Strategy Guide

[Bob_the_Fish]

As a recent convert to Combat Mission I am starting to realise the level of tactical planning required. I'm trying to decide whether the strategy guide is worth buying.

I'd appreciate comments from anyone who has bought the book.

Cheers.

Rob

[JasonC]

Well, nobody shoot me for it, but it is not the route I'd recommend. There are some useful things in the guides, unit info and stuff like that, but their strategy advice is rather thin in my opinion. I think you can learn more from various websites, and especially by trying things out yourself and by asking questions here.

Yes CM requires a fair amount of planning to get the most out of your units. You can have fun without doing that, especially against the AI as you are learning - because it is good enough to teach you how to play, basically. After you get so you beat it regularly you will want to play humans, who are much tougher. And then you can get arbitrarily deep into strategy stuff.

What I wouldn't do is tell yourself you have to digest masses of printed matter before you touch a half squad or decide where to drive a tank. Take a more empirical view of things. Ask questions here and try things out to see what seems to work, relying at first just on your own intuition about what would seem sensible in a real fight.

I hope this helps.

[guachi]

Here is a simple strategy.

Don't give up.

I haven't played CM in a long time. Never played CMBB against a human and only played 6 or so games total. Picked up CMAK in March and am now playing 6 or 7 PBEM games.

I've had some rather unusual turns of luck in my games.

ME QB, 1500 pts, Italy. I set weather to random. I buy a platoon of M4A1 tanks. I discover it is raining and windy. My Shermans can't move worth a damn. Within a few minutes four Shermans are burning from 3 StuGs.

My opponent gets to the two flags before I do. A Panther appears. I see fire from on-board guns. A few halftracks appear.

I have 1 cowering Sherman and no opposing armor anywhere near my bazookas.

Then my luck turns. I KO (I think) a gun at the far edge of the map as one of my 60mm mortars runs out of ammo. I KO a halftrack with another 60mm mortar. I maneuver an 81mm mortar and area fire another gun and KO it.

I realize that if the Panther moves a few meters forward, my Sherman will be able to spot it from across the map. The Panther moves forward, my Sherman swings its fast turret around. As I'm watch the movie I can't understand what the Panther is doing. It has no reason to move. It dominates the left side of the map while the StuGs dominate the right. I don't know why the Panther doesn't have a cover arc towards my Sherman so its turret is facing the right direction. The Panther's one Achilles heel, turret speed, does him in. I get three shots off and get the Panther before its turret even finishes swiveling towards me.

I get another mortar into range of the remaining gun. Area fire destroys it. I sneak bazookas towards the three StuGs in a line, but they are at extreme range. My opponent moves his StuGs closer. At 150m I open up. My luck has now turned as 17 bazooka shots later I have no hits to show for it.

I was all set to give up after I had four burning Shermans. But, not taking flags into account, the score is now 33% me to 43% him.

Don't give up. If you do, you'll never learn anything.

Jason

[Biochem can be fun]

I'd agree with JasonC (man, I'm a poet and didn't know it). Take the empirical route--hopefully not rout. Remember, these aren't real men and real tanks Rob. As a relatively new player of the CM series, I can relate. When you're learning, take risks and chances. The only way you learn is by playing--and the funny thing is that every new map and force mix creates new tactical problems. And that's what's great about this game!! You can't "win" in every situation. Like JasonC said, follow your intuition--sometimes it'll be wrong, but sometimes it will be right. There is a lot of help on this forum as far as tactics go. Take advantage of that.

The only point that JasonC didn't mention is this: If you play enough, you will start to understand the forces involved, the terrain, and tactical situations better. Time. Just keep playing!! And above all, enjoy it!!

J

[Joachim]

Using your brain before and afterwards helps.

Before for planning as mentioned above and

afterwards to see what you did wrong and what you could have done better.

For learning, I even suggest you replay turns. Start an attack, see how/if it works and then try it with a different approach, using different commands. Replaying whole games might not have the same effect, as you can't isolate the tactics used for a certain small action as well.

Gruß

Joachim

[markl]

I agree with the others. The forum is the best place, if you have the time to check regularly.

If you do not check every other day you could miss a lot of good info. But that is part of what I like about this game, following the forum threads provide a lot of enjoyment as well.

But he book is cheap, so to keep it in perspective it is a fair read and if you can not follow the forum all the time it certainly is not a waste of money. I night out costs a lot more.

It is of more value if you have CMBB so you can try some of the scenario methods. The included photos are very poor. I have learnt a lot more from JasonC's & other posts but still think the book was worth the little it cost me.

It costs about as much as a cheap night out (In Australia at least), but lasts a lot longer.

And it good to read about the game, just don't expect the last word on tactics.

[Shosties]

Advice on purchasing: beware of the temptation of buying veterans or above and "really sexy" pieces of gear with significant rarity premiums. Buying green and "plain vanilla" ensures that you come to the party with plenty of rifles, bullets, shells, and AFVs. Learn to use off-board arty. Then go ahead and max out your point allowance on it, going for the most powerful you can get without having to pay too much premium or put up with too much delay (or learn to pre-plan everything if you play Soviet). In general, don't waste points on halftracks (one or two to tow stuff can be useful), recce vehicles, or other "thin crap". Concentrate on squad infantry, assault guns/tanks, and arty on the attack. Heavy machineguns, anti-tank guns, wire, trenches, mines, and TRPs are vital on the defense (pillboxes and bunkers suck because they are easily spotted as full contacts). Proper placement and use of anti-tank guns on the defense is absolutely critical, and will take lots of time and painful experience to learn. Also keep in mind that buying armor by the platoon gives you a "volume discount" as does buying infantry by the company, or even better, by the batallion. Heavy weapons come cheap with the bigger units too. While high firepower is nice to have for your squad infantry, staying power is better IMO so I like squads with more men and ammo.

Advice on PBEM gaming: Forget meeting engagements in general; play them only for the occasional laugh. Play attack or assault/defend primarily. Go for scenarios or import maps for QBs rather than settling for the random-generated maps. Be very aware of opponents attempting to put the snow job on you by the force type. German "combined arms" later in the war has a slim armor budget, so insist on "armor" force type with them if you are on the attack, especially against Soviets with "combined arms". If you play Sov and your enemy takes "unrestricted", expect TRP'ed arty from hell on your infantry.

OK, that's pretty general. For more specific stuff, use the board search function or try the Anthology of Useful Posts II thread which is "stickied" up at the top of this forum.

[ May 07, 2004, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: Shosties4th ]

[Bob_the_Fish]

Dear All,

Many thanks for all of your very useful posts. What posting this question has taught me is that there is a wealth of information available from you guys here on the forum.

I think the key for me is to be patient. I think it's a testament to the game whilst it's easy to play it takes time to master.

I'll let experience (and the forum)be my teacher.

Thanks again for all your help.

[guachi]

I was going to ask you to a CM scenario so I clicked on the email button.

Then I saw your e-mail address and I realized I WAS playing a PBEM game against you.

Jason

[Shosties]

Ah, Bob goes a for a steep learning curve!