Back to Black Sea, and taking a beating

[Sulman]

Hi All,

Played through CMSF2 when it came out and so took a break from CMBS. I returned and had a crack at the Ukraine campaign (the base 'shield of Kiev' cam). I did well on the 1st mission, but the second on 'Attack on Zalissya' has stopped me dead. I've restarted twice; the problem is essentially the same:

• 1st attempt had me follow the briefing and go for obj. 'High Ground' first. I moved 2 platoons and support platoon under cover, with the tanks just behind. I scouted but to no avail, so immediately worked to suppress the objective. It didn't go well, my squads just could not put the fire down or live long enough. Return artillery was absolutely brutal as I was effectively stalled. ENY armor was also triggered at this point and chewed my afv's to pieces after my tanks failed to stop them (could not get spots or lost the sabot duel)
• 2nd attempt I used the forest to get right up to the warehouse objective. The attack stuttered because one of my AFVs was spotted and hit in the forest, costing me a squad.  At least I got to grips with the armor this time. The T-84 Oplot seems to be the only thing I can use effectively. I could not effectively suppress the ENY position with infantry and the squads tended to receive effective RPG fire  which would leave them shaken or worse, panicked.

 

I am finding it very hard to attack with the infantry. Using the classic base of fire team and maneuver team, even my base of fire struggles to get fire on the target and tends to stop when it receives fire. This makes me use my AFVs to increase combat power, making them vulnerable to the hail of RPGs that seem to characterize this kind of fighting.

The map also spawns armor at some very nasty points, but that's an old issue with CM2. My main problem is that I can't get an attack to even start before it breaks in the space of a couple of turns. Even the base of fire takes casualties and the AI artillery is absolutely brutal.  Following the Russian doctrine of placing the APC in a covered position to provide fire support isn't easy as there's only really woods and the RPGs eventually take their toll. I feel a bit exasperated and generally over-matched on this mission. Real cold water after the first one.

 

Any tips? When I first got the game I didn't remember any problems with the Russian Campaign, but do remember the truppen tending to route easily. I note a lot of the infantry squads are green.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Sulman
Clarification

[Sulman]

The terrain is very favourable for getting near the objective; here's a screenie of where i placed my 2-man scout team to observe obj. 'High Ground'. This raised road forms a small berm and is also a good spot to place the fire-team on, but they attract spots and observation from one whole side of the town just to the left, and are soon suppressed themselves.

[Sulman]

I took a draw on my first attempt, 2/3 objectives but nothing left to go any further. I'll take it, felt like everything was against me. Interestingly I noticed that units can get in a spotting notch where they can't easily be spotted, I've been victim and beneficiary of this. A tank in light concealment (like the yard of a house) gets a couple of seconds spotting advantage and it's enough to take out most of a platoon. Typically they're not seen at all. This is the case with one of the spawned ENY tanks and I only got him once he tried to move forward, but he accounted for three T-84s in a single turn.

Edited November 3, 2020 by Sulman

[Sgt.Squarehead]

First mission went well for me too:

It won't last.....It never does! 

[Sulman]

Haha, yeah. That was a lot of lockdown play ago. I don't know if I'd do much better now, it's just a tough scenario. The difficulty on that campaign (it isn't long at all) really see-saws. Overally a lot of fun though.

[Sgt.Squarehead]

One big issue in my experience is the Oplots' tendency to fire ATGMs in the inital salvo of a tank engagement.....These are almost always defeated by either APS or ERA. 

The sabot round that the Russian tanks send back on the other hand.....

[Sulman]

On 1/19/2021 at 5:59 AM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

One big issue in my experience is the Oplots' tendency to fire ATGMs in the inital salvo of a tank engagement.....These are almost always defeated by either APS or ERA. 

The sabot round that the Russian tanks send back on the other hand.....

For sure. It's generally a very capably MBT, but CMBS gave me new respect for the T72-B variants and their ability to resist APFSDS. Somebody here (can't find it now...) said the Oplot does not have the best penetrator available.

[Stardekk]

Oplot have a penetrator from the 80s (same one as the T-64BV) they can't produce APFSDS by themselves so they are keeping production of the old ones from the Soviet Union.