forests and ambushes

[davidepessach]

Ok so I figured out that scout are great for long term...scouting...but I keep being ambushed in forests and from forests. I thought infantry was a good choice for sweeping forests but they get jumped too.
Any tactical advice for a newbie?

Thanks!

[Adam Rinkleff]

Infantry are your best choice, but that doesn't mean they'll have an easy time. Forests are some of the best defensive positions in the world. For example, consider the German defensive line in the autumn of 1944. Likewise, the Vietnamese position in... well, Vietnam.

If you dig trenches in a forest, and conceal them, and keep still and quiet, someone approaching you probably won't spot you until you are close enough to shoot, and long before that you will have time to report their position to supporting mortars and artillery. Quite simply, be prepared to either bypass the forest or expect that clearing it will be a difficult and time consuming task. If you look at the AAR I've got going in the AAR forum, I chose that map position because much of it is dominated by a forest, and I'm expecting a lot of difficulty there. The biggest lesson you can take away from all this is that when defending, you may wish to position yourself within a forest. When advancing, try probing forward with a small force, which you may very well lose. Once enemy positions are spotted, hopefully you can just plaster the area with indirect fire.

[exsonic01]

Call artillery and use smoke screen.

I usually rely on "burn them all" tactics. I call artillery to every single suspicious place (town or forest) before I push my troops. I also use heavy mortars for relatively small forest / small town, which are placed on the possible assault route of my forces. Mortars are useful for such suppress action because they are fast. Depending on shelling density, enemy in or near the target zone will be damaged, or at least their morale would be broken. (If this game counts civilian damage / casualty and judge the player's lawful action depending on them, I would have been court martialed multiple times after mission is over XD)

After strike, smoke on the forest / town, and also smoke on the route to the target forest / town. By doing so, your vehicles will be protected from ATGM or RPG/LAW attack on approach. Then move your forces slowly into the forest or town.

Like I mentioned above, mortar's great advantage is faster reaction time. Use them wisely to deal with the contact during "sweeping" of forest or town.

[PoorOldSpike]

In some tactical wargames you can order your tanks to fire at a specific spot on the map (usually a building or patch of woods etc) where you suspect invisible enemies might be lurking, called "Speculative fire", is that possible in ArBde?

[exsonic01]

ORIGINAL: PoorOldSpike

In some tactical wargames you can order your tanks to fire at a specific spot on the map (usually a building or patch of woods etc) where you suspect invisible enemies might be lurking, called "Speculative fire", is that possible in ArBde?

Nope, such "forced attack" is not possible in AB.

[kevinkins]

In CM it's call "area fire". It can be effective, especially light mortars in keeping heads down. As for AB, from what I can tell, the player has no control over direct fire. They can not target and fire at a spotted enemy unit with anything. The AI handles that for the player. Has anyone found mortars to be useful?
SP or on foot. Going to experiment with them tonight.

Kevin

[Rosseau]

Yes, area fire in CM is almost too good in flushing out the enemy. Glad the computer handles the firing though, or the game could become micromanagement madness.