Matrix Games Forums

1. Can anyone tell me how to remove mines with engineers or Sherman Dozers set to "clear mines to front"?

2. Is there any way to see ALL of the units being transported by another unit. Example a MMG and Mortar in a half track, or several squads in a landing craft?

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Andy Crews
Mad Hacker Productions

[This message has been edited by tacrews61 (edited October 12, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by tacrews61 (edited October 12, 2000).]

Originally posted by tacrews61:
1. Can anyone tell me how to remove mines with engineers or Sherman Dozers set to "clear mines to front"?
2. Is there any way to see ALL of the units being transported by another unit. Example a MMG and Mortar in a half track, or several squads in a landing craft?

1: It will take several turns to clear mines, if you want to clear a pathway get as many engineers and mine clearing tank as possible and they will clear the mines faster. You can also use heavy artillery, pound the hexes with the mine and you can reduce the amount of mines this way.

2: Right click on the unit and in the unit info screen it will tell you what is been carry by the unit.

You can find this info in the manual.

Tankhead



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Rick Cloutier rcclout@telusplanet.net
Coordinator: Tankhead's SPWAW Resources
http://tankhead.home.icq.com

I've also found that the standard US Infantry squad makes an excellent mine clearing apparatus. Well, there's some flying bone / blood to deal with, but you get used to the screaming after a while

-Andy
(Voted Least Favorite CO to have over you during a beach assault)

You are one cold blooded commander!

"Forward men, damn the mines! Just charge! I'll be along in a minute. I've got to fix this bootstrap. Go ahead, I'll catch up with you!"

Wild Bill

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In Arduis Fidelis
Wild Bill Wilder
Coordinator, Scenario Design
Matrix Games

Brave Sir Robin.....
That's why we need penal battalions in SPW@W, to clear out the mines!!

Originally posted by Latka:
I've also found that the standard US Infantry squad makes an excellent mine clearing apparatus. Well, there's some flying bone / blood to deal with, but you get used to the screaming after a while
-Andy
(Voted Least Favorite CO to have over you during a beach assault)

Hey Latka I'm speechless ROTFL

Tankhead



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Rick Cloutier rcclout@telusplanet.net
Coordinator: Tankhead's SPWAW Resources
http://tankhead.home.icq.com

Originally posted by Tankhead:
1: It will take several turns to clear mines, if you want to clear a pathway get as many engineers and mine clearing tank as possible and they will clear the mines faster. You can also use heavy artillery, pound the hexes with the mine and you can reduce the amount of mines this way.

2: Right click on the unit and in the unit info screen it will tell you what is been carry by the unit.

You can find this info in the manual.

Tankhead

Mines may attack enemy and friendly units. The chance of an attack depends on the number of
the mines placed in the hex. Note that mines aren’t automatically triggered every time a unit
enters a hex, so it’s possible that a friendly unit may safely traverse a hex, only to have a follow-up
unit suffer an attack.
Only infantry, mine clearing tanks, and combat engineers can remove mines. Engineers may be
in an adjacent hex and facing the mined hex to do so, while Infantry must be in the mine hex to
clear it. Mine removal is automatic at the end of the turn.

What this does not say is how vehicles (Sherman Dozers) clear mines. Is it the faced hex or the hex they are in? In a landing scenario what is the best method to get the engineers to clear the beach hexes? Move across the mines and face back? Can Engineers clear mines in their own hex?

I have had a combination of sherman dozers and engineers on the beach for two turns and have the rest of my force waiting in the water for a clear path to develop. I still have mines present in each of the beach hexes. Is the percent chance of mine removal modified by experiance or year of the war?

Originally posted by Latka:
I've also found that the standard US Infantry squad makes an excellent mine clearing apparatus. Well, there's some flying bone / blood to deal with, but you get used to the screaming after a while

-Andy
(Voted Least Favorite CO to have over you during a beach assault)

Tanks and half tracks are even more effective at finding mines but tend to leave a lot of smoke behind to obscure your LOS.

I have found that infantry tend to be much more likely to move through the hex successfully leaving behind a surprise for the first vehicle to come along.

Engineer Tanks, like the Sherman Dozer, clear mines just like all Engineer units. Have the Sherman Dozer face the mined hex. Right click on the Sherman Dozer and make sure "Clear Mines in front of unit" is turned on.

BA Evans

I'm rather surprised that the Dozer is considered a mine-clearing-tank, though it may had been used that way when some were spotted. I picture a mine-clearing tank as being one with some form of flail which could be used to discover hidden mines. I suppose you could get the blade as deep as mines commonly are, and scoot the tank forward at that point, but it sure doesn't look like the tank was designed specifically for that. I've just never seen it listed as a mine-clearer anywhere.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Wild Bill:
You are one cold blooded commander!

