worthless pillboxes

[General Lee]

Is it just me or are pillboxes killed and identifiyed way too easily?

[Becket]

Like everything else, it depends on the scenario. Try to advance across 500-1000 yards of open terrain with infantry when there's an MG pillbox waiting at your destination.

[JasonC]

It is not just you.

CM currently models pillboxes as "vehicles". This makes them very easy to spot, and means the "crew" tends to "bail out" as soon as anything "penetrates".

They are well protected against infantry fire, and indirect artillery. They are hopelessly vunerable to all forms of direct fire by guns. It is very easy to "find" the firing slit, particularly with high ROF weapons and from under 400-500m range.

You are usually better off putting an HMG or gun in a trench - particularly the lighter caliber guns. The trench will not be spotted until the enemy gets within 200m. Light guns and MGs can fire continually at longer ranges (500m e.g.) with the enemy only getting a sound contact.

Trenches are not proof against indirect arty, but the number of rounds needed to deal with one loosely located target is so high, and the shells so expensive, it is not really an effective counter.

Trenches do become vunerable even to infantry weapons once the enemy gets within 100-200m. But that is almost always better than becoming vunerable to every gun or tank at 400-500m. Large weapons teams in good cover also absorb a lot of ammo if the enemy doesn't get close.

75mm and larger HE fired direct can KO trenches once they are fully IDed, but the same is true of bunkers as they are modeled today.

A fix for bunkers would be to make them much harder to spot, more like trenches are now. And would model the effect of hits on the crew as losses or morale drops, not "bail out". Ideally they'd be modeled as locations that infantry units could enter or exit, unless they "brew up" (for the guns ones, and rare).