USA 2500, China 7500 and a meeting

[fossiili]

I have a very good frend. He has played SPMBT earlyer and now has WinSPMBT. I have started playing WinSMBT, the earlyer version is unknown for me.

My frend suggested we play a meeting engagement he China and I USA and the money to buy forcies as above. He told the US forcies have a much better technology than Chinese so he started the game buing troops and armaments with 7500 and left me 2500. It's a large 100*100 map mostly wood. So I bought two infantry companies and some support for them, some scout wechiles, one attack helicopter and offbord artillery and two fo's. After 1-2 turns I see about 10 Chinese helicopters wandering around and many Chinese tanks and mechanised forcies coming.

In Afganistan and in Irak the guerrilas shot down US helicopters. Why can't my infantry do that? Even my attack helicopter wich is good for ground troops, does not do anything to Chinese helicopters.

How should I have spent my 2500

[PlasmaKrab]

What was the date of the battle exactly?
That's important regarding the technology gap. F.e. before 1999 you have to invest on large amounts of antitank units with TI sights, since the Chinese had none until then.


Honestly, I don't see why your contender should have had three times as much points as you had, the game is meant to be balanced, so technology-heavy units like modern US tanks, AFVs at large, hslicopters etc. are way costlier than more basic units.

[fossiili]

PlasmaKrab said:
What was the date of the battle exactly?

Sorry, I forgot to mention that:
10th Month of 2005 i.e. most recent time.

[PlasmaKrab]

Huh, then there's not much point to have such a differnece in the point numbers since the mentioned technical gap in closing fast enough...

So IMHO, except if you both agreed that the strategical context and the settings of your game implieed that the US could only field limited forces, you have to admit that you have been creamed on the rules!

[Marek_Tucan]

fossiili said:
He told the US forcies have a much better technology than Chinese so he started the game buing troops and armaments with 7500 and left me 2500.

I'm afraid you won't win at this ratio given it is a meeting... The costs (and esp. in 2.0) are intentionally set up to level the technology/cost ratio (for one Abrams you can buy more baseline T-72's).

As for the helos, try shooting up the Chinese from pointblank range, then it usually works (hunted down /Hinds with Mi-8 this way against AI once ) Infantry would shoot at helos, but from 2-3 hexes.

[Pepper]

fossiili said:
After 1-2 turns I see about 10 Chinese helicopters wandering around and many Chinese tanks and mechanised forcies coming.

How should I have spent my 2500

There are certain helicopter loadouts which include Stingers, if I remember correctly. That is one option.

Also, when playing by PBEM and air assets can be purchased (you can check in preferences to see if air assets can be bought and it may even tell you how many), its always good to buy an anti-air unit or two (or more depending on points). Perhaps a single Infantry-SAM team, or a single ADA vehicle, along with an ammo carrier.

Personally, when I play a PBEM that includes air, I make sure I purchase all the following types of assets:
1. Air defense (either infantry-SAMS from infantry menu or air defense vehicles from artillery menu).
2. Scouts
3. Armor
4. Infantry
5. Ammo carriers
6. Helos or air support
7. Artillery
8. Spotters

If you forget to buy any of those categories (number 8 is semi-optional) it can make the game pretty unbalanced, in my opinion.

But as others have noted, you don't have much hope given that your opponent has 3 times the points you do. Even if the Chinese were assaulting you, I think the ratio is 2.5 to 1, not 3 to 1. In a meeting engagement the ratio should be 1 to1.

[PlasmaKrab]

Pepper said:There are certain helicopter loadouts which include Stingers, if I remember correctly. That is one option.

Also, when playing by PBEM and air assets can be purchased (you can check in preferences to see if air assets can be bought and it may even tell you how many), its always good to buy an anti-air unit or two (or more depending on points). Perhaps a single Infantry-SAM team, or a single ADA vehicle, along with an ammo carrier.

I have to stress what Pepper said here, always buy some anti-aircraft units, even when facing a low-tech enemy, you never know, even a light strike aircraft with cheapo rockets and 50lb bombs can bust your HQ or your ammo supplies.
As a US player, and with many other countries, best is to invest in some (relatively cheap) Stinger teams or comparable infantry SAMs, since they can cover a good area on any map, and are relatively hard to spot, even from SEAD aircrafts. They tend to fare pretty well against helicopters, but there again, don't neglect the ammo supply, these units tend to travel light.
One useful thing if you fear massive airstrikes or heliborne assault is to severely reduce the range of most of (or deactivate) your teams (maybe keep some open to fence attackers off), so they get a surprise effect, a better hit probability and they won't waste ammo on 5%-hit-chance shots.

Now if you really fear large and modern air threat, don't hesitate to buy a full long-range SAM battery, particularly in the recent years, where things like the Patriot or the S-300 tend to be quite deadly. THis doesn't prevent a couple of short-range SAMs to act as a second defence line of course!

[Skirmisher]

You got what is commonly called a "Raw Deal"

Points should never be that lopsided in a meeting engagement,unless you specifically want that challenge of course.