These notes are a guide to SSI's Steel Panthers 2 - Modern Battles, and are a follow on to my original SP Guide for SSI's WW2 game Steel Panthers. I will refer to the game as SP2 from now on, and Steel Panthers as SP1. These notes are entirely my own opinion, unofficial, and not endorsed by SSI in any manner.
I am also assuming you have upgraded to version 1.01 - the patch is available at SSI's site, or from the Wargamer SP2 section . Also at that site is a discussion group for SP2, where some beta testers and other knowledgeable persons hang out. Its worth a visit. Its also a good point for reporting possible bugs, or wish lists!.
The Wargamer or straight to their SP2 page:The Wargamer SP2 page.
The Wargamer is your best starting point, it has plenty of games sections, PBEM opponent finders, new scenarios, modified mobs, SP2 hackers, and also covers most other real wargames e.g. PITS , TOPS, Age Of Rifles etc., as well as loads of wargames links to other sites, including SSI.
(To determine what version you have, in the top level menu screen, move your mouse over the 'battle' button, but don't press - the version is reported in a status line on the 'TV Screen' at the left).
Note that this thing is a polyglot collection of notes, answers to FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), and an occasional soapbox thumping. There are things dupicated by being said twice. I hope its of use to you. If you have any comments, questions, criticisms or mud to sling, you can email the author Andy Gailey or visit my Mobhack Home Page where you can get hold of the Mobhack SP2 hacker, or Jim Bello's Win 95 (Not 3.x) SPObedit one, plus there you will find some modified mob files, and also some SP1 stuff, including a hacker for that product.
To use the index, click on the section, and then to return to this bit, right click (Netscape) and choose back. Other browsers will usually have an equivalent - with Spry Mosaic, for example, the back function will only take you back to a previous html document, not a previous section of one as for Netscape.
What its
all about!SP2 is a tactical wargame covering the period 1950 to 1999. In this game 1 vehicle represents 1 real vehicle, and sections or squads of infantry represent anything from a 2 man weapons team to a 13 man squad. 1 hex on the map is 50 metres, and a move is 2 minutes approximately. Forces for about 40 nations are included, as well as 2 generic forces 'Red' and 'Green' to cover unrepresented armies of mainly Soviet kit, and mainly Western kit, respectively.
SP2 is a turn based game, each player taking his move in sequence, but there is interaction between your pieces and his in your turn - this is known as reaction fire. Two player turns equals one game turn of two minutes. In SP2, unlike SP1, where you were restricted to 49 pieces, you can have up to approximately 133 pieces - I say approximately as sometimes the selection screen lets you go beyond this slightly. The AI can have about 200 pieces max. There is a limit to the number of formations (platoons) you can have as well, 52, so an army of 1 man sniper formations will soon exhaust the max no. of formations, long before you hit the max piece count. Note that in SP-speak, a piece is often referred to as a unit. A platoon (collection of units) or company (collection of platoons) are both called formations. Also, in SP2, you can purchase formations as entire companies, made up of an HQ platoon and several subordinate platoons, unlike SP1, where only platoons were available.
SP2 is, like SP1 before it, primarily a tank oriented game - the infantry and artillery (including air) models are less well done. It is also a 'god game', in that you individually move and fire each piece, as opposed to giving orders to formations as for a real tabletop game. Communications in this game are instant - as soon as a squad at the sharp end spots an enemy squad in the hedgerow in front of it, your Tanks 3 kilometres back instantly see and can fire on it - no comms delays, and no concept of the Tanks having to 'dice' for acquisition for a new target, and having real problems seeing dug in infantry at over 500m as in real tabletop rules. Also, even if your piece detects the enemy unit at the last second of its 2 minute move, your other pieces can then give it a full 2 minutes worth of fire, if they themselves have not fired. In SP2, Line Of Sight is King - if its in LOS and spotted, everyone sees it, regardless of range.
This is a key concept to getting around with SP2 - defensive positions overwatched by the entire enemy army will not last long. Much SP2 tactics are therefore occupied with reducing the enemies LOS, e.g. with rear slope defences, and with the (over) use of smoke rounds compared to the 'real thing' - until thermal Imaging sights come along anyway!. Also, most SP2 tactics, as in the real world, try to use the terrain to hide you from the enemy as much as possible. Keeping things unseen by the enemy gets more important the further from the 1950 start you get, as modern weapons can hit what they see very easily, and what they hit they usually do not do any good to.
In SP, each piece gets a number of shots, which it can fire in your phase, or (sometimes) as 'reaction' fire in response to enemy fire or movement in his phase. This basic number of shots is reduced if your piece moves, and also if you fire a large portion of your rounds one phase, you will find you have a reduced number of fire opportunities next phase. E.G. a tank with 4 shots in 1 move which fires all, will often find only 2 available shots in its next turn - do nothing that turn and on the 3rd you will usually be back to 4. Note also that in order for your piece to fire reaction fire you must leave some shots unfired at the end of your move - the more the better.
Firing at an enemy piece will sometimes cause 'suppression' points to be inflicted on the target unit, even if casualties do not occur. Basically, suppression is A Bad Thing to happen to an element - its number of shots may be reduced, and it may become pinned in place, or even retreat, as this number goes up. Suppression may be reduced by a process called 'rallying', again an important concept in SP2, which will be covered below.
A key aspect of SP2 over SP1 is that its PBEM facility is vastly superior, in that an action replay of the opponents move is available to you - provided you have a 16 megabyte plus machine of course. The human opponent is far more satisfying to play than the AI, which is really there to provide target practice!.
Basically its best to split the period into 3 periods, though they do overlap.
Tank technology although advanced over WW2, is not overwhelmingly so. The UK leads the field in tank gunnery, using APDS as the standard round, and at the end of this period brings out the 105mm tank gun, which becomes the NATO standard. The Soviets are not too far behind, and introduce the first smoothbore tank guns firing APFSDS towards the end of this period. By the end of this period mechanised infantry is more the norm than at the start, and most support weapons are self propelled by the end - the USA noticeable for its SP arty, the Russians for SPAA systems. Missiles of all sorts become more common - at the start of the period they are curiosities of limited effect, at the end are becoming useful weapons. Night fighting gear introduced, the Soviets leading in mass introduction of infrared kit. Centurion, and Chieftain at the end, the best tanks. The Soviet introduction of the BMP in the end of this period introduced a new and to some extent still controversial vehicle type - the Mechanised Infantry Combat Vehicle or MICV, effectively a light tank that carries grunts, but can kill tanks with an onboard gun system and/or ATGM. Aircraft get steadily more lethal, with the USA in the forefront of aircraft design. This situation continues right through the period, so little else need be said. Almost everyone's infantry squads carry some form of bazookoid weapon by the end of this period.
A main thrust of this period is workable fire control computers in tanks, as opposed to the clunky unreliable electromechanical contraptions some armies tried earlier, e.g. in US tanks. Coupled with laser range finding becoming pretty much the default by the end of the period, even in new model Soviet tanks, and also workable stabilisers which can now track targets (earlier 'stabilisers' were really only useful to stop the gun barrel digging into the ground in cross country travel) this period has tanks reliably engaging at moderate to long ranges and also to some extent on the move. APFSDS rounds start to be common in NATO tanks by the mid to late 70s, although the Soviets already had them. Tanks armed with the best FC, R/F etc. can now slaughter less well equipped opponents at longer range with relative impunity - the Soviets lagged behind in the fire control field, and were the worse off for it. Unfortunately for the tankers, ATGM technology now gelled, and these became reliable effective long range hitters. Serious thought had to be applied to reducing the ATGM threat. Anti tank helicopters in particular benefited from the new ATGM technology, and rapidly became very useful tank destroyers. Infra red night fighting kit common throughout, and in the West, passive night fighting gear (Low Light TV (LLTV), and Image Intensifiers ('starlight scopes')), gave the edge as unlike active IR, these systems did not give the users position away (but this is not modelled in SP2, all systems are 'passive' - neither has SP2 any flares, or white light searchlights either). Chieftain is still about the best tank, but in this brief period the newer Soviet types are respectable opponents.
The UK invention of Chobham armour - a laminated composition of various materials - dealt the ATGM, and other HEAT weapons, a body blow. The NATO powers were first in with the new modern super-tanks, but the USSR followed with its own laminated armour as well. A side effect of the laminate armour is that they increase protection versus other rounds as well. The new super tanks (Challenger, Leopard 2, M1) although not impregnable, can now dominate the battlefield once more. This must have particularly upset the French, who had decided in the 60s that HEAT had made heavy armour obsolete, and whose tank guns only fired HEAT and HE, and were deliberately armoured versus cannon fire only - they rapidly brought in APFSDS rounds, and in the Leclerc supertank have joined the mainstream again. Thermal Imaging sights are common now even on light vehicles, these are both day and night sights - they can see through smoke and haze. Laminate armours are most effective in heavy vehicles as they are dense, hence very heavy - the invention of Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) has helped the small guys on the battlefield against HEAT - in fact newer Soviet ERA is claimed to destroy APFSDS penetrator tips. So in the 80s and 90s, the protection side of the firepower/protection pair is more dominant. Tanks are going to 120mm calibre main guns to help defeat this protection with heftier sabot rounds, and new materials such as depleted uranium (DU) are being used in penetrators. The missile guys have not stood idle either, new warhead types being introduced to defeat laminate or ERA armour or new attack profiles. Top attack missiles are designed to explode over the target, directing their force at the thinner top armour - Bofors Bill was the first such missile, the US Javelin will be a similar type. However, in SP2 neither enhanced penetrators or top-attack HEAT is modelled. The best tanks in this slot are the Western juggernauts - Challenger, M1, Merkava, Leopard 2, Leclerc, with the Soviets lagging behind, but the later models such as T90 are closing the gap again.
Here I will describe the various troop types, and their strengths and weaknesses, and I will describe the statistic numbers SSI uses to describe them below, plus some general notes on their usage in the game. Pretty much most vehicles in the game are armoured, so see the tanks section. A jeep with 106 RCL would be a tank destroyer. Unarmoured trucks are noted elsewhere e.g. in the foot and artillery sections, in passing. An unarmed jeep type vehicle is just a small truck. The only other unarmoured vehicle of note is the barge carrier, for which see the battle types section, under river assault. Helicopters are best thought of as very fast APCs or tank destroyers, and are covered under the foot and tank destroyer headings, but also have a small section of their own. Fixed wing aircraft are under artillery.
This truck type is provided with the game, but with little or no advice as to what they do or how they do it. Most beginner type questions on the net are often 'what do these thingies do' queries. As it is in many respects one of the most vital unit types in SP2, I will start with them. Ammo trucks are in the 'Misc' section, usually called an 'ordnance section' or similar. What you get are 2 very vulnerable but very, very useful trucks. They cannot carry things, but they do replenish ammo.
To use them, park the depleted unit beside an ammo truck, and leave both stationary for 1 or 2 moves. Neither may be suppressed, but the unit being reloaded can in some circumstances fire and get reloaded, but at a reduced rate I find. Click on the unit being loaded and check its load and bring back into combat once 'bombed up'. The prime use for these things is for your artillery and air defence units - park one of these in a ring of 6 mortars, and they can fire all day, or beside some hawk SAMS, ditto. They can find any ammo type in the back of these lorries, except smoke ammo - they will not reload dischargers or main gun or infantry smoke rounds. Some larger artillery or tanks take longer to reload if several are clustered round the truck. With air defence troops, I usually park these in pairs with an ammo truck between, SP artillery in a triangle of 3 pieces with the ammo truck in the middle, 8 Inch SPs 2 per truck as ADA.
This is against the AI of course - against humans you wont much get away with something as utterly obvious.
Naturally, they can reload those units that have low stocks of a key weapon type - usually infantry SAM and AT Missiles, TOW jeeps, helos etc. In the defence or delay, you can site ammo trucks forwards so they are touching the units to be resupplied, but out of sight - e.g. behind a ridge or building. At the worst, a few hexes back where your tanks can get to quickly - this tactic of forward replen is a key in say the Germany 80 campaign, as M1s have few sabot rounds to plink the T80s with. Note also that helos can reload while flying in NOE or high altitude beside an ammo truck, no need to land!.
A prime force multiplier, the AI has no idea what to do with these if given them in a scenario or game, and kamikazes them forwards as expendable scouts. Also, since the AI does not know about these, any SAMS or AAA units it buys will eventually run out of arrows. Once this happens, your (surviving) air units will have an easier time.
When playing against a human, clustering arty pieces in recognisable circles will telegraph what is happening to the opposition. In this case, set your arty up in pairs at the most, and move your ammo trucks about, or move SP guns to the ammo carriers to top up in a lull in the fighting, as these things are very vulnerable to counter battery fires. Assume his artillery will have ammo trucks nearby, and plaster the area with mortar counterbattery at least to make life difficult for his supply troops. Area SAMS really do need an ammo truck beside them at all times to be effective - so playing a human you will have to grit your teeth and hang on until the air threat is gone, but any artillery he drops on your Hawks or air defence suppression on these troops is ordnance not going on the fighting troops of course.
Used with thought 1 ammo truck can supply an entire battalion of 18 guns throughout a game - place the guns near or on a north/south road for instance, as cross country is not a forte of these units. Easiest in a city grid. Do not go over crazy with the type, but 6 or so are always handy. Try to place a couple of spares on a road in the rear to motor to unexpected customers or as replacements for their compatriots that went 'BOOM!'.
Oh - yes, although not directly a 'weapon', this piece is definately a force multiplier, and so indirectly a weapon. Remember the old artillery adage that 'the projectile is the weapon'. This piece carries an endless supply of same.
SP2 is a tankies game, infantry is not modelled very well. In particular, it is very easy to kill and rout infantry - squads have a combat life measured in minutes, even if dug in in the defence. However, you will still find some infantry useful, especially defending or delaying, and especially in urban or forest combat.
A prime reason for this is that infantry spot things better than tanks do - if a tank crests a ridge, it may not notice some things even quite close by that its partner grunt squad, moving alongside it suddenly brings to the tankies attention. Foot infantry are a prime reconnaissance tool in SP2 - even if they draw fire, this tells you something. So try to go over the ridges with foot first and to lead through close terrain with foot troops. In the defence or delay, place an infantry platoon near each tank formation as security. In open terrain the infantry line is usually best ahead of the tanks, in closer terrain put them beside them.
The best recon units, except perhaps for helos, are therefore APCs with infantry on board - even a titchy little 3 man 'scout' section. If the APC does not travel too far, on dismounting the squad may have 1 or 2 movement points - enough to walk ahead and crest a ridge to 'makee looksee'. If shot at and pinned, the APC in the hex behind can always use the 'L' key to suck the grunts back on board without exposing itself.
Despite being so vulnerable, infantry squads can at least usually take 1 or 2 hits and still remain useful. Its usually close range ambushes at 1 or 2 hexes that blow 5 men off a 8 man squad. A hit on an armoured vehicle tends to be fatal, or at least to do embarrassing damage such as a mobility hit, leaving the thing helpless. So try to fight through enemy positions at foot movement rates with armour and infantry working together - it is one of those things where the sum is greater than the parts.
In the mass, however, infantry can do very well indeed. An entire 3 company battalion of infantry can close and assault an armoured position, especially once the usually light infantry screen the tank-heavy types use is shot off the objective. Some AI forces in the early period do not use APC infantry - the French and Germans in the 50s and early 60s for example buy hordes of leg infantry, and the sheer numbers of these can make things difficult for you, especially when these forces are defending or delaying. In 50s and 60s campaigns as the Russians, I find these the toughest opponents.
There is a reason why the leg AI infantry is more difficult as an opponent. In SP2, if you have spotted a carrier and it dismounts, you spot the dismounts even 90 hexes (4½ kilometres!!!) away. So, try to dismount in an area covered from enemy observation as much as possible. This applies in especial to such things as inf AT teams - if you want to place these say on a hill to act as an ambush, don't drive the APC onto the crest top and unload!!. Dismount the teams behind the crest on one move, WAIT! - even if MP remaining, then move them 1 single hex onto the ridge.
OK, why is AI mech inf so much easier to deal with? - well the AI uses its mech inf as a horde of what I like to call 'tin lemmings', throwing the APCs forwards in a kamikaze rush. Any troops which dismount due to their chariot being destroyed, or when the AI deems fit, usually do so in plain view of you - so are spotted miles off. And as I stated above, once spotted and in LOS, things remain spotted until LOS is lost. In fact, things remain spotted even without LOS, as and until they move off the hex they were last spotted in. E.g., when air units fly over, any unit they spot becomes 'known' to all your forces - without LOS requirement. AI artillery etc. which tends not to move voluntarily usually therefore remains 'known'. This applies to passengers - In a PBEM, I moved a scout car up and spotted a M113, then moved off without firing - the thing remained on the map, and 2 moves later he dismounted a dragon team in the same hex - I could see this as well, as passengers inherit their transports 'spotted' status - if he had moved it off, I would not have seen it.
Moral - if you think something has been spotted e.g. by an air pass, 'jiggle' it 1 hex and back (if desired) and LOS will be broken. If you have just thrown back an enemy assault, e.g. if you are behind a ridge or in buildings or smoke etc., and are fairly sure you are no longer in LOS of things, move about slightly, and any of your defenders he had 'tabs' on are no longer spotted. A general thing this, but the passenger inheritance can kill your grunts, so be careful out there. This making sure things are no longer 'known' is useful vs both the AI and vs humans. It makes sure that your guys have to be 're-acquired' in the next assault for both opponent types. But against the AI, now that the artillery 'cheat' is gone and it only dumps on things it 'knows' about, its of import as the AIs favourite artillery target is squishies, so being 'unknown' is a definite bonus if you do not want 18 122mm SP to unload on you!.
Why only move 1 hex - well, the faster things move the easier to spot for the enemy. Also, as infantry move faster in SP2, they become more vulnerable - more casualties occur when shot at by mg and small arms. Infantry which move but 1 hex can often sneak up on things in close terrain or smoke - especially tanks. So once you get close, or under fire, try your best to only move your squads 1 hex or 2 - only use full speed to get behind cover which breaks LOS. Simply slowing down in firefights will halve your casualties compared with running about at the full rate. Advance squads alternately, half move 1 hex forwards and half stationary firing in support. Another point to note is that troops which have just dismounted get a 'bunching' disadvantage when shot at - i.e. are more vulnerable . Also, try never to leave the troops in the same hex as the APC, as the 'collateral' damage they receive if the APC is shot at can be considerable. Just watch your own tanks shoot up AI tin lemmings - even AP shots which miss the intended APC target will often cause a 'kill' on the squad in the same hex, and if the APC gets shot up with cannon, mgs etc., then things can get worse. I often shoot up the APC when I want really to kill the grunts, even with mgs, as the collateral from rebounds is so effective.
Infantry on foot will often 'assault' an AFV that comes beside it - this can immobilise or destroy even a supertank like an M1A2 - not bad work for a 3 point rifle squad!. Even if not destroyed the subject of the assault will often be forced into a retreat - showing its soft backside for your anti tank guns or supporting tanks. In order to assault, the unit must not have too much suppression. It also helps if the unit is more experienced, and has a decent anti tank weapon such as a Carl Gustav or satchel charges (engineers in other words).
Most of the above is about leg inf operations, other than the caution re passenger 'spotting' when in transports. Lets get onto transported infantry.
Infantry can be carried in trucks, APCs, MICVs, and helos, and some AFVs can carry infantry as tank riders.
Firstly, trucks have no reason to be on the battlefield, use only ever to move artillery in the rear. Can be useful to move infantry up to the front so long as they never ever get in a position to be shot at, which in an SP2 battlefield is about impossible. Avoid.
Helos are similar to trucks that fly. Airmobile infantry is really only of use in a low AA environment- either one that started as such, or that you made so by your actions. Where effective AA is about, heliborne infantry will often have a short, hectic life. However if the ADA threat is removed or side stepped they can be very effective indeed. Players who simply charge about over the battlefield without thought will tend to be blown away. Proper use of air mobile infantry requires a bit of thought, careful terrain analysis to use masked approaches to a sheltered landing zone. They can be very effective in the meeting engagement or the delay, to go out early on and take up blocking positions to cause delay, then scoot, or to hold these until the main force trundles up. When attacking they should be held as a mobile reserve, to take position in his rear when he is fully committed to his front for example. Once the troops are on the ground, the transport helos are usually best deployed to a safe holding zone, although if they are armed they may provide some fire support - especially true of Soviet transport helos with masses of 57mm rockets.
APCs and MICVs are similar but different. An APC is basically a tin truck that is splinter proof, and is limited to an MG or HMG, though some may have a 20mm cannon or similar that has some effect on light armour - i.e. other APCs mainly. MICVs usually have more armour, and usually a missile system of some sort, some may even have a gun system (e.g. BMP-1). Thus MICVs hold out the prospect of being able to deal with heavier armour, and their heavier (in APC terms) armour suit should let them take on lesser APCs. From now on I will use APC as the general term, and highlight MICV exceptions as they occur.
The prime things APCs bring to infantry are mobility and protection from small arms fire and shell splinters. The prime disadvantage even the most up to date MICV brings, is that APCs are easily penetrated by almost any AT weapon of significance on the battlefield. They are therefore potentially tin coffins and charnel houses for an entire squad. If the AT threat to MBTs is credible, the infantry is safest out of the 'pig'.
