Z-fire

[Artur]

Gentlemen,

I recently found out how effective it is . and the coolest thing about it is that it can be fired through smoke . Those familiar with SPWaW can really appreciate that...
I find it very useful in urban combat for example. It is good against the snipers as well. I could not silence a sniper even with +5 or 7 shots at him, and with 3-4 time Zfireing they start to retreat . (See my post about the snipers.)
How often do you apply this in your tactics?

I found two issues though, not too big but worth to mention.
1. Units tend not to return fire on Z-fire. Is that intentional? To me it seems not so logical but I may be wrong.
2. Sometimes the Z-fre misses go to places where it would be impossible to go, like behind a building etc...

Artur.

[Weeble]

Provided that I am sure it will not cause "friendly fire" problems (as Z-fire can miss by quite a bit), I usually "brass-up" likely treelines, buildings etc to suppress unspotted enemy in attacks where I am unlikely to surprise the enemy. This is standard practice.

From FM 17-97 Chapter 3

Reconnaissance by Fire
When conducting reconnaissance by fire, the troop places direct and/or indirect fire on positions the enemy is suspected of occupying. This action causes the enemy to disclose his presence by moving or by returning fire. The troop commander may use reconnaissance by fire when—


Time is critical.
Natural or man-made obstacles that could be overwatched by an enemy force are encountered.
A suspected enemy position fits the situational template.
Bunker complexes that may or may not be occupied are encountered.
Enemy locations are known.

The disadvantage of the reconnaissance-by-fire method is that the troop will lose any element of surprise it may have had. However, reconnaissance by fire may reduce the chance of some portion of the troop being caught in an enemy kill zone. Reconnaissance by fire may not always provide the desired effect. A well-disciplined force will resist the inclination to move when probed by weapon fires.
When indirect-fire situations exist, the troop commander ensures scouts are in a position to observe the target area. Once the decision is made to use reconnaissance by fire, weapons should be used in the following priority.


Indirect-fire systems.
Machine gun.
25-mm chain gun or MK-19.
TOW or tank cannon fire.

Reconnaissance by fire does not mean the indiscriminate use of direct and indirect fires at all woodlines and hilltops in the hopes of causing the enemy to react. Not only will the enemy recognize this ploy for what it is and not react to it, but also it wastes valuable ammunition.

See:

http://www.globalsecurity.org/milita...7/c3a.htm#sec2

1)They tend not to return fire because they get pinned etc. Also see final paragraph in quote above.

2)It does seem to sometimes hit areas where you havn't got line of sight, hence my caveat on "friendly fire" above.

[narwan]

I use it a lot. It's hugely effective in the game. When I started playing (spww2) I soon noticed many of my units ended the game with lots of ammo to spare. That was especially true for tank HE rounds and mg rounds (from any type of unit). Which seemed a bit of waste 'cause I spend the points buying that ammo. That's one of the things where game and reality differ, where in reality you might want to save ammo for later use, in the game there is no later use. When the last turn is done it's done. You can kiss the ammo byebye.

So my gameplay soon moved towards an ammo-based doctrine under the assumption that the only wasted round is a round not fired and that points buy 'ammo packets' and units are essentially just ammo delivering systems. Some have a multiplier effect on others though (trucks for AT guns is a good example, or artillery observers) which makes them useful too. But even their use is to help others 'deliver their ammo'.
To spend the ammo I had bought I used lot's of area fire. And because I used a lot of area fire I kept on discovering other uses and effects. And still do.

As to units not firing back, a UNIT most spot the firer and pass some sort of roll to fire back and the areafiring unit most be within the reaction range. If you target a specific unit with direct fire there's a good chance it'll fire back in selfdefense. But area fire never specificially targets, so doesn't trigger this reaction fire.

Drifting area fire which goes into hexes out of LOS is indeed a (small) problem. Not because it's 'impossible', but because that effect can be 'abused' within the game. What it means is that you can use area fire to 'shoot around corners'.

Narwan

[nosrac]

does the ai use "z" fire? if i recall i believe it does.

[Weeble]

I don't see how you could differentiate "Z-fire" by the AI from any other, unless aimed at, say, an isolated building that you don't have any units near and I hav'nt seen the AI do this. The apparent 'miss' into the hex next to you could be suppressive fire aimed there occasionally, but I've never noticed any differences in "incoming fire" messages.