moving in lines

[Darkmage]

something that's always occurred to me when moving my squads around is they always follow the man in front.. is this the tactical way to move around the battlefield? surely it would be nice to choose whether you want to advance like that, or side by side to have maximum fire power and eyes facing forward? or is that a way to get your guys killed quick?

[Michael Emrys]

or is that a way to get your guys killed quick?

It is if you get ambushed from the flank. Which is how it usually happens. Man, there is nothing that gets the job done like enfilading fire when the other guy is looking somewhere else.

Michael

[RockinHarry]

depends upon whether one sets up a sort of platoon formation. At least some flanking squads should protect the flank of the leading squad, if possible. Otherwise a well executed ambush lets you very few options. Reminds me of the thread I started here:

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=85840

[Falconander]

As in almost everything, terrain dictates what works best. Column works best for fast movement, tight movement or also when there are mines present. You kind of figure if that guy in front of you made it, your chances are greatly improved.

In an open situation a wedge or wide wedge with your saws, m60s and team leaders mixed in usually worked best as it gave you effective fire to the front with a quick movement to line as well as effective flanking fire. It also helped negate the possibilities of enfilading fire.

I'm with you, I'd like a choice on formations as well as the ability to easily form a line. But as such, are minor gripes and with some micro management you can approximate what you want.

I do though, like the bounding fire squads. One of the better elements of the troop movement within the game.

[Secondbrooks]

Does formations in fact have much importance in CMSF? Do troops fire thru their own if they can aim and fire at targets? What i mean that is column as capable to put fire into front as line would be, not taking terrain forms into consideration.

[GSX]

If your simulating 1-1 infantry then you should aim to simulate 1-1 formations, wedge, extended line, columns, diamonds and so on. Does it matter, certainly, in CM-1 you could imagine, in SF 1-1 you get what you see. Walk down a city street in SF and they gaggle along, walk down the same street it real life and then your guys split left and right and do proper infantry drills.

I dont mind not having the last, but not having real life infantry formations in 1-1 does take the realism out of it a bit.

[theFightingSeabee]

Actual infantry squads will move in whatever formation they need to, based on terrain and where they think the enemy is likely to attack from. If attacking, they may choose a formation that will allow them to put the most lead on target as possible.

L-shaped formations, like the wedge, are useful for quick reactions. The side getting attacked will be able to have the most guns blazing, while the other side can swing like a door in whatever direction is appropriate.

In reality, during a really hot ambush where guys are dying, a formation is not likely to stay coherent. The real advantage of using good formations is during the initial moments of contact. If you have a line of guys walking down the street straight toward an enemy mg, the mg is more likely to hit more guys with a short burst. If they were in a line-abreast formation, the enemy mg would have to traverse to hit guys.

More formation control would be a cool tool to have in the game.

[Secondbrooks]

If your simulating 1-1 infantry then you should aim to simulate 1-1 formations, wedge, extended line, columns, diamonds and so on. Does it matter, certainly, in CM-1 you could imagine, in SF 1-1 you get what you see. Walk down a city street in SF and they gaggle along, walk down the same street it real life and then your guys split left and right and do proper infantry drills.

I dont mind not having the last, but not having real life infantry formations in 1-1 does take the realism out of it a bit.

You can do MOUT drills in CMSF, it just requires micromanagement: split teams and put them to advance in different sides of street, messing with cover arces, pauses and facings gives them more realistic finishing touch. Ofcourse in company/batallion sized battle that might not be very interesting option But personally i'd rush from house to house in CMSF as there is no restrictions in using buildings. Using whole squads as i hate to micromanage.

Infantry as it has been packed into small space, in my mind, doesn't require such good modelling of formations, be it cloumn, wedge, line they probably will be able to respond to threaths pretty much equally still. Even more if shooting thru backs of own guys without harming them is there.

Ofcourse it ain't prefect. There are situation where i'd like them to take line/wedge as they hunt thru woods but they keep column. Or in assault against MG, where i would like them to take line, but they take column. I've seen single MG burst taking out several guys. As TheFightingSeabee puts it. Ofcourse if using always split teams this can be countered somewhat well... Well for poor Syrians it ain't option. But i can always think that squadleader or platoon leader wasn't most bright and they desrved it