[kongxinga]

I always play post 2000 year games at the standard 3900 forces. However I am still learning the ropes, so I am actually trying to find a good force composition myself.

I play as Taiwan versus China. SPMBT has very expensive tanks, and since I have a habit of buying companies whenever I can, that leaves me rather stuck when buying armor. I used to go with a Tank company of the cheapest tank possible (M48 A2s). That leaves me with 1500 points left which I spent on a reserve company of infantry and some rocket lauchers (Kung Feng) and the usual bits and pieces. The battle usually does not go too well, with my reservists outnumbered 3 to 1 by PLA regulars. To add insult to injury, simple rpgs tear apart my ERA-less tanks.

Now having a new view and respect for the grunt, but still feeling the obsessive need to have almost everything in companies, I have to resign myself to buying a heavy recon company, which leaves me with a grand total of 3 (nice) MBTs. But with LAWs and Apilas and RPGs and Javelins and all kinds of scary things flying around, it is rather dangerous to buy too many tanks. And my infantry actually do a great job at killing Chinese tanks, especially in the urban areas and forests of Taiwan.

To support that recon company I get 3 inf company +s, a battalion of Sp-MRLs (Kung Fengs again), a section or two of ATGM jeeps, and more bits and pieces. I am always tempted to buy commandos, but hand to hand fights are a rarity in MBT. And why buy helicopter mounted ATGMS when a simple grunt with a LAW can easily kill chinese tanks.

For a game called Steel Panthers: Main Battle Tank, there are surprisingly few tanks involved. Perhaps I am not using them properly, but my tanks and the AI's seem to blow up very fast. I know tanks have grown much more lethal since WW2, but are they THAT much more lethal to warrant the price hike? I actually think the infantry have really gotten better (or maybe it is just because I play NatChi in SP: WW2) as every soldier is a tank killer now.

A small side question. My MBTs in question are Cm21 "Brave Tigers" and are classified as cavalry tanks, which are a tank clone according to the manual. Now I am pretty sure cavalry does not mean leading the charge into the enemy lines, so should I treat these tanks as better for infantry close support (1 or 2 hexes behind the infantry line) than the average MBT?