Decisive Blow

[michael63000]

Hey guys,

So I'm doing my Egypt game and I'm ready to give a country a decisive blow but what I don't know is how I would do it? Would I put my entire army, air force and navy en masse and attack using everything I have? Or start the war with a nuclear launch destroying the enemy population and infrastructure? I want to make the country I'm attacking dead without taking many casualties. I have;

5,000 tanks (M1A2)
20,000 APC's/IFV's (M113, M2A4, Namer)
10,000 Artillery (M109A6)
5,000 SAM Batteries (SA-2, MIM 210)

1,000 F-16C/D Block 60
1,000 C-130 Hercules
1,000 F-15I/S Export Eagle
500 AH-64D Apache

50 Romeo Class Submarine
100 O Perry Class
200 Patrol Ships
100 Eilat class

How should I use these to destroy a country without losing huge casualties. Everytime I attack I end up taking very heavy casualties and it's hard to recover (I win the war but I just don't want to lose so much, I organized my army into 3 corps so I don't want many casualties).

Thanks!

[tkobo]

A break down using unit count would be more helpful.

[tonystowe]

1. Do you manage your troops or do you allow the AI to manage them? You need to manage your troops.

2. Stacks of 7.... To minimize your casualties you need to attack an enemy hex from as many sides as possible with each stack having 7x offensive units. Behind those units have stacks of mortars. Behind the mortars, have stacks of artillery/MLRS or mixture.

3. If you have air superiority, then by all means include ground attacks by your aircraft.

4. Utilize your navy to provide support, but ensure you have sufficient naval/aircraft to deal with enemy submarines.

5. Systematically work the attack so that you can manage what you take and keep the enemy from retaking those areas.

6. Utilization of special forces units will push the battle in your favor if use properly.

7. Ensure that you have sufficient military goods to support war.

8. When attack enemy locations, plan so that you take airfields, naval ports, and barracks in a manner that allows you to move forward, yet repair close to the front lines.

9. Supply means life or death for your units. Units at 50% supply are practically useless and will suffer considerable damage and losses. If you send a stack of 7x units against a city, ensure that you have another 3-7x units available to fill in when your units begin to pull back from damage or loss of supply.

I hope this helps.

[michael63000]

1. Do you manage your troops or do you allow the AI to manage them? You need to manage your troops.

2. Stacks of 7.... To minimize your casualties you need to attack an enemy hex from as many sides as possible with each stack having 7x offensive units. Behind those units have stacks of mortars. Behind the mortars, have stacks of artillery/MLRS or mixture.

3. If you have air superiority, then by all means include ground attacks by your aircraft.

4. Utilize your navy to provide support, but ensure you have sufficient naval/aircraft to deal with enemy submarines.

5. Systematically work the attack so that you can manage what you take and keep the enemy from retaking those areas.

6. Utilization of special forces units will push the battle in your favor if use properly.

7. Ensure that you have sufficient military goods to support war.

8. When attack enemy locations, plan so that you take airfields, naval ports, and barracks in a manner that allows you to move forward, yet repair close to the front lines.

9. Supply means life or death for your units. Units at 50% supply are practically useless and will suffer considerable damage and losses. If you send a stack of 7x units against a city, ensure that you have another 3-7x units available to fill in when your units begin to pull back from damage or loss of supply.

I hope this helps.

Thanks it sure does, I will try to initiate it.

[GIJoe597]

For my part I would suggest you have way too many units. Take them out with about 200 ground units and 14 air squadrons.

[michael63000]

For my part I would suggest you have way too many units. Take them out with about 200 ground units and 14 air squadrons.

Yeah, I only deployed half my army and turned AI off then I invaded using Artillery to supress and my air superiority to attack anything that moves. Thanks for the tips everyone . I took only 2 unit casualties.

[GIJoe597]

Good job!

[tonystowe]

That is good news!

In my games I never conduct a "decisive blow" type campaign; I select several targets - which are usually key cities with airfields, barracks, sea piers, etc - and while I secure the target I will move a second, smaller force (mostly SOF units) in to open and secure the supply line. It is imperative that you do not move your forces too far ahead of your supply as that will cripple your advance. Patience is the key on the larger regions while on the smaller regions you may be able to insert 7-10x SOF onto the capitol and start from there.

[michael63000]

That is good news!

In my games I never conduct a "decisive blow" type campaign; I select several targets - which are usually key cities with airfields, barracks, sea piers, etc - and while I secure the target I will move a second, smaller force (mostly SOF units) in to open and secure the supply line. It is imperative that you do not move your forces too far ahead of your supply as that will cripple your advance. Patience is the key on the larger regions while on the smaller regions you may be able to insert 7-10x SOF onto the capitol and start from there.

Good tips! I massed 4/5 of my armies (1 left for defence and garrison) and started by controlling my own units and bombarding the country with all my artillery. Their tanks and counter attacks failed and by then I destroyed about 200 of their units, I proceeded with an air attack and advanced my Tanks and ground units as far as a quarter down and started bombarding cities. My Air units took out more of the enemies units and then a final blow, I pushed with all my might and armies and took the countries (with 2 unit casualties during ground offensive).



Thanks for all the tips!


EDIT: Oh and I may add this aswell to the above: I used all the 100 C-130 Hercules and put 300 airborne in them and air dropped them on the Capital which took it during the ground offensive, that's when the country surrendered.

[BigWolf]

In an ongoing conflict, I suggest having quite a few engineers near by, so when you capture a barracks they can move in and speed up barrack repairs so it can be used sooner
I would only apply the same for airfields if supply is an issue and there are no other airfields nearby, since Aircraft can get from A to B much sooner, using time to repair each airfield is not always wise

[tonystowe]

You did well! One thing that I enjoy is launching multiple airborne attacks at once - at different targets. Unless the capitol is heavily surrounded by cities and many garrisons. Even then, I will airdrop on many of those cities to include the capitol.

[michael63000]

In an ongoing conflict, I suggest having quite a few engineers near by, so when you capture a barracks they can move in and speed up barrack repairs so it can be used sooner
I would only apply the same for airfields if supply is an issue and there are no other airfields nearby, since Aircraft can get from A to B much sooner, using time to repair each airfield is not always wise

Thanks for the tip. I'll be sure to keep that in mind for my next war (and I always thought engineers were useless LOL)

You did well! One thing that I enjoy is launching multiple airborne attacks at once - at different targets. Unless the capitol is heavily surrounded by cities and many garrisons. Even then, I will airdrop on many of those cities to include the capitol.

Yeah, I'll try that next time, thanks to my bombardment though on the capital the hercules' where able to return without being shot down. I'm going to invest my cash right now on building more transport planes and more Airborne infantry.

[GIJoe597]

michael - BigWolf's idea is great and works well. One thing I would add, there is a para engineer in the game that I take with my initial drop into a new country when establishing a beach/air head. The ECB Airborne Engineer. NOTE: actual combat weight is 178





1. Air Superiority
2. Drop Para's (SF, GB, etc) on a city that has a port and airfield if possible when moving between continents.
3. As soon as target is captured drop in the ECB's to hasten the airfield and port repair so aircraft can rearm refuel/repair and waiting cargo vessels can unload follow on forces.

When orchestrated properly its a ballet of beauty, Carrier Battle Group, Subs, Battleships, Heavy Cruisers, Destroyers, merchant marine, all arrayed in formation as the paras do their thing.

[tkobo]

Have you tried this since update 7 ?

[GIJoe597]

Yes, as I was typing that I was dropping in on Capetown, South Africa.