Pip Roberts Wrote:I know that Opfire is unreliable but think I have just shot up an enemy unit which had the temerity to move into my guns' line of sight. If so this would be a very valuable trick. Have any of you observed this to happen?
Hi Jim, been a while since we played - good times.
As you know, I don't like op-fire; it is unreliable. However, if the unit op-firing is well protected, then it may be in your best interest to set op-fire to shoot at targets it has a decent chance of killing (you will want at least one-to-one odds of attack fator vs. defense factor).
So, if you have artillery-class units in a bunker, and an infantry-class unit or three to back up the units in it, then by all means, go for it. Actually, I just sent an e-mail to a friend of mine here at the blitz, Eric Bonner aka Boisforas, that I'll share a few tidbits of it with the club (edited for brevity and clarity), and we are playing "Verdamant Pionere!"
"Two main issues regarding op-fire.
One. The LOS (binoculars) button, and LOS issues.
a. Use the binoculars button. It's godlike. If the enemy units cannot see you on the approach, they will not op-fire. The idea is to try to engage units that will not fire (op-fire) back.
b. Be sure to switch views from 1, 2, and 4, for maximum effect. Use the jump map if you need to. You must know where the battle is trending, and what hexes can see which hexes.
Two. The nuance of op-fire.
a. Op-fire is something I never liked. You probably have noticed my units rarely op-fire. It's no accident; sometimes, I turn op-fire off completely, other times, I set it to short, or only to fire on certain types of targets. It's tedious, but it must be done. On turn one, customize your op-fire for all your units. Tip; It's not usually a good idea to ever have long ranges set. They'll rarely do damage.
b. Op-fire will reveal your precious units during the enemy's turn. I.E., if they were hidden, now they are spotted. The enemy is free to do what he wishes. This can lead to a lot of dead friendly tanks (and other units)
c. "Op-fire spinning" is a trick I use for maximum effect. Sometimes a wily enemy will have op-fire set to armored targets only, in which case an armored car of mine, approaching from a strange angle, can get an enemy tank to "spin" and shoot the offending AC. Then, my tanks shoot the "spun around" tank from the rear. Sacrificing an AC is often worth it to achieve a goal of dead enemy tanks, and that's saying a lot for me, because I'm kind've an armored car freak. If the enemy had op-fire set to shoot soft targets as well, so much the better; I can just use an expendable infantry unit to do the job. Works either way. Point being: don't give the enemy chances to spin your armor around!
d. Op-fire is random. You have no control over what kind of units are fired on, save for adjusting op-fire parameters. That's a shortcoming of the game engine; it can't differentiate between armored cars and main battle tanks, and I'm not about to let it get my units killed. Best course of action; keep your units hidden, pop out to shoot, then retreat to safety. Only spotters should be visible to the enemy. You will notice that a number of your units will not op-fire even if they get the chance, as the chance to fire is randomized. This leads to the question; would my tanks have done more damage IF I hadn't saved their action points to op-fire? The answer must be yes; you can concentrate your fire when you control your units.
e. Ergo, using op-fire is essentially allowing the computer to "randomize" your fire. Not exactly efficient.
f. The only time you want to use op-fire is when you have an enemy that is barreling through an area of yours, and there is no way to prevent it; op-fire will be their only protection. This will sometimes be the case when the enemy has a severe time constraint, and is also playing the attacking side. But I say again, keeping your units hidden, and making them hard to get to (like keeping them in forest), will provide a much higher level of protection than randomized op-firing could ever provide. I'll say it once more; make your units hard to reach! (try to keep your units in forest and/or on tops of hills)
g. Another small advantage of op-fire; If a unit op-fires, the enemy will not have the luxury of determining WHICH units occupy that previously hidden hex (since when you try to move a combat unit into an apparently empty but enemy-occupied hex, ALL units are revealed), as they will only see the unit(s) that just op-fired. This can be a "cheap" way of hiding non-op-firing units...the advantage of this of course is to make an assault more difficult. I have seen you try to assault my undisrupted units many times Eric - you even lost a king tiger this turn because of it (I always watch the replay)."
hope this post helped someone out...? :)
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