Purchasing Units

[tenfive2]

I always find this one tough. I actually prefer to have the computer pick for QB's unless I want to try something specific.

Any good guides to choosing units?

[olandt]

What type of guide are you looking for? A historical guide, or suggestions of good equipment?

[tenfive2]

Practical guide for battles in CM.

Hey Gremlin! You've got the best guides. Anything about this?

[ 07-07-2001: Message edited by: tenfive2 ]

[Michlos]

The choice of troops will differ depending on the situation.

I usually use the QBs to try out new tactics. For instance if I want to try some AT tactics I will set the AI to be Mechanized and I will only buy AT weapons.

[tenfive2]

bump!

[olandt]

I think you might need to define your question a bit more. First, for what are you purchasing and which nationality? Is this an attack, meeting engagement or defense? What terrain and what weather, if you know?

I'll give you my quick suggestions.

For any of the allies max out your artillery. This is what the allies are good at. I prefer lots of mortars myself, with just a little of the big stuff for those really hard nuts to crack. If you're on the defensive, off map mortars are probably all you'll need. I like em cause of the shorter delay.

The allied infantry is pretty vanilla, so the only question is how much, which dpends mostly upon terrain. Lots of woods, lots of infantry. Open plains is for tanks.

Allied tanks tend to better at infantry support rather than duking it out with the big cats. If you know how to flank well, try M18s with the Americans, or cromwell IVs with the Brits. If you want more punch out of the Brits go with Fireflys or challengers. If you want a (slighly) portable pillbox, go with the later churhills.

The americans offer more protection with the Sherman Jumbo or the Pershing. Generally, the allies favor movement and quantity over size.

For the germans, you have a large number of options with infantry. Rifle squads are for longer range fights, SMG for extreme short with the rest falling in between. Buy Volksgenadier in Company sized units or greater to avoid the cheezy ALL SMG squads. Germans have lots of good support units, especially for defense. The 20mm flak is pretty good, and I like the 88 flak as well. The 88pak tends to be overkill unless you think your opponent will go the Jumbo route. Inf guns are good as well. The biggest questions is whether to go with a few big guns that pack a mean punch or lots of small ones. Remember that most allied players will immediately target your guns with artillery so you'll have just a few turns with them, unless you can manage to bug them out. German tanks tend to have superior front armor making them difficult to take head on. Allies will try to flank them so keep the cats far back and protect their flanks. The hetzer is a good cheap TD. The front slopped armor will infuriate your opponent. Same goes for the Panther. Don't forget armor slope when choosing a tank. High angles REALLY help. The tiger is not as mean as it might first appear because the armor angle is so low (don't get me wrong, they're still mean, just not invincible).

Never buy aircraft unless you really like to gamble.

I have no idea if this helps but clarify your need and I'm sure people will definately chime in.

Pete

[Gremlin]

Hey Tenfive2, thanks (A new guide is up at http://www.combat-missions.net , btw.)

What type of battle (ME, attack, defense, point size, terrain, nationalities) are you talking about? That makes all the difference. A lot will depend on your playing style too.

Essentially, you want to maximize the benefits inherent in each nationality's units and create a solid combined arms force. So, in addition to the appropriate type of infantry (SMG squads for Germans on the defense, for instance), you'll want vehicles with lots of HE for dealing with infantry, vehicles or AT guns capable of dealing with enemy tanks (i.e., vehicles with long, high velocity guns and lots of AP rounds), mortars and MG teams for supression, sharpshooters for buttoning enemy tanks, portable AT teams for dealing with or springing surprises involving enemy armor, and always arty for smoke, suppression, and/or damage.

Each nationality has its own specialties, to generalize horribly The Americans have lots of excellent infantry support vehicles (most Shermans, Priests, etc.) and fast but lightly armored vehicles that are good for flanking and surprise attacks on enemy AFV's. They have the best arty (fast response, high number of shells, VT shells available later in the war). They have big squads that can absorb damage, and they have the .50 HMG's which can pop HT's, armored cars, you name it, at medium ranges. Their later HT's with the .30 and .50 are good for doling out the damage once the tank threat has been handled.

The Brits have the painfully slow but very heavily armored late Churchills that can shrug off most hits and provide powerful infantry support with big HE rounds, though their slow speed can make them a big liability, as they can be easily flanked and can't keep up with infantry. Their cheap Wasp flamethrower carriers are wonderful for assaults on wooded areas or towns, setting the whole place ablaze in no time, assuming infantry guard them from Panzerschrecks. The Brits have organic PIAT's and mortars in each platoon, and those are always useful (mortars for quick supression.) The Sherman VC Firefly is one of the best anti-tank tanks available to the Allies. It's not extremely well armored, but that long 17-pounder gun is a real killer.

The Germans have a huge range of rather specialized units. SMG squads on defense; SS Motorized, Gebirgsjäger, Fallschirmjäger, motorized Panzergrenadiers, and Sturmgruppe squads are the most powerful all around, though naturally cost more. The Germans have many excellent tank hunters/destroyers, like the Hetzer, Panzer IV/70, Jagdpanther etc. These all suffer a problem common to turretless AFV's: relatively weak side armor and the inability to turn the gun quickly enough to deal with surprise flanking attacks. The Panther is probably the best all-around turreted tank; the StuG III G is probably the best all-around AFV for the Germans (can be used as both an assault gun and TD). The StuH is a fine infantry support vehicle. All the AA guns, particularly the Ostwind, are very useful against lighter vehicles or immobilizing or damaging the gun of heavier ones. They also have tons of ammo for continued infantry suppression, and can demolish buildings quickly. The Hummel is decent for infantry support with its 150mm gun, but has few rounds and is very lightly armored and open topped--quite a gamble. They have all kinds of very lightly armored HT's with big guns, mortars, flamethrowers, etc. too, which raise all kinds of tactical issues.

You could discuss the German forces all day

[ 07-13-2001: Message edited by: Gremlin ]

[tenfive2]

Thanks for the input!