PacifistButLikeWarGames Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 I have a fair bit of trouble when playing the attacker in a "town" battle. Basically, often when I send infantry forward they end up being severely depleted and therefore unable to be used to secure the objective at the end. However, if I go in early with my armor they get picked off by guns and/or other tanks. I realise it isn't meant to be easy, but is there any general advice to be given in the taking of a town? Use more smoke perhaps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmer Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Smoke and/or terrain masking are key. If you have the means available, and you know the enemy is in the town proper in force, liberal use of preemptive high explosive can do wonders, particularly against a low-quality force. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Rommel22 Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 A smoke screen would do a good job. My thing is sending a recon force first. A platoon with all, ALL it's squad split. That way the platoon looks bigger until identified at close renges. It'll make your opponent think it's your main attack force and shell the platoon or perhaps reveal all his forces. After he shells the platoonj(hopefully, and hopefully using all his arty ammo too) send the rest of your forces with tank support in! Oh one more thing try to keep your armor hidden as long as possible. That way you keep your opponent guessing. This is the tactic I use in attack of a village or town, works great. Ofcourse you have to chenge your plans now and then. Hope that help! ------------------ Rommel22's War Diarys site. http://rommel22diarys.homestead.com/MyPage1.html "I saw 5 Germans walking down the side of the road, so I followed them for a few yard to get closer. Then I shot them! Later that day I found out the war has been over for a few weeks." - someone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
109 Gustav Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Blast any building that looks like it might be sheltering infantry. HE is your friend. Keep your tanks 200 yards from any unsecured territory and use area fire. 75mm sherms are perfect, lots of ammo. In unfavorable conditions such as urban combat, you will want to be attacking with at least a 3 to 1 advantage. When assualting a building, spray it with machine gun area fire to keep enemy heads down. Run a platoon of infantry in, keeping another platoon back for fire support. Clear it out, and repeat. For the next assault, use the platoon you kept back, so your casualties and ammo stays balanced. Smoke usually isn't all that useful, because lines of sight are so short already. If you're fighting right, most of your casualties will occur in close range fighting in the same building, not out in the street. Use the right tools for the job. As the Germans, SMG squads are by far the best, as they have 300+ firepower at less than 50m. As the Allies, your options are a lot more limited. Paratroopers are about your best bet if you have a choice, but rifle squads will work. For armor, the allies are probably best off with a combination of sherm 76s and sherm 105s or cheap 75s. You want the 76's fast turret to react to ambushes, and you need lots of infantry support. I wouldn't recommend allied TDs, their open top and thin armor makes them vulnerable to grenades. For the Germans, PzIVHs are about your best, because they have the fastest turret. Sure, they don't have the armor of a tiger or panther, but at the close ranges present in city fighting, it's the first shot that matters, not the armor. You may want to support them with StuHs for infantry support. Also, Marders, hetzers, and StuGs are excellent for ambushes when on the defense. Park them at the end of an alley and wait for enemy tanks to roll by. For arty, the more boom the better. 81mm mortars won't even rattle a squad in a heavy building, but start dropping anything bigger than 155mm on them, and watch the rubble fly! ------------------ Well my skiff's a twenty dollar boat, And I hope to God she stays afloat. But if somehow my skiff goes down, I'll freeze to death before I drown. And pray my body will be found, Alaska salmon fishing, boys, Alaska salmon fishing. -Commercial fishing in Kodiak, Alaska [This message has been edited by 109 Gustav (edited 02-16-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manx Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 If you have enough points and know beforehand that you will more than likely have to make an assault on a town, get as much arty and self-propelled/assault guns as you can comfortably buy without unbalancing your forces. Use em' to "soften up" the area before sending in infantry/with tank support. As you mention - Never send in just tanks to assault - your asking for trouble if you come up against shrecks/zooks, which is highly probable. my 2p ------------------ COMBAT MISSIONS - Resources For Combat Mission [This message has been edited by Manx (edited 02-16-2001).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisl Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Covering fire, leapfrogging from building to building as mentioned above. Smoke can help for getting the first few buildings if you can't get close to them under cover. Try to pick the lines of advance so that it minimizes the defenders chance to shoot at your troops, and have enough squads and MGs that any enemy that pops up to shoot at your advancing troops will be suppressed. Place MGs with LOS down roads to keep the enemy from bringing reinforcements across the streets. Lots of HE-- why take a building when you can drop it on the defending squads. