Questions about purchasing units..anyone have a primer.

[ThomasZ]

I've been a longtime fan of the CM series (have all the games) and have played mostly QB's against friends. We're just now, FINALLY moving into the idea of not haven the computer buy forces..and it's intimidating as hell. Anyone have any ideas for a link to a primer? Are the point values useful and make fair battles (we find the random battles often end up with one side at a significant disadvantage, like with lots of guns and no way to move etc).

Anyone care to rant a bit for my benefit?

[Kingfish]

Try not to waste points on the sexy toys like the big expensive tanks. For the price of a vet Panther you can buy 2 reg StuGs and have enough left over for a Lynx.

Same with infantry. A Vet '43 Pzgr platoon costs 165 points. Lower the experience level a notch and you can buy the same platoon plus 2x vet MG42 LMG teams for the same price.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

It really depends on so many factor. The country you have, your opponent, the date and the map for staters. Against the human it's very important to win the armour war or atleast prevent the enemy of winning it.

If defending green troops are definitely the way to go but when advancing regular or better perform better unless you are able to get masses and masses of infantry. Try and have atleast a platoon of vets as a reserve to brave enemy fire to plug holes in your line. Bring some heavy HE chuckers to blast enemy strongpoints. Do not neglect transportation however tempting it is to splurge on extra firepower. In a game going now I forgot to include trucks for my 105 guns. I managed to drag one forward and into action in turn 48 of a 50+ turn game. Oops!

But really, there are so many variables it's hard to give any real solid advice but whatever you do, do your purchasing with your playing style in mind. Not much use bringing along StuGs if you favour a mad dash at the enemy. Trust me, I performed a StuG rush on Other Means. It wasn't pretty.

Have fun. Do not always purchase to win, purchase to have fun too. I had so much fun mixing in a Stummel (75mm HT) in amongst my 251s advancing on a flag, causing me to embarras a Sherman charging out of cover looking for easy meat. And hurtling Daimler armoured cars down the road never gets old. Oh, the scores of StuGs, Tiger, Panthers and various lesser vehicles I caught unawares are legion. Just don't count on ending the game with those Daimlers (or whatever) in tact. Pulling off (or even not pulling off) completely oddball things is a hoot!

[Flenser]

Originally posted by Elmar Bijlsma:

If defending green troops are definitely the way to go but when advancing regular or better perform better unless you are able to get masses and masses of infantry. Try and have atleast a platoon of vets as a reserve to brave enemy fire to plug holes in your line.

Green troops on the defense? Someone needs to play "Highlanders in Hell" as the allies.

In general, though, quantity does win over quality. 3 Stugs are probably going to do you more good than that single vet Panther, 2 companies of regulars better than one company of crack troops.

That said, if you are going to upgrade something, look at the infantry first. People rant and rave about Uber Panzers and such, but infanty takes and holds the ground.

[Slappy]

There are way too many unit types and variations to really give a good description, not to mention the variety of mission types and weather/terrain conditions that will influence the answer. Regardless of the parameters, think combined arms.

1. You'll need infantry to take and hold ground as Flenser mentions. Unless you are in the openest of open desert terrain, this is your primary arm. You may lean a little SMG or LMG heavy depending on terrain, but expect to spend at least 1/3 of your budget on infantry. The most common leg infantry or motorized types are usually servicable for most uses.

2. Armor. This is to control long lanes and take out enemy armor. Look for a big high velocity main gun and good front armor to brush off enemy fire. These are the two big criteria I use.

3. Artillery. You need at least a minimum amount for harassment and smoke. Get some more if you like.

4. Support. Get mortars, MGs, antitank teams, etc. to round out what your infantry formations don't come with and to provide local on map fire support.

Once you've filled out the basics, you can get cute.

[pzr_leader]

i dont know if anyone mentioned it, but i think you should consider what command units you get with various purchases. sure, u can get an extra MG unit if u get less experienced infantry, sometimes i will get the crack unit, just to get the command unit. it will spot better, and get better performance from the commanded units.

food for thought.

[Kingfish]

But overall you'll find the boost in performance isn't worth the extra cost. Yes, they perform better than a regular unit, but being so expensive you may only get one of each as opposed to 2 or 3 of the other. That right there will offset any advantage you'll get from a crack unit.

[Dschugaschwili]

With infantry, decide how much close range firepower you need depending on the map parameters. Then choose the type accordingly. And try to use the company/battalion discounts wherever possible. You can also get some support weapons cheaper that way. In combined arms games, I usually max out the armor budget. On the defense, a heavy arty module and a couple of TRPs can work wonders. Pay some attention to the rarity values. Units with rarity greater than 30% are rarely worth it.

Feel free to experiment. If you're unsure, you can take a computer pick from a previous game, think about what you didn't like about your force in that game, and try to correct these things when buying your troops manually.

Dschugaschwili

[ThomasZ]

do you guys generally play with rarity on? also do you think CMBB or CMAK is better for this style of play?

[Lars]

Rarity is fun. Adds some interesting decisions on what to buy. And usually keeps the uberkitties off the field. Usually...

Really Thomas, you opened up a whole can of worms here. What to buy depends heavily on mission, terrain and opponent.

Just to take the defense, when you see the setup parameters, think back on the scenarios you played. In the given situation, did you enjoy having that hidden AT gun (or a bunch of them) on defense or was it worthless? Would you rather have had a tank or two that you can move around instead? Are you going to mount a counterattack? Or just sit back and shell the snot out of the other guy?

Experience is the only thing that will help. You'll get it wrong from time to time. But so what? Go down fighting and learn some more.

[ThomasZ]

yea..I figured I had..and the reasponces have been interesting and fun to read. i didn't expect really to get "do this then that". Mostly I wanted some various opinions to judge. I'm haveing fun in any event so...

all this said do we have any other rumors about CMX?

[leakyD]

I played a ME quick battle once.

I was going to be all cool, so I bought 4 vet panthers, and a company of vet fallschirmjages(sp).

The battle started, and there was a lot of open ground, with only patches of trees. I thought it was going to be a breeze.

I then find out: My opponent bought a battalion of reg brit infantry and a few guns. He rushed me.

I had to assume defense ASAP, and slowly ran out of ammo.

I was then promptly kicked off the map.

:eek: :eek: :eek:

NOT fun!!!