Hunt with cover arc

[bisu]

I am wondering what is the rationale for having your soldiers and vehicles advancing with HUNT and cover arc stop as soon as they spot the enemy OUTSIDE the CA.

IMO that reduces the player's tactical options in many situations.

Recently I tried to clean a narrow clump of trees where I knew weakened and outnumbered enemy infantry was sitting. So I assigned a HUNT order with small CA to my squads to have them stop and fight when they make contact with the enemy in front of them.. But they just stopped much earlier because they noticed a lone enemy infantrymen about 300 m away in the open.

If I wanted them to stop on contact with any enemy spotted ANYWHERE I would not have given them a CA in the first place.

I can't remember exactly how this issue was handled in CM1 but wouldn't your pixeltruppen there ignore everything outside the CA in terms of returning fire AND spotting?

[A co]

I suppose it is mainly useful for stealthy movement in concealment. The unit would stop, get down, and hold fire when enemy (who might spot them) is spotted outside the arc. Good for scouting.

For the purpose you were trying to achieve, it is clearly less useful.

[Michael Emrys]

Agree with the above. Using the hunt command I regard as primarily a defensive ploy. Your best bet would have used a Quick or Move command to get them into a place where you wanted your troops to spot and fire on the enemy. You have to guess where that spot might be and you won't always guess right, but with experience and practice you'll get it right often enough.

Michael

[H1nd]

Hunt+cover arch is often the must for scout team if you dont want it to die in blaze of glory once it spots the enemy. Even hide command is not 100% TACai proof. This is especialy true when scouting in urban conditions. But for search and destroy no no.

[womble]

I am wondering what is the rationale for having your soldiers and vehicles advancing with HUNT and cover arc stop as soon as they spot the enemy OUTSIDE the CA.

Because that's the way CAs work. All they do is limit the firing options of your troops. Sometimes that will give a particular bias to the direction they look as well, but that is entirely incidental. They have nothing further to do with situational awareness or tactical reaction. Similarly, a "Cover Armour" arc will not of itself stop a unit on Hunt from reacting to infantry it spots.

IMO that reduces the player's tactical options in many situations.

Given that it has never worked the way you seem to think it does, the tactical options availabla have not been reduced. Of course we're limited by the orders available, it's a game.

If I wanted them to stop on contact with any enemy spotted ANYWHERE I would not have given them a CA in the first place.

Then you are trying to use CA for something it is not designed or specified to do. Not the game's fault.

I can't remember exactly how this issue was handled in CM1 but wouldn't your pixeltruppen there ignore everything outside the CA in terms of returning fire AND spotting?

The sooner you forget everything about how CMx1 handled things, the easier you'll find playing x2. Really.

[Vanir Ausf B]

I would prefer that units on Hunt + CA ignore enemy outside the arc, unless fired upon. It would make Hunt more useful in more situations.

[Erwin]

As people keep noticing, there were many features in CM1 that worked rather well. If we keep politely pointing that out, hopefully BF will put them back in in their own time. BF has already reintroduced several useful CM1 features into CM2. So, there is hope.

[Michael Emrys]

I would prefer that units on Hunt + CA ignore enemy outside the arc, unless fired upon. It would make Hunt more useful in more situations.

In fact, a general rethinking and reworking of the Hunt command would be welcome. If it is intended to represent a specific action that is—for instance—physically tiring, that's fine. But then, a Move to Contact command is needed to represent a different behavior that at present cannot be accurately represented in the game. Such a command might represent a squad or team advancing in open order at the same pace as the present Move command but with heightened situational awareness, and if fired upon would stop and drop prone rather than persisting in movement. If there was fire nearby but not directed specifically at them, they would pause and go into a kneeling posture for say ten seconds before continuing unless if a likely target presented itself, in which case they would remain in position bring it under fire for the remainder of the turn. Anyway, something along those lines.

Michael

[Michael Emrys]

As people keep noticing, there were many features in CM1 that worked rather well. If we keep politely pointing that out, hopefully BF will put them back in in their own time. BF has already reintroduced several useful CM1 features into CM2. So, there is hope.

Well sure. But a point that Steve has mentioned is that some things that worked a certain way in the x1 code cannot work the same way within the x2 code. Such a feature would have to be redesigned if it can be included at all. So then it comes down to a matter of priorities and which features would benefit the game the most vs. the time and labor they would require to implement.

Michael

[Erwin]

Yes of course time vs reward is always an issue. But, BF has shown that it can also boil down to whether enough customers feel the same way about something.

I only have a hazy idea as to whiich features are hard or easy to program in. But, for example bringing back one click 180 degree arcs should not be too hard. What the arcs actually make a unit do may well be more complex.

[A Canadian Cat]

Interesting discussion about possible improvements to Hunt and or move to contact command. I would like to chime in to say though that I would *not* like the hunt with cover arc to ignore enemy units outside the arc. I want to be able to use cover arcs to restrict scouts from firing and reveling their positions. At the same time when scouts are hunting into unknown areas I *do* want then to stop when they spot the enemy - any enemy.

[womble]

Interesting discussion about possible improvements to Hunt and or move to contact command. I would like to chime in to say though that I would *not* like the hunt with cover arc to ignore enemy units outside the arc. I want to be able to use cover arcs to restrict scouts from firing and reveling their positions. At the same time when scouts are hunting into unknown areas I *do* want then to stop when they spot the enemy - any enemy.

This is the dichotomy. BFC have chosen one side of it.