Matrix Games Forums

Hey there!

Okay well first off, this game is great, fantastic, I love it! Anyhow onto the questions!

Firstly I'm not a huge WWII buff, and I'm still pretty new to Combat Mission, actually I'm pretty new to wargaming and WWII in general. So here's my first question, in Combat Mission I've come to assume that a hull down position is a good thing, and I've figured that hull down is where the front of the tank hull is positioned towards the target as to minimize any damage taken from shell hits, am I correct? Then here's the part the pertains to SPWaW is there anyway to put tanks into the position? I ask this because I was decimated in the tutorial mission because my tanks were caught in very compromising positions. I hate to say it but one of my tanks was hit in the rear hull.

Another question, what is the best use of halftracks? I figured they'd be good as infantry support but a german rifle team didn't seem to have much trouble taking them out and well those panzers ripped them to pieces.

Ah yes I almost forgot this, I'd better ask before I forget when I'm almost done. Is there anyway to attatch guns to trucks or half-tracks? Because I had a perfectly decent 57mm AT Gun sitting at my start point just waiting to do something. It was kind of evil I would have loved to have put it in the village or something where it could suprise those enemy panzers.

Jeeps? I had one jeep, I thoguht it might have been my HQ unit but it was just a plain old jeep. They have awesome move distances, in one instance I used it to grab a victory point before an enemy PzIV could then I easily took the enemy panzer out with a Sherman. What do you chaps use jeeps for?

Infantry... What's the best use of infantry, I figure it's best used against soft targets like halftracks, trucks and jeeps. Oh, is there anyway to load infantry onto a halftrack?

There was alot of stuff I didn't check out but I believe I stumbled across a screen called command screen with all the different commanding offices in my force and different options like artillery strike and such. I should probably read over the manual after I get it but I wanted to ask what this screen was for now ;c)

Also if you have any tips for an aspiring commander please feel free to disperse your knowledge upon me eh.

Cheers
~Chris

Gumby3d:Your first question is easy, but first let me welcome you on board, Right click in the direction you want tank to face, not on the tank though. Now go to www.nwbattalion.com/tutorials.html/spwawttlc/ttlmain/html and you will find training courses for newbies. I Highly recommend these. They are also available on Tankheads site also...Hope this helps.

Hull down is addressed in the manual - do a search - it is a bit abstract, but can be done.

THe manual comes withthe download - its a .pdf in the main folder.

[ May 21, 2001: Message edited by: Paul Vebber ]

Originally posted by Gumby3D:
Hey there!
Firstly I'm not a huge WWII buff, and I'm still pretty new to Combat Mission, actually I'm pretty new to wargaming and WWII in general. So here's my first question, in Combat Mission I've come to assume that a hull down position is a good thing, and I've figured that hull down is where the front of the tank hull is positioned towards the target as to minimize any damage taken from shell hits, am I correct?

Hull down is when the tank's hull is behind a ridge or some other structure, so that only the turret is vulnerable to fire. In sp-waw, you are generally considered hull down if you're unit is "in cover" or "entrenched". I don't know if there are any other situations where this is the case.

As for keeping you tanks facing the target, while you have your tank selected, riight click either on the target hex or on a hex in between your tank and the target. Your tank will turn to face the hex you right clicked on.

Another question, what is the best use of halftracks? I figured they'd be good as infantry support but a german rifle team didn't seem to have much trouble taking them out and well those panzers ripped them to pieces.

1. Halftracks usually don't stand a chance against tanks. If you've got one with an anti-tank gun on it, you may be able to ambush a tank, but don't count on lasting to long if you miss...

2. Halftracks aren't really meant to get into the thick of things on the front line. Most tanks can kill them with ease, and infantry tends to have an easy time with them as well. (particularly if you are german and subject to .50 cal/12.7mm machineguns... rip h/t's to shreds) I find that if their held a little ways back from the front, they can provide some supressing fire for your infantry while avoiding most enemy infantry fire. If your really paranoid about losing h/t's, hide them in some woods behind the lines or behind a hill or something, and only bring them out when you need to move the infantry up quickly.

Ah yes I almost forgot this, I'd better ask before I forget when I'm almost done. Is there anyway to attatch guns to trucks or half-tracks?

Just like loading infantry. However, you have to look at the carry capacity of the vehicle you want to use, and the carry cost of the weapon you are loading. These are three digit numbers you can find in the unit information if you right click on a unit. There are basically two distinct values in this three digit number. The first digit is sort of like a carry class:

0 - infantry
1 - light guns
2 - big guns/tanks

The last two digits are basically how many men can be carried.

So if you have a gun thats carry weight is 104, you could use a truck that's carry capacity is 104 or better. If you try to use, say a jeep thats capacity is 4 (that's 004), you could technically carry the crew, but you can't carry the gun, so you can't load that weapon. Similarly, if you had a big gun with a weight of 208, and a transport that only carries 206, you could carry the gun, but there isn't enough room to carry the crew, so you can't carry the weapon.

Jeeps? I had one jeep, I thoguht it might have been my HQ unit but it was just a plain old jeep. They have awesome move distances, in one instance I used it to grab a victory point before an enemy PzIV could then I easily took the enemy panzer out with a Sherman. What do you chaps use jeeps for?

Jeeps can be used for a lot of things. It's personaly preference. Some people use em for recon (great with that high movement rate), some jeeps can carry light mortars too, some have MG's mounted on em. I find that they die too damn quick if you get 'em into a firefight, so I try to keep em away from action. I'll use em to put recon teams near where I think the enemy is and then I keep em out of the way until a recon unit needs to get out of a bad situation.

