Cleaning bulding ? How ?

[Cybertrand]

Hi

I've a question about some nasty troubles i have in a battle (a PBEM). It's on the map UK industrial city, if you know it. If not, just imagine there's several buildings which you can access only from one side / opening because of walls surrounding them.

In two case, i've sent a squad (3-4 soldiers) checking places where i highly suspected syrian survivors soldiers would be hiding (yes, before it was hell for them, so there's just a few men hiding here and there, and one vehicle i still have to find). The roofs are covered by other squads, but because of the walls around those building, i don't have a good line of sight on the first floors.

In both case, my squads have been killed. In one case a third squad just behind the other has managed to kill one syrian, but has one more casualty. That's 7 dead in my ranks, and it seems i can't do anything to prevent it.

I approach those building with the hunting order.

I can't blow walls, i don't have tanks or anything else to digg another way, to avoid the "main exposed entry".

I could have ask a plane to drop a a few bombs, or could have fired a javelin. I don't have a lot of smoke anymore, so i didn't use them obviously, keeping them for places where it's more likely i'll be under fire (and considering the high number of places where lone syrians could ambush me like in those houses, i would need tons of smoke ammo here ...).

I don't use crawl / hide, just hunt, as i imagine nobody would crawl / could hide in an empty courtyard, and that it won't change the result.

Also, i can't take the risk of sending APC in those alleys in front of the said buildings (the "main entry" if you prefer), as there still are a few syrian AT soldiers around.

So, apart from blasting every houses with planes support, what am i supposed to do ? Expecting to be lucky that my men fire before the surviving hidden soldiers ?

Said otherwise, in this situation a few remaining defenders are stopping around 50 bristish soldiers because i don't have direct line of sight on the place they're hiding.

Will we have someday the possibility to :

1/ climb high walls (like those commonly put around buidlings), so to access from another side, instead of entering and getting that easily surprised

2/ "jump" from 1 story roof on the side of a wall to what is some inner courtyard, instead of always having to digg a passage by blasting every walls

Ok, i'm perhaps asking too much for the current possibilities of the CM engine, which is not supposed simulating exactly an urban warfare environment, but you get the idea i suppose.

How do you approach a building ingame to avoid that kind of stupid bloodbath ?

[bodkin]

This is one of the most frustrating aspects of the game, a scenario designer decides to be cruel and add one these diabolical traps that can't be assaulted realistically.

You can try throwing smoke grenades into the gap and hope the wind is favourable to help conceal your approach, another method is to split your squad and use one half to provide suppressive fire by using the target command on the building while the rest of the squad assaults it.

[Elmar Bijlsma]

Suppression, suppression, suppression.

[Lanzfeld]

Well is it REQUIRED that you kill all these Red troops? If not, bypass and focus on goals.

[souldierz]

I have a golden rule for these kinds of things. Blow it up.

I also do what Lanzfeld suggested.Instead of assaulting it, keep it under siege and move on.

Find some form of LOS on to that building from outside and shoot it.Like Elmar Bijlsma wrote, Suppression, suppression, suppression.

But in a tactical way for assaulting the compound, I think you might need to chip away at some other threats before you finish this one.If enemy AT soldiers are around and outside the compound blocking you from being able to use your vehicles, find them and destroy them or chase them away from getting LOS on any vehicles you can bring to the compound to help finish it off. Another method you could do if the enemy are few and wounded, is to completely overwhelm the remaining enemy troops with many troops of your own.Storm the place like a massive flood with guns blazing and attack with a force that gives you 10-1 odds(10 allied troops attacks 1 enemy) and overrun the enemy. A few allied troops might get shot, but the enemy will quickly be put down in the firestorm, if they are few and wounded.Sending small forces into the situation bit by bit will only aggravate the situation further.

Try to be as creative as possible, Always make sure you have some kind of capability like and air strike or artillery or heavy vehicle weapons fire available for these kinds of jams.Keep it as a golden rule.

[Lanzfeld]

Man I CANNOT wait for flamethrowers! It really would fit the bill here.

[c3k]

Remember that HUNT is really MOVE SLOWLY WHILE UPRIGHT UNTIL FIRED UPON THEN FREEZE. With that in mind, QUICK with ordered pauses and covered arcs is much more useful in MOUT.

Good luck.

[Cybertrand]

Well is it REQUIRED that you kill all these Red troops? If not, bypass and focus on goals.

No it isn't, i just have to find one last vehicles, hiding somewhere. And i have not a lot of choices for advancing, though i could have let those buildings, as they're on the map borders, and sooner or later, the syrian would have moved, probably, giving me a chance to detect them.

I agree that i shall have tried finding a way to use suppression in both case, but i had no LOS. So i could have ordered a plane to attack, but i'm already targeting other buildings, farther away. And each time it means waiting nealy ten minutes (which is very long in a PBEM ...)

All in all, it's just the map which is designed for that kind of situation, giving a chance to the syrian of making some casualties to the brits (as it's rather a blood bath on the syrian side at first...).

And i'm probably not using hunt or others orders in the best way, in that case.

I'll try taking screenshots next time, just for you to better see how it was. I suppose next time i'll stop my units just on the side of the suspected places, and use some light fire attack before advancing again in the next round.

Or use planes earlier, to raze those buildings.

I was expecting some casualties, potentially, but not that much