Ukrainian Army Tactics for Combat Mission: Black Sea part 2

[Oleksandr]

It is important to understand that around 85% of your success on a battlefield will depend on the correct usage of artillery. If you went through my last post you probably noticed that proper Force Adjustment leads to certain patterns of combat. Meaning that even when you have 3 times more units than your enemy, you still can expect up to 50 (in some cases even 70%) of casualties. That means that you can achieve a victory in attack, and then be beaten up during counter-attack. As a commander your main goal is to minimize your casualties while achieving your goal. Furthermore, I understand that sometimes it is difficult to concentrate required amount of your units in order to adjust your force accordingly to Force Adjustment Formula. In further posts I’m planning to go into detail on each aspect (macro, and micro) of strategy and tactics, but today I will go over some key points related to using artillery while attacking. At this moment you should view Artillery as another tool of the Force Adjustment.

First of all, you should always remember that artillery is not a bonus tool what you should use rarely during your attacks. It is a common tool, and when you planning your quick missions be sure that you spend enough of your points on different kinds of artillery. Now let’s touch a little on a general view of any attack. First of all, hybrid and asymmetric war is consisting of two major phases: Active (attack/movement/rotations) and Passive (defense/positions/support). Those are important things to keep in mind because that will explain why sometimes even few companies can be supported by large number of different kinds of artillery.  Another important aspect is that an active phase is usually very short, while passive phase can take months. Why would you need to think about it you may ask? The answer is simple: there is a very low chance that prior to your attack you will never know about where and approximately what kind of the enemy force is opposing you. To make long story short, always train your skill in this game while picking enemy forces on your own in order to know what to expect. Another reason for that prehistory relates to a kind of your battle: if you are attacking with a company or even with a battalion you should always pick an “assault mode.” There is no way that somebody would risk leading such force into completely unknown battle.

So if you’re fighting force is equal to few squads it is ok to go with “probe” and other stuff like that. But if you going to use some decent manpower you should always pretend that area of your attack was investigated prior to your mission. Ukrainian army using several approaches to supporting its ground units with artillery. There is always standard support on a battalion level (meaning that each battalion has its own artillery (usually 6 mortars)), and there are artillery units and even brigades which are positioned in a different sectors of the territory close to the frontline. That means that in any moment each ground unit can receive needed amount of support in a short period of time. Furthermore, Ukrainian artillery is extremely mobile type of military force. All of that leads us to conclusion that in a point where several units will be planning to attack, they will receive of support from different directions.

Now if you still reading this lol I will explain how pick what kind of artillery use while attacking. First of all, if you attacking an enemy whose forces are consisting of infantry, you may be limited to mortars.  Yet, if you planning to attack some units supported by armored vehicles you simply must have some howitzers on standby.  The reason for that is that Russian armored units can be deadly even in small numbers (right defensive position can do a lot). Mortars would be good to immobilize vehicles but even immobilized units can do a lot of harm to you. When you trying to minimize your casualties you should always remember that and use proper artillery power against your enemy.

Cases of using mortars:

Against infantry

Counter Battery Fire (will be explained later)

Collecting Fire (right after or with other types of artillery in order to collect everything what stayed alive after howitzer fire)

Provoking/Harassment Fire (to force your enemy to move/reposition/hide)

Against light protected targets (Trucks, Cars, etc)

How to Adjust Mortars against lightly protected Infantry:

2 mortars firing general shells + 1 against infantry (if you have 3 mortars)

4 mortars firing general shells + 2 firing infantry shells (if you have a 6x battery)

When to use Linear Fire:

When enemy takes positions close to the roads

When enemy has defensive positions in the wood lines

When enemy is covered in tranches

When to use Area Fire:

When enemy covered in villages (not that effective in towns prior to different building types)

When enemy hiding (not holding line) within Forest

When Covering area related to area of heavy Artillery fire (collecting fire). Example: using mortars with other types of artillery in order to trap and avoid your enemy from escaping.

When harassing certain zones in order to force your enemy to relocate or to hide.

Light, Medium, Long or maybe Maximum?

Try to avoid short and small fire missions if not harassing on purpose. If you attacking Squad with a platoon you might choose “medium” on both length and force. In that way you will be able to use this tactics two times within one battle and one battery. It will be also quite effective, because you not only destroying your enemy, but you also keep your enemy low to the ground while moving towards his forces.  Yet, using Maximum fire power while assaulting your enemy accordingly to Force Adjustment Formula leads to simple waste of your ammo. The only time I would really support using mortars on Maximum is when your enemy is covered within village.

