Best way to maintain a line of troops

[Fed]

I was wondering what would be the best way to maintain a line of troops (lets call it a front). To keep it simple:

A straight line at the front.

Only infantry, and they defending, not attacking.

They have machine guns, grenades, and bazookas.

The enemy is within range, but largely unseen, and is only infantry.

Which it better:

1) Have them stay there with no orders.

2) Issue Hide commands (to see the enemy, remain unseen, and limit the return fire - to remain hidden).

3) Have scouts in front that have the Hide order, and have the line behind them 10-40 ft with one of 4) - 5) below.

4) Issue overlapping Fields of Fire. (with or without Hidden scouts)

5) Issue area target along the front to suppress the enemy. (with or without Hidden scouts)

If there are any other suggestions that I have missed, please let me know. Any opinions are welcome.

Thanks,

Fed

[DasMorbo]

Firt suggestion:

leave the 'hide' command alone. soldiers hug the mud with it and don't look around at all - they see the enemy at a maximum of 15 meters (=yards) and then they are in trouble.

For anything else ask Mr. Jeffrey Paulding:

He will rush you through the essentials of modern infantry tactics - hasn't changed too much since WWII.

Best regards

Olf

[Badger73]

I was wondering what would be the best way to maintain a line of troops (lets call it a front). To keep it simple:

A straight line at the front.

Only infantry, and they defending, not attacking.

They have machine guns, grenades, and bazookas.

The enemy is within range, but largely unseen, and is only infantry.

Which it better:

1) Have them stay there with no orders.

2) Issue Hide commands (to see the enemy, remain unseen, and limit the return fire - to remain hidden).

3) Have scouts in front that have the Hide order, and have the line behind them 10-40 ft with one of 4) - 5) below.

4) Issue overlapping Fields of Fire. (with or without Hidden scouts)

5) Issue area target along the front to suppress the enemy. (with or without Hidden scouts)

If there are any other suggestions that I have missed, please let me know. Any opinions are welcome.

Thanks,

Fed

Gosh, for me there are way too many other variables one must consider. Just a few that come to mind are:

- situation - what's going on and what are you doing?

- mission - what are you supposed to be doing and how well is that going?

- "freshness" of your pixletruppen - rested / ready / tiring / tired / fatigued / exhausted?

- "quality" of your pixeltruppen - how good are they at fulfilling your intent?

- timing - regarding your schedule, are you behind or are you ahead?

Neither the principles of war nor tactical guidelines can ever boil down to hardfast rules per se.

In short, the answer to "What is better?" is "That depends." So, the kind of front you need to maintain depends on what your units need to accomplish. It is not very straightforward; either in the game nor in real life.

Sorry if this doesn't help. Good luck and good gaming.

[Pak40]

Only infantry, and they defending, not attacking.

They have machine guns, grenades, and bazookas.

The enemy is within range, but largely unseen, and is only infantry.

Assuming the above conditions are true and that your troops have good cover and concealment, give them no orders whatsoever. The TacAI will typically shoot at the best available target and do a good job.

If your units have yet to be discovered it may be worthwhile setting the majority of your units to HIDE, with rear units as the spotters (not hidden but with short covered arcs so they don't give a way their positions). This can be tricky to pull off, especially in WEGO because the enemy will typically spot several of your 'hidden' units and start firing before the end of a turn - at this point you've lost the element of surprise and have to wait to the end of the turn before giving your units the unhide command.

[agusto]

Assuming the above conditions are true and that your troops have good cover and concealment, give them no orders whatsoever. The TacAI will typically shoot at the best available target and do a good job.

If there is no target available, issueing an 'area fire' command on a place where you know there are enemy troops might be a good option. Especially true for long range HMGs and tank main gun fire. Foe example if i see a questionmark and keeping my troops concealed is not necessary/not an option, i hit it with 'area fire', preferably HE.

[A Canadian Cat]

Assuming the above conditions are true and that your troops have good cover and concealment, give them no orders whatsoever. The TacAI will typically shoot at the best available target and do a good job.

+1 for that choice.

[A Canadian Cat]

If there is no target available, issueing an 'area fire' command on a place where you know there are enemy troops might be a good option. Especially true for long range HMGs and tank main gun fire. Foe example if i see a questionmark and keeping my troops concealed is not necessary/not an option, i hit it with 'area fire', preferably HE.

This is not unreasonable advice but I tend to take it easy on guess work area fire. The problem comes, if during the turn, a better target appears your men no have to choose between doing what you told them to do and doing what they would naturally do. To often they keep doing what you asked them to do, to their determent.

I have been using the new Target Briefly command for this. It allows you to put down some area fire but frees your men up for most of the turn in case something develops.

[Fed]

Thanks a lot guys.

I am trying Target Briefly and it seems to do the job quite well.

I agreed, each situation requires an analysis, but in general, I am finding that my troops don't shot much if they don't have a Target command of some sort. Then, without suppression of the enemy from area fire, the enemy shoots and kills quite effectively. Target Briefly seems to keep their heads down, and reduce their ability to hit me.

I am also finding Slow moving (one action square) quite effective in keeping from being spotted. Only, the troops get tired quickly. So, Target Briefly one turn, Slow move the next.

Seems to be working.

[c3k]

If you want to lure the enemy into the open, then short-ish cover target arcs.

Again, lots of variables. Remember to MOVE your troops if you want them to survive, if possible, without leaving cover. A static troop is a dead troop.