So, rather like helicopters in the air mobile case, mech inf is best used with some thought applied. They should use terrain analysis to approach the intended area of action by a route as clear from AT fire as possible, then dismount and fight through the objective on foot, with the APC or MICV acting in support like light tanks, but the real support coming from accompanying Main Battle Tanks. Remember the squad on its hind legs is the primary weapon, not the fancy MICV, and you will have less problems.
Many proponents of the MICV went along with the daft idea of infantry 'fighting mounted' - firing through firing ports or roof hatches, only dismounting where an area had to be fought through. Passengers cannot fire in SP2, but in any case such fire has no real effect in the real world. Mech infantry should only dismount in the objective where the threat is low or eliminated - all in retreat basically. Otherwise, dismount before the objective and use the 'pig' to support the grunts as they fight through the position. Where Thermal Imaging is not a factor, popping the APCs smoke discharger before dismounting is a very valid means of creating instant cover if so fitted.
However, in some instances 'fighting mounted' is a valid tactic - remember in SP2, a squad 'in' an APC is treated as if it is tank riders - for which see below, but remember that they are not in this case riding a juggernaut, just a horribly vulnerable piece of thin tin.
In the defence mech inf can use its transport to fight a mobile delaying battle by bounds - this is a forte of mech inf. Just as the enemy get set up to assault your position, you mount up and quickly deploy backwards to a new fighting position in the rear, usually leaving the assaulting enemy with a departing gift of incoming artillery. Repeat process till enemy sufficiently worn down. This is in fact the best use for the MICV - its weaponry can be put to good use here, with the MICV moving into cover if fired on and popping up somewhere else to annoy the opponent. Plain APCs in this case should be deployed in hide positions in the defence zone, or slightly behind, ready to either go forward and pick up the retiring infantry or for these to fall back and mount up. They should not expose themselves to AT fire, and their weapons should only be used for self defence or in extremis.
If using MICV in the offence, i.e. going forwards, try to dismount the squad if you are going to use the MICVs weapons - e.g. missile - as return fire can be most upsetting to the passengers if it 'brews' their transporter. If your MICV can see the tank to shoot at it, the reverse is true, barring some technical superiority you may have - in SP2, this usually means better vision at night, or being hidden by smoke, but you have TI sights and he, poor thing, doesn't.
Tanks, and some armoured cars, assault guns etc., often have a 'lift' capacity, i.e. they can carry an infantry squad as tank riders. In SP2, as in SP1, to all extents and purposes tank riders are 'inside' the carrying tank - they gain most of the protection of the tanks armour. So in most cases, the best APC of all is a Main Battle Tank. However, some hits will cause the squad to 'fall off' the carrier vehicle - some will cause casualties, but this is in fact the case with purpose built APCs. I often ignore the APC and simply carry my grunts WW2 style SP1 style. The tank gains in spotting ability from the carried squads eyes, though does not spot quite as well as dismounted foot, and above all it gains from an extra coating of 'reactive armour' - not ERA but a fleshy substitute.
Basically, as in SP1, in SP2 the presence of tank riders on a vehicle tends to defuse the opponents infantry close assaults - a tank or APC with a mounted squad can trundle up to an enemy squad, which attempts to assault it - the attack gets aborted, and a message saying so is displayed. However this is not a carte blanche for armour to blunder around enemy infantry positions, merely a form of insurance policy, as it can all go horribly wrong. Firstly, it tends to give the tank rider squad a bit of a headache - they fall off the carrier with some suppression points, possibly even a casualty or 2, and can in some cases be wiped out. If stunned enough, they sometimes rout immediately by pulling back 1 hex. But the tank is safe isn't it? - well, no not necessarily. In the first instance, there may be more than 1 enemy squad waiting to assault you - number 2 gets a regular assault, possibly on a tank now classed as a 'buttoned' target - hence more vulnerable to assault. Or the original squad may be of sterner stuff, and rally for a second assault - much the same as having a second enemy squad nearby.
Surviving a close assault for the carried squad seems to be a case of being big, and also seems strongly to be related to the troop quality of the passenger - 'green' tank riders suffer horribly, 'elite' squads can fall of and dust themselves off (rally), and if its your go - i.e. you are the active player - blast the annoyingly rude foreigners at point blank range. The troop quality of the assaulter also comes into it - veterans or better have a better chance of being able to have another go. Also, unlike SP1, it seems that the chance of the assaulter being able to try again is affected by the size and quality of the carried riders - when carrying say a 2 man Gustav team or the 3 or 4 remnants of a shot-up squad, the propensity of the enemy to re-assault is noticeably higher. So don't expect to get much protection from a sniper as a tank rider!.
Assaults, even from squads with no AT weapon, can do for the largest and meanest of modern tanks, but in actual fact, moving alongside a pinned squad can in SP2 prove to be more damaging. This is because even an assault on a 'naked' tank has a fair chance of failure - and a bad failure can put the assaulter into rout. However, if you move beside a pinned squad, it totally ignores the tank riders, and shoots its rifles, mgs, hand grenades, and its bazooka type weapon into you instead. This cocktail tends to wipe the rider squad off the tank with a severe headache, and the tank is usually not too happy about it either. Even if the AT weapon does not penetrate, the tank is usually stunned silly and goes straight to 'retreat'. Of course, if the AT weapon does penetrate, its a bad day at the office for the tankers.
Other infantry like things are Mgs, AGLs, and Infantry AT teams, as well as shoulder fired SAMS. All suffer in SP terms from being small, only 2 or 3 men strong, as are scout sections, so very few casualties make these hors de combat or even destroyed. Scout squads are just teeny inf squads, useful as eyes, but horribly vulnerable to fire.
MGs and AGLs I have little use for in SP2, they are only of use firing at very long ranges at infantry squads, where these cannot reply - as soon as they get into even LMG range and start firing back, the tiny support weapons teams are dismembered. Also, in order to get these long clear fields of fire, they need to be deployed out in the open i.e. right where the enemy tanks have a perfect view of you - and as soon as spotted, a couple of incoming HE and exit MG. They are of use in the delay and defence, but only if sited to fire from behind cover into the flanks of the enemy, or perhaps a section quite some way behind an infantry platoon to support it - the AI in particular treats these as priority targets, so in their brief lives they can take attention (fire) from your squads.
Infantry AT teams crew either a short range bazooka type weapon, or recoilless gun (some of these have impressive ranges - e.g. the SO B10), or guided anti tank missiles.
The bazookoids usually have more ammo - 8 or 10 rounds, as do the RCL, but ATGM teams only carry 3 or 4 missiles. There's only 2 or 3 guys to carry the launcher and all the ammo remember!. Both these types are rather useful, one advantage the short range weapons have is that they do not assault passing tanks at 1 hex, and are usually the more effective for it. Very useful for dealing with tanks in close combat, e.g. in woods and towns or smoke, and cheap. In cities I find aggressive use of LAW/MAW teams in land rovers or jeeps an effective tactic versus AI tanks - if sure there's no shots left in the enemy tank, and no supporting infantry, drive up beside target, dismount, shoot it, jump into the rover and zoom back round the corner. Embarrassing if he had a shot left though!. They are also useful when going forwards to help clear enemy tanks, APCs, and bunkers in support of infantry squads. They tend to cost 2 or 3 points, so can be risked as riflemen if necessary.
Missile AT teams are quite useful, especially some later ones with TI sights, their Achilles heel is the limited number of bangs they pack. Careful siting of ammo trucks in the defence can help, or using jeeps or even helos to taxi them back and forth from the resupply point can be a valid tactic. They tend to be less useful when going forwards, though not entirely useless, the main problem being getting reloads to them, and that in order to fire effectively they want to be stationary on the ground - not conducive to a fast forwards. In city fights these things can be a positive embarrassment, perhaps only limited to a few avenues (literally) of fire - however there can be some more open city squares etc. where a good field of fire is present, or if the flanks of the city are open terrain they can provide flank guards. Another valid tactic in the city defence is to put them on the outer edge, to fire their loads at the attackers then scoot back inside - using jeeps etc. to pull back to the rear. One point to note - these things cost 10 to 15 points each, so losing them gives the enemy the equivalent of 2 or 3 rifle squads points - in other words, do not use as substitute riflemen if at all possible after the missiles run out, and conversely stomp any enemy ones you see as priority. E.g. if your tank brews up an advancing M113 and 2 dragon teams pop out, if no more pressing targets need its attention, blow the #@%!!! out of the dragons with HE - loadsapoints - each of the teams is likely worth as much or more than the M113 itself. How to hit with ATGM is explained in the tank destroyer section, as ATGM are their prime weapon system.
Infantry SAMs are moderately useful - the later ones such as stinger are more so but are limited to 3 rounds, so ammo is a problem as these are soon used up by a couple of enemy air passes. Try to resupply as per ATGM, and also try not to use as riflemen except in an emergency, as they tend to cost 4 to 7 points - i.e. as much as or more than typical rifle squads.
Snipers are not much use at all, but at 1 point, can provide a cheap security guard. Some later ones may have some night vision, 15 or so, which can be useful.
Engineers are infantry who have the ability to detect (usually!) mines, clear them quicker than ordinary Joes, and usually have satchel charges and sometimes flame-throwers to reduce bunkers. Good for close assaulting tanks too, although not quite the supermen they once were in SP1. Tend not to have LMGs, just close quarters personal weapons, e.g. SMGs, so not for long range fire fights, but in a city fight they are handy to have.
A few final points regarding infantry. As with all units in SP1/SP2, they have only 4 weapons 'slots'. In the 50s, some squads are WW2 types with rifles, LMG, and grenades but no ranged AT weapon, but this becomes less the case as the years go by. In SP2 there really are 2 main squad types - an anti infantry type, which usually has rifles, 2 LMGs, and usually grenades in slot 4, rarely a ranged AT weapon. Some early US squads are this type, Israeli mech inf (to deal with inf, the accompanying tanks dealing with crunchies - their foot rifle squad is of the other type), and the Soviet spetznatz squad. The more common type has rifles, LMG, grenades, and a ranged AT weapon - 66 mm LAW, even a Carl Gustav 84mm in some cases. Look closely when purchasing, as choosing the wrong type if variants are present can be a pain. All come with smoke rounds, to a variable number from 3 to 12, and have an inbuilt smoke grenade launcher to fire smoke to the range of the weapon in slot 1 - rifle squads can therefore usually shoot smoke to 8 to 10 hexes, but SMG squads to only 4, and crews to 2. Smoke gets less relevant as time goes by and TI sights become available, but many weapons - and no infantry - have TI sights. some Inf-AT do however, as may some inf SAMs.
Bailed out crew from vehicles can provide emergency infantry, but this is more often the case in stand alone games - in campaigns, ditched crew should be moved to a safe place as they will gain experience and still be around to recrew a brand new tank next round, which is difficult if dead, which is what happens to pistol armed crew in combat. However, once they have stopped routing, some bail out with 12 smoke rounds, and can be useful to go around puffing these off to cover your troops, or posted as observers to provide warning.
(Leg) infantry based forces have little to fear from fixed wing air other than a few mauled squads - fixed wing is best as an antidote to vehicles, and a mech inf force usually has enough carriers not to miss a couple. Rotary wing air in a human players hands is the worst threat to leg inf, provided it has anti-inf firepower - a BO105-HOT cuts no ice, except in removing mortars and howitzers. A decent supply of shoulder SAM launchers is sufficient, and if you too have helos you will find these the best antidote to opposition helos.
One final thing, load capacity. I will cover this here as infantry are the prime thing to be carried. In SP2, unlike SP1, vehicles have a load capacity and can carry up to this number. Roughly speaking as the load arithmetic does not always seem to follow 2+2=4. Thus a tank with 'lift' of 13 should be able to carry an 11 man squad and a 2 man team - unfortunately not always so, as some 2 man teams have a 'load cost' of 1 - this seems to make them equivalent to 3 or 4 men in 'lift'.
Some of the platoon types as issued cannot be loaded into their carriers - or at least you have to think about it!. A prime case is infantry AT teams where at certain points RCL gun teams with 3 or 4 crew are offered say beside an RPG-7 choice - if meant to be loaded alongside a squad of 5 or 6 guys in an APC, the RPG will usually fit, but the RCL wont. Some platoons come with a light mortar - but the choices screen offers all the mortars in the inventory - take the little 60mm in this case, not a 120mm monster!, or worse, a 160mm if offered.
In the encyclopedia, loads over 100 mean light artillery can be carried, 200 is a code for heavy artillery. so a load capacity of 111 does NOT mean an APC can carry 111 grunts - it means it can carry 11, or a mortar or field gun - how many of such is a matter of experimentation (I have managed 2 ZPU AAMG in a BTR152 I seem to recall).
For an example of an infantry platoon that has real problems inbuilt look at the Belgian mech company - with the 60mm mortar you can fit the entire platoon into the M59 APC, but if you select Spartan APCs....
Especially when upgrading troops in campaigns, make sure you buy the right infantry squad size, if you plan to carry them in APCs - in this case the smaller squad is usually the one you want. This also applies, say if you bought leg rifle cos originally, with a fleet of trucks to convert to APCs with your buy points - you may have to remember as well as upgrading the trucks, to change the (say) 11 man leg squads to (say) 8 man mech squads so they can actually fit inside your spanking new tracks. Been there, got the 'I have a just bought a large fleet of embarrassingly useless new toys' T-shirt. Note some scout versions of some APC will only lift tiddly 3 man scout teams.
To answer an oft asked question from newbies - to load several squads/teams onto 1 vehicle, assuming they all will fit, load from the passengers to the vehicle, not the other way about - for 1 it does not matter as you can load from the carrier, but if you select the carrier once loaded, then hit the 'L' key in expectation of loading the next passenger, you drop off the previously loaded guys instead. So select the prospective passenger first, hit 'L', then point at the carrier and repeat till full. And the carrier's status line only mentions the last unit loaded in this sequence, to answer another FAQ.
Probably the best way to see what can lift what is to set up a test game in the desired period, buying a vast fleet of each and every different loadable thing and carrier. Buy a truck section, a section of each APC type, a platoon of each mech inf type (all APC variants for year etc.), mg sections (12.7mm and 7.62), howitzers, all sizes of mortar - several of everything in fact. Then spend some time in the setup phase simply trying loads out - what fits where. Then exit the game without playing of course.
Simple little experiments like this often will answer your questions without need to post a query on a BBS board. Try some games where both sides are set to human player and play your right hand versus your left - since you are in complete control, you can experiment - e.g. see when 1 side spots things when you advance several tanks at different move rates in the open. Use the 'Y' key on both sides to reduce ranges so you don't get unwanted reaction fires in this case.
To answer another FAQ - yes some later tanks now cannot carry tank riders post 1.01, where they previously could. These tanks are typically late Soviet with ERA, and for obvious reasons persons are a bit leery of riding on top of such tanks in a combat zone. Yes, another FAQ - some earlier scenarios started with tank riders on such models - now if you dismount you cannot remount. Also fixed was the old chestnut where a ferret scout car could carry an entire squad.
Tanks are targets. But then I was trained as an infantryman!.
These things are the prime purpose of SP2, and all other arms are subordinated to them. They are not invulnerable however, and like battleships cannot operate effectively without supporting troops except in the most extreme circumstances. Featureless deserts are pure tank country, but as terrain closes down - or visibility due to smoke or night - so the need for infantry support increases.
In the category 'tank' I will basically lump all direct fire oriented combat vehicles with even a soupcon of armour plate, but except APCs and other vehicles as they relate to APC duties, for which see infantry above. So included in here (just) are armed jeeps which in SP2 have an armour of 1 in front. Included here as well is the ISU152, as it is meant to bung big HE bricks at things it can see, but not say the M109, which isn't - it is an artillery piece, except in dire emergencies or very special circumstances not intended direct fire over open sights.
I will split the classification into 3 - Recce (light armour), Tank destroyers, and Main battle tanks (MBTs). This is more a functional split, as although a M1 may be in an armoured cavalry recce unit, its still a big bruiser intended to be used in an MBT-ish sort of way, although if nobody is shooting it could play makee-looksee too.
One point to note for vehicles - as for infantry try to move as slowly as you can, if you want to fire effectively that is. This is because motion makes your shooting less accurate, and can reduce the number of shots available. Unlike infantry, fast movement does not make you more vulnerable however, so scoot if you need to. Stabilisers and high fire Control (FC) numbers on vehicles mean they can move more hexes with a reduced deduction, but even these will lose accuracy on the move.
However in SP2 firing shots does not reduce movement (as it should, since movement reduces shots), so one minor 'cheat' is to fire all your shots from your start point (2 minutes worth of stationary firing!) then move a full 2 minutes move, if you can. This can reduce the need for stabilisation somewhat.
These vehicles may be wheeled or tracked, but tend to be armoured to the lighter end of the spectrum, armament varies from a pintle mg to sophisticated guns or ATGM launchers. It is the 'thin tin' that is their common bond, however, together with the fact that these vehicles are usually the fastest things about that don't fly. Included here are scout cars, armoured cars, light tanks, and MICVs and APCs as well, once they have dropped their passengers. In fact some of todays light tanks are simply jumped up MICVs which have traded passenger capacity for larger magazines capacity, more fuel tanks, fancy recon gear or whatever.
Usually these vehicles are primarily meant to act as scouts for the big boys, this being most true of those with token armaments of a mg or small cannon, which are there really only for self defence. Even when heftier armaments are carried, these are meant to be used in the main on vehicles of the same class as themselves, or for beating up on APCs etc. Like old fashioned battle cruisers they may be able to hand out MBT type punishment, but like battle cruisers, they could not handle it themselves - MBTs, like battleships are designed to be able to take what they dish out. Some of the more heavily armed of the species can in fact take on and kill MBT class targets, but what they are not intended for is to get into a slugging match with these. Rather, they are meant to use their agility and usually small size to manoeuvre into places where they can take the big boys from a more advantageous position - usually by flanking them. Thus these vehicles when operating in this manner are more akin to tank destroyers - see below. Also, if using ATGM against MBTs they once again become a form of tank destroyer.
However, more especially earlier in the period, some light tanks were heavily enough armoured that when the enemy MBTs were absent, they could indeed act more as if little MBTs. Nowadays, there does not seem to be much of anything in between the Chobham-clad monsters and the light stuff. If we take warships as an analogy, the old 'cruiser' type of tank in British parlance has passed away. Its 'all or nothing' in todays protection scheme. Note that the earlier UK types classed in SP2 as 'light tanks' are just left-over WW2 medium types - Comet, Cromwell, Charioteer - and should be treated as obsolescent MBTs.
The main difference between light armour and a (modern) tank destroyer is that the latter is nowadays entirely specialised towards killing tanks - very few gun armed TDs exist which can, for example, fight through an infantry defence in support of an assault. When the enemy MBT threat is low or non-existing, light tanks can do this, as can armoured cars and even a lowly ferret scout car with its single MG.
So in SP2, we find that we will not really need vast numbers of light armour, except possibly in the early 50s say, when a fair few Chaffees or M41 Bulldogs can be useful - even against T34s. Half a dozen cheap scout cars or even MG armed jeeps will do to screen the front when advancing, and we have little or no requirement for these when defensive, except possibly as sentries on the flanks. A few light tanks, wheeled or tracked, with a 30mm cannon or 76mm/90mm gun can be useful to slip round the enemy flank, especially playing the AI which does not employ an active defence. When defending ourselves, again a few light tanks may provide some service as flank security, or as a fast moving reserve fire brigade. However, if our force is composed of modern MICV types these can usually provide all the light armour services we require, barring a few expendable scouts to send out ahead as sacrifices.
A few of the WW2 type gun armed tank destroyers are available at the start, basically the US style of mobile, lightly armoured turreted vehicle intended to manoeuvre to the flanks, and avoid return fire by motion, and the Soviet style of heavily armoured box turret designed to stand a chance against gunfire while carrying, usually, a heavier main gun than its turreted equivalent.
Only the West Germans and the Soviets continued with the gun tank destroyer, both going for lightly armoured, low and agile platforms rather than the heavily armoured SU or Jagdpanzer style of late WW2. Some armies did use French 105mm gun turrets on light hulls as dedicated gun tank destroyers, but the gun TD is today a novelty item, apart from a few armed jeep type RCL carriers.
Todays tank destroyer is as noted above, primarily a missile armed lightly armoured vehicle, focused on defeating MBT class targets. Usually other than the missile system, the only other weapon carried will be an MG for local defence, and many ATGM carriers do not even have that. It is therefore a long range sniper type weapon, the low rate of fire of its weapon system made up for by the accuracy of guidance.
During the 70s and early 80s these vehicles were indeed very effective MBT removers, in fact the popularity of these things probably springs from the perceived Israeli experience in the Yom Kippur war. But however much the outside world jumped onto the mass issue of ATGM - even to the extent of placing them on every IFV, it is noticeable that the Israelis themselves did not go for masses of TOW launchers, rather they increased the mech infantry content of their formations, and added more artillery. They stuck with the MBT as the prime weapons platform.
