80's it's pretty even, 90's and later NATO tends to have the advantage.

Hope this helps.

Re: thermal imaging...
 

Your hints helped a lot!

Btw another annoying thing it's the resilience of immobilized tanks...usually they become immobilized inside smoke or forested areas, they seem easy target but for some reason they are able to wipe out every and each unit that approach the adjacent hexes.
The only time where I haven't lost something trying to destroy an immobilized tank, it's when I wasted the actions of 5 tanks in area fire before launch a couple of Mech section to take it out.

Re: thermal imaging...
 

1/ They are obviously not moving so not taking a penalty for doing so....

2/ You have to get close in forest and smoke and they (usually ) get the first shot in and because it's one hex range the effect is higher

3. you have now learned that just because it's immobilized does NOT mean it's helpless. From your description I can just imagine what transpired as you assumed an easy kill then sent in tanks piecemeal and they were chewed up.... never assume a wounded animal is helpless...same for disabled tanks in places where you have to get up close and personal.....that is what the infantry is for AFTER saturating the area with artillery