Anti-Tank Gun RTS Design

Anti-tank guns in the real world allow infantry to destroy armored vehicles from a greater distance and relatively greater safety than molotov cocktails, grenades, and most anti-tank rocket systems allow. They are most effective when used defensively, as they can be concealed and fire at the weaker side or rear armor of enemy tanks as they unknowingly drive past. Their main weaknesses are their lack of mobility and armor. The crew is extremely vulnerable to enemy infantry and the gun itself can easily be destroyed by a hit from almost any enemy tank.


You have to duck pretty low for that gun shield to deflect a bullet coming at you.

With these strengths and weaknesses in mind, what is the best way to design an anti-tank gun for the purposes of a real-time strategy game? Let's first look at how a couple of games have implemented them and then see how they should ideally be used in a game.

Codename: Panzers
The World War II RTS Codename: Panzers has quite a few anti-tank guns available for each side. The game employs a currency system that uses prestige for purchasing units. Between each battle or before starting a multiplayer game, players can choose what units they wish to buy within the prestige limit allowed. Anti-tank guns cost considerably less than tanks, usually 1/4 or less of the prestige cost of a self-propelled vehicle. They tend to have about the same range as the tanks in the game and deal a similar amount of damage.

However, they have several major weaknesses that limit their usefulness. The first is that their seemingly low prestige cost ignores a couple of additional costs. They have to be manned by an infantry unit in order to fire, which is not included in their price. Additionally, they are extremely slow when moved by this infantry unit alone so you will probably have to pay for a truck to hitch them up to.


Flak-88 towed by a German truck.

Some irritating interface issues make the process of towing an anti-tank gun with a truck a real hassle. When you start a game, your AT-gun will be lying unmanned on the battlefield. So, you probably want to hitch it to a truck. Click on the truck, tell it to pick up the AT gun. Then click on whichever infantry squad you want to man the gun and place them in the truck as well. Then, when you wish to deploy the anti-tank gun, you have to click on the truck, click on the unhitch button, then click on the infantry in the truck to get them out, click on the infantry who are outside the truck, then click on the unhitched AT-gun to get them to man it. By the time this process is complete, any tank driving by will have long bypassed the position you wished to deploy your AT gun in and you will have to try again later. Or it will have driven up and blown up the AT gun, truck, and machine gunned all of your infantry down.


The anti-tank gun in the middle is the least valuable part of this entire force.

The worst part is that there is no way to get around this process, you can't have the infantry, truck, and AT gun be considered as one unit at all. The control groups get messed up when you place the infantry in the truck and the AT-gun gets lost as well when it is hitched up.

The final glaring weakness of anti-tank guns is that they are extremely vulnerable to everything else in the game. Enemy infantry units, particularly snipers, can kill the crew in a few moments if they get close. Tanks can blow up most of the AT-guns in three to four hits from their main gun, while it takes an AT-gun more than ten hits to kill even the weakest tanks.

The only time they are useful is when you have multiple infantry units facing an unexpected armored vehicle and there happens to be an abandoned AT-gun nearby. In that case, it's great to have one infantry squad grab it and start firing at enemy tanks in the area. For any offensive purpose they are completely useless. Unfortunately, for most of the campaign you are supposed to be the aggressor so there isn't much use for a unit that is only moderately valuable in defensive positions. I never buy them during the campaign, you're always better off buying tanks.


How I leave anti-tank guns in Codename: Panzers-unmanned and idle.

Company of Heroes
Company of Heroes, also a World War II RTS, does a much better job of providing a useful anti-tank gun. The original two factions of the game, the Americans and the Wehrmacht, both have an anti-tank gun that can be built early in the game. They cost less manpower and have no fuel cost, so they are a lot cheaper than a tank. They differ significantly from those in Codename: Panzers.


German Pak-38 in Company of Heroes.

The anti-tank guns are both manned by a three man crew that comes with the gun's purchase cost. There is no need to buy an extra infantry unit just to use the gun. Two men are required to move the weapon about and fire it, the extra man fires his pistol or carbine at enemy infantry within range until one of the other crewmen die and he is needed to take their place. If two crewmen die, the third crewman automatically dies and the gun becomes abandoned for any infantry unit to pick up. The crew is extremely vulnerable to any enemy infantry in the area. A sniper can wipe out the crew with two shots, making it critically important to keep them safe from enemy soldiers.

This makes them sound less useful than the Codename: Panzer version, but they make up for their relative weakness against infantry by being much more useful against tanks. They have a longer range than tanks and also have special abilities that allow them to do more damage than tanks are able to inflict in return. The German Pak-38 can camouflage itself to save its shots for the vulnerable side and rear armor of American tanks. The American 57mm gun can fire armor-piercing shells that do much more damage and also penetrate the thickest armored German tanks like the Tiger and Panther. Most importantly, the anti-tank guns in Company of Heroes can kill most enemy tanks in a few hits instead of taking ten or more like in Codename: Panzers.


