Chris Cline Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 Can anyone tell me exactly how they work? They don't follow the typical guidelines for firepower, so I'm not sure how to use them effectively. I mean, are they particularly good at suppressing enemy troops, or do they simply have greater effective range/accuracy than a typical rifleman. Without knowing what exactly they do, I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable letting them, say defend in zone in place of an MG. Can anyone help me out? (I DO know that they are good for picking off tank commanders!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edgars Posted June 16, 2001 Share Posted June 16, 2001 Since nobody answers. i'll step in here. These are my thoughts on sharpshooters in CM. 1. Primary mission is to pick of tank commanders 2. Next taget is arty spotters (if your opponent is stupid enough to show you them) 3. Sharpshooters are VERY good at scouting and spotting. In heavy woods they can SNEAK past enemy squad 20-30 m away without enemy noticing them. 4. You can sometimes use them to supress enemy gun crews, works quite well. 5. Sharpshooters are not machine guns, they have only 10 ammo "bursts" and VEEEEEERY slow ROF. 6. If I'm alloved to buy units myself, I buy Veteran sharpshooters, price between Reg and Vet is only 4 points (18 and 22), but I FEEL that Vet units does the job much better than Reg ones. Hope it helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warmaker Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 I agree with most of the above suggestions but wish to add a little more: a. If you really wish to get higher chances of kills against gun crews/artillery spotters/tank commanders/HQs, veteran sharpshooters are nice and cheap, but elites and maybe crack will surely yield better results in casualties. Against the AI buttoning up a tank crew is just as good as a TC kill since the AI never unbuttons. Against a human player though, he will unbutton when he feels it's safe enough to do so and the result is a more lethal AFV. The use of sharpshooters as scouts I have found out recently is deemed gamey. Sharpshooters/snipers in WWII were not issued radios, unlike some modern snipers (USMC Scout-Snipers for instance). Then again, in CM how is the sharpshooter supposed to see far enough and be effective without letting the player know what's going on? It's a part of the CM engine's limitations, but this sounds like an extremely hard one to figure out. It's not that bad a problem anyways... Also, don't confuse a sharpshooter with a full-fledged sniper. Sharpshooters were basically riflemen picked out due to better marksmanship over his peers and given a sniper rifle. A sniper on the other hand has great marksmanship as well as thorough training in fieldcraft and such. Unless you're lucky, don't expect your sharpshooters to be infantry-lawn-mowing machines... pick out his targets wisely and you get bigger returns than the points you spent on him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiggDogg Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 First to get the nice part of the Brit/Can/Pole Infantry. Their paratroops are tough as nail and can stand with any German infantry. Now the bad part, B/C/P line infantry just doesn't have the firepower to stand with most German infantry (of course, excluding the German security troops which is as bad as the B/C/P infantry. B/C/P tanks/armor are marginally better than the American's and we know of the general problem of Allied tanks versus German tanks. The assorted B/C/P 'funny' vehicles help redress the inferiority of B/C/P infantry. B/C/P off board arty is excellent. The surprising unit is the two inch mortars. They kill German AT & infantry guns like no one's business. Otherwise, they are of marginal value, because they do not kill German infantry. I tend to use at least one 2 incher per platoon and spread the rest out to spot & kill enemy guns. I almost only play random most everything quick battles. These somewhat replicate the vagaries of war. I just live with what the computer gives me & my opponent. I do groan when I am dealt the B/C/P, but I live with it and make do. The Fates speak and I do what they utter. Hope that this helps. Richard Cuccia, richardcuccia@home.com, ICQ# 116577632 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiggDogg Posted June 17, 2001 Share Posted June 17, 2001 oops, my just prior message is in the wrong topic. sorry. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tfdodo Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Good suggestion here not long ago [just failed to find it, so credit to whoever...] - set up a QB with free mixed force on AI side & just sharpshooters & anti-tank teams on yours, experienced preferred, as Sniper usage practice. That post also said - Hide them to stop them getting ammo-wasteful ; don't manually target snipers [or they get seen, not sure why, AI funny ?], just Unhide & let them get on with it. Same good placements as Arty spotters [wooded hilltops, 2-storey buildings if same not rare enough to be obvious etc]. Prob. good to shoot'n'scoot if they've been seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gyrene Posted June 22, 2001 Share Posted June 22, 2001 Dodo, I posted those Sharpshooter hints, glad you liked them, here's the post again: <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR> StugIII, have you read the "Are Snipers good for anything?" thread? There are some good hints there. The key to using sharpshooters well is to buy the best you can afford, sneak him up to a position with good LOS of your opponent's are a somewhere in the range of 300-600 meters away and leave him alone. If you never give your sharpshooters "target" orders odds are excellent that he will not be spotted, but he will give himself away if you give him orders to shoot. Sharpshooters tend to get bored (it seems) and will start to target infantry if there are no other better targets around, wasting valuable ammo. The thing to do is to "Hide" the sharpshooter until something better turns up, then unhide the him and let him do his job. If you can sneak a sharpshooter within range of field guns he stands a very good chance of breaking or outright eliminating the gun without drawing any fire in return. The best places to place sharpshooters are wooded hills (Place him in the military crest, just below the actual crest of the hill) with commanding views of likely tank paths or gun emplacements. Remember that sharpshooters are absolutely useless against pillboxes, so don't bother with them. Sharpshooters can also successfully work out of brush or rough areas, which has the added benefit of drawing much less artillery fire from frazzled opponents trying to kill that pesky sniper than wooded areas. Placing sharpshooters in isolated large buildings (Unless its a city map) is begging to have your sharpshooter die a death by colapsing timber; rubble, on the other hand, is the best cover for infantry in CM and makes a good base to work from. Setup a QB against the AI with lots of enemy infantry, some armor, a spotter or two and some field guns, against just a handful of sharpshooters in mixed terrain and practice your sharpshooter sneaking skills. This kind of practice is also great for AT teams, so add some to the mix, and see how many tanks you can button up/shock with your sharpshooters or kill with your AT teams, and how many guns and spotters you can incapacitate before the enemy infantry gets you. PIATs are the stealthiest AT teams by far, in case you are wondering, you can get off several shots at nearby tanks without being spotted. Hope any of this helps. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Gyrene Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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