Tactics 101 for a new user

[Saint19]

Hi,

I just purchased Combat Mission Shock Force Marine Bundle. Having posted at SimHQ regarding trying to learn land combat, it was suggested that Combat Mission might be the way to go.

Now that I've purchased CMSF I have NO IDEA where to start. I'm learning the controls. But I didn't see any tutorial missions for tactics at all. The only "tutorial" mission I see is "Ambush". But I didn't see any information where I could learn the most basic of tactics. I mean I really have no idea about land combat at all.

Where do I start regarding very basic tactics and then build up to more advanced tactics? I'd like to be able to learn these tactics for other sims as well such as ARMA Combined Forces and the old Ghost Recon.

Thanx for your help.

[agusto]

So, where to start?

I would recommend you to watch the following videos:

CMBN Monster Tutorial:

Although its CMBN, the game mechanics are more or less the same (excption: on-map mortars).

Then, more advanced, there are the Armchair General tactic tutorials, made by a real life retired US Army Colonel:

That is Episode 6, but there are 5 more of those videos. You can easily find them on Youtube. Those are again WW2 videos but the basic tactics applied ther also work very well in CMSF. I would very much recommend you to watch those 6 videos, they are really great for learning the basic concepts of land warfare you will need in CM games.

Regarding CMSF Tactics, tanit aka tryspawn did a great series of AARs where he explains his tactics very well. You can find them here:

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=94176

[Saint19]

Thank you for your reply Agusto.

I've started watching the videos you provided.

I was told there are Basic and Advanced walkthroughs in the manual. But I've not seen them. Are there actually walkthroughs that I might go through as well?

[Saint19]

Ok I've found the Yakima Training Center campaign. That's the missions I was informed of earlier.

[Chainsaw]

Just think FIRE - MANEUVER - COVER and youre off to a good start

And if you want to read a bit I would suggest the tactics 101 at armchairgeneral, but its mostly US centric but its a good start to get a grasp of tactics, http://www.armchairgeneral.com/category/tactics101

/chainsaw

[Saint19]

Yeah. I saw these and plan to read them as well. There is so much to learn. But thus far I can't seem to stop laying CMSF. I was thinking of getting Normandy or Italy as well.

[Cuirassier]

Empiricism is also a good route to take. Don't think that reading tactics articles is the only way to learn basic tactics. Play small scenarios and quick battles and try to really think about the tactical problem you are confronted with. Come up with a plan that seems reasonable and realistic to you, and then give it a try. Take note of what worked, what didn't, and why. Experience against the AI will give you the basic skills. From there you can start looking into the more nuanced bits of tactics.

[Saint19]

Thanx for the bit of advice. I need to learn to use the quick battles. For some reason I just hadn't thought about it. I was thinking, well the missions are already there to try. But for example Al Hawl....very difficult for me. But I finally achieved Total Victory on Elite level.

[Euri]

One key advice which comes from long experience is the following: Stay away and kill from afar. If you wonder if you are far enough, you are probably too close. Kill with artillery and air assets; and tanks (but with tanks remember to stay very far :-)

[Saint19]

Definitely good advice. I try to play realistically. I know that in real life you'd want to stay as far as possible. It ain't the movies.

[eniced73]

QB's are garbage. Even more so in CMA. Stay away from them and do not waste your time. Stick to the game scenario's and user made ones from the Repository.

In SF the Allies have overwhelming fire power and winning most of the scenarios are easily acheived, even for a rookie. Try to set your bar higher by trying to minimize casualties or collateral damage instead of just winning the scenario.

[Mr. Yubby]

If you're playing with combined arms forces, be sure to keep your tanks moving (i.e., shoot-and-scoot). Depending upon the scenario, a static tank will quickly become a casualty. If you haven't read it already, look at the "shoot and scoot" sticky thread in this forum. Good information, nicely presented.

When starting a new scenario, pause the game and take a thorough look at the battlefield to determine which locations on the battlefield provide the best opportunities for hull-down positions for your tanks, and good cover for infantry, and also where the enemy is likely to set up ambushes. Depending upon how well you "read" the battlefield terrain, you can definitely increase your troops' odds of survival. This aspect seems to be modelled pretty well in the CMSF series.

