Speed in Meeting Engagements

[ATCS]

There are as many tactics in ME's as there are players. Regardless of the type of battle, I try to focus on locating the enemy and destroying his forces. If I can manage to do that, regardless of flags, the points at the end tend to take care of themselves.

Notice I said "try". I am not always successful, but I am persistent. ;)

[Copper]

[Ratzki]

[Elltee]

And just rushing to the flags doesn't always work anyway - I have been playing DK and I rushed into the village with everything I had and have spent the rest of the game fending off flanking attacks and being pounded and systematically wiped out - I will probably hold 2 out of 3 flags but at the expense of 90% of my force.

[taffy]

can you have qb type maps with no flags ?. where the only points ae for destroying enemy units. Alternativly if flags could be placed in the enemys setup zone.This would change the race to the middle thimg

[Minuteman]

Two cents....

"Get there firstest, with the mostest"

I think w/ MEs that it is most important to identify the map's key terrain - terrain that by holding or controlling it provides a marked advantage to either side - and speeding to that.

Current ME I'm working on there are 4 flags. First off, I completely ignored and abandoned one flag. If there is a flag that won't allow you to have mutual support across the battlefield - dump it. Let him spread his forces out and that will give you the firepower advantage for the objectives you do want.

There was one of the three remaining flags that I wanted to be at first. It seemed extremely easily defensible, leaned a little toward my side of the field, too.

For the other two, I did "let" the enemy occupy the positions first. One flag was terrain mostly made of bldgs - I pounded w/ 150mm gun, 75mm gun and MG42. Now I currently hold w/o the last minute "flag rush". The other flag terrain was scattered trees and rocky terrain sloping towards my side of the field. I pounded w/ 120mm mortar, 75mm arty and Panther HE rounds. I now hold w/ 2 plts while my enemy probably only went in with a single plt initially.

Of course, we both have burning hulks all over the place, too. But I guess what I'm saying is every ME is a little bit different. If I could hold a flag and use all that fire power to destroy his approaching troops...that works. But the terrain and the enemy don't always lend themselves to that.

Personally, I like MEs and scenarios - good to have some variety.

Lastly, I think approaching the flags w/ armor first w/ troops as riders is a technique I'd very rarely recommend. I'd probably start to drool if I saw an opponent start to do that, too.

[Der Kuenstler]

Leto wrote -"You're a good player too Kel... despite our past differences, you should keep posting this kind of stuff (and over at FraGment as well), even when I don't agree with it. This kind of insight is always useful to all players. I'd recommend that you give POS a go as well. One of the most aggressive and toughest bastards I've ever played."

Oh believe me - you a great player, Leto. To be honest the most unsettling thing about our two games was not your comments, but rather having no idea what to do next that would work. LOL - have we both cought the spirit of Christmas here? Scary. I may go over there and join in at FraGMent if you don't think I'd be tarred and feathered. Yeah POS looks like he's tough, allright - don't consider myself in his league yet - he'd be a real bear to play...

Eltee - you did get to the flags first in our game - but only two of them - and look at them - they are all three 100 point flags. By me holding one of the three the most points you will get from holding those other two flags is a net 100. As you can see I've been able to get around behind you and fire at all sides - those flags proved too costly for you to hold.

As you can see no one strategy will work in every game - that's what makes it so interesting and addicting.

I have to go out of town until Sunday so catch you guys later...

[Soldier]

[Copper]

Oh believe me - you a great player, Leto. To be honest the most unsettling thing about our two games was not your comments, but rather having no idea what to do next that would work. LOL - have we both cought the spirit of Christmas here? Scary. I may go over there and join in at FraGMent if you don't think I'd be tarred and feathered. Yeah POS looks like he's tough, allright - don't consider myself in his league yet - he'd be a real bear to play...

You wouldn't be tarred and feathered by me. You'd still have to deal with my flighty criticisms and oblong and misunderstood humour though. That alone drives most people to the edge of rubber wallpapered rooms.


A wee bit of a Rennaissance is going on over there with all the strategy talk, avid testing of issues and gladiator room AAR's. The more the merrier. Hopefully it will transfer over back to the blitz here in some form as well.

Leto

[Mike Abberton]

My thoughts on speed in MB are that your advance should take into account the terrain both getting to the flag and the terrain at the flags.

Obviously getting to the flags fast assumes that you have clear routes to the flags and terrain (and weather conditions) that permit fast movement over that terrain, and ideally better routes than your opponent. Trucks probably work well if you are playing a city or village map where you can be reasonably sure that there will be a lot of roads. If you are playing on heavy woods map, then trucks are probably a waste of points. On a completely random map, I would probably tend to keep with the safe purchases. I'd rather have an FO that I know I can use, rather than some trucks that might be very useful or completely useless.

You also need take into consideration the terrain and natural defenses at the flags themselves. Obviously if the flags are in a small stand of scattered trees out in the middle of a field with LOS to the entire map, you probably don't want to be there first. If they are in a heavy building surrounded by cleared kill zones and heavy woods around that (to keep the tanks away), then you probably do want to be there first. Basically, the harder it will be to dig troops out of the area around the flags, the more you want to be there first.

I am usually more of a plodder. I just don't rush to the flags well, so I usually avoid it as a strategy. I advance carefully and slowly using the terrain I have. I try to neutralize my opponents forces (tanks and guns first usually, MGs second, infantry last), and move on the flags with my infantry when I have the upper hand. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't. I have had games where my opponent rushed the flags and I pounded him down from a distance and strolled into the flags with 10 turns left, and I have had times when I never got within 300m of some well-defended flags that my opponent beat me too.

One last note. If you are going to rush the flags to get there first, make damn sure you actually do make it there first (or at least at the same time). There is nothing worse than a half-assed rush that's a turn too slow, and catches your tired, exposed troops in the open from fire by your opponents troops who reached the flags the run before. Also, if I know my opponent always rushes the flags (especially on the back of tanks or better yet trucks), I would not hesitate to try and plot some artillery to fall as he is making the last push to the flags, particularly if I have a position in my start zone that allows me good LOS to the areas that I think he will rush through. You can either pre-plot them with a time delay (preplotting in the enemy setup zone is gamey IMHO), or plot on a later turn and use adjust fire to time things right (i.e. use adjust fire to delay a turn if you are early). The latter approach assumes that you have FOs with reasonably short delays, decent accuracy and a decent LOS to the target zone from the beginning.