Idea: Sweeping MG fire

[Bulletpoint]

What if machineguns had the option to sweep a line of terrain with suppressive fire, instead of only being able to target a single action square like it works now?

Pros: You could suppress a whole hedgerow/trench line. Arguably more realistic use of machineguns?

Cons: Would use much more ammo (finally a use for those ammo bearers!), suppression strength against each square might be less the longer the fire-sweep line is.

Would work like this: When you do a target command, double-click at the first point of the line, then click at the end point to confirm, just like ordering artillery line missions.

[DaddyO]

What if machineguns had the option to sweep a line of terrain with suppressive fire, instead of only being able to target a single action square like it works now?

Pros: You could suppress a whole hedgerow/trench line. Arguably more realistic use of machineguns?

Cons: Would use much more ammo (finally a use for those ammo bearers!), suppression strength against each square might be less the longer the fire-sweep line is.

Would work like this: When you do a target command, double-click at the first point of the line, then click at the end point to confirm, just like ordering artillery line missions.

I brought this up a few months ago. It was an interesting discussion that followed. I'm sure if you do a search you can find it.

[womble]

What if machineguns had the option to sweep a line of terrain with suppressive fire, instead of only being able to target a single action square like it works now?

Pros: You could suppress a whole hedgerow/trench line. Arguably more realistic use of machineguns?

Only you couldn't, really. To really keep a lid on a unit behind a hedgerow you need the intensity of an MG firing at one AS (and its neighbours a bit) for the whole minute. Spreading that out just means you're slackening everything off to potential uselessness. And contrary to movie depictions, MGs didn't saw back and forth spraying along a baseline, they fired bursts into a pretty narrow cone.

[ASL Veteran]

What if machineguns had the option to sweep a line of terrain with suppressive fire, instead of only being able to target a single action square like it works now?

Pros: You could suppress a whole hedgerow/trench line. Arguably more realistic use of machineguns?

Cons: Would use much more ammo (finally a use for those ammo bearers!), suppression strength against each square might be less the longer the fire-sweep line is.

Would work like this: When you do a target command, double-click at the first point of the line, then click at the end point to confirm, just like ordering artillery line missions.

Something almost identical to this has actually been proposed, but when or even whether you may see something like this is anyone's guess.

[ASL Veteran]

Only you couldn't, really. To really keep a lid on a unit behind a hedgerow you need the intensity of an MG firing at one AS (and its neighbours a bit) for the whole minute. Spreading that out just means you're slackening everything off to potential uselessness. And contrary to movie depictions, MGs didn't saw back and forth spraying along a baseline, they fired bursts into a pretty narrow cone.

It really depends upon the circumstances. HMGs in defensive positions were typically assigned 'sectors' to cover - preferably in enfilade - where they could use grazing fire to deny that area to the enemy. A relatively tight covered arc type of command where the suppression effects were applied from the muzzle all the way out to the target area would be something that would be useful to a defender.

[Bulletpoint]

I brought this up a few months ago. It was an interesting discussion that followed. I'm sure if you do a search you can find it.

Roger that. I love how the first reply to your thread is also "Something like this has been requested previously" I wonder who originally came up with it.

[dieseltaylor]

Particularly at night.

[DaddyO]

Roger that. I love how the first reply to your thread is also "Something like this has been requested previously" I wonder who originally came up with it.

Probably my great great grandfather on the Combat Mission Civil War forum.

[Apocal]

Does anyone have a link to the previous thread? I didn't have much luck with searching.

[Vanir Ausf B]

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=86370

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?p=1304512#post1304512

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?p=1486729#post1486729

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=96550

[Bulletpoint]

Seems we are many with this idea.

A similar idea would be "multiple target smoke". I read somewhere that the Standard Operating Procedure in the hedgerows was to drive a sherman to the hedge, fire smoke munitions at the corners of the opposite side (where MG-nests might hide) and then "hose down" the length of the hedge between the corners with MG fire as the infantry advanced.

In WeGo, you can't really fire smoke at the opposing corners, since the sherman has only around 6-8 smoke rounds, and they will all be expended during one minute, before you can target the other corner.

So, it would be nice to say "smoke this spot, this spot and this spot" and the tank would do that during the turn.