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Targeting guide

Enemy Infantry Target Priority — when infantry is worth shooting

Infantry is neither always mandatory nor always low value. Its priority changes with the current objective, threat, and medal goal.

Quick answer

Use a state-based hierarchy. Finish mission-required progression first. Under timer, counter-fire, or mission-critical pressure, solve the immediate threat before optional cleanup. If you are chasing a kill-count, streak, or kills-per-shot medal, remaining infantry can become useful. After an explicit stand-down, residual enemies are optional for the basic clear. Judge each target by its role, objective state, stars, reward context, and your current goal instead of using an always-shoot or never-shoot rule.

Choose the target that matters now

  1. 1 — Ask whether the current mission state still requires cleanup

    Mission-required progression comes first. Current Counter-Battery structured communications prioritize the artillery threat and later order the operator to destroy what remains and consolidate the sector. In a state like that, dismissing every infantry contact as irrelevant can leave required hostile cleanup unfinished. Read the current objective/order before deciding that an infantry target is optional.

  2. 2 — Under pressure, solve the immediate mission threat before optional cleanup

    When a timer, hostile counter-fire, or mission-critical objective is active, spend the safe window on the target that resolves that state. Counter-Battery explicitly prioritizes identified artillery, and current structured data distinguishes starred/mission-critical targets from ordinary cleanup. Artillery, FDCs, commanders, starred targets, and direct objectives can therefore outrank visible low-value infantry. This is a state-based priority heuristic, not one universal target order for every mission.

  3. 3 — Let your medal goal change the value of otherwise optional enemies

    Mission-clear and all-Gold attempts can have different stopping conditions. Current medal evidence includes kill-count, longest-kill-streak, and kills-per-shot goals across missions such as Counter-Battery, Fire on Call, and The Gorge. When one of those counters is still short, remaining infantry can become a useful kill pool or multi-kill opportunity even if the basic objective no longer needs it. Do not assume every infantry kill has equal medal value; use the actual condition you are pursuing.

  4. 4 — If the mission explicitly authorizes stand-down, optional cleanup is optional for the clear

    Current Fire on Call and The Gorge mission-state evidence separates primary completion from residual fighting: High Command can permit stand-down while remaining enemy elements are optional. If you only want the basic mission clear, do not spend extra time or ammunition clearing every residual infantry unit after that explicit state. If you are still pursuing a medal counter, that is a different stopping condition.

  5. 5 — Evaluate value by the target and current state, not by the infantry class label

    Current structured evidence distinguishes targets by role, stars, mission importance, and reward/value context; it does not support one universal infantry payoff. Ask what this specific target unlocks, threatens, scores, or contributes to your selected medal before spending the shot. Avoid universal rules in either direction: judge the specific target from the current state and goal.

  6. 6 — Keep the hidden infantry-combat model out of the decision

    This guide needs only observable mission orders, objectives, medals, threat states, and stand-down messages. Public evidence reviewed in Run 07 does not establish whether infantry-vs-infantry combat is fully simulated, fully scripted, continuous, event-driven, or hybrid. Do not use the map presentation or mission messages to diagnose that internal architecture; the practical target-priority framework works without resolving D10.

Infantry target-priority decision tree

Mission progressionRequired cleanup/order active → infantry may be mandatory
Immediate pressureSolve timer/counter-fire/mission-critical threats before optional cleanup
Medal pursuitKill-count, streak, or efficiency goals can make optional infantry valuable
Explicit stand-downResidual enemies marked optional → not required for the basic clear
Target valueJudge role, stars, reward, objective state, and chosen goal target by target

Current-version note: this mission-state and goal framework is corroborated for the Version 1.0 (1618), Patch #4 research baseline. The hidden infantry-combat implementation remains intentionally unresolved: this page does not claim ground combat is fully simulated, fully scripted, continuous, event-driven, or hybrid, and it does not assign one universal value or target order to all infantry.

Avoid these target-priority mistakes

  • Treating infantry as always worthless and missing a mission-required cleanup state.
  • Clearing every visible infantry contact before dealing with artillery, counter-fire, timers, or another mission-critical threat.
  • Ignoring optional enemies even when a kill-count, streak, or kills-per-shot medal still needs progress.
  • Continuing to mop up residual infantry after an explicit stand-down when only the basic clear matters.
  • Assuming all infantry share one requisition, score, star, or mission-value profile.
  • Turning mission-state messages into a claim that ground combat is fake, fully scripted, fully simulated, continuous, or otherwise architecturally known.
  • Building an exhaustive infantry stats table instead of answering the operator's current allocation decision.
Why infantry priority changes with state

Run 07 separates two adjacent user questions that public evidence supports at different confidence levels. The hidden infantry-combat implementation remains unresolved, but the operator decision is well supported by current structured mission states: some missions still require hostile cleanup, active artillery or other mission-critical targets can outrank low-value mop-up, aggregate Gold evaluators can make additional kills useful, and other mission states explicitly authorize stand-down with residual enemies optional. The result is a cross-mission hierarchy based on observable state and goal rather than a universal rule about the infantry class.

Mission-state target-priority framework corroborated; hidden infantry simulation intentionally out of scopeCorroborated scopeChecked Aug 14, 2026

Use mission progression, immediate threat, medal goal, explicit stand-down state, and target-specific value to decide whether infantry is worth a shot. The decision framework is supported without claiming how infantry-vs-infantry combat is implemented internally.

Version context: Version 1.0 (1618), Patch #4 repository research baseline. Current structured Counter-Battery, Fire on Call, and The Gorge mission states support required cleanup, priority-threat, optional-stand-down, and medal-pursuit branches. Structured target/requisition metadata supports target-specific rather than infantry-wide value. D10 hidden ground-combat architecture remains unresolved and is not required by the guide's core claim.

Still uncertain

  • Whether infantry-vs-infantry combat is continuous simulation, scripted state resolution, event-driven, or hybrid
  • Exact hidden kill-credit behavior for every unit, shell, environmental effect, or scripted event
  • Mission-specific target values, stars, spawn states, or reward details not explicitly represented in the current evidence
  • Future patch changes to mission state, medals, rewards, or target priority

Evidence and verification context

  • Current structured Counter-Battery mission snapshot: Supports prioritizing identified artillery first and later required hostile cleanup/consolidation. It demonstrates that infantry can matter to progression without establishing one universal target order.
  • Current structured Fire on Call and The Gorge mission states: Support the opposite branch: after primary completion, High Command can authorize stand-down and describe residual enemies as optional for the basic clear.
  • Current structured medal and target-value evidence: Supports aggregate kill/streak/efficiency goals and target-specific star/reward distinctions. It is used for the decision framework, not an exhaustive enemy-stats table or a universal infantry value claim.
  • E4 Research Run 07 synthesis: Separates the publishable operational question from D10: decide whether infantry matters from observable mission state and selected goal while remaining agnostic about hidden infantry-combat architecture.