Couple beginner questions

[thelastmccabe]

Hi, I just got cm afrika corps, and I can tell I'm going to be spending a lot of time playing it, but I've got a few questions. I scanned through the hints and tips section and also read some guides on tactics, but if anyone can point me towards some beginner resources I'd appreciated it.

Anyway, one thing I can't figure out is what to do when my units change their own orders. For example, say I have some infantry moving or advancing forward, and they get pinned down during the action phase. Then when I got to move them again, they might have a waypoint set to sneak away from the battle or way off to the side. When this happens, it seems like i could either delete the order and give a new one which would give me a longer delay. Or I could move their waypoint somewhere that isn't as far away. Or I could just let them go where they want and then when they calm down bring them back into the fray. Depends on the situation, but any thoughts on this? Thanks.

[Gpig]

Yup. You pretty much covered your options with regard to "tac A.I. generated orders."

I usually try to adjust the waypoint into some cover, if I can. Or delete the order if they are in cover and then give them a target to shoot at.

But you pretty much summed up your options. And yes, it does depend on the situation.

Welcome to the forum!

Gpig

[Dschugaschwili]

Basically, you try to keep them in command and wait until their morale is back up. Canceling the order (and maybe giving a new one) works if they don't come under fire again during the next turn, otherwise it probably doesn't.

Dschugaschwili

[Michael Emrys]

Could be that you moved them in an injudicious manner in the first place, and that's why you face your current situation. What you need to do is to backtrack and analyze your actions to see if there is some other way you could have started them off and then adjust your tactics accordingly.

Sounds like you tried to move them through open terrain and they got shot at by unsurpressed enemy troops. Was there another avenue of approach that would have afforded them more cover/concealment? Could you have masked them with smoke? Was there any way to identify the positions from which the enemy was likely to fire, and arrange for some overwatch units that would provide suppressive fire against them? Steps like those will help your units survive with good morale and complete their assignment.

Michael

[Bonxa]

I consider myself a veteran CM player but ran into a version of this problem the other night when trying out a scenario from the Stalingrad Pack. My frontoviki were sitting in brush and were at a range so as to just sit and shoot it out with the enemy. But alas, they just kept sneaking around. There was no better cover nearby so the waypoints were just to some other place in the same brush patch. I had strong numerical superiority but since everybody and their friends were just sneaking and not firing I got no where. The option I choose in the end was to order some poor bastards to advance forwards so that they would draw most of the fire. That cost me plenty of casualties but coupled with the timely arrival of some T-34 I carried the day. My feeling though is that had my frontoviki kept their nerve and just fired instead of sneaking I would have suffered far fewer casualties. Very annoying!

[Kilroy Lurking]

Troops are most likely to reach their objective using the "Advance" order if they are likely to be shot at. But they Tire/Exhaust PDQ.

Make sure that you give them covering fire to suppress their foes (lots of HE helps!).

Once they dive for cover and make their own 'Sneak' order you've pretty well lost them if they remain under fire - giving them a 'Hide' order sometimes helps'. Unfortunately the AI is pretty dumb when directing "sneak to the nearest cover" as you will probably find out.

Happy hunting, David

[Pirx]

You might want to search for posts by JasonC about advancing over open ground.

In general, you will probably want to cancel most of those TacAI sneak orders. The sneak order tires out your squad quickly which makes them more vulnerable to panic or rout. Also, the AI often doesnt sneak to the right place. If your squad is in the open and very close to cover, it might still be worthwhile to sneak there.

Giving a 'hide' order instead is usually advisable, it will decrease the squad profile and allow recovery of their morale state. This works best when you can either take the heat off your squad by applying more overwatch fire on the shooters, or advance other elements to draw fire away from the pinned squad.

[Mattias]

Originally posted by Bonxa:

My feeling though is that had my frontoviki kept their nerve and just fired instead of sneaking I would have suffered far fewer casualties. Very annoying!

An observation you no doubt share with countless commanders since the dawn of human conflict

I'm just happy CM portays troop quality in a way that makes you "feel" it.

-And that P3 is broadcastning Maiden live right now

Cheers!

M.

[BFCElvis]

Along these lines I have a question maybe you guys can give me advise on........

In a VERY important battle I am playing I had a platoon HQ break/rout/pin/whatever and the Tac AI had them sneak into wire. During the next plot phase I canceled the sneak in the wire move and tried to "move" them out. They continued to come under fire and go to sneak in the wire. Finally in an attempt to save their lives I issued them a "hide" command hoping that if they were hiding they wouldn't take as much damage while I got help to provide coving fire for their escape. They ended up being eliminated. Did I do the the best thing possible for them by issuing the hide command?

[Kanonier Reichmann]

The trouble with wire Elvis is that the troops in it suffer from 100% exposure so the chances of them succesfully hiding were probably Buckleys & none. It sounds to me like there was nothing you could do in the circumstances, short of providing a quick smokescreen to prevent enemy fire spotting the location.

Regards

Jim R.