Crockett Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 I know that this is a "Tips and Technique" or "Scenario talk" issue but since there are more visits around here I took the liberty to post it here I started an operation yesterday and I need a general tip on using AA unit From the briefing I understand there will be some air strike on my troops and I will have to use a Flak unit. This is the first time I have to use this kind of unit in CM and absolutely do not know how to use it .It looks a bit complicated to use :mounting and dismounting.What is the range that the Flak covers? I mean if I dismount it on the beginning of the map ,will the Flak be an umbrella for my advancing units until the end of the map ? Thanks Crockett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barleyman Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 FLAK has plenty of range to cover entire map, but I wouldn't put much faith in it. Keeping tanks in cover and not grouping them too closely helps a lot.. Single 20mm FLAK is pretty useless at shooting down planes, you might have more luck with Quads or 37mm guns. All in all you probably do best by treating FLAK guns as chainguns. They're great for suppressing infantry and killing APCs and soft-skinned vehicles. Some people consider the truck with 37mm FLAK gun better than Übertanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olle Petersson Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Towed guns are best kept behind your main line, and out of sight from the enemy. Use them to protect your flanks and rear from enemies that tries to sneak around. At the same time they will provide your troops with some protection from air strikes. Even if your guns don't actually shoot down any planes, those planes will have more trouble to hit your troops, and might even be scared off to leave the area before doing any follow-ups. Cheers Olle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParaBellum Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 I use Flak mainly in the ground support role. Reason for this is mainly that I encountered enemy fighterbombers only ONCE in a game with human opponent. And that bastard took out my Hetzer with the first pass, shocked the crew of a StuG with the second. My two 20mm Flak apparently didn't do much damage... As Barleyman stated, the range of the Flak guns is sufficient to cover CM's battlefields. But if you want to maximise their "protective" effect, keep them close to high priority targets(mainly your tanks). I use transports early in the game to position these guns with clear fields of fire at the flanks of my troops, hoping to get flank shots on enemy armour and dispatching lightly armoured recce vehicles that try to sneak up my back. Remember that heavy Flak like the 8,8 can only be unlimbered once during battle. Once you placed it you cannot limber it again to change position. ------------------ Klotzen, nicht kleckern! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schugger Posted April 3, 2001 Share Posted April 3, 2001 Crocket, if your briefing told you that enemy aircraft is likely to show up, you can almost be sure that you've to face one or two planes. As mentioned before don't count on a single 20mm AA gun to shot down planes ( but it could happen ) and they are indeed very useful against soft skinned vehicles, but I wouldn't use them that way in your situation. Even if the AA gun doesn't kill any planes it usually does a good job ( from my experience ) in "suppressing" them and their strafing runs become very inaccurate. Depending on the FBs experience, they might get scared if they encounter AA fire and be driven off completely before they could do much harm to your forces. If you use your AA gun in a ground support role, it get's exposed and might draw artillery fire leaving you with nothing to counter the JaBo menace. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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