Covering Arcs

[Holo]

I have just finished an armour exercise QB in CM:BB, and although I won, I was quite unsatisfied. I've played as German in Allied assault map, gave the Russians +100%, which translated into me being able to buy only 3 Panthers, and some infantry, while for the Russians I've purchased 18 T-34/76, infantry company and appropriate number of M5 APCs. Having only 3 Panthers, and playing huge map, I have decided that it is best for me to wait them to come in range of 1000m and then to open fire, so I've made appropriate vehicle covering arcs. All went fine, Russians were approaching, I've moved my Panthers in hull-down once I've decided they're close enough, they started blasting on everything that moves in arcs hitting one by one, but then IT happened (not the first time I must say) – one of their APCs was quite a bit to the left and one of mine Panthers turned to target him. It took him some time to traverse the turret left, to aim and to fire, the action giving the first shot hit. In the meantime, one of the Russian T-34's came out from behind the trees, aimed at Panther, and hit right side turret knocking it out in first shot (the Panther some 300m to the right of the knocked one took care of him a few seconds later). Now, although this might be entirely my fault for making covering arc too wide, every time I try to prevent something similar to happen I have tanks covering smaller arcs which doesn't risk their side turrets like this, but instead they become potential sitting ducks for surprise attacks from sides. In real life I presume that commander would abort engagement of APC, and immediate threat would be took care of first. However, I know nothing on that topic so the real...

...Question is:

How the covering arcs are handled in CMx2? For example, (and I have spent many hours pondering on this ever since Steel Panthers I) I've always wanted to see some sort of assessment of the threat to my unit from oncoming targets. In above example, knowing that the Russian APCs don't have any capability to hurt my Panthers I would put something like Hard Armour covering arc. Maybe this wouldn't be necessary if their is some other way to tell the tank how to behave on its own, and not to act as above, but one way is to make more types of arcs, and even make more than one to be available at the time - lets say for example I make in above example Hard Armour Arc at 1000m, Soft Armour at 500m, and Infantry at 250m. In modern terms, I guess it could be something like 3000m, 1500m, and 500m, respectively.

The other thing I've always missed is hit chance threshold. Let's say, in above example, that I have put covering arc at 1000m, but I really don't want start shooting unless I'm pretty much certain I have a decent chance of hitting. If I'm making initial commands before turn starts I can decide on my own which target is most likely to be hit, but once the turn starts my crews are on their own (compared to old turn-based games like SP where for each unit you can determine which enemy is most likely to be hit on each shoot/turn). So, if having some feature like Hit Chance Threshold, in above example I would be able to tell my crews not to shoot at targets that have less than, let's say, 50% hit chance estimation, so to save their ammo, especially, since them being in hull down, enemy has even less chance of hitting back (and in this case it's T-34/76, so I really don't need to worry that much). However, just to make sure I'm not endangering my tank too much I would give something like Fire Back if Hit, which will make the tank shoot back at attacker although Hit Chance Threshold is not achieved, and Fire Back if Threatened, assuming case were all of a sudden something big like SU-152 is popping out behind the hill, my tank commander recognizing it and becoming very aware of unexpected threat (when I way back in CM:BB first started experimenting with covering arcs this was on several occasions just the case – T-34/76 were unable to do anything against Panthers, but then I would suddenly see few SU's rolling out, firing and knocking out my precious armour – that teached me a lesson or two).

So, essentially, the general question is how much of the additional control conditions will we have on our disposal to set unit's behavior (in this case tanks), while not making the game 1:1 handling of every little detail?

[Holo]

Steve, as there is still no answer to my questions, I can only presume that:

a) Somehow they are not legitimate

I dared to compare CM with some other game, thus offending team Battlefield beyond forgiveness

c) Aliens abducted you

So, any answers, please?

[Holo]

In the meantime I conducted a little test in CM:BB.

I confronted Elite Panther D against line formation consisting of Elite T-34 M43, T-34/85, ISU-152 and IS-2. Range was 1000m. I let crews pick the targets, which means AI was responsible for target selection from the start. In 10 out of 10 times I have tried this, Panther's crew first picked T-34/76. Then I shuffled the Russian tanks, keeping them in line formation, and conducted another set of tests. Same results – 10 out of 10 times Panther picked again T-34/76. Notice that in this setting IS-2 and ISU-152 are the ones that can hurt Panther.

To experiment further, I've replaced Panther with King Tiger, and run the tests. Same results – 10/10 for T-34/76. Since none of the Russian tanks can really hurt KT, I've observed with curiosity what would happen next. It was T-34/85 picked next, then ISU-152, and finally IS-2.

To broaden the experiment I've setup the similar conditions in CM:AK. On one side Elite Churchill XI, and on the other line formation of Elite PzIVH, Panther D, Tiger and JagdPanther. 10 out of 10 Churchill crew first picked PzIVH, which has no chance of hurting Churchill XI at that range. I've replaced Churchill with Firefly V, just to get the same results.

Finally, I've replaced German formation with PzIII(short), PzIII, PzIVF and PzIVF2. As they all have very similar front protection I was very curious to see what happens. 10/10 for PzIII(short) – in this setup PzIVF2 is only true opponent.

I am not sure what to derive from this experiment. The obvious one is that AI chooses target that is easiest to destroy, but that might be jumping to conclusion. But, what seems to be certain is that AI is definitely not choosing highest threat for survival of the tank as a primary target, what should be expected to happen – in first setup, Panther should have picked IS-2, in the last Firefly should have picked PzIVF2 – after all, you must survive first in order to go on with the mission.

Any improvements in this area?