Newbie Getting Slaughtered by AI. Its getting frustrating!!!!

[Paul 87 LX]

Hey All

I played a couple of scenarios so far. I'm playing thise scenario in late 41 where germans have to defend a road junction. I tried it both sides agains AI. Doesnt matter which side I played my armor get blown to bits. :mad: I need some scholing on armor strategy. Head on approach sux :mad:

Paul

[MasterGoodale]

Unless your armor has overwhelming superiority you have to flank, preferably from 2 sides. Split the tanks up and maybe send one head on to confuse the enemy. Then blast him from the sides and rear. Try to find a "Hull Down" position on the flanks if you can. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Nolloff]

Try Jaegermeister together with the AARs instead of the tutorial. You can find them over in the Scenario Talk forum (search for "Jaegermeister").

Besides hull-down and flanking practise using the "shoot and scoot" command. Jaegermeister is great to use all of this at the right point in time.

Nolloff

[Tarquelne]

:mad:

Boy, aren't you two grumpy?

Anyway - Something _very_ simple you can try, assuming you havn't already, is always keeping your armor together. Try to maneuver them such that they always have about the same LOS. The idea being that whatever it is that's hitting your armor will always have to take on _all_ your armor at the same time.

What is killing your armor, btw? Does it tend to be the same thing each time (enemy armor, tank hunter units, ATRs...?) or are you treated to something new and different each time?

[Paul 87 LX]

Basically my armor get decimated by other tanks and AT guns. For example I played a scenario as germans. I had 2 50mm AT guns. Targeted them for side shoot at T34 no kills got both guns blown up. Now same scenario same unit placement those guns took out two of my T34. What gives???

Paul

[jgdpzr]

Originally posted by Paul 87 LX:

Basically my armor get decimated by other tanks and AT guns. For example I played a scenario as germans. I had 2 50mm AT guns. Targeted them for side shoot at T34 no kills got both guns blown up. Now same scenario same unit placement those guns took out two of my T34. What gives???

Paul

The short version: Luck!

Longer version would require a full analysis of many factors: angles involved, suppression levels of guns, etc.

The game can punish the unwary, but once you learn some of the subtleties of moving and supporting your AT assets, AI controlled-tanks become far-less daunting.

[Pascal DI FOLCO]

Originally posted by Paul 87 LX:

Basically my armor get decimated by other tanks and AT guns. For example I played a scenario as germans. I had 2 50mm AT guns. Targeted them for side shoot at T34 no kills got both guns blown up. Now same scenario same unit placement those guns took out two of my T34. What gives???

Paul

Oh, that's different, it 's the CM Curse ! :eek: I'm afflicted myself with it, there's nothing to do except accepting your fate !

[Elmo]

Originally posted by Paul 87 LX:

Basically my armor get decimated by other tanks and AT guns. For example I played a scenario as germans. I had 2 50mm AT guns. Targeted them for side shoot at T34 no kills got both guns blown up. Now same scenario same unit placement those guns took out two of my T34. What gives???

Paul

It's obvious, the AI cheats!

Uh, oh...incoming!

Seriously though, did you let your T-34's get shot at from the side as a test? If so, one example does not a problem make. You could run it a few dozen times to get a better idea of what the AI did right. What happened when you fired at the enemy T-34's, did your guns miss, or hit without effect? As someone said there are multiple factors that could affect the results.

The rule of thumb with an attack in CMBB is "go slow". Use area fire on likely places for the enemy to hide. Use smoke to cover an advance in the open. Always have some units watching as others advance so if you take fire somebody has a good chance to fire back. This will hopefully suppress the firer and make your life easier. You can search this forum and the tips forum for lots of good advice on how to run a successful attack.

[CRSutton]

and....don't worry. You will get better with experience.

[CavalryMan]

It's obvious, the AI cheats!

Uh, oh...incoming!

[Mud]

Random notes --

With AT guns, you don't necessarily want to engage tanks just as they enter LOS. Put them in decent cover (e.g. foxhole just inside some woods), and a "keyhole" (very, very narrow) line-of-sight can be very useful as well. A gun that can spot everybody coming up a ridge can be spotted BY everybody coming up that ridge, after all, and might therefore not live that long.

And then you engage when you have a good hit/kill chance (check penetration tables and LOS tool) if at all possible, especially against vehicles that have multiple MGs and cannister rounds...

Oh, and with multiple AT guns, it can be useful to have them cover the same main ambush grounds, but from orthogonal angles, to give you a good chance of a flank shot.

With vehicles, you also need to be cautious. Infantry really should precede them, covering and reconnoitering likely hiding places for hostiles, and perhaps laying down suppressive fire even when you haven't spotted an enemy.

[Eden Smallwood]

Originally posted by Paul 87 LX:

I played a couple of scenarios so far.

Hey.

Tanks are really tough in this game to "perfect", much more so than infantry, imho. One problem is, if you don't know the difference between a T34 produced in this week of September versus that Panzer made in that week of August, you're already at a disadvantage. You need to really know each of these units, or you'll get blown away.

If you do the slightest thing wrong, you'll get blown away.

If you misread the terrain, you'll get blown away.

IOW, for a newbie, armor can be really frustrating. You *can* trust my opinion on that one.

So consider playing all or primarily infantry until you really kick butt, then start adding armor to your battles. It can also make a world of difference if you can take out that one enemy tank with your infantry unit, so knowing how to get that unit to where he can do the damage helps alot.

I'm not saying it's impossible, or give up or anything, just that it does take awhile, and during that while, you'd be a special person not to find it frustrating when all your armor gets blown away...

Eden