Why won't infantry units fire smoke on command?

[Talespin Jim]

I've used smoke to great effect in this game sometimes and in other games as well, but I'm having a problem I can't figure out and I'm out of ideas to try.

In the last five scenarios in which I've tried to place smoke, I've had infantry units I've tried to fire smoke with and they just don't follow orders. These are the only times I've used infantry units to place smoke recently, and in every case they have failed to do it. Of course I've made certain they have smoke to fire. I understand that they fire the smoke about 20 meters away in the direction they are facing. Sometimes the units firing smoke have been veteran, sometimes regular and once they were green. None of the times have they been suppressed or gone into suppression during the time I have told them to fire smoke. Most of the times there has been a little enemy fire in their general direction, but not a lot and no casualties or even have they come close, and in fact in two or three instances there was no enemy fire at all around them, nor could they see an enemy, nor was there an enemy probably within at least a hundred meters. I have given them the order to place smoke and in some cases renewed the order each minute for a number of minutes and in other cases I have let the order stand for several minutes, checking to see that they still had the order to lay smoke cued up.

I can't figure out why in maybe four of the first games of CM2 I've played, my units followed the orders to lay smoke immediately and did it without fail, but in the last five games I've tried to lay smoke with infantry, I have had zero success.

One thing I am sometimes doing differently than when I was having success, is that I'm being more 'creative' with the use of smoke. In other words, at first I was using smoke only to place between the infantry unit and enemy units which were shooting at it. Lately, I've been using it to place sometimes in the unit's own defense, but sometimes to protect another unit, or for example, to put smoke in the street so that another unit could run across the street. So I don't really think that is the problem. I've also been very careful with my facing lately, and it occurs to me that maybe I have not been facing in such a way that the smoke would deploy exactly at the center of an action square two or three squares away, I forget exactly how many squares it travels. But I'm sure the game must be smart enough not to require me to be facing exactly the center of the square the smoke will land in.

I know I have had this problem playing as the Americans and the Germans, but I can't remember if I've had it playing as the Soviets. I haven't had opportunity to try smoke as other nations.

Does anyone have any idea why I might be failing to place smoke?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[womble]

I'm hoping you're using "Pop smoke" with infantry. I have to agree that it's not reliable enough to be useful. Even if they do chuck their grenades, it may not be chucked in the direction you expected, and even if it is thrown "at" the point you hoped it would be, the accuracy of the throwing is pretty appalling.

I have seen the "purple line" change bearing, as the throwing team shuffles around to get the man with the grenade into a position where they can throw in the originally intended direction. I have seen grenades thrown at a 45 degree angle to the intended direction, meaning they land nowhere near anywhere useful. Sure there should be some scatter, but the degree seems exaggerated.

[Erwin]

Make sure you have "smoke" turned on as well.

[A Canadian Cat]

Make sure you have "smoke" turned on as well.

Oh, yes. <alt>K turns smoke on and off. I have accidentally had it off and been very confused. Start with that.

Also, if movement orders are involved they will cancel the smoke command once they start moving so if you want them to pop smoke and move right after you need to add a pause before they start moving.

[Talespin Jim]

Yes, thanks, I meant "pop smoke," and I always play with smoke turned on, with only a couple of exceptions, like the time I had lots of artillery with lots of smoke rounds and I fired it across an entire ridge that covered over half the board, so I could make a wholesale advance without taking fire--that got to be a visibility problem, so I turned it off for a few minutes.

At least I feel better knowing it is unreliable for others as well. I was thinking that it might just be unreliable and that I had just gotten very lucky the first few times I used it and very unlucky the last few times I used it. I haven't seen any of that misthrowing and such, it has worked flawlessly a number of times straight and then not at all a number of times straight. So it is probably just that I've been unlucky lately and not having enough experience with it, I'm jumping the gun on asking.

Thanks again.

[Michael Emrys]

CM is quite good—perhaps exceptional among wargames—at allowing unlikely but possible things to occur. If you get a string of those in a row, it may well look like the game is broken. But it's not that, you've just had a run of good or bad luck. Eventually though the law of averages exerts itself and matters even out. Not much consolation if you are presently having your ass handed to you, I know...

Michael