Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far Unofficial Strategy Guide and FAQ by Kasey Chang released March 11, 2003 0 Introduction This section is for "what the FAQ is about" and things like that. Feel free to skip this section. If you like the FAQ, please send me a dollar. :-) See [0.3] 0.1 A WORD FROM THE AUTHOR A quick browse through the gamefaq.com shows that there is no FAQ for ANY of the Close Combat series, so here's my version for one of them. This is a FAQ, NOT a manual. You probably will not be able to learn how to play the game with this document. This USG only covers the PC version since that's the only version that I have (and existed). Some of you may recognize my name as the editor for the XCOM and XCOM2: TFTD FAQ's, among others. 0.2 TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION This document is copyrighted by Kuo-Sheng "Kasey" Chang (c) 2002, all rights reserved excepted as noted above in the disclaimer section. This document is available FREE of charge subjected to the following conditions: 1) This notice and author's name must accompany all copies of this document: "Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far Unofficial Strategy Guide and FAQ" is copyrighted (c) 2002 by Kasey K.S. Chang, all rights reserved except as noted in the disclaimer." 2) This document must NOT be modified in any form or manner without prior permission of the author with the following exception: if you wish to convert this document to a different file format or archive format, with no change to the content, then no permission is needed. 2a) In case you can't read, that means TXT only. No banners, no HTML borders, no cutting up into multiple pages to get you more banner hits, and esp. no adding your site name to the site list. 3) No charge other than "reasonable" compensation should charged for its distribution. Free is preferred, of course. Sale of this information is expressly prohibited. If you see any one selling this guide, contact me (see below). 4) If you used material from this, PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE the source, else it is plagiarism. 5) The author hereby grants all games-related websites the right to archive and link to this document to share among the game fandom, provided that all above restrictions are followed. Sidenote: The above conditions are known as a statutory contract. If you meet them, then you are entitled to the rights I give you in 5), i.e. archive and display this document on your website. If you don't follow them, then you did not meet the statutory contract conditions, and therefore you have no right to display this document. If you do so, then you are infringing upon my copyright. This section was added for any websites that don't seem to understand this. For the gamers: You are under NO obligation to send me ANY compensation. However, I do ask for a VOLUNTARY contribution of one (1) US Dollar if you live in the United States, and if you believe this guide helped your game. If you choose to do so, please make your US$1.00 check or $1.00 worth of US stamps to "Kuo-Sheng Chang", and send it to "2220 Turk Blvd. #6, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA". If you don't live in the US, please send me some local stamps. I collect stamps too. 0.3 VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION Gamers who read this guide are under NO obligation to send me ANY compensation. However, a VOLUNTARY contribution of one (1) US Dollar would be very appreciated. If you choose to do so, please make your US$1.00 check or $1.00 worth of stamps to "Kuo-Sheng Chang", and send it to "2220 Turk Blvd. #6, San Francisco, CA 94118 USA". If you don't live in the US, please send me some local stamps. I collect stamps too. For the record, out of ALL the FAQs I wrote (31 at least count), I've received exactly 2 dollars, and 2 sets of stamps, as of release of this guide. So I'm NOT making any money off these guides, folks. 0.4 HOW AND WHEN TO CONTACT ME PLEASE let me know if there's a confusing or missing remark, mistakes, and thereof... If you find a question about this game that is not covered in the USG, e-mail it to me at the address specified below. I'll try to answer it and include it in the next update. Please do NOT write me for technical support. That is the job of the publisher. Please do NOT ask me to send you a list of controls, the manual, etc. If you borrowed the game without borrowing the manual, blame your own stupidity. If you bought the game without a manual, blame your own stupidity. If you copied the game without copying the manual, you're not only scum, but STUPID scum. Please do NOT ask me to answer questions that have already answered in this FAQ/guide. It makes you REALLY idiotic. I will NOT answer stupid questions like the ones above unless I'm in a really good mood. If you send questions like that, do NOT expect a reply. The address below is spelled out phonetically so spammers can't use spambots on it: Kilo-Sierra-Charlie-Hotel-Alpha-November-Golf-Seven-Seven AT Yankee-Alpha-Hotel-Oscar-Oscar DOT Charlie-Oscar-Mike To decipher this, simply read the first letter off each word except for the numbers and the punctuation. This is "military phonetics" or "aeronautical phonetics" in case you're wondering. This document was produced on Microsoft Word 97. Some editing was done with Editpad (editpadclassic.com). 0.5 THE AUTHOR I am just a game player who decided to write my own FAQs when the ones I find don't cover what I want to see. Lots of people like what I did, so I kept doing it. Previously, I've written Unofficial Strategy Guides (USGs) for XCOM, XCOM2:TFTD, Wing Commander, Wing Commander 2, Wing Commander 3, Wing Commander 4, Privateer, Spycraft, 688(I) Hunter/Killer. Mechwarrior 3, MW3 Expansion Pack, Mechwarrior 4, Mechwarrior 4: Black Knight, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, The Sting!, Terranova, Fallout Tactics, Starfleet Command Volume II, DS9: The Fallen, DS9: Dominion War, Driver, and a few more. To contact me, see 0.4 above. 