What are your favorite CM tips and tricks?

[MethodGamer]

Two weeks ago, Ian and I started a little experiment where we run a crowed-sourced DAR; we fight each other, but before playing our turns, we let everyone on the forums provide advice on what we should do. The learning experience has been incredible.

 

While most of the learning for me has been around strategy and tactics, one of the things I didn't expect were all the little tips and tricks that make life a little easier and better in CM. For example, I learned that:

 

• You can click on a way point and setup a target from there, to get an idea of LoS from that spot
• You can give pause orders at each way point when moving, which helps with spotting

While the DAR is great for learning, it does require a bit more time for analysis and writing. I thought it would be nice to have a thread where people can share their favorite little tips and tricks on the game. So have at it!

Edited April 25, 2015 by MethodGamer

[Bulletpoint]

Here's one I have not seen mentioned on this forum before:

 

Sometimes, during the setup phase, you think there is a good chance of a position being defended by the enemy, but you're not sure.

 

You can plan a bombardment with a 5-10 minute delay, depending on how far away the objective is. Then you begin the mission and scout out the place carefully. If it's held by enemy, they will soon find themselves in hot water, but if the position is empty, you can just call off the strike and no ammo is wasted.

[kohlenklau]

I have been the victim of this devilish technique. Those are my troops heading into an abandoned enemy trench that has an enemy TRP layed on it. Below is screenshot and comments made by my opponent. 

 

 

 

82nd Airborne grunts occupy my abandoned trenches - next to my TRP ;-)

[MOS:96B2P]

MethodGamer, thanks for another interesting topic.

 

Walking fire mission:

A spotter calls for maximum duration, point target, light fire mission on an OpFor position.  After a few minutes the fire is adjusted (walked) onto another close by OpFor position.  (I like using 2 tubes of 105mm.)  This can be repeated until the targets or ammo runs out.  This can easily get you 25 minutes of walking fire divided between four or five different targets with adjusting time.  A nice way to soften a defense or disrupt an attack.  

 

[mbarbaric]

MethodGamer, thanks for another interesting topic.

 

Walking fire mission:

A spotter calls for maximum duration, point target, light fire mission on an OpFor position.  After a few minutes the fire is adjusted (walked) onto another close by OpFor position.  (I like using 2 tubes of 105mm.)  This can be repeated until the targets or ammo runs out.  This can easily get you 25 minutes of walking fire divided between four or five different targets with adjusting time.  A nice way to soften a defense or disrupt an attack.  

is this something really used or just a gamey adaptation?

[SlowLarry]

Recently i found out this one:

 

You plot a movement order during setup phase. Normally you cant use waypoints inside the setup zone because the unit you are ordering around will teleport to the waypoint. What you can do to get around this is plot a movement outside the zone and then drag the waypoints back into the setupzone and there you go. Comes especially handy for vehicle movement.

[sburke]

is this something really used or just a gamey adaptation?

well it does allow you to do something that it is otherwise difficult to do without overdoing the amount of arty in the game.  The creeping barrage used in Op Epsom for example.  But it is a pretty rare use in WW 2.  Arty in Cm is kind of funky.  Somethings are overly accurate while there are other things you should be able to do and can't.  Not quite as bad as the TAC air, but it has it's own issues.

 

Phil I do love that technique of putting your trp on your own trench.  I have used that a few times to very good effect.

[kohlenklau]

IMHO the walking fire is better termed "adjust fire" and I feel it is NOT so gamey. To me it is the standard Hollywood movie where the guy calls on the radio "add 50, left 100" or somesuch hurried words with his helmet cocked at an angle and the handset pushed to his ear, dragging the radio around, shells are pounding in at where he sees the enemy is....matching up the fall of the shells to where the enemy is approaching...it has been a while since I did it, the color line changes tone and you can't adjust once you get too far from the original mission IIRC.

 

OK, this is one of my favorites:

 

Put an anti-tank gun behind a wall or tall hedgerow. beyond the obstruction is nice clear LOS lined up like Minnesota Fat's at a billiards hall.

Then have a nice breach team standing by. It has gone quite well a few times. Blow the hedge and then let 'er rip. I have done the same thing for a

mortar team that was way back in the back field and a stupid hedgerow was in the way. Blew the hedgerow to give them great LOS for direct fire

using the "parallel blast line method" so the engineers didn't run out into "Purple Heart Alley".

