what are the main differences between

[JoMac]

I have misplaced my CMBB rule book so i need to know the following.

I normally just use the Run,Move,Sneak orders but would like to know the differences between the Advance, Assualt, Contact, withdraw, Human Wave orders.

This way i get a better perspective on each order so i can use them better in the game.

Joe

[Kingfish]

Advance is tactical movement towards an objective. The unit is bounding forward in short hops, taking cover, then returning some supressive fire, then taking cover again, and so on until it reaches its objective. This tires a unit quickly, so its best to use it only within the last 40 or so meters.

Assault is similar to advance, only you get to return a bit more suppresive fire and the unit gets a slight morale boost. Again this tires a unit quickly, and is best used within 10-20 meters of the objective.

Move to contact allows a unit to move forward, but stop at the first sighting of an enemy unit. Good for moving though close terrain, such as heavy woods. You can add a hide command to the end of a MTC order so your unit does not return fire and reveal its position.

Withdraw is get the hell out of dodge. No delay, so it is useful for certain situations, but it also increases the chances of your unit panicking.

Human wave is available only to Russian units, and it is basically a mad rush towards the enemy. The wave benefits from a morale boost. Best to give it to multiple formations so as to increase the chances someone will get through.

[JasonC]

Some comments on Kingfish, more of my own.

"Advance is tactical movement towards an objective. The unit is bounding forward in short hops, taking cover, then returning some supressive fire, then taking cover again, and so on until it reaches its objective."

Correct. In game effects - middling speed, slightly enhanced morale, more likely to fire while moving, less likely to "cover panic" or change the designated waypoint. The unit tries to "bull through" any fire received.

"This tires a unit quickly, so its best to use it only within the last 40 or so meters."

Whoa, completely incorrect. Yes I know the manual says something like that, but in practice advance is used much more widely.

"Advance" is the normal move order to give any time you expect to *take fire*, unless you are in good cover and the range is long. To deal with fatigue, keep the "bounds" 70m or less. As low as 40m when advancing in the open into constant fire. Rest every 3-4 minutes. You hit "tiring" in a few minutes but can continue to advance. At "tired", the unit will slow, and the advantages of "advance" are basically lost.

"Assault is similar to advance, only you get to return a bit more suppresive fire and the unit gets a slight morale boost. Again this tires a unit quickly, and is best used within 10-20 meters of the objective."

Assault is much more tiring and incurs a longer movement delay than advance. The unit is much more likely to fire while moving. Its best use is for short movements inside cover to establish LOS to a known enemy at close range e.g. in woods interiors or factories. A final bound into the same cover as the enemy can use "assault" if the whole move it short, but even 50m will tired them too much.

"Move to contact allows a unit to move forward, but stop at the first sighting of an enemy unit."

Correct. They will also stop if fired upon. It is the right move to use for scouts etc. Be careful about long move to contact orders through open, unless you know the range it long. Also, they will stop again right away if already in contact. But it is better than "move" if you expect possible ambush.

Adding "and hide" at the end (use the "h" key) is a good idea for scouts, and for any advancing infantry still at long range. Even steppe is sufficient concealment, but open is not. If you are within 200m or so, though, you generally want to skip it in order to spot enemies yourselves.

"Withdraw is get the hell out of dodge. No delay, so it is useful for certain situations, but it also increases the chances of your unit panicking."

Almost. There is some minimal delay, but very short. The unit will almost certainly panic if it takes fire before breaking contact, and may regardless. It will, however, continue the move to the designated "rally point". It is takes fire repeatedly and routs, you can't count on even that. Use "withdraw" for units that will be lost otherwise.

The movement rate itself is a running movement rate and the unit is highly vulnerable to fire. So it is best used to e.g. withdraw from a treeline or ridge or front windows, where a relatively short move can break LOS.

"Human wave is available only to Russian units, and it is basically a mad rush towards the enemy. The wave benefits from a morale boost."

Not quite. Yes only Russians in command radius can initiate it. Somewhat longer command delay to initiate.

