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AOs - How to plan, attack, and win

TOAD at War HC Manual

Attacking is the most difficult thing to do in game

The super majority of all AOs fail

You must capture towns to win the campaign

To win the campaign, you must know how to Attack successfully

If Defense and Attacking were equally as difficult, we would expect half of all AOs to succeed. If you have spent any time in game you know that the vast majority of AOs fail. They fail because they are hard to do. It takes players, coordination, surprise, supply, and infrastructure for an AO to succeed. For a DO to succeed all you need is some players and maybe a Bunker Guard.

In fact, Attacking is the most difficult thing to do in game. It is many times harder than Defense. The reason that so many AOs fail is found in the following sections. If you learn how to master the art of the AO, then you will see your AO win percentage increase significantly along with the chances of winning the campaign.

Contents 1 Under Constuction 1.1 Typical Defender Responses 1.1.1 The Defensive Player Spawn in Timer 1.2 Surprise 2 Three Different Types of Successful Attacks 2.1 Attrittion 2.2 Blitz - Heavy 2.3 Blitz - Light 3 Seven Steps that are Neccessary to Setup a Target and Win 3.1 Step 1 - Target Selection and Timing 3.2 Step 2 - Finding Squads and Players to lead the Attack 3.3 Step 3 - Terrain and Attack Vectors 3.4 Step 4 - Placing Attack Objectives on Bridges and Target 3.5 Step 5 - Keeping the AO Going 3.5.1 Infrastructure – Players who do all the work 3.5.2 Infrastucture Theory: Concentrate Players and especially Players who do Infrastructure 3.6 Step 6 - Supply 3.7 Step 7 - Checkmate - Town capture 4 Tips and Hints 4.1 Towns with AFs 4.2 Multiple AB towns 4.3 Diversion AOs 4.4 Air Quake Online - How to compensate when the enemy Air is pwning you 5 Summary

Under Constuction

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When and Where of Battle - Decision on when and where to attack

• Choosing Good Targets
• Choosing Good Times to Attack
• Having good organization

ADVANTAGE - To Be Decided

As you can see, the Defender has almost every advantage. The only advantage the Attacker MIGHT have is the "When and Where of Battle." The Attacker can choose the target town because it is strategically vulnerable. The Attacker can choose when to attack. The Attacker can choose how the setup the AO. These choices are the ONLY choices that Attacker has in his advantage. Attacking is an uphill battle, you must use the only advantage of When and Where wisely.

Of all the critical elements listed, the most powerful when used properly, is "When and Where of Battle." How to exploit that one potential advantage lies in understanding how the enemy typically reacts to an attack.

Typical Defender Responses

There are different stages of Defender Responses to every attack.

• STAGE 1 - First indication that an attack is about to happen
  • EWS
  • AO Placement
  • Announcements on public channels
  • Obvious next targets
• STAGE 2 - First set of Defenders arrive to check out the situation
  • First defensive player is almost always enemy HC, they spawn SMG or LMG (Almost always LMG if Axis), and check Bunker and spawnable tables
  • Ussually, the first Tank spawned in heads out of town in the direction AWAY from the percieved direction of attack to setup Ambush position.
• STAGE 3 - After first HC arrives, enemy chat is spammed that players are needed for defense, players then begin to arrive
  • It takes about 3 Minutes for players to arrive after a Spam of "players needed"
  • As enemy players log in or become board at other towns, those players will gradually begin spawning in at the target town
  • Enemy Air is rerouted to target, arrival time depends on the boredom of the enemy pilots and closeness of an enemy AF
• STAGE 4 - Defender is full strength with plenty of players to guard bunkers, setup ATG, ect..

The Defensive Player Spawn in Timer

Imagine a timer that starts as soon as you set off EWS or place an AO. That timer measures the time from EWS or AO placement till the defender gets enough players spawned in to put up a credible defense. That Defender player number is related to the number of players that the Attacker has and the position the Attacker has gained.

That imaginary timer does not keep a constant pace. Ingame decisions from both sides effect how quickly or slowly the timer runs. Ideally the Attacker wants to make decisions that slow down the

Your INF have to capture a building

You must hold that depot for 10 minutes from the enemy counter attack

While holding the building, you must get INF into the Bunker for AB capture and the win

Surprise

Three Different Types of Successful Attacks

There are three broad types of AOs that have proven to be successful on the battlefield. BEFORE you begin an AO, you need to know what type of AO you are going to try an do.

Attrittion

• Description

This type of AO would be considered by most the "standard AO." The idea is to setup in a strong position early and attrite the enemy faster than they enemy is attritting you. The AO is charachterized by the Attacker taking up positions 500-1000m out of town and slowly moving in as the AO progresses.