Of course, the heavy vehicle mounted ATGW was the prime spur for the development of modern laminated armours such as Chobham, and other methods such as ERA. So from the mid 80s on, despite advances in warhead technology, and novel approaches such as top-attack missiles, the ATGM has declined in relative lethality, though they still make a fine mess of light armour and APCs. What it means today is that ATGM tank destroyers cannot really hope to take modern tanks on frontally, and like the old US style gun-armed tank destroyers, must manoeuvre to the flanks to kill reliably. Modern tank gun ranging and fire control systems are also reaching out to close the gap in accuracy - together with the guns higher rate of fire, and modern sighting systems, the ATGM tank destroyer is in the middle of interesting times. However, they still provide a method of providing a good punch on a platform of low weight, so still have their uses in for example, airmobile forces. Their ultimate expression of course is in AT helicopters, but these have their own disadvantages - especially in cost. (Dollar cost of purchase and especially running, not SP2 battle points cost).
So in SP2, early ATGM tank destroyers (sagger, SS11) provide a useful, if not too reliable method of killing even the heaviest tank out to long ranges. Middle period (TOW, Swatter, Spandrel, HOT, Swingfire etc.) is when they are best, and post M1, they decline at least as MBT killers, despite better missiles. The most useful type has TI sights as with MBT - the M901 in the early 80s being about the best 'sniper' you get, but even then finding the T80s moderately hard work. The BMP-2 in the 70s is also not half bad as a tank destroyer which also happens to carry infantry, provided it can see the target. The US Sheridan is a form of hybrid, best used as a tank destroyer, but with the ability to close and fight in the infantry battle with its 152mm gun - its just that bit too big and expensive to use as a disposable scout vehicle. However, in SP2 when the range gets under 30 or so hexes - more like 50 in the 90s with modern FC, the SP ATGW usually finds itself ingesting tank main gun AP rounds in very short order indeed. Survivability is not high at all.
One drawback to SP2 is that the various concealment methods real life ATGW vehicles use are not modelled - cherry pickers or periscopes, or such as sagger or Swingfire where the operator could dismount and the vehicle fire from full defilade, nor the remote lock on facility of Hellfire. So SP ATGW have to sit out in full view and get slotted. Therefore, barring the mass issue on some MICV (BMP, Bradley and their ilk) I do not find this type especially useful in SP2. I buy 1 or 2 sections/platoons at the most, and assign them positions deep in the defence to pick off leakers the MBT line has missed. They usually only get 1 shot per move, so don't rack up many kills, and really only do so if using TI sights through smoke at an opponent who does not have that benefit.
Since the enemy is closing the range when you are defending, this type is in fact perhaps more of use in the offensive, surprising as it may seem. SP ATGW prefer to keep at arms reach, and this is easier to arrange when you are going forwards, as you just leave them behind to overwatch your advance and pick off targets at long range. Move your M1s forward with Bradleys in overwatch.
And finally, since we have been going on about ATGM, lets provide a few pointers as to how to actually hit things with the pesky things. Lots of folk complain on the net that they cannot seem to hit things with ATGM, despite the 99% to hit chance shown by the 'T' key on selecting targets. Well, first thing is that the to-hit % chance is roughly the best hit chance you are likely to get, and this figure is not adjusted for a few key factors such as own firer motion and target motion. The % to-hit you get briefly flashed on the display top line AFTER firing is the fully-computed one, which is a bit late to find out.
ATGM in SP2 are most severely penalised for own-platform movement, and also for target platform movement in its move, plus to some extent the target having just appeared. What this boils down to is that for best results, do not move in your move at all, and only select enemy tanks which in their move did not move either. Again, if you are in fact the advancer, this is easier to arrange as your ATGM vehicle can be set up in overwatch, and any enemy (especially AI, who don't much move in defence) tank that shows itself by firing will of course have been halted in its last move.
Note also that ATGM have minimum ranges - quite long for some missiles. In fact the early dragons have quite a long minimum range as well as a short max range, which helps explain a bit why they are under performers, as in real life they indeed were. Being close to the minimum range hex reduces the hit probability, the weapon only coming under full guidance control some distance beyond that. Reaction fire is only fired when the computer thinks the base hit % is worth a shot, so this is why your dragons sometimes seem to fail to fire reaction shots at closeish ranges at passing targets - they are too close to your min. range, and in fact may close within it with no reply. The only answer is to ensure the dragons have a good clear unobstructed field of fire of at least 15 hexes, more if possible. Do not expect much luck trying to ambush at ranges shorter than maybe 10 hexes. In city fighting, a bit of a chocolate teapot of a weapon!. Some of the earlier ATGM have minimum ranges of 10 or 12 hexes - 500 to 600 metres - look at Snapper, Swatter etc. Since most ATGM vehicles have no night sights, low visibility can make them entirely useless, especially as part of a campaign core, as you will get low visibility fights there, and city fights too.
OK you have fired your missile, and the to hit % on the top line is 99% or something up there and juicy, the thing bumbles towards its target, everything is on line. Unfortunately, targets can react to ATGM fire in SP2 - as in real life due to the relatively slow flight of the round, countermeasures can be taken. The main one in SP2 is that the target sees the missile and the dreaded 'target avoids ATGM' status line flashes. Your 99% shot is converted into a direct miss. Also, in some cases the target or an overwatching piece or pieces will actually fire at you as the missile flies - at worst this will kill you, at best it will likely add to the suppression level of your firer, lessening the ultimate hit chance. If you die, the missile misses of course. Generally, the target avoids best if it has already spotted you, and to a lesser extent if it notices you - try to choose targets looking away from you!. The prime factor in ATGM avoidance is the experience of the target, veteran level and above are better dodgers. Naturally, your pieces can do this too, but it also appears that pieces that have not moved full blast have a better dodge chance as well.
For our purposes, an armoured direct fire platform designed both to hand out and receive MBT main gun calibre punishment. The prime playing piece in SP2, but not omnipotent. Its prime enemies are aircraft and other MBTs, and in a limited period of our history, the ATGM tank destroyer. It can prove embarrassingly vulnerable to infantry as well at close ranges, and especially in close quarter combat in cities, forests and smoke. Artillery, even 81mm mortars, can blow the tracks off even the biggest tank, embarrassing or even ultimately fatal in its consequences.
So every SP2 army should have some, shouldn't they?. Well no, actually if you have an army whose tank tech. is noticeably behind the curve, especially playing against an army focused on killing vehicles - the later US Army is a prime candidate - consider that you can get an entire leg infantry company for the cost of a typical super tank. And the later US Army is so vehicle-kill focused that its mech inf squads are teeny little security elements for the ATGM the platoon deploys, easily blown away with a burst or two. Buy an entire leg inf battalion, with some ATGM which happily torch Bradleys, and the enemy will be toiling to field an M1 and a Bradley platoon. Better yet, the 120mm gun M1s in the as-issued state have no HE for their main guns, and have to deal with infantry with but 3 mgs - not much advance on a WW2 Gen. Stuart light tank. The Fabian approach for lateral thinkers. This army's prime grunt remover is the 25mm on Bradley (easily killed off) and the next step is artillery - much the same can be said of the later West German army in SP2.
But we want to play with fleets of clanking metal monsters don't we?. OK OK.
MBTs are usually your core troop type in SP2. They can dominate the entire battlefield. I would suggest for most players a force mixture based on the Soviet, with 1 mech inf platoon fielded for each tank company/squadron selected as about right for most open field play. Some of you may prefer a more balanced structure with say 1 mech inf company per tank company fielded. But in general, and especially vs the AI, SP2 tends to reward tank heavy teams.
APCs die like flies, so consider using tank riders as discussed above, but if the enemy is known to rely on APCs with no AP value - e.g. British with FV432 with 7.62 mgs, then even BTR60 can happily run right up to these and kill them with its 14.5mm, or M113s with .50 HMGs.
If there is a possibility of air strikes, buy air defence troops to taste - if no air turns up the SAMS are usually a waste, but the gun armed stuff can be used in fire support. At least 1 AA section of 2, better 4 per tank co. Air strikes can ruin your day, the more so as time goes on and planes become more potent. A 500 lb. or 250 Kg laser guided bomb tends to rearrange both the internals as well as the paint work of even M1A2 (The 'King Tank' in SP2).
MBTs can usually move in the open without too many problems, unless his tank tech. or killing tech. is way ahead of yours, at least at longish ranges over 40 hexes (2 KM). Unless of course you have a particularly thin armour basis such as the AMX-30 or Leo 1. Before TI, and in especial when you have it and the opposition do not, use smoke to mask your approach.
Your mech inf should trail behind the tanks in the open ground, where they can spot for you but not be in the forefront. Push them ahead to recce or clear dense undergrowth or buildings.
Where you are several magnitudes of tech. ahead - e.g. M1s in Iraq - these can be fairly brazen in operating in the open, just so long as you do not show him your weaker side armour. In such cases, protect your APCs as he will still be able to drill these. In the Germany 1980 campaign, if you have M1 or M901 you have TI and the soviet T80s do not. In the defensive opening scenarios, you can set up in good firing positions, with ammo trucks beside you, and just pop your smoke dischargers on move 1 and fire with impunity from behind this, and use artillery to smoke in front of your positions too.
Of course, as tanks improve they get more expensive, as does everything else, so you get less of them. Where you could shrug off the loss of a T62 or so in 66, since you might have 40 odds of them, in 96, the loss of a single T90 is much more significant, as you likely only have a dozen.
Remember that your best protection is over your frontal arc - for instance before firing at some enemy tanks to your flank, orient your tank so the thing is pointing directly at them (right click in an empty hex in the direction desired). Thus any return fire triggered by your firing will be on your front as opposed to the fair chance he previously had of getting a side hull hit on you. Of course if this would open your flanks to another enemy force you are already in a pincer. Oh dear. Since all tanks are easier to penetrate from the flank or rear, try to manoeuvre your force to outflank the enemy while not opening your side arcs to him in the process.
If you are so far ahead that you can easily penetrate him frontally while he is less likely to do this to you, just bull into him frontally - again US supertanks versus AI Iraquis, especially if it was dumb enough to buy T55s.
When operating to the flank of an enemy force you can often get away with not being spotted at all. For example, playing the Iraqui side of the tutorial scenario you have a tank unit deep South behind a ridge. I find I can often nose 1 hex over onto the ridge and flank fire into the M1s of the Southern platoon, killing or at least disabling them without much reply, before popping back behind the berm. So try to move some tanks round his flank unspotted, then pop them up and have a field day.
In SP2 there is no real need for fancy tank formations, I just form the platoons in road columns at the start with the platoon commander at the rear, deploying into a loose line abreast as contact approaches, but again trailing the commander as his loss can be upsetting. I try to keep all tanks within the 5 hex safe comms distance of the leader, as radio contact beyond 5 hexes is not 100% guaranteed.
In the defence, if you are way ahead in tech., you can line your tanks up in open positions dominating his approaches. Make sure that if you need to move you have cover nearby - remember in SP2, you cannot reverse, so popping back a hex to behind the ridge means your tank will about face and present its tender rear to the enemy. So sit at the very back of a ridge if at all possible. Try to set up your defence so as to produce a killing pocket on the likely approach to the objectives - basically a U shaped deployment so that you get flank shots. More difficult versus a human opponent than the lemmings to the slaughter AI of course. Be prepared to move, and to fall back if required or to displace to cover any attempt to turn your flank. If noticeably behind your opponent in tech., it is best to defend from behind the hill rather than sit out in the open to be killed, the plan being to engage him at as near point blank as possible as he pops over. A similar effect can be had using trees or buildings as a screen, either hitting him point blank or firing flanking shots into him as he passes to the side(s). In the defence place foot troops near your tanks to spot enemy infantry approaching - an MG section can suffice for this, at a pinch.
Helicopters are best thought of as fast light armour with special characteristics, so see armour, or infantry for airmobility. Fixed wing aircraft and artillery are related by both appearing on the bombardment menu. Aircraft can be thought of as terminally guided artillery. The procedures for using these are similar, though aircraft have a few twists. Helos have a little subsection at the end here though.
Note that artillery, and aircraft bomb, effects are underrated somewhat in SP2, as explosive devices (other than one cluster munition type) only affect the 50 metre hex they explode in - Thus since half a hex is 25 metres, you are perfectly safe from, say a 2000 lb. aircraft bomb, or a tactical thermonuclear device if such was available, at 26 metres!. Many hand grenades in fact can be dangerous even to 30 metres, but in SP2 no suppression or damage goes beyond the impact hex. Also, since artillery and air bombs arrive at the end of a move, the new SP2 'instant' rally will remove most of the morale effects - in SP1, if artillery had made a unit retreat or rout, it remained so in its move, only recovering at the next move turn over.
This is guns, mortars, or rocket launchers which fire indirect - that is they fire on map coordinates rather than at something under direct observation.
Artillery is more accurate if the planned point of impact is under view of the observing unit, and more so if this unit has a high 'artillery command' rating - i.e. it is a FO vehicle. (In SP2 all forward observers are stuck in their dedicated vehicles, there is no concept of an officer, NCO and radio on foot). When artillery is plotted, a delay amount is shown, and this is explained in the SSI manual, for those who need the real stuff, basically the number to the left of the decimal point is the number of moves delay till the shot falls - what you want here is a zero, meaning the bricks will start falling in the artillery phase at the end of your current turn. The number after the point is the fraction of a full moves shooting - 0 is 100%. The delay is least if your A0 or a specialist FO calls the fire - any other '0' can call for fire, but the delay will usually be longer. The delay is reduced if the FO is veteran or above with high art cmd, and the firer is also veteran or above. In this case even impromptu fires on unplanned targets will often arrive in the move requested.
During the game setup phase you can preset up to 10 pre registered target hexes, by going to the bombardment menu, clicking on the desired hex and hitting the 'target' button. A gold medallion appears on the registered hex. To unselect a medallion, select the hex and hit target again - you can now replace it. During the set up phase you can plot artillery which drops as a 'pre game' barrage, but be aware that artillery smoke fired here will be 'aged' at game start - see what happens to the AIs automatically dropped smoke. You can of course plot a pre-game air pass or three as well. Pre game bombardments are not subject to any delays.
To use a pre planned hex during the game, open the bombardment menu, select a medallion, then click the HE, smoke or CM buttons for the firers you wish to land there. All will now show a 0.0 delay, i.e. none. You can adjust off of a medallion, even in the move of plotting, so there is no need to plant them nearer than 6 hexes apart.
In SP2 you can adjust the impact by using the adjust key in a subsequent move - note if you wish to fire other than HE, first click on smoke or CM, then the adjust key, otherwise HE is plotted. You can readjust several times, i.e. to more than the 3 hex ring, by several hops, but the number of shots reduces per hop. You cannot register a target hex engaged during play, but a similar effect can be obtained by remembering not to fire the guns in question - when a target appears go to their lines in the menu and click the desired ammo type, the rounds will fall on the remembered location. This is useful e.g. you can range onto a particular spot with your mortars, using HE, so as not to waste the limited smoke rounds, wait until the smoke is needed, then fire it.
In SP2 you need 120mm or greater HE (mortars larger) to make a crater hex, in SP1 the min. size was 105mm. A 120mm or greater round hitting a wooden bridge will drop it, and any units on top will be destroyed. A 160mm or larger shell or mortar bomb will drop a section of stone bridge with similar effects on travellers. Most air bombs seem to drop stone bridges. Cluster munitions have no effect on bridges.
On table units usually represent one weapon, but off table units, for some strange reason only known to SSI only available in the assault/defence pair, can represent 3 or 4 tubes, and all then fire on the same hex without having to plot 3 or 4 separate on table firers.
The key to effective use of artillery is mass. If a target is worth firing at its worth a battery. So plot all 6 tubes to fire on the same hex, or all within 2 or 3 hexes to get a decent concentration. Place them in a line 1 or 2 hexes apart for a linear barrage. 120mm or higher calibre is best for effect on armour targets, though I have seen light APCS destroyed by 81mm mortar bombs now and then. So if you plan to use artillery, take a dozen tubes or 18, and fire them in concentrated battery or larger size fire blows.
The other key to use of arty is target selection - a massed target is best, as artillery is an area weapon, a cudgel not a scalpel. Also involved, if delay is present, is a sense of anticipating where the target array will be in a move or sos time.
Artillery is most useful when you are going forwards, use it to cover your approach with smoke, and to lay misleading smoke screens versus a human opponent, to make him suspect you are going or coming from somewhere you are not. Above all use it to pound the ground in likely and suspected defence localities. Be prepared to fire 2 or 3 moves of prep fires without moving a single on table unit, bar perhaps a few recce units sniffing him out. Remember that artillery is a weapon of cumulative effect - the more time you spend pounding an area, the more your damage will rise statistically.
You can conduct recon by artillery - SP2 gives you interesting messages if vehicles and bunkers etc. are hit - e.g. 'track hit - no effect' or 'track-hit - BMP-1 immobilised', these messages tell you which hex a defender is in, if you pay attention to the fall of shot. Therefore if receiving fire from a human opponent, consider moving off if one of these things happens, as the game is up, and surprise reduced.
When defending or delaying, plan your registered targets to cover the likely approaches, and plot a few right by your forward defences, or on top, for close-in Final Defensive Fires (FDF tasks, also called SOS tasks). In the defence be prepared to drop the bricks on one of your own positions if its being badly overrun, especially if your guys are dug in and he is in the open.
Artillerys prime target type is the soft stuff, but track hits can inconvenience the opponent, and especially versus light armour, kill things. I prefer more of a just-big-enough gun than fewer heavies - so 18 122mm over 12 152mm. The real jump in killing power comes with 8 inch HE shells or more. The early model M110 SP howitzer ROF is only 3 or so, but the M110A2 has a much higher ROF, not far off the 155mm M109, so is well worth buying if you like to make impressive holes in the terrain. Cluster munitions when available do not seem to give much benefit in my experience - for one thing, only one round per tube per move seems to be fired, i.e. less than the usual number of HE rounds. The only type worth having is MLRS rockets or the Soviet Uragan equivalent - each shell from these is effectively an aircraft cluster bomb, so has effect beyond the impact hex. MLRS devastates infantry, does plenty of track hits, and quite a few top hit kills even on T80s. Another artillery type is minelets - FASCAM in this game from the American jaw-breaker acronym for 'FAmily of SCatterable Artillery Mines'. This one lays a small mine field in the impact hexes and neighbours. Mines which fall on top of something explode on contact, with greater effect than MLRS. Its mainly of use when the defender, of course
On table artillery is mortars and towed howitzers, SP mortars and SP Artillery pieces. Foot mortars of the smaller sort can just move - frankly I feel if they do so, the pile of ammo should be left behind, as 3 or 4 men can just manage the piece and 4 or 6 bombs, the ammo pile needing porters, but that's a niggle!. At least they can move off a bit themselves if under counter battery fires. 60mm and other short-ranged mortars may in fact only be able to reach the front of the enemy zone when you are advancing, even if set up on the front edge of the deployment zone, so may need to march forwards in the latter stages - being near a tarmac road helps this, if no transport to hand. Howitzers cannot move, and need a truck to shift them, or an APC type with a lift capability such as MTLB or BTR152. Trucks are a chancy way of getting out of a beaten zone!. Consider a truck section or an APC section of the right type near your gun line to move things about - there's usually no great need to provide a 100% lift.
SP mortars come with no smoke ammo in SP2 for some reason, and since most players want mortars to throw smoke, this is a disadvantage. Also, although the AI will buy SP mortars, it will not fire them indirect due to a program bug. The major advantage of SP artillery of all types is that they can move, and they are tinplated, so less bothered by counterbattery fires. Be prepared to move them about if your opponent likes to fire counterbattery. Some SP howitzers have impressive ammo loadouts - one US 105mm SP has over 80, and the Israeli L33 155mm has a very deep pocket too.
You will soon see his on table artillery positions as a haze of smoke appears over the positions. You can then stonk these or send in the bombers. Off table sections can only be counter battery fired upon by other off map sections, which did not themselves fire, and also have the reach to engage the prospective target. Off map sections hit by c/b fires will retreat for a move or 3. Later US sections seem to have a built in advantage of being able to fire for effect onto the table, and also conduct c/b fires as well.
All in all, artillery is cheap and useful stuff - remember, never mind the quality, feel the width. In other words go for the most 120mm plus tubes you can get, and towed stuff is usually fine. Any C/B fire on your guns is not hurting your combat troops either. Ammo trucks are vital to artillery effectiveness, especially to those which come with low loadouts. I find SP mortars of little use, except in campaigns, as cheap placeholders for later upgrades to something useful - especially in the USA in the 1980 Germany campaign, as they have no real cheap armoured scout car or similar type. Even M109s are cheap, so consider a section of 2 SP mortars and a battery of 6 M109, later on up all these to M1 with spare buy points, cross attach 2 of the ex-M109 to the ex-mortar section, and now you have 2 more 4 tank M1 platoons in your core, plus prior to the upgrade they are still useful things to have. Cheap little 60mm or 81mm mortars can become howitzers, or even area SAMS.
A few 81mm mortars can be useful for keeping his infantrys heads down, in fact in the later game I often go to the HQ 'tent' menu, and place mortar sections under computer control, and they then happily chase the routers without me having to be bothered with plotting the pesky things. Some of the AI generated target choices can be a bit silly, but the reduction in the hassle factor is fine, plus the fact that artillery under such computer control gets 'AI benefits' - the tubes it decides to assign have their fires fall immediately, with no delay, just like the AIs
These are plotted using the bombardment menu as for artillery, but instead of shells an aeroplane arrives, and does its best to attack something on the board - it can get confused and attack one of your toys though, but this is less noticeable in SP2 than in SP1, where air was notorious for 'friendly fire', but still be careful plotting air attacks too close to friendlies.
