Jump to content

Oleksandr

Members
  • Posts

    729
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    7

Everything posted by Oleksandr

  1. The thing is that information on wiki about Ukrainian Armed Forces is not updating fast enough. We not talking about dozens in anything lol BTR-3 as a platform going to basically replace majority of BTR-80's in following years, and 3E is not the only version of it. Obviously information about numbers is classified and is not avaliable for the public in open sources what so ever. Yet, BTR-3 in following 2-3 years will become massively implemented in both: Ground Forces and National Guard (where as you already said it was implemented). VDV from the other hand especially 95th brigade are interested in BTR's 4 and its new variant BTR-4M. The reason for that is that starting from 2014 BTR-4E had around 2000 changes and fixes. So I would say that your statement is correct if we are talking about 2014 when BTR-3 were only appearing. Now after 3 years of war Ukrainian Armed Forces, National Guard, SSO forces, are actively progressing. For example only in 2017 Ukraine will produce around 12 000 new and modernized types of military hardware. The exact number of hardware produced, fixed and modernized since 2014 is something around 36 000 but thats an approximate number prior to classification of some info. Yet, if we will talk about this game in particular I would love to see BTR-3 Mobile Mortar variant. If you would be so kind, could you please tell me where can I write about desirible hardware to see in the game? I'm a newbie here on this forum and I was wondering if we have any topics where people are able to share their ideas with developers? And also Im glad that there are people playing into this game who are somewhat familiar with our National Guard, for me thats an honor to see that coming up. Will be glad to see you following my posts (will be posting a lot of stuff related to Ukrainian side here). Glory to Ukraine!
  2. Thank you for your nice words John, I will be writing more. On Photo: It is one of the 3rd series BTR lineup. BTR-3E (not in the game yet but I hope to see it one day in Combat Mission Black Sea). Basically BTR-3 is a platform of BTR's, Ukrainian Armed Forces are equiped with: Medical, Mortar, Regular (3E), and other BTR 3 variants. Best Regards, Oleksandr.
  3. It is important to understand that around 85% of your success on a battlefield will depend on the correct usage of artillery. If you went through my last post you probably noticed that proper Force Adjustment leads to certain patterns of combat. Meaning that even when you have 3 times more units than your enemy, you still can expect up to 50 (in some cases even 70%) of casualties. That means that you can achieve a victory in attack, and then be beaten up during counter-attack. As a commander your main goal is to minimize your casualties while achieving your goal. Furthermore, I understand that sometimes it is difficult to concentrate required amount of your units in order to adjust your force accordingly to Force Adjustment Formula. In further posts I’m planning to go into detail on each aspect (macro, and micro) of strategy and tactics, but today I will go over some key points related to using artillery while attacking. At this moment you should view Artillery as another tool of the Force Adjustment. First of all, you should always remember that artillery is not a bonus tool what you should use rarely during your attacks. It is a common tool, and when you planning your quick missions be sure that you spend enough of your points on different kinds of artillery. Now let’s touch a little on a general view of any attack. First of all, hybrid and asymmetric war is consisting of two major phases: Active (attack/movement/rotations) and Passive (defense/positions/support). Those are important things to keep in mind because that will explain why sometimes even few companies can be supported by large number of different kinds of artillery. Another important aspect is that an active phase is usually very short, while passive phase can take months. Why would you need to think about it you may ask? The answer is simple: there is a very low chance that prior to your attack you will never know about where and approximately what kind of the enemy force is opposing you. To make long story short, always train your skill in this game while picking enemy forces on your own in order to know what to expect. Another reason for that prehistory relates to a kind of your battle: if you are attacking with a company or even with a battalion you should always pick an “assault mode.” There is no way that somebody would risk leading such force into completely unknown battle. So if you’re fighting force is equal to few squads it is ok to go with “probe” and other stuff like that. But if you going to use some decent manpower you should always pretend that area of your attack was investigated prior to your mission. Ukrainian army using several approaches to supporting its ground units with artillery. There is always standard support on a battalion level (meaning that each battalion has its own artillery (usually 6 mortars)), and there are artillery units and even brigades which are positioned in a different sectors of the territory close to the frontline. That means that in any moment each ground unit can receive needed amount of support in a short period of time. Furthermore, Ukrainian