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Blowing a hole … or not


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I'm looking for an explanation … maybe someone has seen something similar and knows why. In a QB I ordered a US Scout team, equipped with 2 demolition charges, up to a high stone wall, to pause (for others to come up) and to blast through the wall. Precisely when the pause ended they got up and ran off around the enclosed space, as if trying to check on the wall from the other side before they did anything. I treble-checked, the order indeed was Blast. Any ideas?

Video here.

Edited by LutzP
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Thanks! Bummer if your plan depends on that break-in 🙂 . I tried several ways to give the command (orthogonal, oblique, short segment, long segment), after the next GO the first move segment (which was meant to be the blast) was always converted to a Quick move. Well, it was a dreary and slogging QB anyway, so I'll just quit. If I know it is a common problem I'll live with it and prepare a plan B (B for bug) in future fights in which I might feel a desire to blow something up. I think there are historic references of walls that turned out to be un-blow-uppable.

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9 hours ago, Kevin2k said:

… the blast command for a wall should point to the clear space behind the wall, not on the wall itself …

Yes, that's the way I have been using it, with different distances. In fact I don't know how I would point the move to the wall itself, as I am bound to the grid. And blasting worked fine in every other scenario or QB I tried it.

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The other thing that sometimes causes problems is elevations, particularly when trying to blast building walls.  If the ground in the adjoining tile is slightly higher than the building, your troops will just go around and look for a door.  Best bet with your blast commands is to have show all moves toggled and check that your blast unit is showing a brown/blast rather than yellow/quick move before you hit the red button.  As I said earlier, it is annoying, it is fiddly and it should behave better than it does currently.

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Ah, elevation … that could be the case, the wall sits on the ridge of a hill. Live and learn. It is the large compound in map "Attk Small Town QB-013" and I thought I'd take a shortcut. I definitely checked the command and the colour of the move segment before GO.

Yes, Blast is weird. Among other things because it is a movement. I have blasted a few things in my life (civic application only, though) but I never felt the urge to look at the other side before the dust had settled for good.

Thanks again!

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So I played around a bit, and lo' and behold, not in this same place but a few metres down the wall they can. They fall prone for about 90 seconds ("one GO and a half") and then blast away and create a very neat, straight and rectangular gap – pure precision blasting. I appreciate their dedication to good craftsmenship and accept the delay 🙂.

All in all, still a noob, I love the game and the community and I feel reassured in last year's decision to get rid of ASL.

Screenshot 2021-07-07 at 15.12 CEST.jpg

Edited by LutzP
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Yes, the most efficient use of charges (to create the largest hole - so that a vehicle can roll thru) is to use BLAST along a wall or hedge rather than across the obstacle.  The majority of times, this works well.  However...  the orientation of the obstacle on the map can make a difference and in some situations this technique won't work so well.

The other technique to note is that engineers/units with multiple charges should be split into teams as a whole squad may use 2 charges unnecessarily.

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I believe that on "normal" blast actions this would be an excellent procedure and it would definitely have worked on a lot of hedgerows I had the pleasure to puncture, but one thing that puzzled me was when I got them to blast at all (a different segment of the same wall) they took more than 1 complete turn (about 90 seconds) to blast. They spent one complete turn apparently doing nothing (sorting  their stuff and doing calculations, I do not doubt), and then again taking 30 secs into the next turn until the blast went off. Maybe they felt crowded because other units were sitting very close by …

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1 hour ago, LutzP said:

...they took more than 1 complete turn (about 90 seconds) to blast. They spent one complete turn apparently doing nothing (sorting  their stuff and doing calculations, I do not doubt), and then again taking 30 secs into the next turn until the blast went off. Maybe they felt crowded because other units were sitting very close by …

That seems abnormally long, IME. ISTR it depends on the soft factors of the team in question, but 15-30 seconds is more 'expected'.

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7 hours ago, Warts 'n' all said:

Another method is to give you "blasters" a pause of 45 seconds. The "bang" should come right at the end of the turn, and you can cancel their move through the gap during the next Command Phase.

This method works well.  However, if in a hurry, try adding an immediate FAST move back out the way the blaster unit entered.  Have found that the enemy often will not react fast enuff to cause casualties.  (Possibly cos of all the smoke, it takes some seconds for an unsuppressed enemy unit to even see the blaster unit.)  

When available, it's good to have an AFV start firing into the blasted wall (esp if it's a building) as soon as the blaster unit has FAST moved out.  That will kill or suppress the enemy inf in a building, even if they are behind a 2nd wall - a cunning defense tactic used by clever designers.

PS;  The more experienced and less stressed the blaster unit, the faster they will deploy charges.

Edited by Erwin
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3 hours ago, mjkerner said:

LutzP, they possibly could have been suppressed/cowering if they were under fire for that turn.

No prior enemy contact. But Green and tired, that is a factor I missed before and that probably accounts for the delay. There have been several nasty indicators that I must pay more attention to unit experience and status.

Quote

try adding an immediate FAST move back out the way the blaster unit entered

Yes, I do that sometimes.

Quote

When available, it's good to have an AFV start firing into the blasted wall

I used an HMG for the purpose, in a keyhole position aligned to the building behind the wall.

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  • 4 weeks later...
On 7/8/2021 at 3:09 AM, Erwin said:

This method works well.  However, if in a hurry, try adding an immediate FAST move back out the way the blaster unit entered.  Have found that the enemy often will not react fast enuff to cause casualties.  (Possibly cos of all the smoke, it takes some seconds for an unsuppressed enemy unit to even see the blaster unit.)  

This +1

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