Tactics Why Crowding Cover is Wrong, by Shakken

[SiC-Disaster]

This example ofcourse applies to a single operator.
As someone said above me, the more you move away from cover, you get a larger field of view, but say you can see both sides of a wall, now you have to keep track of two sides people can come from.

This is why lone wolfing sucks, and its great to function within a buddy team.
You can stand close to cover, keeping your sights on one angle, while your buddy covers your back/other angle so you can't get flanked.

There is never a 100% right or wrong in any tactical situation.
Say you move across the length of the wall, hugging it closely. You are now vulnerable to explosives hitting that wall.
However, if you move away from it, you get more angles from which you can be shot, so need to be checked.
The more angles you need to check, the higher the chance you'll die because you cant spot someone fast enough.

In the end, you need to adapt to situations, and you need to predict what you will encounter. If you expect lots of explosives to be used (say, RPG fire in a town) you could decide not to hug a wall, but if you expect sniper fire, it would be better to hug the wall.
There are no guarantees in combat, and you need to reavaluate and adapt constantly.

 

[<animal>INSTINCT]

getting close to cover is sometimes necessary, mainly when you have to crouch behind it. Think of it this way, if you are right behind a low sandbag for cover and there is an enemy on the other side of that cover aiming at you, he is going to have to get VERY close to the sandbags in order to shoot off the top of your head. If you are far back from the sandbags, your head can be shot off from a much further distance

Summary: Cover systems are far more useful in a DEFENSIVE aspect, like when you are up against an MG and you just want to avoid getting shot

 

[Dwin]

Getting close to cover allows you to rest your weapon on it, which in RO, is the only effective way to shoot.

 

[Yono]

getting close to cover is sometimes necessary, mainly when you have to crouch behind it. Think of it this way, if you are right behind a low sandbag for cover and there is an enemy on the other side of that cover aiming at you, he is going to have to get VERY close to the sandbags in order to shoot off the top of your head. If you are far back from the sandbags, your head can be shot off from a much further distance

Summary: Cover systems are far more useful in a DEFENSIVE aspect, like when you are up against an MG and you just want to avoid getting shot

Here I disagree with you. If I were to assault a position in open ground...well just read about some Russian charges in WW2 to find out what would happen
But if I were to assault a position surrounded by cover I could advance unseen, get into cover if I was seen and shoot back through cover. Not to mention that a defender has to pay more attention to his surroundings to make sure no one is sneaking up on him.

So I think cover systems work both ways

 

[Roflrocket]

One important thing to remember is you won't usually be in a 1 on 1 fight with someone, which is what is illustrated here. If you are cut off from your squad(which is something you should avoid) and are being attacked from a position on the opposite of cover or suspect there to be hostile forces opposite of it, you must first take into account 2 things:
1. How many hostiles are in there?
2. Have they spotted you, and if so will they have enough time between you suppressing them and preferably throwing a grenade behind there cover to throw one behind your cover.
If there is an overwhelming force( Say a ratio of 2:1, thus one being able to suppress you and another being able to flank / throw a grenade at you.) then you should fall back and look for someone in your squad to help you out and have him watch your flank/ suppress/ flank them.
You could go in solo but that would be foolish and a waste of your life unless you are near positive that there is only one person in the room. If you simply suspect that there could be someone in the room then advance at your own risk but you should seek help from a teammate. NEVER WALK INTO A FIREFIGHT WITHOUT SOMEONE TO WATCH YOUR BACK. I've served 2 years in Afghanistan and during Basic and Officer training this was drilled into our heads.

 

[FBOTheLiuetenant]

Those diagrams don't seem to be the standard "chest high wall" that most cover systems utilize.

Heres food for thought

[url=http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6760530260633420235#]Basic Urban Skills Training - Concealment does NOT equal Cover[/URL]

 

[Taisenki]

It depends on the type of cover and the proximity of the range you expect to encounter people.
For longer range it can be better to find a stable firing platform, rather than standing or crouching in the open with the cover infront of you.

I was about to say this. lol

 

[KarmakazeNZ]

The battlefield is three dimensional, but the explanations in the OP quote are forgetting the vertical dimension. If the enemy position is higher than yours, moving back from cover exposes you above it.

Rules of cover are pretty simple I believe: around not over, keep moving. If you are being fired on when you first take cover behind a wall for example, never try to fight back from where you took cover. Use the cover to conceal your movements and vacate the area immediately.

If they know where you are, you will die. So when you get behind cover under fire, make sure you have a way to move off while concealed. Hiding behind the one rock in the middle of an open field will just get you killed. Better to keep running than to stay in the one place where everyone knows you are and with no safe way to retreat.

 

[Titulus]

Personally, having played airsoft an paintball, I find myself using A the most, followed closely by B. I almost never use C for the obvious reason of being very exposed. If somebody flanks you and you are in position C, you are dead. In A or B, you can quickly maneuver to the other side of your cover if they manage to see you. I use A for longe range encounters, and B if I don't feel entirely secure in my position, but can't move.

As long as you don't look like tree cancer, you should be hard to detect. The main advantage about using cover (from my experience) is concealment. You will not be very well concealed if in position C. If you see enemies approaching and don't feel comfortable, you have 2 choices. 1. Risk movement (which the human eye detects very easily) 2. Stay still and hope for the best. Personally, I have had people walk 3 feet beside me (I wear camouflage, but nothing special), and because I hugged a tree or went prone and didn't move, I was able to turn around and "kill" them all.

Just some personal experience I wanted to share. TL;DR, C is only good against few opponents due to the high exposure.

 

[Overholt]

First off, use your team mate as cover....

 

[Warsaurus]

In real life, position B is probably optimal, as you keep a 45 degree angle of exposure and line of sight, but you still have the cover for several uses. 1. Diving behind if under heavy fire, 2. leaning closer for long shots, 3. you're still concealed. C is, in my opinion, only viable if you're heavily camouflaged, as you can be shot at from 2 directions

Ideally you want the smallest target window possible. The reason for this is simply the fact that, if you can shoot your enemy, he can shoot you. So I severely dislike position C.

In game: The simple mechanic of 'resting' your gun will make A viable over B. The sway is extreme in the RO series if standing, or even crouching. If the enemy is over 100 yards, and your not resting against something, then you have to be lucky, or have a large amount of experience.

This said, being next to cover gives you the most accurate shot down range, while having very few negatives. Explosions on the other side of the cover will not go through most materials in the game. Bullets most likely will not penetrate solid brick walls in RO2 (Though if your cover is metal foil or thin wooden boards, I don't envy you.) so there's no penetration to fear.

So, combined with the smart cover system they're using, more accurate shots, no fear from penetration, and very little fear of your enemy flanking the other side of your cover, position A works very well. Position B still works in some circumstances, and Position C...Maybe an MG might like it.