Weather, Daylight and Tactics

[Heirloom_Tomato]

I am wondering how much the effects of weather and time of day influence your tactics. How much does rain influence the decisions you make? Snow? Heavy wind? 

Do you change your approach to a battle if it is fought at night versus in the daylight? 

Would the same scenario be enjoyable to play if you played once in clear skies during the day and again at night in the rain?

[Michael Emrys]

I guess I son't consider marginal weather or other environmental conditions to be much fun to play in, since I almost never play in them. I like clear skies, daylight, and dry ground for most of my fights. I have occasionally gone out of my usual conditions if the battle was otherwise promising interest, but those were brief excursions. As to whether other conditions compel changes in tactics, of course they do, which is why I don't much like them.

Michael

[MOS:96B2P]

22 hours ago, Heirloom_Tomato said:

I am wondering how much the effects of weather and time of day influence your tactics. How much does rain influence the decisions you make? Snow? Heavy wind? <Snip>

Heavy wind makes using smoke impractical.  So that takes away a tactic I might use.  

Also certain ground conditions make me cautious about off road movement with vehicles.  For awhile now I have thought of a way to develop a TACSOP for a vehicle's off road movement based on the vehicles off-road rating in the UI and the ground conditions (possibly also the ground tile, plowed field vs tall grass?) ..............  On my list of things to do.          

22 hours ago, Heirloom_Tomato said:

<Snip> Do you change your approach to a battle if it is fought at night versus in the daylight? <Snip>  

Most of my night battles have been in the modern titles where night vision gear is available.  In the WWII titles I think night battles are one of the more challenging to fight with the affect on LOS/LOF.  I have learned that light created by burning vehicles makes no difference to spotting in night battles. The illumination is cosmetic.  But as far as TACSOPs for WWII night battles I have not yet begun to scratch the surface............    

[DougPhresh]

Illumination missions for arty and mortars would be a very valuable addition. Infantry flares as well. 

It depends on what you have in mind for a night battle. Patrols bumping into each other at night would try to break contact. Platoon and company probes would try to find the enemy positions and then break contact or possibly take a position if they were able. Major night attacks at the battalion level and above would be extensively planned in advance and would be supported by artillery to provide illumination and keep the enemy's head down. Routes would be marked in advance by recce and engineers would have cleared obstacles.

Planning and recce make all the difference with poor visibility and communications. You can't afford to stumble into the enemy. Use artillery and area fire to cover careful advances through covered approaches until you are on the objectives.

Edited December 20, 2016 by DougPhresh
Enemy fire! What a typo! Area fire is much more sensible.

[Cobetco]

recon by fire becomes pretty important when fighting at night in the WW2 titles. get your platoons in a good position, detach a scout and move it away, and have it fire somewhere, preferably where you suspect the enemy has camped out. then watch the fireworks display as everyone starts firing at muzzle flashes.

[Hardradi]

Game play wise I recently finished the Foiling Fustian campaign in CMFI(GL) where at least two of the battles were in misty woody terrain. I think the mist really assisted with close quarter assaults by infantry on Sherman's. Also, the advancing British infantry were cut down. I don't think the results would have been as successful without the mist/fog.

Game play wise I am still coming to grip with night battles, a bit of a different beast. If you fire your a target. Enemy armour can blunder right past your forces and both sides will struggle to see each other.

In the rain, I think your infantry may fatigue quicker but I am not sure yet.

 

[MikeyD]

Weather extreme's don't pop up much in the scenarios. Not many raging gales during moonless nights in muddy conditions or blinding wind-swept blizzards in deep snow. It may be interesting to experience once or twice but its otherwise an exercise in frustration.

I'm reminded of the old Henny Youngman joke. A man goes to his doctor, raises his arm and says "Doc, it hurts when I do this" . The doc replies "Then don't DO that!" There is no 'best practices' for conducting armor engagements in mud and deep snow under blinding conditions. Its a crap-shoot whether any of your vehicles are going to make it to their destination unbogged. I've found myself hop-scotching from patch-to-patch of rocky ground praying my tank doesn't get immobilized on the intervening soft ground.