Beginner help

[kenoyer130]

OK I played the second scenario, which is a house clearing mission with about 9 strykers, mgs, and a sniper group. I got completely slaughtered, lost most of my men (as blue with blue vs red.)

My basic tactic was to send forward a scout group to spot the enemy, then try to position a group for cover, then have a third group charge forward to take a building.

Does anyone have a basic urban warfare strategy for this game that doesn't involve everyone dying?

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• How do I clear out a building. When I use assult or move, everyone dies. My guys will run right past bad guys who happily shoot them all dead.
  
  How do I get my troops into position without them being destroyed?
  
  The map suggested attacking in a piercer movement, but that seemed to spread out my forces too much.
  
  Real time seems too hard to micro everyone. Should I switch to WEGO instead?</font>

[birdstrike]

- If you feel uncomfortable moving alot of units around, you can try to stick to smaller scenarios at first. "Al Huqf" comes to mind, for example.

- Before assaulting a building with possible enemys in it you should first pump a lot of bullets into it. Anything of .50 and larger works best. And you can try using the HUNT command to enter buildings instead of assault.

- When moving around, use walls, buildings and anything which can provide cover or concealment and avoid open areas and streets where you can be shot. Don't rush it and take your time to move carefully. Use your squads to cover each other's movement and try to establish good overwatch positions for some of your units (to observe and attack the enemy). When you can't avoid advancing over open terrain, use smoke to screen your troops. And avoid attacking from balconies or roofs - your troops are too vulnerable there.

And you can pause anytime during realtime and give orders.

[the Fighting Seabee]

The key with urban warfare is to take it slow and be very deliberate with your movements. The second battle of Falluja took quite a while. Basically, you want to find the enemy in the buildings. Once you do, try to find cover. Also, it's always a good idea not to leave any squad alone. Use the "buddy system". (Note: you can split your squad, but it's still better to use at least two). This way you can have one squad pin down the enemy with area fire while the other squad either moves to cover or advances to their objective destination.

Only engage in an urban assault if you have to, otherwise blast the hell out of the enemy from a distance. Hell, take the whole building down. That's what they do in Iraq and Afghanistan. Building destruction will occur if you send enough heavy munitions into it. Airstrikes, general artillery strikes, missiles, and tanks do a decent job. Beware though, I have seen enemies survive building collapses just to shoot my guys up when I thought the coast was clear.

Also, avoid having infantry use the "move" command during combat because it's too slow. I usually use the "quick" command. It's quick without as much tiring as "fast".

Hope this helps you. Have fun!

[kenoyer130]

Thanks for the great advice. Switching to WEGO mode made a world of difference. I just don't have the reflexes, think fast enough to deal with real time. Now things are starting to make sense, and I can see where I am making mistakes.

My second try went better, and we had a huge fire fight in the middle of town across a plaza. It looked pretty awsome. I brought two tank reinforcements in on their flank for some real carnage.

The biggest problem I had was putting a few squads in bad positions. The first squad was at the end of an alley with their backs to a wall, and two rpgs later (or perhaps grenades) they were all dead The second squad had a group pop up behind them on a building I didn't clear and become ducks in a shooting gallery

My third attempt I was trying a pincer movement, but my second group of strykers choose a real bad staging area, and two were popped, including the guys inside, within the first minute.

[Cpl Steiner]

Here are some urban tactics I've been using quite successfully with MOUT Heavy Infantry (Bradley's and M1s) in urban terrain.

1. Dismount. Your men can't fight if they're stuck in the back of a Bradley, and if a lucky RPG penetrates a Bradley, they're all going to be cremated.

2. Lead with the infantry, follow on with the armour. Basically your infantry are trying to identify buildings full of bad guys for your vehicles to demolish. They are also trying to spot RPG and ATGM positions before your vehicles run right into them.

3. Avoid rooftops, balconies and open areas like streets. These are natural killing grounds for the enemy.

4. When moving from house to house, always check where the doors are, both inside and outside. Try to identify covered routes, such as buildings with adjoining doors. Before going through a door, face everyone that way and then use "Assault" so only a handful of guys will be hit if there are enemy on the other side, and the guys at the back will open up on any spotted enemy.

5. Use the blast command to move through walls if there are no suitable doors and the only other alternative is going out into the street or over a roof.

6. If you get into a firefight you can't handle, pop smoke and bug out the way you came in, then let the Bradleys and M1s deal with the problem!

[kenoyer130]

Woot my fourth game was a total route of the enemy. They gave up about 30 minutes into the 1 hour 30 minute battle. I had 5 deaths/10 wounded out of a 100, and they had 25 deaths/60 wounded/MIA and only 10 guys standing!

I had a good covered staging area, and only one stupid stryker wondered into enemy fire.

All the troops basically formed a line on the hill facing the town and started laying down fire power.

I used my one Artillary support to blow the hell out of the main enemy pocket.

The infantry proceeded piece meal house by house, making sure to not skip any in the line.

There was several fierce fire fights with both sides in houses across a street. I just waited until it died down, or brought a stryker up for support. I tend not to do this since they seem to be made of kindling, paper, and doused in gas.

The key seems to be making sure you don't skip any houses, let the superior blue team fire power whittle down the enemy, and keep everyone in houses as much as possible. Streets are death traps.

[Darkmage]

Yep being systematic and not rushing is they key, avoids you running into any nasty surprises.