 

A variation on this was to find a building with a solid wall up on the 2nd or 3rd floor facing the enemy and sometime into the battle, you blow that wall with your breach team and it allows an

HMG to fire out from an unexpected location. But they gotta bag it out of there fairly soon because there is no wall to protect them!

[A Canadian Cat]

Calling artillery onto your own position as you withdraw, or not, is a time honored tradition.

[kohlenklau]

Like Dale Dye in Platoon!

[John Kettler]

MethodGamer,

Pause has, since CMx1 and to this day, had priceless value because it permitted (more or less) effective deconfliction of vehicles moving in convoy on the road or through otherwise confined terrain. Using Pause in this way is, in my view, an essential CM skill. Unles you like collisions and slaughter at the hands of the enemy.

kohlenklau,

Looks like a great map! Registering their own positions for fire if they had to retreat was standard German drill. Indeed, in CURRAHEE!, an account by the then-young !01st AB paratrooper Donald Burgess, he talks about diving into a hole, only to discover the telltale spiderweb pattern of a mortar burst at its bottom. It was then he sickeningly realized the Germans had systematically targeted all the good cover in that area. Not just trenches, in other words!

Your technique for bringing an ATG is remarkable, and novel , to say the least. I'd think, though, that the blast would bring all sorts of German wrath upon the breach location, making for real excitement in serving the gun.

IanL,

And while in it, as numerous award citations up through MOH on the US end attest. By the way, I'm now convinced I need to adopt the eyeballingg the ground from waypoint technique. Still, I feel vaguely unclean at the thought!

Edited April 26, 2015 by John Kettler

[MOS:96B2P]

 I like to have a general visual representation of a platoon's C2 radius for subordinate squads and the platoon's Area of Operations (A/O). Also I don't want the platoon HQ taking a shot at a far off target and drawing return fire.  To fulfill these purposes I give the platoon HQ a 50 meter, 360 degree, circular target arc.  This should be enough for close in self-defense.  It also is a visual aid to try and keep all the fire teams in C2 and organized.  The fire teams in contact (front of the circle) I especially try to keep in the target arc.  The follow on squad, MMGs, engineers, etc I may let drop back some until they are needed.  

 

 

2nd Platoon's position in the bigger Company attack. 

[John Kettler]

My favorite trick would be hitting the extremely useful +1 control we had in CMx1--if we had that command! In my latest CMBS QB, if I pulled up far enough to see what was going on, the infantry looked smaller than ants.

MOS:96B2P,

I like what you do. I fear my formations tend not to be everyone in the right unit, for there's only so much detail I can handle at one time. Indeed, it'd be fair to say they more nearly resemble German KG's, albeit at the micro level.

Regards,

John Kettler

[Sublime]

Uh.. John we do have the +1 command. This is what we were talking about saying you should play more

[womble]

MethodGamer, thanks for another interesting topic.

 

Walking fire mission:

A spotter calls for maximum duration, point target, light fire mission on an OpFor position.  After a few minutes the fire is adjusted (walked) onto another close by OpFor position.  (I like using 2 tubes of 105mm.)  This can be repeated until the targets or ammo runs out.  This can easily get you 25 minutes of walking fire divided between four or five different targets with adjusting time.  A nice way to soften a defense or disrupt an attack.  

Some additions/wrinkles/refinements:

 

• Combine with TRPs and pre-planned bombardments for being able to wander back and forth over a difficult-to-get-a-good-OP location like a town or a forest.
• Use "Adjust Mission" before the FFE is called, to delay the initial arrival of the mission; with Light or Harrass mission RoF, it probably doesn't save you much ammo, if you wait til Spotting rounds are falling.
• Call missions early: you can cancel them if the enemy goes a different way or adjust them if the target is late or has moved past your initial plotted fall, assuming they've not gone so far as to be out of sight of the calling observer.
• If you have a TRP, plot a move to the TRP's location from an element you're not actually going to be moving, put a 50m, circular Target Arc on the generated waypoint, and put an indefinite Pause on the element you're using. This way you can see what area your TRP covers and the unit won't go running off to hunker down at ground zero. It can be best to use the FO you anticipate calling missions onto the TRP with.

