Beach invasions: Things I've learned

[ArcticFox140]

I've only been playing Foxhole for about a week now but nearly every night I am involved in some kind of beach invasion on Farranac Coast, and there are a few things that I have learned through trial and error that I hope to pass onto everyone else so that we can develop a tactic for this map. I think that these lessons could benefit each side, though to be perfectly honest I don't think that I have ever seen the Wardens come off their islands, ever.

WALL OF TEXT - BE WARNED

1) Assign key personnel:
it's very important to have key personnel assigned when doing a landing. We all know that there's usually an invasion commander/general, and usually a QM back on the home islands.

BEACHMASTER needs to be assigned to clear the beaches of obstacles AND to coordinate traffic. I've seen to many beaches littered with abandoned APCs that get in the way of tanks/halftracks moving up and trucks trying to resupply. This is especially important once a FOB gets built and some defences (foxholes and AT guns) go up. Parked vehicles will block their line sight so they can't engage the enemy. Super important if an enemy force lands on the behind behind us. Case in point, we lost an FOB yesterday because a truck was parked in front of the AT gun and an APC in front of a foxhole when an enemy APC landed full of HE throwing bad guys.

BEACH ENGINEER should be working under/with the beach master to coordinate where the defences are going to be placed. Rows of Sandbags, open paths for vehicles to use to move forward, and most importantly, getting the first FOB built.

BEACH DEFENCE FORCE should probably be a group assigned specifically to defend the beach from both inland sneak attacks and those pesky enemy beach landings. In the initial stages the priority should be holding the dock, and once the FOB is built they should move to split to cover both. Ideally they should have their own APC for fast movement between the two if needed.

The beach defence job should also take on the un-enviable job of killing and kicking anyone that looks like they're sabotaging: IE, running by and locking vehicles, "accidentally" shooting others or running them over. Sometimes the enemy isn't wearing a different colour.

2) Have a plan for getting OFF the beach.

A few times now I've been with groups that have hit the beach and then have NO IDEA what do after knocking a hole in the defences. We've all played Farranac enough know that we SHOULD know where the best places for FOBs are, so the plan should be to capture the area around where the FOB so that it isn't within enemy shelling/mortar range. The commander needs to push hard to get the enemy's line away from where that FOB is going in so that it can't be attacked and can be resupplied for the duration. Don't get tunnel vision on a strategic location like a nearby town, etc. If the enemy can still hit the FOB then they have not been pushed far enough back.

3) It's the little things that count

I can't believe this happened. Hit a beach with 30 soldiers and NOT A SINGLE one of us had a damn wrench to start ripping down the barbed wire. Those on the beach engineering team should have hammers and wrenches available.

With that in mind, lets make sure that any vehicles coming over are NOT locked and that they at least leave the staging area with 99 fuel. Nothing is worse than a vehicle that is out of fuel or that some guy left locked (or claimed by a squad) when they jumped out. The only time I would ever consider it OK to have a locked vehicle is if it's a supply truck moving crates to the FOB, BUT the driver has to be aware that the moment they step out they should unlock it. Only reason for the lock is security against Saboteurs from locking it themselves as they run by, or clearing out it's inventory quickly (See beach defence force above). But it's vital that the driver unlocks it the moment they dismount.

4) Logistics, Logistics, Logistics, Logistics and more Logistics

Seriously, this is what all modern wars are built on. When I mention "Logistics" I don't mean making sure that the deployment point from the home island is fully stocked. I mean we need to have a virtual motor pool of vehicles ready. When the Beach master or Beach engineer calls for a CV it shouldn't need to come from three towns over from the departure point and it should already be filled with enough BMats to build an FOB. In fact, two of them should be on hand in the motor pool just in case.

Multiple barges is important. Transport priority should be given to assault vehicles first. Tanks, Halftracks and guns. The moment the beach master or engineer calls for a CV it should bypass any assault vehicles and get priority for the next barge. In fact, any time someone from the front (the assigned commanders) ask for anything it should be given priority.

Trucks, they get their own subsection:

Yeah, they're soft and shouldn't be near the front lines, but there's no better way to bring over massive amounts of material. They should have a clear and safe route from the dock to the FOB. It's also important to have them back at the motor pool fully stocked and waiting. We know that once an FOB is built we're going to need BMats and RMats to build defences, so rather than screaming for RMats to finish the AT gun, then some back on the mainland has to farm the raw mats, refine them, put them in a truck, get the truck on the barge, then take the truck off the barge and move it to the the FOB there should just be a truck with RMats waiting in the motor pool for it to be called.

This should also be done with crates for the FOB. Weapons, Ammo, HE, Smoke, Shells, Shirts. We should either establish a crate farm full of crates or have them pre-loaded onto the trucks. Like the BMats/RMats, when the FOB needs something like Mortar shells or Tank Shells, we shouldn't have to depend on farming the sulfur, refining it, getting the BMats, placing the order, then loading and transporting it. That should ALL be done ahead of time so the moment the FOB needs these things the crate can go on the truck (along with a bunch of others) and shipped over as quickly as possible.

It takes time to move things from the main island to the assault location. Not having to farm mats, frantically search crates and boxes, or cook the items, will save massive amounts of time.

5) Only take what you need:

As per above, it takes time to move materials from the home island to the FOB. if you spawn at the FOB only take what you need. If you load up on 10 HE and get killed before using them that's a waste of not only the HE, but the resources used to get them to the FOB. There's a fine line between over stocking and running out during combat. Take note of the situation when you were killed before you spawned and plan accordingly. If you're going to smoke and rush with HE, drop your other things further back so that others can pick it up if you don't make it.

6) Fill a role if it's empty.

I love combat and shooting the bad guys. But there's lots of times where someone is needed for a mundane job like driving a transport, or carrying mortar shells forward from the FOB to the mortar teams. It's important that if there is a need for someone to do something that someone steps into that role. I get that it's fun to be a tank gunner, but if no one is watching the beach so that the shells can come forward then none of the tanks are going to be doing much shooting.

[KrysisMode]

TL;DRfggtlol

Said every random ever! But seriously I feel you, I just kinda gave up myself. If I log in it's mostly to chill scrapping since there's something just plain zen about it and a truck is usually a wrench away. Well, that and honestly I can't make myself follow another suicide charge anymore. I just can't. And it's always a suicide charge!

[Do_Be]

Good points. Anyone playing Farranac w/ a desire to win would do well to read the wall of text.

I will say that playing on farranac will likely improve your gameplay drastically compared to the other maps, if you're trying to improve.