To bombard or not to bombard?

[rader]

Well, the war in China has ground to a screeching halt (actually it walways was, or it was the Chinese who were attacking).

On the front lines, do I wear down enemy strength by bombarding, or does it just make him stronger by giving him valuable experience (I'm Japan)?

I guess it would use his supplies (and mine) and create minor casualties. This is if I am on the defensive as Japan. Worth itto bombard or just all defend?

Thanks,

Andrew

[AirGriff]

It might depend on if you think he's going to attack you the next turn.  If you bombard, I believe some of your arty is not used to repel the attack.  So, If you think he's stayiing put for a while, then maybe bombard and keep his disruption up, but if you think he's attacking next turn, then hold your arty to repel it.  I believe your experience goes up with bombardments, as well, so that's an argument for frequent bombardments. 

[Japan]

In China i dont think you need to worry,  just establish a good solid line and let the Chinese come to you.
If he bombard your Japanese troops, just let him. If it gets hevy and sustained, just send in a few new divitions, and pull out the ones disrupted, and ceap rotating them like that.
 
[8D]
 
 

[rader]

But my questions was should I bombard him?

[Nomad]

I think yes, it burns his supply and disables his units.

[Mike Solli]

I bombard as much as possible in China (as the Japanese).  There is supply to spare for it and it helps keep the Chinese supressed (as well as causing some casualties).  If you leave the Chinese alone, you'll eventually see a 200k man steamroller pounce on you, usually where you least like it.  I think you need to keep the pressure on the Chinese to try and keep them at arms length.

[Charbroiled]

Someone did a test about a year ago and showed that daily bombardments really have little effect.

However, there is one function where bombardments do have an "effect"....bombardment can disrupt the movement of a unit. In certain circumstances, if a unit is assigned to move out of a hex, but then gets bombarded, the miles moved will reset to "0". The only way to move a unit out of a hex being bombarded is to pick a base to move to and not a hex. When picking the base, you must also be sure to pick on the flag symbol itself and not on the area surrounding the flag.

[Cathartes]

Maybe little effect in actually destroying enemy troops, but big bombardments = disruption/weakened AV = increased supply consumption. If an enemy unit(s) is cut off or in a position to draw minimal supply, bombardment is great way to set them up for an easy coup de gras.

Further, bombardment = increased experience for the troops doing the bombarding.