Suppressing fire

[Mcclok]

hey guys, i would like to know what's the best for a supressing fire : 3 squad of 12 guys or 6 squad of 6 guys each or theres no difference. :eek:

[Bonxa]

If you somehow could get more/better angles to the target I think the 6 half-squads (I presume that's what you're talking about) would be better. Surrounding your enemy is always good. But firepowerwise they ought to be equivalent. The downside being somewhat reduced morale.

[JasonC]

No I am willing to bet 3 big shooters do a better job than 6 little ones, in terms of the pure direct effect of their firepower. When fp modified by cover falls below a certain level it only pinpricks. One bigger shooter hits harder than the same fp split into two shooters. Especially, it is more likely to drive the target to a very low morale state, rather than just keep it constantly at "cautious" or "alerted".

The place where the 6 littles might be superior is in remaining unsuppressed themselves due to not enough shooters hitting them. Each one is somewhat more likely to be suppressed (lower morale), but as a group more of the men might still be up and firing 30 seconds into a firefight, if e.g. 1-2 enemies fixate on the nearest and thus only manage to suppress 6 men. The others, firing without interference, may suppress those 1-2 enemies and so free even that unit selected.

[farmerch]

Have you ever played paintball?

If an opponent engages from different angels, that just sucks. You just can't move, start panicking. Lot of fire from one side is not much of a problem, though.

[Slappy]

Well, that's a different kettle of fish. Fire from multiple and disperate angles is modeled. If you get more flanking from the 6 rather than the 3, I can see that might increase suppression. That said, if we're talking 3 units firing separated by 120 degrees v. 6 separated by 60 degrees I'd still take the 3.

[Redwolf]

I would guess splitting pays off from 90 degrees on but that is hard to test.

There is the assumption in the CM community that BFC gives a morale hit for split squads but that is hard to test, too, and BFC themself never made a concrete statement.

I usually keep them together because I am too lazy to plot more waypoints I also don't want units push each other out of cover.

[junk2drive]

it does seem to me that split squads is the way to go for recon in advance of the main force. may be they are harder to spot. they dont seem to come under fire like a full squad.