Armchair General

[WMLute]

Murdr is spot on.

Base take 101.  

Vh
Ack
Town

That order.

Now this would be the scenario for a "fresh" capture.  i.e. a field that you have not been fighting over.

IF it's a well defended field, you might have to drop the FH's and BH's to slow the stream of nme's and allow you time to get a good cap.  (FH's at least, sometime BH's)

Most don't seem to understand how much more important it is to kill VH over FH's.

You can vulch fighters.  You can't vulch osti's.  W/ the VH up, ONE lucky osti can ruin a whole base take.  (Which I proved the other night, rackin' up 12 kills,2 lvt's, and killing troops at the maproom twice)

So to recap.  Drop the VH.  Kill the ack (don't forget manned) and then kill the town.  If done correctly it's a quick, clean take.

Dropping FH's should only be a last resort on a well defended field.

[sgt203]

I think Murder and WMlute hit it about right..

#1 priority (IMO) should ALWAYS be VH...

as stated an Osti or Tiger gets out it can ruin an otherwise well planned and executed capture..

#2 DEACK.. Kill field ack to allow planes to provide cap unmolested from ack..

#3. Town-- Work the town after or simutaniosuly with the deack... Kill town ack ASAP again to allow planes to hit town without having to worry about the ack..

#4 CAP/Vulch... Depending on the number of people involved in your mission you can leave all hangers up with good cap and vulch... If you start to lose cap proceed to #5.

#5 Fighter Hangers.. Drop when you have limited numbers to put an effective cap on field..

As the person who puts a mission or squad operation together you should have a plan for what you want to do and what planes for what tasks..

Numbers dictates alot of what you are able to do and how qucikly and effiecently you get it done..

Rarely do I ever use heavy bombers in a capture mission as for most pilots they have only a single role, bombing... I would rather use heavy fighters with 2 1000 lbers and rockets than bombers.. after release of ord they can provide cap and vulch... ( the exception to this is vehicle base in that case bombers or even a JU-87 with the MOAB is nice)..

But there are numerous ways to capture bases use what is fun for you and your sqaud...

<<<>>>

[NHawk]

Originally posted by LTARokit
We've taken bases with as few as 2, and with as many as 20 squad members.  The basic keys are, planning, Timing, and disipline.............and patience.  Have a backup plan ready, in case Plan A fails.

Change some tactics up, keeps the nme's guessing; ie.  3 sets of bombers (or fighters) coming in at different alts (instead of same hgt.), come in from different directions (instead of all from same base and direction)  Timing is everything.

Yep, no matter what timing is everything, and deception helps a lot. More than once I've seen fields taken while one or two people distract defenders.

BUT keep in mind that one lone defender can spoil any well laid plans. Right Rokit?

[Ghosth]

#1 Use what you have. If you have few pilots consider GV attack. 2 osti's, a tank and a M3 can take a field if you are lucky and plan well. If you have lots then something more traditional may work better.

#2 Be sneaky, use misdirection, 2 pronged attacks, high bombers combined with NOE, pull out all the stops here.

#3 If you run into a wall of defenders be prepared to accept that any given target may be too well defended at the moment. Be flexible enough to rally the troops and hit someplace else where they are not expecting you. The advantage of surprise can be huge for the attacking side. Use it!

[Yarbles]

I guess being flexible is very important as I belive someone said that whith any Battleplan events become almost totally unpredictable a short time after inception.

A U turn or change of objective erroneously suggests that the initial plan was in error rather than inevitably based on imperfect inteligence etc.

How does a good comander abandon an atack without it appearing to be mistaken or misconceived and then risk losing the confidence of the squad. Probably in real life as well as games an atack/campaign goes on far too long because it is so hard to bite the bullet and admit the outcome is going to be less than succesfull.

[sgt203]

Yarbles,

            In my opinion if your sqaud loses faith in you as a commander over one or two botched missions... the issue lies with them NOT you..

            It is much different if EVERY MISSION you devise is:

            1: poorly planned as far as plane set, ord, targets etc...

            2: Poorly executed as far as what needs to be done to reach your desired results (im assuming capture missions)..

            If you consistently allow say GV's to botch your capture missions for lack of dropping VH quickly enough then the problem is yours...

            Not every mission is going to work, not every plan is going to be executed properly..

            If I plan a mission for my squad and it doesnt work I find a simple "sorry guys this ones a bust" works just fine.. The guys in the squad know when its "over" and your not going to get the results your looking for.

            One thing we do is post After Action Reports (havent for a while though) for the squad to read and place their input into. Can give you some ideas as to what your sqaud mates think was both good and bad about said missions. Allows for improvement and understanding of what needs to be improved upon for next time..

          <<<>>

[Yarbles]

Originally posted by sgt203
Yarbles,

            In my opinion if your sqaud loses faith in you as a commander over one             One thing we do is post After Action Reports (havent for a while though) for the squad to read and place their input into. Can give you some ideas as to what your sqaud mates think was both good and bad about said missions. Allows for improvement and understanding of what needs to be improved upon for next time..

          <<<>>

Feedback after the mission sounds like a brilliant idea:aok

[WMLute]

I 100% agree that if the base you are trying to capture gets defended, and defended well, it would be much easier to move on to another field with little, to no defenders.

Here's the thing...  Attacking undefended fields is about as much fun as capturing fields offline.  Same thing really.

When the enemy starts pouring out at ya', and the fight get's hot and heavy, THAT is where the fun begins.

Any group of morons can take undefended field after undefended field.  Takes zero strategy, skill, or know how.  I chuckle often at some of the squads that are "known" for capturing bases.  Put up even a slight defence, and 99% of the time they'll move on to greener pastures.  I have stopped multi-wing mass squads on their squad night many a time with 1/2 or less of their numbers.  If it turns into a fight, they'll go elsewhere.  I guess the fighting part scares 'em.

What takes skill, team work, strategy, etc, etc, is capturing a well defended field.  Pretty much all aspects of game play get represented.  Buffs flying in, gv's on the ground, fighters furballin', jabo's dropin' eggs...  The whole deal all in that one base capture.

Sooooo... next time you attack a field and some nme up and kill you and your mission, don't give up and move on.  Head on back, and KEEP heading back until that field is yours.  You might never capture it, but it's fun as heck trying.  AND if you DO manage to capture it, that field take is oh so sweet, lemme tell ya'.

I can't count how many bases the WM's have captured for no other reason than we were too stubborn to quit trying.

[scottydawg]

Originally posted by Yarbles

Assuming a convenient sporn point of course.

What's a sporn?

[Yarbles]

Very similar to a peed ant

[The Fugitive]

see that, you complain about one guys spelling and your policed from then on

[LTARokit]

Originally posted by NHawk
Yep, no matter what timing is everything, and deception helps a lot. More than once I've seen fields taken while one or two people distract defenders.

BUT keep in mind that one lone defender can spoil any well laid plans. Right Rokit?

LOLOL.......ain't it the truth

[Yarbles]

Originally posted by The Fugitive
see that, you complain about one guys spelling and your policed from then on

You know,  I should take it all in good part and not be too old to learn. I mean that's what we are on this forum for isn,t it. Or is it just another opportunity to fight a war?

I suspect both and we are all suffering from combat fatigue (hope I spelt that Write)