TheQuakerOatsGuy

Well, I managed to make it through my first mission ("Assault") as the official Red Army without too much trouble. It very deftly laid out the reinforcement timing to allow you to handle the important recon phase in a natural manner. The starting infantry platoon and tank platoon felt like enough for probing the crossing points, identifying strong-points and blowing them up, etc. Not enough to really "Assault" anything, so you're encouraged to do a bit of legwork and then wait for reinforcements. I was very impressed by the performance of the T-34-85, not so much by the infantry, who seemed to function best as landmine detectors (great close range firepower when massed, though!). C2 gave me a bit of trouble, but not too much. By the end of the mission I had one of my coy HQs riding with the platoon lead tank on account of wanting a radio. As far as tanks go, I decided to play most of the mission unbuttoned. I felt that the importance of C2 and infantry-armor cooperation was too big of an increase to my spotting chances (what's the point of recon if you can't pass it around?). Though I will say I had my tanks fight buttoned up most of the time, once the shooting started. Thanks for the tips comrades!

I can see why buttoning up is a disadvantage here, especially in the case of the soviets where there's not as many radios to relay information from the infantry to the inside of the tank. I think in practice in CM this might come down to what you expect to go up against. If you're in an infantry support role, I think it makes sense to occasionally trade spotting for crew safety, at least, when there's not a serious antitank threat!

This is interesting. I also didn't realize that there was a difference in C2 made by buttoned/unbuttoned commanders. Unbuttoned seems until contact seems the most reasonable to me. Is there an accuracy difference from having the commander opened up as well (Better shot spotting)? What's the 'official' doctrine about this?

Interesting! Recon and screening is an area I am still developing. I've heard a lot about Soviet emphasis on reconnaissance. With the Americans I tended to shoot first and "ask questions" later. Very much agreed on the last point! Experience with the Americans shows that fighting German armor with 1:1 brute force is for chumps. This is part of where I struggle. In the "F&R Home" mission the stragglers will literally crumble under sustained infantry fire. Up until I saw the infantry contacts streaming across the fields in the back I thought I was actually losing and had never quite achieved "Fire Superiority" on account of there being an MG42 present (shows what I know). I have a hard time sizing up enemy forces and evaluating what I'm up against. I suppose this will come with experience. Infantry infiltration seems intriguing. I've heard this was done IRL with 76mm Shermans before they got muzzle brakes. How does this work mechanically? can you dismount part of your crew (I.E. the commander) to spot for the gunner? Can you dismount one tank in a troop and it will spot for the others? Do you dismount the crew, spot the enemy, then return with the tank? Sorry, my grasp of C2 links is not strong, and I would hate to try this just to get my crew blown up without a scratch even on the tank, though I guess it saves the rear echelon guys the trouble of hosing it out. All your advice about urban warfare seems very sound and I will keep it in mind the next time I'm playing an attacking force in an urban area. Thanks!

Hi, I'm relatively new to Combat Mission (picked it up last year), but became hooked quickly. I have spent nearly all my time playing the U.S. due to understanding it being a relatively newcomer friendly faction. I have played a good deal of CMFI and CMFB, with a little experience in RT and BFN. I have been rotating through the games, coming around to RT again, and I'm looking at playing the Soviets. The few other times I've played them, I've really struggled with the infantry, though so far I've spent most of my time with partisans (I've seen advice saying to start with small scenarios and work your way up). I know that these formations are relatively low-quality, but I do find that they handle very differently from U.S. G.I.s. The lack of rifle grenades and mortars are what really make the difference (Though, of course, they make up for it in other ways - more PPSHs, real LMGs, etc.). The manual advises players that they have to think differently playing as the Red Army, with the one-up rule and centralized planning, but I think I'm really struggling to wrap my head around it. As the U.S. I've learned a pretty rudimentary (but functional!) approach... Contact W/scout teams--> Bring up fire support --> destroy enemy --> Repeat. I don't really think this works as the Soviets, or at least, it hasn't worked as the partisans. I've also gotten a few more small-scale takeaways from my time with the US, like "German MGs are really scary!" and "Don't engage panzers from the front with shermans!" "Germans like to deploy in reverse slope/covered positions in order to mitigate fire disadvantages!" TLDR: I'm looking for advice on how to approach engagements as the Soviets, either just tips specific for situations (I.E. X gun on Y tank is really good) or just a general approach to things that might be different from the U.S. Also, if I got any recommendations for scenarios that highlight specific strengths/weaknesses of soviet capabilities I would be very appreciative. I played the "Muddy Affair" scenario in CM:FB and it was very "Educational"... I finally beat it after a lot of trial and error, but I learned a lot in the process. Thanks!