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Andrew Hedges Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 If you're picking your own forces, and it's a city fight (as opposed to a village fight), the real key is infantry, and plenty of it. It's often a good idea to go light on tanks so that you can go heavier on infantry. Having an extra company around will do wonders for (1) making sure you have fresh, high-ammo troops around for the last push, and (2) helping you recover from an otherwise disasterous mistake, like not realizing that a certain building was occupied until the occupants emptied their SMGs at your platoon located on the street outside. In general, tanks are bad news, although sometimes you need them to reach the city in the first place. Flame tanks, on the other hand, work marvelously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterNZer Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Something i like to do is set up firebases. So approach to within 200 or so meters, then 'setup'. What this involves is ensuring every single machine gun, mortar, tank gun, arty spot and squad (appart from reservers, which are CRUCIAL in a city fight) have LOS to your target. Then when your first squad goes forward, if anything pops up half the entire planet shots at it. This can work very very well. Attacking a city from two sides also works. For example, at the moment i'm playing Croda and have most of my MGs and support units (I'm the Yanks, and yes, I love MGs mm) out front, while the more mobile infantry go for the flanks. It's been great because as he has tried to redeploy to face my flank attack my support firebases have had a good old time shooting up the moving defenders. And, the howitzer motor carriage is your friend. Finally, have reserves, at least as many people you send in should be ready as backups. Nothing worse than getting a foothold in a town only to loose it the next turn to some paniced troops. Keep some men fresh and well armed and use them when you need to secure your gains. Peter ------------------ "What do I care, I got laid last week" - Chupacabra "Bjorn again are really quite good!" - Germanboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Mr. Johnson-<THC>- Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Download Augen Zu for a good training mission. Its a perfect battle for testing your skills. Take your time, play it a couple of times. Report back here with an AAR so we can give you pointers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisl Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Originally posted by PeterNZer: And, the howitzer motor carriage is your friend. LOL. Only if you're playing the allies. I've got a couple of HMCs that have been beating the snot out of Peter. ------------------ "If you can taste the difference between caviar on a cracker and ketchup on a Kit-Kat while blindfolded, you have not had enough aquavit to be ready for lutefisk." (stolen from some web page about lutefisk) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Five Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Keep your enemy in a combined arms dilemma. If he stays in the building he gets punished by an assault gun/arty/tank that is quickly turning the building into rubble. If he breaks cover and runs to another building he get ripped up by a machine gun that is covering the road. Try and attack from multiple angles and setup a support by fire position or two or three to cover your forces as they enter. Use tanks and MGs to "own" long flat areas and roads like a rook in chess. Use smoke like you're an addict. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Space Thing Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 PacifistButLikeWarGames, Me too, BTW. Anyways, the US found out that if they usually blocked the routes of escape from a village that the Germans would be more willing to surrender rather than stick around for a fight to the death. A global type of moral that could be affected by something like that in CMx would be interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Dorosh Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 Treeburst and I are playing a city fight right now; a playtest of the Climax at Nijmegen Bridge battle I mention in the scenarios forum. The use of HE to knock down buildings is a potent weapon, but as a precautionary let me relate that after he knocked down one of my defended buildings with HE (ie caused it to collapse), it opened up a line of sight between a 20 mm gun several hundred metres away, across a river, and on top of a hill, and his tank. The 20mm fired several rounds, knocking out his gun! Had the building not been collapsed, I would have never been able to see him. The lesson here is - expect the unexpected! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterNZer Posted February 17, 2001 Share Posted February 17, 2001 In two different games now I've had a building knocked down in order to get to the tank behind it. My two panthers very much suprised a Sherman this way, hehe Also on the assult, if you have lots of points, consider one of the 'funnies' like a croc or AVRE Peter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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