0.6 DISCLAIMER / COPYRIGHT INFORMATION Atomic Games created Close Combat series. May they rest in peace (yes, they're gone). Microsoft originally published close Combat. After four games, Microsoft sold the rights to The Learning Company (TLC), who owns Strategic Simulations Inc (SSI). SSI published the fourth and fifth (final) title in the series. This USG is not endorsed or authorized by ANY of the companies mentioned above. The information compiled in this USG has been gathered independently through the author's efforts except where noted otherwise. 0.7 HISTORY 16-SEP-2002 Initial release, didn't cover scenarios or campaigns 20-DEC-2002 More info on the different units, more info on individual maps, etc. Now can be considered "complete" 11-MAR-2003 Fixed up some more details 1 Close Combat: A Bridge Too Far General Info 1.1 THE MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Q: Can you send me the game (or portions thereof)? A: No. Q: Can you send me the manual (or portions thereof)? A: No. Q: Can you tell me how to play the game? A: Read the manual. Q: But I got the "Smart Saver" version, which does NOT come with a manual! A: Sure it does... It's called a HELP FILE. It even comes with a PRINT button. Q: How about a patch? A: V2.0b is available at Atomic Games' website (http://www.atomic.com), though you may need to go elsewhere for the actual download. The link appears to be broken. Q: How about a sequel? A: There are a total of FIVE Close Combat titles. This is the second one. The three later ones are "Russian Front" (CC3), "Battle of the Bulge" (CC4), and "Invasion Normandy" (published by SSI). Q: What's the difference among the difficulty levels? A: Accuracy/skill of the enemies, how much morale dips and soars on certain events, and the amount of replacements you get. Q: Can I play both sides? A: Yes, you can play as Allied or Axis (German) forces. All of the battles in Operation Market Garden are modeled, albeit not to "full scale" of thousands of soldiers. You get your own piece of the action, so to speak. As the Allies, you can play American, British, or Polish forces. As Axis, you can play regular German Army or SS forces. Q: Where is the pause button? A: Technically, there isn't one. See the README file for more details. Q: What about some cheat codes? A: This is a STRATEGY guide, not a cheat guide. Besides, I don't know any. 1.2 CLOSE COMBAT HISTORY Close Combat had a weird start... It started out as simulation of how soldiers thrive or break under pressure of combat. A combat psychologist, Dr. Steven Silver, was the primary consultant. Then Atomic Games decided to turn it into a game to simulate squad-scale combat. It was confusing to newbies, but the grognards (wargame veterans) loved it, as it's one of the first PC games that actually model morale and suppression realistically. Atomic originally was known for those hex-based large-scale strategy/wargames like V-for-Victory series and Close Combat was their first foray into real-time gaming. It was a such a hit that Microsoft published three more. 1.3 CC:ABTF REQUIREMENTS The follow is lifted from the README file. To run A Bridge Too Far on Windows 95 or Windows NT, you need: £ Personal computer with a Pentium 90 or higher processor (Pentium 133 recommended). £ 16 megabytes (MB) of RAM for Windows 95 or 24 MB of RAM for Windows NT. £ At least 45 MB of available hard disk space. £ 4X CD-ROM drive or higher. £ Video card that supports 800 x 600 resolution or higher and 16-bit color. £ Sound card (recommended but not required). £ Microsoft Windows 95 operating system or later, or Windows NT operating system version 4.0 Service Pack 3 or later. £ Microsoft Mouse or compatible pointing device. £ Headphones or speakers (recommended). £ 28.8 modem for head-to-head play. £ Internet access required for Internet play. Other O/Ss are not officially supported, though it should run fine on most versions of Windows. 1.4 SOME CC:ABTF BACKGROUND The name mainly came from the 1977 movie of the same name. You can find more info about the movie at IMDB: (http://us.imdb.com/Title?0075784) Basically, the game models the battles of "Operation Market Garden". The short version of the history goes like this... The Allies was able to push the Germans back on several fronts, and they sense a possibility to end the war quickly, and they decide to act upon that possibility. The plan is simple: use airborne troops to capture a series of bridges along a route about 60 miles long, and hold it, so the Allies have a clear way across the Rhine, into the heart of Germany. In the meanwhile, a heavy Corp full of tanks and other forces will push up the road and capture each bridge in turn. If this can be done, the Allies would be crossing the Rhine and the days of Third Reich would be over. Due to a series of mishaps (bad intelligence, did not spot 2 SS divisions in the area, loss of communications, extremely bad weather the prevented reinforcements, tenacious German defense to delay the relief force, hard attack on the troops holding the bridges), the relief force was ONE bridge short. The British Airborne forces at Arnhem was forced to surrender or escape after running out of everything (men, weapons, ammo, food, etc.). Of over 10000 men dropped, less than 3000 were able to escape. The rest are missing, dead, or captured by the Germans. Or in other words, They went "a bridge too far". In hindsight, Gen. Montgomery, who dreamed up this Operation, was far too optimistic in his estimates. He thought he could have taken ALL the bridges in two days. It turned out to take more than 10 days, and even then, they couldn't cross that last bridge at Arnhem. You can read a blow-by-blow timeline in the helpfile. 