• PROS
  • Very little organization is needed. Most attrittion AOs can be started by a couple of MSs and a few ATGS
  • AO is easy to setup and is almost natural for the playerbase to do
  • K/D ratio is fairly even, so counter attacks won't be a major concern

• CONS
  • Successful Attrition AOs can take a long time
  • If the enemy can keep switching flags, you can never attrite them

• How to Setup
  • Setup as many ATGs onto key terrain as possible
  • Setup as many MSs around the ATGs for protection and for access into town
  • Keep a supply of tanks in reserve

• Primary Factor in Success
  • Enemy town or flag is isolated so that new supply cannot be brought in easily if at all
  • Ability to switch multiple flags into the frontline, allowing you to bring more supply to the target than the enemy
  • High K/D ratio due to superior position, overpop player numbers, or friendly AQ
  • Keeping a supply of tanks in reserve to finish the town off
    • Large squads with dicipline can hold tanks in reserve for long periods of time
    • Keep fresh tank supply in a flag one town link away, allowing for a quick influx of Tanks when the timing is right

• Primary Factor in Losing
  • Enemy flags with fresh supply being moved into town (Majority AOs are lost because of this single factor)
  • Low K/D ratio due to failure to hold key terrain
  • Poor organization (Lots of blue tags using your tanks)
  • Time - Trying to attrite the enemy can take a LONG time. If you start the AO late, you maybe trying to finish off the AO durring underpop and that can be excededingly difficult

Blitz - Heavy

• Description

Attempts to use surprise and superior player numbers to take key terrain early. While the Attrition AO begins by starting friendly Tanks from afar and then slowly moving foward, the Blitz Heavy AO begins with the friendly Tanks as close as possible. If the Attacker can get enough players and enough Heavy Tanks close enough to camp depots and the AB, then a quick victory might be at hand. But getting in close early has its risks.

• PROS
  • If successfully setup, a FULL CAMP can be maintained. This will quickly attrite all enemy flags in the target town
    • If a Full Camp can be setup early, the K/D ratio of the battle can be tilted heavly in your favor
  • Successful Blitz Heavy AOs ussually last less than an hour. This gives your side the ability to attack a new town or push through flags quickly at a vulernable spot along the enemy front line, BEFORE the enemy has time to shift flags to cover the new gap.

• CONS
  • Moving so many Tanks in early means a high kill rate of Tanks, even if things go as plan
  • If the enemy is prepared (even if it is only a few enemy players) the attacker will likely be decimated before they reach town

• How to Setup

1. Ensure there is enough supply - Blitz Heavy AOs need Tanks and lots of them. You'll need at least 2 Flags worth of Tanks in the first 10 minutes, with a third ready to go if needed.
2. Blitz Heavy AOs take ALOT of ORGANIZATION - Talk to squads and HC early
3. You must Attack the town with total surprise. This requires no one to set off EWS untill all is ready. At a given command, everyone spawns in and moves to their preasigned vector. This tactic gives the best chance of having the enemy react slower.
4. The Enemy MUST NOT KNOW YOUR COMING - Blitz Heavy AOs require secrecy. If undisiplined players find out about the AO, they will reserve all the heavy tanks and spawn in. As soon as they spawn in, EWS is set off and the clock that measures how long it will take for the defender to react begins.
5. Your Tanks and MSs need to get in quick and close. The idea is to CAMP everything early.
6. You must have a player advantage. You want to ZERG the enemy with superior player numbers and position early.
7. Attack from as many vectors as possible. Pound the enemy from every side untill they are afraid to leave the AB.

• Primary Factor in Success
  • Surprise - You must have surprise.
  • Player Numbers - You need to be able to ZERG the enemy
  • Tanks - Lots and lots of Tanks. 2 BDEs of Tanks minimum, with more on standbye if needed.
  • Surprise - Yes, It is typed again for a reason. If you don't have surprise YOU WILL FAIL

• Primary Factor in Losing
  • Lack of Surprise - It only takes 1 or 2 heavy ATGs setup on key terrain to obliterate your first wave of Tanks
  • Lack of Player Numbers - Blitz Heavy is all about ZERGing. You need superior player numbers to make a ZERG work.
  • Lack of INF - Most of your players will want to be Tanks, but you still need cappers. Few things are more frustrating to see a bazillion friendly Tanks camping away, and have only one INF in town desperately trying to cap and guard every depot in town.

