Survival 101

[Avwriter]

Okay folks, TOW is a brand new game, and I dare say most of us have already had our clocks cleaned at least a few times, regardless of which battle or campaign we chose to begin with. Everyone likes a good challenge, and this game supplies that in spades. But at the same time, it is easy to get discouraged if you play the same mission over and over again, and still cannot make any headway.

This is the place to share your ideas and experiences about surviving your first battles.

[Avwriter]

I will start off with a few very simple ideas, just to be sure everyone has a firm grasp of the obvoius.

1. A TOW battle is not a race. Typically for the first few minutes, there is very limited information available about the positioning of your enemy. So don't rush out to the middle of the map with your guns blazing. Put your men in the crawl or crouch position, and hold back your tanks. Send out just two or three men to see what lies over the next hill.

2. Don't forget to ue the Hold Position and Hold Fire buttons. You don't want to give away your location too early.

3. Just becasue you are ordered early in the battle to shell the enemy with artillery, does not mean you must fire immediately. Wait a bit until you know for sure where the enemy is positioned.

4. When attacking artillery and tanks, always try to approach from multiple directions at once (i.e. bring in a tank from one side and a squad of troops from the other). Such targets can only fire back in one direction at a time.

[ April 30, 2007, 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Avwriter ]

[chanss]

Always deploy your Infantry in line to bear maximum firepower.

[HardRock]

Don't be stubborn.

For instance if you crest a hill and see one tank and target it then 2 more become visible shooting at you..don't think oh just one more shot then I'll start with the other two. You'll be dead.

Back off the crest..re-evaluate and bring up more support or another plan.

I know the feeling "oh just one or two more shot". Too late.

[Guest lmgroth]

When you call in an air asset be sure to watch for the extra spotting opportunity you might get as your aircraft are strafing/bombing the target... I got a nice glimpse of the enemy units entrenched on the backside of a hill that way.

Also... if you order your men to crew a field gun and a few seconds later they seem to abandon it for no reason... the gun is probably out of ammo.

(It was cool to see them establish what appeared to be a defensive perimeter around the gun... the 3 gun crew members seemed to form a triangle with the gun in the middle, each facing away from the gun which must help the overall visibility of the crew.)

I wonder if an enemy tank would target them with the same extreme prejudice as if they were actively crewing the gun?... I never found out.

[Mastiff]

I have found that using the *target button in the #1 position; (top attack alt-1 key) works great I love that you can watch the range graph bar on the bottom tell you if your in range or not also, I seem to get all my kills on the alt-1 position a lot too. Also make sure your top gunner skills on your character are being used I have noticed the default character is (0) and the observer is (28) so make changes to your AT gunners accordingly.

[ May 01, 2007, 08:00 AM: Message edited by: Wolfseven ]

[Elmar Bijlsma]

No.1 tip:

Don't go toe to toe with any enemy if you can possibly help it. An elaborate manoeuvre to catch an enemy in the flanks/rear is to be preferred. Fight on your terms, and your terms only.

[Avwriter]

Be sure to use the full range of views available. Learn the camera, get comfortable with it, and change your view constantly.

It is deceptively easy to let yourself sit back in "God view" the whole time and move your units around like chess men. This is especially true during your first few battles. However, in doing this, you miss out on on much of the terrain detail, which is a crucial tool to surviving and forming a strategy.

Most maps have a lot of gentle slopes and other terrain features that you don't really see with the camera zoomed out. When you are picking out the next spot to move your tank or squad, bring the camera down to gorund level and check out the view from that position. You may find that the position is less advantageous than you first thought.

[MikoyanPT]

Use the hold position button on your infantry or vehicles to keep them from wandering for targets on their own, they will get killed when you are not looking.

Use the rotate button, to put them facing the direction you want or they will rotate to the nearest enemy.

Select the hold fire button to save ammo when the enemy is out of effective fire range, for example for saving AP shots for taking out armor at a dstance it can effectively pierce enemy armor.

Try to flank the enemy whenever possible, vehicles have thin side armor.

Hide your units behind cover, hill slopes and such, concentrate fire in single enemy units, try to create choke points, then ambush and slaughter.

Dont be always in a hurry, sometimes is better to wait for the enemy to advance first.

Get an ambush position and wait.

[Maethius]

Your infantry is expendable your tank crews are not.