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Capt. Pixel -> "Subtle and insubstantial, ... (4/12/2002 3:27:11 AM)
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the expert leaves no trace; divinely mysterious, he is inaudible. Thus he is the master of his enemy's fate."
- Sun Tzu [I]The Art of War[/I]
Can SPW@W model this aspect of combat? - You Bet!!!
Basic sneakyness -
Wanna sneak up on that Tiger and paste a bazooka round in it's side? - set up the situation first. The trick is getting in position without being seen.
Dispatch or supress as many enemy units around the Tiger as you can with other units first. You don't want them spotting you as you move in. Set the bazooka team's Opp Range to '0', and then move in for the kill.
The 'Opp Range =0' technique substantially improves your chances of getting adjacent without being spotted. This is true for all units, but scouts, inf AT and snipers excel at this (very small size). In my experience, anything size 3 or larger won't benefit from this method.
Don't want to reveal your postion prematurely? Only fire weapons that have a reasonable probability of success.
Every time you fire a weapon, enemy units are searching for your a##. Don't fire your bazooka AND pistol at the Tiger - use the 'C' key to select a single, most appropriate weapon for the attack. If you fire the pistol too, everybody gets another chance to spot you!
Using this technique, you can often kill several units without even being spotted. I do this with bazooka-armed Rangers all the time. Ranger appears - fires only the bazooka - three tanks destroyed - Range slips into the underbrush - never seen.
This applies to vehicular weapons and MMG/HMGs too. Vehicles don't generally gain a spotting advantage, but that secondary MG shot might just revive the crew already stunned by the main armament hit. You stun them, and then wake 'em up again with a weapon that probably has little or no chance of doing damage. Firing the infantry MMG/HMGs secondary weapon isn't usually useful either - fire only the MMG/HMG at ranges beyond ~200m.
Smoke and dust are your friends (?)
Are you advancing in two areas? - drop screening smoke in three or four areas. The more advancing columns he thinks he's dealing with, the less resources he can likely apply where the attack actually occurs.
After you've made contact, drop a few more smoke rounds in a couple of misleading locations. He may not press his attack if he believes your trying to provide cover for a flanking maneuver.
In your opening turn, pop smoke in random areas behind your own lines to obfusticate his locating your artillery units by their smoke plumes.
Is the terrain dusty desert? - drag a few branches behind our jeeps to create advancing columns of dust. If your opponent hasn't managed the skills of recon yet - he'd be prudent to consider that those three or four advancing dust columns might just be armor.
A savvy opponent will recognize exceptionally long dust trails (more movement revealed than any available armored vehicle might have)
An old indian trick to cover numbers is to travel along the same path. Move your Panzer platoon in a single or double column to misrepresent the number of tanks approaching in the dust. I believe that Bantha riders use this trick too.
Dust trails parallel to the front can also serve to interfere with the enemy's prying eyes. But they can also interfere with YOUR prying eyes.
Cover and terrain advantage - well these are just obvious. ;)
Visibility - advance with your scouts until you can just see (or be seen) within the visibility range - then back up one. You know where he is, but he can't find you.
Draw off Air strikes with cheap decoys. I dont know why, but Air seems to have a preference for selecting the cheapest, least useful targets. Surround your valuable assets with command cars, trucks or wagons. Unless she's managed to call in a strike right on top of your unit, the strike will wander in search of another target. Quite often they'll target the cheap truck or car.
** Warning ** Warning ** Warning **
The balance of this post is not intended for the faint-of-heart.
Consent from both parties should be obtained before using these tips. Anything else could easily be considered 'Cheating'.
Under-handed sneakiness -
"Why is that M4 Sherman only firing his 50cal?" - Could it be that what is actually firing at you during VCR playback is actually a jeep? That maybe has been renamed on the unit screen "M4 Sherman"? Heheh.
I recall a movie where the GIs buggered-up a jeep to 'diesel' like a tank. They ran the jeep back and forth on their side of the contested ridge trying to imply a platoon of Shermans were staging there. IIRC it worked pretty well, the Germans backed down.
Now consider that same jeep (very fast those little jeeps) drops behind the ridge, move a couple hundred meters along and then pops up again, takes a shot and disappears. Repeat ad naseum. A half-dozen jeeps can be made to appear as a company of tanks to the inattentive opponent.
"Those 81mm Mortars sure are pounding us hard." Sure they are - 'cause their actually my 120s. Why would I rename artillery? Well first - why not? Why should YOU know what my artillery park consists off?
But seriously, your laying in a nice smoke wall with your 155s which you plan to introduce to the enemy later. Rename them as 105s to lay the smoke. Now your opponent thinks "ah He has a battery of 105s".
Later when the again-renamed 155s come in to the party he'll think "He has 155s TOO? where did the 105s go? Where are they going to come in?"
If you really want to mess with him - change the names every other turn or so. (yes, I know - I am one sick puppy).
I did this in a PBEM recently. My US Engineers stepped up to the VHs, layed some mines and stepped back. On the next turn, I renamed them all US Rangers and attacked. I stepped back and renamed them US Engineers again. I did this 2-3 times over the course of 10 turns. The battle line was fairly stagnant, so I had him totally confused. "How'd you afford so much infantry?"
I once took a company of VG bicycle squads and renamed the GE Engineers. They move very fast and could appear almost anywhere on my front within a couple of turns. They weren't particularly combat effective - but my opponent kept seeing 'Engineers' appearing all over the place - He was paralyzed.
Is it considered Espionage if your swapping uniforms within your own army?
How about infiltrating Spec Ops that have been renamed as a unit present in the enemy force.
"Ya, ya - THAT is not the road to Bastogne - I'm not karin' what the signs say - you go left, Schnell!!
"Say --- didn't that MP look suspiciously Japanese?"
Of course when your Long Range Listening Posts appear in his rear area sporting the tag "Scottish Bagpipers" - he's gonna know something's not right. :p
I regularly rename my Hq tent "Just a tent" - I'm hoping it will throw of any deeply penetrating enemy forces.
British platoon structure often uses a discrete designation for the platoon leader - I personally don't like that - so I rename them the same name as the rest of the units squads.
I'll also occasionally rename all my units to a generic name like "Sherman" or "Halftrack" or "Infantry squad". So he doesn't know if that Sherman is an M4, an M4105, or an M4A3 76.
See, I don't think that a commander at the level I'm simulating would have access to the minutae of each battle combatant. More likely the report comes in over-estimating the enemy force.
".. spbzkk ... fzst..They got Tigers! ..spkk fzz ... Dozens! crkk sprkz ... Tigers are everywhere. And 88's!!" (It's probably a platoon of PzIIIs and a couple of 75mm ATG)
Any opponent has the option to right-click on an observed unit and read it's data sheet. So these renaming methods are of limited usefulness.
Some of these 'tricks' help simulate the 'Fog of war', and others are just down right irritating. hehe.
As another forum member posts as a tagline -
"The Art of War is deception" - Sun Tzu
How about you all? Any little tricks or sneakiness you'd care to share with the forum?
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