Also be sure to patch your game to version 1.32, there were some significant AI improvements in versions 1.31 and 1.32. And I know it's gamey, but Javelin ATMs make pretty awesome house-destruction devices. Oh and BTW, the destructiveness of Javelins was toned down quite a bit in the later CMSF releases ( I don't remember exactly which version). Oh well, can't have everything.

A couple of other minor things. When playing the Blue forces in any urban scenario, kill any moving taxi's as soon as possible as they WILL be loaded with an IED. If there are friendly taxis at all in the scenario, they are static, mainly for scenery. I know this has been discussed a lot in the CMSF forums, but the game mode affects tactics in more subtle ways. The nice thing about the WEGO mode is that you can carefully plan your movement and tactics, then roll the dice and watch your plan execute. It's nice that you can replay each 60 second action sequence, but it can seem overly pedantic if you're like me and spend too much time planning. The real-time mode was a pretty daring idea by BFC, it offended many of the legacy Combat Mission fans. I kind of like real-time, to me it's much more immersive, though the combat in CMSF moves so fast, you really have to focus to be able to properly manage your forces, it makes me tired.

[Mord]

Another very basic idea to keep in mind, when it comes to CMSF, is that impatience and mistakes are payed for in massive amounts of blood. The modern battlefield is ultra deadly. I can personally attest to this.

Also, a nice little trick is recon by fire (which will be so much cooler when CMSF gets remade with the target briefly command). If you have ANY hint there might be some bad guys in a building or a clump of trees...hose it down. If you aren't sure...hose it down. If you get hungry for a hamburger, hose it down. Every time I have ignored the little voice saying "there could be a guy in there with an rpg"...I ended up with dead dudes or dead tanks or dead AFVS...AND I should've hosed it down! Bob & Doug McKenzie be damned, BE a hoser!

Mord.

[Buzz]

Smaller scenarios in Real Time vs AI with limited pauses can be plenty of fun and a good teaching tool. This type of game also demonstrates exactly what Mord noted "modern battlefield is ultra deadly." Red on Red small scenarios can be plenty to manage in a tight urban setting. There are lots and lots of user made scenarios in the CMSF Repository. Have fun.

[Saint19]

Thanx for all your help guys. These are great suggestions.

Yes it does seem a bit easy if you use the overwhelming firepower of the blue forces. So I mainly am trying to keep casualties low.

[Saint19]

So for example with a mission like Al Hawl, which I've played several times, I've won most of them. But my casualties are high and I feel stuck out there.

How would one go about this mission regarding controlling the best vantage points such as the two major cross streets there where the enemy tanks are rolling into the city?

It's dangerous placing infantry on top of the buildings as once their spotted...look out. When playing Wego I don't know how to make them shoot and then hide out of the way. If real time I pop them up and then back once they fire off a javelin.

Any help is greatly appreciated for overall tactics in such a scenario.

[George MC]

You tried giving them a pause command e.g. 15 seconds then a 'fast' command to cover. This allows the team to ID a target - engage then get out of dodge.

[Saint19]

Thanx. I'll be reading the shoot and scoot topic soon as well. If I understand the manual the first press of pause is 15sec, then 30sec and so on. But I might be using it wrong.

[Sublime]

Hmm is it with CMSF? In BN, etc its in 5 second increments, then 15 seconds after it hits 1:00. It goes to 1:30 then has just pause (which holds indefinitely, until turned off)

Im pretty sure with each press of p you get another 5 second block...

[Buzz]

Pause is in 5 second increments in CMSF.

[Saint19]

Yeah I see that now. 5-10-15-20-30-etc....

[Sublime]

You should be careful with pause and vehicles though. It affects things less than in BN, especially if you play the NATO side in SF with Abrams etc, but for some reason paused vehicles will fire with the same decrease in accuracy (even when not moving) as if they were moving. This is of course very noticeable in WW2 era tank fights - and since BN, FI, and SF share the same engine probably applies in SF as well.

[agusto]

In my experience tank fire in CMSF is deadly accurate, no matter if the vehicle or the target is on the move. You may have to be a bit more careful with the older Soviet models, like the T-55 and such, but all Western tanks and the more modern Syrian ones (T-72 and better) dont suffer from a significantly reduced accuracy if they fire on the move.