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I've been dabbling in armoured brigade and it's hooking me more and more but I am awful at it. Take the first campaign for instance --the one with the two river crossings. I can win but not without very heavy losses. Everything that goes right gets obliterated and I usually win because of stacking the left to take the two objectives and abandoning the right --everything tanky just gets nailed and I can't seem to the expose any of the units doing it.

If someone could give me some tips on the following:

1. How do you take the right? My scout troop I send down there is not great at revealing the tank busters down there (and move slow!). I've tried screening with smoke. I've tried walking the scouts in. Any tank/BTR that goes down that path (in the forest or just east) just gets destroyed.

2. Effective scouting --I find my scout units move very slow and are not great at revealing enemies prior to them blowing up my tanks. The scout troop at the river crossing I send south. The ones in the middle I send S/SE. The ones on the right river crossing --I send one into the woods and one down to the right, but they don't find much (and I know stuff is there because they will destroy my tanks if I go there).

2. How to smoke. Do you smoke on top of the enemy, just in front, between you and the enemy?

3. How to use mechanized infantry effectively? I find my guys are buttoned up the entire time and either unload at an objective after everything is already dead via other means, OR my vehicles start getting destroyed and I have to emergency unload my troops. If I unload them early just after the river crossing while in the valley and out of LOS, they move too slowly and there is far too much ground to cover to be effective for the rest of the game. If I don't unload them there, I have to have the BTR/tanks clean up in front or else they get destroyed as they get up the hill to the first objective. If I do that, well, there is no reason to unlod them! If I don't unload them and start rolling towards the second objective --same problem, vehicles start getting destroyed before I unload. I'm clearly doing something wrong.

Tips are very appreciated!

Hi there, I found AB a bit overwhelming when I first started playing, it taught me that planning is essential, what was the name of the scenario you where playing?

Hey,

I'm playing the first mission 'Walk on Water'.

1. How do you take the right? My scout troop I send down there is not great at revealing the tank busters down there (and move slow!). I've tried screening with smoke. I've tried walking the scouts in. Any tank/BTR that goes down that path (in the forest or just east) just gets destroyed.

I played this mission while ago, but from my memory, I think I pushed really slow, I crossed the river 30min+ later after game start. Also, I remember I pushed west first, try to clean up or at least suppress the center area of map, then cross east.

2. Effective scouting --I find my scout units move very slow and are not great at revealing enemies prior to them blowing up my tanks. The scout troop at the river crossing I send south. The ones in the middle I send S/SE. The ones on the right river crossing --I send one into the woods and one down to the right, but they don't find much (and I know stuff is there because they will destroy my tanks if I go there).

Scouting really depends on situation and map. From that mission, I think I mostly ran scouts but sometimes I gave them scout move. Again, I really moved my tanks and vehicle slow, wait until recons or infantry find something.

2. How to smoke. Do you smoke on top of the enemy, just in front, between you and the enemy?

It depends. When I push, I smoke on enemy position. When I retreat, I smoke on my units position or possible LOS of enemy.

3. How to use mechanized infantry effectively? I find my guys are buttoned up the entire time and either unload at an objective after everything is already dead via other means, OR my vehicles start getting destroyed and I have to emergency unload my troops. If I unload them early just after the river crossing while in the valley and out of LOS, they move too slowly and there is far too much ground to cover to be effective for the rest of the game. If I don't unload them there, I have to have the BTR/tanks clean up in front or else they get destroyed as they get up the hill to the first objective. If I do that, well, there is no reason to unlod them! If I don't unload them and start rolling towards the second objective --same problem, vehicles start getting destroyed before I unload. I'm clearly doing something wrong.

One problem of that mission is that, your mech infanty are in company. They are too big to do micro, not easy to control, and in this game, you cannot control platoons once you purchased as company. So usually I prefer to buy platoon from match making. In that mission, I tried to control 3 vehicles at each, despite of increased delay time. I think it is ridiculous to control company units all at once.
For this mission, I think you need to be patient, at least I really tried to be patient, approach slow, try to detect them as much as I can before I cross river. From my company, I controlled 3 vehicles and infantry something similar to recon team. That way I detected several RCLs before river crossing. In short, I really tried to be careful and slow. I also moved tanks really slowly, and tried to use tanks as a sniping force as long as possible.

Forget to mention, but use your force's formation & SOP wisely. I mostly use free formation during assault but this really depends.