Seeking Guidance For Improving My Strategy in Combat Mission

[evanmurphy]

Hey everyone,

Ive been diving deep into Combat Mission lately and having a blast, but I feel like I have hit a bit of a wall with my strategy. I have been playing mostly solo campaigns and skirmishes, but I am struggling to consistently come out on top, especially in more complex scenarios.

I am curious- what are some strategies or tactics that you guys find most effective? I have been trying to balance my forces between infantry and armor, but I feel like Im missing some key nuances, especially when it comes to positioning and coordinating attacks.

I have gone through these resources/articles https://steamcommunity.com/app/312980/discussions/0/1692669912407725153/ history of Generative AI however, they are quite informative but seem too complicated so I want to learn from community.

Also, any tips for making better use of terrain? I feel like I am either getting too aggressive and losing units unnecessarily or being too cautious and missing opportunities.

Looking forward to hearing what is worked for you all. Appreciate any advice or insights you can share.

Best Regards

Edited August 26 by evanmurphy
Fixed Spelling Mistake

[chuckdyke]

OAKOC stand for Obstacles, Approach, Key-Terrain, Observe, Cover. Not necessarily in this order but this works for me. Keep going back to the tutorials and take note what the TacAI is reacting. Also put the skill on Iron on the in my case Battle for Normandy Tutorial and see how spotting works. You get a platoon with three squads make one squad a defender and put them on hide. On Iron you know right away that two men scouts never ever will spot a hidden squad in a building. It is called testing, and you need to do plenty of them to get really on top of the game. 

[chuckdyke]

27 minutes ago, evanmurphy said:

Looking forward to hearing what is worked for you all. Appreciate any advice or insights you can share.

https://www.youtube.com/@joseywales3848

https://www.youtube.com/@GeneralJackRipper

2 YouTubers who know their stuff. 

Happy gaming. 

[Vergeltungswaffe]

Unless the scenario time limit is becoming a problem, you can rarely be too cautious.

Recon, recon, recon.

You want to go slowly. Only move a few units at most while considerably more are on overwatch for any fire they draw.

Once units have moved, they will see more if they can be still and spot over 2-3 minutes.

Look at the map hard and think about where you need to go, how you can get there, and where they might be waiting to stop you.

My old saying is never send a team anywhere a scout hasn't been.

Never send a squad anywhere a team hasn't been.

Never send a platoon anywhere a squad hasn't been.

Never send armor anywhere infantry hasn't been (unless your armor is leading infantry across open ground).

You'll always have to adapt to the circumstances at hand, but these general thoughts should serve you well.

[Général_Hiver]

1 hour ago, Vergeltungswaffe said:

My old saying is never send a team anywhere a scout hasn't been.

Never send a squad anywhere a team hasn't been.

Never send a platoon anywhere a squad hasn't been.

Never send armor anywhere infantry hasn't been (unless your armor is leading infantry across open ground).

 

I have my own personal corollary to this: Never send anyone somewhere a shell hasn't been.

[Centurian52]

One of the most useful mnemonics that I've come across is the four (or five) Fs.

Find 'em

Fix 'em

Fight 'em/Flank 'em (depending on the source (I actually prefer "Fight 'em", since it's more generic, while "Flank 'em" implies that flanking is the only option)

Finish 'em

Fending all the while (some sources omit this one)

The Fs are a good one to remember because nearly all Combat Mission scenarios are going to follow this pattern.

The first step is Find 'em. @Vergeltungswaffe's advice on recon applies to this stage. In general you always want to try to make contact with the smallest possible force to minimize the potential for disaster. It's the first elements to bump into the enemy that are in the most danger of falling into the enemy's prepared traps. Hence his advice on always having smaller elements precede larger elements. The armor is particularly vulnerable to falling into ambushes, and particularly valuable if lost in an ambush, hence why as a rule the armor shouldn't go anywhere that the infantry haven't scouted out first (though there are exceptions to every rule). The enemy will be doing their best to hide, so your first sign of them will often be when they open fire. This unfortunately means that your lead scouts will often do their job of finding the enemy by getting shot. You may sometimes be able to spare your lead scouts by goading the enemy into opening fire early with a bit of recon-by-fire (I should go into the types of fire that you might consider employing in a later post (if I try to cover everything in one post it will take me days to write it)).

