Arithea

August 2140: The PAC has already breached the Brandenburger Line and controls the skies over eastern Germany. The path to Berlin is laid before them. The EU is on the run, prepared to fall back to France for a last stand when--not if--Berlin falls.

As EU, your responsibility is to hold the city as long as possible to cover the retreat. You have a fairly linear, urban environment with plenty of opportunity for a sneaky squad leader to slip behind your well-established lines and gain a foothold at your back. How do you prevent that? Where do you establish your line of defense? What do you do if they manage to slip around behind you? You're evenly matched with armor; what's the best way to use yours?

Discuss.

__________________

Bobslovski

Get a Walker whore and an APC whore , and get your tent equipment.

__________________

ThaDoctah

The following assumes the standard 54 player cap on the TG Conquest server and that I were attempting to fill the roll of commander for the round:

I would set up my front just behind the large building between Crossroads and Roadblock.

To start I would have a couple squads apply pressure to the PAC forces advancing on Crossroads, more of a speed bump than a permanent skirmish. Make sure no recon squad leader makes it past the hill to the north nor the laddered partition to the south by utilizing Support kit infantry. This little skirmish would serve to delay the advance long enough to have the other squads set up a front at Roadblock.

IDS and Sentry Turrets would be my primary equipment to counter any sneaky recon from getting past Roadblock in behind us but UAV and Sat-track scans would be used continuously on my part. My armour would remain at distance from the 90 degree North-to-West turn that the main road takes around the large building mentioned previously. At this distance our APC would have a decent firing solution on troops spawning in on Crossroads or if an opposing squad were to take up positions on the second floor of the large apartment building east of the Roadblock flag. If a squad were to get in behind us I would send our APC to mop up the interlopers; if the APC is down I'd send one or two squads depending on the degree of the incursion.

If all goes to plan any engineers can get shots off on the enemy APC or walker if they attempt to make it around that 90 corner or throw-down Motion Mines to scare the armour pilots into staying generally out of the engagement.

The only firing solutions the enemy APC would have on our troops manning the front that I can imagine would be over the chain-link fence in the south between the large apartment building and the laddered partition and past the 90 degree corner at positions to the North of Roadblock. Hopefully an EMP strike/artillery barrage would serve to dislodge the offending vehicle.

In theory I believe this tactical plan is sound, in practice the degree of co-ordination may be a little high to accomplish to its fullest. The squads would have to be informed of the defense plan prior to engagement and it is conceded that there just isn't that much time to do that at the beginning of a round. Let's increase the pre-round timer to five minutes! ^_^

__________________

<Someone give me more training STAT!>

Arithea

Sounds good, but what about ticket bleed? Once PAC captures Crossroads (or any other flag, for that matter), bleed is off. Is it worth the meatgrinder at Crossroads to try to keep the flag just to keep bleed on the PAC, or is the bleed cancelled out due to loss of tickets through other means?

I also have a tactic to share when it comes to armor on Berlin, which is one of the few maps on which I feel quite comfortable in a vehicle (believe it or not). If you can set up a good defensive line right at Crossroads, and can keep the enemy walker out of the picture for a little while, you can get the APC around to the south side of Crossroads. It can then shell anything that comes down the southern path to try to skirt around to Roadblock. All that is required is a decent, cooperative mortar gunner and a pilot with a good sense of timing (especially once the enemy brings the Pilums out to try to bring you down, which they will--about four at a time).

Also, getting an engineer back to about the first break in the wall heading toward the PAC uncap from Crossroads to get some motion mines out and hidden along the road at about that level (and close to the opening in the buildings that goes into the southern hallway) seems to be very effective. The PAC armor pilots generally aren't expecting motion mines that close and they tend to run right into them.

__________________

ThaDoctah

You bring up a good point when you mentioned the ticket bleed. It would probably be worth it to shell the flag with our APC while setting up that front at Roadblock. Generally speaking, I find the PAC loss of tickets due to bleed countered by our losses close to parity defending the area.

The motion mines at that gap in the wall you also mentioned would certainly help but I doubt an engineer could make it to the gap and have enough time to drop those mines under fire from advancing infantry before the APC goes roaring past or spots the little spheres of doom, toasts the engineer, and has mine bait thrown to get rid of the mines.

Either way it would be interesting to see work or not work.

__________________

<Someone give me more training STAT!>

ionpig-A

Three words: Bleed, Speed, Greed

You've got to keep the bleed on at crossroads!

You've got to get the following items up and running IMMEDIATELY:

• UAV
• commander spotting
• walker to the front
• apc to the front
• mines up north AND south
• IDS up on the north wall and south ladders
• PDS up in the middle
• supply box north of roadblock

You've got to PUNISH the other team's ticket count. Be BRUTAL!

Depending on your Armor drivers you will either see them huddled together and working the road between Crossroads and Roadblock or split with one working north and one working south.

