CMx2 tactical notes and observations

[Toblakai]

After reading this test I don’t understand the benefit of the skill motivation, if elite units will fight till the end. Normally it’s not the characteristic of an elite unit to fight till the end. It’s more a fanatic characteristic.

[PoorOldSpike]

The Motivation settings are-
Fanatic
Extreme
High
Normal
Low
Poor

Basically 'Fanatics' will stand their ground and die rather than retreat, but 'Poors' will retreat if things get hot, and the other ratings will behave on a sliding scale.
The Motivation settings are completely different from the troop quality ratings, for example not all Elites need be Fanatics.

[PoorOldSpike]

ATG LOS OVER LOW BOCAGE, HEDGE, BRICK WALL and RURAL STONE WALL

1- The Red Thunder test setup, Veteran level, everybody on short arcs to prevent any firing as this is a spotting test not a combat test.
After a couple of turns the stationary unbuttoned PzIVH's and the Observer team begin spotting all the Russian ATG's, except for 2 behind the Low Bocage.
Conclusion- Low Boc is the best cover..



2- The ATG's behind the Rural wall, note the barrel of the 45 appears to poke through the stonework, but it's just an abstract thing and has no effect on LOS. All 3 guns have LOS on all the panzers-



3- The Brick wall. Here again the 45 has LOS despite seemingly having its barrel in the wall, and all the guns can see the panzers-



4- The Hedge, all the guns have LOS on the panzers-

[PoorOldSpike]

5- Low bocage, all the guns can see the panzers but note you have to poke their barrels through it or they won't see anything-



6- This confirms the 45 ATG has LOS even though it's barrel appears to be poking through the Rural wall. (it also has LOS poking through the Brick wall)



7- The PzIVH has clear LOS to all the guns behind the Rural wall because it's impossible to hide the ATG's, the most they can hope for is that enemy tanks will be slow to spot them because of their small size, allowing them to get off a couple of shots before they're spotted-



8- Likewise, one of the other PzIVH's has clear LOS to all the guns behind the Brick wall-

[PoorOldSpike]

9- And this PzIVH sees all the guns behind the Hedge-



10- but this PzIVH can only spot 1 gun behind the Low bocage as the other 2 guns are unspotted, confirming that LB gives excellent cover-




11- all the guns behind LB have excellent LOS through it-

[PoorOldSpike]

12- Remember you have to have the gun barrels poking through the Low bocage or they won't have LOS, as this view confirms when I moved them backwards a little-



13- but if all the other guns are moved back a little they DO still have LOS over Rural, Brick and Hedge even if they're not up against the wall like this-


Conclusions-
a- ATG's (including the tiny 45mm) have LOS over Rural and Brick walls, Hedges, and through Low bocage.
b- The guns only get partial cover because their gun shields stick up like sore thumbs over the walls and hedge, but that might buy them enough time to fire first before the enemy spot them.
c- Low bocage is the best cover because it's tall and the gun shields don't stick up above it.

[PoorOldSpike]

GUNS IN LIGHT FOREST
(The game doesn't allow them to be placed in Heavy Forest)
This is a streamlined condensation of a Red Thunder test I did in post 31+.

1- The Germans face the Light Forest and don't spot a sausage-



2- but lurking in there is this Russian 76mm ATG and a 2-man observer team.
The 3 German PzIVH's are red circled-



3- I select the ATG and sweep his targetting line around to get some idea of what he can see. He sees one Panzer clear as a bell..



4- but as I sweep the target line around to the right, it's blocked by trunks and shrubs, preventing him seeing the other two Panzers.


Conclusion-
Although Light forest gives good concealment for guns, individual treetrunks and bushes might prevent him getting clear LOS over the whole field.

[A Canadian Cat]

Conclusion-
Although Light forest gives good concealment for guns, individual treetrunks and bushes might prevent him getting clear LOS over the whole field.

Yep, just what you want. You want your AT guns to be able to see a small sector of the open ground. Multiple guns with slight overlap is ideal. You want to make it so that the enemy must put assets at risk to get a shot at your position which means you do not want your position too exposed to a wide area.

[PoorOldSpike]

FLAME, TANKHUNTERS AND AT-RIFLES AGAINST ARMOUR TEST
(Red Thunder)

1- The Germans can't spot anybody behind that Brick wall (circled) even though they're unbuttoned, because I've got the Russians on Hide..



2- There are my Russkis. Notice hiders can still spot to a limited degree because presumably they occasionally raise their heads to take a peek and get a general idea of where the enemy are..



3- I un-Hide them and now they can see the German force in detail..



4- And likewise the Germans can now see them. I've given everybody on both sides a short arc to make them hold their fire for the moment for the purposes of this test..

[PoorOldSpike]

5- The Flamethrower Team. Notice the ominous canister of inflammable liquid on the guys back..



6- The Tankhunter Team. They carry big AT-grenades..



7- The AT-Rifle Team..



8- I bring up one of the PzIVH's, remove the Flame guys arc, and he squirts the tank about 6 times over the next 3 turns, and both he and his mate chuck a couple of standard grenades for good measure.
(Note there's no special graphic for the nozzle of the flamethrower, it's just a standard rifle graphic)
Result- tank immobilised by the grens or flame, with no crew injury..