American 57mm anti-tank gun.

They are also much stronger defensively against tanks than their Codename: Panzers counterparts. Tanks usually target the crew manning the gun instead of the gun itself, and they tend to miss when doing so. This gives anti-tank guns a lot more survivability against armor. They can be vulnerable when tanks get close, as some of the faster tanks can easily get behind the AT-gun and fire on the exposed crew that way, but that's only an issue when the AT-gun is in the field alone without any support. With infantry with anti-tank capabilities or other tanks in the area of an anti-tank gun, it's very risky to try and get behind an anti-tank gun to kill the crew.


This anti-tank gun needs some additional support if it wants to survive an enemy armored assault.

The one problem with anti-tank guns in Company of Heroes is that they are great for most 1v1 maps but not maneuverable enough on the larger maps. They take forever to move from the base where they are built to the combat areas that tend to be around the middle of the map. There is no way to hitch them up to a half-track or other vehicle to get them into action faster.

Conclusion
Although the Codename: Panzers version of an anti-tank gun is a lot more realistic, the Company of Heroes version is a lot more desirable for the purposes of a RTS game. However, the ability to attach the gun to a truck to move it faster is a great addition to how they are treated in Company of Heroes. So, an ideal anti-tank gun in a RTS should have these characteristics to be useful for players:

-Less expensive than armored vehicles
-Much slower and less maneuverable than vehicles
-Vulnerable to enemy infantry, particularly snipers
-Greater range and good damage against vehicles
-Need to be treated as one cohesive unit-not as a combined infantry, truck, and gun that is an interface nightmare
-Should be able to be attached to vehicles to move into combat faster if needed

Any AT gun that meets those requirement will be a great strategic addition to a RTS game featuring tanks.


Although guns like this might be a little too large to move around the battlefield easily.

Company of Heroes-Force Multipliers

This is an article I wrote a couple years ago about the RTS game Company of Heroes. One of the most interesting game concepts found in Company of Heroes is the presence of units that can turn the tide of battle against a much larger army. In most other RTS games, this sort of mechanism is accomplished through a rigid counter system, such as a spearman unit that can kill two light cavalry units, or an archer that can kill two spearman units. Company of Heroes has a much more interesting take on this, where support units like HMGs, buildings, and the map’s terrain itself serve to let a skilled player take advantage of this force multiplication concept. However, you can use the strategies in this article and apply them to almost any game, you just have to look at what methods you can use to defeat a numerically superior force.

HMGs: Heavy machine guns, such as the Wehrmacht MG42 and American .30 cal, are one of the most obvious tools that enable a smaller army to beat a larger one. They get accuracy bonuses against larger groups of troops and can suppress the enemy. This causes troops to crawl around on the ground, lowering their movement speed and making them more susceptible to the firepower of your main infantry, such as Grenadiers. Soon after becoming suppressed, those troops then become pinned, completely unable to fire or move. A well placed MG can stop a large infantry-based attack in its tracks.


MG-42 forcing British infantry to retreat


A 260 manpower brings 2000 manpower in British troops to a halt

Though MGs lose some effectiveness as the game progresses due to the increased availability of indirect fire weapons, such as mortars, howitzers, and doctrine based artillery call-ins, their suppression effect can still be very effective throughout an entire match. A well supported MG can be one of the best tools for stopping the current mainstream tactic of ‘blobbing.’

Tanks: With complete invulnerability to small arms fire and a powerful main gun (and potentially even an upgradeable turret-mounted HMG,) tanks serve as an extremely potent force multiplier for your army. Tanks that have heavier frontal armor, such as Tigers, StuGs, StuHs, and Hetzers, can laugh as weaker projectiles, like bazookas, bounce right off their hood.


A Hetzer watches as a bazooka round bounces off its hull, no penetration achieved


Riflemen and Rangers are forced to retreat with heavy casualties, Hetzer suffered no damage

A tank with infantry support can dish out a lot of damage, while any damage it suffers (short of death) does not cost any resources to repair - it only requires some of your repair crew’s time. In comparison, every soldier your tank kills will cost your opponent Manpower to replace. It’s important to keep in mind that you need to have infantry support with your tank for it to be truly effective and game changing. If you send in a tank solo, it will tend to die unless it is facing inferior forces.

Cover: This is easily the most available and widely used method of force multiplication. Yellow cover is frequently present all over a map in the form of small trees and brush dotted along the ground. Yellow cover gives your forces a moderate amount of protection from gunfire, allowing your squad to take fewer casualties as it faces off against a squad not in cover. Green cover, usually seen in the form of stone fences or hay piles, offers considerably greater benefits. If you have two Grenadier squads in green cover behind a stone wall, they can defeat three charging Riflemen squads. Obviously, the more cover you utilize, the better.


