Problem: Mech Infantry retreating under fire

[RFalvo69]

I have a platoon of Mech Infantry entrenched in cover (village, city, woods...) Usually, they are able to weather gunfire from enemy tanks - maybe with some losses, but reasonable s**t happens.

However, the platoon also has a standoff SOP. So, they jump on their IFVs (let's say M2s)... and the vehicles are obliterated IMMEDIATELY by the enemy tanks, along with the platoon.

This makes no sense. I'm not saying that retreating under fire should be easy, but the platoon is in cover. Put the vehicles behind, dunno, a house, so to break LOS; have the squads rush on them, then retreat. Instead, it is like if the enemy, frustrated by how resilient entrenched inf. is, all of sudden sees some juicy IFV ready to be shoot - and, BAM!, life is easy.

It is frustrating, because it invalidates the whole idea of keeping your mech. in standoff. Even worse, sometimes the AI decides mid-turn that my "hold" order is not sane, tries to withdraw, and dies right there.

This is a problem I saw over and over, and I don't know if I'm missing something in the SOP or if it is a bug of sorts.

Suggestions?

[bairdlander2]

Did you order afv's hide nearby or support?

[RFalvo69]

Hmmm... How should I set the SOP? I see "IFV Dismounted Move", but nothing about "Hide nearby". I'm missing something?

[WildCatNL]

We love to see the save file for this situation. Does your unit take the losses in the hex it departs from, or in the hex it first moves into?

Based on feedback for Southern Storm, we improved the withdraw behavior to make it suffer fewer losses, especially in the hex the unit withdraws from, and pick better destinations, using better routes.
The main change is that we post-pone the posture change, typically from dug-in to exposed, to the exact time the unit starts moving from the hex.

Note that withdrawing isn't as simple as you describe it: the withdrawing dismounts don't just run, they might have to pack up TOW tripods and .50 HMGs and ammo, mount these on the vehicle, etc., which will correspond with a bigger signature, possibly alerting hostile units and inviting gun fire.

[SgtZdog]

Hmmm... How should I set the SOP? I see "IFV Dismounted Move", but nothing about "Hide nearby". I'm missing something?

This is the setting to have your transports hide instead of being on the line to shoot. Note that the various SOP Presets for IFV do not have IFV use Hide Nearby as a default setting because that defeats the purpose of the F in IFV. (This is why mech/motorized infantry that don't have IFV have a different set of presets.)