CMBO Help!!

[kawaiku]

Hey guys, I just got CMBO, and I was wondering how does the ambushing technique work and same goes for no cover-arcs, how did you guys rectify this?

Thanks, Kawaiku

[jwb3]

Hey guys, I just got CMBO, and I was wondering how does the ambushing technique work and same goes for no cover-arcs, how did you guys rectify this?
Not sure what you mean by "how does the ambushing technique work". Ask the question a different way and I'll be happy to try to answer, as I have not yet moved on to CMBB/CMAK.

No covered arcs is no covered arcs. There's a reason why they were added to the later games. ;)



John

[kawaiku]

I'm mostly confused about how the ambush tabs work. Like how do the ambushes work? I had a tank targeting one directly but it gave me the feeling that the enemy had to pass over it so I'm not using them.

[jwb3]

I'm mostly confused about how the ambush tabs work. Like how do the ambushes work? I had a tank targeting one directly but it gave me the feeling that the enemy had to pass over it so I'm not using them.
Okay, I might still not be getting your question so pardon me if my answer doesn't help you, or if I take a while getting to the part you want answered:

You pick the unit that is to do the ambushing, select A, and get the usual targeting line. If it's bright green then the target area is visible, and you should be able to mouse-click to target an ambush there. If it's orange and black, it means the usual -- that your LOS is blocked. If it's red, then the target area is in LOS but too far away for you to set an ambush. The range where it turns red is different for different units.

After you click, you get a yellow crosshair symbol in that location, and the ambushing unit is now Targeting that crosshair. Other units can also target it; you can also tell the original unit to stop targeting it but the crosshair will stay there for the turn.

An enemy unit does not have to pass right over the crosshair to set off the ambush. Up till now I had never figured out how close it does have to come, so out of curiosity I threw together a couple little test scenarios. From those, it appears that the rule is:

- The ambush goes off when the first enemy unit gets within 25-30 meters of the crosshairs.

I was surprised to find out that it won't necessarily be the unit which activated the ambush that gets shot at! Some of my ambushers would fire their first shots at guys far, far away from the ambush point.

I was less surprised to find out that my hidden ambushers who hadn't yet seen an enemy unit within 25-30 meters of their ambush point would just sit there trying to stay hidden, even though enemy units were shooting at them.

Other downsides of ambushing:
1) If you have a unit which is set to ambush and you decide to move it elsewhere, be sure to cancel its targeting of the ambush crosshairs. Otherwise your guy will walk right into enemy units without shooting at them, because he's still in ambush mode.

2) The ambushing unit does not automatically turn to face the crosshairs when you set it in ambush mode. So you should turn the unit to face, and you should be aware that you can't use this command to fix a tank's covered arc away from the way its body is pointing.

3) A squad can't be ordered to Ambush on its own -- you have to tell the HQ to Ambush first, then tell the squad to target the crosshairs, then if you don't want the HQ to open fire, cancel its targeting of the crosshairs.

Because of these limitations, I mostly use Ambush as the equivalent of a "hold your fire" command, either to keep my guys from revealing themselves with long-range shots, or from wasting ammo firing at long range if they are SMG squads.

Say I want to let an enemy squad get within 100 meters before I open fire; I'll set the actual crosshair at, say, 25 meters or less, to force my men to hold fire (unless they're about to get overrun). Then on the turn after the enemy squad gets within 100 meters, I "turn off" the ambushing mechanisms (unhide the guys, cancel the targeting of the crosshairs) in order to actually spring the ambush I want.


I hope somewhere in all this :blab: :blab: :blab: is the answer you were looking for...


John

[kawaiku]

Perfect! Thanks John!

[jwb3]

Perfect! Thanks John!
You're welcome -- glad I could help.

JB