1.5 HOW DOES THE GAME PLAY? Close Combat is a real-time tactical combat simulation with realistic line of sight and weapons effects. The soldiers may or may not follow your orders depending on their morale. Close Combat has a top-down perspective and plays in real-time. Roughly half of the screen is map view. The rest are unit read- outs and mini-map, as well as a message list. Individual soldiers are modeled, so the game is limited to relatively few fire teams for both sides, usually less than 15 fire teams on either side. Each fire team can have up to 10 soldiers depending on team type. CC:ABTF adds some strategic decisions where you need to be aware of the implications of your moves. When playing as the Allied paratroopers, you need to protect your own forces while NOT being pushed off the beachhead, and capture bridges. When playing as Allied relief force, you need to brush aside the few German defenders in the area quickly before the German reinforcements arrive. When playing as the Germans, you have a lot more reinforcements than the Allied paratroopers have, and you need to destroy the paratroopers and/or delay the relief force until the paratroopers can be destroyed. Some of the scenarios as linked. If you beat the Germans on one map, you move onto the second map. If you win, you move onto the third, and so on. The forces carry over, subject to "historical" reinforcement levels on a "daily" basis. The Germans will counterattack when they get an infusion of forces. 1.6 BUGS AND FIXES You can get 2.0b patch from the Microsoft Close Combat 2 website. This is from the 2.0b README file: CHANGES for 2.0b - German infantry will no longer user their Panzerfaust anti-tank weapons against Allied infantry. - The Soldier monitor will now update properly on the Mac. CHANGES for 2.0a £ You can no longer deduce enemy placements during deployment mode by watching for the targeting cursor while dragging a fire line. £ Dead tank sprites no longer disappear. £ Dead tanks will continue to smoke. £ It is easier to drive a tank straight down a road. They will also be less likely to expose their side to the enemy in the middle of a move order. £ Anti-tank Guns placed in multi-story buildings are assumed to be on the ground floor and don't get LOS advantages from higher floors. £ Tanks now can move onto the Arnhem bridge. £ Mortars on "Defend" or when controlled by the AI were too accurate. Now they will target an area, not individual men. 1.7 EXPANSION PACKS? SEQUELS? RELATED TITLES? This is the "second" in the series. The first, simply titled "Close Combat", is a sim of some battles in post-Normandy campaign. Close Combat has three more titles: CC3: The Russian Front, CC4: Battle of the Bulge, and CC: Invasion Normandy. SSI published the final one. The first three titles can be found together as "Close Combat Trilogy". Atomic is out of business and there won't be any sequels. Spiritual descendents of this genre would be the Combat Mission series. See Battlefront.com for more details. 2 Controls Overview Note: Some of this information is from the official Atomic/Microsoft FAQ for the original Close Combat (circa 1996). It is also available as the cc.hlp HELP file in your A Bridge Too Far subdirectory. The screen basically have the top map pane, which is a scrollable map view, and the bottom command pane. 2.1 MAP VIEW The map view has multiple zoom levels. Use the plus/minus buttons to zoom in an out. To scroll, move the point to the edge of the screen (any of the four directions). You can also use the map monitor to "scroll". 2.2 COMMAND PANE The command pane itself is divided into FOUR (or five) separate monitors: Team Monitor Soldier Monitor Message Monitor Map Monitor Spyglass Monitor (ONLY appears if resolution set at 1024x768 or higher). There is also a "control bar" along the middle that contains misc. controls like zoom in/out, truce, surrender, current unit indicator, and some other misc. controls. 2.2.1 Team Monitor Lists all the teams under your command. The text color and the "cross" color all mean something. See the help file. 2.2.2 Soldier Monitor Show the soldiers in the team you selected over in the Team Monitor. You can see how the soldiers are coping, who has which weapon, their ammo, the AT/AP capability, and so on. 2.2.3 Message Monitor That tells you the battlefield messages, like which team is taking casualties, which team is pinned down, which team is advancing, and so on. You can filter the messages based on different types so the minutiae don't overwhelm you. 2.2.4 Map Monitor Shows you how many objectives have you captured so far (as the logos) and where your units are on the map (as small dots). 2.2.5 Spyglass Monitor This ONLY appears if resolution is set to 1024x768 or higher. It shows you a close up of what's under the cursor. 2.3 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS The commands are actually quite limited: Move Z Move Fast X Sneak C Fire (Shoot) V Smoke B Hide N Just select a unit, select an action, then click on the target. You can see this is simply the bottom row of the keyboard starting from Z coming right. Easy to remember, right? 2.4 SOME COMMAND TRICKS Use the team monitor (lower left) is faster than selecting teams on the map screen itself. The colors all mean something. In the team monitor, the text color shows the morale of the team. If it's green, they are pumped and ready. If it's yellow, they are normal. If they are red, they will ignore your commands. Zoom in to pick out specific units if you go by the map. 3 How a Battle is Won You win by doing three things: * Capture the various victory locations on the map (those little "flag" symbols) (as many as you can) * Maim/destroy enemy teams until they are no longer combat effective so they can't contest your ownership of the field * Demoralize enemy teams so they don't want to fight any more (i.e. they just retreat) It is best to do all three simultaneously, as doing one will often do the other two. The battle is considered "won" when one side is too demoralized to go on (or have no more combat effective units). You can also order a truce, or surrender outright. You lose if the enemy was able to do all these to you before you can do them to him, or if you choose to surrender. 