Prisoners

[abneo3sierra]

I have seen talk on the CM-SF forum regarding new features in that engine. One new feature people seem to want is prisoners, and apparently this is already in the CMBB engine..however, I find no mention of it in the manual, and thus far, have never seen the taking of prisoners occur, with the exception that it counts my men as captured if I surrender. My question is what am I missing here? And, is there any way to force the taking of prisoners? I know that prisoners were a huge factor on the east front in ww2. I have just chalked it up as being out of the scope of the game, but if it is in there, I would enjoy seeing it.

Thanks

[hoolaman]

Definitely there.

An enemy infantry unit will often surrender when outnumbered, surrounded and isolated, with low morale. The trick is that often your troops will wipe out the enemy in that situation.

He will raise his hands and come under your control. You can send him to your rear area, but he needs to be near a unit of yours or he will revert to an enemy status and not count for capture points. He is also disarmed, so if he goes back to enemy status the worst that will happen is he will be found crouching in some bushes at the end of the battle.

[Aco4bn187inf]

Individual infantry or support units will often surrender if they are surrounded, wildly outnumbered at close range, reduced to the last man of a gun crew, or in such like situations. If they are not under command of a nearby HQ unit, or global morale for your side is low, that doesn't help either. You'll see it happen soon enough.

For example, once in CMAK I sent a British squad to hide in some woods and ambush an approaching tank. Well, three or four tanks suddenly came around the corner, within about thirty meters, and the squad just up and surrendered without a shot being fired. Disappointing, but can you blame them?

When an enemy unit surrenders to you, give him a movement order to get him to safety in your rear area, or off the map. Captured men who survive the game are worth considerable victory points.

Captured men can 'escape' if the enemy leaves their area and friendly units come near. The escapees don't get any weapons back tho. (And if they're Soviets, they may get a trip to Siberia.)

By the way, is 3sierra an MOS?

[abneo3sierra]

Aco4Bn187inf thanks.

No, I am an 11A.

I see you are a Rakkasan.

[Colonel J Lee]

What about this: I send captured men to my side of the map and then march them OFF OF THE MAP altogether. I assumed (but have never checked - shame on me) that I get points for those captured men.

Does anyone know if this is the case?

[dieseltaylor]

I send them off routinely but never checked the numbers sent to number recorded.

It is noticeable - and probably true to life that CMBB is more bloodthirsty than CMAK. I know the Germans got some very large captures but that was probably organised surrenders rather than battlefield surrendering.

[Aco4bn187inf]

abneo3sierra-

I'll be darned. I used to carry a PRC-77 for an 11A, back when I was an 11bravo, in a previous century. Cheers, sir, and welcome to the digital Eastern front. It's a great game.

[abneo3sierra]

Aco4Bn187inf-

I agree. Very good game here. And might I say that it is my undying belief that the country here would be in much better shape if everyone had to take a turn of at least a few months as an 11bravo.