Ambush/Hide

[Childress]

Sorry to dredge up an old topic, but:

OK, if your guys are Hiding, they can't see. Or they see a lot less. So how does one Ambush without giving away one's position? You could Hide while ambushing in CM1, but not now(?).

[Field Marshal Blücher]

I think it just requires a bit more micromanagement. You Hide up until the moment you want to ambush, and then take off Hide and give them a Target (or whatever) order. It's kind of difficult to ambush someone without giving away your position anyway once you start firing in real life . . .

-FMB

[Webwing]

I had to test this extensively and with patch 1.07 specially since one of the most exciting missions in the Ghost campaign can only be won with an ambush. A whole company ambushing the enemy.

I have to say it works really well in this mission.

The soldiers can't see, but they can hear. For some positions the player needs to do what FMB said. But in others just leave them and they will stand up and fire as the enemy is close enough to pose a real threat. This is specially effective if you hid your men on the roof.

I didn't even use the cover archs.

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[Field Marshal Blücher]

Webwing is quite correct, I forgot to mention that when the enemy gets close enough, your units automatically start firing. Worked very well on the Fighting Seebee's scenario Afghani "Stan."

-FMB

[Secondbrooks]

Bradley rolling just 30-40 meters away from my hiding infantryplatoon and they didn't see it. Not even symbol of suspected enemy location... Forest+trenches was location and targetarces were given to that sector. I was lucky to hear it, saw dust kicked into air from driving Bradley and told my men to un-hide, so that situation got saved.

But i've had few foiled ambushes as my men doesn't see what i expect them to see and my focus is distracted to some micromanagement-business in other side of map.

One of best ambushes i've seen was where enemy noticed my hiding men before i or my men noticed them, forest+trench and targetarces were given again while opponent came along road. I was again distracted to micromanagement in other ambush . Basically my men saw them when they jumped into trench for some bayonetgiving... I lost that ambush in quite humiliating way

[ April 07, 2008, 11:05 PM: Message edited by: Secondbrooks ]

[Childress]

Originally posted by Field Marshal Blücher:

I think it just requires a bit more micromanagement. You Hide up until the moment you want to ambush, and then take off Hide and give them a Target (or whatever) order.

Well, one can see this technique functioning in RT. What about WEGO?

[Webwing]

Originally posted by Childress:

</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Field Marshal Blücher:

I think it just requires a bit more micromanagement. You Hide up until the moment you want to ambush, and then take off Hide and give them a Target (or whatever) order.

Well, one can see this technique functioning in RT. What about WEGO? </font>

[Secondbrooks]

There are spotting issues from terrain, which can have drastic effect on how ambush plays out with hiding order, should hiding be left out or not.

I'm still on way to understand these things, so i need to play specific situations once to know how it should be done to gain good results without micromanagement.

[Childress]

The situation (vs. AI, WEGO) I experienced was: a US platoon in light woods, behind a short wall overlooking a road. Syrian vehicles were expected and I gave them a Cover Arc. If I Hid them they saw nothing much past the wall. Standing, they had a good view of the road- blue lines- but were, of course, more exposed.

So- crossing into their Cover Arc provokes the same response, Hidden or not?

[Webwing]

Some players have posted pretty good results with arcs. I prefer to avoid them and use only hide. This ensures that your troops will not be spoted

If you have enemy vehicles coming and your troops are hiding 50m away from where those vehicles will get, they will react, most certainly. Even though they don't see the enemy.

I imagine your troops can hear them, that's why they come out of hiding. It depends on the motivation too, so it's not sure fire. In my mission I tested to make sure that would happen and it did 100% of the times. But I don't know in the mission you are playing if that is the case.

I'd be curious to know the results you get. Can you save the game at that point and try both procedures?

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[slug88]

I've noticed that hiding units often DO stand up to take a look over their concealment for short periods. If you watch your men closely throughout a minute long turn, you'll notice that they will take turns standing up and peaking for a few seconds at a time. This is my experience, at least. The best place to put them is somewhere where they'll be completely concealed when prone, but will have good visibility when kneeling.

[Childress]

Thanks for the input, Webwing. As I recall, the Syrian vehicles rolled by unmolested by the hiding, cover arc-endowed squad. We're probably talking 10 meters. No saved file. If you want to test it, the scenario is Small Gain by El Terrifico.

(Side note: hmmm, I note I'm actually playing the game instead of whinging on the forum.)

[Webwing]

It's not whining, its just finding out how others do similar stuff.

I like that kind of thing, theres always some interesting experiences from others that you can use in your next game!

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