Infantry movement - Move or Advance?

[Lt. Badger]

What movement rate do you use for your infantry when they are not under fire but might encounter enemy units at any moment? I thought that Advance was the correct rate for this situation, as it is supposed to simulate careful movement and readiness. Just now I was reading the manual (actually the CMBB manual, since I bought the combo pack) and it says that Advance should be saved for fast movement under fire, such as charging into trenches (when I would tend to use Assault instead).

I know that Move does not tire the men as much as Advance does, but I thought that it assumed movement in a relatively safe zone, and might leave the men unready to respond to a sudden attack.

Even with leapfrogging and similar movement plans that let each squad rest for all or part of a turn before they get up and move again, I find that they do get pretty tired with Advance, and then I have to let them rest for two or three minutes to get back to ready or rested condition.

Is it safe to use Move when you might come under attack?

Lt. Badger

[1st Shirt]

Try the "Move to Contact" order. Hotkey: E. According to the manual "orders the unit to advance cautiously and keep eyes open for enemy contacts. Will stop as soon as enemy comes into LOS or unit is fired upon..." there is more, but that's the gist of it. If possible, plot your moves through and to areas with cover and/or concealment. Note that the term "advance" in the above is not the same as the actual order "Advance", which is used in an entirely different tactical situaiton.

[ January 01, 2004, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: 1st Shirt ]

[xerxes]

I use MTC with a covered arc when I might encounter enemy infantry. If I'm in danger of longer range mg fire I'll use MTC with a Hide. That way when an mg opens up on them they'll stop and hide and try to break the target lock of the mg. After that I'll use an advance command to get them to the nearest cover.

I don't think use advance as a standard movement is a good idea. The troops tend to push on even if they're getting chopped to pieces. Move is dangerous because if they take fire they start running and become more exposed.

[PeterX]

I noticed that the TacAI nows uses Advance to retreat units getting hammered. Don't remember this in CMBB, it may be a CMAK innovation.

[stikkypixie]

I usually use MTC in areas like woods, buildings, because i'm not sure if advance, will make my troops fire back, i'll have to look it up in the manual.

[JasonC]

I advance over open ground, move inside cover. Just to keep the men from getting too tired, really. Move to contact I only find useful for a point unit, typically a half squad scout. The reason is they too easily go to ground and give up. For a "point" that is what I want - they should stop and wait for the rest of the formation to free them up again by fire. But for the bulk of my infantry, I don't want them halting just because one weak enemy is spotted.

As for the fatigue issue, you can continue to "advance" after hitting "tiring" if you have to, to reach cover. Any significant pause while only at "tiring" typically gets back to "ready" - even just a command delay. A full minute will always get you out of "tiring". If they have reached cover and are in "tiring", they rest for their command delay, and often "move" during a period inside cover, as well. That is usually enough rest.

"Tired" is different. "Tired" takes a minute or two to recover from. And they slow down on their own. If a unit is already at "tired" and has to keep going, I voluntarily change the movement rate to "move" to reduce fatigue. Yes they are more vulnerable. But they will get exhausted otherwise.

Mud and snow are also different. Troops tire much more rapidly. In light snow you can go a minute or so and just hit tiring, but any deeper and you basically have to use "move" to get around. Even though it is bad as a movement rate to use in the open, when under fire. Save your "breath" for important hops from cover to cover, and short ones close to the enemy, in poor weather conditions.

[dugfromthearth]

in general if your units are not under fire but could be at any moment and you don't know when, you are doing something wrong.

as Jason noted you should have point units on mtc. They should be a turn ahead of the rest of your infantry, so you know when/if you are going to engage enemy units with your main infantry forces.

I usually use move for my regular infantry, and mtc for special units like flamethrowers and piats that I do want to stop moving when any enemy is spotted because I want to keep them from engaging.

[Other Means]

i generally have a sniper ahead of the main body. MTC with a 260m 180o covered arc.

have him move *around* bits of dense cover.

in dense cover he will not see enemy until < 50m, at which point they can see him. if you skirt the cover you can penertrate deeply to resolve MG sound contacts etc. then suppress these to help advance the infantry.

the covered arc means that he won't stop if anything is outside it.

i.e. a far, resloved MG will not make him duck.

have him go to large open areas like wheat fields etc.

[Lt. Badger]

Thanks for the advice, y'all.

My concern with MTC was that they could just stop out in the open when encountering enemy units. With Advance, they will often continue their plotted path to cover. Using MTC with Hide sounds like a good idea for advance scouts.

JasonC, thanks for the info on fatigue rates, that will help a lot.

Lt. Badger