Engineers can't blast mines

[xian]

Would it be reasonable to allow engineers/pioneers to 'blast' marked mine field squares? To me, it seems odd that they can't.

It would also be nice if the unit objective of 'spotting' mines would actually work.

[YankeeDog]

Units can spot mines. It's not easy and you can't rely on it, but it is possible for a unit to discover mines by observation, rather than simply walking across them and detonating one. Experienced Engineer units are best at it.

FWIW, I do think that Engineers should be able to use demo charges to destroy, or at least reduce the effectiveness of a patch of mines. Ideally, I'd like to see engineering teams able to use one demo charge as the Equivalent to a "Mark Mines" order for one action square (so the advantage would be speed -- the non-explosives method that the Mark Mines command depicts in the game right now takes quite a while).

This is one of the things that bangalore torpedos were specifically designed to do, actually. A short path can also be cleared by daisy-chaining standard C4 charges, though this takes more prep time. But since CM doesn't specifically model different types of engineering demolition charges, I think it's reasonable to assume that some of the explosives engineering teams carry might be bangalore torpedos.

[xian]

Sorry - I didn't make myself clear about spotting mines:

In the scenario editor you can set up certain units that when spotted provide the player with OBJECTIVE points. Mines are also units - but they provide no Objective points when spotted.

[YankeeDog]

Sorry - I didn't make myself clear about spotting mines:

In the scenario editor you can set up certain units that when spotted provide the player with OBJECTIVE points. Mines are also units - but they provide no Objective points when spotted.

Ah. Yes; that would be a neat thing to have, and very realistic for Probe-type attack scenarios.

[Canada Guy]

Is there any advantage created after Engineers do mark mines?

Do other units passing through that marked area have a lower chance of detonating the mines or is it just that you as a player know where the mines are and can avoid them?

[YankeeDog]

Is there any advantage created after Engineers do mark mines?

Do other units passing through that marked area have a lower chance of detonating the mines or is it just that you as a player know where the mines are and can avoid them?

As per the manual, once mines are marked, other infantry units can pass through the minfields, as long as they don't move too quickly (I've never tested this, but have always assumed this means you should use SLOW/MOVE/HUNT if you want to avoid casualties).

[Agua]

As per the manual, once mines are marked, other infantry units can pass through the minfields, as long as they don't move too quickly (I've never tested this, but have always assumed this means you should use SLOW/MOVE/HUNT if you want to avoid casualties).

They can get through on "slow" and "move". Never tried "hunt".

The problem with "move" is if there is gunfire around them, they get excited and change their movement to "quick", then all hell breaks loose. I've found its better just to give slow commands and take the additional time.

[xian]

Not much of a bonus as troops moving slowly through unmarked mines don't really trigger them anyway.

[dakuth]

I have used move and hunt quite a bit lately and was surprised how many men were able to get through unscathed. Still, I did still lose about one in 10-15.

I figured HUNT would work quite well, because if they come under fire they stop. Although I imagine a little bit of QUICKing might happen.

[MeatEtr]

Also, the color of the mine sign indicates the lethality of the minefield. IIRC, bright red is most lethal(usually when mines were actually spotted with no detonations), then dark red, then bright yellow, dark yellow, bright green, and then finally dark green.

[xian]

Good to know.

Still wish you could clear them though. Then the 'destroy unit' objective could be used to add a mine-clearing aspect to scenarios.