The first portion of the path - about 200m - will be human wave. The remaining portion will convert to a "run" order. The human wave portion has similar characteristics to "advance", but isn't as tiring - middling movement rate, willing to fire, enhanced morale, and much less likely to hit the dirt or change waypoint due to light enemy fire. Especially compared to "move".

The "run" portion is fast but highly vulnerable to enemy fire. A human wave order that is too long will therefore tend to fall apart toward the end, unless the remaining leg is short enough that the men reach cover.

Human wave is available to conscript troops, that is its main useful point. Advance is not. Using only "move", which is highly sensitive to enemy fire, plus having low morale, it is virtually impossible to get conscripts to advance over any length of open ground against enemy fire. But it is possible with "human wave".

Most formations are better off using staggered "advance" commands instead. But all at once moving up 200m or so on "human wave" can work. You should not try to "human wave" right onto unsuppressed enemies, it just gets lots of people killed. The destination should be cover within small arms range of the enemy. Firefight the enemy from the cover reached. You can human wave onto already suppressed defenders, though, to e.g. bull through light fire from the flanks, and the like.

The single biggest cause of failed human wave attempts is crowding. You need to keep sufficient intervals, that fire at one unit does not suppress the whole lot of them. Sufficent means 26m apart at the time the burst hits. In practice, that means you want 30m intervals between the squads, both side to side and front to back. To keep platoons in command while spread sufficiently, use 2 lines of units, not one, with the HQ inside the second line.

The standard movement rate is "move". It causes no fatigue in any state of ground (up steep slopes, even "move" will cause fatigue after a while, though). It is the basic way of moving units out of LOS of the enemy, and moving weapons teams (which can't "advance"). Units on move that are fired on are assumed not to be expecting it. They will readily change their order to a different location with better cover as a result - often *not* what you want, readily leads to crowding, etc.

Run is twice as fast as move, but tires a unit to "tiring" in about 200m. Quite vulnerable if hit during it - similar morale effects to "move", more chance of men hit outright. But can make up for it by reducing exposure time. Short "run" legs across gaps between cover can work, if the enemy doesn't get a firing opportunity while the men are exposed. Short means about 30m. You can also speed initial deployments in meeting engagements or long moves in the rear by running for one minute, moving for two to rest, repeat.

Sneak is a crawling move order, about a quarter of the speed of move (25m per minute roughly). It can cut the range at which you are spotted in concealment terrain by half. Units on sneak are also less sensitive to enemy fire and much more likely to continue to the designated waypoint (similar to "advance").

It is less tiring that advancing per unit time - you can sneak for 3-4 minutes before hitting "tiring", and can continue until "tired" readily. Main drawback is it is very slow, and units will not fire while still sneaking. Useful for the last bit to the edge of woods, or to reach nearby cover. Also useful for getting within range of infantry AT weapons (panzerfausts, grenade bundles, etc) unsuppressed.

[JoMac]

Jason & Kingfish,

Thanx for the info it was very informative, now i have a better understanding of the orders.

Joe

[ May 13, 2006, 01:56 PM: Message edited by: JoMc67 ]

[JoMac]

Sorry i should have put this in better respect.

Kingfish and Jason,

thanx for the info it was very informative, now i have a better understanding of the orders.

[Other Means]

Additionally, MTC used with a cover arc will restrict the units that stop the MTC to those within the arc. They still stop when under fire.

[Shmavis]

Originally posted by Other Means:

Additionally, MTC used with a cover arc will restrict the units that stop the MTC to those within the arc. They still stop when under fire.

I thought I saw this happen in a scenario I was playing. One of my squads was using MTC with a covered arc, but didn't stop when contact was made with enemy troops outside of that arc. I checked and my squad did have LOS to the enemy. So, I was a bit confused for a while. Thanks for the clarification!

[Other Means]

Originally posted by Shmavis:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Other Means:

Additionally, MTC used with a cover arc will restrict the units that stop the MTC to those within the arc. They still stop when under fire.

I thought I saw this happen in a scenario I was playing. One of my squads was using MTC with a covered arc, but didn't stop when contact was made with enemy troops outside of that arc. I checked and my squad did have LOS to the enemy. So, I was a bit confused for a while. Thanks for the clarification! </font>