A few questions from a newcomer to CMSF

[undercovergeek]

Forgive me if already asked, and indeed if this is so just point me in the right direction, however, i would appreciate a little help with the following:-

1. Is it better to actually give my troops a fire arc and point them where i want or just move them to the right area and let them pick for themselves

2. I know its not a FPS but is there a way to simulate coming to the corner of a building and peeping round the corner - the two times ive tried so far resulted in falling short of the corner or running into the middle of the street!

3. The 3 man MG units - are they best attached to a platoon to actually kill people with or at the end of a street or on a roof suppressing everything they can see?

3b. Does the MG still get used if i dont actually deploy it but just have the guys mobile?

3c. And if i go for the roof option, can he see over the top ledge of the building if i deploy him and he lies down

4. Approaching an enemy on the roof of a building - i have tried 2 ways, working my way to the foot of the building and actually giving a direct target order to shoot the little fella when hes seen and entering the building and bursting out of the top and shooting at him there - this has usually cost me a pixel troop or 2 and wondered if advisable doctrine was to stay downstairs and shoot at the roof

Had the game a month or 2 now but this is the first time ive had chance to get stuck in - great game, well and truly impressed even if it was just a practice for CM:Ns UI - thanks for any help

[-Eddie-]

I'll try and answer these as best as I can but I expect others may know slightly more.

1) It depends on what you want them to do. Do you want them to deny enemy from re-entering an area or do you want them to ambush any units that come down a certain alleyway?

2) No, sadly this always seems to happen with me. It's a game problem I think.

3) It depends on how many MGs and platoons you have. I'll usually assign sectors to my platoons and find high ground for my MG to get the best view on the area. Then I'll assign arcs of fire to the MG. Sometimes if I have say 2 MG teams and 2 platoons I'll have the first working a likely area of enemy activity with the 2 MG teams overlapping their arcs of fire into that area while the other platoon is guarding the flanks and rear.

3b) Yes, but I would advise against it. I'm sure you know that firing a GPMG/M240 from the kneeling position is less effective than from the prone position. It's just wasting rounds and presenting a valuable target to the enemy if you ask me.

3c) Not sure and I've never been able to tell.

4) If I know a building has enemy on/in it I'll do everything I can to avoid unnecessary casualties. Usually I'll use a HMG/GMG/vehicle mounted weapon and even light mortars if I need to. One thing to bear in mind is whether you can really spare that much ammunition and time versus say a fireteam of infantry getting slaughtered.

I've had times where I wasted so much ammunition clearing a street of houses and then coming up against infantry later on in the game with no supporting fires left. Very frustrating.

And this is a great game, made even better by the mods for it I feel. A lot are to adjust the atmospherics but nevertheless well worth it. AKDs sound mods are worth getting:)

[TheVulture]

1. Is it better to actually give my troops a fire arc and point them where i want or just move them to the right area and let them pick for themselves

Depends on the circumstances. Fire arcs can point your troops in the right direction (and perhaps more importantly, keep them facing the right direction ), and avoid giving their position away by firing too soon or at targets you don't want them to engage. Particularly AT teams. But arcs don't make your fire any more effective or intense, and troops won't generally waste ammo firing at targets that are too far away to engage effectively. There has been some suggestion that spotting is improved in the target arc area (and worse outside the arc) than using no arcs, but I have no idea if this is true or how significant it might be.

2. I know its not a FPS but is there a way to simulate coming to the corner of a building and peeping round the corner - the two times ive tried so far resulted in falling short of the corner or running into the middle of the street!

Nope. It's one of the limitations of the engine. Troops move to the action spot indicated and position themselves within that action spot depending on facing, target arc, cover and so on. You can use the face command to get them to stack up in certain areas around the wall (play around with it in setup zones to see how it works), but fighting around corners is one of the areas where the simulation diverges from reality. No idea whether this is being improved in Normandy.

3. The 3 man MG units - are they best attached to a platoon to actually kill people with or at the end of a street or on a roof suppressing everything they can see?

As a rule you want to position them in good LoS positions and let them hold still and engage enemy units at range. Beyond the effective range of return fire. They are not close assault weapons. In towns though giving them LoS down a street or from a roof top is pretty useful though. I use them more for suppression than killing (with some exceptions)

3b. Does the MG still get used if i dont actually deploy it but just have the guys mobile?

Yes, but less effectively. If undeployed accuracy is worse, and I think rate of fire might be affected too. But they can still be useful when undeployed. Inside building they can't deploy easily. It takes about 5 minutes since you can't just set up the tripod on the ground and use it. But IIRC they are 'semi-deployed' in buildings : not as good as deployed, but better than undeployed. (On the roof doesn't count as inside for this)

3c. And if i go for the roof option, can he see over the top ledge of the building if i deploy him and he lies down

Yes. Despite how it looks, the guys lying on the roof can see and fire effectively even on a roof with a high wall.

4. Approaching an enemy on the roof of a building - i have tried 2 ways, working my way to the foot of the building and actually giving a direct target order to shoot the little fella when hes seen and entering the building and bursting out of the top and shooting at him there - this has usually cost me a pixel troop or 2 and wondered if advisable doctrine was to stay downstairs and shoot at the roof

Getting inside and using 'hunt' to move up to the roof can work fairly well. Plastering the roof with area fire / apache cannon / whatever else you can get your hands on works pretty well too. But if that isn't an option and you have to get him off with infantry up close and personal, I don't think there is a reliable way to do it casualty free; the guy on the roof is in a pretty good position.

[undercovergeek]

cool - thanks for your quick replies - number 1 has come about because last time i played i gave a platoon the following orders - quick move round a corner and into the end of an alley i knew an enemy squad was running into from the other side of the building, and gave them the target arc of down the alleyway relative to where they were standing before they set off - off goes the platoon, round the corner, everyone sets up at the end of the alley, sure enough in come the enemy squad, but the target arc is now off angle by about 20 degrees, the cone extends down the alley but crosses into a building leaving half of the alley uncovered at the end, and the whole platoon promptly faced this cones direction and waited and waited and waited, yet just out of the corner of their eyes they could see 5 enemy troops happily lobbing grenades at them but would not break the target arc to return fire - sigh, my fault

[theFightingSeabee]

If they are threatened, they should break their arc assignment and shoot back, so that seems wierd. Personally, I only use target arcs for certain situations. Either for defense so they watch a certain area, or making a really small arc so they don't shoot. Always make sure they are FACED in the right direction, as they generally will shoot at the best target. And if you're playing in realtime mode, you can pause and target freely. Fair winds and smooth sailing, undercovergeek.

[hoolaman]

Its probably better to think of the arcs as a way to get your infantry units to not fire at something. They are reluctant to disobey your arc order because the game assumes you are ordering fire discipline for an ambush.