tank ridding

[wulfir]

Anyway...that's my 2 cents worth.

Walrus..,
respect...!

[jadpanther]

I'm afraid I am one guilty of this tactic. I use tank riders most of the time. But then again I use the soviets almost exclusively. I really don't see much wrong with it, if your willing to risk your infantry to an experienced player, who will hose them down with MG and arty fire then that's your choice. If it is agreed to limit it at the begining of a game I would have no problem with that, I would just adjust my buys to adapt to it. As for elite troops, I rarely buy guards, most of the time I use the vanilla russian infantry, but I have to admit I have killed more than my share of elite troops. I fight with quantity so I'm not really an eliteist type of player, but if my opponent wants to use them no problem unless of course we agree before the game to limit them.

THat's my two cents on the subject.......like it's actually worth anything......lol........game on .........have fun.

Jad

[matxer]

I'd like to come back to the combined-arms company subject.
I'm not sure that my question was clear.
Let's say I buy a paratroop company (elite infantry): B, C, D,E.
I delete C, D et E.
Then I buy a tank platoon: C.
C0 needs to be rallied. Rally is up-down. So if A0 is away, it is up to B0 to do the job.
But B0 is infantry. It will probably fail to rally C0.
Isn't it the big drawback to mix infantry and armor in the same company ?

[Vesku]

I didn't know that officers have different rally factors for each type.

[Narwan]

I'd like to come back to the combined-arms company subject.
I'm not sure that my question was clear.
Let's say I buy a paratroop company (elite infantry): B, C, D,E.
I delete C, D et E.
Then I buy a tank platoon: C.
C0 needs to be rallied. Rally is up-down. So if A0 is away, it is up to B0 to do the job.
But B0 is infantry. It will probably fail to rally C0.
Isn't it the big drawback to mix infantry and armor in the same company ?

No, rally and unit type are separate, there are no penalties for an infantry unit rallying a armor type or vice versa. Otherwise the commander of a mech formation would have a hard time rallying half the units under his command wouldn't he? Or the inf commander with the mortars under his command?

Units do have skills related to their class and a leader can pass his score on to his subordinates on a succesful check. But the advantages of the small mixed company far outweigh that disadvantage.

[AlienXXX]

Units do have skills related to their class and a leader can pass his score on to his subordinates on a succesful check. But the advantages of the small mixed company far outweigh that disadvantage.

Is the advantage limmited to having the right mix of units grouped up in a company and geographically close to their leader or are there other hidden benefits to custom-made mixed company formations?

[Walrus]

Hi Guys

Cesar,
surely it is advantage enough to have a mixed formation at the right place at the right time.
What other advantage do you need for doing this mixing of troops types?

Matxer,
Your questions have related to a "normal" mixing of formations to make a mixed company.

When I mentioned Hawks (an old player, very talented) it was in relation to an even more brutal, and IMHO gamey, form of creating mixed units.
In this method you buy a company and delete all but the company commander's platoon. This may give you one tank, or two, or perhaps three, same for infantry etc.
Then you create your mixed company without having to cross attach anyone as they are all company commanders.
It is a company in idea and deployment only, not in terms of cross attachment.
This means they have wicked rally ability and great stats.
You end up with, as an example, two tanks, two APCs, two reg infantry, an engineer, an AT team, a sniper, a scout, an armoured car...you get the picture.
A perfect hand picked uber-force.

He used these very effectively to pick off isolated flags on the map, which are often like that if you let the AI deploy the flags (I never do this anymore).
If one of these forces advanced against an isolated platoon of infantry holding a couple of flags on the flank...you know who got toasted :-)

BTW, he was an expert at this game and could waste you whether he used these formations or standard companies.
I do not wish to infer that he was only a gamey player.
In fact he was so excellent that some thought he must be cheating.
He was not.
He just know the game and the units and how to play...better than all his opponents.

Anyway, just wanted to clear that up a bit.
Interesting point by Narwan about the rally ability of the different branches of your force.
Very handy to know, Thanks Remco.

Cheers all

[matxer]

But snipers and scouts for example can't be company commander's platoon.
So you need some cross-attachement, don't you ?

[Walrus]

But snipers and scouts for example can't be company commander's platoon.
So you need some cross-attachement, don't you ?

Hi Matxer
Depending on what era and nation there are plenty of infantry companies that have scouts or a sniper, or for that matter a HMG or mortar, in the company HQ platoon.

However, sometimes that is not the case and yes, you may have to cross attach a couple of units here and there.

The point I was trying to make was that by buying full companies and then deleting all but the HQ platoon, you can build a formidable small company and pretty much use only company commanders (and the rest of their HQ platoon) to do it, without really having to worry about cross attaching anyone.....and still have very good rally ability.

I was trying to point out that as a very gamey tactic as opposed to buying a tank Co, deleting the last platoon, and the cross attaching a Mech Inf platoon to get a combined arms company all under the same commander.
As long as it is agreed with both players, I find this to be acceptable and not gamey at all.

I do though, try to use standard company formations where I can, and perhapos just delete a few platoons here and there when I do not have many points to work with.
In my mind that is kind of like real life attrition. I guess it would be rare for units to have their full compliment of troops at all times in a campaign.
So it feels OK to me.

Cheers

[AlienXXX]

;)

just to say thank you to all that have participated in the poll and shared their views.
It was great to read the comments of more experienced players on the use of tank ridding in SP and also in real life situations.