NOTE: Most Failed AOs are Blitz Heavy AOs. Have you seen this: A new AO is announced. A bunch of Mercs spawn in all the Heavy Tanks. They drive those tanks straight to town, only to be blown apart by waiting ATGs or Sappers. After all your side's Tanks are destroyed, the AO falls apart. It is a Blitz Heavy AO without the organization or surprise.

Blitz - Light

• The Overall Goal

Blitz Light is the lighter version of Blitz Heavy. While Blitz Heavy tries to Camp Early and push the enemy out by quick attrition and brute force, Blitz Light tries to use slow Enemy reaction times to its full advantage.

The Idea is attack a town that already has an AO on it, but with little EWS or enemy defendrs. Old AOs that are no longer being worked are fantastic choices. The depot radios are already hot and there may only be a couple of dedicated defenders.

Blitz Light AOs are almost always started by a mass Para drop over town. Paras are a fantastic tool to deliever many players to one target at one time. Half the Paras cap the spawnable Depots, the other half drop into the AB area and take control of the bunker. As soon as the depots are captured, all the paras run to the AB and setup sniping positiong to keep enemy Infantry from getting to the Bunker.

If the enemy reaction is slow, you might have 20+ players keeping only a handfull of enemy from spawning in and retaking the bunker. The last few minutes of Blitz AOs are very exciting. By then the Defender has mobalized their player base and many defenders are spawning in. Fun is created when both sides are trying to hold the bunker at all costs. Hold the Bunker for 12 minutes and you capture the town. (1 minute to cap the depots + 10 minutes of contestiong + 1 minute of AB bunker cap)

A newer version of this AO concept is the use of fast moving Armoured Cars such as the DAK and Pannard. As soon as the PARAs are dropped, the Armoured Cars spawn in and race to the AB, locking it down early. DAKs and Pannards can only survive for so long as the enemy begins to spawn heavy Tanks, but it buys several more minutes.

• How to Setup

1. ORGANIZE EARLY - As with the Blitz Heavy AO, Organization is the key. You will need HC and squad support
2. Get the PARAs in the air. Have all Para drops timed to happen at the same time
3. If you are going to use tanks, have DISIPLINED players ready to spawn in quick moving Tanks AFTER the Paras are dropped.
4. While Blitz Light relies primarily on the Spawnable Depots, having 1 or 2 CLOSE MSs is a good idea. Make sure the MSs are close. The battle will only last a few minutes, you need maximum player numbers in town so reducing Travel Time to a minimum is essential.
5. Getting control of the Bunker EARLY is essential. Trying to take the bunker after the enemy begins to spawn into the AB is very difficult, almost immpossible.
6. You need 5+ players in the Bunker as soon as the PARAs land. You need 10+ outside the Bunker shooting at EI that try to retake the bunker.

• Primary Factor in Success
  • Few enemy players spawned in - If the enemy has lots of players spawned in already, your Paras will just die quickly
  • Slow Enemy response - You can not win against an equiped enemy with only Infantry and some light ATGs. You must have at least twice as many players as the defender to have a chance at capturing the town. If the enemy reacts quickly, then your early player advantage evaporates quickly.
  • Defend the Bunker from OUTSIDE - Having LMGs and snipers outside of the bunker is the only way to hold the bunker for 10+ minutes.

• Primary Factor in Losing
  • Not having the Depot Radios Hot - Blitz AOs require the enemy to react slowly. Dropping Paras onto a town when the Depot radios are not hot just gives more for the enemy more time to react and hunt down and kill your PARAs.
  • Too many enemy players already spawned in
  • Not taking the AB bunker on the initial drop (AF or Docks if those are the important flags)

• PROS
  • Its a quick battle. 15 Minutes and you know if you have won or lost.
  • Requires a medium level or organization. Any small squad can organize it.
  • Dosn't require alot of supply

• CONS
  • If the enemy is paying attention and reacts quickly, the attempt will likely fail
  • Secrecy must be maintained. If the enemy knows your coming your attempt will fail

NOTE:Most Zeeland Attacks are Blitz Light AOs, especially if the targeted Zeeland town has a ground BDE in it. It is very difficult to attrite a ground BDE by PARAs alone. Ussually the only option is to capture a depot, hope for the enemy not to spawn in quickly, and take the AB, AF, or Docks early.

