Ammo! Where's the bloody ammo?

[Mr. Clark]

I'm posting like crazy today...

Anyway, I am constantly running out of ammo for my troops. About mid-scenario I have half my platoons standing around shrugging at each other, because they are at LOW ammo status.

I know the ammo system is realistic, I'm not complaining. I just wonder if this happens to everyone, or if I'm doing something wrong.

I secretly suspect I have the little cowardly weasel from Saving Private Ryan tagging along with my company, and hiding in the dirt when he should be bringing me some damn ammo!

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"The truth was that the Germans were losing faster than the Allies could win." - A Bridge Too Far

[Subvet]

Yet one more reason to have a reserve. About the time your front line troops and your opponents troops are looking for rocks to throw at each other you bring in your fully loaded reserve and mop up.

I have run into this problem in the past, but now I pay more attention to my ammo expenditure. It is one more facet of the game that adds even more depth than is immediately obvious. So yeah, I think a lot of people have run into this, you're not alone.

[Guest Big Time Software]

Two things will waste more of a squad's ammo than all the rest combined...

1. Firing at targets with squads that should be engaged by MGs, other weapons, or nothing at all. Trying to shoot at anything that moves at 400+ meters is asking for the dreaded "LOW" ammo status.

2. Close assaults. In general, you can only do one or two close in assaults per squad. The more the enemy is surpressed, the lower the ammo expendature of the assaulting unit. And if the supporting units are squads, see same thing about support weapons applies as above.

I think most people are guilty of #1. Close assaults general costs too many men to do more than a few times.

Battles between the same two enemy forces (say, two platoons) rarely lasted more than a half hour without letup. Then either one or both sides would calm down until resupplied. However, this took time. A CM battle simulates, basically, the first go while an Operation simulates the following ones as well.

Steve

[Olle Petersson]

I had this problem too the first months I played the demo.

Then I realised that I was too cowardice in my style of playing. Pushing forward is the way to do it, together with keeping a reserve. In the demo scenarios I found the best result if closing with the enemy before turn 15. At turn 15 most squads were on low ammo.

Steve's notion of 400m + is moot, 200m is closer to the limit I use.

BTW, how come the squad ammo is used up just as rapidly at long range with only the LMG firing, as at assault range (35m) with all weapons firing? I did a test on this, and the ROF at 550m was about 95% of the ROF at 35m. (German VG rifle squads shooting unopposed at assault boats.)

Cheers

Olle

[Dittohead]

Is there a maximum amount of ammo a unit can use per turn? I know I had a vg rifle sqd use up 11 pts in one turn. It fired briefly at several targets one of which was assaulting them. It did seem a little too high for a 1 min firefight.

[Maj. Bosco]

Remember: Low ammo doesn't mean they're no longer combat effective. It means they've become Kung-Fu masters. Just get 'em up close. Close combat is much more reliable anyway. Especially if you've got vets.

[Mr. Clark]

Yeah, I'm probably firing at enemies which are too far away.

I have recently begun holding a reserve platoon in most of my battles, and that has helped a lot.

So what do you guys do with your LOW ammo troops? "Withdraw" them from the map, or place them in the line of fire so they shoot back occasionally?

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"The truth was that the Germans were losing faster than the Allies could win." - A Bridge Too Far

[Major Tom]

In a game against Germanboy using the Demo (Reisburg), we were both low on ammo for our squads solely based on the rash of close assaults. I am pretty sure we didn't engage eachother at all at ranges over 50m. I had an entire platoon out of ammo, but, with little casualties as he tried to assault a building with two platoons and got slaughtered. He overran one of my platoons in the woods, and after major firefights annihilated me.

For the last 10 turns none of our infantry could do any real damage to eachother. Basically, it was me running around with my 3 ammoless platoons (with little casualties) trying to avoid his two tanks while keeping at least one VP under my command. The game ended in a draw.

[Randy Mauldin]

I played against the AI in a game where I spotted a FO for an artillary unit and sent a nearby squad towards him to send him to his final reward. However I didn't realize till afterwards that they were LOW ammo and they just moved over and sat down next to the guy. I screamed "I told you to kill him, not sit down and have tea with him!" It was pretty comical looking.

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Randy aka Prairiedog

[Mr. Clark]

"I say old chap, we're a little low in the ammo dept. Do you think you could possibly pretend we shot you, and cancel that artillery barrage of yours? No? Well, at least we tried."

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"The truth was that the Germans were losing faster than the Allies could win." - A Bridge Too Far