I just got the game...

[Uberpickle]

And I am getting rocked hard. These maps with the extreme terrain (Italy most notably) are really pushing me to the edge of insanity. The pillboxes are hard to takedown (as expected and hoped by me) but take far more coordination than realized.

Also, it's a first for me to have to deal with my soldier's emotions and experience.

Any good tricks for overcoming well dug in troops? On the one hand I want to rely on only my spotters (but the shells arent all that accurate) and on the other hand I want to use the ground pounders to go in and raid the dug in troops. What do I do? Do I recon, shell then advance slowly? Or do I rely on smoke and light mortar dusting to overcome dug in troops?

So far I've been doing decent, just trying to get by (BTW, the Italian terrain is pretty tough in some missions, something I'm not used to).

I really love this game and I'm glad I got it. It's such an intellectual step-up from all of these other supposed "strategy games" I've played. Even though dawn of war had a little bit of depth in terms of options and effects, it comes real short.

[Richie]

Really BIG artillery always helps... 150mm+

[stoat]

For dug in positions, having heavy weapons support is almost a must. Make sure your MGs and mortars are in a position to cover your advance. They will keep your enemy's head down while your riflemen get in close. To cross that last stretch of open ground before engaging your enemy, some smoke from arty or vehicles may be in order. If you are having a rough time, try to bring up some armor to provide close support. Make sure you keep it screened with your infantry so it won't take a panzerschreck to the snot locker.

You more than likely won't be able to advance all across the map at the same time. Try to achieve fire superiority over one portion of the battle, and attack there. Then you can shift your fire to other areas and use your infantry to roll up the enemy flanks.

[Uberpickle]

Thanks guys. But for certain quick battles I've been generating, I don't have the big guns but I am refining my man-to-track coverage strategies and my timing(it's super important I've realized, like I'd wait 3 turns for my ground pounders to get up to my armor or vice versa just to get a job done).

[stoat]

Originally posted by Uberpickle:

Thanks guys. But for certain quick battles I've been generating, I don't have the big guns but I am refining my man-to-track coverage strategies and my timing(it's super important I've realized, like I'd wait 3 turns for my ground pounders to get up to my armor or vice versa just to get a job done).

You can read as many opinions here as you like, but the best way to learn is to test things out yourself.

[tar]

Well, for starters, it helps if you increase the number of turns available in the QB. That removes some of the time pressure.

And as one of the other posters indicated, concentration of firepower on a small part of the defense is vital. As the attacker, you get to choose the point of attack. You have to make use of that flexibility.

[Aside: Against the AI, the concentrated attack is actually excessively effective, since it will often send troops out of dug-in positions into sometimes suicidal counter attacks.]