LC- Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 New to CMBB but I have been playing CMBO since the early days. With CMBB and the very much larger maps halftracks are actually useful now. Problem is, I dont really know how to use them. For example in the Stalingrad Pack battle "Into the Void" you start off with lots of infantry in halftracks to cover the huge open fields. But all my halftracks get pretty well shot up before they get to where I want them to be. I have all my tanks in overwatch positions but even then the enemy at guns still get off quite a few shots because there are so many of them. Also, the ones who do make it to where I want them to be seem to be too close I guess and my infantry who disembark get shot to pieces. So any tips would be greatly appriciated in how to use halftracks with infantry. How far away should I unload my troops? What should I do with the halftrack after the troops are unloaded? etc... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stikkypixie Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Maybe you should make them unload a bit further away near cover. That's what i try to do but the problem is how to get closer from then . Maybe you unload the infantry let them spot for your overwatching tanks, try the tips and tricks forum! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonC Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Dead ground. Stay in the low places. Fast move from hollow to hollow. Park 'em behind trees in a low place, unload the infantry and send them into those trees. Occasionally you may need to risk one to reposition a heavy weapon, but don't make a habit of it early on. After that infantry goes first. Keep the 'tracks back, low, behind cover until much later in the fight. Your infantry, tanks, and any overwatch heavy weapons (mortars, towed guns, FOs) have to deal with enemy guns first - and enemy armor. When the armor fight is well advanced, in the second half of the scenario, you can start using the halftracks to shoot things, and reposition heavy weapons that have run out of targets. Use "keyholes" with the 'tracks. Meaning, pick spots that can only see one enemy, and narrow areas of ground. Around the edge of a house, forest, or hill e.g. You only need one target to shoot at. And the less of the field you can see, the fewer ATRs and remaining unseen ATGs can fire at you. Very late you can use them to reposition infantry in places where the fight is over completely, and use them MGs to cut up the remaining enemy-held areas of cover. An armored anything with an MG denies open ground passages to infantry - much more so in CMBB and CMAK than in CMBO. So late, put them in spots with LOS lines that slice and dice the enemy covered areas. Then move your infantry against those areas one at a time. The gun armed 'tracks can help with direct fire at these places - your FOs and tanks will be out of HE by then, like as not. Early on you cannot get cowboy with them or they will just die on you. The keys things are patience, and low ground. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SFJaykey Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Generally when I have HT-mounted infantry I use it late in the game, after enemy AT assets have been flushed out by other scouts and eliminated. I often use smoke to screen their approach. The sudden arrival of a fresh platoon or two of infantry, supported by the HT MGs, can turn the tide in the final turns, or make a late rush at a secondary objective. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeyD Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I vaguely recall reading something on U.S. halftracks in WWII. It said they were a great advance over trucks because where you wouldn't want to get a truck within three miles of the front you could drive a halftrack to within a half mile of the front (just about to the edge of a standard CM map, in other words ). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SgtMuhammed Posted January 10, 2004 Share Posted January 10, 2004 Remember the armor of any APC is designed to protect infantry against small arms and shrapnel, the big killers of the PBI. Use them to run from cover to cover not as your Panzerkiel. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strangeway Posted January 10, 2004 Share Posted January 10, 2004 Fairly new to CMBB here as well, so I really appreciate the great tips JasonC! I just successfully used my halftracks for the first time while playing "A Deadly Affair" from the Axis side. I used the HT's to move my infantry to the edge of the woods on my right flank and had them disembark in order to clear the woods. Then I rolled the HT's to the left side of the road to cover the tall pines on my left flank. With the decent LOS you get through those tall pines I was able to chew up lots of partisan inf. squads from a comfortable distance with the MG's on the halftracks. I think the key is to make sure you're not exposing them to likely avenues of fire at an early stage. But since I'm a noobie, what the hell do I know! hehe... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC- Posted January 10, 2004 Author Share Posted January 10, 2004 Yes they are all great tips and already paying dividends for me. Thanks all. One last thing, are there any good terrain grids out there? I have seen some but Im confused. The ones I have seen say "for high res grass" or "for high res steppe" does this mean they only work on those terrains and not on say scattered trees or tall pines? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chappie Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 I generally use my HT for two roles. First is to move heavy weapons around the battle field, Mortas and HMG being genarally slow and cumbersone. (this was mentioned early) Second is to use them as a Ready Reaction Force in defence and a Reserve Force in attack. I never commit them early as they are "soft" targets even for HMGs 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sivodsi Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 One last thing, are there any good terrain grids out there? I have seen some but Im confused. The ones I have seen say "for high res grass" or "for high res steppe" does this mean they only work on those terrains and not on say scattered trees or tall pines? Hey, I can answer this one: hi-res and low-res basically refer to the quality of the graphic. If you want to improve performance of your computer in rendering graphics choose low-res. Hi-res means that it will look better, but load on slower. As for the other part, they will not grid scattered trees or any other tile apart from steppe or grass since there is a different set of graphic tiles for those. If you are going to load in a different set of bmp files you should either back up your replaced files, or use something like McMMM which automatically backs up the originals. Happy modding! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sivodsi Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 whoops double post 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LC- Posted January 12, 2004 Author Share Posted January 12, 2004 So in other words I need to get the grid terrain for both grass and steppe? I cant get one for all things general? Thanks for all the help guys. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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