How to hold fire?

[Captain Black]

Hi all. How can I get my troops to hold fire until I give them the command please?

Cheers

[MOS:96B2P]

Give them a short Target Arc.  In the user interface, bottom right under "C" (for combat) Click Target Arc.   You can make it wedge shape or if you hold down the shift key, at the same time, the Target Arc will be 360^o.     Drag it to the size you want it.   

Edited April 7, 2018 by MOS:96B2P

[Captain Black]

5 minutes ago, MOS:96B2P said:

Give them a short Target Arc.  In the user interface, bottom right under "C" (for combat) Click Target Arc.   You can make it wedge shape or if you hold down the shift key, at the same time, the Target Arc will be 360^o.     Drag it to the size you want it.   

Many thanks, MOS ill give this a go. Considering the detail of the game, one would have thought there would be a button for Hold fire.

[sburke]

Just now, Captain Black said:

Many thanks, MOS ill give this a go. Considering the detail of the game, one would have thought there would be a button for Hold fire.

There is - target arc

reason for not simply having hold fire is you have more flexibility in that you don't want the enemy to just walk up and shoot you.  You can give your troops a perimeter in which they will defend themselves.  It also creates the point at which they will ambush anyone approaching so it can play several roles rather than having specific buttons for each action. Also don't forget you can hit shift+ target arc to get a 360 degree defensive perimeter.

[c3k]

...and, the better the troops (experience level), the tighter they will hold onto that target arc.

[Captain Black]

Many thanks, guys, having now used the arc method I can see the tactical possibilities.

Cheers

[John Kettler]

Captain Black,

Let me tell you just how badly things can turn out if you don't do what MOS:96B2P suggested. Was playing CMBN (don't recall the scenario and might've been a QB vs AI), but I had to get my force across a pretty substantial swath of plowed ground in order to reach the Main Objective. My 2 LT, a man of aggression but too few brains, took it upon himself to start shooting for no apparent reason after my force had left cover and while most of it was completely exposed as dawn started to break. The resulting counter fire was so devastating the only choice I had was to quit the game, for my force was in ruins and incapable of continuing to advance. Simply put, I have walked in your shoes and learned a hard lesson in the process. 

Regards,

John Kettler

 

[DerKommissar]

I've only used this technique while playing WEGO. It worked well enough, but I re-gave the target-arc order every turn. Does a single target arc order persist over multiple turns?

[Erwin]

Yes.     (Why did you redo the order if the arc was still in place?)

Edited April 9, 2018 by Erwin

[A Canadian Cat]

36 minutes ago, DerKommissar said:

I've only used this technique while playing WEGO. It worked well enough, but I re-gave the target-arc order every turn. Does a single target arc order persist over multiple turns?

Yes, it should.The only things that would cancel it are if you gave them a specific target order, face command or if they became shaken or paniced. Even a move order will preserve any cover arc.

[DerKommissar]

1 hour ago, Erwin said:

Yes.     (Why did you redo the order if the arc was still in place?)

I didn't see the arc, so I re-did them. 

1 hour ago, IanL said:

Yes, it should.The only things that would cancel it are if you gave them a specific target order, face command or if they became shaken or paniced. Even a move order will preserve any cover arc.

Good to know. Maybe it was a face command. What about Hide?

[c3k]

Hide, used with a Target Arc, is how you spring the PERFECT ambush. The men hide. One or more will prairie dog and keep SA. When they sense an enemy unit inside the Target Arc, WHAMO! They target.

 

[A Canadian Cat]

18 minutes ago, DerKommissar said:

I didn't see the arc, so I re-did them. 

If you cannot see them when you select the unit then they are gone. Yes, the face command will remove them. If you need to have a unit with a full circle cover arc command point out of a building (for example) in a specific direction use a pie shaped arc to set the unit to look a certain way. After they have executed the move the next turn you can give them back a circular arc again.

 

18 minutes ago, DerKommissar said:

Good to know. Maybe it was a face command. What about Hide?

Hide is fine - you can have a cover arc and hide at the same time.

[A Canadian Cat]

1 minute ago, c3k said:

Hide, used with a Target Arc, is how you spring the PERFECT ambush. The men hide. One or more will prairie dog and keep SA. When they sense an enemy unit inside the Target Arc, WHAMO! They target.

Yeah, OR they spend their time looking at their boots hiding and don't notice the enemy looking in the windows and they all die. That's how it usually goes down for me.

My SOP is to use hide very little. If I were to do as @c3k suggests I would *not* rely on the ambush units to spot anything and instead have someone else further away who was not hiding watch for the enemy to walk into the ambush area. Then unhide everyone on ambush duty (and likely remove any cover arcs too).

Remember hide says - stay hidden and don't spend time looking for the enemy and a cover arc says don't fire outside of this area. Both of these commands have a high chance that something will happen unnoticed or outside the arc. So, expect that will happen and plan accordingly.

By that I mean, have an answer to the question: what will happen if the enemy shows up unnoticed just outside my men's cover arc and spots my men? Because that *will* happen.

[Bud Backer]

2 minutes ago, IanL said:

Yeah, OR they spend their time looking at their boots hiding and don't notice the enemy looking in the windows and they all die. That's how it usually goes down for me.

My SOP is to use hide very little. If I were to do as @c3k suggests I would *not* rely on the ambush units to spot anything and instead have someone else further away who was not hiding watch for the enemy to walk into the ambush area. Then unhide everyone on ambush duty (and likely remove any cover arcs too).

Remember hide says - stay hidden and don't spend time looking for the enemy and a cover arc says don't fire outside of this area. Both of these commands have a high chance that something will happen unnoticed or outside the arc. So, expect that will happen and plan accordingly.

By that I mean, have an answer to the question: what will happen if the enemy shows up unnoticed just outside my men's cover arc and spots my men? Because that *will* happen.

C3k has trained his troops with his special telepathic senses.  Never, ever, try to sneak up on C3k. He knows your fear, and will crush you. 

For the rest of us mortals, it seems to go pretty much like Ian described. I tried to use hide and cover arc as a means of ambushing in my CMFB Beta CAAR and it was a total disaster, losing a couple of squads who waited and waited and were almost literally walked on by the enemy and died without doing anything at all.

[c3k]

2 hours ago, Bud Backer said:

C3k has trained his troops with his special telepathic senses.  Never, ever, try to sneak up on C3k. He knows your fear, and will crush you. 

For the rest of us mortals, it seems to go pretty much like Ian described. I tried to use hide and cover arc as a means of ambushing in my CMFB Beta CAAR and it was a total disaster, losing a couple of squads who waited and waited and were almost literally walked on by the enemy and died without doing anything at all.

Those were well disciplined troops, hiding like that! A proud commander...indeed. Their deaths enhanced your aura. Bravo for you!

 

There are many different command combinations. They, mixed with different troop qualities, produce a myriad of possibilities. I suggest that the OP experiment. If your men die so that you can gain knowledge and experience, they will die proud in that knowledge.