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Plaid13

Grizzled Veteran
Apr 22, 2006
532
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So Smoke has been in the game for a while now. How does everyone use it? or think it should be used? When you throw the smoke what do you think about? what do you use it for?

Personally i use it to basicly set up a wall. I throw it between where we need to go and where the enemy is. I never want me or anyone on my team to have to go through the smoke and come out on the other side. This way you dont get targeted by whoever is on the other side of the smoke and mowed down. Better to keep the enemy blind then keeping my team blind. Throwing smoke at the cover the enemy likes to use is a useful tactic as well. Sure they can still take cover there but they wont be aiming at anyone if they cant see anything but smoke.

Far too often i am seeing people throw smoke short where we need to go through the smoke then come out on the other side exposed and running into enemy fire. This does so much more harm then good that it really needs to be avoided. A example of it would be throwing smoke directly on the bridge in danzig. yeah that will protect you from the sniper or two in the windows for a few seconds but then you get mowed down by everyone camping just on the other side of the smoke. A very common mistake that people dont even seem to realize they are making. Throwing that same smoke to block the places the germans tend to camp is so much more effective and all the allies can cross the bridge and get into some sort of cover in the cap zone without being spotted.

So I use the smoke as a Paper wall so to speak. yeah you can get through it easy enough if you have to but you cant be seen through it. If you do go through it your putting yourself at risk that you can avoid.

This could have been put in the tactics section but i really want some responses on how others use smoke and if they think its effective.
 
I don't limit myself, I try to use it in different ways, depending on what seems to work at any given time. Simple stuff at first, but I try to get more creative if the team gets bogged down on an objective.

Always it's to block the enemy's view.

Sometimes I throw it side-to-side to make a wall, like on Basovka, blocking view from the most common enemy positions. Sometimes I even put it slightly short intentionally, like you said never to do. This way you emerge from the smoke right on top of an unprepared enemy, with the element of surprise and a clear view. If he's wise and has backup fire further back, you might die, but then you can try going around the smoke.

I find that the enemy often watches the edges of the smoke more intently than the center just out of human nature of wanting to see stuff. So sometimes going around the smoke fails.

Other times when the team is having trouble advancing, I use the smoke as a column to advance forward through. Throwing one and then another in a straight line as I'm advancing, so teammates have a better chance of getting through a large open space, like the first obj on Kryukovo, by staying in the smoke until they've got defilade against the berm at the obj.

In the same way I'll split the fight down the middle sometimes, like on KurlandKessel's first obj, so the left and right sides don't see what's happening on the other, sometimes that's enough for your guys to dominate one side and get the cap.

I use them in buildings only sparingly - they're not open spaces after all so it cuts down on their usefulness. But as squad leader, I don't have frags, so sometimes I'll use them indoors just to get the ambushing enemy to move or to allow me to try a rambo breakout of a tight spot.

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Defensively, I use them to do the same basic thing: conceal open-space crossings to the capzone being defended. Cuts down on attrition from lone flankers and covering-fire attackers.

Also sometimes I toss it in front of enemy tanks to force a move or cut down on the losses they're inflicting.
 
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ah yeah i use it to blind worthless campers as well. Annoys the hell out of me when we only need one or two more people in the cap zone to win and we have 4 or 5 people camping 5 feet from the cap zone.

LOL thats a good idea! I use Smoke for the fallowing:

cover frendly troops as they advance

flush out enemies in a dug in position

blind enemy tanks so they can't see my troops as they advance

as a distraction to make the enemy point their guns to the left or right and then have a tank come through the smoke instead of infantry: This works well agenst non clan members as the tank I ask for is always the heavyest tank my team has on the map. That means it's one of the fallowing: Tiger, Panther, T34/85, IS2.
 
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I objected it with enough flame the to burn down General Discussion at time, but now I think it's a vital part of the game. I still think it's a tad too much, but I can live with it.

As an MG'er, I constantly get smoked because being nasty. People also smoke Snipers, and IMO smoke is much more used to stop MG+Sniper couple. It is also being used to cover spawn exits as defensively, to put a wall in front of objective so that enemy will run into MG and rifle fire as soon as they get out(I love doing this). Unfortunately for other team, some leaders do this to their attacking teams by throwing the smoke too short :)
 
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Or use it to force a dug-in/camping tank to move, eg. the KVs on Berezina at the 2nd Line position. Once we get our Vehicles_two package out, you guys can debate the StuG-B and it's smoke rounds as well as the PzIV coming as an option for early-war mappers as well. Don't worry, only four shells per tank and I would trust mappers to only put one tank of that class in a map.
 
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Smoke Rounds??? :D


As for how I use smoke, obviously to blind the enemy, usually to prep an assault. They can know the attack is coming, and where it's coming from, and even WHEN it's coming, but it's a damnsight better than leaving my troops open to attack across open ground.

Sometimes I'll use smoke to shorten the engagement range to more favorable limits, even if there is no open ground. IE: as the Russians, I'll toss a smoke grenade into the warehouses on Stalingrad Kessel. Why? Simple. Even though it's not a lot of open ground, Russian SMGs are WAY better in close range and the smoke forces the enemy to engage you at that range -- where our equipment is favored over theirs.

Smoke when attacking can have an added bonus in that it may force people who are more inclined to camp and plink to get off their butts and into the cap zone. :)


As has been mentioned, I'll also smoke to force a change in position by the enemy. Sometimes that means smoking a tank so it moves into range where my guys can hit it, sometimes it means smoking an infantry position so they have to get into a more exposed area.


Finally, I will in rare instances smoke defensively, usually to help cover a retreat across open ground. IE: I'd smoke the road between the two trenches on the East Bank of Berezina so my troops could run across the road without getting cut down by MG fire.
 
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When I play as a sl i like to throw smoke at anything even remotely presenting a threat (snipers,mgs etc etc), but mostly at enemy hardpoints, across exposed parts of the map my team has to cross, and sometimes as a diversion. Also, I find smoke can be an extremely effective aid with house clearing.
 
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I toss it into sniper roosts all the time. They can't hit anyone, and I can still be in the cap zone while others separate the person from their body. Smoke has a much larger radius than frags, they stay around, and they allow safe travel through many places.

The difference between win and lose is often "smoke".

Edit - Plaid does cheat. I was with him in a t-60 recently and nobody hit us when we were going super fast and then he rammed people and made it so I can paste them with 2 shots!

HAX!
 
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LoL Lots of people think i cheat =P No idea why. I Miss more often then not.

Those T-60s kick butt! Its like a go cart with a full auto BB gun stuck on it but thats why its so much fun.

As someone that snipes a lot i like when the enemy commander throws smoke to block me. Its a warning that says hey i have been in one spot far too long and its time to move. And that smoke will give me the cover to do so.


I just wish squad leaders would stop throwing smoke places that blinds our own team without doing us any good. Seems more often then not i have to run all the way through smoke and out the other side to get into the cap zone where the enemy is waiting to mow us down. Would be better not to have the smoke at all at least that way we could see them ahead of time and maybe take some shots or throw a nade there.
 
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