Aircraft can be plotted to arrive and leave via various flight paths via the button above the mini-map on the bombard menu. Plot the new path and then place the planes HE marker, or it will follow the previously set path.
Aircraft work best in very high visibility. They can have problems finding targets in valleys or in woods or built up areas - out in plain view on a featureless plain is best, or smack on top of a prominent hill.
Some planes have long range missiles and can make a stand off attack from off map - in some cases before long range SAMS attack. Also in this category are those with anti radar missiles - these always target a working ADA radar on table, if there is one, and do nothing if none is present. The defenders unit may choose to shut his radar off for the rest of the move, or the missile can hit and destroy the FC radar or kill the ADA unit. Or miss, of course. Its best if wild weasels with HARM or similar come on first - since planes come on in their purchase order, buy WW air first in your strike package. The best long range missile type in my experience is the Laser Guided Bomb or LGB - these are very effective, especially from the US F15 with 2 by 2 LGB - its a 'double banger' in that if #1 misses, or does not kill, it launches #2, this double punch deals even T90s mortal blows.
The other aircraft are of 2 types - bombers and cannoneers/rocketeers. Both are more effective if they acquire and line up on their victims some ways off. You know that you are on for a successful attack if the message 'attacking x' comes up in white on black when the plane is 30 odds hexes off. If you don't the attack may still be successful. The next message, on a yellow background is 'attacking x', or for a bomber 'bombing x'. If you have seen the roll-in message the target is toast, but if not the pilot has acquired the target in the final seconds and still stands a fair chance. In this case you will see black hit %s on yellow in the top status line - over 100% means a sure hit. If nothing was seen the 'attacking' or 'bombing' hex message comes up - here the pilot is just hosing the hex down with cannon or rockets, or area dropping bombs, though in both cases hits and kills can still be made. Bombs fare better here than rockets or cannon, especially those bombers which drop 2 bombs in each target hex, as they get 2 goes per impact hex. See the 2 long rows of double craters in the example battle screen - these were from F105 Thuds.
Aircraft provided they were not damaged or routed by AA fire will return and make passes until all ordnance is expended - unguided and cluster bombs are almost always all released in the first pass. The plane will however go home when all its cannon rounds are expended, even if it still has missiles. Aircraft hit by AAA or SAMs, provided not badly damaged, will complete the current attack run, and fly off, AA permitting. Badly hit planes may abort, and either fire a cannon burst or do nothing at the target.
The best way to learn how to use aircraft is to set up a target practice session, with your side advancing and the AI set to delay. Set the number of air flights and points as high as liked in the preferences screen, then set up the game with human everything on your side and computer player, but human selects forces and human deploys forces for the AI, so you buy nice benign targets that do not shoot back for your first targets (PT76, trucks, MT-LBs), and place them where you want them - right where your artillery pre registered targets are - as planes can use these too, not just tube arty. Now experiment to your hearts content, trying different aircraft and flight plans etc. Move on up to things that shoot back later to practice ADA suppression. (NB, set up as an advance or defend for the AI forces so they stay in place, and don't come charging at your HQ!!).
I will tag helicopters in here, just to cover a few other points. Helos as used in transport is covered in the infantry section, and when using ATGM, are best seen as tank destroyers, and when using close range weapons as light armour - see the appropriate sections above.
The main decision in using them as APCs is whether or not to lift in a few large helos, or to spread your eggs amongst a larger number of smaller transport helo 'baskets'. Choose the latter if the enemy has lots of AA, as losses will be more likely - best to lose a small load than 40 odd guys in a Chinook!. The other decision is whether to provide helos for everyone, or to use a smaller number of helos and split your force into several 'lifts'. This is cheaper, and given the speed of helos, usually the best route, as once the passengers are in place and fighting, the transports will usually be twiddling their thumbs a bit, unless they are armed and can support the fighting.
Heliborne infantry are extremely manoeuvrable - consider moving ATGM teams onto the enemy flank or rear, raiding his artillery park in the rear. In other words cause mayhem by a raiding strategy - be prepared to load up and bug out when he starts to react to each raid, keep him punching at air.
However the key to airmobility is the removal of his AA capability - use fixed wing, arty, and gunship helos to reduce this threat. Actually, once the AAA threat is gone, your helos can roam the map like a flock of piranhas - and unlike fixed wing air, once empty you can reload from forward deployed ammo trucks.
Helicopters, of any type, even a single transport type or observation helo, are possibly the best reconnaissance asset you can have in SP2. This can be a more important factor than any direct kills they may get. Their ability to see what is happening on 'the other side of the hill' is simply invaluable in reducing the opponents ability to surprise you, both when you are going forwards, and especially for flank security when holding a position. Popping up to high altitude can give your helo observer a fantastic view of the battlefield, but it may trigger an AA response from the opponent, so be careful.
In SP2, many players find the cannon and rocket armed gunships, or those Soviet transports with massive rocket loads the most useful killers. This is because in SP2, vehicles and squads which have moved do not often fire their AAMG or other weapons at helos, even if these fly up to 1 hex from them. So you can overfly most things, close to 1 hex of the rear of a tank and blow it away with rockets into its derriere. This factor reduces somewhat in the later years when tank main guns start to be able to shoot at flying helos, especially Soviet models with laser guided ATGM.
The cannon and rocket armed helicopter is the best anti-helicopter tool you have as well, just fly to 1 hex from the enemy helo, and blow him away. If weapon 1 is an mg, disable it before firing so the firing helo uses the more potent rocket pods, but a 20mm cannon is fine. If the AI has landed infantry by helo, he usually leaves the transport in the unload hex with the infantry, the exploding transport helo does these no good at all.
Explained a bit in the manual, but confusingly at some points.
HE is High Explosive, and also covers infantry small arms and flame throwers, etc. Basically a catch-all for things that are mainly fired at infantry and similar soft targets. Note that some HE weapons have an AP value as well, as pointed out below. AA missiles are usually an 'HE' round as well.
HEAT is High Explosive Anti Tank, which uses a focused explosive charge to blow a hole through armour plate. SP2 allows the use of HEAT rounds on some non-armoured targets, e.g. trucks and mortars, as well as at the more obvious bunkers, but not on infantry squads. HEAT is also used to cover HESH in SP2, another form of Chemical Energy weapon. Anti Tank Guided Missiles are usually HEAT rounds.
AP is a round primarily designed to go through armour plate. It has no real anti-soft skin value.
HVAP is the term used in SP1, the manual, and early editions of SP2 itself e.g. the original demo version, now christened 'Sabot', and represents an improved AP round really. It covers all of HVAP (High Velocity Armour Piercing), APDS (Armour Piercing Discarding Sabot), APFSDS (Armour Piercing Fin Stabilised Discarding Sabot - this one fires a dart-like sub calibre projectile - also known as a 'long rod penetrator'), and APFSDSDU (APFSDS + Depleted Uranium).
This is because in some tank guns in SP2, the AP value is in fact used for a sabot round - either APDS or APFSDS. A case in question is the NATO 105mm gun, which never had an AP round - the AP value in fact represents the original APDS round, the Sabot figure represents an APFSDS round available from the late 70s in some models. for some Soviet guns, The 115mm and 100mm D10-T smoothbores, the 'AP' round is actually APFSDS.
This is a limitation of the game engine, an update on WW2 SP1 which was never meant to cover all the modern warhead types.
Sabot, by the way, means 'shoe' and relates to the pusher element behind the supporting 'petals' which break off to let the sub calibre round fly free in APFSDS or APFSDS/DU rounds. HVAP being an early type of high velocity round, keeps its rigid light weight shroud during flight - hence the drag effects quickly reduce its velocity, and striking power to below a normal aerodynamic round like an AP shot (And APDS) or dart projectile (APFSDS/DU) - rather like a shuttlecock in fact. HVAP's close in punch was of course useful.
Encyclopedia page - IPM1 AbramsNew persons often complain that they don't know what the numbers shown for tanks mean. Lets start with an old chestnut - basically the number shown for a weapon under say the HE column is the number of shots available - it is not a 'HE factor' as some newcomers seem to think. So 6 in the HE column for a weapon means that it can go 'bang' 6 times with that type of ordnance, then no more - barring a visit to an ammo truck.
I will cover the basic statistics here, there may be others, but these numbers are the key to understanding a units capabilities - some are only shown on the encyclopedia page for a unit, and some only on the stat screen brought up by right clicking on the selected unit during the game itself.
Size - a number from 0 (sniper = small) upwards. The bigger it is the easier to both spot and hit. Less is therefore better. Not too vital.
Speed - shown as 2 figures, Move points on land and on water for vehicles with a swim capability. See the SP manual for how many MP get used for what. The M1 above has a reasonable 25, but no swim capability.
Vision - relates to the night fighting capability. 0 is none, up to 30 for representing passive systems. Units with vision can see to that number, ignoring the current battlefield limits due to say, it being a dark night (visibility of 5 or 6). The key hike is a rating of 40 or more - at 40 or more you can see through smoke, burning wrecks and such like, as well as the normal night fighting capability. 40 represents Thermal Imaging (TI). Higher numbers are ground search radars - e.g. 60 on the Apache longbow. Rather important, especially the last 2 as they have daylight uses. You get lots of smoke on an SP battlefield!. The IPM1 above has 40, so has TI.
Stabiliser - 0 means the weapons are unstabilised, and normal deductions for movement in loss of shots and accuracy occur. 1 or more represents better and better stabilisation. The better the stabiliser the further you can move without great losses in accuracy or of number of shots. a value of 3 or more allows the owning vehicle to fire main round guns at helicopters. The IPM1 above has 4, 5 is about the best.
FC - Fire Control - represents any computational kit used to increase hit probability, 0 being none and bigger is better. Numbers in the 100 series are used to represent radar-controlled AA artillery or SAMs. The IPM1s figure of 35 is very respectable indeed.
EW - Electronic warfare, used against AAA radars. On AAA radars, its ECCM.
Smoke Discharger - if shown, the vehicle has a smoke discharger. Hit the 'D' key and the vehicle fires a 3 puff smoke screen in the direction the turret is facing. A one shot per game thing. The number of smoke rounds is shown on the in-game stats screen in the format 5:sd 1 - the number of main gun smoke rounds on the left, smoke discharger on the right.
Lift capacity- numbers up to 99 are roughly the number of men the unit can carry, with numbers in the 100s and 200s digit being codes as to ability light or heavy field pieces. The IPM1 has 0, so is not allowed to pick up troops.
Rate Of Fire- basically an idea of the maximum number of shots the unit can produce, but green or average troops do less, and elite to the upper end. Around 9 is highest, so the IPM1s 6 is good. .
Load Cost - an idea of what the unit costs to carry. A MG team with 3 men and LC of 1 seems to take up the space of 4 or 5 'men' - a squad with size 7 and LC 0 takes 7 'men' value in loading. The figure of 42 for the IPM1 probably has meaning to an LCAC landing barge trying to stuff more than 1 of these beasts aboard.
Survivability - the higher this number, the better the chances of the vehicle crew surviving and bailing out - mostly of interest playing campaigns, as surviving crews gain experience once you pay for a new chariot. the IPM1s 13 is very good indeed.
Cost - how many battle points one of these items will cost you. In the encyclopedia its fixed, in the purchase screen as the Troop Quality increases this goes up. The M1A2 below is 120 points, more if you up the troop Quality. It is about the most expensive piece in SP2. 120 points will buy a company of leg infantry, with change left over, in most cases!.
Weapons - each unit in SP2 can carry up to 4 weapons, each fills 1 slot of the weapons section. The slot at the top is weapon 1 and is considered the prime weapon. This weapon determines the max range settable with the range (Y) key, even if it has lesser range than one in a lower slot (E.G. an ATGM). It is also the one used in the calculation of hit% you see when cycling through targets with the T key - this is a bummer, e.g. where you have a cobra with mgs in slot 1 and the TOW in slot 2, as the mgs hit% is shown, not the TOW you are probably a bit more interested in!. The range of the weapon in slot 1 determines how far infantry can fire smoke grenades as well.
Each weapon can have up to 255 rounds of each of HE and AP ammo. Only one weapon can have HEAT and sabot ammo, by default these numbers are assigned to weapon 1. Also note that unlike HE or AP numbers, you cannot see the HEAT or sabot totals for a platform until after you bought it - i.e. these numbers are NOT shown on the unit purchase screen. See Sgt. Stones M1A2 in the picture below - and note the 4 HE you won't normally see as he comes from a hacked mob file!. This point answers another FAQ - 'I selected the TOW jeep, but it had no ammo' - it does indeed have 4 or 6 missiles, but you don't get to see this till you can select the on-map icon stats display, of which Sgt. stone's M1A2 is an example. (Left click on the unit to select it, then right-click on it to bring up the on-screen display - this on screen stat window is also where you a) can change a helos altitude - click on the altitude section which appears above the picture b) can stop a weapon from firing - click on the weapons line, it goes red - or back to green on re-clicking - useful if you want to reserve ammo and c) change the unit commanders name - click on the name and enter a new one, then hit enter). Several oft-asked FAQs dealt in that last section. Sgt. Stone below has 16 HEAT and 20 Sabot you would not have seen in the purchase menu. The 4 (hacked) HE you would though.
OK, some vehicles have a main gun firing AP, HEAT and/or sabot, and as well have a missile - in this case the missile is in a lower slot, and its number of rounds is shown as AP, but the rounds behave as HEAT. Sheridan for the US and the Soviet gun-missile tanks are the typical examples. Also note, since these are in SP2 two different weapons, the main gun in fact fires a full calibre round plus the breech-loaded missile simultaneously, a silly but a limitation of the game engine.
In the encyclopedia, each weapon is listed with some data which can be a bit mystifying at first glance. The Pen figures are the maximum armour value these rounds can penetrate in centimetres. HE pen is on the left, AP pen on the right column. Some folks are at first mystified by HE pen - but this covers some autocannon and MG with AP in the belt, as well as some large HE rounds which make enough of a bang to go through lighter plate.
For the M1 above, the 105mm main gun HE can penetrate 3 cm, but the 12.7mm HMG is slightly better with an HE pen of 4 cm. The pen figure for plain AP shot (actually APDS for the NATO 105mm gun) is 33 cm, note the jump to 54 cm for the sabot round, which here will represent APFSDS. HEAT pen is 42, so mid way between the 2, and for an M60 with this gun early on, i.e. without sabot, in the 60s say, the better AP round.
Note these figures are max values, and are variable - AP and sabot reduce with distance whereas the other 2 do not. AP and sabot are less variable in their range of possibles, but HEAT and especially HE pen can vary quite wildly - so a HEAT round with pen of 125 is not guaranteed to get through 120 cm armour all that often, and an HE round with high penetration - e.g. MLRS is 60 - less likely to make it. In addition due to the way weapons are used in the internal database, for aircraft cannon only HE AP values can be used - hence an air carried 30mm cannon may have a vastly higher HE AP rating than its ground fired equivalent - this is deliberate (The database uses the no of AP rounds as a count of the number of aircraft cannon - explaining why in some displays a count of say 1 or 2 AP rounds appears for a plane - this is the cannon count in fact). Air missiles are HE-AP rounds for the same reason. Another point to note, artillery use the number of AP rounds as the number of cluster rounds - for direct fire on table howitzers need to use HEAT even if in reality they used a solid-shot AP round. The designers forgot this point with the British 25 pounder, and gave it AP for anti tank, so this if bought as an on-table howitzer has cluster ammo in 1950!.
The Kill ratings for the various ammo types are an HE factor - the bigger this is the better the weapon is at killing grunts!. HE to the left, AP kill to the right, though this figure appears unused - always 0. Note how the Mgs are rated as better killers than the 105mm HE round above, but that shell can travel to 100 hexes, unlike the mgs.
The Range is max range in hexes - sabot/HVAP range (RH Column) can be less for 'true' HVAP, though SP2 gilds the lily for most HVAP, especially US 90mm - these should have a max range of 20 odds - but curiously cuts the British 17 pounder and 77mm very short, despite these guns actually using a true APDS round. Niggle. For AT missiles, the number in the sabot range column is in fact the minimum range, this is also the case for SAMs, and for guns and mortars the min. range for map fires using the bombardment menu. For long range (off-map) artillery, numbers in the 200 series are used - this is a code to tell the game its off map, and the final 2 digits seem to be related to whether or not 1 battery can counterbattery fire on another. A 211 can most likely shoot at a 209, but not vice versa. For long range SAMS again numbers in the 200 series are used - this affects the stand off SAM fire, e.g. in determining if the SAM fires before an aircraft fires a long range missile in its own stand-off attack. Note the ranges declining for the weapons above, and that the sabot range and AP ranges coincide both can shoot out to 100 hexes, or 5 kilometres - a HVAP round would have had a lower right hand figure.
The Warhead figure has no real effect, basically it shows what size explosion graphic is used on the weapons impact. However, given the same HE kill, the weapon with a bigger warhead may have slightly more effect, but unlikely.
The Accuracy - ACC - is a guide figure where to expect a 50% to-hit chance for that weapon, before any other modifiers are applied. RF adds to this as does FC, and Suppression takes away, but there are others. The 105mm above has an ACC of 25 - a base 50% at 1.25 kilometres, the mgs decline in ACC down the list, and this high ACC goes some way to explaining why, despite its nominally lower HE rating the 105mm kills more infantry at beyond 15 odds hexes - it tends to have more direct hits.
A long sub section there but weapons are important, and also seem to generate many queries, which is understandable given the lack of info in the game documentation.
Armour Another item of more than passing interest!. SP2 models armour in terms of effective thickness in centimetres. It models 3 different armour types, plain ordinary steel armour (A), anti-HEAT special armour (H), and Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA or Reactive - (R)).
Each facing on the unit has a value, given for both the turret and the hull of the unit. Top armour applies to both, and if 0 the unit is considered to be open topped and so more vulnerable to attack from above. The turret figures are shown in red on the unit icon top-view if this is the case. Top hits come from air or artillery, but also from firing down onto targets from hills - so a rifle burst into the top of a 0 top-armour class APC can kill it, and hand grenades can be lobbed in the top too. Note the sharp drop between frontal armour ratings (all types) and side in the 2 M1 variants shown above and below. Try to be like a fighter pilot, and point your nose at the threat if you can.
If the front facing is pointing at the firer, most shots will hit the front facing (F), though some will leak round and be side hits (S). However, 'glancing' side hits are at a reduced rate due to the acute angle - I am not sure in this case if the side armour is 'increased' or the AP shot value 'decreased' in the calculation, but in either case the target benefits somewhat.
Remember also that the turret can be pointing in a different direction to the hull, so sometimes you can get a kill on a tank which is looking in another direction to which it is going, and try not to let your enemy get at you this way either - straighten up your tanks etc before the end move key is pressed if possible.
Plain steel armour is what AP and sabot has to penetrate, as does HE with any AP capability. This value is shown on all data, but the following are in the encyclopedia entry only (compare the encyclopedia entry above with the stats display below).
Anti-HEAT is only used versus HEAT rounds - it represents spaced, laminated or Chobham type armours. Where shown, the facings with a better armour value than the equivalent steel facing have an increased protection vs HEAT.
ERA is also only used against HEAT. The number in this case is not a thickness as such, but the percent chance the ERA on that facing will defeat an incoming HEAT warhead. Thus a 9 means that the facing has a 90% chance of defeating the warhead - the 'reactive cell defeats HEAT warhead' message is displayed in this case. After each HEAT attack on a facing, the ERA number is reduced by 1, so eventually the protection goes. ERA is additional to any steel or anti-HEAT armour enjoyed by the unit - if the ERA fails, the HEAT must still defeat the underlying armour plate. I have seen the 'defeats HEAT' message during an infantry close assault with panzerfaust, so it works here too!.
A typical in-game stats display On the in game stats screen you get the following extra info:
CHQ Link - whether or not the unit is in command control (in contact, or in radio contact) or out of contact (bad).
Suppression - how many 'S' points the poor thing has. Note that once suppressed in a game, S never goes below 1 again. Units which have never been shot at are therefore a bit like the Napoleonic muskets, where the first shot was always the best due to having been loaded out of action. Bouncing infantry round on APCs also can result in suppression, so leg infantry can gain slightly here too.
Experience - the higher the better. Also shown pictorially - Green troops get a 'G' icon, average a 2 stripe corporals bars, Veterans A US-style sergeants 3 bars, and Elite a star. Sgt. Stones crew above is 66, which is low average, hence his corporals stripes.
Morale - the higher the better. low morale troops pin or button etc. at lower suppression values. Sgt. Stones crew above is 63, which is good enough.
Damage - each damage point on an infantry type unit is a man gone - For armoured vehicles, the more damage points by partial penetrations (each '*' shown on the hit status line is a DP), the worse off it is. Also for vehicles, damage can remove weapons - destroyed weapons are removed from their slot on the display. Vehicles and squads with high damage fire less shots. Squads whose damage total reaches the number of original grunts are destroyed squads.
Radio - 1 if it has one, 0 if it does not, and hence must try to stay within 5 hexes of its leader.
Range Finder - 0 is none through 14 as laser rangefinders. Bigger is much, much better! - increases the distance to the basic 50% hit-chance hex. Try a test game as Soviets with the T72 (2) and T72A (14) alongside each other and notice the difference. A vital statistic. Sgt. Stones M1 has a laser rangefinder.