My favourite tip:

 

Split your squads. You don't scout with whole squads, your SMGs are useless in the firebase element, your AT teams can be given separate orders to preserve their precious rockets for armoured targets. The teams are smaller and easier to find cover for, they fit into buildings without crowding. Fire on one team doesn't pin the other team. I always split an Assault team off before the AT team, so the non-AT elements (even if you're going to go for a Split Team or a Scout Team in the end) get some grenades: if you split the AT Team off first, they'll ponce almost all the grenades. Also has the advantage of the C team being assigned the correct icon, where the icon is differentiated.

[slysniper]

Here's one I have not seen mentioned on this forum before:

 

Sometimes, during the setup phase, you think there is a good chance of a position being defended by the enemy, but you're not sure.

 

You can plan a bombardment with a 5-10 minute delay, depending on how far away the objective is. Then you begin the mission and scout out the place carefully. If it's held by enemy, they will soon find themselves in hot water, but if the position is empty, you can just call off the strike and no ammo is wasted.

Yes, this is a good tip, I use it a lot. (actually almost always) I hate wasting arty.

 

But it can be used for deeper target threats also.  why not max out your time and place it on locations deeper in the defense that you think you can make in the time frame.

 

All that can happen is you get a jump on a accurate arty strike, and if things don't work out, You can cancel and proceed as normal. I always pre-plan all my arty this way and likely only use a quarter of it on juicy targets if my pre guesses come true.

 

The only problem with the concept is don't lose the team calling in the strike

[slysniper]

IMHO the walking fire is better termed "adjust fire" and I feel it is NOT so gamey. To me it is the standard Hollywood movie where the guy calls on the radio "add 50, left 100" or somesuch hurried words with his helmet cocked at an angle and the handset pushed to his ear, dragging the radio around, shells are pounding in at where he sees the enemy is....matching up the fall of the shells to where the enemy is approaching...it has been a while since I did it, the color line changes tone and you can't adjust once you get too far from the original mission IIRC.

 

OK, this is one of my favorites:

 

Put an anti-tank gun behind a wall or tall hedgerow. beyond the obstruction is nice clear LOS lined up like Minnesota Fat's at a billiards hall.

Then have a nice breach team standing by. It has gone quite well a few times. Blow the hedge and then let 'er rip. I have done the same thing for a

mortar team that was way back in the back field and a stupid hedgerow was in the way. Blew the hedgerow to give them great LOS for direct fire

using the "parallel blast line method" so the engineers didn't run out into "Purple Heart Alley".

 

A variation on this was to find a building with a solid wall up on the 2nd or 3rd floor facing the enemy and sometime into the battle, you blow that wall with your breach team and it allows an

HMG to fire out from an unexpected location. But they gotta bag it out of there fairly soon because there is no wall to protect them!

 

I like it, this is one I have not really seen. But It sounds like a winner in the right situation. Watch out those I play. Sounds like I have a new devilish trick to try.

 

For AT guns, I normally just look for a placement that the game engine cannot handle, (yes gamey is the word). Like four hexes back in a wheat field where I can see out but any incoming fire cannot area fire on the hex because it cannot see the base of the hex and it will not allow the player to select area fire.

[slysniper]

Here is one of my favorite if I have multiple TRP's and have areas I cannot see that I want to arty strike. (Like a city streets back in a town)

 

I will set a TRP on each end of the street or obstruction, if possible maybe a couple on each side so I have some options on drawing a line barrage from trp to trp at different points in the obstruction.

 

Nothing like being able to plot a arty strike down a major street that the enemy does not expect to be a problem because you don't have line of site.

 

Anyway, more than once has this worked well in getting accurate arty on the enemy in a place he felt pretty safe at.

 

Plus you might be thinking that is a long line of wasted arty. (but keep in mind your end point to end point you select does not have to be on the trp. It allows you to select 50 M if I remember right from the target point. allowing me to trim 100 meters off from trp to trp if I want.)

 

Anyway, by creating preplanned line arty strikes with multi trps instead of point or area target strikes with a single trp. I can generate a barrage that will get many more rounds on target and still cover an area I expect to strike the enemy.

 

Like the street example I gave or along a tree line, hedge line, wall line of any location where you might expect a line of defense or a route of travel by enemy units.

[A Canadian Cat]

Like the street example I gave or along a tree line, hedge line, wall line of any location where you might expect a line of defense or a route of travel by enemy units.

