Re: Sniping
 

I find it essential to do this in the game, especially when playing as Japanese where you might only have an AT rifle sneaking around looking for a shot to the rear of the vehicle. You have to rattle their cages by any means necessary. This is why I like to play as Japanese, it's nerve wracking but incredibly rewarding when you can get the shot like that. It also shows why your tanks always need infantry with them for cover fire. Never leave home without it.

Re: Sniping
 

Yes it is worth doing in general. SP is a game that has an ancestry code wise going all the way back to 1985. One can argue whether the direct path is Kampfgruppe or Panzer Grenadier...both released in that year.

Many changes/enhancements have been made over the decades of course but from the interactions i've had during testing/development i've been told more than once that basic elements of the GG code date all the way back to inception. That being said, and based on playing the game....absolutely, it is beneficial to fire small arms fire at an AFV. A quaint aspect of the earliest games is that the designers would literally tell you in the documentation what effect such actions would take, even posting the actual formula. In the case of Kampfgruppe, which i consider SP's direct ancestor......a unit can have a suppression level from 0 - 200%

at >99% suppression the unit can no longer search. below that chance based on suppression level. exception: same hex is always searched

Fire effect is reduced by 1/3 based on suppression. (hence you can see why the max suppression # was 200 in that game)

units with >50% suppression may not move. AKA....they become PINNED

You can see immediately how this impacts AFVs when this final rule is applied:

AFVs cannot gain more than 50% suppression max. Hence, in Kampfgruppe....they can never be pinned and their fire accuracy penalty is only so impacted. In modern SP parlance, past and present....this equates to the status of "Buttoned." So an AFV with 50% suppression will suffer an accuracy and search penalty.....but can never be PINNED. It also won't suffer at base, as bad an impact on accuracy and search.

This again, was the basis for SP's ancestor Kampfgruppe. That game did not have a specific exp or morale factor. You only had an overall scenerio difficulty level. Obviously SP adds much more to the situation, EXP/Morale in particular could lead to status levels such as Retreat or Routed. Once you have those additional checks rolled....it can lead to different status results.

Of course you have to judge based on your specific tactical situation. For example, when you have your soft unit fire, there's a chance you will be spotted and counter-attacked, thus ruining a chance for a close assault situation if the AFV closes the distance. Thats the beauty of this mature game. Add in the classic random die roll factors and you can never be quite sure what your result will be.