Preemptive area fire on a fortified defender

[SteveP]

I've recently discovered a tactic that I do not think has been discussed in the Forum before, and it's so interesting that I thought I would share it and encourage others to try it and see if they get the same results. It may even add a little fuel to the maneuver v. attrition debate, which could be fun.

As preamble, let me say I discovered this by accident playing and analyzing a scenario created by JasonC for his Russian Training Scenarios program (there's a thread in the CMBB forum for anyone not familiar with this package -- I'm referring specifically to scenario 110 in the package).

In that scenario a vanilla platoon of green infantry is tasked with crossing relatively open terrain to take out a regular German HMG in a trench. Needless to say, it's a difficult task for the infantry, but in the process of analyzing this scenario, I realized that if the green platoon got into the rear of the HMG and opened up first on the trench with area fire (the HMG itself hasn't been spotted yet, nor has the HMG spotted the platoon), at a range of 150-200m, the effect would be to stun the HMG enough to give the platoon a good change to advance on it with little or no return fire (following Jason's excellent advice for advancing in the open).

With some experimentation, I've determined that this effect can happen even if only one of the platoons is firing into the trench and even if the area fire is aimed at a point 10-15m away from the actual location of the MG. I haven't played it out very many turns, but as near as I can tell, the MG may never figure out where the fire is coming from and try to return fire. Also, I don't know if the experience level of the MG (regular) or that fact that he's out of command might be a factor in how much FP value you need in the area fire to be effective.

With those caveats in mind, I tried some other experiments to see just how far around to the flank of the MG you could go and have this effect. In fact, it seems to work well until you get around the area of the 90 degree axis. As you get at that point or lower (say 85 degrees from his frontal orientation) you need more initial FP to get him stunned enough not to spot you and fire back.

One other consideration worth knowing: this tactic works even better against the AI than it would against a human -- or at least my limited testing suggested this. I think I know why this is, but it's probably not worth explaining unless someone is really curious (it's something of a stupid AI trick, but a minor one).

There is an obvious corollary here to spotting. The MG is much less likely to spot you coming into his vicinity the more you are around to his flank and rear. The conclusion I reached from all this is that there is indeed an advantage to be gained in maneuvering around to the flank of a fortified position, if it offers the chance of surprise and no other defender in the area likely to make you pay for your infiltration attempt.

Final note: my own thinking is that this isn't gamey, since I think getting a surprise burst of fire from your rear or flank would have some significant impact on your abliity to respond and might very well send you to the bottom of the trench or foxhole until you could figure out what's going on.

[Sivodsi]

"One other consideration worth knowing: this tactic works even better against the AI than it would against a human -- or at least my limited testing suggested this. I think I know why this is, but it's probably not worth explaining unless someone is really curious (it's something of a stupid AI trick, but a minor one)."

Oh come on - you can't do this! If you mention it you gotta explain it!

[dieseltaylor]

Makes note. Hide squad in ambush position behind trench about 200 metres : )

[SteveP]

Originally posted by Sivodsi:

"One other consideration worth knowing: this tactic works even better against the AI than it would against a human -- or at least my limited testing suggested this. I think I know why this is, but it's probably not worth explaining unless someone is really curious (it's something of a stupid AI trick, but a minor one)."

Oh come on - you can't do this! If you mention it you gotta explain it!

No I don't

The minor stupid AI trick has to do with the interaction of the StratAI and the TacAI, when your area firing unit is right around the 90 degree point (i.e., directly on the flank) -- say 85 degrees. If left to its own, the TacAI may well spot your shooter during the first minute of firing and fire back (this would occur if you are playing H2H or Hot Seat solitaire). If you are playing against the AI, then the StratAI intervenes to keep the attention of your units focused forward unless the unit gets a definite spot in a different direction. That is, the StratAI is actually helping you out. Let me emphasize that I don't know to what extent this is really making a difference when you are firing from that particular zone -- I only suspect it based on a few trials.

This particular stupid AI trick, if it exists, does not have anything to do with the broader question of how well the tactic would work against a human defender as compared to the AI. Against the AI it can be devastating. Against a human player, I believe it is fair to say that it will always work for that first minute of fire (which could be decisive if it allows you to cross a lethal fire zone). It may even continue to work reliably for a short time into the second minute, depending upon how badly you've damaged the defender's morale. Past that point, it depends on the competency of the human player to deduce what's going on based on whatever clues he gets (for example, a sound contact). All the human defender has to do is reorient his unit toward the direction from which he thinks the fire is coming, and the advantage you gained from the tactic is lost (unfortunately, the AI does not have that much competency -- at least I think based on my tests that the AI will not reorient based on a sound contact, for example).

[SteveP]

Actually, what I thought was a minor stupid AI trick, could really be more of a major one. I was testing for something else, and discovered that when playing the AI, you don't even have to be around completely to the flank or the rear to use this tactic. It will work as long as you are past the 45 degree angle roughly. It's as if the StratAI or the OpsAI is giving the unit a kind of covered arc, which is only about 90 degrees in angle, to the front, but which degrades spotting ability rather than limiting where the unit will fire once a spot is actually made.

Of course, you aren't going to know in advance what direction the unit in question is facing, but you can influence that by using a different unit to draw its fire in the desired direction (actually that could work against a human opponent as well!)