Speed in Meeting Engagements

[Der Kuenstler]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! While waiting for the turkey to finish I thought it would be interesting to start a thread about speed in meeting engagements.

The meeting engagement is one of the most popular battles played here. Some dislike playing them because of the obligatory race to the flags. Well, if you are forced into a race you might as well win that race! The reason is that the moment you park your boys around those flags, and your opponent realizes he is late getting there, the battle has now become an attack QB with you as defender. His problem is that he has no bonus units to get you out of there as in a regular attack QB - the points are even!

The key is speed. How do you get your units there faster than him? The fastest way is riding on a vehicle down a road. Pick your speed lanes - a straight road is faster than a curved one. Paved is faster than dirt. The fewer waypoints you use the better - it cuts down on time delay.

Lately, I've been trying out crack trucks. What a waste of points, you say! Yes - they cost extra but think about it - if you need to get there quick a green truck will start moving in 21 seconds. A crack truck will move in 7 seconds. Thats not counting waypoints you will need - a crack truck only adds a second delay per waypoint. Green 3 or 4+. Plus, crack vehicles will bog less and stay on task better despite small arms fire, saving you more time. In one of my QBs, I used crack trucks with a vet recon team and was downtown so fast, I had time for Christmas window shopping before his first units showed up. I could have had them on the main flag in cover IN THE FIRST MINUTE if I had had the foresight to give them disembark orders. Now look - you've got an ambush situation set up because he doesn't expect you to get there that fast. (get the trucks out of sight when they've done the job)

When on foot, the first minute everybody whose speed is "fast" runs. Just make a long run line through as clear of terrain as you can find - no extra waypoints - they add time. (Of course use some sense - when possible stay in the low areas out of obvious sight.) Running up a hiil will slow and tire the men quicker. The more cover you go through, the slower and more tired you will be. In the first turn, don't send your boys crashing through a bunch of woods. Run them over open ground, down a road is even better - the enemy can't see you well the first minute anyway. Think track meet - smooth surfaces. When setting up - and you have the option to set up in front of rocky or clear ground -choose clear -it's a realistic game - which would YOU rather run through? Ever turn an ankle on a rock? The second minute you will see most of your boys show "tiring" - change their orders to "move" now. You don't want them tired - that will slow them down. Be more careful "move to contact" as you get closer to the flag. Even when in the firezone - don't be afraid to run say - 20 meters or less - instead of advancing - to get to some good cover. You'll find that a lot of the time when you are running a short distance he won't have time to aim at you or will only get one shot off and miss.

A note on disembarking - there is a faster way. Use only one waypoint - into the nearest cover - on run. As long as your first waypoint is within 30 meters or so of the truck, they'll hit the ground running. That works for towed guns too. Many players hit the first waypoint right by the vehicle, sometimes to the back of the vehicle. Watch what happens - the guys jump off and run backwards, turn around, then run to the second waypoint. You've just lost a few precious seconds there.

When starting off with a towed gun or HMGs or whatever on your truck, you must go farther than 30 meters before the first stop! If you go less than 30 meters, thinking you'll stop at that nice heavy tree clump up there, the gun crew will just unload at the start line and push the gun up to where you wanted the truck to stop, costing you precious time and exposing the slow gun to fire.

Another way to beat your opponent to the flags is to slow him down. Set up some of your HMGs, FOs, and infantry guns to cover his likely approach lanes. 75mm is good for this because it's cheap to buy and comes down fast. MGs won't hurt him much from that far away but they will make him stop and perhaps duck - that's all the extra time you need if you are running.

Another thing - if there is a flag out there that is placed to his advantage - let him have it. You don't need all of the flags- only most of them - to win. If he has paved roads to it in cover and you have to run through swampland, forget it. Let him have that one and pound it with your artillery later.

It's true that someone will say- "Let him have the flags - I'll just pound it with artillery." I'm just talking about getting a light recon force in there first - you can't afford trucks for everybody anyway - bring your heavier stuff up later.

That's all I can think of for now - anybody else have a speed tip?