In my scenario no one wants to shoot

[Tripecac]

I created a "Test" scenario (for learning the game mechanics), with a tiny empty map and 1 sharpshooter on each side. When I play it, I can never get my sharpshooter to fire at the other one (and vice versa), even when they are nose-to-nose!

I added a flamethrower unit to each side and on most turns, no one attacks, even if the enemy is ~5 feet away.

Sometimes they do shoot, however; once I heard gunfire and even though I didn't see any bullets, I think my flamethrower unit "fired" (with small arms?) at the Germans, because the German sharpshooter fell down "Eliminated". Hmmm.....

Also, when I start each turn, my targeting lines are often gone, which means (I guess) that my units keep "forgetting" that the Germans are right in front of them.

I didn't notice any weirdness like this in the core scenarios, just in the ones I created. Of course, the real scenarios are a lot busier than mine, so maybe there's pacifism there as well but we just don't notice it???

So, any idea what's going on? Do sharpshooters have to be a certain minimum distance away? Do I need to pump up the fanaticism meter for the Germans? Do I need to include platoon and/or company HQ units in order to get my guys brave enough to fight?

Thanks!

Trav

[Fieldmarshall]

You are of course using sharp shooters etc. from two different sides?

[mensch]

Travis there is a problem with sharpshooters on small maps, Under I think 100m or so (numbers I don't have on hand) will not shoot due to the fact they are too close between 150m and I think up maximum range of 600m they will plug away at units/tank commanders.

I tried snipers on Byte battles but they were usless since the maps were between 240mx240m or 480mx480m. I even made them Crack or Elite and still no shooting when the enemy came in that 100m range.

hope that kinda helped.

[Tripecac]

Thanks for the info!

I created another test, this time with each side having a sniper, an MG, a flamethrower, and a rifle platoon. I faced each off against the other (four "duals" going on at once). This time, they all fought very aggressively, even the sharpshooters (I think - it was pretty chaotic).

My guess is that this time, the presence of platoon HQ and the sounds of gunfire are what got the sharpshooters interested in fighting.

One of the most confusing/frustrating things about learning the game is figuring out how to get my guys to shoot at the enemy. I usually set a (T)arget for each of my units that can see at least one enemy, but even when I target an enemy, sometimes they don't seem to WANT to fire. Bazookas in particular seem reluctant to shoot *at times*.

I'm trying to figure out the *at times* part, to learn the various factors that contribute to the progression of:

1) standing still long enough to shoot (not panicking)

2) shooting at the target

3) hitting the target

4) killing the target

My instinct was to create some simple, terrain-less maps and perform my own "monte carlo"-eqsue tests (run a scenario a bunch of times so I can examine both trends and the amount of variance in the results).

I like to know the numbers and rules used in a strategy game, so learning something "fuzzy" like CM is strange... Maybe I've been spoiled by years and years of Heroes of Might and Magic [where the rules are simple and you know all the numbers]!

Anyway... Sorry to ramble!

Trav