Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: Jason Petho

A few notes on the use of OP Fire.
(Based on my experiences in East Front II)

There are two settings for OP Fire; global and individual. Global OP Fire sets the firing type and ranges for all units, where individual allows you to set OP Fire for any individual unit.

Global OP Fire. Without selecting a unit, if you press ‘D’, a dialogue will appear. This is the Opportunity Fire Dialogue. You will see the Firing Unit types available on the left and the Target Unit Types available along the top. The rest of the dialogue displays firing ranges broken down into the following classes: N (Never), S (Short – 33% of the units Maximum range), M (Medium – 66% of the units maximum range) and L (Long – 100% of the units maximum range).

Firing Units: Hard Vehicles includes any vehicle that has a RED defence number. Tanks, SP Artillery, Halftracks, etc.
AT and Heavy AA includes all AT and AA units over 40mm.
Other Firing Units comprises of everything else from Infantry to HQ’s.

There are a few ways to use OP Fire.
1. Default Settings
2. Global Settings
3. Global and Individual Settings
4. Individual Settings

Default Settings will let you use whatever the designer set up the OP Fire to be. If one takes the time, the designer can also set up Individual OP Fire for each and every unit for their scenario.


Global Settings. On the very first turn, while you are looking at what forces and force mixture you have, one can up their Global Settings. This will vary depending on the scenario, but some general settings I would use are:

Early War
Hard Vehicles: Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N
AT and Heavy AA: Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N
Other Firing Units: Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M

Mid-Late War
Hard Vehicles: Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N
AT and Heavy AA: Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N
Other Firing Units: Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M

You will note that these are pretty much the same with the exception of the Other Firing Units vs Hard Vehicles. The late war Infantry units have a higher punch versus armoured vehicles and can be used effectively in ambushes. For this, the L setting MUST be used.


Global and Individual Settings. This uses the above with a little tweaking by using the Individual Settings. When using these settings, one must keep in mind that Global Settings will take precedence over any Individual Settings you make. For example, by using the Mid-Late War Global Settings above, and you set an armoured vehicle platoon to fire at Soft Vehicles a Short range, the Global Settings will remain in effect and the unit will NOT fire at Soft Vehicles at any range.

Using this setting would be the basis for creating basic ambushes, or utilizing hidden units. To adjust the Individual Settings of any unit, select it and ensure it is highlighted. Press the ‘D’ key and the Opportunity Dialogue will be opened. Any adjusts made will only affect the selected unit! Creating a hidden unit is to ensure any unit never fires by selecting N for all firing options. These types of units are ideal when defending a city or forest where the opposing force is forced to mass assaulting. It is best to keep a unit that can fire at all unit types to prevent the hidden unit being “bumped” into and revealed.


Individual Settings. This is the setting that I use most often, primarily because I generally play larger scenarios and like to micromanage. My Global Settings will be as follows:

Hard Vehicles: Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: L Other Targets: L
AT and Heavy AA: Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: L Other Targets: L
Other Firing Units: Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: L Other Targets: L

Notice they are all set to maximum range. Once this is done I will take the time to set up each unit with Individual Settings. The setting chosen will completely depend on the missions at hand, meaning there are infinite combinations that can be created. I generally set up my Individual Settings on a per Company basis, these in turn would be decided on the Company composition and the Companies mission in the grand scheme of the scenario.

Some examples:

Infantry Company, Early War, Attacking
1st Platoon - Hard Vehicles: N Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M
2nd Platoon - Hard Vehicles: N Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M
3rd Platoon - Hard Vehicles: L (if leader present) Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N
MG - Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: L Other Targets: M

Infantry Company, Early War, Defending
1st Platoon - Hard Vehicles: N Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M
2nd Platoon - Hard Vehicles: N Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M
3rd Platoon - Hard Vehicles: L (if leader present) Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N
MG - Hard Vehicles: N Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N

Infantry Company, Late War, Attacking
1st Platoon - Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M
2nd Platoon - Hard Vehicles: N Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: L
3rd Platoon - Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M
MG - Hard Vehicles: L Soft Vehicles: M Other Targets: M

Armour Company, Early War, Attacking
Light Platoon - Hard Vehicles: N Soft Vehicles: L Other Targets: M
Medium Platoon - Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: S Other Targets: S
Medium Platoon - Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N
Medium Platoon - Hard Vehicles: M Soft Vehicles: N Other Targets: N

As you can see, different tasks require different settings.

When supported by additional units, or working as part of a larger force, the values can again change. For example, the inclusion of an AT platoon with the infantry above may change the requirement for having one of the Infantry Platoons designated to taking out armour.

Hope that helps
Take care and good luck
Jason Petho