Mine Clearing and lanes?

[Ubercat]

The manual, at the top of page 46, states

"As long as the Engineer or Mine clearing unit stays in the minefield, at the start of the next turn the unit is considered to have cleared lanes at that point and other units can safely enter the minefield in Travel mode without suffering a minefield attack."

This doesn't appear to work as described, because the last two times I did this, the T-mode unit suffered losses from the mines. I moved the mine clearing engineers in first, waited a turn until the mines had reduced a level and the word "Mines" was no longer in all-caps, and then moved a T-mode battalion in.

Does anyone have a more up to date explanation than the manual about how this works?

[jonnymacbrown]

The mines can be in various strengths; 1,2,3 . The E unit will only clear one step at a time. jonny

[Philippe]

Last time I remember being in this situation was over a year ago while playing Smolensk '41. My imperfect memory is that I was able to send units through the mines in travel mode without hitting mines the turn after engineers entered the hex and started clearing.

So, what game are you playing and are you sure it has been updated with the latest patch?

If this really is something that has crept into the code it should be squelched.

Hitting a mine has a pretty distinctive sound and stops you in your tracks. Are you sure that is what was happening?

[Mr Grumpy]

Was the engineer unit disrupted? I have used them in this way lots of times and never been attacked by mines?

[Ubercat]

The strength of the mines is not mentioned in the passage I quoted, so I don't think that it's relevant to the situation.

I double checked the last time and the engineers weren't disrupted. It's too late to recheck the first instance so they may have been.

I'm playing Smolensk '41 and I'm pretty sure I got the latest patch. It's version 1.16 copyrighted 2011. I'll keep an eye (and ear) out to see if it happens again. Thanks, guys.

[Ricky B]

I have seen this happen with more than one unit moving through at a time - they can't be over the road stacking limit or an attack will happen. But it seems as if you moved a single unit through. I think the engineer is ignored for this check, but I think even deployed units besides the engineer will result in an attack also, if it puts the forces over the road limit.

I will run some tests, but if any of this applies let us know!

Thanks
Rick

[Philippe]

The strength of the mines is not mentioned in the passage I quoted, so I don't think that it's relevant to the situation.

I think it is sometimes helpful not to think of the user's manual as the rules themselves but as merely descriptive of the rules. The manual's merely a guide (albeit a pretty accurate one) rather than chapter and verse. There are a few things that aren't in it yet, but they will get there eventually.

[Ricky B]

Good point Philippe - and that reminds me. The engineer unit must spend at least one turn actually in mine removal move, or the mines may already be penetrated, I think. Otherwise no lanes are cleared and the mines will impact units.

Rick