Ammo

[Jammersix]

I've run thirty games, all sizes, all opponents, against the computer. (I know, I know, but I didn't have time to run them against a human.) In all thirty games, I didn't pick up any extra ammunition in the beginning of the game from vehicles at all; I just started the game with the basic load of ammo. The purpose of this experiment was to see whether or not it is actually necessary to carry extra ammo.

In thirty computer games, ranging from one mech platoon to a Task Force of a mech company, HHC, scouts, Engineers and armor, without loading any extra ammunition in the beginning, the following teams have needed to board vehicles for resupply during the battle.

7.62 machineguns: six times.

Scouts, 5.56: twice.

Scouts, AT4s/Javelins, twice.

Infantry fire teams, 5.56: twice. (Down to less than 100 rounds between four or five men.)

Infantry fire teams, AT4s: four times. (Facing enemy vehicles without friendly armor.)

Infantry fire teams, Javelins: three times. (Facing enemy vehicles without friendly armor.)

Infantry fire team, 25mm: once.

Obviously, fire teams that are away from the center of gravity of the battle will never need extra ammo, but I was surprised to see that it's actually a very rare thing that an infantry unit is engaged heavily enough for long enough that it runs low of any type of ammo. This game is usually decided between vehicles, not infantry, and when infantry is critical, ammo is not.

My conclusion is that unless the game or the circumstances are unusual, carrying extra ammo is only worthwhile for scouts and machineguns that you know will be operating away from their vehicles. I did not observe it directly, but machineguns operating right next to a Bradley or a Stryker never ran low, and it almost looked to me like they were taking ammo out of the vehicle.

[Kinophile]

Good test. 

Yes,  troops within,  I believe,  2 action squares,  automatically resupply from. Nearby appropriate vehicles. 

My big question though is was there a difference between urban v open maps? My experience is that I use a LOT of Inf ammo in MOUT. Enemy are closer and more condensed. 

Personally,  I always take extra AT/ATGM/MG ammo. Facing vehicles barehanded is a bad bad situation, and MGs will rip up exiting pjxektruppen. 

[Abbasid111]

It's the same situation as using MG ammo bearers in the WWII games. As long as the MG team and the ammo bearer team are within a certain distance of each other the ammo bearer team will resupply the MG team. In this case the Bradley, BMP, Etc is the ammo bearer team.

I like taking an extra belt of MG ammo and all the RPG grenades I can when I am playing UKR or Russian. You never know when the extra ammo will come in handy.

[womble]

7 hours ago, Abbasid111 said:

It's the same situation as using MG ammo bearers in the WWII games...

It's also the same situatuion as being next to vehicles of the same platoon/orgunit which have usable consumables in the WW2 games.

[Jammersix]

I specifically tested the ammo-from-a-vehicle phenomenon. It is fact.

I put a 7.62 machinegun team in a building, shot the ammo down to 380 rounds and drove a Bradley up right next to the building. The machinegun team's ammo jumped to 2K +, without having to do any loading-unloading.

P.S. I did not test specifically for a difference in terrain type, I just tested as wide a sample of terrain, type of engagement, force size, and so on.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Jammersix