Question on combat values and fire values

[Jeff Conner]

Well, that is the basic gist of it, but some other things to take into account are that machine guns generally have a higher penetration value than rifles firing the same cartridge. This being based on the assumption that more bullets means a greater chance that one will find a weak spot. Machine guns can be effective against lightly armored vehicles and are more effective against infantry in cover. Since machine guns also have a longer range than rifles, not only can they obviously shoot farther, but more importantly, since the fire value is halved at long range (more than 50% of the range value), they will have a full fire value when rifles are at half value at a certain range. One goal is try and keep your machine guns at this range where they can fire effectively, but the opposition can not. Since you mention forcing troops to go to ground, remember that fire values are doubled against standing troops. Another advantage for machineguns is that they can be deemed "Set Up" by the scenario designer. This triples their fire value in a certain arc, reflecting positions with extra ammunition and firing stakes set up. You don't see this used very often, but when it is used, it often means the attacker will try and find another attack lane.

Jeff