MG Effectiveness Revisited for 1.03

[Talenn]

Hi all,

First let me give a sincere 'Thank You!' to BTS for all the tweaks made in 1.03 in addition to the bug fixes. I was pleasantly surprised to see the items concerning MGs and moving in the open etc in the 'Readme'.

Over the weekend, I had the chance to play a number of games, watch a number of games, and revisit my 'Clinical tests' for Interdiction. The results are much closer to what I would expect out of the MGs.

Moving in the open in such a way as to be APPROACHING an unsuppressed MG at close to medium range is just plain suicidal now. The same goes to a lesser effect when moving towards enemy squads. You now NEED cover fire and/or smoke or you are going to be filling a whole lotta body bags! This feels far better to me now than under 1.01 where I could often 'bum rush' enemy platoon lines and suffer few casualties going in.

I also tried the 'interdiction test'. In this role, the MGs are far better than before as well. They were not able to stop or delay the enemy more than half the time, but when they DID do it, it was messy. I think it was more of a 'spotting' issue than a lethality issue. Often, troops running across 150m of open ground werent spotted until they reached the 1/3 to 1/2 way point. This gave the MGs alot less time to do the 'dirty work' and also made it so the 'objective' buildings ahead were the closest cover. The MGs were set in buildings approx 120m away from the line of movement.

If a few squads with MGs in support were placed to interdict, the results were much better. It appears that the squads 'spot' better than the MGs and thus the whole line was able to open up at an earlier opportunity. This seems pretty correct, and the overall effect in the game is much improved IMO.

That said, I still feel that CM would benefit from some form of 'Fire Lane' command. Perhaps it could be something along the lines of a specialized 'Ambush' command that ordered the MG to fire on anyone crossing or nearing the designated line. An effectiveness bonus and some 'blinders' to other areas would be all that would be necessary to add this IMO. Perhaps a small 'sighting bonus' near the line would be helpful as well.

Anyways, even without the Fire Lanes, the MGs are far more fearsome and open ground far less appealing in 1.03. Only the most callous of commanders would want to send his men across the open in front of the enemy now. I feel this is exactly as it should be. Once the grunts hit the deck, they are much better off, but those those that continue to run are playing with fire.

BTS, thanks again for you commitment to the game and to the players who are enjoying it so much!

Talenn

[TeAcH]

Just a thought but perhaps a Defend Arc (now Ive done it! Ive brought that one up again) could work for all units in a slightly different manner. Perhaps not

Thanks for 1.03!!

TeAcH

[Talenn]

TeAcH:

Careful, or you may be branded a 'Close Combat Heretic' or something! ; )

[:USERNAME:]

I think its a great improvement but would like to see greater susceptibility to pinning WHEN moving in the open. I find the enemy troops head for cover regardless if this means heading right into my positions.

Lewis