3.1 CAPTURE VICTORY LOCATIONS During deployment, you should see the objectives on the map. By destroying all enemies near the victory location, and move your units over the flags, you will secure the location. The more victory locations you hold, the more battlefield you control. If you control all locations, you will move on to the next map (if there is one). Once you got the victory location, you also need to defend it from being retaken. If you lose all victory locations on a map, you will be forced into the next map. If you lose ALL maps, you lose the operation or campaign. If you win all locations on the final map, the enemy gets two free locations in the next battle on their "edge". 3.2 MAIM/DESTROY ENEMY TEAMS The enemy teams must be combat effective to fight. If you wound or kill most of a team's members, they can't contest your presence. In general, this means careful use of ambush, suppression, and close assault. If you take out the defenders instead of forcing them back, they can't come back to hit you. If you destroy ALL enemy units, you win an overwhelming victory. 3.3 DEMORALIZE ENEMY TEAMS By inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy teams, you can demoralize enemy team members so they will not want to fight any more. Some of course can turn heroic, but many will turn coward and run from battle. If they exit from the map, they are out of the battle for good. A sniper can be really useful here as they can take out the leaders, thus demoralize rest of the troops. Cause maximum amount of casualties, usually by planning great ambushes. Put machine guns (heavier the better) to cover victory locations to protect against enemy assault and to cover your own assault. Put troops nearby to protect the machine guns from being overrun. 4 Before the battle starts: Planning Defense One of the things you do before the battle starts is place your units based on how many victory locations you hold and wish to hold. Here are some tips that can help you "win" the battle before it even starts. 4.1 LOCATE PROBABLY AVENUES OF APPROACH Look at each map. As you fight on each map, you'll soon notice that enemies usually come from certain paths. Use that knowledge to your advantage and place your defenses accordingly. Usually, enemies attack near roads. Also look at their possible objectives, and how well you can defend each one. Enemies must become visible as they move, and if you have your teams positioned correctly they will control the battlefield. 4.2 KEEP FIRING LANES OPEN Long range weapons/teams like AT guns, snipers, and so on should have a wide LOS so it can engage targets at long-range. The only exceptions are mortars, which can shoot anywhere without a direct LOS. However, mortars are so inaccurate any way their use is mainly to keep the enemy moving slowly, or to pound enemies that went prone. Conversely, those short-range weapons like flamethrowers, heavy machine guns, and so only should be reserved for close-range work. 4.3 MAINTAIN OVERLAPPING FIELDS OF FIRE Each firing point should be covered by at least one, preferably two or more other positions. 4.4 MAINTAIN RESERVE The reserve should be close by to be ready to plug any hole in your defense. Sometimes a part of your line can suddenly collapse due to an unlucky hit. Having a reserve ready to plug the hole can turn the tide of the battle. Keep the reserve (a rifle team and a MG team, and maybe an AT team) near but NOT at the front. Then just have them RUN-FAST to where they're needed. 4.5 TRY NOT TO PUT MORE THAN ONE TEAM IN EACH BUILDING Unless room is REALLY tight, don't put more than one team in a single building. If the enemy assaults the building you can lose both. 4.6 KEEP ANTI-TANK TEAMS BACK Those are only ONLY AT weapons if you're playing the Allies. The Brits are especially short on AT capability, and they have a HARD time killing Tigers, Panthers, Jagdpanthers, and even the flamethrower tanks. Supposedly they have those "handbombs" they could use, but I haven't seen one being used, ever. Tease the tanks and suck them into AT traps where your AT teams have a chance to go for flank/rear shots. 4.7 FINALLY, CHECK ALL YOUR UNITS ONE BY ONE The AI that places the units initially put them anywhere it likes to, where they are quite unlikely to do a lot of good. Check EVERY single unit to make sure they are where they need to be, move them if necessary to cover. 5 Before the battle starts: Planning Offense If you are attacking, you should also place your units carefully as well, as it can significantly help your offense. 5.1 LOCATE PROBABLY AVENUES OF APPROACH If you are on offense, zones of fire are less important, as you need to be on the move. You need to know what are some likely approaches that are good for you, and avoid the obvious ones. You need cover, and a lot of cover. Infantry needs a LOT of cover. Use firepower available to suppress the enemy so you can rush in the units and capture those locations (and kill enemy units). 5.2 STAY IN COVER INITIALLY Enemy mortars will quickly fire on your positions, so you need to keep them under cover. Move them as close as possible to the starting positions with cover, but not TOO close to enemy positions. 5.3 PLACE SUPPORT UNITS Attackers usually have a surplus of firepower, the problem is using it. Basically, you need to break up the enemy's firing zone. Put the support units where they can shoot at the suspected enemy positions. 6 Common Assault Tactics Here are some common tactics for assaults you should learn quickly if you are to survive on the battlefield. 