Seven Steps that are Neccessary to Setup a Target and Win

Step 1 - Target Selection and Timing

Step 2 - Finding Squads and Players to lead the Attack

Step 3 - Terrain and Attack Vectors

1. Hills that over look the AB
2. Hills that over look the approach to town from the FB
3. Bridges or any secure area that kill enemy units that try to cross the bridge
4. Vectors that Attacking INF can use to infiltrate town (many bushes or grass)
5. Vectors or positions that Attacking Tanks can use to support attacking INF (few bushes because of threat from enemy sappers and ATGs but many trees to hide from bombers)

Step 4 - Placing Attack Objectives on Bridges and Target

Step 5 - Keeping the AO Going

Infrastructure – Players who do all the work

Infrastructure is what is needed to make an operation work. It is not the number of players ATGs, or PZs. It is the unglamorous jobs that must be done to keep an operation going. The requirements for Infrastructure differ for the Attacker and Defender. Most of the Attacker requirements are moving players from the FB to town. Due to the Defender spawning to where they need to be, the Defender doesn’t have those requirements.

Attacker Infrastructure Requirements:

1. MSs – Minimum one, likely many more, and they need to be close as possible
2. ATG/AA Transport – Minimum one Heavy Transport that will tow your ATGs and AAs to town
3. Tanks – Tanks that will cover your INF as they try to cap a depot
4. INF that cap flags – NOT Snipers

Defender Infrastructure Requirements:

1. Bunker Guard(s) (When timers are up)

For an Attack to be successful, you need MSs (lots of them and close), you need players who are willing to tow ATG and AA, you need Tanks that can cover the advance of the INF, and INF that will cap the flags. If any element of these critical components of infrastructure is missing, your AO will likely fail, REGUARDLESS of overpopulation or supply.

The Defender only needs to have a Bunker guard (which may not even be necessary).

The Players That do All the Work – Infrastructure Players The reality is, MSing, Towing, and Capping, are done by a minority of players. If you are reading this, there is a good chance you’re a player that does infrastructure.  ? If you are reading this post, you are likely an Infrastructure Player. They are usually CO/XOs of squads, HC, or guys that care about their side and the game overall. These players are worth many times more than any other player in the battlefield. They are the players that make the difference in achieving victory or defeat.

How many Infrastructure Players do you need for an AO? The answer is always more. You literally cannot get enough because they are so rare to find. For an AO to be successful you need about 6+ Infrastructure Players. That will give you 3-4 active MSs most of the time. Any fewer, and the probability of the AO failing begins to increase dramatically.

There are a minimum number of Infrastructure Players you must have to be successful. If you have too few, those players can not keep up with placing MSs and get burned out. You might have two dozen Tanks surrounding the AB, but your infrastructure has failed, and you slowly lose your hold on the town.

Have you ever seen this?

You have been attacking a town for about an hour. You have lots of players spawned in and they have a great position around town. Suddenly the last MS gets killed. The INF stop spawning in. For about 5 minutes your great position holds, but the EI are beginning to get out of town and sap your Tanks and kill your ATGs. You know there were 50+ players attacking this town, but when you ask who is driving in the MS, no one responds. Your Tanks and ATGs are now all dead and your great AO is another defeat.

What happened? The one guy that was doing Infrastructure for your AO logged, switched to a new town, or got burned out setting up the only MS for everyone to use. With no one to replace him, the must have components of any attack disappeared along with your chance of winning.

The more infrastructure minded players you have on an AO, the more likely you will win. To increase your chances of winning, you need to concentrate your Infrastructure Players onto one target. This increases the chances that the AO will have the infrastructure it needs. The AO might not be successful, but at least it won’t fail because no one bothered to setup a MS.

Infrastucture Theory: Concentrate Players and especially Players who do Infrastructure

There is a saying that in WWIIOL. Have you heard of it?

" Player numbers make it appear like there is organization "

Now that is not a direct quote from anybody, but that is the basic concept. Why is that statement true?

A minority of players do infrastructure. The more players you can concentrate on a target, the more Infrastructure Players that will be there as well. If you can get the minimum number of infrastructure players 6+ your AO will have 2+ MSs the entire time and have lots of towing.

It is the concentration of these Infrastructure Players that matter most to the success of the AO. How can you concentrate those players?

You must concentrate squads and HC onto one target. If you’re HC and squads are spread over the entire map, you won't have to Infrastructure Player concentration you need to win.

Supporting Facts: Just some examples which you may have noticed on successful and failed AOs.

1.) You can tell how succusseful an AO is going to be by the first 5 Mins. Join the Brigade, and look at the missions. Count how many of the missions have Trucks on them. If you have 5 or more Trucks heading to town, the chances are high that you will win. If you have 1 or 2 trucks, your AO is likely a loser.

