How much is learned?

[Ratzki]

Having played a number of people over the last several years, I have noticed that there is a subtle yet very important difference in how the guys at the top of the ladder use their units compared to the rest of us. It does not take very long to learn the effectiveness of the various tanks, guns, artillery, and such, but these are not what set the top players apart. Same goes for tactics, we all know that we should use some form of over-watch while moving, use the terrain to our best advantage and concentrate fire where possible to overwhelm our enemy, but this too, is not what makes the good players good. There are excellent posts on every subject that you can think of, threads on strategies to bust bunkers, fire mortars, and traverse through gaps in the terrain tiles, but still most of us seem to lack the one thing that could take us to the top of our game. It’s out there, I see it, often it shows itself in comments that I make to myself while watching a turn play out on the screen; “Crud, his armour got out of there just in time.”… “Now why would there be a gun there?”… I have arrived just a little too late.”… “It all fell apart for me last turn for some reason.” What you see over and over is the good players doing what should be done when they should be doing it. There is no hesitation, no pondering, they don’t wait too long to move of fire, and they do not fire too soon. In their games, nothing is wasted, not movement, fire, artillery rounds, nothing. It is this intangible skill that they have that makes them come out on top time and again. Something that cannot be taught, like good Generals, they feel it. I think that some players just have it, that ‘what it takes’ to see, really see, the battlefield and all that is going on between the forces being used. When you get an opportunity to play a game against one of these guys, see how often you find yourself talking to the screen in disbelief.
My question is...
Are great generals made that way by learning, or are they born that way?

[WarHammer11A]

I think the majority of high quality leaders are born with that skill, and a few have learnd the skills.

[Mikey_FGM]

The CM battlefield is a chaotic, complicated space.

What makes a A-class player? I wouldn't know, I'm hardly qualified... But you got me thinking, so here goes...

-Ability to read terrain: Identify likely approach routes, find dead (hidden) ground, identify potential kill zones, get down to low views and fly the terrain, with an excessive abuse of the LOS tool.

-Have a battle plan (to match terrain): Once the terrain has been mapped, the A-class player will formulate a battle plan to most effectively utilize the natural battlefield.
What's the best path to the objective?
Where's my opponent likely to defend the objective from?
Where's the best overwatch positions?
Where do I expect my opponent's AT assets to be?
Where can I setup mortars to neutralize those assets?

-Understand Game mechanics (to match battle plan): What are T-70's best at? What can the PZIII L/60 be expected to face off with? If I attack his 4 PZIVH's with my 3 T-34/85's, in one engagement, what do I anticipate the outcome to be (Taking into consideration crew quality, hull down positions, angle of penetration, turret speed?)

The A-Class player can READ the flow of battle like tea leaves, ANTICIPATE his opponents moves before even HE thinks of them, and expertly APPLY his encyclopedic knowledge of game mechanics and unit match up's...

[Jobu88]

"Even a bad plan is better than no plan at all." - Mikhael Tal

I have seen the difference just having a plan in mind makes, compared to looking at every turn by itself. Not that you always stick to the plan 100%, or even scrap it altogether based on circumstances. But having some idea of how you're going to do what you need to do does wonders. I still play games where I'm too lazy to spend the time coming up with a plan & that's usually where things go seriously awry. you can still get your a@@ kicked , but as least you will have set yourself up for success if you take the time to plan what you want to do.

[PoorOldSpike]

I've played the top-ranked guys in many different clubs and they all play exactly the same! because they've all worked out in their own minds exactly how CM should be played for maximum effect and whenever I start a game with one of them I think- "I better watch myself, this guy knows how to punch!"

I don't know if such people are natural born killers or whether anybody can do it with a little training.
Certainly CM isn't a complicated game, I automatically play the same way each game, simply 'going through the drills' and manage to win more than I lose so I must be doing something right, so if I can do it anybody else can..:)
The victorious Roman army used to 'go through the drills' too, fighting according to the same basic set of established drills on any battlefield anywhere in the world time and again with excellent results-
"Their drills are bloodless battles, their battles bloody drills." -Flavius Josephus, Jewish Historian, AD 37-101
(Hey I was born and bred in the old Roman garrison town of Leicester England so maybe I've got centurion blood in me, ha ha ha)

If there's one piece of advice I'd give to CM newcomers it's- "fight with your brain first and your weapons second", in other words just good old plain common sense, it's not rocket science..:)

Patton- "Inflict the maximum amount of wound,death and destruction on the enemy in the minimum amount of time."

Guderian- "Punch with your fist and not with your fingers spread"

US Grant- "The art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving"

Duke of Wellington- "The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill"

Lt Col Cyril Joly -"The more you use [tanks], the fewer you lose"

Napoleon- "The battlefield is a scene of constant chaos. The winner will be the one who controls that chaos, both his own and the enemies"

Archilocus, 650 B.C.- "I have a high art, I hurt with cruelty those who would damage me"

Samurai general Kenshin Uesugi (1530-78)- "Go to the battlefield firmly confident of victory and you will come home with no wounds whatsoever"

Ho Chi Minh- "Whoever should wish to seize Vietnam must kill us to the last man"

[fluidwill]

Use of terrain definately

Confidence

Patience

Efficient use of resources, sledgehammer is not used to smash nut, nutcracker is brought up and sledgehammer is kept for strongpoint down the road.

[Extraordinarius]

Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught in books: but the irrational tenth is like the kingfisher flashing across the pool, and that is the test of generals.

-T. E. Lawrence

[Extraordinarius]

I seem to be more of a fish than a kingfisher.

[Lord Bane]

I think that CM is a game of timing. The movement, formations, knowing your units capabilities and that of the enemies is all important. But in the end, the player whose timing is better usually prevails.
Lord Bane

[Der Kuenstler]

Pay attention. The elite players really watch the battlefield - even estimating what force kit you've picked with great accuracy. They also play fewer games so they spend more time on each turn. They gather more information that way - so they make better decisions.