Jump to content

Best places to hide AFVs against air attack


KL2004

Recommended Posts

Trees often have the advantage of detonating an incoming round even if you have been spotted (depending on what's been fired at you). Buildings have the advantage of being in a 'keyhole' position, the attacker can only get at you from a certain approach angle fired from a certain trajectory. Smoke might be more difficult. Often you don't have a warning of an attack. I've never tried popping a smoke cloud at the sound of a passing aircraft before. It *might* be a great idea, I just haven't tried it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

KL2004,

In the only game where I came under air attack I was behind a building and in the shade mostly, with the building between my Bradley and the ground attack threat axis. First pass by a brace of Su-25s cost me a Bradley from a bomb. Direct hit. That said, my Bradley was exposed relative to my rear area. Believe What you've been told is sound, but don't mistake it for any kind of guarantee. It's unfortunate the game doesn't model camouflage nets, placing debris on the AFV, etc. . Believe BFC should give some thought to some sort of hiding modifier for vehicles in position which haven't moved. Here's an example of what I mean using a German Panzer IV/H.

pz-iv-normandy.jpg

Image Credit: WW II German Photo

Hornisse/Nashorn in Italy

nashorn-tank-destroyer.jpg
Image Credit: Bundesarchiv via Lone Sentry .com

Though this is from WW II, when facing Eyeball, Mark I, the principles are sound to this day.

FM 5-20 Camouflage: Basic Principles

https://archive.org/stream/Fm5-201944#page/n0/mode/2up


Regards,

John Kettler

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just as an aside to show some of the limitations of camouflage, a couple of incidents from WW II. During the last year or so of the war, canny Allied pilots would notice such things as tracks terminating under a haystack, which was a favorite Wehrmacht hiding place for a tank. They would bomb or shoot it up with sometimes spectacular results. Similarly, if they noticed tracks entering a woods and not re-emerging, they would bomb the crap out of the woods and usually got satisfying secondaries.

Michael

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haha, it gets complicated more than necessary for the game I'm sure :)  I have experimented a bit, and under trees and not moving at all seems to be the best bet.  Enemy air seems to get an angle on vehicles between buildings without much problem.  Super limited sample size of experimenting, but there you have it. 

 

Thank you for all the feedback.  It's much appreciated. 

 

Off to conquer the Ukraine...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I recall a very unfortunate incident in one of my early games where I rushed most of a combat team across a large open area without  first deploying stinger teams to cover the move. Sure enough the company was caught in flagrante delicto :P by a pair of Russian Hinds. With ugly results as you might expect!

Needless to say I learned a valuabl tactical lesson from that one 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6.9.2017 at 7:17 AM, John Kettler said:

KL2004,

In the only game where I came under air attack I was behind a building and in the shade mostly, with the building between my Bradley and the ground attack threat axis. First pass by a brace of Su-25s cost me a Bradley from a bomb. Direct hit. That said, my Bradley was exposed relative to my rear area. Believe What you've been told is sound, but don't mistake it for any kind of guarantee. It's unfortunate the game doesn't model camouflage nets, placing debris on the AFV, etc. . Believe BFC should give some thought to some sort of hiding modifier for vehicles in position which haven't moved. Here's an example of what I mean using a German Panzer IV/H.

pz-iv-normandy.jpg

Image Credit: WW II German Photo

Hornisse/Nashorn in Italy

nashorn-tank-destroyer.jpg
Image Credit: Bundesarchiv via Lone Sentry .com

Though this is from WW II, when facing Eyeball, Mark I, the principles are sound to this day.

FM 5-20 Camouflage: Basic Principles

https://archive.org/stream/Fm5-201944#page/n0/mode/2up


Regards,

John Kettler

We here in germany still put much emphasis on camoing our combat vehicles. Recent pics from our Panzergrenadiers deployed to Lithuania:

779x467.jpg

3256924_1_article660x420_ein-schuetzenpa

Edited by QuiGon
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/7/2017 at 5:06 AM, QuiGon said:

We here in germany still put much emphasis on camoing our combat vehicles. Recent pics from our Panzergrenadiers deployed to Lithuania:

779x467.jpg

3256924_1_article660x420_ein-schuetzenpa

Much thanks for the photographs.  A lot of effort goes into that. 

No doubt infantry will have a harder time spotting stationary AFV's.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...