Under the leaders name (Sgt. Stone etc.) are the following:
Rally - The percentage chance for this leader to rally. Higher is better, and a 0 for this means he has used all his rallies this move, or his morale is so low (rout) that he has simply no opportunity to do so. A platoon or especially company commander with a low rally is little use - some players will deliberately put such units in harms way in campaigns, hoping the replacement is better!. Since losing A0 is you being killed, this ends the campaign, so not worth trying. In the setup for the first campaign battle try looking through all your core troops, and if it appears to be a really bad crop, consider a restart. This figure can increase for the core troops in a campaign, but ones with a 25 or so rally will always be behind the curve!. Sgt. Stones crew above is 67, which is above average.
The 3 command ratings do not seem to affect things much, but it is best to have a higher one for your own type (e.g. in campaigns the A0 is an infantry type, with higher Inf Command - most convert him to a tank - he will under perform somewhat until this rating is over 50). In particular high Art command (FO units) produce tighter shell groupings. These values go up during campaigns. Sgt. Stones armour Cmd is 79, which is good enough.
I will go through this one as even though its mentioned in the manual and readme, most new folks seem a bit confused with it. I will ignore cosmetics like music and sound - these go straight to 'OFF' with any game I play!. I will therefore only cover those of import. The preferences screen is used to alter the games behaviour somewhat, so you may spend some time fiddling with the settings, especially if you have several PBEM games going on.
Note that the settings are permanent till changed, and affect all games - especially note that preferences are NOT saved with PBEM games, so if you have PBEM games going with different preferences to your usual, you MUST go and change these to the mutually agreed values before you play the game. Since the PBEM setting are not frozen and saved with each PBEM game, its open to cheaters, so some of the beta test team are pushing to get frozen settings in PBEM included in the next patch, so fingers crossed.
Breakdowns Switch - If this is on, vehicles which go through buildings, or through marshes and attempt to cross streams will get stuck now and then, and will remain so till end game. The stuck vehicle will sit under a haze of light smoke (burnt out gearbox??!) - this haze is noticeable even without LOS, and you can plot artillery on it. Not as useful as at first sight as the AI totally ignores its import, and blunders through buildings and straight over streams without bothering to look for bridges etc. So the AI ends up with many stuck vehicles which you will probably end up having to root out and hunt for. And it tends to leave any passengers inside the stuck carrier too. Therefore, this switch is best reserved for playing humans.
Ammo Limit Switch - If toggled, means you have unlimited ammo - only use for when little kiddies are playing, or in learning the game.
Command Switch - If this is off, you can ignore the normal command radius inside formations - again, only for kids or learners.
Morale Switch - When off, no morale penalties apply - for little kids and learner players first battles.
Move And Shoot Switch - If on, moving will make your shooting less accurate, and the further you move, the less shot opportunities your piece gets - modified by such things as vehicle stabilisation systems etc. Again, only switch off for your first games, or when your little kids want to play.
Mines Switch - well, basically, if mines are switched off, the mine fields in assault scenarios wont work!. Kids only.
Spotters Switch - If on, only FO pieces, and X0 (command) units can access the bombardment menu. Turn off for learners or kids.
Hidden Firers Switch - if ON, pieces which fire their weapons are a bit more difficult to spot, at least those that were stationary. It makes the defenders job easier, and advancing or attacking more difficult. This one is really for the experts.
Country Training Switch - if this is on, an inbuilt set of troop quality settings based on SSIs perception of the army in question for the year come into play, so Soviets get lots of 'green' troops etc. If OFF, then the game will use the settings for troop quality you set in the Player Preferences panel. Basically, its best to turn this off - no-one seems to like the settings much, and if its OFF then you at least know what quality troops you are buying.
Auto-Rally Switch - leave this on. When you hit end-turn, your troops will use any unused rally opportunities, should they need it. Cannot see any use in leaving it off at all.
User Preferences Switch - this is needed to be turned ON to make most of the stuff below work!. I.E. the settings in the player preferences menu.
Player Preferences is the bit you will likely fiddle with most of all. Here you can set the percentages for both sides in order to make the game behave more like you want, and or to affect play balance. Note that you can ignore the army names at the headings of the 2 columns - the settings are best seen as player 1 (left) - usually human, and player 2 (right) - usually the AI, sometimes a human. Note that some of the ranges for the settings have been expanded for 1.1 - some can now be set as low as 30% and some as high as 250% approximately.
Searching - the manual says this is for artillery spotting, its actually for spotting other sides units - settings less than 100% to make things more difficult to detect, over 100% to make it easier to see them.
Hitting - affects basic to-hit accuracy. I play at 50% and still find plenty of stuff dies!.
Rout/rally - lower than 100%, and units retreat or rout easier, and also the chance of leaders rallying subordinates reduces. I find small adjustments here quite noticeable, and as an experienced gamer I tend to use 80 or 90% for me and 100% for the AI. (The AI on say 80% is gone fairly quickly, but a lot of this is because it forgets about comms distances in its formations).
Troop Quality - the main one!. At the default 70, you get a spread of troops from about 62 to 79 or a very few 80s in experience level. I will discuss TQ below, but 80 Experience is Veteran Quality, with noticeable uplifts, 100 is Elite, very impressive uplifts, and about 55 is Green - very definately cannon fodder!. Note also, when you buy troops above 70, the units cost more points, and below 70 they cost less, as they are less effective. The Israelis have a built in superiority in armour - their armour types are about 10 points better, so at 70, you get a lot of veteran tankers . This is for free, you pay no extra points for it - this is one reason the inbuilt Israel campaign is so easy, your troops are veterans at average cost, upping TQ to 75 gives a fair sprinkling of elites for a very small extra points cost. I consider this a bit of a bug, if not a downright cheat!.
Tank Toughness - set over 100% and your armour value is increased, thus making your tanks less vulnerable. Most folks leave at 100%.
Inf Toughness - if increased beyond 100%, infantry get less easy to kill, though even at 200% they still last about as long as a snowball in a hot place in SP2. I use 200%, but am about to try a campaign at the new tougher rating brought in in 1.01 to see if any noticeable improvements occur.
Troop Type - This sets your infantry to get integral transport or not - basically 'foot' infantry gets none other than any APCs or other transport built in their formations, and is therefore the default. Choosing airmobile gets your infantry mounted in helicopters, and motorised in trucks. Good?- No, not really!. In SP the transport bought here was over and above the normal unit number limitations - in SP2 this is not the case. Also, the purchase routine is somewhat flawed, in that it buys just enough of the largest carrier type to hold all the infantry - in other words it bundles all your AT teams, MGs etc. into 1 single truck or helo if it can get away with it. In airborne, it buys the fewest biggest helos that will take your troops - i.e. it wants to put all your eggs into as few baskets as possible, so ensuring massive losses per downed helo. It then deploys the troops on table all mixed up in the transports as to how it shoehorned them in, ignoring such niceties as formation organisation. NB -if you DO use this switch, dont buy mech inf platoons or cos etc., as it will buy the APCs as well, but stuff the grunts into separate helos or trucks. In other words, once you have tried this 'feature' once or maybe twice, you will likely ignore it.
The 2 new ones in 1.01 are:
Air Sorties - This one controls how many air sorties each side gets. If set at the default XXX, then the normal random rules apply. If set at 0, no air is available to that side, and 1 or more means the side in question can buy that many air units. An air unit is an air strike of 2 jets, or a gunship section or a transport helo - note each point is a formation- so a transport helo flight of (say) 4 MI8 or a single helo formation (1 helo) both are 1 off that total - i.e. the number is not max planes/helos, its max air formations. For the Soviets, many folks prefer to take the transport helo flights, rather than the Hinds, as you then get more helos, since the MI8 has a large rocket allowance. Note also, some armies (e.g. USA) have air portable cos with inbuilt helos - these are not 'air' formations (since unit 1 is not an 'air' type, these are available to buy at all times). Also note, according to the designers, SP2 was designed on the premise that only one side should have air at any one time. The AI uses the fact that it has been granted air units (or not) as its switch as to whether or not to buy AA units (other than inbuilt - e.g. SA-7, in companies). In other words, if you grant yourself 20 air formations and the AI 1, he will assume he has air superiority and buy no flak.... (this also applies in campaign games as certain armour units can be uprated to helicopters - again if the AI has air, your 'core' gunships should have a happy time, even if your tankers aren't). Basically if you dont want to 'cheat' the AI, set him to 0 flights if you have taken some yourself, unless you want to shoot fish in a barrel that is!.
Battle Points - this switch allows you to grant both sides a certain amount of points, or to leave at 'XXX' for the inbuilt default points in single battles or campaigns. That's right - now you can set up a decent campaign core force right at the start, not the 1000 odds measly allowance you used to get!. When playing vs the AI, usually set your points to the desired value, and the AI side to XXX - but if you want a real challenge, try say 3000 points vs his 10000 in a meeting engagement - or worse yet, let him delay or defend with a large points superiority, should you think you could hack it!. However, use with caution versus the AI. Firstly, remember that the AI needs about double your points when advancing vs you, and treble when assaulting you. In other words, try to keep your campaign force to 2000 to maybe 2500 max at the outset - also remembering you can upgrade units, making your core more 'expensive', and that as your troops experience grows this is also a factor.
Also, in the canned scenario-linked campaigns (e.g. Germany 1980, Korea etc.) the AI forces are fixed for each campaign-linked scenario battle - The AI does not purchase troops on a per-battle basis in these - they are a linked list of scenarios. These campaigns are designed to be played with the human forces limited to the 'default' points settings, so going much above these will tend to make the 'historical' campaigns a walkover.
In SP2 your pieces are organised into platoons, or an equivalent such as a section of 2 or 3 units, which themselves may be grouped into companies, and all are under the battle group commander (you) as represented by the 'A0' unit. This constitutes the command structure in this game, the concept of the HQ issuing an order and it trickling down the command hierarchy to the juniors over time is absent in SP2, as you command each unit directly unless in rout or similar. Your leader units, as well as the leader of each piece (its Sgt.), may try to reduce the effects of suppression and worse of their subordinates by a process known as rallying. This is the control element of SP2. In order to do this, the subordinate troops must be within a certain command radius, or if further, in radio contact with their superior, this is the communications part of SP2.
The platoon is the basic formation - it is led by the '0' unit e.g. in formation 'f' 'f0' leads 'f1' and say 'f2'. However, if you purchase a company, the company commander is the '0' for the entire company, the platoon leaders all being the first unit in the platoon in this case, with all pieces in the company numbered in sequence, the Platoon ID letter changing.. I have noticed that in campaigns, in battle 2 on, the platoons of a company seem often to revert to the '0 is leader' format. In the example purchase screen below, the company HQ (itself a 2 unit formation) will be B0 [Company Commander] and B1, with C platoon of C2 [Pl cmd], C3, C4, and C5, D Platoon of D6 [Pl cmd], D7 etc. down to the AT team at the end of the mech inf platoon which would likely be E19. In a campaign it would likely revert to B0 and B1, then C0 through C3, D0 through D3, E0 through E9 post battle #1. Note the maximum of 10 things in a platoon, the limit in a company is 40, which SSI themselves forgot in the case of the French AMX10 mech co which cuts itself short before the SP mortar section.
The main function of leaders is to rally their subordinates, so a platoon commander will use his rally attempts on any subordinate unit you try to rally with the 'R' key, before he finally fails and the unit's own commander (a Sgt. or whatever) takes up the rally task. Once he has failed the unit cannot rally further. Company commanders will try to rally troops of their company before the platoon commanders of their company, and the A0 unit will try to rally any subordinate piece in his direct command radius. Thus companies are in some ways superior to the equivalent number of platoons bought separately due to the extra rally from the commander. The unit to be rallied must be in command radius, or radio contact with the leader(s) which try to rally it. The command status is shown on the status screen for the unit, but if you try to rally a unit and it immediately starts with 'Sgt. so and so', it either out of contact, its superior is out of rallies, or itself is in retreat or rout. Oh yes, final point - the superior must be in an OK state himself to be able to rally his juniors!.
Rallying reduces the suppression inflicted on the rallied unit, and as this reduces their morale state improves, e.g. from routed to retreating through pinned/buttoned back to ready - the normal state. Even if ready, but with 2 or 4 suppression points, its worth rallying these off before say firing, as any S reduces the firers hit percent chance - especially missilemen.
One point - when the superior leader has used his rally attempts on his juniors, he has no rally left for his own unit, so if he was in a poor morale status he will remain so. You should therefore try to keep leaders out of the thick of the fighting, especially A0 and company 0 types. Or at least remember to look at the leader first, and see if he needs a quick rally, before expending his attempts on others.
The guaranteed command radius is about 5 hexes - 250 metres, but radio equipped units can operate further apart - but remember radio comms are not 100% certain, and Murphy's law states that when a piece of kit is actually needed, it will break down.
Try therefore to keep subordinates as close as possible to their platoon commanders, and keep the platoons closed up to their company commanders, and have A0 near where you think his rally function will be needed - e.g. near a key point of the defence. Don't place him on the rear board edge, but then again do not unduly risk him - losing A0 in a campaign means you have died, and so end of campaign. While not necessarily advocating charging around as a tight little modern version of the phalanx, its noticeable that new players who spread their pieces around the board playing them as individual chessmen will have retreat problems. The AI tends to ignore command radii as well, and look what happens to it!. I try to keep all the tanks of a platoon within 1 hex of each other, 2 at the outside, and where overwatch is required, I prefer to overwatch with 1 platoon and move another, each platoon bounding in turn.
Another point re rallying - you can do this at any point during your move, i.e. while you are the active player. Your opponent cannot do this as he is the passive player in your move phase. (One each of yours and his phases as active player is a move). Morale effects are immediate, so if things get shot at and suppressed, they may go to pinned or worse retreating or routed status. Vehicles which are brewed up nearby contribute 6 suppression points to near units, and less for each hex distant. So if a couple of friendly vehicles are blown up near a unit, it may change status to retreating. As the active player you can remove this if lucky in your rallying, but your opponent, I will stress again cannot. You can check the enemy status by hovering the mouse over the enemy or selecting him.
Units in retreat or rout cannot fire - not even reaction fire. So if you blow up couple of easily killed APCs, the squads nearby, and any other vehicles nearby may be upset enough to think about retreating or worse. In this state they are impotent, and if close enough you can with impunity close to 1 hex or even 0 hexes, and destroy him with a point blank shot. Very important point for close range fighting this, but also, at long ranges, ignore the hefty tanks in a pack of vehicles, concentrate on the easy APC kills, and the tanks may retreat or rout next go - showing you their rears as they run if you are lucky. An excellent way of dealing with those T80s in the Germany 1980 campaign - plink the BMPs, and shoot the runners.
Military intelligence, the old oxymoron. This bit is primarily about reconnaissance, or the gentle art of finding things out while being shot at.
First thing, while advancing scouts of any sort, it is better to move them one hex at a time - do not point at a hex miles off and zoom a scout car at it if conducting recon, as it may trip over an infantry squad, or something else unhealthy may happen. Each hex you advance, especially in close terrain, look around, in as many directions as possible. To look round, right click in each of the 6 directions (12 really if being thorough!) that are of interest, usually by right clicking in the hex sides beside the unit - for the intermediate facings pointing at the hex points, go out slightly to about 2 hexes and right click the appropriate hex. When you right click, the unit faces the indicated direction, and it field of view is marked out in light hexes, its unseen hexes in grey, and more importantly, it focuses its attention that way. Try not to leave a scout vehicle too far ahead - when it gets to 5 hexes or so from its team mates in its platoon, go back to the main body and move someone up in support. Don't lead with the platoon leader though!. Try if possible to advance by a route that has cover to break LOS close by, to dodge behind if shot at.
If shot at by the enemy, SP2 gives you lots of info that you would not get in real life. What exact make and model of vehicle or squad etc is reported on the status line, the exact range its firing from, and the weapon type - even if the firer is currently unknown to you!. In addition, if it is on the same section of screen, the fire is shown - e.g. the cannon trail of tracers etc, so you get a fair idea where he is at if you pay attention. If you survive the shot(s), but have not seen the firer, first click your unit to face the firers direction(s) - he (or they) may pop up. what you do next is up to you - if fitted with smoke dischargers, you might pop these and retire, or you might make a dash for the aforementioned cover. If you see him and decide to fire back, remember he has just had a ranging shot at you, so his next shot attempt in reaction fire will usually be at a better percentage, but you are just starting to range in. It may be better to have a supporter fire at the enemy, or move a hex in the hope of triggering another reaction shot - at first shot to hit percentage of course!.
This is an important point in SP1 and SP2 - if your fire or movement triggers reaction shots, do not move the fired on piece or fire it again if you have another piece to move or fire in the same area as the firer or mover. The idea is to break his 'ranging ladder' - each of his successive shots without a break, at the same target, will tend to get better percentages as he ranges in on his target. For example, you have 3 tanks on a hill. One fires at an enemy and triggers a reaction shot - so go to the next and fire it - his reaction fires at this mean he has lost the ranging on the first, go to the next and fire 1 shot from this one etc. All his reaction shots will be at 'first shot' percents. Now go back to the first of your tanks in sequence, it will still be locked onto its target, and its second shot hit percent should be better. If the enemy still has reaction fires, keep jumping from firer to firer till he has run out. Same with moving - if some vehicles have to move out in the open, move one 1 hex, triggering any reaction (or fire at the firer if seen), skip to the next, move it 1 hex at a time till it triggers the next reaction shot(s), and so on. Another useful micro tactic is to move out into sight 1 hex on top of a ridge, say, triggering reaction fires, pop back behind it, breaking LOS and his fire solution, back up again etc. - a good way to get him to use up limited supply weapons such as infantry ATGW, if done carefully, or for helos to tease out his supply of SAMs (unless he is human, and parked by an ammo truck!) - but helos can become routed by this and run off the board, so carefully does it.
Helicopters are a very good recon unit indeed - simply popping up to 'high' altitude and looking round about will often spot many moving enemy vehicles - but be aware of ADA fires in this case. Their high mobility, and being pretty immune to fire except by enemy specialist AA units helps here - but be careful with later tanks with good stabilisers which can shoot at you - especially Soviet ones with tube launched ATGM.
As described above, foot troops are about your best spotters, so I prefer an APC type with a squad or at least a scout team on board over a 'straight' light tank or scout car, unless this can carry troops. Note that a useful way of finding enemy infantry is to dismount the squad in full view, but your troops may not quite agree with you on that one! - still, a sacrifice to be made now and then to identify ambushes etc. recce troops have a short, and hectic life as a rule - so in campaigns its best to buy these from the support points, and consider them semi expendable.
As discussed above in the artillery section, the messages you get when bombarding provides info not available to real world commanders. When aircraft fly over, they too can spot things, so observe their attack runs - things they spot in their run may move in the enemy turn, losing the LOS. Also, any AA fire is also reported giving the exact firer, AA weapon, and distance even if the firer is unspotted as for direct fires - this can be a good way to find out the enemies disposition in the advance or assault. Plan a single sacrificial air pass over the middle of the board in the pre game, and zoom to max zoom out before hitting 'end turn' - Since he is stationary, every 12.7mm and similar AAMG on every tank and APC in range will fire at you - watch the messages and tracer lines, and you have a fair idea of his layout. Especially valuable versus the AI which is too dumb to move its troops in the delay or defence. Not much use against armies without masses of AAMG though, but you will spot some ADA positions most likely!.
A Typical Purchase ScreenA few points about the purchase screen i.e. where you buy your troops. Firstly your battalion HQ is bought for you, you cannot delete it or change it - it is normally an HQ unit, but some modified mob files have troops in the battalion HQ - these are selected by the computer and you cannot 'twiddle' them - so if the mob has an MBT for A0, you get a random MBT - if you don't like the chosen one, exit the battle and retry till a better one pops up. The USA HQ above is hacked, and comes with a FO vehicle and a carrier for the bossman. Note the s after each letter - this means the unit is a 'support' unit, in stand alone battle all are support, in campaigns your core will not have this tacked on, any troops bought with the support points for that battle will.
You have a maximum number of units - about 133, it can vary slightly. You also have a smaller maximum number of formations (platoons only counted in this case). You can soon use up the maximum formations if you have lots of 1 unit platoons or 2 unit formations (mg sections etc.). Try an all-sniper army to see how quickly tiddler formations use up this limit. A prime culprit is the singleton FO vehicle formation at the end of many Western companies, and those companies with little 2 mortar 'sections' included. There is a way round this of course. Here is a pic of an all-snipers Russian army:
All snipers52 Formations - if the bn HQ did not have my 6 added default units, it would have been 1 Headquarters and 51 one man bands.