6.1 OVERWATCH Basically, this means one team moves from one direction while another team shoots at the suspected target from another direction. If there are enemies inside the target building, they will be suppressed (see next section) and will be less effective shooting at the attacking team or the shooting team. When you are ready to hit the next building, switch the roles and repeat. 6.2 SUPPRESSION Suppression is a very important aspect of CC. Basically, a soldier being shot at is less likely to take careful aim. So if you fire upon his position, he's been suppressed and less able to return fire effectively, or spot new targets, or dodge shots, or any of the other things. Thus, you should use suppression to your advantage. A suppressed soldier is extra vulnerable to mortar fire if he's out in the open. There are other advantages as well. Basically, have one team shoot at suspected enemy positions that can shoot at your other teams, while other teams move toward their objectives. 6.3 FIRE SUPPORT Fire support is very important in creating suppression and limiting enemy LOS so you can attack from different directions. Enemy suffers more casualties if attacked on the flank and rear. Mortars can be used to take out enemies in the open. They can also be used to damage buildings, drop smoke, etc. to cover advances. If you have support weapons like tanks, tank destroyers, assault guns, and so on, use them to hit buildings where enemy units may be hiding. Suppress them, THEN move the soldiers in. 6.4 FLANKING It is MUCH better to attack enemies from the side or the rear as you'll get them on where they are not expecting, thus cause more casualties and/or kills. Flanking is the ONLY way a wimpy AT weapon can kill heavy tanks and tank destroyers. 6.5 COVER You should ALWAYS use cover to advance. Go THROUGH buildings instead of around them. Hide in ditches, embankments, and so on. If your cover is blown (enemy tanks and assault guns are shelling your position), then retreat to a different building quickly. If you have tanks, using tanks as cover is a valid tactic, as long as the tanks don't blow up from enemy AT teams. 6.6 RECON! You MUST use recon to know where the enemy is in order to attack them properly. Use cover, withdraw if fired upon. 7 Common Defensive Tactics 7.1 RECON! You MUST use recon to know from where the enemy is going to attack. You can use those understrength reserve units for this as well. That way, you won't be surprised with your reserve out of position. 7.2 FORM A PERIMETER Do NOT separate your units by too far. They need to be able to cover each other. Keep them within shooting distance. 7.3 KEEP A RESERVE You need it to plug the holes in your perimeter. A counterattack right into a building the enemy took by a tiny margin will quickly turn the tide of battle. 7.4 PREPARE FALLBACK POSITIONS As soon as you open fire, enemy mortars will zero in on your position. So you will need to consider your fallback positions after you open fire. 7.5 AMBUSH Your troops default to "hide", which means they will carefully conceal themselves until given the order to shoot. If you hide the troops in the right places, the effects on attacking forces can be devastating. Remember, your troops will open fire at 30m even if you don't order them to shoot. So just keep them hiding... And BLAM! 7.6 SUPPRESSION Suppression is a very important aspect of CC even on defense. If you shoot at enemy soldiers, they'll be forced to seek cover, making them vulnerable to YOUR mortars while they are out in the open. 7.7 TERRAIN CC2 has a nice feature where if a building has multiple stories, it's assumed that the soldiers are on the TOP floor, thus gaining better LOS (line of sight) (except AT teams, which are assumed to be on ground floor, with 2.0 patch). Use terrain and houses to hide yourself from attacking enemies, WHILE still giving yourself a good field of fire. 8 Special Tactics 8.1 USE THE RIGHT WEAPONS! All units have a "rating" for AP (anti-personnel) and AT (anti- tank), which is short of shown via the two AP/AT lights. You can tell if your unit has any AT capability or not by looking at the light. In general, Allied units have virtually NO AT capability except the few PIAT/Bazooka team or AT gun teams, while Germans have plenty of anti-tank in almost every team. . 8.2 ANTITANK ALL Allied units are SERIOUSLY deficient in anti-tank weapons. ALL Allied commanders should grab at LEAST TWO PIAT/Bazooka teams when they become available, and protect them with rifle or MG teams. The "fixed" AT guns are nearly useless. Put them in TIGHT spaces a little FURTHER back from the first houses, so when the tank drives by you can surprise it with a flank shot. Other than that, they are useless. What's worse, those guns have NO ARMOR so one or two hits and they're toast. Use them in ambush situations only... Let the enemy tanks get close, then BOOM! German MG teams come with Panzerfaust, so those can take out Allied tanks pretty easily. Stay AT LEAST 60m away from suspected German MG positions. Remember that German Panzershreck (German equivalent of bazooka) has even LONGER range. Most AT weapons need a flank shot to improve their chances. Flank/rear shots are essential against German tanks, which have a LOT of armor. 8.3 SNIPER USE Snipers should be left as far from the enemy units as possible, in as good cover as possible (on the highest building, top of hill, etc.) They can take out leaders and demoralize troops. Remember, with only one "body" they die very easily, esp. when being chased by mortars. 8.4 AT CANNON USAGE AT Guns, like the British guns, can be used as very effective anti-personnel guns that can kill 2-4 soldiers per shot and break up an attack quickly at extreme ranges (half-way across the map). If there are no tanks around, let them engage anything in range. 