Seems like a waste to use a Javelin on two infantry in the middle of a road

[Rangoon]

Why would a team with a Javelin do this? I see scenarios like this play out time and time again. I appreciate that they are making their own decisions, but I don't see how the logic could possibly choose to fire a Javelin at two exposed infantry, one of whom was already wounded/incapacitated. They were not in a bunker, not in a trench, not in a building. They were laying down in the middle of the street.

[Alan8325]

I've only seen them used against infantry in buildings, which is fine since it was done often in real life, but never seen them used against infantry in the open. On the plus side however, you do get lots of Javelins if you are playing as U.S. Army, especially Stryker Infantry.

[Rangoon]

I can understand they're heavy and I would probably want to fire them off as well rather than carry them around.

I just wondered if this was a glitch in the AI or normal behavior. I suppose other times I've seen this they were in trenches but I didn't look closely enough to see. This time I zoomed in right before the missile hit. One infantry had a red cross over him and his buddy was laying in the street aiming a rifle. They were out in the open. I can say, however, that it sure did the trick.

EDIT: okay, so they just did this again, but this time it was in the open desert. Destroyed two BMPs, so the infantry jumped out of them. I even had them set to Engage Light, but the Javelin holder still fired TWO javelin missiles at infantry. One was an enemy AT unit and the other an enemy HQ unit. No trenches, no cover. Why would they do this?

[stikkypixie]

I can understand they're heavy and I would probably want to fire them off as well rather than carry them around.

I just wondered if this was a glitch in the AI or normal behavior. I suppose other times I've seen this they were in trenches but I didn't look closely enough to see. This time I zoomed in right before the missile hit. One infantry had a red cross over him and his buddy was laying in the street aiming a rifle. They were out in the open. I can say, however, that it sure did the trick.

EDIT: okay, so they just did this again, but this time it was in the open desert. Destroyed two BMPs, so the infantry jumped out of them. I even had them set to Engage Light, but the Javelin holder still fired TWO javelin missiles at infantry. One was an enemy AT unit and the other an enemy HQ unit. No trenches, no cover. Why would they do this?

You told the Javeling team to explicitly fire at the infantry? What was the range? Maybe the enemy was out of (reasonable) rifle range.

[Lets_All_Fight]

I can understand they're heavy and I would probably want to fire them off as well rather than carry them around.

I just wondered if this was a glitch in the AI or normal behavior. I suppose other times I've seen this they were in trenches but I didn't look closely enough to see. This time I zoomed in right before the missile hit. One infantry had a red cross over him and his buddy was laying in the street aiming a rifle. They were out in the open. I can say, however, that it sure did the trick.

EDIT: okay, so they just did this again, but this time it was in the open desert. Destroyed two BMPs, so the infantry jumped out of them. I even had them set to Engage Light, but the Javelin holder still fired TWO javelin missiles at infantry. One was an enemy AT unit and the other an enemy HQ unit. No trenches, no cover. Why would they do this?

AT unit and HQ - high value targets perhaps? Maybe that overrides the fact they're infantry and the AI hits them with the heaviest weapon at it's disposal. Why it's doing it when ordered to 'Target Light' I don't know.

[MikeyD]

I recall once reading numbers on how many Javelins got fired in Iraq up to about mid-2006(?) or so. It was an absurdly high number - lots of zeroes in that number. And this was a war that, after the first couple weeks, was entirely without opposing armor. Ditto number of TOWs launched.

[Rangoon]

Yeah, I wondered about range and value of targets, too. I wish I could recall the range. Maybe these are realistic factors and they were right to fire the javalin, but it sure seemed like a waste to me.

From the sounds of it, they are not saved for the perfect armored/hardened targets in real life like I assumed. And so, I suppose, they would not be in CMSF.

[MikeyD]

I recall once reading that the Stryker TOWs firing straight HE rounds, used as infantry support before the arrival of MGS, 'typical' engagement range was very near to the TOW's minimum arming distance, something like 90m. When you're doing close infantry support in built up areas you aren't firing missiles from 3km out.