Slitherine

I just wanted to take a moment to thank the devs for introducing minefields to the game. I think they really add a new dimension to the game, and I like how they have been implemented. It would be nice to see them available to be created by German units for the East DLCs and so forth.

PM me and I can send you some files for mines.

They work a little differently.

Noticed something about the minefields...Playing the Syria scenario and the allied tanks attacked through a minefield to get to my arty unit on the other side. They did this twice. I checked and going through the mines was the only way to get there. I thought minefields were neutural and hit both sides. I can understand if the explanation is the allies laid the fields and would know their way through, but....
Anyway, are minefields supposed to work this way, letting allied units through?

I think they hindered movement in both directions, at least when moving a regiment or battalion through them. This makes fascinating reading in any case. http://www.300thcombatengineersinwwii.com/mines.html

dthomas561 wrote: Anyway, are minefields supposed to work this way, letting allied units through?

Appears that way, I've seen opponent armor zip through minefields and hit my arty before I realized that and began guarding against it. And I also enjoy the mine defenses and working around/through them.

While the mine/minefield is indeed neutral, keep in mind the side that planted it has the map to the field and knows the lanes through it. So it makes total sense to me.

I also enjoy the minefields, though I have a beef that they exhibit limited zoc behavior - they keep adjacent units from fully resupplying, and I swear they can "see" my units because fighters and such show up out of the blue and hit vulnerable units adjacent to them. I think they need to be tweaked to remove that function; probably an artifact from whatever unit class they are in/calved from.

Kamerer wrote:

dthomas561 wrote: Anyway, are minefields supposed to work this way, letting allied units through?

Appears that way, I've seen opponent armor zip through minefields and hit my arty before I realized that and began guarding against it. And I also enjoy the mine defenses and working around/through them.

While the mine/minefield is indeed neutral, keep in mind the side that planted it has the map to the field and knows the lanes through it. So it makes total sense to me.

In no possible way defensive minefields or minebelts (mix AT and AP mines) could be passed by troops let alone vehicles of any side or allegation
Absolutely impossible....maybe this could be adressed somehow
Once a minefield was set up signs were placed all over the place to avoid own soldiers to set feet into the field as this meant guaranteed death...

Only an exclusive anti tank minefield maybe crossed by few soldiers by feet as their bodyweight is not big enough to set the mines up but still here its impossible that any side crosses this field with vehicles as mines are set up in various lines with a 1-2 meter offset ...no vehicle can pass there anymore

In many real usages, maps are made of safe lanes through the fields. Same for naval minefields in most cases. The side with the map can indeed traverse a minefield quickly, though certainly not recklessly.

Not all minefields work this way, but in the desert war, the British and Germans did indeed use this on occasion. It is not an unrealistic feature for the game. There was one battle - I will work to recall it later - where to the Brits horror the German armor was emerging from their own defensive minefields to catch them off-guard.

An opposing force would of course have to laboriously clear lanes through a minefield to traverse it - as the British did at the start of Operation Lightfoot (clever pun by 8th army staff!) at 2nd Alamein.

I think the most unrealistic thing about minefields is that they have a spotting range of 1 hex. Somehow, these mines, buried under the ground, can see everything around them. Their spotting needs to be reduced to 0.

deducter wrote:I think the most unrealistic thing about minefields is that they have a spotting range of 1 hex. Somehow, these mines, buried under the ground, can see everything around them. Their spotting needs to be reduced to 0.

+1..the obvious is the obvious

I can understand about maps through the mines, it just caught me offgaurd the first time. After that I kept a protection for my arty. If it's suppossed to work that way, fine I'm good, but if not....

I would like to see a tank outfitted with chains in the front to clear a path through the minefields.

I would also like to see an update to the DLCs, especially the East Front ones, that allow the inclusion of minefields, as well as some of the other new German units.

deducter wrote:I think the most unrealistic thing about minefields is that they have a spotting range of 1 hex. Somehow, these mines, buried under the ground, can see everything around them. Their spotting needs to be reduced to 0.

I complained about that in a few places, too. In another thread Uran21 said it is being fixed.

Kamerer wrote:

deducter wrote:I think the most unrealistic thing about minefields is that they have a spotting range of 1 hex. Somehow, these mines, buried under the ground, can see everything around them. Their spotting needs to be reduced to 0.

I complained about that in a few places, too. In another thread Uran21 said it is being fixed.

Currently it is also almost impossible to supply/replace units that are adjacent to two minefields. I think this is a bit severe and should at least be toned down as well.

deducter wrote:I think the most unrealistic thing about minefields is that they have a spotting range of 1 hex. Somehow, these mines, buried under the ground, can see everything around them. Their spotting needs to be reduced to 0.

Yes, make them blind.

Erik wrote:Currently it is also almost impossible to supply/replace units that are adjacent to two minefields. I think this is a bit severe and should at least be toned down as well.

Yes, despite they are enemy units they are unable to suppress maintenance. They are only stupid structures waiting for inattentive units.

Whilst I do like the innovative idea of including them in a scenario, I do have issues with them.
I seem to consistently get 1 strength casualty every time I 'attack' a minefield, even with a pionere unit.
I would have expected some variation in the amount of casualty caused based on the experience & equipment of the unit.

Balla

Is it a rule that any ground-unit attacking a minefield in close combat will loose one strengthpoint? Regardless if the minefield has a strength of one or ten the unit will loose one strength point.

Yes, it is a rule and is posted somewhere.

The only post I found is this one

Ballacraine wrote:I seem to consistently get 1 strength casualty every time I 'attack' a minefield, even with a pionere unit.

(in this thread), but I interpret it as some kind of question or notion not as a statement. However, now I know it is a rule, thanks.

zappel wrote:Is it a rule that any ground-unit attacking a minefield in close combat will loose one strengthpoint? Regardless if the minefield has a strength of one or ten the unit will loose one strength point.

AFAIK it's only if the unit is a pionere.