"Forward men, damn the mines! Just charge! I'll be along in a minute. I've got to fix this bootstrap. Go ahead, I'll catch up with you!"

oh that reminds me Bill....here's the 'bill' for all those panzer's that got broken by your carless disregard for the feelings of the Wehrmacht. I mean, all we wanted to do was visit that little Russian town and boom boom boom boom boom!!

how rude!


P.S. little tidbit i ran across, according to one website i browsed, the MinePanzer III was a prototype vehicle only and never put into service. Where you aware of that or just having fun with the OOB's (dont mine either way, just curious)

Re: cold blooded bastards.

My tabletop wargaming friends once coined the phrase "Recon by sacrifice" for the way I used my scout units .

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Mats 'Rickenbacker' Nylund
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rickenbacker@innocent.com

I am a firm belieber in mine warfare. Early in the war when my rookies could not hit a German digging in behine 5 hexes of mines and praying the friendly arty landed on them was how I won battles. Now after 10 months of war my guys can kill Germans but I still dig in behind 5 hexes of mines and watch my great FO's clobber the Krauts. I love it when a SS squad finds out it is 3 hexes deep in the field and caught in a MG crossfire and starts running hahaha I like to hold all fire till the Germans start blowing up in the mines. But please keep it a secret that infantry can clear mines if my troops find out they will stop their advance and whats 1 or 2 men per squad compared to speed? Of course I have engineers clear a path for my tanks Uncle Joe gets angry with commanders who lose valuable state property.

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I'm not retreating, I'm attacking in a differant direction!

I still have a few problems with this mine clearing stuff on the beach. I moved 12 sherman dozers through the mines and lost four. They then turned around and started clering mines. They don't seem to clear hexes that are occupied by friendly troops. Any comments on how to get my FO's out the mine field without stepping on the mines.

Next can anyone from Matrix explain to me how you can clear mines 50 meters to your front without actually entering the mine field? How does an engineer squad reach out and clear the mines 50 meters away, levitation? Add to that the fact that they can't clear mines in the hex they are in and I become very confused, how does this work?

I apologize for gripping because this is such a great game. I have been playing war games since the early seventies and this is one of the best I have ever played both from an interface and historical aspect. Great job guys!

Short instructions for the handling of minefields in SPWAW:


Mine clearing:

All infantry units
(-> crews, rifle squads, scouts ...)
can clear mines in the hex they are in.

Engineer units
(-> engineer squads, mine tanks)
can clear mines in the hex they are in
AND in the hex they are facing (right click).

Mines will be cleared at a rate of 2-4 per unit and turn,
IF the surpression of the unit is not too high.


Mine spotting:

A mine tank will allways spot mines in the hex it is in.

Infantry units will spot mines in the hex they are in, but may take casualties from mines in the process.

Additionally, engineer units and mine clearing tanks have a chance to spot mines in adjanced hexes each turn.

High surpression will decrease spotting ability.


Artillery and mines:

Artillery can be used to detonate part of the mines in a given hex.

Hexes were mines have detonated will be marked by the skull.


Mine attack:

Mines can attack units on entering AND on leaving the hex.
So don't move a unit out of a known minefield, or you risk additional casualties.

Even mineclearing tanks are susceptible to mine attack on leaving the hex !
So don't move a mine tank through a minefield; stop it when you discover mines and move on when they are cleared.

Just a comment...

What did yall think those penal batallions were for?


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The MSG

[This message has been edited by The MSG (edited October 15, 2000).]

I waited 6 turns and only had 4 of 25 hexes cleared. In one case I had 2 FO jeeps in the hex, two sherman dozers facing the hex and two engineers facing the hex. The report at the bottom of the screen would say that several units had cleard mines but not where. The majority of the hexes still were uncleared after 6 turns of waiting. I am using version 4.2 of the game. Is there a posibility of a bug on beach landing scenarios in North Africa?

BTW Nobody had a supression level over 3 during this period due to the use of massive amouts of 16 in battleship guns.

[This message has been edited by tacrews61 (edited October 15, 2000).]

tacrews,
I had the same thing happen in a beach landing (long campaign as US vs. French). What I figured out is that the AI dumped massive amounts of mines in those hexes. That's why it's taking so long to clear. If you've got an infantry unit in the hex and 3-4 dozers aiming at the hex, then you're clearing 6-7 mines a turn. Watch the message log at the end of the turn to see how many mines are being cleared. At that rate, it might take you 10 turns just to clear one hex. I handled it by surrounding each hex with infantry caught in it with dozers, then 4 turns later, I had the infantry move out. If there was a vehicle in the hex, I waited 5 turns. I only lost 2-3 soldiers and all my vehicles made it.


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Billy Yank
I don't define "my own" the way you want me to.