Since I find one FO vehicle enough for my purposes, for each such company past the first, I use the following little trick. Essentially, if you buy a company and do not want one (or more) of its platoons or attached weapons sections, immediately after buying that company, find it in the list window on the right, and click on the unwanted subunit - it is deleted. Good, but the next point is the important bit - now proceed to purchase a single platoon of any type - this now goes into the place just vacated and under the command of the company in question as well. So for a US armoured company, click away the FO vehicle, then buy a mech inf platoon, and you now have a tank company team with an attached mech platoon. A favourite one I like to get rid of is the MG platoon in BMP companies - its near useless I find - so click it away, and buy an integral tank platoon instead. With leg infantry companies that have a little 2 mortar section, I often delete these and buy an inf AT platoon instead - same for MG sections. The US tank company shown in the screen shot at the head of this section is an HQ of 2 (the 2 Bs), and 3 tank platoons of 4 normally, but in this case I deleted platoon 3 (Team E), and then bought a mech inf pl - this has become Team E, and on deployment will be part of the tank company under B0. Note my hacked tank company does not have the pesky compulsory FO vehicle! - I have the modified HQ as shown instead..
As mentioned above, some weapons loads are not shown on the purchase screen - in particular the number of sabot and/or HEAT rounds for weapon 1. You only get to see these numbers on the on-screen stats display for the unit, by which time you are into a game. If this is important to your decision - e.g. you are setting up for a campaign, the only way to find out is to buy the troop type(s) in question, and exit the game from the setup and restart if you do not like what you find. Or first try a test game buying one of each type and noting the allocation, making notes if required, then exiting and start up the real game. The only other way to see this info would be from the spreadsheet dump of one of the SP2 hack programs, either of my own Mobhack, or SPObedit - see the hacking section for links to these. Once you have the spreadsheet data, you can pretty it up and print it of course. I have selected M1A2 as a possible purchase above, note that only the 4 HE rounds show - in the as-issued SSI mob, nothing would show, as they have given it no HE at all. In fact it has a total of 40 120mm rounds, so it is not as poor a purchase as it may first seem! - 20 each HEAT and sabot in SSI's version, 4 HE, 16 HEAT and 20 sabot in mine.
Remember also that some weapon types are only purchasable in certain battle types - off map artillery is only available in the assault/defence pair, as are fortifications and mines (defender only). In my opinion, off map arty should always be available, as this is their normal place - but this can be fixed with a hacker. Air units are only made available to you at random, unless you have set your preferences to have some. The USMC can always buy gunboats - but these are only useful if you have a large water body on your side of the map - i.e. in most cases only useful in the beach assault - most wide rivers seem to be just that little bit beyond your deployment zone defending or attacking - rats!.
Also, the picture above and the unit data only shows where there is enough room for it to be displayed - notice how much real estate it takes up - for a large company whose units go down the centre panel too far, you will not see the data. In which case, select the individual platoon entry for the thing you are interested in to check the stats. In the screen shot below, the Saladin is highlighted but due to the numbers, it cannot be shown.
Another thing to watch out for is that some platoon types are made up of mixed types of the same class of vehicle for instance 2 of armoured car a, and 2 of armoured car b. However, the purchase screens can mix these up, and most especially for an entire company!. Observe the following:
Mixed Up PurchaseHere we have a British armoured car squadron, made up of mixed platoons of 2 of one type and 2 of another - the one I purchased earlier is on the bought list on the right display screen. 3 troops each of 2 Fox and 2 Ferret, then gratis a Saladin and ferret pairing. All chosen at random by the game. The prospective purchase in the centre shows what happens after pressing on an armoured car type - since all are classed as 'armoured cars', it changes all to the one type. I can happily change the SP-ATGM type, as this is a different 'class' - even if these were single vehicles inside the recce platoons, they would happily change without upsetting anything else. As you may have guessed, this is from the modified UK mob available on my home page - note the lack of silly 'FV' numbers before the vehicle names!, and the corrected names for the Ferret ATGW variants.
In this section I will describe the battle types supported by SP2. I will give some tactical notes, but many others are spread through the section on troop types above. I will note some AI behaviour, and any other little oddities.
Winning and losing an SP2 battle comes about from 2 things - points for destroying the enemy, and points gained from taking the objective hexes. Note that the objective points are not on a per-turn basis, simply that whoever has them at game end gets their value. Thus there is usually no great rush to charge these unless playing an unusually short scenario game for instance, a point lost to the AI whose prime idea of tactics is a banzai charge at the nearest non-AI held objective. Also note, the ratio of victory points is important, to get an outright victory you will need a 10 to 1 ratio over your opponent. Objective points for each flag hex can vary, but there is unfortunately no way, outside the scenario editor, of finding this out. However if the scenario description says to keep losses low, or you see a message to that effect in the introduction to a campaign scenario game, this is a strong hint that flag hexes are low in points, and consequently troop points will be more relevant. Also, remember that in the later years, some of your, and his, pieces are expensive - losing a few 100 point super tanks can mean the difference between a marginal victory and a total victory. Some campaigns are set up so that you will only progress at certain points with a 'total' - the first battle in the UK plays Germany 1999 campaign is one such - and in this one VPs for the objectives are not high (hint - the 2 on the German side of the river aren't worth going for, further hint, 8 inch artillery effects on stone bridges (sub hint pre registered targets), final hint don't lose any Challengers!..).
Especially when it is going forwards, the AI often moves its HQ first - if it has helos, the first helo that comes rolling in is usually carrying the bossman, so it is often the case that the AI headquarters is the first loss here. If you see an enemy headquarters, it is a priority target in any case, human or AI, as its loss has significant morale knock on effect.
Total victories are easier playing the AI, in fact when playing the human opponent, any win is usually good enough, a 10 to 1 of a human opponent is a wipeout, and hence a rarity. A human player will know when his force is exhausted, and if ahead, will 'go firm' - if advancing, he will tend to hold onto his gains, and not push his luck further for example, hoping the defending human will waste himself in a costly counterattack, which just might leave the final objectives open. A human player when delaying or defending if he still has the majority of objectives is less likely than the AI to launch costly counterattacks while still ahead of the game. Against another human, a win is a win.
Note in most cases the AI goes for a mech inf heavy force. Its idea of a subtle strategy is to fling these at you as fast as they can travel, with the tanks usually cautiously trundling along in the rear. Any recce it bought is usually somewhere in the middle of this group, hardly if ever out front. In the defence or delay, it often sets its infantry out beside the carriers, often in the open, and now and then it loads the infantry up into the carriers so they can both die together. In other words it does not handle mech inf that well, and frankly does best with leg infantry and tanks WW2 style - some of the 50s and early 60s armies without APC borne infantry are about the toughest SP2 AI opponents, especially when delaying or defending, or in a city fight.
Battles may be individual ones generated via the battle generator, stand alone scenario battles, scenarios linked in a historical campaign such as the one mentioned above, or random ones generated using the long campaign generator. Be advised that in scenario games, they may not necessarily be of the type that is mentioned in your mission statement - it may say assault, but all the flag hexes are in the middle and neutral for example - in this case the designer may have chosen this type in order to purchase off table artillery perhaps, or fortification etc., but otherwise it is in fact a meeting engagement (tutorial scenario). Also, especially in the linked campaign battles, just because you are offered aircraft does not mean the opposition has none - in historical campaigns, air on both sides can happen, so even if you dont take air support, a smidgin of AA may be necessary. In scenarios, historical campaign ones included, it is perfectly possible for the designer to place the enemy anywhere on the tabletop - even in your deployment, perhaps to represent infiltrators . So don't be too surprised if your SP guns way in your rear suddenly get blown up by RPG attacks, as the Chinese have sneaked into your lines last night!. In scenario games, be aware of wild cards the designer may play on you, and above all, do not expect the enemy to come from one easily identified direction - you may be surrounded! - look about, 360 degree security until proven otherwise.
When playing humans, especially when playing someone over a while, take note of their individual temperaments and habits, and play to any exposed weaknesses. E.g. if Sue always goes for a force almost entirely of the biggest and bestest MBT she can buy, with little or no infantry or artillery, this is a habit you can turn against her.
In all cases, focus on reducing his assets rather than directly on the objectives. Objectives are only accounted for at the end of the game, and are difficult to take or hold if you or your opponent have no toys left to play with. Note also that the number of turns for a game is a guide figure only, as games can end prematurely if one side is badly mauled while the other still holds all the objectives, or can roll on a few moves beyond the guide figure. This roll on is random, and an in built game feature. Rarely, a 10 move game can play out to 20 odds - but be prepared to have to slog it a bit more than you originally expected at times.
Here, you are in a hasty defence, all the objectives usually within your deployment zone, waiting for the enemy to advance on you and try to take them from you. This is about the most straightforward mission, especially when playing the AI. You will not be subjected to an AI bombardment as for the defence, so if desired you may deploy on or around the objectives. But as you will have less points than the advancing enemy, you will likely be outnumbered.
Against the AI, this one is mainly a shooting gallery for you, unless the AI has incredibly better tech. than you. It will go directly for the nearest objective first even if it has deployed its 'Greek Phalanx' far to one flank or another - in most cases, it hardly tries to flank you at all. In this case, set up your tanks in good commanding positions on hills with good fields of fire, preferably focused in to the obvious approach to the nearest objective, especially if a road runs to it - the AI is not a deep thinker, it simply tries to get to the nearest flag by the fastest route. Put some infantry by the tanks as security, and to provide fire support from their AT weapons and MICVs. A great deal of manoeuvre vs the AI is not usually needed. But note some of the below just in case he has a good day.
A prime factor in the delay is the visibility level - if low, you may need to bunch up and or deploy further forwards, and if extremely high, when armed with long range weapons, these can sit back and kill from a distance - in fact some up on hills may be able to see right back to his board edge and hence do hurt to his artillery park. Human players will usually try to hide these rear area troops behind blocking terrain, but not the AI. In low visibility, such as night, you may have an edge in night fighting gear - exploit this by trying to kill him from beyond his visibility. In both day and night, if you have the advantage of TI sights, consider fighting from behind self laid smoke, as you can see through this and he cannot.
Some folks like to deploy as near the front of their deployment zone as they possibly can, even to the extent of a solid line across the front - this can work against the AI, especially on wide open terrain such as desert battlefields, but can be risky even versus him, as your firers will be relatively easy to spot, and perhaps a bit too close to his weapon systems for comfort.
A better form of overall defence is to place some scouts and ambushers, chiefly dismounted infantry, out front to identify the enemies main line of approach, and to cause a little delay and upset from close quarters. A few light armour pieces with good weapons out here can deal with recce - especially useful vs a human, who will scout you, not charge blindly as the AI does. A prime aspect of this initial phase against a human opponent is to 'put out his eyes' - recce attempts must be rebuffed, without giving your main positions away. Especially vs a human, consider going forwards with your covering forces beyond your deployment zone and using these to then fight a retrograde delaying action back to your Main Line Of Resistance (MLR), or deploying tank destroyers (Inc. gunships here) forwards to fire flanking ambush fires from unexpected areas. If the attacker has completely left open one or both flanks, and a covered path is available, there is no reason why you cannot slope a mobile force round and into his back areas and duff up his gun and SAM lines in his rear. Helimobile troops and gunships are very useful here, if the enemy ADA can be neutralised or avoided, and MICV infantry are good too. You may wish to use the 'Y' key to limit the ranges of your troops further back on the MLR so as not to give their positions away prematurely, and only open up when the enemy is well in the open and hit probabilities are good. Some of the covering forces troops may need range reducing as well, at least initially. This phase is known as the covering forces battle.
Some of you may think the above is a bit active for a defender, but remember there is no requirement to sit passive as the defender, and in fact an aggressive active defence can upset some opponents perhaps more used to playing the AI!. In particular, your terrain analysis may identify a key defensive feature just ahead of your deployment zone - a juicy hill to defend behind perhaps, or a ridge or woods off to the attackers far North or South with long flanking fields of fire which would be a wonderful place to tuck a tank co behind to shoot him up (preferably from a surprise ambush) - in which case, move forward and grab it right at the start!.
During this phase as you identify enemy main forces or strong recce groupings, drop artillery on these, but also pound any suspected harbour areas and approach routes, especially at 'choke points', where likely traffic jams will occur, and do your best to drop bridges as well - especially those with troops on them!. Bridges are a prime arty target when the breakdown preferences switch is 'on', as he must then risk sticking on stream crossings. In any case a human player will try to use the bridges, so they can be major 'choke points'. Also drop artillery on his approach roads, especially at bits where the road is surrounded with bad going to create traffic jam 'choke points' and delay, this is especially annoying to him in snow terrain!. Remember as well, you can fire a barrage plotted in the deployment phase to fire on his set up areas, which can be annoying, especially to humans who often deploy in massive columns on the roads, just inside their deployment line - no need for pre registered targets for this pre game fire, and you may wish to repeat, or adjust fire, at the end of your first move if you get a few encouraging 'track hit' messages from your pre game bombardment. Fixed wing air is an adjunct of the artillery here.
Behind your covering force zone you establish your MLR. Typically, rather than a single unbroken line you will want to deploy mutually supporting tank platoons and infantry platoons together, either in good open fire positions if you are evens or better in tech. to the opponent, or in ambush or semi-ambush positions behind hill features, woods, or buildings. These platoon pairs are sited in an overall 'hedgehog' on a company basis, with overlapping fields of fire, providing as much mutual protection as possible. The company HQ, with a few extra troops if its but a singleton tank, or alongside one of the companies platoons, is sited centre-rearish as the immediate reserve for the hedgehog - the remnants of covering forces which have fallen back on the MLR are useful reserves. A few support weapons sections may be placed inside the company position, perhaps guarding flank approaches. Try not to deploy in a single line - two thirds 'up' and one third 'back' in a rough triangle is a good defence plan.
Whereas the infantry in each platoon pairing may get away with being relatively static, the tanks should be prepared to displace within their locale, and even slightly beyond the bounds on occasion. The infantry provide a base to work around, and can spot things for the big boys. When provided with APCs or MICVs the infantry are more mobile, and so it is easier to move the lot to a new fighting position as required. Again, be prepared to use manoeuvre in the defence, especially be prepared to fall back or displace sideways if a place is getting too 'hot'.
You should usually defend slightly ahead of your objective line, and especially if playing a human, if one set seems impossible or too costly to defend, leave it, or just cover it with long range fire, and concentrate on what you feel you can hold. Remember that he who tries to defend everything is open to defeat in detail. Plan to try to recover it in the end game - not defending something from the outset can confuse a human opponent, and in fact he may for example deploy a large portion of his force on this phantom threat, leaving you a local superiority elsewhere to capitalise on - in fact if he is too far extended, a counter attack into his open flanks may be possible, or you may be able to maul a large chunk of the rest of his forces in the meantime.
When delaying against a human, you might wish only to put some light security on or about the objectives, instead going for a massive ambush and counterattack strategy, say with a large mobile force hidden both far North and far South, with the reserve hidden towards your rear edge, and plan to catch him in a massive vice or pincer of fires and or concentric counterattacks when he is spread out and vulnerable dealing with the security troops. A risky strategy, but if the objectives say are wide open and well within your long range killing systems reach, worth considering. Good in billiard table like deserts, or at night when your forces have the night fighting advantage.
Always keep a reserve, about a quarter to a third of your troops (not counting the covering force, and artillery and ADA etc.), placed somewhere they will be out of the main battle, but where they can easily move to plug any gap or cover a flank attempt etc. Of course they are also there to counterattack when needed. These troops can be on the main line of objectives, or behind them. Usually centrally placed, they may be set deep to one flank or another if required. Its best if these are kept concealed as long as possible. Your A0 may head up this force. Gunships are excellent reserve troops, their mobility lets them quickly head off raids and unexpected flanking actions.
Anti tank elements should be placed between your main positions to overwatch these and guard flanks, and positioned as far as possible to gain flank shots - anti tank gun systems in particular should be set up to ambush from the flank at short ranges, as AT guns don't last long in the open. Anti tank systems gain best from some form of mobility, either inbuilt, or if towed, try to provide transports both to get them out of hot spots, and to redeploy them if incorrectly sited at the outset, armoured transport is best over unarmoured trucks. The late Soviet 125mm AT gun with its tube launched missile is worth considering. Long range ATGM systems should be set up where they have long clear unobstructed arcs of fire - if good enough these can sit near your base edge and snipe from there. Always try to position near some cover these can dodge behind when the enemy starts to reply effectively.
Air defence elements should be set up where they are able to provide support to your front lines but without unduly exposing themselves to direct fire reply from your opponent. Lines of fire on fixed wing air are more straightforward, but helicopters at NOE may need some ADA in your front - infantry SAMs are good here, as although they may not kill too many helos, they do drive them off somewhat. Your best anti-helo ADA weapon is another helo with at least an MG, better cannon and unguided rockets. Area SAMs should be placed in the back with the artillery, perhaps on a small hill or ridge, with ammo trucks in attendance as they have few ready rounds.
Artillery also is best in the rear, in shelter behind hills, buildings or woods. some short legged light mortars need positioning closer up - e.g. the US 60mm. In this case, again site out of LOS somewhere. Playing a human, consider that he may raid your gun and ADA lines, so try to provide some security against recce raiders or airmobile sneak raids. Gunships are good for this.
Where your tanks are noticeably weaker than his in some way, it isn't that bright an idea to sit out in the open for a slugging match, unless perhaps he is stupid enough to come up on you piecemeal. In this case defend behind a ridge line, or behind other blocking terrain such as a wood or village. Take him on at close range as he comes through or over the cover, or exploit flank shot opportunities should he try to bypass you. Infantry in close support pay dividends here. One defence is to use engineers to create a flame screen out in front with their flame-throwers, or for associated infantry squads to build a smoke wall to fight behind. Effective until the enemy acquire TI sights. The flame wall defence is no longer as effective as it was in SP1 as troops caught sitting in flame no longer instantly rout.
The screen shot at the head of these notes shows a typical strong reverse slope defensive position, here based on fighting at close quarters behind a hill against an attacking armoured force in a PBEM game. Here a Soviet T54 company, with a platoon of mech infantry and an AT platoon of 3 RPG-7, was able to fight for 10 to 15 moves against 2 Patton companies, an M41 platoon, and a mech inf platoon, destroying around a company of the Pattons, 2 or 3 M41 and routing the mech infantry. 2 tanks were lost to F105 Thuds, one was disabled by them as well - look for the two rows of double craters. One tank was lost to tank fire, and eventually the disabled T54 had to be left to its fate, as low ammo, and an outflanking manoeuvre turning the position (not something the AI would have conceived of!), necessitated an eventual fall back to another defensive line, where the group met up with ammo trucks. In this case the smoke wreathing the hill top has been turned off for clarity. Here I did not merely sit passive behind the hill, but raided forwards from time to time, or popped my nose through the smoke to pop off a shot or two, always returning behind the crest or smoke though. The 2 Pattons at the northeast of the ridge were buttoned, in my move I advanced the tank by the paved road forward over the hill, shot a retreating M59 APC at 1 hex and destroyed it putting both Pattons into 'retreat' status, so I trundled over and shot one at 1 hex again, killing it, and having no shots left, pulled back along the road. If the T54s had tried to fight it out in the open, the superior US fire control and large quantities of 90mm HEAT would have destroyed me. I was helped by the fact my human opponent trickled his tanks and other troops in penny packets at first, before eventually getting his act together and moving a significant force round the far North of the position.
Remember when delaying or defending that an attacking force which has either just taken a position of yours or been rebuffed has often 'shot its bolt' - all or most elements of this force will have no shots left, or maybe 1. Many will even be in retreat or rout. These guys are helpless versus a counterattack (barring any supporters to the rear with shots left and LOS of the attackers). In this case you can often drive your tanks up to his, place the muzzle against the turret, and blow them away - and if a road is handy, you can repeat this, as a form of drive by shoot up. Each blown up vehicle spreads a little extra unhappiness. This form of immediate counter attack can reel in an impressive kill tally for you.
In this one, you as the defender have even less points to play with than in the delay, but have the advantages of mines, fortifications and off map artillery, and your troops start off dug in. Usually your defended objectives are further towards the rear of your deployment zone as well, but this is not always the case. So this is like the delay in most cases but with less toys for you to play with.
In campaigns you will usually find yourself struggling with the few support points you get to buy too many defence assets, and will likely prefer to purchase artillery and extra leg grunts rather than mines. Air support can take a large chunk of your support points, a couple of helos and an ammo truck to replenish them is usually better. An on table SPA battery with ammo trucks is not subject to c/b fires much, and in especial does not have ammo limitations - off table sections especially the larger calibres, will have limited supplies. And in the last resort the SPA can clear off enemy infantry with direct open sights firing if subject to a human wave attack.
The attacker has access to off map artillery as well, and these batteries can counterbattery fire on each other, if they have the range to reach. As the defender it is therefore a good idea to reserve a fair portion of your off map guns for c/b fires by not firing them. Also, go for longer ranged stuff - 130mm or 155 mm guns. Enemy batteries hit by counterbattery fire will retreat or rout for a while, so be unavailable to your opponent, and as the attacker will have more artillery than you, counterbattery is a good strategy.
Otherwise the defence is similar in most respects to the delay, but you will be likely more fixed in your dug in positions, at least initially. Just do not forget manoeuvre, or to hold a reserve. Do not get into a 'Maginot Line Mentality' - the default for the AI, which will sit in place mostly. Also, remember troops as passengers at the outset do not get to be dug in - so deploy the grunts out of the tracks and they get their slit trench - which is usually safer for them than being in the 'can' anyway. Troops in marshes and certain other part water hexes do not get to be dug in. Press the 'spade' icon to show the dug in positions - if you move something, press it again.
