What are your favorite units in the game? - Page 3

Cameronius · #21 March 21st, 2006, 09:42 PM

The only problem with the Achzarit is that it is so slow that you can't keep up with the tanks. With the Merkava at hand I wouldn't bother with APCs anyway. Just buy more tanks and load them up with infantry.

Mustang · #22 March 22nd, 2006, 02:55 PM

The problem with modern tanks is that you have to worry about them getting killed by all kinds of top attack missiles and helicopter ATGMs. The Merkava 4b is nice because it has both VIRSS and LAHAT top-attack munitions, and it's probably my favorite tank now. The top attack ATGMs are pretty innacurate for some reason (the game says they have a hit chance of 70% or more, but they only hit about 30% of the time), and it's hard to get a good hit with them, but they're 1/10th the cost of a tank. If nothing else, they'll slow your opponenet down and force him to deal with all these hard to kill ATGM teams. What's also great about the Merkava is its ability to carry infantry- heavy snipers work very well against missile teams.

The Achzarit is just an overpriced hunk of metal. Anything without Chobham-type protection in modern scenarios is for all practical purposes as heavily armored as a jeep. I still think that BTR and M-113 type APCs are the best. The Russian Valuk APC is also an interesting design- very fast (speed of 37!), amphibious, about 40 points and has a 30mm chaingun.

How about boats? Does anyone here ever use naval units? The Yugoslav OOB has a "Missile Boat" equipped with a naval gun and two 57mm rocket launchers which have enough punch to kill anything else that floats. Some of the American PBRs have flameguns and are good against infantry. A lot of people think that patrol craft are useless against tanks, but I can tell you that I've immobilized a lot of armor with ship-mounted grenade launchers and rockets with flank shots. This was all during the WBW Carribean Conquest campaign, against older tanks. Of course, against anything mounting a good, accurate gun, PBRs are going to get blown out of the water.

PlasmaKrab · #23 March 23rd, 2006, 04:55 AM

Then what about mounting such a gun on a PBR or something? If you want high-tech combat-capable coastal boats, just look towards Scandinavia. F.e. I think there should be Swedish boats around with AMOS automortar turrets any time soon, if there aren't already.
And regaring what you said about 57mm rockets on missile boats, it looks like several lower-tier forces with large Soviet stocks have the habit of welding BM-21 122mm rocket racks on old missile boats once the missile packs have become useless.

Mustang · #24 March 23rd, 2006, 04:35 PM

Where did you hear the thing about third world countries mounting Grads on boats? If you just noticed it in the game, it's probably just there to represent naval missiles because the game dosen't have any code to really represent naval SSMs.

Pepper · #25 March 23rd, 2006, 10:57 PM

I have a strange and inexplicable affinity for the LAV III (in particular the 25mm variety).

Not sure why. They can't carry a full riflesquad. They can't kill a tank. And they're way too expensive to use as first-line recon.

Yet I keep buying them ... go figure.

Mustang · #26 March 24th, 2006, 11:02 AM

I like certain units also, but I don't buy them all the time. For some reason I like the Russian Chiormy Oriol (found under Export Tanks in the Russian armor purchase screen) a lot. It's actually a pretty good tank, vision 40 and two ARENA shots, but the T-90M has the same capability and is slightly cheaper.

For some reason I also think that the light chaingun APCs like the LAV, Lynx, Valuk, etc. are sexy. It dosen't make sense, but I think they're cool to have.

PlasmaKrab · #27 March 27th, 2006, 03:51 AM

Quote:

Mustang said:
Where did you hear the thing about third world countries mounting Grads on boats? If you just noticed it in the game, it's probably just there to represent naval missiles because the game dosen't have any code to really represent naval SSMs.

No, I didn't get that from the game; from various US publications, it appears that some potential opponent countries (at least North Korea and Iran) have tried to replace the outdated and unserviceable missile launchers on some of their patrol crafts or larger ships with 122mm rocket racks salvaged from truckborne launchers. That would f.e. replace (C)SS-N-1/SS-N-2-type missile tubes or Western equipments for which no spare parts were available.

It would sound logical that other countries with more Soviet oldies than spare parts and a minimal technical basis would attempt that kind of DIY retrofit.
As a side note, the PLAN seems to be experimenting about a cruder, similar technique.

For more reference see the "North Korea Country Handbook" from the USMCIA, or f.e. I got this article from the CSIS on Iranian forces.

I'll post about further sources whenever I find some, if that's of any interest to anyone here!

Mustang · #28 March 27th, 2006, 02:31 PM

Wow, an armed cargo ship. It's really a very simple idea that noone's tried before. I'm going to make a China-invades-the-world campaign later on, and I might use one.

PlasmaKrab · #29 March 28th, 2006, 03:15 AM

And how do you simulate tanks and howitzers tied on the deck?

The question remains: are they really up to using that kind of thing in real combat conditions, are they experimenting for further dedicated shipborne systems (e.g. using the landlubbers' stabilization technology), or is that just a propaganda quirk to frighten the hell out of the Taiwanese?

Or as far as the game is concerned, just take any old LC unit and stuff it full with any old vehicle-based weapons if you like!
I tend to do the same with infantry weapons in some landing scenarios, to account for crewmen, grunts, MPs or just anyone giving some support (rifles, MGs, grenades, mines, rarely LAWs and MANPADS) during the beaching.

thatguy96 · #30 March 28th, 2006, 03:46 AM

Quote:

Mustang said:
Wow, an armed cargo ship. It's really a very simple idea that noone's tried before. I'm going to make a China-invades-the-world campaign later on, and I might use one.

If you're talking historically then you're wrong. You might want to google Q-Ships, a prime example of this. Also, the development of practical VTOL aircraft led to the proposals in the 1980s that perhaps container ships could be configured quickly and effectively as low cost aircraft carriers serving helicopters and Harriers.