Crossing Open Ground

[GerryCMBB]

Hello:

I played a scenario where I had to cross a long stretch of open ground. I did some things right, I think? As in using MGs and some squads to suppress defenders, some mortar fire, while some squads moved forward.

I experimented with a variety of move commands so some advise would be appreciated. I tried Slow for some squads but it is very slow and they become fatigued fairly soon. I seemed to have better results with Assault even though they were not really assaulting a position, just trying to cross the open ground. Using Hunt, they come to a standstill upon contact so that didn't seem to work. So would Assault be a good command for this as they split into teams so all are not vulnerable at the same time?

How do you get a Mortar to fire Smoke? And, when you want to switch to HE, do you have to start another fire mission?

Thanks in advance,

Gerry

[HardRock]

I often use quick move. They will still fire at targets. If it gets to heavy I just cancel the move till the fire lightens up.

And moving quick in the open is a good thing actually. Its what they'd do.

Hunting is mostly for moving when you don't know whats out there since they will stop when spotting target(s).

I don't use hunt if there are targets in front of me since they won't move. I use quick.

And if you need to get into a bldg crossing open gorund..even fast is appropiate.

Moving slow is just for creeping foward a small distance to get a better firing location.

[akd]

"Assault" really should be called "bounding overwatch," and is a good order for crossing open ground.

[MikeyD]

I played a scenario where I had to cross a long stretch of open ground.

Heh heh, that scenario might've been one of mine (insert evil laugh here)

Just recently I tried using Assault command in much shorter jumps than I usually would. Four close-together waypoints instead of one big bound. The teams did an excellent job laying down volumes of covering fire as they alternated in their short sprints forward. It seems I had been using Assault wrong all along!

[GerryCMBB]

Can you give me an idea of how long between waypoints?

Gerry

[beatmasta]

I normally use Fast or Quick commands so that some troops are advancing and some are giving covering fire. Maybe even so that I use pause on some units while others advance and then they move forward when the first troops are done their movement and can give cowering fire.

Hah, cowering or covering?

[wadepm]

MikeyD - pure brilliance. I have been giving them waypoints that are too long. This works much better. Thanks. I love watching these guys move...

[MikeyD]

Yeh, I've been playin CMx2 since 2007 and only tried the very short assault waypoints last night. I'm a 'Forrest Gump' sort'a tactical genius.

[YankeeDog]

I sometimes use Assault, but often split into teams and give individual teams staggered quick orders, which gives me finer control.

One tip: Watch very closely where the fire is coming from, and make sure you never have two units lined up along an incoming fire vector. You're basically giving the enemy a 2-for-1 when you do this.

[womble]

I split all my teams, and micromanage their bounding/travelling/caterpillar overwatch. Short 'Quick' moves with maybe a 5s pause at some of the waypoints, with only some teams moving at any one time. Lots of Area Fire orders (I've got lots of teams!). But the most important thing, it seems to me, is to screw the suppression down hard. And keep it there. For my money, that's what Tanks and half-tracks are for. The infantry and indirect HE makes the AT put its head down, the armour rolls up to the firing line and makes sure the AT keeps its head down when you lose half the infantry's firepower cos it's moving, and the indirect HE cos it'll kill your own boys if you don't stop it firing...

[Michael Emrys]

... often split into teams and give individual teams staggered quick orders, which gives me finer control.

This is what I've been doing with good results so far. I use Quick and have them dash about 40 meters before going to ground and providing cover fire for moving team. They can run about that far using Quick in a turn while remaining rested, or at least ready.

Michael

[Michael Emrys]

I tried Slow for some squads but it is very slow and they become fatigued fairly soon.

That's because for personnel units Slow is actually a crawl, which is a very exhausting way to move. It should only be used for very small distances when you are trying to remain concealed, like crawling up to the edge of a tree line to gain observation without drawing attention to yourself.

Michael

[Agua]

I hedgerow hop. Send whatever HQ with the highest skill level or most experienced, give it a tiny covering arc, then hunt up to the back of a hedgerow bounding a field. Set its facing proper, then let it observe for a minute or two. If he's got LOS across the field, he'll see some movement eventually. Now, if I've got tanks, I'll move them up to the back of the hedgerow and let them start blasting the enemy units. Area fire as needed. If no tanks, or insufficient numbers, "hunt" the MGs up to the back of the hedgerow and let them serve the same function. The enemy units heads will go down rather quickly, so area fire their last contact. Also, move squds up to the back of the hedgerow to help with suppression if needed. When there's no fire or very little being returned, I'll send a squad into the field on hunt to test the waters. Depending on the incoming fire, I may give them a "quick" order at any distance between the borders of the field with bounding squads.

[gunnergoz]

Depends upon how big the open area is. If it is very big, like the one scenario where you have to get off the beach, I set a base of fire with the HMG's and moved the platoons forward using quick, one at a time so they had a chance to rest. Once they were well situated I moved up the HMG's and mortars too. Once the leaders had good targets for the mortars, I suppressed the defensive positions.

In that scenario I lost 2-3 men from the entire company during the long advance phase and my mortars and bazookas suppressed or destroyed the enemy MG's and bunkers before I even got to the defensive line. That was a very weak defender, probably green because his morale did not last long.

[Invader_Canuck]

Combination of assault and quick for me.

If you are attacking across a field I will get a good disbursement and then attack with as overwhelming force as possible.

I'll usually run something like, 3 squads assaulting for every squad on quick. My theory behind this is, assaulting will keep my guys moving and shooting creating as much suppression as possible while I have some quick runners who will advance quickly with less regard.

They arrive at the destination hopefully unmolested and then can pour on the fire at closer range while I start swapping my assault squads to quick moves.

You can do this by clicking on the individual waypoints and reissuing a quick order, faster than plotting new waypoints.

[womble]

I hedgerow hop. Send whatever HQ with the highest skill level or most experienced, give it a tiny covering arc, then hunt up to the back of a hedgerow bounding a field. Set its facing proper, then let it observe for a minute or two. If he's got LOS across the field, he'll see some movement eventually. Now, if I've got tanks, I'll move them up to the back of the hedgerow and let them start blasting the enemy units.

Do you lose many tanks to infantry AT? Or is the sudden appearance of a fleet of tanks, blazing away, enough to stop the rocketeers firing?

[Agua]

Womble,

It's context specific. If its a small close area, I'm not sending tanks into that and its generally unnecessary - the fighting is done from the hedgerow by the inf.

In a larger field, a shreck will make its presence known pretty quickly. At that distance, they're not real accurate and can be surpressed with area fire. That's job one.