CMx2 tactical notes and observations

[PoorOldSpike]

PARTIAL LOS

My Sherman and a Marder are banging away at each other but their shots keep slamming into a slightly raised rail embankment-




The grey sighting line explains why; grey means they've only got partial LOS on each other because much of both machines is shielded by the embankment..




..meaning they can only see the top bit of each other-




The Marder lets one fly..




..and it drills the Shers turret, knocking it out, it had to happen sooner or later.
(Moral- Partial LOS will see most of your shots slamming into shielding terrain, but a killing shot will happen eventually)

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WHO CAN CROSS WHAT
(From the manual pages 120+, plus tests and ingame observations)

HEAVY FOREST- Infantry only
MARSH- Infantry only
DEEP FORD- Infantry only
SHALLOW FORD- Infantry + Vehs
BOCAGE and LOW BOCAGE- Impassable to all units (but look closely for small gaps as infantry can go through them)
TALL STONE WALLS- Impassable to all units
LOW WALL- Infantry jump over. Most vehs break through at immob risk. Impassable to Light vehs
WOOD FENCE- Inf jump over. Most vehs can crunch through at immob risk.
HEDGES- Inf jump over. Most vehs get through at immob risk.
FOOTBRIDGES- Infantry only
ONE-LANE ROAD STONE BRIDGE - Only medium and light vehs can cross the top.
STONE RAIL BRIDGE- ditto. Also in a test no vehs would go under it, but infantry would.
TWO-LANE ROAD STONE BRIDGE- Infantry and all vehs can go across top.

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LOW WALLS are impassable to light vehicles

I lay movement plots straight through the low wall-



But only the Sherman punches through; the others auto-plot their own routes skirting wide round the end of the wall-




FENCE
Halftrack and light tank break straight through, leaving gaps-




HEDGEROW
Halftrack scrunches through, creating a gap-




BRIDGES
Main picture-I give everything a move plot to take them straight down the rail line under the bridge and out the other side.
Inset- but only the infantry go through; the rest auto-plot around it-



But units can still shoot through bridges even though they can't move through them; here a Panther engages an allied column-

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SPEEDS

Good dry weather, flat ground, the tanks are PzIVH (lates), and the infantry are standard 9-man Grenadier squads.
I gave them all different types of movement orders and hit 'Go





At the end of the turn these were the distances covered. (Infantry circled yellow, tanks labelled white)
Note that the infantry squad on 'Slow' crawled prone, 'Move' is a walk, 'Hunt' is a shuffling crouch, 'Quick' is a jog, and 'Fast' is a run.
Infantry tire out quicker and their spotting ability worsens the faster they go.
The Assault squad split into two leapfrogging elements.




From the Manual and ingame observations:-The faster that units go, the poorer their spotting and accuracy becomes.
Tanks will fire on the move without stopping unless they're on 'Hunt' in which case they'll stop.
'Fast' and 'Quick' for tanks is apparently identical in flat dry ground like this.
Infantry will sometimes fire while moving, and sometimes stop moving. They'll always stop moving if on 'Hunt'.

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BOCAGE, LOW BOCAGE and HEDGEROWS (manual p.34)

This screenshot includes all 3 types.
Bocage and low bocage both block standard vehicle and infantry movement, and they both block LOS unless you've got your nose in it or are on a higher elevation or on the top floor of a building.
Hedgerows don't block movement or LOS.

'A'- I gave the tank a move order straight through the low boc but it ignored me and went round the left end of it, crashing through a hedgerow in the process.
'B'- I ordered the tank to crash straight through the hedgerows and it went straight through, creating gaps as it went.
(Incidentally the piles of rubble at lower left are the remains of a wall demolished by Sherman fire)


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STANDARD UNITS CAN'T GO THROUGH BOCAGE (Rhinos can)

I give our boy a move order straight through the Bocage



But he completely ignores me and goes through a gap-



Infantry ignored me too, and went through a small gap-



Some tanks (including light tanks) have wicked 'forks' welded to the front like this and are called 'Rhinos', they can rip through bocage, and other units can also use the gap.
In the setup phase in bocage country visually inspect your tanks to see if you've got any valuable rhinos among them, or you can inspect them quicker by selecting any unit and cycling through them with the '=' key to see if there's a 'fork' on any of their silhouettes)




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BOCAGE BLOCKS LOS UNLESS YOU'VE GOT YOUR NOSE IN IT (or can see over it from high ground or the top floor of a building)

He can't see jack because he's not near enough to it-



So he must get his barrel into it like this to disturb nesting birds (sky blue line denotes full LOS)-


[/QUOTE]