You have the ability to buy mines, but these are not too cheap an item. They are best deployed as close protection to your fighting positions, and sited where the minefields are covered by fire, as unobserved mines will be easy for him to clear. An obstacle not covered by fire is not an obstacle. Consider using them to strengthen the flanks of your fighting positions more than to guard the front, and positioned out to the flanks of your main position to delay flankers - since he will likely target his engineer effort to the front of you as that is where he will expect the majority of mines to be found, and flanking forces may have less engineer support if he is unwise. Placing them on the objective hexes themselves is a nasty tactic. Consider the use of dragons teeth, as these take a long time to clear, and delay foot while being impassable to vehicles - some enemy will cross mines unaffected if lucky. Remember the prime effect of mines and dragons teeth is delay, not killing, and above all they are to be used to channel the enemy towards your selected killing zones. Dragons teeth, being visible, are good for channelling. Place artillery pre registered targets just on the enemy side of obstacle belts to smack engineer clearing efforts, and hopefully to hit any clusters of enemy building up to cross the gap. Shell any gaps that appear mercilessly.
If you do use mines, enemy engineers and engineer 'funny' tanks become prime targets of course. Consider using no mines at all, so his expenditure on engineer assets is wasted. The AI always takes engineer assets in the assault.
Remember also, if you buy mines, to remember to deploy them! - its surprising how often folks forget this after spending time positioning all their troops - use the mines icon to do this.
Mine fields do not have to be continuous unbroken lines - the AI uses belts of 4 to 6 mines, sometimes with a dogleg. A second belt behind the first by 3 to 4 hexes can be nasty, as the opponent on clearing a gap pours through and hits the unexpected obstacle. Its not usually much needed to place extra mines - one 'spot' is enough, unless at a key defensive point, e.g. a bridge outlet, a narrow gap in rough terrain, a crossroads in a city etc. - multi mines should really be in close in to a defended locale to cause major headaches.
When playing a human, consider using a deep mined zone instead of a belt - place single mines at random through this area, occasional belts of 2 or 3, over a 4 to 8 hex depth. This form of nuisance minefield can be a major irritant for the human to deal with, as he is never quite sure where to find the next one, or even if he has exited the danger zone, unlike unbroken belts.
Also consider a few singleton nuisance mines out front or to the flanks on roads, gaps or draws through forest or jungle trails, in clear patches in paths of clear going through rough terrain etc. Especially versus a human this can be annoying. Just try to avoid too obvious bits like crossroads - place the nuisance mine a bit off such. Place a second one 5 or 6 hexes further down the road so he is less likely to spot the subsidiary nuisance mine, i.e. by the time he hits it he will think himself in the clear and tend to motor over it. When playing the human, do not place any mines right on your grey line at the front of your deployment zone if you can avoid it - too obvious a position. In city grids the judicious use of single mines along the side roads and gaps between building patches can cause real grief. Use mines as a psychological weapon versus the human player in order to instigate a cautious frame of mind - make him 'mine conscious'.
In later years, the FASCAM artillery minelet artillery type becomes available - this is expensive, but a very useful defensive tool if used with thought. This arty lays mines!. Less effective on wide open deserts, but a nasty use of this one is to mine over a gap he is clearing, plugging it, or making a secondary belt in front, but FASCAM mines into the gaggle of troops forming up to penetrate the gap is the best spot. FASCAM if it hits something actually explodes like cluster munitions as well. Use it to seal off gaps ahead of his main thrusts, especially try to catch him inside the laid mines as he will be fixed in place, or have to take a risk moving off. Don't use it in penny packets much, use 2 sections together to create havoc.
Fortifications are of little use in SP2 - even concrete bunkers in the open are easily dealt with by tank main guns and ATGM. They are best versus infantry, and deployed in cover from direct fire in ambush positions - their limited field of fire makes their flank security important, so use mines and dug in squads or mg to support them. The later Soviet concrete bunker with missile firing 125mm gun is a nasty little customer - place behind a ridge say and shoot crossers, or deploy deep flank behind a ridge to the enemy front positioned to fire crossing fires. Remember that in the deployment phase you can turn bunkers using by right clicking - they cannot turn in the game, but can be in deployment. The AI always sets them facing East West or the opposite. Bunkers come in 3 packs usually, site these close together in mutual support if possible. A few well placed bunkers can be very useful. Use them mainly to reinforce a leg infantry position, and almost never left out alone in splendid isolation.
In this battle form, both sides are on an advance mission, each usually has an objective zone within or just in front of its deployment zone, and one objective zone is centrally placed on the map, though sometimes closer to one side than the other. The main fight is over ownership of this middle objective in most cases.
When playing versus the AI, it is usually best to treat this battle type as an impromptu delay mission. Set up a killing zone on the approaches to your home plate objective or to the central one if you can get onto this, and wait for the kamikaze tin lemmings to charge into you. Once you have killed most of his stuff off, advance, clearing up stragglers and being cautious about any stay-behinds you may trip over, then take the final objective, possibly waiting till a raiding force sweeps up his artillery and ADA stuff on his rear edge for max points, before taking the last objective hex to end the game. Have fun chasing down routing crews and infantry squads, as every point helps, and in campaigns its an easy way to get those first 5 kills or so on your core troops score cards, vital to raising their experience. Show no mercy to the AI in campaign games, at least until your core is all so well experienced as not to have to bother with such mundane matters!.
This game type when playing a human can be one of the more interesting battle forms. You want 2 objective clusters for a win, so who gets to the middle one first usually determines the nature of the game, as the holder of this will likely go firm on the position, waiting for her opponent to force her off it. you may wish in this game type to consider a massive flanking attack into her rear home plate, while tying down her defensive troops on the central objective with covering forces, and holding your home plate with a security element. Otherwise these games usually end up in a scrappy series of fights around the central objective. An airmobile infantry platoon and/or gunships can be useful to take this position or block the enemy's access to it for the critical few moves until your main force arrives in the area.
Your artillery in this case should act as for the delay, as a method of slowing his advance, only later going over to asset reduction tactics and counter battery fires. Fixed wing air is best reserved till worthwhile target arrays are spotted, rather than used as random area attacks on suspected positions, unless you have plenty to spare.
Security of your home plate when playing the human is quite important - a leg infantry company is ideal for this, being cheap, but a good defensive force, especially if it has or has added to it a few ATGM.
Be aware the AI can sometimes be given a 'delay' mission to your 'advance' in a meeting engagement - it is deployed as if for a delay, half way across the map, sometimes with 2 objectives in its zone, or just behind the middle one. Apart from a possible surprise from some unexpected close range fire, this is easy to deal with, as it will simply kamikaze at the objectives of your flag type rather than take advantage of its setup position. So in this case, move into a blocking position, and shoot the lemmings down. It may be possible for a human to get this sort of deployment - could be interesting!. Just be aware the other player just may not be limited to the usual 25 odd hexes in deployment zone - or it may be you that's lucky.
In this battle type you will be performing a hasty attack versus your opponents hasty defence or delay. You will have more points than your opponent, but apart from scenario games, the objectives will be in the enemies side of the board. The enemy will not be dug in, and will have no access to mines or fortifications. you will use your superior points to outnumber him in terms of playing pieces in the main, but also to significantly outnumber him in terms of support troops - especially artillery and (possibly) air.
The AI in the delay and also the defence tends to remain stationary in his positions. The key to any mobile counterattacks by the AI is your taking of an objective hex. Sometimes the AI counterattack is not immediate in SP2 as it was in SP1, but eventually most non artillery pieces will charge in - it will happily try to retake objectives with ATGM tank destroyers such as BRDM spandrels, with no mg - a treat for your waiting infantry. However the moral playing the AI is to try and find his forces and reduce most of these before going on to sweep up the objectives in the end game. The other standard tactic advancing versus the AI is to clear the area around one particular objective, then to set up a blocking force round this, and only then take the hexes of this objective, then fighting your own mini-delay at this position, shooting down the AI counter attack triggered by your flipping of the flags. After the AI is sufficiently reduced, sweep up the remaining objectives. If the AI has enough forces, it sometimes places tank platoons to the far North, South, or rear-edge of its deployment zone to perform the primary counterattack. You may bump into these if performing a wide flanking manoeuvre even deep into the rear to sweep his gun and ADA line.
Your first task is to perform a terrain analysis of the enemy positions, and the approaches to the objectives, paying most attention to approach routes which will get you close to one or the other covered from fire by terrain features such as hills and large forests. Usually, the nice inviting route straight up the middle along a road is perhaps not the brightest idea, unless you are the AI of course!. You should choose one objective group as the first target, concentrating on this, then continuing on to the others. Attacking simultaneously against all objectives is usually to be defeated in detail. Usually, but not always when playing a human, an objective isolated far from the others is the best to aim for first.
You are likely to do best by flanking to the North or South, especially versus the AI. A human player may have a propensity to hold his flanks more strongly - in this case a reserve force of about one third of your manoeuvre troops held centrally may be useful to counter flank any manoeuvre he tries to make into your flank forces sides, and to tie him down by overwatch fires. In other words this force will act a bit like a hinge for your main forces 'door' as it sweeps round the opponents side. The pivot force will also act to hold some of his forces on the objectives as your opponent has to honour the subsidiary threat while trying to deal with the main force. Try to keep the two forces close enough to mutually support each other however, as at least playing a human, the smaller force may be subject to defeat in detail if you split beyond support distance. Against the AI especially, a deep raid round into his rear, dealing with his artillery and ADA, then coming into his defence from its rear, is a very valid approach, it is less likely a human opponent will let you off with this, but if you are a mobile armoured force and he is a fairly static leg infantry based force, or a Maginot line type of passive player, this approach could apply.
A down the throat attack into the centre could in fact work against a human, expecting more fancy flank actions, and having deployed in expectation of this, thus weak centrally. Make a feint attack as if going sideways with the pivot force, then move the previously hidden main force down the middle and either pivot into his rear or simply overwhelm his weak centre. Recon would be vital here, or knowing your opponent's style.
Surprise is a key element of warfare when playing humans. Do the unexpected. Keep your plans simple (the KISS principle), but consider hiding the subtle within the obvious.
The old adage that 'time spent in reconnaissance is seldom wasted' is very true. You should open your battle with a recon effort in order to identify his defensive positions, to reduce his outposts and to spring any ambushes, while driving in his own screening forces. Be prepared to fight this covering force battle for a significant time - 3 to 5 moves in a 25 move game perhaps - without much movement of your main force unless these moves are along covered approaches. If your MBT are good enough at long range fires and survivable enough, use some of these to overwatch the recce battle and give long range support to the little ones. Some cavalry units come with their own inbuilt MBT, and/or ATGM units - these are for this purpose. You do not want to telegraph your main plan to a human opponent too early on in the game (the AI will just sit passively in place), so removing his eyes during this covering force battle phase is important. However, consider allowing him to see a mass movement as if to flank say North, then once he can no longer see the main force due to your destruction of his outposts and perhaps due to screening by smoke or terrain, swinging these down again to come from an unexpected direction. Helicopter assets are very useful here, even a transport helo or two used as impromptu scouts can pay dividends.
Prior to the introduction of Thermal Imaging sights, smoke will be a vital asset to you - even after TI comes out, it is mainly on larger weapons systems, many infantry and support troops will not have it, so still worth considering. When TI sights become available to your opponent, you must use terrain masking, or identify and deal with the TI equipped defenders by direct fire, artillery, or air strikes. If you do not have TI and he does, you must eschew smoke as it is more benefit to him, and your recce efforts must be redoubled to find these troops and deal with them ASAP. Many TI equipped systems are primarily anti tank biased, so in this case consider concentrating or at least emphasising leg infantry, and spending the saved points on massed artillery, say. If you drop 18 odd 122mm per turn on the same hex as even a Challenger, it will find its task much harder - do enough suppression due to hits, get a track hit and the dazed crew may bail out, right in the middle of your barrage. And the artillery will share its favours with any nearby supporting infantry, and near platoon mates of the targeted tank as well.
When advancing, artillery is a significant asset. While fighting the covering force battle, do some landscape gardening on suspected positions, and as the recce identify the enemy, start hammering these. Try to take a battalion of 18 guns of 122mm plus size - i.e. crater producers, and garnish with ammo trucks. 105mm artillery is at its best versus his infantry, but can kill light armour such as BMP. Take 107mm plus mortars in preference to 81mm, as these are similar in effect to 105mm howitzers, but usually cheaper. SP mortars in SP2 for some reason do not have smoke ammo, so are usually to be avoided. 60mm and some 82mm mortars even if placed far front, will in some cases not reach deep into his rear zone - avoid, or move up in carriers in the later phases of the battle. Note that the AI usually places some significant assets on or very near the objectives as a rule, e.g. MBT, ATGM etc. The human will likely not be as obvious, unless a newbie.
Air assets are similar to artillery, but with the exception that they are usually better at killing MBT. Try to reserve them for attacks on such significant targets, or M901 TI equipped tank destroyers etc. Air, like artillery works best en masse - you will usually have to fight an ADA suppression battle concurrent with the covering force battle to achieve air superiority. 2 or 4 jets may not make much of a contribution unless he is incredibly lacking in ADA, but 6 or 8 starts to get useful. If you manage this, your remaining air become a much more potent force, being able to make multiple passes without much hindrance. Buy any wild weasel type air as the first planes - air attacks come on in purchase order. Air is also a significant recon asset - especially versus the AI, since AI units do not move much, once spotted they will tend to remain so. Also, the AI does not understand ammo trucks, so his ADA, especially low ammo types such as area SAMs, will run out of arrows in due course.
When advancing, barring those times you must move at full blast to get behind a covering ridge etc., try to move as slowly as you can, as your fire will be more effective. Especially versus humans, leave shots for opportunity fires as the defender pops up from behind ridges etc. to take fleeting pot shots. Try to move forwards by bounds, usually with one platoon remaining stationary to provide overwatch fires, and its partner platoon bounding forwards, the two elements exchanging roles alternately. If everyone shoots their rounds, then moves full blast to the enemy, even the AI can tear holes in you, and a human defender can slaughter you if you cannot reply. Keep some arrows in your quiver as much as possible, as even if he seems in rout, an unspotted infantry squad - or even one which rallies to pinned - can ruin even a super tanks day out.
Once you get to a position you will likely have to fight through it. This is best done with the infantry on foot and leading - try to fight through at foot pace, and not full foot pace either, as squads moving 3 hexes are 'moving fast' and get hit harder. The armour and the foot fight in mutual support, but the grunts should spot, i.e. should move first, as they can take a casualty or 2 and still be effective, but an RPG into a Patton is usually not healthy. Where an enemy infantry squad is known, it may pay to try a tank rider moving up beside it if there is no other way to get at it, but this is risky. While fighting through a position, plot artillery on the remaining parts of it, or to isolate the position with a barrage to the flanks or rear to hinder reinforcements arriving. Once you have taken a position, or advanced a nibble closer, move fresh troops up to support the fighters, as these will have rounds left to shoot opportunity fire at counter attackers, but the front line may not. don't leave tanks or squads out front of a contested position with none or one shot left if you can at all avoid it - it may be best to pull these back at the end of your turn rather than risk their being caught with their pants down in your opponents move. thus when playing a human especially, remember that taking and holding an objective are two different things, that you are at your most vulnerable having cleared a position, and so you must have fresh troops ready to move in and hold it. Also remember this applies in reverse, if the defender counterattacks, you may have the opportunity to take him if he has shot his bolt, in which case he will be the one with his pants flapping at half mast.
Once you move on to the next position, remember to leave a security element on the just taken objective, even playing the AI. In SP1, all retakers had to walk or drive to the objective, but when your opponent is a human, in SP2 you have the possibility of an airmobile attack to retake the objective, usually when your main force is off somewheres else, and usually he will wait till the last few moves of the game for maximum annoyance.
Once you have all the objectives, if you have done enough damage to the AI it will usually concede - if it does not, it may have some significant assets left, so its a case of flushing these out and destroying them, perhaps adding to the kill total by destroying his artillery park. Above all, finding and removing his HQ is a major factor in winning. In PBEM games, the human opponent usually concedes when the situation is hopeless - I have never played a PBEM out to the last gasp and hence the post-battle AAR screen, winning or losing. Humans throw the towel in when necessary!.
See the section on the defence above, first. Also read the section on the Delay, as the defence is really a subset of this battle form. This gives you his point of view, but now read the Advance as in your case, the Assault is a variant of this battle type.
When assaulting you have the greatest advantage in points over the defender. Both sides have off table artillery available, and the defenders key assets in respect to the assaulter are his access to mines, and to a certain extent, fortifications. The key difference he gets is that all his troops are dug in, hence slightly harder to hit - entrenchment does not bring great benefit in SP1 or SP2, as compared with other wargames.
Your main difference here versus the advance is that you will likely have to deal with mines. The AI almost always buys some, but tends to deploy these in belts of 4 to 6 mines, sometimes in a dogleg, usually out front. However the AI can lay double belts, and sometimes establishes fighting positions ahead of or inside its main mine belt, as well as sometimes placing some mines behind an objective, ready to surprise you as you sweep off towards the next one. Human players should be more devious, as explained above in the defence section.
Therefore, usually you will need engineer assets. The engineer tanks are best, engineers on foot are next best - provide these with transport. However some devious humans will buy no mines or a tiny amount, in order that your investment in this specialist type is therefore wasted.
You will likely wish to use your points superiority to buy a healthy dose of artillery and air support, and to give the enemy a good drubbing with preparatory bombardments while you search out his mines.
A major part of your covering force battle is to identify enemy mine fields. Troops, including helicopters which end up close enough to mines will often spot them - at 1 hex usually, sometimes 2 rarely 3. The other traditional way to find them is by exploding them - some cruel campaign players will buy several cheap 'support' recce jeeps or scout cars to use as mobile mine detectors - moving them in column as the first one or two might just not explode a mine. This spotting occurs at the end of your current move - so the mines become visible at the start of your next move. Experience level of your troops, and current visibility level, contribute to mine spotting, and being pinned, buttoned, or worse, does not.
Once found, use the engineers to breach the minefield. It is best to cover clearance operations with a smoke screen, but when the enemy gets access to TI, this operation can become somewhat more interesting. In other words, breaching is a non fun operation at the best of times, and since mines cannot be everywhere, it is best to concentrate on finding mine free routes than to have to go through the hassle. Only breach where it is otherwise unavoidable.
To breach, move engineers or engineer tanks (all classes of funny tank clear mines, even dozer types) up to the mines and point them at them. Infantry can also clear mines, but at a reduced rate. Squads or crews caught in a field will start to clear their way out, once they have got their act together.
Note that if a vehicle starts its move with mines to either side, it most likely is on a mine in the centre of a belt which it did not explode. Unfortunately, its difficult to tell!. A squad which spots mines under its feet is more obvious, as the mine can be seen. The best way to get such a trapped squad out of mines is to move a transport alongside and use the 'T' key to lift them off - this does not trigger the mines as it is not counted as 'movement'.
Bunkers, if the enemy has placed them well can be an irritant. Otherwise, Tank main guns, ATGM, and HEAT weapons such as RPG can deal with them. Their field of fire is restricted, so work round them and they are impotent. In SSIs universe, they are most weakly on the front facing, however.
Otherwise, the assault is pretty much a more deliberate form of the advance.
Or, the River Crossing and the Beach Assault. When performed by the AI, the phrase 'fish in a barrel' springs to mind, at least when it is the assaulter.
In this battle form, which is only available in the battle generator as an 'Assault' type game - click on water to change, there is either a wide river North-South, or the attacker starts off in barges or hovercraft, and starts off at sea. If 'random wide river' is selected, all bets are off as to where the thing goes, and how therefore the action is affected.
Foot troops when assaulting here usually come with rubber rafts in the river scenarios. In the beach assault, the AI provides you with what it thinks is a good mix of boats and sometimes helos and amphibious transports (e.g. USMC) - it does its usual mix up of your forces to fit these, and since you cannot unload on the water during the deployment phase in order to do some 'cross decking', you are stuck with it. The assaulter in the beach assault should have naval artillery as an option, but sometimes this does not work.
To assault the beach, drive towards it trying not to be shot out of the water. Lay a smoke screen with your artillery in other words. Interesting in later years when TI sights negate this!. Once on the beach try to reorganise, then perform a normal assault mission, remembering mines etc.
In the river assault, position your tanks to covering fires, especially TI sight equipped ones. Use smoke to hide your approach, and then smoke your crossing attempt. Establish a beachhead, and use barges to move some MBT over, then once strong enough, move out and on to the objectives. Some of your lighter armour can swim, so are very useful here, as may be any helicopter lift you have access to. Again, enemy TI sights can make this operation a bit more fun than you might desire.
Barge carriers are special trucks which come loaded with a landing barge. Their purpose in life is to survive long enough to drive down to the riverside and launch the barge, after this it is usually irrelevant. The barge lifts such heavy MBT etc as cannot swim. To launch the barge 'drive' it into the river - it needs enough MP to do so. Use the normal 'T' key to pick up an MBT, and then 'drive' the barge into the opposite bank to unload it. Needless to say, these things are prime targets, protect yours at all costs, and kill any of his you see before they unload - they are trucks, so mg fire will kill them.
When defending a beach, line the shore and shoot the incoming barges, moving forward through any smoke - the AI is a bit poor with its smoke and usually leaves most of its force wide open. Note that swimming things are considered 'hull down' and are hence a bit more difficult to hit. Very little of the swimmers will have anti-MBT weaponry, and any attack helos can be dealt with. Also, troops just unloaded from barges or rafts have reduced shots - sometimes zero, and are quite helpless.