These grenadiers would be in trouble in the open


But behind their heavy cover they defeat these riflemen with ease

However, there are also ways to use the negative cover on the map (which causes soldiers to take additional damage) to your benefit as well. On maps like Semois and Angoville, the roads are common retreat routes. If you position some troops or a MG along these routes, you can easily get a squad kill as your opponent is attempting to flee.

Buildable defenses: Unless you’re playing as British, these tend to be forgotten in terms of improving your position on the map. A well thought out system of fortifications can make your opponent hemmed into a tiny area of the map, losing precious Manpower every time he attempts to leave that area. Each type of defense has advantages that merit individual discussion:

Barbed Wire: Currently, this isn’t used anymore due to the crappy wiring AI of the game, but I hear that this is fixed in the beta so it merits a mention. The point of barbed wire is to deny your opponent easy access to an area, because only weaker units, like Engineers and Pioneers, are able to cut it in the early game, and they suffer increased vulnerability to enemy fire as they do so. It can be built for free and VERY quickly by a variety of units from each side.

If you have secured an important area of the map, you can use these idle troops to sculpt the terrain to your advantage for when your opponent inevitably returns to contest your holdings. You can wire off some of the entrance routes to the area, button-holing him into only one access point, which leaves him as easy prey to a HMG team. You can also take advantage of negative cover on the maps and wire off access to heavy or yellow cover, forcing his infantry to walk down the main road and take additional damage from any troops you have in the area. The infamous ‘Semois Pin’ involved significant use of barbed wire to leave an opponent stuck in his base, unable to do anything of value.

Sandbags: These provide the bonuses of green cover to wherever you choose to build them. They allow for you to fortify open areas of the map, such as the left side of Angoville or many areas of Langres, giving your troops a great deal of protection from enemy fire. Another creative use that players have come up with is to build sandbags at small entrance paths to key areas, such as the high fuel on Sturzdorf. This allows it to function like barbed wire, except that it cannot be cut. In either case, they can allow your army to win against technically superior forces by providing a powerful cover bonus.


Sandbags buy time for this grenadier squad to upgrade a panzerschrek, so they can damage the armored car

Tank Traps: Basically the same as barbed wire, except it is used against vehicles. They are difficult to destroy and allow you to hem your opponent’s vehicles into your anti-tank weapons' kill zones.

Land Mines: These are the buildable defense that I see most often in 1v1 play. They only cost 25 Munitions and have a lot of power for their price - it’s highly recommended to use extra munitions you have on these! Many players do not choose to buy minesweepers, so they continually step on these. There are several varieties in the game - Panzer Elite Tellermines that only trigger on vehicles; regular land mines that trigger on anything and can be built by Sappers, Engineers, and Pioneers; and the more powerful M8 land mines that also trigger on anything.


This sniper took one step too far


Hetzer receives a damaged engine from rolling over a mine. It would now be easy prey for any enemy tanks or anti-tank infantry to destroy

Against Infantry: Mines suppress the squad temporarily, deal a bunch of damage (usually killing at least one squad member) and generally can stop an opponent in his tracks. Mines function as a force multiplier simply because they kill enemy troops as they walk around on the map, but they can be used in support of your troops to work even more effectively. For example, you can put a mine on the obvious flanking route to your MG position, resulting in your opponent’s troops blowing up as they get ready to throw a grenade. They can also be put on critical points, such as the +16 fuel points or the connecting strategic points on Angoville, Victory Points, or on major roads to give you a warning about what your opponent is doing.

Against Vehicles: Land mines do a significant amount of damage to vehicles and also frequently cause engine damage, slowing your opponent’s vehicle to a crawl. This makes them easy prey for a nearby AT gun, Panzerschreck-equipped unit, or a tank of your own. At best, when used with support it can almost guarantee the destruction of that vehicle. At worst, it still puts your opponent’s vehicle out of the fight for a significant amount of time, as he has to move a repair squad out to fix the crippled vehicle.

Buildings: Lastly, I am going to discuss the use of the buildings that are typically spread throughout each map. Though they are frequently used merely to stick a MG in (to provide a more secure base of fire for it,) they have a great deal of value for your ordinary infantry as well. They provide a significant amount of cover that can allow your squad to defeat larger numbers or superior quality opponents.


Out in the open, this rifle squad would be no match for the panzer grenadiers. As it is fortified in a building, the grenadiers must bypass that point to avoid losing men


These volksgrenadiers would normally die in seconds to these infantry squads. Within the building, they can hold out for reinforcements

Also, some squads, such as MP40-equipped Volks and Assault Grenadiers, are devastating to face in the open but do very poor damage to troops in buildings. When you run into these types of troops, you can garrison a nearby building with a Rifle squad or Infantry Section, easily winning the day.

If you approach your CoH game with these ideas of how to make your army work more efficiently to defeat your opponent, your victories will come much easier than they might have otherwise. When using all of these ideas to maximum effect, you will inflict considerable casualties on your opponent while suffering few with your own army. This will drain your opponent of Manpower while preserving your own for teching, purchasing upgrades, or training more soldiers to overwhelm him in later encounters.