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Quick question - 8/2/2008 4:31:59 AM

OG_Gleep

Posts: 308
Joined: 12/27/2002
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Browsed through 15 pages of threads but couldn't find the answers I was looking for.

Playing the long campaign 5/42 Germans focused on the eastern Front. Currently 9/42

1. Having a little problem tactically. I purchased 1 motorized Rifle company and 1 Mech SS company. I normally dismount the Motorized troops and keep the mech company in reserve. I am taking a lot of unnessisary casualties with both infantry and vehicles getting ambushed. I am guessing its b/c tactical mistakes. What is the best way to advance in a timely fashion, and still spot the enemy without sacraficing units?

2. I am also having problems finding uses for my AT/AIG guns when attacking. By the time they get unloaded, and wait till the next turn to shoot, their line of sight is obsured by smoke, or the enemy have moved out of LOS. What tactically should I do to get these guys in the game?

3. Another tactics issue I have been running into: I make contact with my infantry, and blow to hell the initial line. My infantry have taken some heat and their suppression have limited movement, but now LOS issues because of smoke and such, I don't have anybody to shoot unless I advance the armor. Do I hold and wait for the infantry to press forward again and shell suspected enemy positions? What about if I am taking fire from dangerous guns that haven't been spotted yet. Do I try and rush ahead to spot them with my tanks?

4. I paid for transports but I seem t not be using them. Is there a tactic to use the transports to expidite contact safely? I am constantly worried about my guys getting caught as they scramble out fo their burning trucks.

Post #: 1

RE: Quick question - 8/2/2008 1:16:06 PM

m10bob

Posts: 8622
Joined: 11/3/2002
From: Dismal Seepage Indiana
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You asked several questions, but I will try to answer some generically.
When possible, advance your grunts under cover of smoke (if you cannot force the enemy to come to you.
Never try to force an engagement by using your expensive armor as "recon", tanks and heavier vehicles are best used as support.
Try to prep fir the intended objectives with heavy artillery as they can cause disruption in your enemy, help locate them, and might get lucky enough to knock out or panic some of their units.
Don't think it wasteful to prep fire a corridor between you and your objective, as you might also detect minefields.

If I am using mech infantry, and am time limited, I will use them as my advance force to force engagement, because usually the first friendly HT coming under fire will tell me where the enemy line of resistance begins.
I can then move the remaining friendly HT's to within maybe 2-3 hexes MY SIDE of that sacrificed unit and deploy, while I start designating more artillery on the newly located enemy line.

Since infantry is so valuable, I really like a couple of SP artillery guns to move just behind those initial mech infantry units, NEVER in front of them.

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Post #: 2

RE: Quick question - 8/2/2008 4:27:21 PM

Kuokkanen

Posts: 3545
Joined: 4/2/2004
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quote:

ORIGINAL: OG_Gleep

1. Having a little problem tactically. I purchased 1 motorized Rifle company and 1 Mech SS company. I normally dismount the Motorized troops and keep the mech company in reserve. I am taking a lot of unnessisary casualties with both infantry and vehicles getting ambushed. I am guessing its b/c tactical mistakes. What is the best way to advance in a timely fashion, and still spot the enemy without sacraficing units?

There are number of ways, where terrain and tools at (enemy's) disposal can play significant roles for what is best. Common way for advance is to use small & cheap recon units to find enemy locations: scout/recon infantry (2-4 men), motorbikes, light (armoured) cars... even light recon tanks, like Panzerkampfwagen II. They may get shot to bits, but at least you'll get idea what you're up against, and where enemy might be hiding. Next order in business is to isolate that area with smoke: fire smoke all around where you got shot from, and drop HE shells to where you got shot from. If you also shoot smoke at front of the hexes where you got shot from, you can get your motorized infantry pretty close... how close depends whether your infantry is armed with rifles or SMGs and if you want use some armor at distance (can do against ATGs when they are suppressed by mortars, artillery and/or infantry). Now there is catch: what you attack against, can be just one playpiece on the board. When you show your ugly face at it, opponent will know what you have (when played against human), and you still don't know anything more than what shot at you.

When your motorized infantry gets suppressed, it's time to call your 'Mech company (pun intended) and other reserves. While your motorized infantry is recovering, your mechanized infantry will press on. When it gets suppressed, load up motorized infantry to trucks and reverse roles. Now this is just one way of many possibilities, and very much depends about terrain, weather and units being used (on both sides).

< Message edited by Matti Kuokkanen -- 8/2/2008 4:28:15 PM >

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You know what they say, don't you? About how us MechWarriors are the modern knights, how warfare has become civilized now that we have to abide by conventions and rules of war. Don't believe it.

MekWars

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Post #: 3

RE: Quick question - 8/7/2008 9:21:09 PM

OG_Gleep

Posts: 308
Joined: 12/27/2002
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Just wanted to say thanks for the input. The tips really helped me out.

