How to stop my soldiers from stoping and shooting

[Gunfreak]

So this is a partucular problem in urban combat, but also when you move between gaps in hedgerows.

I send my infantry on a flanking manouvre, but if they see any enemies they stop and shoot at them even if they are in the open, I just want them to RUN DAMN IT, it's particularoy dangures when they stop and shoot at AT guns, or 88s, if they moved they would get out of it alive, but it just seems stupid to stop in the open and decide to have a fire fight with an 88.

Is there a command they makes infantry MOVE with out fireing at first sight of the enemy? it would save alot of lives for my Americans.

[Lanzfeld]

Are you using "Quick"? If so, try "Fast".

[womble]

You can also give them Cover Arcs with very short ranges. You can give an entire heirarchy a cover arc in one go, by double-clicking the HQ. You can make the cover arc in one click by holding <shift> while you set it; gets you a circular arc within which the unit will fire, outwith of which it will (well should) only fire if the target is a very high priority.

This is useful, because Fast moves are very tiring, and can be difficult to use continuously, whereas your truppen will get further before needing a breather if they go Quick. They'll spot things better too.

[Rocky Balboa]

My personal observations are that CMBN soldiers will return fire while moving if they are being fired upon. To maximize your soldiers moving without firing, try the following:

Issue a fast move command. When moving fast your soldiers have a reduced spotting ability and are less likely to return fire. Use caution with fast as your troops will tire quicker especially if running for long distances. Personally, I very rarely use fast and primarily use quick for F&M. The next two suggestions are more important than what speed you move at.

Use shorter bounds from cover to cover. The longer your troops are exposed while moving, the more chance they will be fired at and want to return fire.

Make sure you have a good over watch element covering for your moving troops. Have them suppress known targets and use area fire on suspect enemy locations or target arcs to maximize spotting so that unknown enemy contacts can be quickly suppressed. Again the idea is if your moving troops aren't being fired at then they are less likely to return fire.

[Gunfreak]

Well the problem was that I was moving between houses, to flank a Pak, and the hourses are only some 10 meters apart, but it was a small line of sight from my soldiers to the pak, and they stopped to fire at it from the front, which is useless, and the pak spent some 10-15 seconds doing nothing before fireing and blowing away half the squad, had the squad just been moving, the pak would never had time to get of any shot, and they would have been safe.

[Polo]

So, did you tried "Fast"?

Polo

[MikeyD]

If the moving men are lucky that guy who stops to take the shot will suppress the threat and everyone will get through okay, if they're unlucky he just made himself more of a target and is about to get cut in half. Its a risky judgement call. Fast (run) has inherant dangers of its own. It seems to increase the risk of getting shot in the back and reduces the situational awareness of the runner. But it gets you from point A to point B with the least amount of fuss.

[womble]

Well the problem was that I was moving between houses, to flank a Pak, and the hourses are only some 10 meters apart, but it was a small line of sight from my soldiers to the pak, and they stopped to fire at it from the front, which is useless, and the pak spent some 10-15 seconds doing nothing before fireing and blowing away half the squad, had the squad just been moving, the pak would never had time to get of any shot, and they would have been safe.

You can achieve this using cover arcs. Before you send them on their flanking maneuver, give them a cover arc which will allow them to defend themselves if a nasty surprise lurks in the next house (say 15m circular) but which won't, at any point in their move, pass over the ATG (or any other known contacts). Then click on their destination waypoint and give them a combat order that will allow them to engage the ATG (Face, if you won't be able to directly target the ATG for whatever reason, for example). This order will cancel the Cover Arc and allow the unit to attack the ATG.

Fast will probably also work, but might not if the ATG crew fire on them. ATG are probably a pretty high priority target to start with, and coming under fire from one (don't think the AI will distinguish between the cannon and the crew) should be a pretty strong incentive to self-defend.