Running away from Tanks

[Fed]

I don't understand why something happened in a game.

A squad was in a building. It was shooting at an enemy. A tank approached, because it noticed I was in the building. It did not shoot as of yet. I felt that the tank would pound my position, so I issued an order to have the squad run out of the building. Just in case, I limited the target arc, so that they would not shoot anymore and just run. They did not follow the orders. In fact, they stopped shooting, and stayed in their position as the tank unleashed a volley of shots that killed all but one in the squad.

Any idea what I did wrong? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Fed

[Peregrine]

Was their morale state pinned? This would have them paralysed for a little while before doing anything.

Also several guys cowering may be enough for them to not move straight away but typically the guys not cowering should be running so can't really explain what happened to you.

It isn't fool-proof but hitting the withdraw button does seem to get guys moving faster but haven't methodically tested this to understand how much (if any) better this is.

[Vanir Ausf B]

Yeah, unless they were pinned I can't think of any reason why they wouldn't move.

[Fed]

Now that you mention it, they were pinned. Thanks for that.

Where is there Withdraw Button? I can't seem to find it.

[LukeFF]

Where is there Withdraw Button? I can't seem to find it.

There isn't one.

[Baneman]

Now that you mention it, they were pinned. Thanks for that.

Where is there Withdraw Button? I can't seem to find it.

Hehe, "Withdraw" was a CM1 command that does not appear to have made the transition.

It used to get the unit to pull back no matter what, but they took a morale penalty and often panicked for a turn.

Pity really, could still come in handy

[Childress]

Wrong. The Withdraw button can be found on the movement panel. It's a red cross just above the Fast and Quick buttons. Useful, especially, if you're a Real Time player. But it works in WEGO as well.

[Fed]

Cool. Thanks. I'll give it a try

[John Kettler]

Childress,

There's a Withdraw button? Outstanding! Could've used it in several of my games. CMBN Demo in particular.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Michael Emrys]

There's a Withdraw button? Outstanding! Could've used it in several of my games.

Commenting on this would be cruel, so I remain silent.

Michael

[Lt Belenko]

Wrong. The Withdraw button can be found on the movement panel. It's a red cross just above the Fast and Quick buttons. Useful, especially, if you're a Real Time player. But it works in WEGO as well.

WEGO as in PBEM or just WEGO vs AI?

[George MC]

WEGO as in PBEM or just WEGO vs AI?

Both - it's basically just an automatic 'fast' command. Never actually used it myself as given my superior generalship my guys bug out with plenty of time, or die gloriously in their positions...

[Baneman]

Wrong. The Withdraw button can be found on the movement panel. It's a red cross just above the Fast and Quick buttons. Useful, especially, if you're a Real Time player. But it works in WEGO as well.

Outstanding - don't know how I missed that - on looking, I see the manual calls it EVADE.

Still useful to know, thanks for the info.

[Erwin]

I haven't used EVADE in years. My recollection was that it often made the unit run to someplace I didn't want. Does EVADE actually make the unit run AWAY from danger - or simply to cover (which if they are already in cover may lead to odd results)?

[Childress]

The command exists for hectic RT battles. When you lack the time to plot a careful withdrawal. Resorting to it in WEGO is senseless, imo.

[Holien]

Well you learn something new every day....

[Baneman]

Well, the CM1 version let you place a waypoint.

If the CM2 version doesn't, then it's probably worse than useless since ( as Erwin points out ), they'll probably run into trouble.

( in all CM games, it seems that Routing/Panicking troops will always find the most insanely dangerous places to run to and then stop, often only inches from safety. I think it's a deliberate feature )

[John Kettler]

Baneman,

Look on the bright side. In Brothers In Arms, the elite American paratroopers a) couldn't climb over a low wall and gnenerally deployed on the enemy side of the wall! Our men are geniuses!

Regards,

John Kettler

[George MC]

Well, the CM1 version let you place a waypoint.

If the CM2 version doesn't, then it's probably worse than useless since ( as Erwin points out ), they'll probably run into trouble.

( in all CM games, it seems that Routing/Panicking troops will always find the most insanely dangerous places to run to and then stop, often only inches from safety. I think it's a deliberate feature )

Just a suggestion - maybe try it out first in game, may have saved you typing time

If you did you'd see the game places a waypoint which you can then move. You can also have the same effect by placing a 'fast' command to anywhere you want.

[Childress]

Our men are geniuses!

And resourceful, too! They've learned to deploy MGs and mortars in the middle of fordable rivers and their rhino-equipped tanks can reverse thru bocage.

[DasMorbo]

@ Fed:

Little off-topic extra:

ALWAYS split your squads into teams!

Best regards

Olf

[Childress]

They've learned to deploy MGs and mortars in the middle of fordable rivers and their Rhino tanks can reverse thru bocage.

Must add that these peculiarities have close to zero effect on game play. But when the series gets to the Huertgen Forest they might review the deployment flexibility of on-map mortars. An inconvenience encountered by both sides was the impenetrable tree canopy in certain areas that prevented the use of these weapons.

[Sgt Schultz]

The evade button creates a FAST move order that will ignore all but the worst pinning, and it has a face command at the end. This will become a QUICK order if the unit is TIRED or worse.

One can grab this move order and swing it from its usually idiotic endpoint, and move it somewhere nearby that has cover and is actually in a direction AWAY from the enemy.

The face order at the end will self-adjust as one moves the endpoint.

Giving a HIDE command at the end never hurts, since they wouldn't be bugging out if they were in good order and in a tenable position.

---

I use this order all the time. Being pinned in WEGO is the kiss of death unless you can GTFO of Dodge.

Your boys will take a morale hit, and will end up worse in both suppression and fitness... but they will have a much greater chance of having warm bodies left over at the end of the movie file.

You can recover from TIRED. Dead... not so much.

-

[Erwin]

"The evade button creates a FAST move order that will ignore all but the worst pinning"

That is useful to know if confirmed. (Where is that in the rulebook?) I thought if it's the same as a FAST MOVE order, then it's a pointless order (unless in the fast pace of a RT game).

[Childress]

The evade button creates a FAST move order that will ignore all but the worst pinning, and it has a face command at the end. This will become a QUICK order if the unit is TIRED or worse.

-

Actually you can change to whatever move order you want, even Assault, given the fatigue state. Which suggests it's a Real Time shortcut.

It doesn't effect vehicles, I think. Unless the vehicle has smoke rounds in which case the button wall cause it to pop smoke.