Minor irritatation with assault bunching

[vincere]

As the title says. The bunching at the end of an assault move is irritating. I never noticed so much playing urban maps; but did some open assaulting and think that the squad completes its move very bunched. Both teams end up on same action spot- which aint good.

Im sure it's been mentioned but it really stands out to me using assault in no urban terrain.

[Jonny(FGM)]

Have you tried adding a face command at the end of the assault command?

[vincere]

Have you tried adding a face command at the end of the assault command?

Yes I tried that. It looked visually better because they were not all hugging each other but they still occupied one action spot.

When I paid more attention to it I noticed that when giving an assault move order only one action spot highlights. This lead me to think that it is by design for some reason.

[MikeyD]

'Assault' does imply that you're going in guns blazing against an enemy unit so I can imagine why you wouldn't want your men spread out, half the men on the wrong side of a wall or something. I've never had particularly great luck with the assault command, myself. I always get myself into trouble. 4 times out of 5 I prefer any movement command over that one.

[moneymaxx]

4 times out of 5 I prefer any movement command over that one.

Never had luck with assault neither, usually I just use "quick".

Is there an advantage using "assault" in any situation?

[MikeyD]

I think other movement commands may have certain disadvantages. Reduced spotting ability, less likely to stop and return fire, depending on what you select. So its an either-or choice.

If I were to guess (and it is just a guesss) the Assault command may have more utility for AI unit control than for human-directed control. We might not miss it much if the command went missing but AI behavior without an Assault movement order might be negatively affected. Its easy to forget the game has to control its own pixeltruppen too.

[sawomi]

I use it a lot.

It's basically a 'split squad in teams + move the teams quick with over watching each other + let the over-watching team be trigger happy'. So the way-points should be placed in such a way that from one is clear view 'over' the next to the area ahead (means one on one side of a corner and the next behind it is not good). Works very good if you have a platoon advancing over more or less open space with staggered way-points of the different squads. In urban situation things get naturally dodgy. Go slow, with lots of troops + much over-watch preferably from different angels.

[Alan8325]

I almost always use "assault" when moving squads over open terrain. When using RED forces, I use it to move from building to building in urban terrain to limit casualties if bad guys open fire, but only because it's not possible to split teams for most Syrian units. When playing BLUE I always split teams in urban areas and only use "assault" in the open.

[phil stanbridge]

I've just had some major success with the BLAST command (engineers) which is slightly related. The enemy forces were totally shocked - and I steam rolled the lot. One squad took out over 40 men this way, moving from building to building. Maybe the ASSAULT command needs added suppression to work effectively?

[LJFHutch]

I usually use a whole bunch of grenades in the windows and then use hunt for buildings, and hunt just generally for moving around. Not sure how effective this is, but it seems to work for me.

With assault they don't tend to do much firing though, if you just assault a building with no other orders your guys usually run in and get shot to pieces before they even think about firing back.

[Wodin]

I use hunt alot in built up areas...

[sawomi]

[...]With assault they don't tend to do much firing though, if you just assault a building with no other orders your guys usually run in and get shot to pieces before they even think about firing back.

Click on the way point (the over watch-position) before the last one in the building and give a target order to the front of the building when plotting the move.

[Erwin]

I agree. I use assault only when moving across open ground I worry may be covered by the enemy. To use it to actually assault anything, is generally suicidal. Maybe it should have a different name. Quick and Hunt are the best all round movement options.

[c3k]

A few points. Assault gives a morale bonus, does it not? So the men are less likely to pin or run back if they get fired on. They do move as teams, bounding forward, so if you don't want a single team to be isolated, QUICK may be more appropriate. (Of course, I think QUICK makes the men more vulnerable so instead of losing a team under ADVANCE, you may lose the whole squad.)

Plot a point just short of the structure to be entered. TARGET LIGHT at the structure, with a PAUSE of 5-15 or more seconds. That allows them to fire. Then QUICK or ADVANCE into the structure. I've been using short COVERED ARC (360 degree) commands at the final waypoint. If you do not add any target command, it seems like the men will continue with the target command from the previous waypoint, be it TARGET or TARGET LIGHT. (The problem with TARGET when men are about to enter is that TARGET unleashes squad rocket launchers. Those have a high likelihood of creating friendly casualties.) If you FACE after you enter the structure, your men will have their backs to any enemy left alive in it.

I only use HUNT when the entire movement path is in cover/concealment. That way, when my men freeze upon sighting the enemy they won't be chewed up being stuck in the open.

Regards,

Ken

[Guest Guest]

deleted per user request

[Erwin]

I have not had good experiences with ASSAULT. I have found that units seem MORE likely to get chewed up entering a building using ASSAULT than HUNT.

On the other hand I don't fire at every building b4 entering. I can't believe inf does that as a matter of course for every building.

[vincere]

Lots off good tips, thanks guys.

With the recent patch I've found Blue response to contacts while on quick is much improved. I keep forgeting to use hunt in buildings.

'Assault' does imply that you're going in guns blazing against an enemy unit so I can imagine why you wouldn't want your men spread out, half the men on the wrong side of a wall or something. I've never had particularly great luck with the assault command, myself. I always get myself into trouble. 4 times out of 5 I prefer any movement command over that one.

Assaulting over most non building spots I want them spread over at least two action spots as they were to start with. One HE and it's too messy.

The context to post is that I made large wall breaches so three likely En positions counld be obliquely approached. The whole 1st platoon needed to move and I wanted more than a Striker overwatch- so I figured Assault is the right move. Bugger me they're all hugging at the end of the bound. Not just a brief macho team hug. Some long lasting group embrace, quite inappropriate timing if not frowned upon by the rest of Alpha Company.

Assault for me is the bread and butter of infantry fire and manouver. I think the behaviour may stem from the way that they from a file to assalt instead of staying in and on a line. I hope this is at least incrementally impoved for Normandy and beyond.