Not so sure that's such a hot plan there.

It's sort of similar to Hart's "expanding torrent," but it seems to me that fanning out behind the front might make you susceptible to defeat in detail. Further, splitting up your sections is a huge micro headache.

The light units followed by heavy units obviously works, not least because the light units act as bullet sponges and allow the heavy units to sit undisturbed-- possibly a use for the unstabilized tanks.

Not entirely sure about the rest.

Another huge issue with it is that very few people set up their forces in a line. Defense in depth is the order of the day in this game and it's likely to remain that way.

Something deleted.

What does OP mean?

Original Poster - every forum on the planet term.

Don't you hate it when the enemy artillery's your forces? Don't you want back at them?

This 'tactic' - while best used for Pact - can be applied to any artillery unit.

What you need:

All of this should cost less than 200-250.
-1 Fast, Cheap Artillery Piece (BM-21 for Pact is best.)
-4-8+ Supply Trucks, cheap but good supply...find a balance!
-4 APCs with HMGs & Infantry- CHEAP AS POSSIBLE
-2 AA Gun units, CHEAP AS POSSIBLE
OPTIONAL/EXPENSIVE
-1 Cheap recon
-1 Flame Thrower unit
-4 more infantry in very gun-heavy APCs.

How to place them:
Step 1: Find an obscure but in-range to targets spot... far side of map on Hells Highway comes to mind.
Step 2: Put your artillery deep in forest, out of direct-line-of-sight to any helicopters if they get recon in... keep everything else away from it.
Step 3: Put your APCs in a defensive - but wide - ring around your artillery piece. Infantry unloading is not necessary right now, but optional if you don't want a quick-movement. Just into-the-forest to not be spotted...
Step 4: Put your AA guns somewhere reasonable, in the forest but where they can drive out to help if necessary.
Step 5: Supply trucks near Arty, but not dead-on. Spread them out. If you have more than 4, keep others far enough away to avoid counter barrage.
Step 6: Hot-key your arty.
Optional: If you have flames/infantry, place them away from the BM-21, to avoid dieing to counter-artillery. Recon should be up front to keep an eye out for enemy units so you can react...
How to use it:
Continually fire your rockets at their artillery or any targets like a command zone you might soon attack. Your constant stream of rockets will...
A: Really annoy the enemy
B: Kill random units
C: Shake things over time.

Since it is a BM-21/Cheap Arty and not a Smerch or MLRS... it will use far less ammunition. You can easily keep it supplied for a good number of shots with just 4 trucks... heli-resupply can keep it going late-game. When trucks are empty, send them away. Even if you have no FoB...no need to add to the targets.

Even if it is a single gun piece, it will eventually bug the enemy into reacting...

The Reaction
This entire thing is a double sided trap! While you can shake/kill things...or just drive the enemy crazy... the actual use for this tactic is that the enemy will not be able to ignore it.

That is where we hurt him! If you place yourself right, he can not get to you with ranged air NOR a "corrected shot" directly onto your little artillery piece. If you set up right he won't see any enemies on the forest edge.

Likely events...

1: Enemy flies in with a few helicopters, infantry unload and along with APCs and AA guns...rip said helicopters apart.
2: Enemy drives in with light units... dies to infantry, apcs, and aa guns. While arty withdraws if the force is to large, speeding away to safety.
3: Enemy tries to correct-shot forest edge. Either arty rushes out to kill recon helicopter, or you withdraw all your fast moving units if the corrected shots are an actual threat.
4: Enemy sends a large force... in which you withdraw your artillery. If the unit dies, so what? 80 points or less gone... if all units die, you at the least took some with you and forced the enemy to make major movements against a tiny, cheap artillery unit... a tactical win...now you know where a large number of his units are!

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In some of the ground scenarios, extra inf / flame tanks would be useful to holding the position...but remember, your goal here is to kill as many attackers as possible while driving your enemy CRAZY with a -single- unit. Losing everything is fine, just make sure he loses some things with you... or at the least, your little arty piece forced him to re-think his actions for a while.

Remember, the goal here is to harass and lead into a trap... if you feel you will lose your units to a pushing force, remember you chose FAST units for a reason!

Remember, the goal here is to harass and lead into a trap... if you feel you will lose your units to a pushing force, remember you chose FAST units for a reason!

I'll have to try that artillery tactic of yours. Trolling as warfare. Interesting stuff.

One thing I have a question about is your use of really cheap AA units, ie. the Kamaz-mounted zu-23. I'll admit I haven't used those types of units in a while but that's because when I did try them I found them to be so weak as to be completely useless; they are almost always defeated by the helicopters they are meant to destroy before their cannons can fire long enough to do any damage (especially considering their lack of accuracy; they sure seem to take their time walking their fire onto the target), not to mention any other enemy units they happen to take fire from (god forbid an artillery shell land within a mile of the Kamaz). Are my perceptions just unfounded, or do you have some special way to use them that avoids this problem?