Best Uses/Practices for: Halftracks

[RedDevil]

What good are these thin skinned bullet magnets? Can't you figure out how to keep them alive once they make contact with the enemy? Why waste those buy points on this mechanized meat wagon?

This covers the basic version of the Halftrack, not the modified gun carrying versions or mortar weapons carriers.

Halftracks are a good general purpose transport unit, and MANY come with a MG that can pin down enemy INF and make armor button up. A Halftrack unit is certainly a better buy than a truck unit or a jeep when you need to transport those ATGs up to the front because it can fight back instead of becoming an instant victim in a fire fight.
It can also haul another small unit like a LMG to give INF support to your ATG while it positions for an ambush. Other than that, their main purpose is to provide transport for guns and armor protection to the passengers when moving up from a distance. They are NOT intended for front line combat situations

HOWEVER you can utilize them in some ways to benefit your purchase once the drop off is made.
Use them to shoot up INF that is moving in the open, they PIN these types of units quite easily. You can also attempt to button up armor but you'd best be MOVING to another location out of LOS while you do it.

They can however ward off INF rifle fire and some MG34, maxim, and vickers MGs shooting at 500 meters or further out, anything closer and it's a wreck.

HTs are good for long range covering fire only, nothing close and personal as they fall victim to just about anything from a hand/ rifle grenade and up.

You should use them where they can cover your fellow INF units from advancing enemy INF units and out of sight of everything else. If you cannot get something like this suitable, it's best to make like a turkey and get the flock out. Head out of the main battle areas to cover the flanks or rear flags and provide INTEL on any enemy units making the dare to sneak in.

Standing toe to toe with any thing that carries a Gun bigger than 14.5 mm is a BAD idea, as is trying to make an MG42 or a .50 cal HMG give up shooting at you at medium ranges. The HT becomes a wreck quite quickly when used improperly. Try to keep your HTs alive by not trying to use them as recon cars or INF support weapons.
Their points add up at the end of the battle, just like everything else.


Some tricks for HT use is to "allow" your enemy to see them moving somewhere, thus forcing him to decide upon meeting that threat with some units that might make his attack/defense weaker or gambling that you're not pressing anything in that area. He can't see if you have passengers or not, only if you are carrying guns.

Another thing to do is to dart them forward and attract enemy armor attention while your armor moves up to engage. This is a bit tricky if you don't get out of the LOS quickly enough to avoid being toasted, but you must remain in LOS long enough to attract his gunner to target you. This gives your armor a better chance at a 1 or 2 shot advantage while he re-targets.

Any other uses out there? Let's hear about them.