when to fire back

desh44 · #1 May 18th, 2006, 07:09 AM

One thing I find which works is to have some scout units in my force. They can move closer without taking fire and bring the enemy under fire to suppress. In addition they can sometimes spot other enemy elements. I find that where there is one squad there are usually several others as well as possible heavy weapons further back. Like Claus said when you come under fire try to suppress the firing unit. Another trick is to switch off fire from unit to unit when you shoot so they do not get any bonus for firing consecutive shots at your unit.

The game now forces you to use good combined arms tactics if you want to succeed. Send in scouts to find them use Arty and Heavy Weapons/Assault guns to suppress them and then move in close to mop up with your infantry. I am finding that a good unit choice is motorcycles or cavalry. If you hold them back until the enemy is suppressed then you can rush in and finish really hit them hard.

Tom

serg3d · #2 May 18th, 2006, 07:23 AM

You can use your auxlliary troops to draw fire from hidden artillery/infantry/mg and detect them. That would be especially historically accurate for russian penal companies.

PatG · #3 May 18th, 2006, 09:49 AM

If the AI's or your opponent's infantry is popping off at max range - you are being given a gift. A couple of refinements. Use tanks especially Shermans, early Mk IV with short 75mm, StuG/Hs and/or infantry guns. Killing MGs and rifle infantry is what they were designed to do. Second, use smoke to blind the infantry, then move up close while adding a little HE on the opposition then when the smoke clears you are at short range against a supressed enemy.

Concerning scouts, I will usually set their firing range to 1 hex - sometimes a little more. Using one hex per turn advance rates and/or cover you can usually get scout units very close to the enemy and pinpoint their positions. The short range also prevents your scout from revealing themselves through op fire and allows you to select when to use them to suppress.

Smersh · #4 May 20th, 2006, 12:27 AM

this is related "when to fire" question. . I usually have my machine guns fire around 500-600 meters from the enemy in support of infantry squads. since infanty combat seems to be more deadly compared to mbt, enemy squads tend to kill my mg crews by rifle fire from around 500m. am I just too close to the enemy, when firing? how far away should an mg be to be safe and still effective? too me 500-600meters is the limit.

serg3d · #5 May 20th, 2006, 04:16 AM

I'm using 12.5mm HMG on the max range. Almoste never got fired back.

czerpak · #6 May 20th, 2006, 05:38 AM

Quote:

Smersh said:
this is related "when to fire" question. . I usually have my machine guns fire around 500-600 meters from the enemy in support of infantry squads. since infanty combat seems to be more deadly compared to mbt, enemy squads tend to kill my mg crews by rifle fire from around 500m. am I just too close to the enemy, when firing? how far away should an mg be to be safe and still effective? too me 500-600meters is the limit.

Smersh,
use your weapon to your advantage. It is a question of having more accurate fire from closer range, or having bit less accurate fire but from safe position. If we are talking mg's here I'd rather check enemy max range and put my mg's 2 or 3 hexes beyond. Obviuosly everything depends on tactical situation (how desperate you are to take out eneymy and how much time you have left), but you got to answer a question if it is worth taking a risk or not. And if you will need those mg's later.
cheers
Czerpak

PatG · #7 May 20th, 2006, 06:57 AM

Quote:

czerpak said:
Smersh,
use your weapon to your advantage. It is a question of having more accurate fire from closer range, or having bit less accurate fire but from safe position. If we are talking mg's here I'd rather check enemy max range and put my mg's 2 or 3 hexes beyond. <snip>
cheers
Czerpak

Same for IGs - just outside of rifle range - or mg range depending on what you're going after. The big advantage to armour is you can get a lot closer safely.

narwan · #8 May 20th, 2006, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Smersh said:
this is related "when to fire" question. . I usually have my machine guns fire around 500-600 meters from the enemy in support of infantry squads. since infanty combat seems to be more deadly compared to mbt, enemy squads tend to kill my mg crews by rifle fire from around 500m. am I just too close to the enemy, when firing? how far away should an mg be to be safe and still effective? too me 500-600meters is the limit.

I usually keep my HMG and MMG units set at max range with the rifles turned off. Their main job is to harrass the enemy at long range and keep their infantry far away. At those longer ranges they are also likely to stay unspotted.

Narwan

Smersh · #9 May 20th, 2006, 03:17 PM

from what I remember max range for these units can be something like 1000-2000 meters away. is it historically accurate to use them at these ranges?

I'll try out the scout suppersion technique.

czerpak · #10 May 20th, 2006, 05:47 AM

Quote:

PatG said:

Concerning scouts, I will usually set their firing range to 1 hex - sometimes a little more. Using one hex per turn advance rates and/or cover you can usually get scout units very close to the enemy and pinpoint their positions. The short range also prevents your scout from revealing themselves through op fire and allows you to select when to use them to suppress.

Ideally scouts should be used as...scouts. If you need to use those valuable units to supress enemy, maybe your force composition is not quite right.
Make an experiment - try a game with your scouts' weapons OFF. See how valuable info you will get from them, especially in later parts of the game, when they are behind enemy's line.

Much more cost effective will be e.g. using mortars to supress spotted anemy units and leave scouts to keep an eye of them.

cheers
Czerpak