When to Use 'Move' and 'Hide' with Tanks?

[mdr220846]

i recall reading in the manual that hiding armor causes it to idle, thereby making it harder to spot audibly.

[xerxes]

Hiding armor CAN make sense in low visibility conditions. In heavy fog or night the engine sounds often give away an afvs location.

[Biff]

So let me see if I've got this straight. Hiding a AFV causes it to be quieter so it's less likely to provide a sound contact to the enemy. It also reduces it's spotting ability so it's more vunerable to enemy units sneaking up on it. It also make the AFV less likely to open fire unless it's fired upon.

Does it make the tank reactions any slower?

For ambushes (in CMBB) is it preferable to hide the AFV or just set a armor cover arc?

[CombinedArms]

Originally posted by Biff:

So let me see if I've got this straight. Hiding a AFV causes it to be quieter so it's less likely to provide a sound contact to the enemy. It also reduces it's spotting ability so it's more vunerable to enemy units sneaking up on it. It also make the AFV less likely to open fire unless it's fired upon.

I believe that all of these statements are true.

Biff: Does it make the tank reactions any slower?

Yes. The tank is less likely to fire at an approaching enemy, which could of course be fatal to the tank. This is why I've tended to use hide fairly rarely with AFVs. Hiding WON'T make it less likely to be seen, so I use it only to reduce sound contacts in a position where I'm sure the AFV is safely out of LOS of any enemy units.

Biff: For ambushes (in CMBB) is it preferable to hide the AFV or just set a armor cover arc?

It could work--and might allow for increased use of the hide command for AFVs-- but again only if you want to limit sound contacts (say you're hiding the tank behind a burning building and hoping to lure nearby infantry around the corner to their deaths.) It won't limit visual contacts so there's not much use to hiding unless you want to limit sound contacts.

The closest you can come to physically hiding a tank in CM, as far as I know, are to place it in a hulldown position and await the approaching enemy or put it a certain distance back in scattered trees.

[ December 06, 2002, 09:16 PM: Message edited by: CombinedArms ]

[Eden Smallwood]

Originally posted by Michael emrys:

Someone once suggested that vehicles with a Hide command are quieter and therefore harder for the enemy to get a fix on, but I never found out if that is really so or not.

I remember now- I asked whether moving on grass was modelled as quiet and fast vs move; well, a claim is made, but how does he (SM) know that?

http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=002827

Eden

[ December 07, 2002, 01:45 AM: Message edited by: Eden Smallwood ]

[Frunze]

How often do you get sound contacts off a stationary vehicle anyway?