Defending a river is a similar case of lining the edges, firing through gaps in the smoke - if TI equipped you will have a field day. Target any barge carriers as priority, loaded barges next, as well as swimming APCs. Any assault rubber boats seen will sink if gently hosed down with mg or rifle fire, let alone anything more potent. Just be careful if the opponent has TI equipped tanks. Anything making it to your bank, assault immediately with infantry or tanks. NB for campaigns - any rubber rafts left on your bank by enemy squads are helpless, and each one killed is a kill credit to one of your troops.
I have never tried this battle form as a PBEM, but I think the human attacker in these forms would find them somewhat challenging.
Are of two sorts - historical ones such as the Germany 1980 one, and a series of randomly generated battles from the campaign generator. They only can be played versus the AI, unfortunately. PBEM 'campaigns' are run as a series of games put together by a 'games master', and he will have alternates for how the individual battles turn out.
The games in the historical campaigns are a series of linked scenario games - which ones you play next depends on the complexity of the campaign and your performance. The main note to remember here is that the enemy forces are fixed for each such game - the designer will have aimed it at the typical points you get at the default 'XXX' points setting, so using the new 1.01 feature to select a campaign force in excess of this value - typically 1500 odds points - will 'break' the campaign, making it too easy for you, as the enemy forces do not adjust to reflect your massive new strength. Campaigns post 1.01 will likely tell you the idealised max points settings.
In the 'long' campaigns - those generated by the campaign generator - the enemy will adjust to reflect your points , but as stated elsewhere, the AI needs 2 to 1 or more advantages when going forwards, so restrict yourself to about 2000 if you can, or 3000 tops.
In a campaign game, you get an initial set of buy points, with which you purchase your 'core' troops - these will be with you right through the campaign, so some thought is best applied in this initial purchase as a poor set of choices can cause problems. First thing to note - after each battle you will get a set of buy points to repair damages etc, and any surplus you may use to upgrade your core troops, or you may simply bank the points as they accumulate, in order to buy better toys later, or in case of a really bad pasting you may take. These buy points are not that large in general, and usually you will get more the better your battle score - its another reason to keep your core points down, as it may be difficult to fix everything in a 'giant' core with 100 odds fix points - so leaving you with damaged units or worse to carry in the next battle. Note also that you cannot recruit new troops to your core even if you have enough surplus buy points - the number of units you start with, and the number of formations as well, is what you will be restricted to.
It is therefore best to consider buying some troops at the outset primarily as place holders for something more useful later, via upgrading them. In SP2, unlike SP1, the upgrade paths for unit types is restricted - in SP1 a cheap scout car could be turned into a Tiger tank or an APC at will, here you cannot do this to such an extent. Also, through cross attaching via the 'attach unit' key (in the deployment phase), you can rebuild platoons into new structures (you cannot apparently cross attach support troops). Here is an approximate set of the types which can be upgraded to or from each other:
HQ - to anything, but for some reason not back to a 'headquarters' - but who would want to! - most make this a more survivable full strength squad, or an MBT or even a helicopter.
[Tank, SPA, SPAA, SP Mortar, Light Tank (most armour types in fact not specifically mentioned below), Gunship Helicopter, SP ATGW]
[Truck, Jeep, APC, 'scout vehicles' (BRDM-2 is a scout, but Ferret is an 'armoured car' so is in the above category with tanks etc), transport helicopters]
[Mortar, towed howitzer, area SAM, Towed AA, AT gun]
[Infantry, Inf-SAM, Sniper, MG, most inf types basically, engineers, inf-AT]
I have probably forgotten some. One annoying bug with infantry, though also seen sometimes with artillery is that sometimes certain things are not made available as upgrade options - e.g. in a British campaign, I could not upgrade my Gustavs to Milans, and in a Russian one, I bought SA2, but it would not let me upgrade to SA-6 as I had desired. This bug is annoying, plus you only find out it is operating after wading your way through the first battle of the campaign.
Typical placeholding is using some cheap troops which will later be more useful. A common one is to buy a truck section or two to turn into helicopter or APC transport later. A cheap AT section of 4 Gustav teams can become an infantry platoon later. But above all, it is used to buy cheap stuff now which will be MBT later - SP mortars and SP artillery are cheap, and both can upgrade to tanks. Buy a Soviet 4 SP mortar platoon, hey presto, later this is T90s. For the UK or USA, buy a 2 section of SP 81mm mortars, and a 6 battery of 155mm M109 - later on, up them to Challenger or M1 etc., and cross attach 2 from the ex SP battery to the 2 ex mortars to give 2 4 tank platoons. This strategy is important to the USA campaigner, as most of his stuff is expensive - the cheaper stuff being the artillery , air defence, and very late the Fuchs armoured car (2 sections or 3 of 2 each of these might become Apaches later in their careers!). The classic British upgrade is to buy a platoon of 4 ferrets, or 3 of same - cheap, but future Chieftains or Challengers.
Naturally, for some armies that have some sort of really cheap tank type, provided you do not over do it at the start, use some of these with a view to making them real tanks later. For example, in the 60s with Soviets, buy a T34 company per T62 company - the T34s can follow the big boys as a second line. Earlier Brits can buy some Comets as well as Centurions or Chieftains, or later on Scimitars etc. Israelis can make do with Ishermans at the outset. But always ensure you have enough of a 'backbone' of quality MBT to fight your initial battles with - 2 platoons of 4 Chieftain can murder a lot of Soviets in the 60s, especially if you are lucky enough to get a couple of delays or meeting engagements to start off with.
A sniper can become a squad, but in reality its use is limited - if you cross attach it to another formation, its 'place' in the formation numbers is still used - if it was B0, formation 'B' still appears on the HQ 'tent' menu, with a 'phantom' leader who gains experience, but you cannot attach units to this formation as there is no longer an on table 'piece' to attach to. This was in SP1, I have not checked for SP2, but likely still true. However, a single sniper, possibly 2 can be useful as HQs for 'orphan' infantry or ATGM teams. For example, a typical soviet upgrade is to buy an ATGM platoon with a view to turning it into helicopters - the 3 ATGM vehicles becoming hinds, the commander in his BRDM-2 becoming a MI8. The RPG-7 teams are usually upgraded to squads - some players leave these as part of the platoon, as heliborne troops, but it is better to cross attach these under a sniper (upped to a squad himself) to form a separate infantry platoon, which the helos can still carry - but when required can operate away from them (command control). Of course the RPG-7 and the sniper could be uprated to Saggers or Spigot ATGM. In general, avoid too many small sections in your core, but a few can be useful - e.g. the USA and FRG 5 tank platoon is actually a bit large for its commander to rally effectively - buy a couple of sections and cross-attach to these from the fivers. Another classic is to buy lots of 3 man RPG-7 AT platoons as soviet, at least when tank riders are allowed in the pre ERA models - these 'mate' with 3 tank platoons as 3 rider platoons, later to become real squads and expanding your leg component drastically, meanwhile they can sit on the tanks too and spot etc. A platoon of 60mm or 81mm cheapo mortars can become more useful 155mm artillery, or Hawk SAMs.
A little imaginative buying of cheap stuff can therefore turn out to be useful later on. Do not over do it however or you will have a lot of junk that is of limited use - you must win a battle or three to reap the benefit.
Some troop types have little benefit in your core - how often do you really need barge carriers - ammo trucks perhaps, though usually you get enough support points to buy these. Engineers and funny tanks - maybe, but then again assaults are not that common. AT guns are unlikely to be of great utility either. MGs, AGLs and similar are best turned into squads, ATGM or infantry SAMs. Platoons with integral mortars - e.g. USMC - these are best cross attached out of the platoons under the command of a couple of mortar sections, to become mortar platoons or howitzer batteries, or even area SAMs. The mg in the USMC platoon is better of by far as another 13 man squad. USMC gunboats make funny looking pillboxes when no water is about - so again unlikely to be much use in a core.
You will likely have to fight all battle types with your force, and in all visibility types, so try to make it as balanced as possible, or have the potential to be more balanced later - e.g. the Soviet RPG-7 platoon to infantry route. In the early pre BMP years I often ignore soviet APCs, and go for riders alone - though not all RPG sourced, a leg inf co is useful from the outset. If you say go for a too armour heavy core, or have no recon, or no artillery inbuilt, you will often find yourself buying these from the support troop points you get for each battle - these support points could have got you more mines, artillery, air or whatever. A leg infantry company is cheap, and always useful - a Soviet one costs about 39 points as it has no fancy ATGM - but the 3 MG section is a prime upgrade candidate.
You never get many support points - it can be 150 to 350 points. Enough to buy a leg co, some scout vehicles and a battery maybe, but in particular, never enough to buy more than maybe 4 or 6 strike aircraft. You will never have many planes to play with, even if you allow yourself 12 flights in the preferences. You could of course use one of my hacked mobs which allows aircraft to be purchased in your core (plug plug!).
As you progress through the campaign, your troops will gain experience, gradually becoming veterans, sometimes elites. A major element in advancement is the units kill tally - so some support types find it hard to advance - mortar teams for example, or artillery, which rarely get complete 'kills'. In particular it is difficult for most FO vehicles to advance as they usually are lightly or even totally unarmed. One way round this is perhaps to upgrade the FO vehicle to a tank - remember in this case, although it has a high artillery command rating, unless it is still a '0' unit, it cannot now call fires. So one way, e.g. with the USA companies with that pesky FO vehicle, but say the 5 tank platoon organisation, is to detach 1 off of each of the platoons under the FO vehicle, convert same to an MBT and off we go , killing things and calling in fires too. Remember in your first battles to get as many of your troops into the kill fest as possible, so when the AI is routed, dont take the last objective hex till you have dealt with every straggler crew etc - (routing) crews are wonderful kill opportunities for folks who normally have problems - e.g. mg armed FO vehicles, scout teams, scout cars etc, and consider picking some rear area troops up to bring forward to the chase - inf SAM teams, ATGM teams etc. can ride tanks or APCs forwards, or be helo lifted, and get those first 3 to 5 kills that make most of the difference. Do not go too crazy here, but try to share out the kills if you can - do not let a few greedy units have them all. Also, in an established campaign, if a newbie replacement is in a unit, get the others to help e.g. by doing most of the killing on an infantry squad, and letting him have a few cheap kills finishing the work.
Progression is rather vital, so you dont want experienced troops going dead on you too often. In SP1, you had 24 units at most to play with, so could pay individual attention to your few primadonnas. SP2 cores are larger, so you will not be able to shield them so much or pay as close attention. However, crews that bail out of vehicles should be moved to the rear after they stop running. If in the thick of combat, pick them up as temporary tank riders till an opportunity to send them back occurs. Infantry squads when badly mauled should also be sent to the rear before being totally destroyed. Tanks which have been badly hit with some damage points - especially when all weapons are wiped off - should also be sent back, possibly carrying the walking wounded crews and squads. If the injured tank is a commander, he may have to stick in there however, as he has his command function to perform - just do not risk him, keep him hidden in back. Jeeps or helos are useful ambulances to get these guys to safety.
If a crew or squad or other unit is destroyed, the replacement you buy will be a newbie. Otherwise, when you use your repair points to fix the broken piece, it will have the old crew with its experience etc. A totally destroyed unit costs about half its full points to fix - e.g. a 120 point M1A2 will eat up 60 fix points, so try not to lose too many of these!. Any unfixed units will carry their damage forwards - in this case, any orphan crews should be left on the base line, as should any horribly beat up squads, badly bent or track-hit tanks etc - though if fighting a delay or defence, track hit vehicles could be used as fixed pillboxes.
One thing to remember when upgrading - if a unit is damaged - then do not fix it before upgrading it as the fix points so expended will be lost. So before hitting the 'fix all' button, look through and upgrade those damaged things you were planning to uprate in any case. then fix the hurt things that you were not going to change. Always providing you have enough points of course. Also, when a unit is upgraded to a new shiny tank type or whatever, the crew lose a few experience points, to represent their having to get used to the new kit, so dont ping pong things about from one thing to another from game to game. This is less of a problem in SP2, unlike SP1 where new tank types could appear rapidly, even in the same campaign year, leading to 'upgradeitis'.
If you do well in a campaign game, you can get the opportunity to chase the enemy, or some such. Only take this if you are reasonably healthy, as no fixing of troops occur - in particular, track hit tanks etc. will remain immobilised!. So consider carefully before accepting these extra missions. If the AI decides to counterattack you, you have no choice in the matter, and it usually gets more troops in a counterattack mission too - again, you keep your damage levels for this one. In these missions, your support levels usually go down as well.
For each campaign I usually allocate 2 save game slots, one beside the other. One I label something like 'UK 70s Campaign' and the other 'UK 70s Campaign Scratch'. The main one is where the campaign saves go - e.g. at the end of a game, when it prompts you for a save file, just before going onto the fix/buy process. The scratch one I use on a per game basis, and save the start positions etc here, and interim game positions as required. Thus if I have to leave the campaign for some reason in the middle, the current part game is logically related to the campaign main game save. NB - if you make a hash of the fix and buy screen, just keep going on through the battle it next generates, dont bother buying support troops, exit when given the opportunity, then reload the main saved game, which will take you back to the buy screen - another reason for saving the in progress game to a secondary slot, thus not overwriting the previous end game position. Also, if you get to the next battle deployment and find you have made a horrible mistake of some sort - e.g. its total night and you went out and bought tons of ATGM systems with no night fighting capacity - just exit, and restart from the main save - you will have to go through the buy screen again, and in a long campaign you will have a new game, even one of of a deferent type, generated after this process (and some folks who detest particular battle types (e.g. dont like assaults, or city fights) will go through the whole fix and buy routine again just to get one they like - a minor cheat really). Scenario linked campaigns will usually return you to the next scenario as determined by your progress.
SP2 has a useable PBEM replay feature, unlike SP1, but you do need a 16 meg computer for this - these days not as drastic a requirement. This opens up the possibility of playing humans via email, as opposed to hot-seating your friends at your place. Note that the replay is enabled for the last move in all ongoing games - useful in hot seating your pals, and invaluable if you hit the end turn key, expecting nothing much to happen, and went of to make a cup of tea while the AI got on with its rout. You come back and find some tanks burning unexpectedly - how the heck, you say - hit the green button at the top of the icon display, and the last moves action will replay, showing you how the dastardly AI did them in.
An important point re replay - it only shows firing type events, so a sniper watching a gap between two sets of cover will not report an entire division passing from behind one set to the other - i.e. out of LOS beginning and end, unless he fires at something - e.g. a dismounted squad walking the gap. When the replay is done, you get a brief 'flash' of the target area, and just may say to yourself 'gosh, there's an awful lot of tanks here!' - in other words, no firing, no reporting of dashers by.
The first 2 save game files are where PBEM files are stored, these are special slots - the replay history gets saved with these games - reload from a standard game and the previous moves replay is lost, only the last game move is held in RAM during play. They are also set up to lead you through the correct save at end sequence.
Password protection for games generated by the battle generator is available, but not for PBEM scenario games. A password gives you some security, but SP2 PBEM is so wide open to other cheater methods its of limited value. In PBEM play, trust, and the honour system is paramount - cheating is stupid, and just proves you can cheat, not that you are a better player, so do not do it, and players who cheat are reasonably easy to spot in any case, so will not get invited to play again. I am not going to outline any cheat methods, they are blindingly obvious in any case to anyone with half a brain cell - it is these half brainers who think its cool to cheat. It is not, and since you are spending your own money sending the email, you are really stupid. Off soapbox, on with PBEM - but tolerate no cheats!.
OK, first thing to remember, the preferences settings on your computer are the one it uses - if your PBEM game uses different ones, remember to set these up before starting your turn. The load map key currently does not work for PBEM - so you are stuck with random maps. It is normal to negotiate points values, reality settings, whether air is allowed, etc - usually player two gets allocated more points by the game in a meeting engagement than player one, so he just has to remember to buy to the agreed limit (honour system!). In the cases where player two is not allocated enough points, it is worth his going on through to the actual deployment phase - he may consider the battle 'doable' if for instance he is allocated a start position half way across the table - but usually, it is just a case of scratch the game and player one regenerating another.
When setting up a battle generator generated game, the hard work is done by player one. Go to the battle generator, switch all the switches to human on the right hand side as well, remember!, set troop quality etc as agreed in the preferences, as well as points for both sides - it will work for you but air for him is still random even if set here by you. Set the year and forces as agreed, and the battle type and visibility, etc. Now generate a battle - you will pick your forces now, up to the agreed limits. Hit done, and you go to the next screen which is very confusingly set up for first timers, so some explanation. First do not hit the logical button to press labelled continue at this point this will dump you out to the battle generator losing all your work!. Choose password first of all, enter a password, and choose something memorable, or write it down! - in fact use the same one for all your games if possible, its easier for you. Now, choose save game!. Then choose continue, if it asks for a save, save it again - and remember to save it in one of the 2 first save slots as these are the PBEM ones - choose a logical name too. Our PBEM group use a scheme of 'USSR v UK 0.0' - i.e. player ones side, then player twos, 0 being the setup - player two on returning the game renames it to 'USSR v UK 0.x' - so when you get this back you know where you are. you then send him 1.0, he bungs back 1.x etc. The x is important as is the move number, as sometimes senders get confused, sending the wrong zip back - even I! (blush!).
Now you are out at the battle generator again. Exit the game, and zip up the two files email1.dat and email1.cmt (the cmt is a text file with the file save name in it - use the the email2 versions if you placed it in slot 2. These files are stored in the email subdirectory under your steel panthers directory - not the save directory!. You will need a copy of PkZip - the shareware version gets given away on those CDs that come on the front of computer magazines, and its available on the net and at AOL and CompuServe etc. Also, sending over the net to some users, you may have to further uuencode your zip file - PkZip for windows will do this for you. You may as well store the zip, and any uue, in your email directory. Now send the file as an attachment to a normal email to player two.
Player two now gets your email, and extracts the attachment. He then uses PkZip to extract the two files into his email directory. Now he goes into DOS, and loads the game from the relevant slot, remembering first to reset his preferences if required - cannot emphasise this one too much. At this point he gets to buy his forces, on exiting he should choose a password first, save for safety to the email slot, then hit continue - he will go on to his deployment, now the PBEM system is working - on hitting end turn, he will be prompted to save the game - do so in the correct email slot, renaming the save game in accordance with the agreed system as well!. Now he exits SP2, zips the two files etc, and emails back to player one.
Player one extracts the files to his email directory, enters SP2, resets the preferences! - and gets to deploy, and in this case to go on to his first turn. Continue with the send and receive process till end game, or both players agree its time to quit.
It is normal for PBEM games to end by mutual agreement without having to slog to the bitter end. After the game, it is standard practice to exchange After Action Reports with each other, in addition to the usual passing of casual insults, propaganda, fake news bulletins etc with the emails - that is all part of the PBEM experience. Part of the AAR process is to help the other guy learn, it is not just a crow session - point out things he could have done better, things that he did well etc., but in a spirit of constructive criticism. The AARs and any in game sitreps required are sent to the controlling 'games master' if this game is being played as part of a PBEM campaign, so he can set up the next game from the results of this one. Also, in some PBEM campaigns, the umpire may allocate 'reserve' troops to every player on a particular side - not to be used without higher authority release. If one of the players use them, nobody else can, so sometimes you may have to plead with your 'General' for the division artillery etc.!.
It is perfectly possible to PBEM a scenario game - both included ones and user generated - but in this case the honour system is double plus important as no password protection is provided. Player one in this case opens the scenario, and switches both sides to human. He then plays move one, and at the save game prompt and player two continue screen at the end of his move, he saves the game to an email slot with appropriate naming etc. Then he exits the game - this is very important, as otherwise he will go straight to player twos command screen - this is why the honour system is so important - this PBEM format is like hot seating with a friend, but without the ability to check if he is peeking out of the corner of your eye if he were at home with you. Player 2 will get a game ready to enter his move as if hot seating, again at the end he saves and then exits without continuing, just as if playing at his friends place.
As the author of Mobhack, I suppose I have a bit of an interest in this field!.
Essentially, hacker editors allow you to go into the SP2 database files (the mob files in your SP2 directory) and change the data there to fit your idea of what a unit, weapon or formation should be if you happen to disagree with SSIs world view on modern weaponry. You can add brand new or modified vehicles or formations and weapons too, change armaments, armour points etc. and so can alter things to your tastes or requirements. For example, for a PBEM game I simply copied the Soviet mob on top of the generic 'Red' mob, went in and changed the nationality field for all units from Soviet to Red, and all names with RU or SO to UKR, and now I had the Ukrainians - basically the same as fighting soviet plays soviet, but with the vital little bit that you could tell which side owned which objective flag. SP2 does allow civil wars, such as USA vs USA, and even dresses its units in a different colour when doing so, but unfortunately despite the fact the program obviously knows it is a civil war, no alternate 'rebel' flag design is provided for. Remember if using alternate mobs that both sides in a PBEM need the same version!.
If you happen to disagree with how SSI has done things, or feel they have missed some little point, here is how to fix it. The only other route is to badger the mob designers via say, the SP2 discussion forum at the Wargamer web site, or in the SSI forum on CompuServe.
Refer to the links at the head of this document for hackers, or modified mobs.