Ghost-train, 16 player version. (1/13/2009)

Started on Chinese side, got a squad of 5 together. Plan was to build two 50-cal machine guns on the hill which were high enough to hit the temple building as well as hit most of the features of the hills in that region.

Initially we ran into a few problems with firebases, after about ten minuets we got a new fire base up + two 50 cals, no contacts yet. I had two members stay on the 50-cals while me and the other two went across the river. The plan was to use the 50-cals for suppression on marker, very similar to what one does with a chopper when doing long range chain gunning. It was quite successful i feel. As soon as we crossed the river north and begin to approach temple, just over the first hill from the shore we had contacts to our left. I put an attack marker on them and order suppressive fire. You could tell that the squad was disoriented, one of them was killed by the 50-cal fire and me and the other two took out the rest of them. While they were under suppression they could not figure out where it was coming from (being well out of visual range from the 50-cals) and they began randomly firing at nothing (lol). After that we worked our way north south of the temple complex. Right at the forested area before the clearing around the temple we lay down in cover. There were full squad + at the temple building. I put an attack marker on the steps and saw the cover fire come down, it worked awesome.. We kept it up, placing it on any contacts we saw as the enemy retreated from the building. It is necessary to mention that squad 2 was unknowingly working with us. After pressing the enemy out of the temple they moved north and west, where we continued to provide suppressive on any enemy we seen. At one point an enemy squad as very close to squad 2 and their was a bit of friendly suppression, but then we stopped.

After pushing the enemy west we moved that direction and continued to provide cover fire. Any point north near the edge of the map we could hit, we could even hit inside of the "bowl" west of temple near the heli crash. After this we moved south, were we came across a "good squad" i might say. These guys freaked out when the 50-cal fire came in and started throwing nades and smoke everywhere and full auto firing towards the tracers. Eventually smoke built up and they retreated north and we took down their rally and moved north to continue killing them.. Around this point the round ended.

My feelings about this are very good. I feel that with a 3 man squad which is teamed up with a full infantry squad attacking temple the efficiently of the assault is increased dramatically. The ability to nearly instantly suppress enemy contacts creates a situation in which the enemy's ability to aim and track our friendly units decreases dramatically. Under these conditions it is far easier to flank enemy's, as well as track them. Being under fire increases their chance of getting up and sprinting away, which gives away their position and allows the friendly units to observe them.

A few notes about long rain chain gun suppression.

1. Even at 1000m i have not noticed chain gun dropping, perhaps it does but this should be noted.

2. The location in which one should fire when an attack marker is placed is in between the brackets which contain the distance [xxxm] and below. The idea is to imagine a "box" in which you must put a "volume of fire", this woks very well. The "size" of the box depends on the distance, where the further the target the smaller the box.

3. This idea can be extended to tanks and other vehicles and maps as well. For example, in Bi-Ming, 50 cal positions near the main Chinese flag can hit targets moving in North and west + east of the munitions flag, the same principle can be followed. Also, on Kashan desert i have tested out using a MEC tank positioned up on the hill NW of the main flag, then sending a spotter near the bunkers on the outside to call in heat rounds and 50-cal suppression. This worked very well, with precision of heats being good enough to hit targets on the roof of the north bunker (the heat seemed to not drop at all from the perspective of the observer).

4. When using fixed 50-cal guns the ammo will become a problem. This can be avoided by making sure that a strict firing regiment is followed. 2 shots per second is good enough for "heavy suppression", while full auto can be reserved for emergency. Also, 50-cal can be rebuilt to replenish ammo.