8.5 TANK USAGE In general, tanks must be protected by infantry. You must clean out the enemy AT teams using your infantry, then use your tanks to suppress the enemy infantry so you can assault the enemy. Tanks, with plenty of machine guns and the main cannon, is a great offensive AND defensive tool. Its high mobility can get it into trouble though. Remember to use combined arms. Tanks can be used as sort of "armor" if you place them between the unit you need to shield. Move them in tandem and you can get through easily. 9 Winning Operations Operations are basically several battles linked together with units that carry over. They simulate one small section of the overall Market Garden campaign. The trick in winning operations is to minimize losses. In general, kill enemies without being killed. Run from the fight if you need. Fight enemy from house to house. Kill some, run to another house, repeat. Give up space for kills, bleed the enemy. Against enemy tanks, suck the enemy tanks in and move up the AT units to get flank shots. 10 The Units I'm NOT going to waste the space of this FAQ when all the weapons and unit references are on game CD. Simply open your Windows Explorer to X:\Data\Data\Base Where X: is your CD drive containing the CC2 CD. In there, you'll find the following files: BATNAMES -- names of the battles BRNames -- British soldier names, used to randomly generate soldier names Elements -- terrain and wall and their effect on shots, movement, sight, and so on GENames -- German names PONames -- Polish names SolActn -- soldier actions, what can each soldier do in certain circumstances Soldiers -- non-vehicle units with firepower, weight, speed, and so on TeamDesc -- full descriptions of various units/teams, both soldiers and vehicles Teams -- Soldiers and their primary weapons USNames -- American names for soldiers Vehicles -- detailed stats on each and every vehicle Weapons -- detail stats on each and every weapon (accuracy, reload speed, damage, etc.) A copy of these files is in your HD as well in the CC2 install directory. You may even be able to customized them a bit to fix something if you don't quite like that. There is also a full overview (complete with pictures and sound) of all the weapons in the help file. 10.1 AMERICAN UNITS American Paratrooper units tend to have nice firepower, but lack of AT. They have bazooka available, but no fixed AT gun. BAR delivers a LOT of lead. Just don't use up all that ammo. American infantry should bring along tanks. The M-4's can't stand up to individual German tanks except those Type-IV's. However, if they keep their distance they can take out the German tanks due to superior numbers. Americans should allocate 1/3 of units as bazookas or tanks in mid to late battles, when they're up against German armor. 10.2 BRITISH UNITS British units have SLIGHTLY more AT due to the Hammond bombs, but they're still pretty worthless at AT without the PIAT teams. Keep those teams back to the flanks for flank shots. The AT guns are pretty worthless. Keep them hidden among the buildings except for those narrow "gaps" between the buildings. You COULD use those 6-pound guns as assault weapons if you are trying to take a building. Use them before you lose them. Snipers are generally pretty worthless. Once they've been spotted mass fire kills them dead. Main difficulty surviving as the Brits is to survive those German tank/infantry assaults. Those tanks can really kill you if you stay in the front-row buildings. I'll just discuss the units I use most often. 10.2.1 Rifle Units This is your normal rifle unit with a couple guys with guns and grenades. Do NOT expect it to go up against tanks, "Saving Private Ryan" notwithstanding. They are good for "assaults" on enemy positions. Stay in cover. Shoot at enemy positions to suppress them, then RUSH them in for point-blank grenade fire. 10.2.2 BREN Gun Units This is your typical British light machine gun team, one shooter, one leader, one ammo bearer. It can be used in assault, but is not that good at it. It can't shoot the gun while it's moving... 10.2.3 PIAT anti-tank unit This is like the ONLY tank killer unit you have... Keep these BACK from the first row. When the enemy tanks come by, try to arrange so you can do rear/flank shots. 10.2.4 Sniper unit Only useful on maps with LONG views... Like a long street or open field. Put him back from the main battle and enable "defend". On the other hand, they don't make that many kills. Usually you need more "bodies" around... 10.2.5 Recon Units Short on range, short on bodies, recon units should be placed on HIDE in strategic positions to tell you if the enemy is approaching. If you are on defense, you MAY want to use better units. 10.2.6 Mortar team (aux) Mortars are useful as fire supplements. Basically, you use regular guns to force the enemy to ground, then drop mortars rounds on them when they can't move. Otherwise, they don't do much. 10.2.7 AT Gun Team (aux) The problem with AT Gun is they are QUITE vulnerable. If the gun gets hit, the crew runs away. Any sort of heavy hit (from tank / tank destroyer / whatever) and the gun goes poof. They are also IMMOBILE. AT Gun team, on the other hand, is VERY useful as a weapon. It has tremendous range and big explosions. It's also a very decent weapon on offense AND defense. On defense, you can blast those enemy teams before they get close. On offense, use it to suppress defenders. Of course, it also kills tanks. If you want it to kill tanks, arrange for FLANK shots. Use some sacrificial teams to pull the tank in a certain direction. 10.2.8 Flamethrower (aux) Flamethrower is GREAT as a defense tool... Any enemy that approach will be instantly cooked... It's also great on offense if you can get it close enough. Shoot at the enemy from another direction, then SNEAK him in and POOF! Flamethrower can also be used as antitank weapon, if you can get it close enough to a tank. Of course, if he gets hit, he can explode, taking out all around him. 10.3 POLISH UNITS In general, Polish units are armed just like the British units, except for slightly less variety. 