Infantry... What's the best use of infantry, I figure it's best used against soft targets like halftracks, trucks and jeeps. Oh, is there anyway to load infantry onto a halftrack?

Loading things onto trucks and halftracks - put the carrier into the same hex as the unit you want to load. Then hit L, and select the unit you want to load. If you want to load more than one unit, move the carrier to the new unit you want to load. Now select this new unit, hit L, and then select the carrier. If you select the carrier first, and hit L, you'll unload the previous unit instead of loading the new one.

As for the best use of infantry, it depends entirely on the situation at hand, and personal preference. As far as my opinion goes:

1. Ambushing Tanks: Infantry can hide real well, and tanks without infantry support have a hard time seeing them. If a tank gets right next to an infantry squad, the squad will (if it's supression is good and low) assault the tank. Some infantry (like engineers and special forces) have devilish anti tank weapons, like flamethrowers, molotov cocktails, and demolition charges, which can increase the chances of assaults succeding. If they have a weapon like a bazooka or panzershrek, they can ambush a tank from even further away. However, if the tank has infantry accompanying it, the accompanying infantry can help protect the tank, leading to point number two.

2. Combined Arms: Tanks should never go anywhere without infantry support, primarily because can't see for beans. Infantry can find things much better than tanks can, and can spot and remove ambushes before they can hit your tank. The ability to see other infantry leads to point 3.

3. Killing other infantry. This is sort of obvious. Most infantry weapons (rifles, BARs, machine Guns etc.) are primarily for shooting people, not armored vehicles.

Basically, the idea is that tanks and infantry need to support each other. Tanks protect the infantry from enemy tanks and provide support when the infantry runs into stubborn spots on the line. Infantry protects the tanks by hunting down enemy infantry ambushes that could silence your big guns before they ever have a chance to fire.

There was alot of stuff I didn't check out but I believe I stumbled across a screen called command screen with all the different commanding offices in my force and different options like artillery strike and such

This is pretty much for setting waypoints. As for artillery strikes and such, you'll see a bunch of buttons on the right side of the screen. There should be pop-up messages if you leave the cursor over the button, it should tell you what the button is for. There shold be a pdf in the directory you installed the game to, or, you should be able to get to the manual from the launcher screen. It will answer most of the questions you had about How to Do Things.

Welcome to the board

1. Use of halftrack is best for transport troop or AT gun. They also are good at suppressing enemy infantry at more than one hex range. If your right click on the halftrack or truck icon, it would give info on the weight/carry capacity. The carry capacity:
a. if 0##, means it could carry ## of infantry (013 carry 13 men)
b. if 1##, means it could carry a small gun and ## men(guns with weight 1##, here the ## indicate the number of men in the gun crew)
c. if 2##, means it could carry a large gun and ## of men (guns with weight 2##.)
To load men or weapon into a vehicle, it have to be in the same hex. Use shift-click to move a unit into the same hex as another unit.

2. Jeeps are good for fast reconnaisance and grab victory hexes.

3. Infantry are best to take out other infantry and if arm with anti tank weapons, to take out tanks.

You will develop your own style of play as you get better in the game, and the manual is a good source of information.

In case your lazy like me and don't like reading long things on the computer print the manual out. It is much easier to work with during a game.
Hull down is a great postion to be in. What it is is where your tank gets behind cover so that about all that is showing is the turret. Keep in mind the thickest armor is in the front with the weakest being top and rear.

half tracks are good for transport and standoff infantry support against infantry type troops. ie don't get too close. to load put transport and item to be loaded in the same hex. click on the item to be loaded then hit "L" then click on the transport. sometimes the items are to heavy to load or are already loaded.

Your HQ is the AO unit. it us usally on foot in campagins so I let it hitch a ride on the BO unit if it can transport.

I use infantry against infantry and tanks. I also use it to support tanks and vice versa. Infantry and tanks should be mutally supporting. so don't go charging towards a victory hex or you will get them killed because of no support. You learned that lesson with a jeep. I use jeeps to transport bazooka teams up behind cover then move the bazooka teams on foot from there.

I hope I answered some of your questions however I am a newbie too and have been playing for a few months (I'm still playing ver 4.4).

Enjoy and don't be afraid to experiment to see what combinations work for you.

Good luck

Wow thanks for all the help mates!

I really appreciate it.
=c)

I keep getting my butt kicked, but that's prolly just cause I'm really excited at the moment and I'm trying to attack too fast meaning I'm not using combined arms tactics ;c)

Thanks everyone for the tips and help!

Cheers
~Chris

Yeah,
That's another hint - Go slow.
Normally, moving AFVs at their maximum rate only makes a target-rich environment for the other guy's AT weaponry.
Move in platoons using overwatch. This means one platoon moves forward while the other(s) engage any targets that appear.
With APCs, basically try to keep them at least 2-3 hexes away (100-150m)from the enemy infantry. This will prevent a close assault, and at least reduce the accuracy of infantry AT weapons.
Speaking of infantry, they do a great job (generally) of suppressing AT guns-another reason to use combined arms.
I would recommend playing with Command Control "off" at least until you get used to how the user interface works and the game flows.
NB: You've joined one of the best gaming forums on the web..

Hi and welcome to SPWAW. As in CM what works in combat will work in the game. What happens to jeeps in CM will happen to jeeps in SPWAW. The reason is simple: Both game engines were crafted by serious wargamers, not game company employees with a new project to push out the door. The manual is a very valuable read. The depth and scope of SPWAW is huge so take your time, experiment and have fun. This forum is an excellent place to pose questions but watch out...you might catch the WW2 History bug like the rest of us and then boy will you get pissed when see a Tiger tank with T34 wheels in a movie...LOL