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what kind of a "commander" are YOU?


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My only real concern when I play a mission is to WIN it. If I can win it with high casualties then I simply don't care about them in any way beyond the reduction in effectiveness of my force. The important thing is to get the job done.

Now, if the scenario designer has tied friendly casualties very closely to VP conditions then I play very conservatively but not because I'm sentimental about the 'pawns', but because I have to take care to minimise their losses. I rarely ever experience any sense of loss when one of my 'pawns' is eliminated as long as I get a favourable exchange on the deal. The sole exception to this is if one unit performs remarkably well and then I become a wee bit more attached to them but I never feel their loss.

With regards to actual tactics, I like to recon thoroughly before I commit my force to any attack. The more I know about enemy positions the better. I try to find reasonably well concealed positions from which to observe as much of the board as is possible. Then I like to form a powerful firebase to overwatch while one or two split sections/squads scout carefully ahead. Once enemy units expose their positions I hammer them with every unit that has C2 knowledge of their position. I try very hard not to cheat and issue Target commands to units that haven't spotted the enemy at least to '?' level. And most of the time I am able to do this as well. If I have artillery and air support, I use them to overwhelm enemy strongpoints before sending in the footsloggers. I will also speculatively take out suspected enemy strongpoints in this way if I have sufficient ammo. (I usually design my own missions to favour my own style of play)

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Over cautious at first then panic in the final 15 minutes when I'm most of the map away from the objectives, leading to mounted APCs being rushed forward with no covering fire and all my arty falling around the men as they dismount into withering, unsuppressed enemy fire and friendly airbursts before they turn into crosses or exclamation marks around the burning, exploding wrecks of their only way out of there as the heavy armour that could have done them some good is either mercilessly pounding the target I gave them 20 minutes ago or is leading the charge and looking like a electromagnet in a scrapheap as they are ablated down to the chassis.

Promotion is on the cards I feel.

That's quality! I know why every is smiling...we've all been there. Thank goodness it's only a game. :D

I tend to be quite cautious. I tend to do an Al Alamein when ever I can. Loads of Arty followed by dismounted infantry overwatched by armour.

Just as well there's no civis around because I'm very liberal with the firepower......saves my soldiers though. :o

Tend to have a good look at the ground before charging forward with or in my armour.....probably more so then I could in reality. :o

......After all that the above ends up happening. :D

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With regards to actual tactics, I like to recon thoroughly before I commit my force to any attack. The more I know about enemy positions the better. I try to find reasonably well concealed positions from which to observe as much of the board as is possible. Then I like to form a powerful firebase to overwatch while one or two split sections/squads scout carefully ahead. Once enemy units expose their positions I hammer them with every unit that has C2 knowledge of their position. I try very hard not to cheat and issue Target commands to units that haven't spotted the enemy at least to '?' level. And most of the time I am able to do this as well. If I have artillery and air support, I use them to overwhelm enemy strongpoints before sending in the footsloggers. I will also speculatively take out suspected enemy strongpoints in this way if I have sufficient ammo. (I usually design my own missions to favour my own style of play)

Gosh, you must be in utopia. I wish I was that skillfill. From my experience reece leads you to fight the red dots you've discovered only to get bitten in the ass by the ones you've not found. While I agree it's very important to know as much of the enemy as possible I find it very hard to discover enough not to treat the plan as just another advance-to-contact with plenty of security (overwatch/flank protection/firepower etc)......:o

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I've always play with 'force conservation' foremost in my mind. That said, it has to be balanced with getting the job done and meeting the objectives of the mission. The devil in the matter is finding that balance point between 'aggression' and 'caution'. For the most part, I have found that balance in my style of play and in only two scenarios (having played all the campaigns and all the standalone missions for Army and Marines and dozens of user scenarios), have I found the pressures of the clock overcoming my better judgement.

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Like most forms of conflict, anger usually results in worse results. How many times have you guys rushed a Squad into a building, or gully, or over a ridge without proper tactical consideration and have it hurt badly? How many of you then think "ooooo.. I'm going to get those bastards and make them pay!!" only to lose a second Squad in the process? Then get something else blown up while trying to do a cavalry charge around the back? Pissed, and missing most of your force, is how you end the game. At the game ends you see that you were trying to take out some fanatic Elite enemy infantry armed to the teeth, then it really sets in how stupid it is to presume that just because you have Blue forces under your command that Red will buckle every time, all the time.

Not that this has EVER happened to me. Er, not even once. I'm just repeating what someone else once said. Guys talk, you hear things...

:)

Steve

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I am a cautious player. Or maybe deliberate is a better word. I find that time is not a huge issue in most scenarios, even using the deliberate approach. Generally things start slowly as you set up your forces and send out feelers to find the crust of the enemy line. But once you get seriously engaged, units on both sides start dying fast. If you are winning in these exchanges, your advantage snowballs quickly and mopping up the rest of the enemy goes quickly.

In CMSF, firepower is king. My maneuver plan is always simple and I only do risky maneuvers (eg running a tank down the map to cut a retreat, etc) when I'm nearly certain that I've completely smashed his AT network.

One big distinction that I would make between my tactics and a more 'maneuverist' type of player is that, when planning and executing a battle, I always use a robust method rather than a perfectionist one. That is, instead of trying to anticipate every move that my enemy may make and come up with the perfect solution to defeat it, I try to implement a simple plan that efficiently applies the firepower of my force. I look at the map and see all of the places where I can blow up his potential positions. A large reserve is maintained to deal with this threat or that, and to carry me through the depth of the defense. The most important element I see in conducting a successful attack or defense is the proper coordination and allocation of your firepower.

So I don't like to read or apply Sun Tzu to anything. Falkenhayn or Zhukov have much more to offer.

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