I prefer to see the armor apart and mobile. I prefer not to see them move to the southeast of Crossroads (by the rorsch) as it makes it hard to support them if they stay there long.

The APC driver and mortar gunner can make a HUGE difference in the PAC ticket count. Keep that vehicle UP!!

You need great communication to win this defensive action because the PAC troops WILL get at least one SL by your defensive line.

When it happens be calm. Be precise in measuring the breach and be sure in communicating your intended response to your meanest squad of pirates.

If the sun is shining on you then your meanest squad will be rolling in the APC and in the same mood a dog is when it eats gun powder.

If that's the case it can make short work of almost any breach so long as you provide them with exact locations. If not, don't hesitate to pull more than one squad off the line.

A commander that provides timely and precise intel to his squads will be a BIG factor in the outcome of this map.

Remember to keep your Orbital Strike in reserve until you can use it in concert with your EMP and take out at least one piece of enemy armor. Don't throw it away early on enemy infantry or on armor that can still move.

The team who has the good communications and whose armor stays up the longest is usually going to win this one.

I almost forgot... as a commander you should spawn as support, bring an IDS and a turret and get them set up in that back base as soon as possible, turret to the north IDS to the south. You can't fight, but you don't have to stand in the middle of the street with your knickers down.

P.S. If you were reading this post while commanding on the map you should have sat-tracked at least three times by now.

__________________

Memor Depopulor Pro Vos Exuro

Arithea

I've managed to take down the enemy walker twice in a row with motion mines close to the gap. One medic to revive if you go down helps, but really, you just have to be sneaky--and lucky. You have to watch for a push to one side or the other; once the fight is established, you generally don't have a lot of people running up the middle road. And it only works a few times before they get wise to it and start watching for you. But that's another few minutes your team isn't losing tickets because a walker or APC is wading through them like a hot knife through butter.

Great discussion, guys--keep it coming! I <3 Fall of Berlin.

__________________

ThaDoctah

Alternative strategy: Flowers, Chocolates, Hugs & Kisses

Be CIVIL! Treat your opponent well and they'll treat you right back.

LOVE thy neighbour! XOXOX

Share your EMOTIONS! If all else fails engage your opponent in idle discourse so that they ultimately succumb to boredom and leave the battlefield entirely.

Flawless Victory!

__________________

<Someone give me more training STAT!>

ionpig-A

I can't stop laughing!! Doc for the Win!!!

__________________

Memor Depopulor Pro Vos Exuro

Sir-Nerd

Squad to the north (mainly Support and Assault/Medic

Squad or two to the south (Engineers with mines and vehicle detection)

A squad in the flag itself in case someone punches thru.

The walker and apc have engies supporting them and covering the middle

Anyone left over can be on rear guard duty or helping whoever needs it.

Mines to the south and the maind road, if you can put apms on the flag as well.

__________________


NOW POWERED BY WINDOWS VISTA 64BIT!!!

When you can't run anymore, you crawl and when you can't do that, you find someone to carry you.

MDFubar

Hmmm, One of my favorite maps:

Commander:

Squad 1 protects the South side:
I do not dictate which kits are carried, that is the SL's job. But I inform them of what I want and with Squad 1, I expect them to mine the south passage and stop any infantry advance in that passage.

Squad 2 protects the North side:
Thier objective is to stop any advance along the north ridge.

Squad 3:
APC and Walker. thioer objective is to protect Roadblock. Keep mobile while I drop supplies for them, try to stay out of direct contact with the enemy armor.

Squad 4:
Obejctive is to directly defend Crossroads, preferably from the building west of Crossroads.

Squad 5:
Small rapid-response squad. Objective is to help secure Crossroads, but be ready at a moments notice to pursue or head-off a breakthru.

Now, this all being said, the SL's have thier objectives and I may move them to different spots as I see threats mounting. The APC and Walker should be roaming between the SW and NW of Crossroads, using the building as cover an being able to retreat for repairs to the safety of the building.

Squad 5 is instructed to have SM's spawn at the rear flag should a breakthur occur in order to head off an attempt at any rear flag.

Constant SAT tracks and UAV's will keep the enemy at bay.

As an SL:

I deploy two engineers to the south, one mines the south passage and one mines the main road. Both fall back to cover and are charged with stopping the armor. Along with the two engy's, I have one assault/medic stay with them.

On the north side, I deploy two assaults and myslef(support) to stop any advance. All SM's are intructed to be ready to fall back, light armor with CQC kits ready. Engy's are told that if we fall back and they die, they are to spawn in Assault and spawn at the back flag.
My personal load-out is the Clark, Clark-RDX, Spanky, and an IDS. I tend to bounce between the north and the south, resupplying and checking on SM's. Spanky usually has the IDS on him and that makes me a roaming UAV.

__________________