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ORIGINAL: elmo3

Can you tell your units to conserve ammo if it starts getting low? Been so long since I played Kharkov I can't recall if that was an issue or not.

You can order defending units to hold fire for either close assault, good shot, or all fire. In addition, the AI was adjusted so that it conserves it's ammo by using it's remaining ammo load to factor into its decision on when it fires (as ammo gets lower it holds fire waiting for better shot).

Thanks
rick

Nice. Thanks Rick.

The Orders Phase of turn 10 continues with the pattern of the Germans killing a Russian AC for no loss to themselves.

You can see that my shots all missed by the dust raised around the target AFV.

Good Hunting.

MR

The Reaction Phase of turn 10 is a complete turn around for the Germans. They are hit hard losing a PzII and having a platoon halt to take stock of their situation.


When Sgt Baedecker's tank was knocked out the platoon halted while a new leader took over. The command coin, the leader of the platoon, in PCO is in the form of a circle. A replacement leader has the shape of a diamond. A regular member of the unit is rectangular. There is a delay while a new leader takes command of the unit. Leadership skills may also change.

Good Hunting.

MR

Sgt Baedeker's lead platoon is taking a hard pounding between losing tanks knocked out and those mechanical failures. Most of the platoon is still fighting but most of it is stationary due to hits on the tracks and the vehicle body's.

Time to give SSgt Steiner his movement orders. I've decided to bring him straight up the road to support Sgt Beadeker's platoon.

Good Hunting.

MR

Ammunition depletion is starting to be a big problem for the Germans. Too many targets! Some of my PzII's have only HE left!

The PzII in the SS shows to only have 26 rounds of HE left and no other ammunition types.

I still target the BA's with HE...who knows if I can get a hail fire kill with them.

While I could tell them to hold their fire I want maximum firepower going out until my third platoon can engage the Russians.

This screen shows a major feature of PCO, the ability to select a unit and then move anywhere on the map and give the selected unit orders. You don't have to select the unit and the orders at the unit then move away. You can select the unit and move to any part of the map you like and then give them orders. That doesn't seem like much when I discuss it but it's very helpful in game play.

Good Hunting.

MR

My situation is not getting any better. More and more of my tanks are running out of AP. It's a good thing I have two fresh tanks with working parts to move and full loads of AP ammo to continue this fight.

Good Hunting.

MR

Sgt Baedeker's tank platoon takes another hit! SSgt Steiner needs to hurry up and get in this fight!

That makes the third German tank lost so far since the engagement started.

The Russian side of the map looks like an AC graveyard but still they fight on.

The German Victory Gauge continues to climb, but there is a long way for it to move before this engagement is over.

Good Hunting.

MR

Sgt Baedeler's platoon routes. No wonder they are having morale issues, they are just sitting there taking a pounding.

The two replacement leaders can be seen in the SS, by their diamond coin shapes, near the flag pole of the left German victory location.

You can also tell which tanks are buttoned up by the picture on the coin. If there is a white circle above the picture of the tank then they are unbuttoned. If there is no white circle above the tank they are buttoned up.

Good Hunting.

MR

Time to climb back in the turret and continue this attack.

Good Hunting.

MR

Here is shown the Tac AI giving the replacement platoon leader a route orders.

This where self preservation is used by the code to tell you that your guys have had enough. They are pulling back to regroup. It depends on several things how long they will be out of the command loop but usually it's a phase or at the most two.

Good Hunting.

MR

More of my tanks running out of AP ammo. This is getting critical.

Something of note here is that the Russian AC's are not moving forward.

Why would my enemy not be moving forward to take the objectives?

That can only mean one thing, they have taken mobility hits of some kind. Which should work well for me. I can now move my tanks up that do have AP rounds and take on the Russian AC's one at a time until I knock them out and move on to the next one.

Sometimes it's what's not happening that can tell you more about the situation than what is happening. As you play PCO, you will learn to get a feel for what should be happening in your world around you. Like in this particular case where the Russians should be pushing against the battered German force but they aren't.

This engagement highlights a part of armored warfare that is rarely shown in wargames. The Germans are getting short of vehicles that will both move and fire. During a tank battle many tanks broke down mechanically. Some to to maintenance issues, others due to having taken enemy fire. PCO shows this better than any game I've ever played. I'm struggling to take my objectives because as the fight goes on I have less and less resources to make that happen. In 13 turns I'm having to do force management to determine where my reinforcements are going to make the difference. This is a game where your reinforcements are not simply just more cannon fodder. They can very much make the difference between winning and losing. Time and again I find myself studying where to send my reinforcements. In this game as well. When I got the reinforcements I didn't just rush them forward. I found out where the situation deemed them the most valuable and then moved them to that location.

The third German tank loss has evened up the score as well.

Good Hunting.

MR

YES! Sgt Baedeker's platoon rallies! This is GREAT NEWS!

Good Hunting.

MR

Things are getting desperate! Some of my tanks only have MG ammo left! [X(]

That's not enough firepower to even knock the paint off these AC's.

As you can see, whenever you select a unit on the map it highlights any news on the message box concerning that unit. It makes it easy to follow which units have anything that may affect their performance.

The message box has several settings. It can be show normally, have a larger display area to view more results, have a smaller viewing display area or be hidden. The message box can be scrolled to view the entire list of actions that have occurred up to that point in the game. Any unit that is selected on the map has all actions in the message box highlighted. Any unit that is selected in the message box will be centered in your play view of the map.

Good Hunting.

MR

Sgt Steiner's Platoon starts to move through to the point position.

I will try to move all functioning PzII's up to the entrance road down into the farm. There by the big oak tree, to see if I can bring fire on any of the remaining Russian AC's, without losing any more of my own tanks.

There are only 3 German tanks with mobility remaining in the battle. If I can't keep tanks mobile I can't dictate to the Russian forces how the action will develop.

At this point each side controls 2 sets of objectives and the scoring on the Victory Gauge is very close.

Good Hunting.

MR

Slowly, ever so slowly we advance to see where the Russian AC's are. They still have functioning weapons. I've not seen any of them that didn't fire when we were all in LOS.

We are still taking fire enough to stun tank crews.

Good Hunting.

MR

At the moment there are no Russian vehicles that the German tank force can see. It's time to move forward a little more. If I'm taking fire but can't see the enemy then I need to move forward just a bit more to bring them into LOS.

But with extreme caution. I want to bring my tanks to bear against the Russian AC's 3 vs 1.

Both sides control 2 sets of victory locations and the Victory Gauges are both at about the same level. This is not the time to lose vehicles and give points away.


Good Hunting.

MR

Nothing happens as the three remaining German tanks that are mobile move slowly forward searching out Russian targets.

Then in an instant....right in front of us....ACHTUNG PANZER!

Good Hunting.

MR

Choosing your tactics is crucial. I have no idea  exactly how many Russian AC's are still there. It only takes one shot to change my OOB to one less PzII I can give orders to. But speed and numbers can be a weapon of their own in the right situation. Is this the time to rush forward?

Moving too quick has a stiff penalty as I lose my fourth tank in a ball of fire!

Good Hunting.

MR

With the smoke rising to mark the last efforts of a valiant crew the third set of objectives comes under German control. That should be enough to push the German points on the Victory Gauge to the top and end the game.

Good Hunting.

MR