2.) How many AOs have you had where you had huge players numbers and supply advantage. You have dozens of tanks outside the AB camping away. Then the ONE MS that everyone was using gets hit by a sneaky EI. Poof, no MS and all the INF players leave to fight other battles. By the time the one guy that has been setting MSs the entire time despawns and drives his truck out there again for the 42nd time, our Tanks are getting sapped. When the MS is finally deployed, no one spawns in because the INF playing players have long gone to other battles.

Step 6 - Supply

Step 7 - Checkmate - Town capture

Well congratulations!! You are about to score a win for your side, but the battle is not over yet. There is still just a little bit more work to be done. As your forces begin to infiltrate the AB area for a possible bunker capture, it is time to start making some decisions on what to do next.

Decisions that must be decided BEFORE Bunker Capture:

• What Flag(s) will move into the target town
  • Are there other flags that need to be moved before you can move the target town flag in?
  • Unless your 100% sure of a bunker capture, it is best not to begin shifting your flags untill town capture. Bunker captures may take 1 minute, 30 minutes, or may not happen at all. You don't want to expose your front line to possible risk unless your sure that the town will be captured and the risks are worth it. It will only cost you 2 extra minutes of time, BUT it could save you much pain if the enemy is able to thwart your bunker capture and counter effectively.

• The Map OIC should have selected a new target BEFORE the capture of this one. It may be wise to begin announcing the next target on Target Channel so players will know where to go to next. (Covered more in Map OIC chapter)

Other things that you might want to consider:

• Get a FB bust team in position before the bunker capture
  • Pros - When you capture all the ABs in a town, the enemy FBs will come up. Having a FB Bust team in position can destroy the FB immediately distrupting counter attack options, or allowing your forces to attack begin setting up on the next town.
  • Cons - FB bust teams must be organized at least 5 minutes in advance. Often, the Attack OIC delays the bunker capture because the FB bust team is not in place yet. There maybe 60+ players sitting around in the AB area who are essentially trapped there because they can't despawn untill the town is captured and the Flag moves in. Had the town been captured, those 60+ players could have stormed the FB or despawned and setup Attacks elsewhere. The playing time of 60+ players ussually isn't worth the small benefits gained by waiting for a FB bust team to get into position.

• Begin to shift ATG and tanks out of town and towards the future enemy FBs to stop a counter attack

• Congratulate your side for the victory in Operations or Target Channels (or both!)

Tips and Hints

Towns with AFs

Multiple AB towns

Diversion AOs

Air Quake Online - How to compensate when the enemy Air is pwning you

Definition of Air Quake (AQ) - Complete air superiority by one side denoted by dozens of EA flying low and slow; continuosly straffing and bombing any enemy target that moves, shoots, or is not under a thick grouping of trees.

Who controls the skies is mostly determined by how close each sides AFs are to the target town. If your AF is close and the enemies AF is far away, you should have Air supereirority. If your AF is far away and the enmies AF is close, you will experience Air Quake Online. The best way to prepare for the AQ is to know it is coming.

Air power makes a big difference in attacking. You can never have too much Airpower over a target. The more the better. While having ATGs on terrain looking into the AB is the best option, a very close second is an Air Quake over the town repeatedly dropping bombs in front of the Vehicle Spawn.

While having air superiority is a big help for the Attacker, having the defender to have air superiority is a problem that quickly dooms almost every AO. A Defenders Air Quake easily kills off ATG positions, Tanks, and IB MSs. Because a defender can spawn at the depots, any defense can continue with an AQ overhead. An Attacker needs infrastructure to succeed. A Defender AQ can quickly destroy that infrastructure and pin your forces near the FB. Without the infrastructure requirements, the AO fails.

To Attack, you don’t have to have air superiority, but you MUST make sure the Defender cannot have many low flying aircraft strafing and bombing targets between the FBs and town. Easy ways to counter a defense that has a low flying AQ.

1.) Deploy Bofors along the path from the FB to town – Placing all the AA near the FB will not be sufficient, because the EA will simply stay out of range and kill your units once they move out of the 1km AA protection at the FB. It is best to deploy a string of AA guns from the FB to town. This takes about 4-6 guns, plus the heavy tower driver.

2.)Lure the EA from the ground units - EA naturally attack Air units first, then ground targets. If the Defenders have too many planes in the air for you to be able to fight them off, try luring them away. All you need is a single friendly pilot who is willing to do a suicide mission. Have the pilot fly a fast fighter through the EA swarm over town. The majority of the EA will stop bombing and strafing ground targets and chase the friendly fighter. The friendly fighter will be shot down in a few minutes, but he can be replaced by another volunteer. Using this method, a few friendly pilots can keep a dozen or more enemy pilots busy chasing them in the air, instead of preventing your ground forces from pushing on the target town.

Summary