10.4 GERMAN UNITS German units can vary in quality greatly, from SS to regular to AB. While in general the firepower is slightly lower, German units have plenty of AT firepower as every team carries 1 Panzerfaust, and Panzershreck teams can be ordered. German units in general are on the defensive, except on the days they receive reinforcements for counterattacks. To win as Germans, you need to learn how to use your armor and support properly. Basically, you shell the suspected positions with your firepower, get them suppressed, THEN attack. 11 Specific Map/Battle Tactics Note: This map list is not complete. If you have your own approaches, I'd like to hear about them. 11.1 ARNHEM 11.1.1 Arnhem Rail Bridge The bridge is in the middle, and is the only significant terrain feature. There is essentially no cover unless you want to sneak along the coast all the way to north. 11.1.1.1 Attack To get the bridge without it blowing up in your face is going to be difficult. You must do an ALL OUT RUSH of ALL rifle teams from the coast side, while the machine gun teams and mortar teams keep up a constant barrage from the south side at the entrance. Consider dropping smoke with mortars. You're hoping that you'll make it that far in two and a half minutes. Get as many teams on the bridge and capture the "bridge approach" ASAP. Defenders have advantage of position. Use smoke so you can get close. One possibility is rush in from the north, put smoke in the middle, and use suppression fire with MG to the south. Once you get to the walls, start shooting north to south and wipe out the defenders. After that, it's just a matter of wiping out the defenders without destroying your forces. Usually they will deploy more to the south. So if you rush in from the north you can sweep south and take them from the flank. Pin them down with gunfire and kill them with mortars. 11.1.1.2 Defend You probably won't be able to hold the attackers here for very long. Preferably, you want to hold them here for a day, AND blow the bridge. With only some reservists and some MG teams you will have a hard time doing so. You will need to keep two equal strength teams at the west wall, one to the north gap and the other to the south gap. You need to be able to repel assault from both north and south. Set all teams to hide. The Allies will come to you, so let them come into point-blank (30m) to trigger the firing automatically, then set all teams to "defend". Their mortars will kill you if you stay there after you fire. After you take out the first wave, fall back to the backup position. Your job is to bleed them. Be ready to move other teams into support positions if the enemy seems to be committed toward a single axis of attack. 11.1.2 Arnhem suburbs The town on the south/southwest side is going the center of the fighting. Almost all the defense will be there. If you can control that, you control most of the map. 11.1.2.1 Attackers The prison and the ruins to north and south will be difficult to assault. Taking the prison from the east is NOT recommended as the trees offer almost no cover. Instead, put your units to the north and come down from the coast, then hop from building to building. Use mortars to drop smoke to help you go through sections with little or no cover. 11.1.2.2 Defenders Use MG teams to hold each position. If you're inside a building you're nearly mortar-proof. Keep reinforcements nearby so you can plug a hole if necessary. 11.1.3 Arnhem Tree road Interesting map, as this river makes the assault quite interesting. The south side of the river is the critical part. 11.1.3.1 Attacker Attacking along the coast is generally a bad idea as you are vulnerable to fire from across the river. However, if you assault straight up the road, you're toast as well. Move in from that row of houses south of the road, hop from house to house, then do a big rush for the houses just north of the road. 11.1.3.2 Defender You can probably put mortars on the other side of the river. Defending the town is critical and basically, you must prevent him from establishing a foothold. Forward defense with MGs backed up by infantry is the best. Don't even let them get in through multiple spots. 11.1.4 Arnhem west Approach This map is mostly houses, with some objectives such as railroad station, hotel, and so on. Each of those can be defended, though it's better to defend from those 3-story houses instead of those low factory buildings. House-to-house fighting will be vicious. Use cover effectively and you'll win the day. 11.1.4.1 Attack House-to-house fighting is not fun when you don't have many troops to start with. There are also quite a few objectives to go after. If he doesn't attack, you'll have to go in there and dig them out, and that can mean heavy casualties. Consider bringing an AT gun or two and use them as assault guns on suspected enemy positions, or bring extra mortars. If he has tanks, use the houses as ambush points. 11.1.4.2 Defend If you are holding the map, forward deploy the troops a bit and hold them to the east at the edge of the city. Keep a reserve one house back in case the allies made it all the way to the perimeter. If your teams are inside buildings mortars can't really hurt you. It's possible for the enemy to sneak around the waterfront to the north, so deploy a small team or two of scouts up north as early warning. 11.1.5 Arnhem bridge The bridge itself is a big rally point. Capturing it is not THAT difficult if you hurry a bit, the problem is how many casualties can you afford. The town offers a lot of places to ambush attacking German tanks, if you want to draw them closer. 