Value of combined unit direct fire

[Mike Abberton]

Hi,

IMHO if you fire with 4 tank platoons and a result (retreat/SP loos/Disrupting)
is given after the second shot the 2 remaining platoons stop firing and you loos no
AP points.It is the same as have you single fired and stop firing after the hit.

But the example with op-fire is true, so it is most times better to bundle firing
units.

Regards
R-TEAM

In my experience, normal SP loss and disruptions do not stop the later units in a stack from firing. I know I have double disrupted units with stack fire before. When prepping for an assault it's less of a waste, since you may very well need several "disruption" results to get the enemy's morale low enough to assault.

Retreats and eliminations do stop the rest of the stack from firing since there is no longer a target. I think blocked retreat SP losses, i.e. your shot causes a retreat result to a unit with no retreat path resulting in a SP loss, will cause the stack to stop firing, but I am not sure.

That said, my decision to stack fire or not is:

1) Am I worried about return (op) fire, particularly from a single dangerous unit. If yes, I will lean towards stack firing to get some hits in before return fire.

2) Assaulting - If I am prepping for an assault, and I think I have a shot at winning the assault. I will select fire with individual units, starting with those further from the target (to minimize the strength of op fire), preferably in hexes by themselves to minimize the risks of return fire. MG units are good for this, especially MG34/42's and 50 cals. The goal is to get all the targets in the hex disrupted for the assault.

3) Disrupted units fire - If I have a lot of disrupted units in the area, I will probably stack fire these. They are not likely to do much damage anyway, and it saves time.

4) Attrition Fire - If I don't think I can assault a hex and I am just trying to kill defenders, I will often stack fire to save time/avoid return fire.

Mike