If this post will be accepted by a community as an interesting one I will further write about other types of artillery, its usage, some macro and micro level tactics and strategies, counter battery usage, defense (from general to specific), usage of smoke, etc.

[snarre]

mmm nice thing that you make this but dont start new dred ewerytime when you make this. sou continue to " part 1 ukr tacs " 

[Oleksandr]

6 hours ago, snarre said:

mmm nice thing that you make this but dont start new dred ewerytime when you make this. sou continue to " part 1 ukr tacs " 

Will do. One thing I was wanted to ask - the size of the image is limited to something like 520x something when you actually continue to post on the same dred is there any way to + a high resolution photos within one threat? And another question, I was looking for some topics where is would be possible to get to some developers in order to share some ideas with them about new vehicles in the game, do you have any suggestions? I mean where can I write about some new Ukrainian military hardware what would be nice to see within the game? Is there any way or any place where I can post photos and some info? Thank you.

[A Canadian Cat]

4 minutes ago, Oleksandr said:

Will do. One thing I was wanted to ask - the size of the image is limited to something like 520x something when you actually continue to post on the same dred is there any way to + a high resolution photos within one threat?

You can use a third party hosting site such as photobucket.com to host your images and insert them in to your posts. Then you can use unlimited pics.

 

4 minutes ago, Oleksandr said:

And another question, I was looking for some topics where is would be possible to get to some developers in order to share some ideas with them about new vehicles in the game, do you have any suggestions? I mean where can I write about some new Ukrainian military hardware what would be nice to see within the game? Is there any way or any place where I can post photos and some info? Thank you.

Right here. Go for it. Or start a new thread if - that might be better. The devs read the forums some but the beta testers read them a lot. If stuff like that gets posted news of the threads make it back to the devs. If you post a discussion about equipment etc. it will get noticed, just be aware that there might not be an official response.

[Oleksandr]

2 minutes ago, IanL said:

You can use a third party hosting site such as photobucket.com to host your images and insert them in to your posts. Then you can use unlimited pics.

 

Right here. Go for it. Or start a new thread if - that might be better. The devs read the forums some but the beta testers read them a lot. If stuff like that gets posted news of the threads make it back to the devs. If you post a discussion about equipment etc. it will get noticed, just be aware that there might not be an official response.

Thank you I will probably go with new topic and will call it something like "Would be great to see it in the game." Thank you for an advice man. 

[A Canadian Cat]

Sounds good looking forward to it.

[HerrTom]

7 minutes ago, IanL said:

You can use a third party hosting site such as photobucket.com to host your images and insert them in to your posts. Then you can use unlimited pics.

Photobucket makes you jump through so many hopes just to look at an image it's crazy. I suggest imgur or abload.de, though I think imgur is better for image hosting.

[Marwek77 aka Red Reporter]

There is topic here  What I Think Should be Added for Future Modules in CM:BS

ne need to start new one...

Edited January 23, 2017 by Marwek77 aka Red Reporter

[Oleksandr]

4 minutes ago, Marwek77 aka Red Reporter said:

There is topic here  What I Think Should be Added for Future Modules in CM:BS

ne need to start new one...

Thank you will write there then. 

[A Canadian Cat]

1 hour ago, HerrTom said:

Photobucket makes you jump through so many hopes just to look at an image it's crazy. I suggest imgur or abload.de, though I think imgur is better for image hosting.

You mean for the person who posts the pictures? Once its in the thread there are no hoops. But I do agree navigation is slow and I have so far uploaded my photos to the wrong album more then once because of the UI not being clear. I find that once I get the pictures organized and in the slide show its easy to go from one picture to the next and they automate coping to the url to the clipboard to make it easy to post. But hey if those other sites are better hosts then great hope the new guy uses them.

[Erwin]

Interesting comments.  Can you clarify a couple of items:

"...even when you have 3 times more units than your enemy, you still can expect up to 50 (in some cases even 70%) of casualties."

That seems shocking.  Maybe I am spoiled by "acceptable" western casualties.  But, doesn't having a "guaranteed" 50%-70% casualties rather affect your forces' morale??

"But if you going to use some decent manpower you should always pretend that area of your attack was investigated prior to your mission."

That sounds suicidal in CM2.  Am puzzled by that statement.

