Force Setup

[HercMighty]

Got my game today and have a quick question. I do not have a lot of military experience and am wondering what is the best way to learn or find out how to setup the forces at the beggining of the scenerio? The pre-made forces that are ready for placement are they good to go? Or should I be dividing them up and forming better ones? I bought the other CD (Military reference) and have been looking at that so I hope that will help to.

[Redwolf]

You mean for attack or defense?

[MajorH TacOps Developer]

>Got my game today ..

Thanks for buying TacOps!

[Rattler]

I havew no real idea how one should learn that, here is how I did it 10 yrs ago:

- Play defense until you beat the AI in all aspects

- take some of the map 1 delay scenarios that come in 8 versions (like Gallagher, Frolic, etc) and play them through the stages (I stated off with Frolic 1, found that too easy and played frolic 4 twice. Then went to the thermal OPFOR variants, Frolic 6, and had a hard time winning it, Last played Frolic 8 until all worked)

- as far as distribution goes, I always chose to change in the setup window according to my plans.

- there is escellent stuff to read on the CD, after the first one or two games (when I had understood the interface) I read through the tactical hints (appendix to the user guide today?) and learned quite a lot from that.

- wehn you get better and more involved, AARs are a good source to optimize your game play

Hope that helps, feel free to fire away here with any questions that arise during your battling the (steep!) learning curve.

Rattler

[HercMighty]

Thanks Guys, I had been playing defense games for now.

"- take some of the map 1 delay scenarios that come in 8 versions (like Gallagher, Frolic, etc) and play them through the stages (I stated off with Frolic 1, found that too easy and played frolic 4 twice. Then went to the thermal OPFOR variants, Frolic 6, and had a hard time winning it, Last played Frolic 8 until all worked)"

The thermal variants are set in the preferences correct?

"- as far as distribution goes, I always chose to change in the setup window according to my plans."

This is where I have the most to learn, and where I am most confused right now. I have a lot of time to spend here learning what I need to do.

Relating to this how are entranchments best placed? Is there any rule of thumb? Also how to the target registration points used, any rule of thumb on where to place them and how do you get your artillery to use them?

I have been reading the hints and FAQ's in the manual and am learning a lot about the mechanics of the game. Like I said how to deploy my force is my biggest hurdle.

Thanks guys for your help.

[Redwolf]

On the placements of defenses, and hence fortifications:

1) think about how much firepower the attacker will bring. if he brings a lot of firepower it will usually be worthwhile to set up so that you are out of LOS of long-range observation (for artillery) and not in LOS of major chunks of terrain (masses of direct fire).

If that's not the case you will usually form a killing zone which is exactly as big as the effective range of the weapons involved (as if there was such a thing as effective range, but anyway).

You will always want to have a mobile reserve, placed somewhere where they can move unobserved to all possible points where they might be needed. The exact amount of forces in the reserve depends on a lot of factors for another posting.

And you want outposts to provide you with good intelligence.

[tar]

Re: TRPs.

You place them in areas that you think the enemy will be using to approach your defensive positions. On attack, you place them where you think defenders are likely to be. To make use of them, however, you will need to have observers who can see the area. After all, you need to know when the enemy is there.

You use them by choosing the artillery support menu item and looking for the "Shift to TRP" button. You can then select a TRP as the target of the barrage. Once you do that, you can use the normal artillery adjustment procedure ("Adjust Fire") to move it from directly on the TRP to a nearby useful area. You will lose 1 level of accuracy doing this adjustment, but with an observer, you will get it back pretty quickly.

Re: Deploying

I find it almost always useful to re-arrange the deployment of my forces. Typically I want to have the mortars and ATGM systems further back than the infantry forces, so the standard organization needs to be rearranged. On defense, I will dismount almost all of my infantry, except for a mobile reserve.

The reorganization should be done with an eye to the battle plan. For example, you will generally want to have your SAM units deployed outside their vehicles as that makes them more effective. ATGMs will want to deploy in the edge of cover BEFORE you send troops across an open area. Their job is to kill any vehicles that are revealed shooting at your assault forces. But they can only do this while outside of vehicles.

Finally, infantry that is hiding is extremely difficult to locate unless the enemy moves right on top of them. They make excellent artillery observers and are often more valuable in that role than through the use of their small arms.