11.1.5.1 Attacker Plenty of cover as you go from building to building, bypass enemy defenses whenever possible. If you can capture the bridge without it blowing up in your face, do it. If you are counterattacking as Axis forces, attack from the NORTH side, get across the bridge, THEN sweep south. The southern part is too open, even with tank support. Mortars and others will kill you. Instead, use tanks to reduce the first row of buildings to rubble, use smoke so your troops can get close, then use flamethrowers to cook them out. 11.1.5.2 Defender If you are defending against German counterattack, put your AT back to give them some cover. Multiple tanks and such will approach. Keep AT guys (like PIAT) ready to repel tanks, then put MG's and such ready to repel borders. Keep mortars back to kill attacking troops in the open. Keep the AT guns further back to ambush enemy tanks. 11.2 OOSTERBEEK 11.2.1 Oosterbeek Rail Bridge Same as Arnhem Rail Bridge 11.2.2 Oosterbeek Caldron Half of map is the town. Attacking house to house provides a lot of cover. Use scouts to know which way to defend, and shift your direction accordingly. If you're attacking, try flanking your opponents from an unexpected direction. 11.2.3 Oosterbeek North The bridge, where the rail line and the road intersects, is the "center" of action, though a lot of defenses tend to be further south of that. If you can get forces through from the north, then sweep south, you should be able to flush the enemy. Another way is attack across the broken railway if the defenses there are light. 11.2.4 Oosterbeek LZ That ravine to the south has the best cover. The map is quite open so guns can reach pretty far. Tanks and AT guns are excellent support weapons, though you still need MG and infantry to clean out the enemy. 11.2.4.1 Attackers You need armor support, and you need to take out his AT guns (probably hidden in one of those barns) ASAP. You can try sneaking in from the south but a heavy MG or two there will stop you cold. The woods can be infested with AT and rifle teams so armor assault into the woods is NOT an option. Use your support weapons to clean out the woods while taking out any AT guns you see. Then take the woods, and use it to launch attack on the northern barn. Once that's done, use the open field to suppress the eastern barn and rush it. 11.2.4.2 Defenders There really is no choice but to put the AT guns in the two barns and use them to take out the enemy tanks ASAP. You will STILL need AT teams hidden in the woods in case enemy tank can take out your AT guns from long range. Defending the southern ravine will take mortars AND heavy MG teams, plus a few rifle teams. Those German sturmgrenadiers are pretty tough. 11.3 SON 11.3.1 Son Bridge Difficult to assault, as the defenders have the advantage of position. 11.3.1.1 Attack The first row of buildings are a firetrap as one or two machine guns placed here can kill a LOT of your soldiers. Consider attack on the NORTH side of the road, where there is slightly more cover. Smoke here is nearly useless. 11.3.1.2 Defend Protect the Flak88 as you can use that to break up just about ANY attack. Forward deploy the MGs so you can cover each other. After you bleed them, pull back slightly and repeat. 11.3.2 Son Town 11.3.2.1 Attack Your mortars should shell the location around the FlaK 88 ASAP. If you can kill enough of the gun crew you can assault MUCH easier. Attack from the north maybe easier rather than just go up the road from east. Those houses are difficult to crack and that Flak 88 in town will make mincemeat of any one it sees. 11.3.2.2 Defend If you are defending, you must control the depot. The FlaK 88 is vulnerable and immobile, so you must protect it. The Americans will likely come in from east and northeast. Put most of your defenses to northeast, leave enough units that can switch to east. The FlaK 88 will kill attackers quite dead. Occupy the buildings around the Mayor's house and the school. That should give you a great cross-fire. 11.4 SCHIJNDEL 11.4.1 Schijndel Road 11.4.1.1 Attack If you are attacking, try NOT the use the roads. The enemy defenses have those roads probably well sealed. Instead, try sneaking along the southern edge of the map then north into the town, then flank the enemy. 11.4.1.2 Defend Center your defense around the town. The bridge to the north is worth defending. I would put 1/3 to defend the bridge to north. After you wipe out the light force that try to capture it you can send them back to join in the main defense, maybe even flank the enemy. 11.5 VEGHEL 11.5.1 Veghel Bridge 11.5.1.1 Attack If you're the Allies attacking, your problem is cleaning out the enemy on your side of the river, as you can't be sure you took out all of them. If the enemy chose not to defend the bridge, thank him for his stupidity. Sneak your forces into cover to either side of the road, go north and south. Then use suppression and cover fire, rush into the trees along the banks, then sweep toward the road. Then kill any defenders just on the other side of the river, and you can cross. 11.5.1.2 Defend If you are defending, I would stop them before they try to cross the bridge. Put the reserves in cover on the bank near the road, then put the 2 Schutzen teams you get to either side of the reserves. Keep the MG on the other side of the river. Let the enemy come to you. When the enemies come close enough, turn everyone to "defend", and be ready to rush the sneaking enemy soldiers. After you defeat one wave, switch positions ASAP (even the MG team), as you need to prevent the mortars from zero-ing in on you. You may lose most of your team as it is very difficult to hold here due to vast number of Allied soldiers. Only surprise and sudden use of firepower can save you. 12 Multiplayer No information at this time, can't find any players. :-/ However, fan clubs of such games are still apparently active. Look on the Internet for fan sites and such. --THE END--