Walls and infantry

[Sven]

Where should I place my infantry for it to enjoy the cover of a wall? "In wall" or in the open ground right behind, and how do you know they're protected/hidden behind that wall?

[ March 20, 2002, 02:09 PM: Message edited by: Sven ]

[Gpig]

I'm sure this question has been answered before, but I've never seen it.

I too, have wondered about this very thing. Since whenever I have troops behind a wall (or I'm engaging enemy troops behind a wall), they never seem very effective at all.

Now I go out of my way to avoid setting up behind walls.

Also looking forward to a swell answer.

Gpig

[Ricochet]

As close to the wall as possible without being “on” the wall is best.

This goes for both infantry and vehicles.

What I’m not sure of is bocage.

Which is best being behind or in bocage?

[Captain Wacky]

Behind, definitely behind

[Marlow]

Place your troops behind the wall (or hedgerow), not in it. To see what impact the wall has on Play around with some infantry on the "preview" map in the map editor, and look at the cover percentage (use the LOS function from the "shooting" squad) the squad gets in different locations (in front of the wall, in the wall, behind the wall, but close to it, etc...). You'll find that placing the squad within about 10 to 15 meters of the wall provides significant protection.

[gredeker]

IIRC, infantry behind a wall that is given a "Hide" command can't be targetted at all by units at the same or lower elevation. It may also be the same for AT guns, but I'm at work right now so I can't check.

I also seem to recall that you can also "Crawl" behind a wall and be immune from incoming fire.

There's a spreadsheet floating around somewhere with exposure percentages for various terrain - I recall that "wall" was pretty good (30%?).

And definitely set up behind the bocage - it acts very similar to wire, often being worse than open ground for units that are actually IN the bocage.

[ March 20, 2002, 02:17 PM: Message edited by: redeker ]

[Bruno Weiss]

My experience has been to have the infantry crawl slightly into the wall itself, but only slightly and to hide, whereupon they have been fairly well protected. Same goes for enemy infantry I've fired on. With vehicles, I've sort of done the same thing except some cannot cross a wall and I'll edge them up close but not into the wall itself. I'm not sure of what the percentage of protection is, that is on the spreadsheet.

[L.Tankersley]

Unfortunately, infantry in open ground behind a wall tend to think of themselves as being in open ground when they come under fire, even if because of the direction of the incoming fire they are protected by the wall. So once their state goes beyond alerted, they tend to get up and run for the nearest trees or building, even if this means running across the wall towards the enemy that is firing at them. The consequences of this behavior are left as an exercise for the student.

[Mattias]

A quick look..

Inf. in open terrain firing at inf. behind and within 15 meters of a wall: The squads behind the wall have 30% exposure, as opposed to 75% for the ones not protected by the wall.

If a squad "hides" behind, and within 15 meters, of the wall they have 0% exposure, as indicated by the posts above.

Oh, and stay off the wall, being there rises exposure to a whopping 95%.

--

M.

[Dirtweasle]

The funny thing about walls, (also hedges, and bocage presnet this problem) is the TAC AI sometimes would rather run for 150 meters for some tree cover and get shot to bits in the process than just lay down behind the wall and not get shot at. ...at least what I recall about them.

[Bruno Weiss]

I would say it all depends on the trajectory of the incoming fire. While it is correct I have indeed seen the events spoken of take place, and no the AI is not the brightest amongst us, if the incoming fire is at range and particularly from a lower angle than the hiding infantry, then the target behind the wall, or slightly within the wall, in my experience, has been darn near impervious. If the fire is originating from a terrain source at a higher elevation then yes, most likely the AI is going to panic and skeedaddle all the way back to the Potomac.

[ March 20, 2002, 06:56 PM: Message edited by: Bruno Weiss ]

[Ozzy]

vehicles and guns BEHIND walls, hedge and bocage (can also provide you with Hull Down, esp. walls)

infantry BEHIND walls and close to the wall, but IN hedges/bocage

[Charmander]

Originally posted by Ozzy:

infantry BEHIND walls and close to the wall, but IN hedges/bocage

No, not really.

As previous posters have pointed out, being in bocage gives you bad cover and slow movement, which is a bad thing if you`re taking fire. Hedges don`t hamper movement as much, but only offer cover to units behind them.

Check the editor.

[Ricochet]

Originally posted by L.Tankersley:

[QB]Unfortunately, infantry in open ground behind a wall tend to think of themselves as being in open ground when they come under fire, even if because of the direction of the incoming fire they are protected by the wall.

I’ve seen the same as Tankersly and that’s why I ask about bocage. My guys seem to not like incoming fire when “behind” bocage in open ground and have a tendency to break for other cover.

[ March 21, 2002, 02:18 PM: Message edited by: Ricochet ]