The Saga of Hex 42,13 ........

[Hadge]

Hello All,
 
I've been playing PzC for over ten years, but have only dabbled with PzB Kursk - I bought PzB Normandy on the day in came out as I'm a big fan of both the Normandy area and the campaign.
 
I read the salient points of the manuals (so I thought), played a couple of small scenarios, did some mods to taste ...... and then jumped into #0730_01 Operation Bluecoat.
 
It was all going according to plan until ....... 42,13 !!

( I'm playing solitaire vrs German AI with FOW off for fun and experience )
 
In the "Bluecoat" scenario in hex 42,13 the Stab I/Gren-Regt 752 (41 men morale B) is set up with I/Gren-Regt 752 (2) (12 8cm Mortars) starts in a Bunkered hex on Scattered terrain.
 
I initially attacked this hex using the entire 2nd Fife & Forfar Yeomanry tank battalion(regt) (61 Shermans inc Fireflys) and over a period of 20 turns at range 2 inflicted not one bit of damage or fatigue loss on either German unit despite artillery fires to the hex, and the isolated state of the Germans too - at the end of the 20 so turns the 2nd F & F Yeo had lost 23 Shermans of various sorts from return fire, mostly from the one German mortar unit and its divisional artillery support.
 
The hex finally fell to infantry assaults by the supporting 1st Herefords on the still isolated Germans on turn 31 (as it should do too !! ) ... however this was done using very chancey "banzai" assaults, and getting a lucky disruption on the German mortar following one of them.
 
After 30+ turns my frustration levels were very high - that high I nearly threw the mouse at the screen ( as you do ! ) - so feeling particularly grumpy I emailed for help and had the following return from my mentor:-
 
"Chris,
 
Hex 42,13. Welcome to the bocage.

That is both a tough hex and an easy hex to take out. The hard bit is that it is essentially a fortress - hedgerows that reduce fire by -50%, scattered -20% and bunker -30%. Direct fire impact 0% if fired through a hedgerow, That's why you're fire did nothing. This is not a bunker issue but a terrain in total issue.

There is one hex of vulnerability 42,14. This does not have a hedgerow hexside but is one height level lower - essentially the modifiers are -15% height level, scattered -20% and bunker -30% total = -65% You're best to get your direct fire units (preferably tanks) into this hex, Being adjacent is fine as the HQ does not have panzerfausts - it actually has no attack factors so you're only dealing with the mortars. Standing off here is unnecessary.

The better way to handle this hex is to use artillery on it in the hope of disruption, or begin immediate infantry assaults at company strength. Do NOT isolate it, but leave a retreat path - there is a good chance the AI will run when given a chance or better still isolate it but leave one hex free for it to move to.

In the real Bluecoat, these kinds of positions held out for much of the first day and slowed the overall British advance - believe it or not some of your challenges are what happened historically. Sometimes it's best to bypass these positions and clean them up later once you've disrupted them with artillery etc, but that's up to you on the importance of any particular hex."
 
Resultant lessons and notes to self:-
 
This is not Pz C .....
 
The Terrain Combat Modifiers, Hexside Combat Modifiers and Combat Modifiers are listed at the bottom of the PDT - well worth opening and checking out......
 
Key issues from the PDT not obvious from the visible game screen:-
 
Hexside Fire Modifiers (i.e effect on fire strength when firing through or behind)
 
Hedgerow          -50%
Cliff                   -50%
Escarpment       -40%
Dike                  -30%
Embankment     -20%
High wall           -20%
Dune                 -10%
Low wall            -5%
 
 
Terrain Modifier not shown on screen
 
Elevation Modifier -15%
 
 
Combat Modifier
 
Artillery Hard Target Mod 2.5
 
Combat modifiers for most remaining terrain including hardened and improved defences are shown on the game screen bottom left in the usual way.
 
 
Ok ...... I'm going to have another bash at 42,13 now I know what I'm doing!

Thanks for the help in resolving my frustration .... you know who you are 
 
Cheers, and not so grumpy now,
 
C

[wiggum]

There has been much talk about Bunkers/Pillboxes being a bit too "hard" to take.
Too hard to Disrupt, even with heavy stuff, too hard to assault, even with a huge number advantage.
Strela is most likely working on tweaking this aspect of the game for the first patch !

[Xaver]

A good add here could be introduce in engine the ability to infiltrate infantry in defensive positions with defense VS hard attacks and heavy urban areas... i refer have in same hex infantry from diferent sides where infiltrated units have a chance per turn to disrupt defenders... at price of take casualties and win fatigue faster.

[nim8or]

I mentioned this in another post, but adding comprehensive modifier information to the combat results display (disabling on-map results) would really help. The current display is helpful as a summary, but doesn't help to explain exactly how the results were obtained.