[Oleksandr]

2 hours ago, Erwin said:

Interesting comments.  Can you clarify a couple of items:

"...even when you have 3 times more units than your enemy, you still can expect up to 50 (in some cases even 70%) of casualties."

That seems shocking.  Maybe I am spoiled by "acceptable" western casualties.  But, doesn't having a "guaranteed" 50%-70% casualties rather affect your forces' morale??

"But if you going to use some decent manpower you should always pretend that area of your attack was investigated prior to your mission."

That sounds suicidal in CM2.  Am puzzled by that statement.

No problem, the logic for the first one is simple: If you have an enemy squad supported by lets say 1 BMP-2 (or BMP-2M not even talking about BMP-3) holding its ground (meaning that enemy's BMP holding good angle, and its squad is sitting in a trench or in a few foxholes) that means that at times it can wipe out half of your platoon. Meaning that 1 BMP in a defence can easily destroy 2 out of 3 attacking BMP's. That has nothing to do with your forces morale, mostly the side which is defending has always advantage, because your forces are moving and their forces are holding their sector. Dont be shocked, during frontal attack your platoon can be wiped out by a single squad (EASY). So lets say you will use an artillery (read what I will be posting in a future), you deploy smoke, you use a proper way of approach to your enemy, including all that it is still possible to face massive casualties while attacking. Things are getting worse when you are attacking an enemy platoon. Why? Because when your enemy has few BMP's holding their sectors properly they can easily fight even against tanks (I will explain how to do it in following posts related to defence). So what is my point? My point is very simple, even when you have 3 times more power in your hands by the time you will finish your attack you can be left with less than 50% of your units. Sure if you will prepare properly, if you will make right decisions on macro and micro level you will be able to wipe out your enemy without having those casualties, and this is why I'm posting this. Those 50 to 70% of casualties is something to keep in mind, meaning that even small forces can do huge damage when they are positioned right. 

Now about area being investigated - I might used some words incorrectly (engligsh is my 3rd language so pardon my mistakes) I mean that in Quick Battles when you operate on a company or even on a battalion level you should always pick an "assault" mode so that your units will know some key places where your enemy is concentrated. Meaning that there is absolutely no chance that you will move a battalion in a complete new area, in real wars if you moving such force into attack you basically know about all of those key spots where enemy is concentrating. So my advice would be in Quick Battles when you operating with a battalion and going to attack always pick "assault" mode, that will make your attack closer to the real life meaning that you already know where some of your enemy units are located and can prepare your attack properly in order to minimize your casualties. 

[Erwin]

Sorry, still confused.  "...in real wars if you moving such force into attack you basically know about all of those key spots where enemy is concentrating." 

Well yes, I agree that one SHOULD have reconned the area and have info as to the enemy's defensive deployments, but in this game one rarely knows what one is facing.  It's unwise to proceed without scouts and recon.

(Or are you making points about the realities of RL war and demonstrating how the CM2 game is not a good simulation of RL war?)

Edited January 24, 2017 by Erwin

[Oleksandr]

18 minutes ago, Erwin said:

Sorry, still confused.  "...in real wars if you moving such force into attack you basically know about all of those key spots where enemy is concentrating." 

Well yes, I agree that one SHOULD have reconned the area and have info as to the enemy's defensive deployments, but in this game one rarely knows what one is facing.  It's unwise to proceed without scouts and recon.

(Or are you making points about the realities of RL war and demonstrating how the CM2 game is not a good simulation of RL war?)

No no no - this is a first part about attacking - so in further posts i will cover recon ops, observers and so on - this one is simply a concept post related to arty. I will cover other types of arty and situations and preparations in my later posts. And yes here I share how I implement real life war tactics in this game. I never said that you should not do recon ops. I said that if you start with a company or with a battalion you are going to need to use an "assault" mode in quick battles. And then I was talking about possible casualties, force adjustment (in previous topic) and so on. So it will be step by step sharing of my experince within this game based on real wars tactics.

[cool breeze]

I think the point here for picking assault isn't for the points ratio but for the set up phase intel provided to the attacker in the Assault quick battle mode.  Hopefully that clears things up.

[Oleksandr]

37 minutes ago, cool breeze said:

I think the point here for picking assault isn't for the points ratio but for the set up phase intel provided to the attacker in the Assault quick battle mode.  Hopefully that clears things up.

yes man thank you thats what I meant

[Erwin]

Ah, ok...  thanx...