CMx2 tactical notes and observations

[PoorOldSpike]

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Buildings with a 2nd floor make good arty observer posts



With good LOS over bocage and hedges-


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DAMAGE READOUTS
(Noob note:- don't bother monitoring the readouts all the time, just glance at them now and again, especially if your tank is behaving oddly to try to find out why)
All games start with the 'Ammo' readout showing as default, but a more important readout is the 'Damage' readout, so click the spanner (wrench) icon for any AFV in your force and the readouts for ALL your units will change to 'Damage' for the rest of the game (unless you change them back)
Here my M5 takes a hit from a Pz IVH and we see its radio, optics and tracks damage stats (circled) have turned yellow, indicating some damage. (Green=no damage, yellow= light dam, orange= heavy dam, and a red x means kaputt)
It was purely academic as the PzIVH killed it with its next shot, but if your tanks survive combat it's useful to know if theyre carrying a damaged gun or whatever.




It works the other way too, here my tanks hammer a Stug and we can click on it to see its damage readout, it's gun and optics are both red-x'd (bust), and its tracks and radio are turning yellowy-orange to indicate some damage. (the crew bailed a second later)
(Being able to see an enemy's damage stats is probably only possible in Basic Training level which is the difficulty level I use most of the time because it's nearest to CMx1)


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SHOOT AND SCOOT
There's no actual shoot-scoot order in CMBN, but you can do it manually like this. (Noob note:- it simply means you move a short distance out of cover, shoot at the enemy, then scoot back into cover before he can return fire if he's still alive)
This enemy Panther comes trundling down the road frightening the hens, and stops-




Little does he know a Sherman is lurking behind the barn-




Let's bust his ass! First we slap a covered arc on the Sher to point the gun smack at the Panths side; the trees are too thin to block LOS-




Hit key 7 to get top view, then zoom in with mouse wheel, this is always the best view for precision move plotting.
Give him a 'Slow' waypoint-




Now click the white blob on the end of the waypoint to make it glow, then click the Pause button to throw in a 5-second pause-

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Right-click an empty area of map to get a clean slate, and issue a Reverse order to take him safely back behind the barn-




Okay he's all tooled up ready to strut his stuff, so start the turn-




Bingo, the gun swings to face the arc as he motors out and stops. He's got a 5-second pause to look around, pick up the target and fire, and that's exactly what he does, bless his little heart!-




and after the 5 secs are up he reverses back for tea and medals-




So how was your day guys?



SUMMARY- you can of course do shoot-scoot over ridgelines, or from behind trees or smoke etc, and you can make the Pause longer if you like (every click of the Pause button adds more time).
The test was in bright sunny conditions so maybe a longer pause would be needed at night or on a dull rainy day to give your boy more time to spot and fire.
also a longer pause would give him time to get off more than one shot. But remember it'll also give the enemy more time to spot and shoot back at you.
(Noob note- Usually only do shoot-scoot against a target that's side-or-rear on to you, as the last thing you want is to emerge from cover and find yourself staring down his gun barrel or at his thick slab of front armour. Also, think twice about making a turretless Stug do shoot-scoot because it'll use up a lot of its pause time pivoting to bring its gun to bear.
And remember you don't have to go to all the trouble of doing shoot-scoots if you don't want, you can simply trundle the tank out from cover and let the crew start blasting on their own initiative)