Fire orders

[Wodin]

In the manual its says its best not to issue fire orders most of the time.

How many follow this advice?

Obviously Arty spotters need to be issued orders. However should I just let the AI take control with other units thus feeling more like a commander or give fire prders to all the units thus taking total control?

[PLM]

well from what i hear its often wise to give a fire order on an area. particularly with MGs and mortars. You can order a constant supressing fire on an area. That way if the enemy dissapears, your gun will keep firing.

i also know that when you order a unit to fire at a specific unit that it will genearlly keep firing on that unit. so if another unit assaults it then it wont switch firing to it, at least not immediately which can cause problems.

[Sirocco]

Quite often it's beneficial to manually target units, for example assigning a target with a smaller solution in order to spread fire around more, thereby increasing the overall suppressive effect.

Also, as PLM mentioned, certain targets, in particular towed guns, often have their position targetted, as otherwise the outgoing fire stops when they suppress and become a marker, and only resumes after they've become noticeable unsupressed, usually by resuming firing.

[Sergei]

While I often give them targets manually to ensure that all enemies get pinned, I do think that it can be beneficial to leave some units to pick targets on their own. That way, if new enemies show up, your units react faster.

[Holman]

Amateurs give target orders.

Pros use covered arcs.

[imported_no_one]

Originally posted by Martyr:

Amateurs give target orders.

Pros use covered arcs.

Experts know that sometimes you have to do both

[Bone_Vulture]

Originally posted by no_one:

Experts know that sometimes you have to do both

And Finns only use bayonets while screaming "AAAAAAAAAAHHHH MOTHERLAND!!!". :mad:

[Alkiviadis]

Originally posted by Martyr:

Amateurs give target orders.

Pros use covered arcs.

BOTH are equally useful depending on the circumstances.

1. Targeting orders

a.circumstances: opposing forces occupy 2 parallel ridges. One side (side A) is turret down, the other (side in full defilade. Both formations are tanks. "B" has "A" tanks spotted.

"B" gives them short fast commands to bring them hull down against "A" tanks and TARGETS multiple shooters/target - this assumes "B" is stronger.

This may be defined as an "Offensive reverse slope ambush". As the Soviets I've used this technique many times against a quick & accurate firing German opponent. Careful ground scouting on level one & judicious use of the pause command is required so that all of one's armor goes turret up as close to simultaneously as possible. Of course, I always include a few cover armor arcs in there as well following the initial thrust, by say 5 -10 seconds, to deal with surprises.

2. Cover Arcs:

a. as mentioned above

b. great for ambushes and required if one likes to ambush at point-blank ranges Bagged 2 Tigers a Panther & 4 Pz4s with flank/rear shot ambushes at 15-100 meter ranges using 45mm pop guns.

c. I generally use it in conjuction with the Hide command

[ December 18, 2004, 09:43 PM: Message edited by: Alkiviadis ]

[Other Means]

Regarding the Infantry war:

In a dynamic situation it's best to not give fire orders for obvious reasons.

But if it settles down to a multi-unit vs multi-unit firefight, as it nearly always does, I like to target the unit I can get the most seperation of fire on. The higher the angle your fire comes from the more effect it has.

This unit is nearly always on the flank, if you can break it this gives one of your units flanking room and you get seperation on the next one etc.

It's very important if you do this to not move your flanking unit too early.

Engage all the units, concentrate on the most exposed, give your units time to recover, concentrate in the next unit - when the time is right move a flanker into position. If you do it properly (I've heard) you then do this at a scale up. i.e. break/flank a squad, break/flank a platoon, break/flank a company.

my .002 of a euro.

[ December 19, 2004, 11:42 AM: Message edited by: Other Means ]

[tar]

One of the other disadvantages to giving specific target orders is that your troops will use their ammo up faster than if left to their own devices. If you have squads with low ammo amounts, this can cause them to quickly become nearly useless.