(in reply to Kuokkanen)

Post #: 4

RE: Quick question - 8/10/2008 4:27:51 AM

vahauser

Posts: 1644
Joined: 10/1/2002
From: Texas
Status: offline

OG_Gleep,

Here is a list of tips that I put together several years ago that you might find useful:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=52213

Here is an AAR from a Long Campaign that I did a year or two ago that you might find useful:
http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1326517

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Post #: 5

RE: Quick question - 8/10/2008 11:40:28 PM

Zap

Posts: 3639
Joined: 12/6/2004
From: LAS VEGAS TAKE A CHANCE
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m10ob you said
Don't think it wasteful to prep fire a corridor between you and your objective, as you might also detect minefields

I'll use this for an opportunity to ask you about mindfields. Can your bigger heavy artillery, as well, clear a mine hex?

1. How long do you need to leave your engineers in a mine hex to know its been cleared?(many times I have left a mine hex; thinking it was cleared to find out it still had some mines in it).

2. If its best? to have more than one engineer to clear a mine hex? How many would you suggest to do the job?

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Post #: 6

RE: Quick question - 8/11/2008 3:08:26 AM

m10bob

Posts: 8622
Joined: 11/3/2002
From: Dismal Seepage Indiana
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quote:

ORIGINAL: Zap

m10ob you said
Don't think it wasteful to prep fire a corridor between you and your objective, as you might also detect minefields

I'll use this for an opportunity to ask you about mindfields. Can your bigger heavy artillery, as well, clear a mine hex?

1. How long do you need to leave your engineers in a mine hex to know its been cleared?(many times I have left a mine hex; thinking it was cleared to find out it still had some mines in it).

2. If its best? to have more than one engineer to clear a mine hex? How many would you suggest to do the job?

The answer to all of your questions depends on how many mines are in the hex in question. The number of mines cleared per turn per engineer unit is a matter of the computer "roll of the die", and whether the engineers are working unhindered or not.
Keep them concealed with smoke, and give them cover, as you would in real life.
If I am working on a time constraint problem, it is not efficient to put multiple units working on one hex, besides, bunching your troops on a battlefield is just asking for casualties.
Once I have located the mines, and put a unit working on them, I will try another engineer unit to go around them, to see which direction the mines run, and possibly learn their depth.
Further, just because a unit did not "find" mines, and did not trigger any, does not mean the area is not mined. Maybe there are only 5 mines per hex, and allowed some grunts to get thru, and bigger than Stuttgart, you try to send a tank across and blow a track off, and create an immobile, (and large) target for the enemy to concentrate on.
Smoke and support is always paramount in getting thru a minefield.

Conversely, if the enemy is advancing on me, I will have artillery pre0targeted on my friendly mines, (to kill his engineers, and if he throws smoke, I will try to targer my heavy arty on the furthest area of his smoke, for at least 2 turns, (depending on the time of my reaction fire.
Mortars are good for quick reaction time.

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Post #: 7

RE: Quick question - 8/13/2008 12:45:54 PM

FlashfyreSP

Posts: 1193
Joined: 7/6/2002
From: Combat Information Center
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: Zap

m10ob you said
Don't think it wasteful to prep fire a corridor between you and your objective, as you might also detect minefields

I'll use this for an opportunity to ask you about mindfields. Can your bigger heavy artillery, as well, clear a mine hex?

1. How long do you need to leave your engineers in a mine hex to know its been cleared?(many times I have left a mine hex; thinking it was cleared to find out it still had some mines in it).

2. If its best? to have more than one engineer to clear a mine hex? How many would you suggest to do the job?

For #1, you will see a message when the hex is cleared; during the mine removal phase, the message "Engineer has cleared a path of obstacles" will indicate the hex is cleared of mines or other obstacles.

For #2, depending on how many engineer units you have available, and how wide a corridor through the minefield you want, you should never stack more than 1 engineer unit in a mined hex; this is just to prevent massive casualties if the area is barraged. The more units in a hex, the more casualties tend to occur during bombardments. What I usually do is get 1 engineer into the mined hex, and then bring 3 others up behind it, facing into the hex. That puts 1 in the rear, 1 in the upper left and 1 in the lower left hexes, all facing the mined hex; now all 4 units will remove mines from the same hex, and can sometimes clear a hex in 1 turn. However, this only works if the other 3 hexes are un-mined; if there are mines in any of them, the engineers in those hexes will clear their own locations before clearing to their fronts. So you would need to start clearing a 3-hex wide corridor, and rotate your engineers as needed to get as many facing a single hex as possible.

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Post #: 8

RE: Quick question - 8/14/2008 2:17:48 AM

Zap

Posts: 3639
Joined: 12/6/2004
From: LAS VEGAS TAKE A CHANCE
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Thank You both for the insightful help.

The other question about using artillery. Above 75"s. Do these have any effect on a mine hex. i.e. Will they, Can they clear a mine hex.

< Message edited by Zap -- 8/14/2008 2:47:49 AM >

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RE: Quick question - 8/14/2008 4:20:39 AM

FlashfyreSP

Posts: 1193
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From: Combat Information Center
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150mm and larger can clear mines, but it is a slow process. Each shell hit may remove a mine, or it may not, so you could see a whole 'stonk' hit and only a handful of mines be cleared.

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Post #: 10