Paul Harrington Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 I'm relatively new to CM, and at the moment I'm trying to learn the basics by playing quick battles aginst the AI. I played a QB last night where I was defending as the US and was given a single M10 and a scout car (along with an infantry platton and several high calibre machine guns and mortars), and the attacking German had a Panzer IV/70 TD. I was given not one zook or other AT weapon, and although my infantry tactics worked a treat the M10 lost the duel with the Panzer IV/70. Being without armour and no AT weapons was obviously then a major problem. Is it normal for the force selection to be so unrealistic (no zooks)? Although I really enjoyed the infantry battle it was totally overshadowed by the tank duel which was rather a lottery. Should I just switch to choosing my own troops or is this sort of force mix reasonable? Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Agua Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 The computer is notorious for picking oddball combinations, so nothing is wrong with your CD if that is your concern. Personally, though I used to hate playing with computer picked forces, a couple weeks ago I had a blast playing extremely small battles (300 - 500 points) giving the AI +3 experience and 25% numerical bonus. Hmmmmm..... Think I'll take Uncommon Valor out and load up a qb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Austrian Strategist Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 Originally posted by Paul Harrington: Should I just switch to choosing my own troops or is this sort of force mix reasonable? In this case at least, it was. Imo, what you should have done: Keep your Tank Destroyer hidden (best behind hill), until enemy PzIV is spotted and within a few 100 metres. Then jump out of your cover with 'Hunt', and you should get the first shot and (probably) kill the enemy tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toad Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 Getting yourself out of tough situations and coming up with plans "B" and "C" are much of what make Combat Mission fun! Did a single enemy tank on the battlefield defeat your defense? What could you have done to make the tank less potent? Spread out so the tank can't attack all of you at once? Better positions so the tank can't see you from across the map and has to get closer? Better use of sharpshooters and mortars to harrass the tank and keep it buttoned? Try playing a similar match again. Buy yourself an all-infantry defense and practice going up against what ever the computer picks for itself. Adjust the settings to give a hanicap in your favour and gradually reduce it as you get better. I guarantee that learning how to handle tanks when you can't just shoot at them will make you a formidable player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted June 7, 2002 Share Posted June 7, 2002 Computer-selected forces are notorious for having too many engineers (or only engineers as infantry) and too many APCs. That's a major problem since you cannot build a combat/price-effective force when a major part of the force is of this kind. The selector also doesn't pay any attention to give decent AT equipment. Usually no long-range weapons, which is needed on few-cover maps, but as in your case sometimes no infantry AT teams. It could easily be improved by choosing less randomly from the infantry menu (instead defaulting to standard rifle) and/or shop some AT equipment first. Having said that, a Pz IV/70 should be quite ignoreable when you have no armor anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Harrington Posted June 9, 2002 Author Share Posted June 9, 2002 Thx for the replies everyone. Sorry if my post came across as if I wasn't prepeared to fight a tank once my armour had gone. It was more that the outcome of the armour battle seemed to overshadow the infantry one, even tho the infantry took most of the time. I think the answer is to firstly pick my own troops, or to play larger battles as the force mix in a 500 pointer (as I was playing) is much more sensitive to odd choices from the computer. Thx again Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiggDogg Posted June 9, 2002 Share Posted June 9, 2002 Paul & Guys, In computer choose troop games, if you have weird guys, chances are that your opponent has even weirder guys, especially the Germans. :eek: As examples in moderate sized ME games (1000-1500 pt), once my opponent had three WhribleWinds. Another time, my opponent had 4 or 5 Hotchkisses. Both battles were peculiar but fun. Rememeber, this is about having fun & making do with whatcha got. :cool: Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
winkelried Posted June 9, 2002 Share Posted June 9, 2002 You still could try to 1) strip the panzer from its infantry. 2) get the panzer with your rifle grenades (if any). dune it myself (even in PBEM with regulars against Tiger IE and Panther) ... or plan B: 1) as above. 2) get enough infantry and try to knock the damn thing over Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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