Once you've found the enemy, the next step is to Fix 'em. The goal in this step is to win fire-superiority. That means you've got more effective fire going towards them than they've got going towards you. Get as much firepower as possible going towards them to render their fire ineffective. You've got to render their fire ineffective before you can start moving through areas covered by their fire.

The next step is to Fight 'em/Flank 'em. This is the step where fire and maneuver takes place. You gained fire-superiority in the previous step. Now you need to maintain fire-superiority while working your way into a position (possibly, though not necessarily, a flank*) from which you can destroy the enemy. You'll want some of your forces to keep firing at the enemy while other units begin maneuvering. Since the enemy should be suppressed during this stage you may need to use target commands to make sure your units keep firing even if they lose their spots. The classic 'position from which you can destroy the enemy' is having some troops ready to storm the enemy positions, with some more troops in position to cut off any enemy troops that flee their positions (ideally you want to kill or capture every last one of them).

The last step is to Finish 'em. Having worked your way into a position from which you can destroy the enemy in the previous step, destroy the enemy. This will often mean storming into the enemy positions, so you'll generally need to lift all of your supporting fires in this last stage to avoid inflicting friendly casualties. That means that the assaulting units are on their own in these final moments of the fight.

Simultaneously with all of the other steps you are Fending all the while against enemy attempts to find, fix, flank, or finish you. This is mostly something you need to think about in PvP battles. The AI doesn't normally force you to do much 'fending' in single player.

*The flank may be covered by further enemy positions in depth, in which case a frontal assault may actually be less dangerous. Obviously if the flank isn't covered by further positions, go for it.

[Centurian52]

On to kinds of fire. The important thing to bear in mind is that fire is a tool. Ultimately we want to use that tool to destroy the enemy. But there are a lot of ways to use fire to manipulate the enemy or the environment in ways that will make it easier to achieve that ultimate goal. The following is only partially inspired by real world doctrines and Free Whisky's youtube video on artillery. Free Whisky listed Suppress, Obscure, Secure, and Reduce as effects that you might strive to achieve with artillery. But these are also effects that you can strive for with direct fire as well. And I've added a few more on top of that. Any way that you can think of to use fire to manipulate the enemy or your environment in a useful way is a legitimate use of fire. And it's likely that there are ways to use fire that I haven't thought of. So take this list of illustrative of the fact that there are a lot of ways to use fire, rather than as a comprehensive list of all of the possible ways to use fire.

1. Destructive fire: Fire meant to eliminate the enemy.

2. Suppressive fire: Fire meant to reduce the effectiveness of enemy fire and fix them in place.

3. Obscuring fire: Fire meant to blind the enemy.

4. Securing fire: Fire on a position that you think the enemy will want to occupy in order to prevent them from occupying it (you are "securing" that position by fire).

5. Recon by fire: Fire at suspected enemy positions with the intention of goading the enemy into returning fire and revealing their positions (this is especially effective in night battles).

6. Driving fire: Fire meant to drive the enemy in a particular direction. The intention might be to get them to retreat from their positions or flee into a kill zone.

7. Pursuit by fire: "Chasing" a retreating enemy with fire rather than physically following them. The intention may be to prevent them from reorganizing, eliminate them in the open (in which case this is also destructive fire), or simply maintain the pressure to keep them fleeing (in which case this is also driving fire).

8. Environmental remodeling: Fire directed not at the enemy, but at the environment around you for the purpose of reshaping it to fit your purposes. You might use it to destroy obstacles (knock down compound walls, destroy barbed wire, detonate mines, etc...), clear lines of fire (destroy trees and buildings), create cover (I've never done so intentionally, since I usually prefer to drop my limited supply of mortar rounds on the enemy, but in principle you could use mortars to dig impromptu foxholes), or to reshape the terrain in any other way you can think of.