 

Yep, good way to use TRPs and I do this kind of thing alot. The fact that you can call artillery using reference points 50m away from the centre of the TRP actually give you a lot of flexibility.  You can often create line barrages down two or more different streets with the same two TRPs.   And lots of variation of circular barrages around the area the TRP is located.

 

I like to have a general visual representation of a platoon's C2 radius for subordinate squads and the platoon's Area of Operations (A/O).

That looks interesting.  I'm going to give this a try and see how if feels.

[John Kettler]

Sublime,

 

Unless I was/am blind or my visual cortex is malfunctioning, badly, I couldn't find the +1 command, to make men bigger and easier to see, anywhere in the Combat Mission Engine 3.0 Manual. I went meticulously through every single entry having to do with with Keyboard & Mouse Control (9-11), twice, and still found nothing even remotely resembling what I was looking for. The only + entry I found at all had to do with toggling from one unit the next unit. This is scarcely the same a what I was describing. 

 

(goes off into the primordial mists of Time, consults an arcane librum and returns)

 

Yea, I have discovered I erred and presented the wrong command (hardly a shock given how many years ago I last played CMx1). The hallowed source, Combat Mission: Beyond Overlord saith "Shift C shall be thy command, and thy command shall be Shift C. Thou shalt take unto thee no other command, for it shall be rendered base and useless unto thee, and thine incorrect keystrokes and terrible oaths shall avail ye not. Likewise ripping of raiment or locks or the hurling of objects."

 

After this "Thank goodness I'm a sentimental packrat and kept the manual!" revelation, I now know we were talking past each other, but you were right about what you said, given what I asked. Obviously, I didn't ask the right question to begin with, but I didn't know it then. D'oh!

 

All of which boils down to: We are screwed! I can't find any such command in the CMx3.0 Manual, and believe me, I looked and looked hard. 

 

Regards,

 

John Kettler

Edited April 28, 2015 by John Kettler

[Bil Hardenberger]

 I like to have a general visual representation of a platoon's C2 radius for subordinate squads and the platoon's Area of Operations (A/O). Also I don't want the platoon HQ taking a shot at a far off target and drawing return fire.  To fulfill these purposes I give the platoon HQ a 50 meter, 360 degree, circular target arc.  This should be enough for close in self-defense.  It also is a visual aid to try and keep all the fire teams in C2 and organized.  The fire teams in contact (front of the circle) I especially try to keep in the target arc.  The follow on squad, MMGs, engineers, etc I may let drop back some until they are needed.  

 

 

2nd Platoon's position in the bigger Company attack. 

 

MOS96B (by the way I was a 98C    ), this is a nice technique to keep your platoons organized.. one that I am going to have to use.  Thanks for posting it.

 

Bil

[AttorneyAtWar]

MOS96B (by the way I was a 98C    ), this is a nice technique to keep your platoons organized.. one that I am going to have to use.  Thanks for posting it.

 

Bil

 

Remind me to never hide anything from you Bil!

 

[MOS:96B2P]

MOS96B (by the way I was a 98C    ), this is a nice technique to keep your platoons organized.. one that I am going to have to use.  Thanks for posting it.

 

Bil

 

SIGINT now that was a cool job.  (From what I hear on the news it is even more fun now) I was in the 313th MI Bn, 82nd Abn. and worked in the all source SCIF at Division G2 back in the 1980s.  A bunch of my beer drinking buddies back in the day were SIGINT types. 

[WriterJWA]

Lets see... stuff that helps me:

 

1. Fire without movement is a waste of ammunition; movement without fire is suicide.

2. Use 360 degree targeting arcs to keep troops from firing.

3. Never run up on a hedgerow, use Move or Hunt. Especially when conducting reconnaissance. 

4. Split squads into teams for more precise fire control and maneuvering. 

5. Recon! Recon! Recon!

6. Area fire. Area fire. Area fire. 

[BLSTK]

One of my favourite tricks is finding the exhaust fumes of tanks which are otherwise "invisible". You can often find a target this way by hitting them where they ain't. Just be mindful that your loader will select an HE shell instead of AP which, although it won't likely penetrate armour will often suppress the enemy long enough to get eyes on him. At the very least it will create a cloud of dust, impede his ability to see you and generally stop the bad guy in his tracks.