Visability low or high

[robot]

I really hate low visability when playing germany. All your long range stuff is useless. When the vis is below 3 hexes it becomes a blood bath for me. This is in long campaigns in europe. Now when i play japan or marines in the pacific it doesnt bother me as much. Most of these are 2 or 3 hexex any ways. I guess this is because of the jungle warfare. But i seem to do much better under these conditions. Why is this do you suppose.[:o]

[hogg]

I think this is a kat lover problem.



Kat lovers like to fight at long range, plinking the enemy off while they are still too far away to do anything about it.




In the jungle battles you fight, I suspect these are primarily infantry battles? Ergo the mind set is not the same.

If I may be so bold, when playing with your kats, do you give enough thought to integrating infantry into your battle scheme, to protect your kats?


In my limited experience, there is nothing like a good smokescreen to unnerve a kat lover..............


But then, wot do I know?

[&o]

[robot]

I always use a balanced force. Little more tanks in europe and less in the jungles. For instance the japs have 3 companys of men where in europe i only have 2. The US in africa have 2 where the marines in the pacific have 3. I always have 1 sec AT per co plus 2 sec inf guns per co. I also give each platoon a anti tank rifle thats 3 per co. Plus a platoon or 2 of engineers in reserve depends on points to buy. Plus 3 sec of AA per battalion. I then make up a co of tanks like this 2 sec arm cars 2sec light tanks 2sec support tanks and 2 platoons of main battle tanks. Now in the pacific the tanks are cut down and the men increased. I round this out with mortors,fos 2, and recon of some sort. If there is any points left i buy trucks in sec. to upgrade later say to sp TD.

[BruceAZ_MatrixForum]

Hi Robot:

Quick tip (and cheap fix.) Buy recon teams and place them on your tanks when visability stinks. Won't help with the range problem but it will help you with AT units waiting in ambush and killing your tanks. The recon units will help spot the enemy before the tank gets into trouble.

Also, always use a balanced force of infantry AND tanks and advance together. Your infantry will always see your opponent at 3 hexes while a tank may not. If they run into trouble, the tanks firepower generally will get them out of hot water. (I think the term is called overwatch). Of course it will be a slow battle and probally go the full turns but your core force will still be intact! If visability is set at 3 hexes, place your advancing units at 4 hexes from each other. This gives you mutual support plus additional set of eyes.

When advancing towards an objective with limited visability always keep strong formations with even spacing to prevent "leakers" from getting behind you.

Remember, regardless what the Tankheads say, the Queen of the Battlefield will always be infantry. (and good recon![:D])

Of course, you can always ask the AI God (Wild Bill [&o]) and tell him not to design scenarios less than 24 visability!

Recon
Semper Fi

[robot]

Thanks Bruze for the tip on recon. Never thought about that. It says in the battle i am fighting right now 5 Vis. It is Russia against the Finns. But i swear i cant see anything further then 1 hex away. I am moving ahead very slowly. But i am losing a lot of infantry. I am in turn 18 right now. Am about 3 hexes away from norhthern VH. Maybe 5 or less from center. But still about 8 away from southern. No artillery left except for 50mm mortors. I will not get to back 2 VH for sure. Too far away in time left. Have to fight all the way. Every 50 Yds i gain is a loss in manpower. Mostly from enemy troops that have 2 or 3 men in them. No matter how i move it seems i lose at least 1 man to fire and then they retreat back 1 hex. I have lost some tanks to stupid mistakes by me. Like clicking on too many hexes ahead by mistake. Also my troops very seldom are able to move more then 1 hex anyways.

I tried 1 time to dislodge this enemy unit, by moving 7 different squads. This was moving 1 hex at atime with each diff. unit. The enemy caused evry squad to retreat with a loss of life above a total of ten/ This was from op fire alone. I finally got a shot on him from a tank. 1 shot from a 45mm gun and he dispersed. He had 2 men in the squad doing all this damage.

[Belisarius]

I'm getting better all the time at low visibility armor fights, since everytime I play GE, my opponent either picks a 10 vis. or throws smoke at me like there's no tomorrow. [:'(] That, and the many city fights recently... helps a lot.

Infantry. Use it, abuse it. With low visibility your tanks will never be anything else than support to kill tanks threatening your troops or to knock out hardpoints. Also in low vis., go for the heavy armored. Short-barreled PzIV and StuGs are close to optimal, what the StuG can't take care of your infantry usually can - if you have engineers that is. Low vis. also automatically call for flame tanks! [8D]

I dislike low vis fights on ETO maps mainly because of 'realism'. 15 hexes is 750 meters - that's what you can see EASY in full moonlight! For a mid-day fight I think 30-35 hexes is a minimum in clear weather. Rain, fog, dusk, dawn, night ofcourse changes that range, but *default* should be that long.

[BruceAZ_MatrixForum]

Your welcome.

Here is another "poor visability" tip - although it does slow play. If the range is set for three and visability poor (like raining), put your recon team (4 man) on the tank and advance ONE HEX. Stop, dismount the recon unit and right click to view what is ahead of you. If all clear, remount and advance the next square. Sos on and so on.

Of course, this may drive you crazy [>:] but better a crazy core force intact than gone for ever!

If you get a email from Wild Bill or Red Leg about playing with one hex visabilty in a snow storm - now thats tough! There is one battle in the campaign CHOSIN FEW that plays with one hex and it is murder!

Recon
Semper Fi