artillery is extremely mobile type of military force. All of that leads us to conclusion that in a point where several units will be planning to attack, they will receive of support from different directions. Now if you still reading this lol I will explain how pick what kind of artillery use while attacking. First of all, if you attacking an enemy whose forces are consisting of infantry, you may be limited to mortars. Yet, if you planning to attack some units supported by armored vehicles you simply must have some howitzers on standby. The reason for that is that Russian armored units can be deadly even in small numbers (right defensive position can do a lot). Mortars would be good to immobilize vehicles but even immobilized units can do a lot of harm to you. When you trying to minimize your casualties you should always remember that and use proper artillery power against your enemy. Cases of using mortars: Against infantry Counter Battery Fire (will be explained later) Collecting Fire (right after or with other types of artillery in order to collect everything what stayed alive after howitzer fire) Provoking/Harassment Fire (to force your enemy to move/reposition/hide) Against light protected targets (Trucks, Cars, etc) How to Adjust Mortars against lightly protected Infantry: 2 mortars firing general shells + 1 against infantry (if you have 3 mortars) 4 mortars firing general shells + 2 firing infantry shells (if you have a 6x battery) When to use Linear Fire: When enemy takes positions close to the roads When enemy has defensive positions in the wood lines When enemy is covered in tranches When to use Area Fire: When enemy covered in villages (not that effective in towns prior to different building types) When enemy hiding (not holding line) within Forest When Covering area related to area of heavy Artillery fire (collecting fire). Example: using mortars with other types of artillery in order to trap and avoid your enemy from escaping. When harassing certain zones in order to force your enemy to relocate or to hide. Light, Medium, Long or maybe Maximum? Try to avoid short and small fire missions if not harassing on purpose. If you attacking Squad with a platoon you might choose “medium” on both length and force. In that way you will be able to use this tactics two times within one battle and one battery. It will be also quite effective, because you not only destroying your enemy, but you also keep your enemy low to the ground while moving towards his forces. Yet, using Maximum fire power while assaulting your enemy accordingly to Force Adjustment Formula leads to simple waste of your ammo. The only time I would really support using mortars on Maximum is when your enemy is covered within village. If this post will be accepted by a community as an interesting one I will further write about other types of artillery, its usage, some macro and micro level tactics and strategies, counter battery usage, defense (from general to specific), usage of smoke, etc.
  4. While attacking always remember that your main goal is to achieve your victory with as less casualties as possible. In order to minimize your casualties, you should always plan your actions. Planning depends on a size of your force. There are tons of people who are talking about things such as: reconnaissance, fire superiority, and maneuvering. Indeed, those are crucial things to keep in mind. Now let’s pretend that you want to become a Ukrainian Army General in a world of Combat Mission, what would be the first thing to keep in mind while planning an attack? The answer is simple: Size of the force. Force Adjustment Formula: If you going to attack an enemy squad, you will need to do it with a platoon. If you going to attack a platoon, you will need to do it with a company. If you going to assault positions protected by a company, you will need to use a battalion. Simplification: Platoon vs squad. Company vs platoon. Battalion vs company. Force adjustment is crucial when it comes to minimization of your casualties and achieving success on a battlefield. Now let’s move from general formula to specific concepts related to Force Adjustment. If you going to attack an enemy infantry supported by armor or even by heavy armor, things are going to get a little more complicated. This is how Force Adjustment Formula may look in some cases: Minimum (expect up to 50% casualties) Platoon (at least: 3 bmp) vs squad (+1 bmp) Company (at least: 9 bmp) vs platoon (+3 bmp) Battalion (at least: 27 bmp) vs Company (+9 bmp) Minimum if heavy armor involved (expect up to 50% casualties) Platoon (at least: 3 bmp + 4 tanks) vs squad (+1 bmp + 1 tank) Company (at least: 9 bmp + 12 tanks) vs platoon (+3 bmp + 4 tanks) Battalion (at least: 27 bmp + 36 tanks) vs Company (+9 bmp + 12 tanks) As you can see, some battles can transform into massive operations involving hundreds of people and dozens of armored vehicles of all kinds. My suggestion would be to begin with quick battles and practice attacking starting from platoon vs squad type of battles on a small and tiny map. Foremost, Force Adjustment is not the only thing you should keep in mind while planning your attack, but it is the core stone of success. In a following post I will write about artillery support, unit composition, different tactical moves, etc. Those are tools what can and will help you dramatically when you will lead your men into a fight. Glory to Ukraine!
×
×
  • Create New...