SgtKopanos

Alright, bear with me here, I might take this a bit off-topic but I'm not judging here, I'm interested only in debating tactics... So, what would be the purpose of trying to sneak your infantry up against a well concealed, known tank position, supported by dug-in infantry, in the first place? Unless you got an ATG, or tank, or both, of your own covering the infantry advance ready to knock out anyone the inf draws fire from... Anyway, sneaking up on a known enemy position might work better if you distract them from a direction other than the one you plan to sneak up on them from, I believe. Say, you're planning a platoon sized attack on the target you described earlier. Take two squads(an MG and mortars would be fine two) and have them move up the target as obviously as possible with the purpose of frontally engaging the enemy as soon as they spot them, or as soon as they're spotted. When you successfully manage to tie the enemy down in a firefight from one direction, you can try to sneak the third squad behind the enemy and have them assault from that direction for maximum effect. Personally, I'll try to use the ground to my best advantage, and use hunt till I'm a short distance off the launching point. I'll then slow to the launching point which is as close as possible to the enemy and then I'll break into the assault from there. I have noticed that more experienced units will generally handle all aspects of such a mission much better than greener ones, for sure. Another thing is, I almost always assign a 1m circular target arc to the unit that does the sneaking part exactly because I don't want them to engage anyone or anything prematurely.

"Damn you nazi imbecile! Now, who do I have to call to arrange some sort of compensation for my ruined tilework? Speer?!?!"

This whole thing reminds me of the Assault at Huberderie the first time I played it. And at least you seem to know where the Panther is! As an allied player the only mobile units I started with were 3 Shermans(maybe a few halftracks, too I don't rightly remember right now). It's a bit of a huge map with varied elevation and I figured scouting out safe routes for advance with the foot scouts would take forever. So hey, why not use the Shermans? I mean, unlike my scouts if they do encounter any pockets of resistance they can do something about it most of the time. Anyway I move them out together but with a bit of distance between them for safety. It turned out to be a very smooth ride. I've gotten halfway to the other end of the map, only having to deal with a German sniper team the whole way and I was just crossing a paved road into a grass field, there was an ominous lone group of trees some 200 m away on my right hand but after sitting there watching it for a while I decided it's safe(I'm pretty much the definition of a noob) So I cross all my 3 Shermans into the field. I am on high ground and the town of Huberderie is on my left hand. I give the armor, all 3 of them =( that was a bit stoopid, the order to turn their guns facing the town and take positions on a height a few meters ahead of them. Then a mere seconds later...BOOM *pause for 5 secs* BOOM *pause for 5 secs* BOOM...and that's it...all 3 of my Shermans are all cooked up just like that. Survivors among the tank crews manage to spot the lone Panther hiding in that incospicuous group of trees we've just left behind!!! I don't think I've ever ragequit CMBN before or since.

Maybe a rolling barrage option would be nice but with really close intervals between the shots, especially when attacking a prepared defensive line, with fortifications like trenches, bunkers, foxholes etc. Whenever I was lucky enough to call an accurate strike on an enemy line I noticed that the AI squads can really run when they fall back to their secondary line after taking casualties from the strike(even under overwhelming suppressing fire). Now, I usually just use another asset to target the second line but it'd be cool(and realistic as far as I know) if you could do it with one shot. So maybe if the second line strike can be timed for like 2-3 minutes or less after the first one, you can still catch them out in the open before they get cozy in their foxholes. @Artofwar Sounds like something I should try. I usually keep my mortar teams deployed in some clearing(it just feels more natural to me, far as I know they'd be as effective in the woods, and better covered) way back in the rear and only use spotters to direct their shots. I'm too squeamish to "attach" them to an advancing squad or platoon as support. The only LOS shots my mortars have ever taken were when I was totally overrun and the enemy was marching on my rear. And by that point they were ineffective. @womble It could be that if I pull the GIs back while the strike lasts, and bring them back in line when it's over, I'll suffer less casualties, but I'll lose time. I might be missing a great shot at exploiting the results of my arty strike to the max. Ah, well I guess I want the best of both worlds. I'll have to make up my mind what matters the most to my plans I suppose @Yankee Dog I suspect that after one has played a map a couple of times(or more) and knows pretty much where the enemy moves and hangs about, "pre planned" strikes might prove extremely effective! Though again timing must be the key. And timing usually means luck, which I don't seem to have a lot of...

Hello all, New to this forum and this game and it looks to be great fun so far. Now, I don't know what the other members' MO is concerning their arty but I hardly ever use it to maximum effect and this bugs me so much. I should add that this is especially true when I'm the attacker. I'll have to admit I find it much easier to direct arty strikes against attacking columns. But, honestly when I'm on the attack I find it impractical. Especially in bocage laden maps where I scout out enemy positions with rifle(or scout) platoons and where I almost never manage to put a pin on them until I'm 50m away. I can never safely call an arty attack on them without fearing for the safety of my scout troops. I know this is pretty much realistic and that a WW2-era platoon leader probably wouldn't call in an arty strike a mere 50m from his positions unless pretty desperate, still I dont see how else to utilise my arty to max efficiency. Granted, some maps have very nice vantage points, where a well placed FO can survey the whole property, but most of them don't(unless they do in which case I'm just being noobish). Personally, some of the most effective arty strikes I ever handed out, were almost blind. I'd have an FO or HQ team on the adjacent ridge to the one I plan to occupy next. If I'm nearing my objective and haven't encountered any significant resistance yet, I pretty much know there's enemy dug in and hiding there, that I can't see yet. So I just call in a linear shot along the ridge, usually mortars, since I'm very reluctant to waste any howitzer shots that way. Usually when the strike is over and I send my grunts in to occupy, they will find small litters of enemy dead here and there, their surviving comrades having retreated further down the way. But when I'm fully engaged with the enemy and I have most of his positions pinned on the map, I'm usually too close to call in artillery on them for fear of blowing my own guys away. Is it just me being too soft on my guys? Should I just call in the howitzers to pulverize the enemy and just not care about my casualties? I mean I've had entire rifle squads wiped out by my own arty's "spotting" shots. Was that often the case with real war commanders? Should I just go along with it? I don't know if it is too obvious but I'm very reluctant to suffer heavy casualties especially from friendly fire...