Effective use of Snipers vs. Tank Commanders

[Steven482]

I like to use my snipers to kill crew exposed tank commanders.

Typically I assign a sniper team to a specific tank or put an armored covered arc.

However I struggle in keeping the Sniper Team from firing at a tank when the commander is buttoned up.

Is there a way I can withhold the fire until the commander presents himself?

Steven

[A Canadian Cat]

Interesting. I have not noticed snipers shooting at buttoned tanks. Could it be the cover armour arc that is causing them to do that. I usually try to get my snipers a good spot in over watch if possible and just let them do their thing. I never use a cover arc of any kind and I have not noticed them shooting at buttoned tanks. Try it with just a normal cover arc or no arc at all.

[womble]

No infantry will fire small arms at buttoned tanks of their own accord. I think they'll only fire briefly at buttoned armour even if you give them a target command.

I know my first statement to be true, because I used to think it untrue, but after close observation, and trying to find an example of the TacAI firing small arms at a buttoned tank, I haven't seen one single instance. And I still go back and check every time I think I might have seen it in case a bug has been introduced.

[MikeyD]

I haven't tested this out but I think the armor cover arc is considered a fire command. You tell him to only fire on armor and he takes you at your word. You can order you sharpshooter to 'target' but if you want him to reliable hit high value targets I'd advise finding some high ground for him and letting him self-target. A self-targeting sniper will reliably take out HQ units, heavy weapons units, tank hunters. Frankly the game's gone through several updates since I last tried taking out tank commander with a sniper. Depending on the tank type it used to be either almost impossible or really easy.

[Erwin]

But, restricting a unit's fire is the point of a covered arc. I think most people who wanted a tank to stay buttoned up would reasonably assume that a covered arc would have the sniper restrict his attention to what is in that arc, but not waste ammo pinging away when there is no point.

[ASL Veteran]

But, restricting a unit's fire is the point of a covered arc. I think most people who wanted a tank to stay buttoned up would reasonably assume that a covered arc would have the sniper restrict his attention to what is in that arc, but not waste ammo pinging away when there is no point.

You are assuming that the game knows he's firing to no purpose. However, it's probably as simple as target armor arc and he's targeting armor. In other words, when he tells the sniper to fire using a target armor covered arc then he's telling the game to have his sniper fire at the tank itself, not necessarily the commander if his head happens to be poking out of the hatch. Therefore, whether the commander's head is poking out or not is not accounted for by the game since the tank itself is the target.

[MikeyD]

Those WWII instructional videos on You Tube occassionally talk of sharpshooters targeting optics on tanks. I recall one anecdote from Eastern Front that had a Tiger I returning from combat with its drum cupola looking like it had been gnawed on by a dog from all the bullet/AT rifle strikes around the vision slits. I can't say I ever heard of small arms fire degrading optics in the game but at least there's a precedent for soldiers trying.

[womble]

But, restricting a unit's fire is the point of a covered arc.

Indeed, CA only restricts the area into which a unit will fire (barring threat overrides, natch) and ACA adds target type restrictions.

I think most people...would reasonably assume that a covered arc would have the sniper restrict his attention to what is in that arc, but not waste ammo pinging away when there is no point.

I have to agree there. If it were a "plain" covered arc, I wouldn't expect the sniper (or any smallarm unit) to shoot at buttoned armour; the arc effectively says "don't shoot at anything outside this arc". I'd parse the expectation for ACA as "don't shoot at anything outside this arc, and don't shoot at anything that isn't 'armour'", rather than "shoot at armour within this arc".

[Erwin]

I have read that inf (a group) will shoot everything they have at a buttoned tank and have successfully damaged its optics, blinding it.

But, in this case, where one has a single sniper, and he has not been specifically ordered to shoot at the tank, why would he want to give away his position? The example in this thread doesn't seem to be how a covered arc with no target order is supposed to work. Hope BF can take a look at it.