Request for some tactical guides... :)

I need a noob's guide to...

1) How to recon

2) How to achieve fire superiority

3) How to pace your attack and now when to commit.

And to do all of this without getting shot to hell in the process... That would be my main issue...

As of now I...

1) Recon by seeing where great masses of my soldiers perish

2) Achieve fire superiority only far from the front line... Often in the rear area where my broken squads regroup

3) Commit in all the wrong places...

Thanks!

Ken

regarding fire superiority:

dont know if you have already seen it but heres a link to a armchair general tactics video regarding fire superiority:

read the currently active thread: Attacking with the American Infantry Platoon.

There's lots of good tips in there for the basic tactical level.

Here are some principles about fire superiority that I've learned over time. They are specific to infantry advancing against a well-defended position.

1. The effectiveness of direct fire increases as you get closer to the target.

2. Effectiveness is reduced when infantry are cowering. Also, the ability to move infantry forward while they are cowering is severely hampered.

3. Infantry that is not suppressed or cowering can be moved closer to the enemy using Assault. It is usually best to advance in short hops.

4. It is likely that, given enough infantry units in the attack, at least one and possibly more are in a good morale state to advance. Advance them, not the others. They will draw fire, which helps the ones not advancing to recover their morale.

5. Be very patient. You'll get there. Lack of patience is almost certainly the biggest reason why people have trouble attacking directly into a defended position. (The second biggest reason is that the attack if undersized ).

There are all kinds of variations to the question of fire superiority, but I think they all generally start with those basics.

On recon, recon with scout teams (2 men, or 1 once one gets it). Never recon with more than a four man Assault team.

Against the AI, some tricks work that may or may not work with people. For example, each time you get to a new covered position (i.e. hedgerow) that the enemy may be able to see, take a turn to fire at the next hedgerow or some other position which might be good. The AI, lacking fire discipline, will often reveal itself if you do. Since your team is in cover, they usually won't take any losses. (A good human sets covered arcs to avoid plinking away at covered enemies.)

Achieving fire superiority once you have located the enemy is a matter of bringing up more units than they have, particularly your BARs, and letting them have it. The AI doesn't seem to move its troops much, so once you know where they were you can use area fire into the location to suppress them and even get hits. Against a person, you should expect them to crawl away (even if just a square), and remain hidden, so area fire at ?s is less effective.

You'll know when you have suppressed the enemy because he will stop firing back and turn into a ? marker. (If the enemy has no cover/concealment, you can just look at them to see their status, but this is rare if you are attacking.) Once you've got them down, it is time to start the scouts moving again: you are looking for routes to get your assault teams into position to finish off the suppressed enemies you have located.

Against the AI you can do this sort of thing piecemeal to each individual unit or small group as you find them. The others won't move to help. A human is not so easy.

I feel like I have so much to learn!

But the fact that you actually need to pay attention to which units have BARs, zooks, etc... and that it's not just abstracted across the squad is pretty freakin' awesome...