SMOKE

12-03-2006, 10:01 PM,

Ahhhh smoke screens eh?

Nothing like a good smoke screen to cover those advances which would otherwise be made across open ground. Especially handy for attack missions where you can block all LOS to everyhing with a huge smoke barrage and then charge your men down the middle of the map. Off course once the smoke clears it aint such a stroll in the park as the defenders will be all around you... LOL

How do you guys best utilize smoke....?

What are some of the rules governing how long it will stay around... does wind make much difference etc.?

Bootie

Kelen · 12-04-2006, 01:21 AM,

Simply, to stop people shooting at me.

Smoke from on-board mortars is very good at stopping Tanks and guns shooting you up. Drop a couple of rounds a few metres in front of them and they're knackered. Gives you the opportunity to put them moves on them whilst the smoke clears of whilst they move.

Off-board smoke if good at covering an advance/assault. Drop in on open ground to cover moves betwen cover, or drop it on an enemy position that you wish to assault. Prevents him mowing down your troops as they advance and means that you should get firepower superiority against each of his squads as they will not be able to support each other.

Ratzki · 12-04-2006, 07:47 AM,

Light HE from FO's are really only good for smoke most of the time. Unless you can catch the enemy in the open, small HE is very limited in effect so smoke is it's only function in my forces. Don't forget smoke from direct fire like shermans and on board mortars for the quick deploy screens.

Rico (FGM) · 12-04-2006, 07:48 PM,

Read somewhere that Germans on Eastern Front when defending used to fire smoke BEHIND the forward attacking enemy units to silhouette them against the lighter smoke to make them better targets for MG and AT gun fire.... also to cut them off from their supporting fire... not sure that would work in CM.

Fubar · 12-05-2006, 12:32 AM,

I hate it when i forget to check the weather details before letting an arty spotter spend 60 seconds firing smoke rounds just to have the whole lot blow away in a few seconds.......poof. :rolleyes:

Soldier · 12-05-2006, 01:29 AM,

Speaking of using small cal ind fire weapons for smoke.
Thinking along those lines as well, used 75mm howitzers for quite some time. Until I've realized that the 81mm mortars have much weaker explosive charge versus then75mm weapon.
So now my 81mm mortars are given the smoke task, almost exclusively.

DerBlitzer · 12-06-2006, 09:06 AM,

When I first used smoke during an assault, I put down the smoke rounds and advanced my men across the path I was hoping to block with smoke, not realizing that it takes a while before the smoke develops into an effective white cloud. Needless to say, my men had some trouble.

Now I lay down smoke one turn in advance of when I want to use it, to ensure it's there. But does anyone know how long it actually takes for smoke to develop fully after the rounds land? Depends on the weather, too, I guess.

Another dumb mistake I did once was to leave the smoke visuals turned off, or at a minimum. I kept launching smoke rounds with mortars, and since it was dry and clear with no breeze, I couldn't understand why my smoke never appeared. Well, it was there, I just wasn't seeing it because I had the option turned off, so this changed my strategy for the worse. Not sure what this might be equivalent to on a real battlefield...having dirty glasses?