How do I fight a defensive battle effectively?

[Foxendown]

Hello all, I've not been playing the game long and am very impressed so far, amazing AI and documentation. I've now on my second pass through the manual and the videos but think I have missed something because I just can't work out how to fight a defensive battle well. I have grasped the principles of attacking and probes and I am finding these easier.

The problem I'm having is probably best explained by an example. I started by trying to issue orders at Regimental level (US Army) to defend a frontage of about 5-6 kilometres. I wanted my units to stay put in their entrenchments and have the best possible all round firepower. If I set a defend task and manipulate the depth and length associated with that order I can't cover all that area.

No problem, I think, micromanage, give defend orders to the subordinate units. But do I need to give orders to every separate platoon and company? If I give defend orders "in situ" at battalion level can I assume they cascade down, so that all the units below stay put?

Also I've noticed if I give a defend order to an HQ unit to defend a certain frontage, it starts to plan a move to that position and I don't want it to do that, I want it to stay there, but if I put a defend order on top of it designated what will the subordinate units do?

With "in situ" I see from the manual that it does not give very good firepower, but if I use another formation like "all round defence" this seems to cause some units to move out of their entrenchments, not a situation I want.

I suppose I'm looking for a tidy and logical method of defending: there may not be one! But it would be really helpful to know how other more experienced players handle this.

Many thanks.

[Brindlebane]

Just to add to this could someone explain how to use 'delay' effectively.By this i mean footprints,timings,settings etc.Any help would be greatly appreciated [:)]

[henri51]

Check out my AAR "Hell on wheels: German reinforcements" on the AAR pages (I also have one for this scenario where I played the allies, so get the German one), where I show how to fight a delaying battle against a superior force. Others have also posted AARs on this scenario, and by reading them you can learn a lot about how to fight defensively.

Henri

[dazkaz15]

ORIGINAL: henri51

Check out my AAR "Hell on wheels: German reinforcements" on the AAR pages (I also have one for this scenario where I played the allies, so get the German one), where I show how to fight a delaying battle against a superior force. Others have also posted AARs on this scenario, and by reading them you can learn a lot about how to fight defensively.

Henri

Are you also Yakstock Henri?
I'm all confused now [&:]
Anyway that is an excellent AAR, and one of the ones that inspired me to do my own.
A superb lesson on how to do a defensive battle for sure [:)]

[henri51]

ORIGINAL: dazkaz15

ORIGINAL: henri51

Check out my AAR "Hell on wheels: German reinforcements" on the AAR pages (I also have one for this scenario where I played the allies, so get the German one), where I show how to fight a delaying battle against a superior force. Others have also posted AARs on this scenario, and by reading them you can learn a lot about how to fight defensively.

Henri

Are you also Yakstock Henri?
I'm all confused now [&:]
Anyway that is an excellent AAR, and one of the ones that inspired me to do my own.
A superb lesson on how to do a defensive battle for sure [:)]

Nope, I am afraid not Daz, i only have one ID here...

Henri

[Foxendown]

Thanks for all that information, it will be extremely helpful as I learn the game.

To clarify my original point, I am trying to find out not so much what to do as commander to win defensive battles, more how I use the interface as the player to achieve the outcome I want, a static defence. So if I click to place a defend order icon on an HQ unit, so it defends from its current position, does that behaviour cascade down the chain of command like an attack order? I have enclosed a screen shot showing a Regimental HQ (marked A), a Battalion HQ (marked B) and its 3 subordinate companies. So to get all 3 levels to stay put and fight from their current position, is it best to give the defend order to the Regimental level only, or should I do the same with the Battalion HQ or even all the companies? If it's the last option I will be doing a lot of clicking! With an HQ unit selected, I don't want to place the order icon near the frontline (which is the area I actually want to defend the most) because that effectively instructs the HQ to move there.

The second limb of the my question related to the "in situ" formation, which seems to give relatively weak firepower. If I use something else e.g. "all round defence" will that mean my units may start to move around reorganising and maybe losing the advantage of their entrenched positions? Second scenario I played was Hoefen Hoedown where that seemed to happen in some cases, though I may have misinterpreted what I was seeing.

Sorry, newb question I know.

[Brindlebane]

ORIGINAL: Foxendown

Thanks for all that information, it will be extremely helpful as I learn the game.

To clarify my original point, I am trying to find out not so much what to do as commander to win defensive battles, more how I use the interface as the player to achieve the outcome I want, a static defence. So if I click to place a defend order icon on an HQ unit, so it defends from its current position, does that behaviour cascade down the chain of command like an attack order? I have enclosed a screen shot showing a Regimental HQ (marked A), a Battalion HQ (marked B) and its 3 subordinate companies. So to get all 3 levels to stay put and fight from their current position, is it best to give the defend order to the Regimental level only, or should I do the same with the Battalion HQ or even all the companies? If it's the last option I will be doing a lot of clicking! With an HQ unit selected, I don't want to place the order icon near the frontline (which is the area I actually want to defend the most) because that effectively instructs the HQ to move there.

The second limb of the my question related to the "in situ" formation, which seems to give relatively weak firepower. If I use something else e.g. "all round defence" will that mean my units may start to move around reorganising and maybe losing the advantage of their entrenched positions? Second scenario I played was Hoefen Hoedown where that seemed to happen in some cases, though I may have misinterpreted what I was seeing.

Sorry, newb question I know.

Still learning the ropes myself but i find defending easier than assaulting.
Deal with everything at Bn level for defence and give your Bn HQs the defence
order.What i find is though sometimes the footprints are too big at times,such as defending small villages or small patches of woods,and can lead to units being out in the open.Micro each company of your Bn and place them in cover with their own defend order then give the Bn HQ a defend order with in-situ then re-attach the companies and they'll stay where they are.If forced to retreat though they won't try to retake their old positions.Sometimes a good thing if they're getting hammered.

[Foxendown]

That's helpful, thanks. I seem to be doing OK with my defending by simply issuing orders at Regimental (US Army) level at the moment. I have taken control of Corps, Division and Regimental HQ bur of course intervening anywhere else I need to. So far so good!

[dazkaz15]

US Defence, Elsenborn Ridge

[dazkaz15]

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[dazkaz15]

This is a big one. Use your Ctrl key and mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

[con]

Hello Dak

How do you do the calculation of time taken for orders to arrive? I know there are many variables (distance etc)

Thanks
Con

[dazkaz15]

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[Emx77]

Daz, thank you for your effort. Your short AAR is great reference in understanding how things work in Command Ops engine. I hardly can wait to see rest of your bigger Elsenborn Ridge AAR in another thrad.

[Foxendown]

As the original poster, I would like to add my thanks also, this has been very helpful. It has answered my original questions and a lot more besides.[;)]

[dazkaz15]

Thanks guys, glad you liked it [:)]