I also think it's worth splitting out whether the fire is speculative or directed against known targets. Speculative fire is fire directed at suspected enemy positions (as opposed to known enemy positions) for any reason. Recon by fire is always speculative (otherwise it's not exactly 'recon'). But most of the other kinds of fire can either be speculative or directed at known enemy positions.

You may have multiple purposes in mind when giving fire orders. For example, in dry conditions you might select a general (ground impact) fuse for an artillery barrage on an enemy infantry position, even though a personnel (air burst) fuse would inflict more casualties, in the hopes that the dust kicked up by the barrage will blind any enemy troops who aren't killed or suppressed (in this case you may be trying to achieve a combination of destructive, suppressive, and obscuring fire). You might also bombard a hill overlooking your avenue of advance in the hope of suppressing any enemies that might be occupying it (speculative suppressive fire) or preventing the enemy from occupying it if they don't already (speculative securing fire). So a given set of fire orders is not restricted to being just one type of fire.

Edited August 26 by Centurian52

[Centurian52]

2 hours ago, Général_Hiver said:

I have my own personal corollary to this: Never send anyone somewhere a shell hasn't been.

I can also strongly advocate this strategy. The Allies in WW2 called this strategy "steel, not flesh". I think of it in terms of trying to make my infantry do as little work as possible. Obviously it will always come down to the infantry eventually. But anything that can be done by the tanks and artillery, should be done by the tanks and artillery.

[Halmbarte]

My practical notes/reminders, with a view from the Soviet/russian side vs Germans or Americans, depending on the game being played. 

Using Sov tactics to beat the Germans/NATO in RT/CW:

Time spent on recon is never wasted.

Time and resources spent killing enemy recon is never wasted. 

Have a plan and execute it. 

Don't be obvious/use obvious locations. If there is a 6 story tall tower that offers an awesome observation point, yo'd better believe I'm going to service that with indirect and/or direct fires. Ask yourself 'where would I put my FOs & ATGMs/AT guns if I was the other guy. then put some fires on those points. 

The artillery fire plan supports the maneuver plan. The maneuver plan dictates the fire plan and these must be mutually supportive. If resources allow it, plan the maneuver fight around the fires fight. 

A company of Sov tanks spots better than any single German/NATO tank. If you're fighting a 1:1 tank duel you're doing it wrong. 

Take away the better spotting offered by the German/NATO tanker habit of fighting unbuttoned. MGs & VT will get them heads down to decrease their situational awareness. 

When you attack, attack! Don't poke him with one finger at a time. Make a fist and crush the enemy with overwhelming force. 

Use a platoon to crush a squad > use a company to crush a platoon >> use a battalion to crush a squad. Fair fights are for suckers.

Keep pressing attacks until they aren't feasible anymore, reinforce victory! The Germans/Americans never have enough troops/tanks. 

Just because you have mass doesn't mean the only way forwards is a frontal assault. There are other ways to victory that don't involve sticking your dick into the meat grinder until it jams. Recon routes that bypass the enemy, infiltrate infantry. The Germans/NATO never have enough troops to cover every avenue of approach. 

AT if you're playing the Sov: 
RT: Your best AT weapon is your tanks. Your infantry doesn't have any good AT weapons outside of close assault. Use your infantry to get spots on enemy tanks and relay that info to the tanks. Don't be afraid to dismount tank crews so they can push forward and get their own spots. On the attack push AT guns forward aggressively to support the attack. 
CW: RPGs will knock out a M60 from the front. Your man portable ATGMs (>AT3s) are even more scary. Use infiltration tactics to get the ATGMs forward into range to support attacks. Make sure to protect the carriers since they are stuffed with reloads and make big boom if hit. 

Take your time, don't be in a rush to die. You'll probably run out of people, tanks, and/or ammo before you run out of time. 
 
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. 

Engineers are indispensable in urban areas. Use them to prep on the defense and to mousehole walls when attacking or counterattacking. 

H

[herr_oberst]

Read.

Read, read, read. Unit combat histories... "big" event histories, whatever..., Nipe, Weidinger, Nash. Tactics:  Schneider... lots of material out there.

So much stuff out there that it would be great to create scenarios or campaigns out of, there's not enough time to resolve.

Edited August 28 by herr_oberst