Could Someone Give me Advice on Advanced Tactical Strategies in Combat Mission?

[chinmay]

Hello there,

I have been a long time fan of the Combat Mission series and recently delved into Combat Mission: Black Sea. I am thoroughly enjoying the complexity and realism it offers; but I am finding myself a bit outmatched in some of the more advanced scenarios; especially when facing a well equipped adversary.

I have read through various guides and watched some playthroughs:

I am having difficulty effectively clearing urban areas without taking significant casualties. Does anyone have tips on how to best use infantry in these environments? I often find my units getting bogged down or caught off guard by hidden enemies.

Balancing the use of infantry; armor; and artillery is something I'm still getting the hang of. How do you decide when and where to deploy different units? Are there any general principles or rules of thumb that you follow?

In several scenarios; I have faced challenges with enemy air support disrupting my plans. What are the best strategies for countering air threats; particularly when my own air support is limited?

If you have any favorite scenarios that you think are great for learning advanced tactics or are just particularly enjoyable.

Also, I have gone through this post; https://community.battlefront.com/topic/134729-real-world-blue-prism-tactics-that-work-in-cm/ which definitely helped me out a lot.

I am excited to improve my gameplay and better understand the nuances of modern warfare as presented in this game.

Thanks in advance for your help and assistance.

[Vacillator]

Hi, welcome and just a thought - the CM2 Opponent Finder thread is not the best place to get this noticed or answered. 

Perhaps @BFCElvis can move it somewhere more appropriate (I'm guessing either CM General Discussion or the Black Sea thread?).

[Erwin]

A few hints re playing the game.  First, it helps to understand how the Tactical AI and CM "system" works.  But that comes with experience and playing the game a few hundred hours.

But briefly:

8 hours ago, chinmay said:

I am having difficulty effectively clearing urban areas without taking significant casualties.

If you have significant assets (artillery and HE chuckers) the best method is to demolish buildings outright.  Good designers know to set up enemy units NOT in buildings that you can target directly, but in the interior of built-up areas thus forcing you to enter with inf or armor where they are very vulnerable to ambushes.  One successful tactic is to demolish the outlying buildings so that one can get LOS to (and shoot at) "interior buildings" where the enemy may be set-up.  Next, one needs to have concentrated massive fire at the buildings you want to assault and occupy.  So, sending a small unit alone is suicide.  

8 hours ago, chinmay said:

Balancing the use of infantry; armor; and artillery is something I'm still getting the hang of. How do you decide when and where to deploy different units?

It's a good strategy to start off with your units out of sight of the enemy. The vast majority of scenarios of all CM games can be tackled by 1) First send several inf recon teams to spot the more dangerous enemy assets.  These enemy assets are primarily ATG's and ATGM's which can more easily hide.  2) Next you want to spot enemy armored units.  3) Only after those units are spotted and destroyed by arty or your own ATGM's and tanks, can you move in with armor and demolish the enemy - ideally at ranges beyond the inf's handheld AT weapons.  There are scenarios where one needs to lead with armor, but I have found those rare.

9 hours ago, chinmay said:

I have faced challenges with enemy air support disrupting my plans. What are the best strategies for countering air threat

Air can be a challenge even when one has AA assets.  Sometimes, one's AA can distract or occasionally kill an enemy aircraft.  But, AA assets are often primary targets for aircraft.  To help avoid being targeted by air it helps to keep your vehicles very close to buildings, in woods etc.  You can try vehicle smoke as well.

Hope that helps...

 

[Halmbarte]

Some notes on urban warfare: 

Don't move in the streets. Mouseholing is optimum, then back gardens, then alleyways. Stay out of the streets. Use supporting weapons to create mouseholes and gaps in walls if you don't have engineer support.  

Don't go in through the front door. If you can arrange it start at the top and clear down. 

Suppress every building that has line of sight to your maneuvering force. If you can't suppress or smoke it don't move that way.  

Conversely, if defending in an urban area don't occupy the outer row of buildings. Instead occupy interior buildings that can support each other when attacked. If you have engineering assets use them to mousehole interior routes so you don't have to go outside. 

H

[chuckdyke]

Ambushes, and raids is the essence of urban combat. I used to know someone who still spit blood over 10 years later after being ambushed. 

[Centurian52]

For urban combat I have a few general principles I like to follow.

1. Use steel, not flesh. Make the infantry do as little of the heavy lifting as possible. If you have tanks and artillery, use them. Obviously it will always come down to the infantry eventually, but that's no excuse to make them do more work than necessary. Ammunition and lines of fire permitting, I like to hit each floor of every building with at least a couple of tank rounds before sending my infantry in to clear it (and I mean every building, not just the one's I know have enemies in them). And don't have any scruples about leveling entire city blocks with artillery. 

2. Stay out of the streets. Move from building to building while avoiding stepping out into any streets that are watched by enemy fire. Enter buildings from the side that is facing away from the enemy. If there are no entrances on the side where you need them, create new entrances with demo charges or tanks.

3. The more infantry you use, the fewer you lose. Single fireteams are likely to be wiped out without accomplishing much if they encounter multiple full enemy squads. Send multiple squads or fireteams into a building (or multiple adjacent buildings) simultaneously in order to maximize the firepower that they can bring to bear at once against any enemy that they encounter.

4. Be prepared to accept losses. Urban combat is a nasty business. Even if you do everything right you are likely to take significant losses, especially when fighting a peer or near-peer opponent such as in CMBS.