Is there any positives or negitives involved in shooting civilians?

As a general thing I've been trying to avoid it, but occasionally one of the buggers will grab a weapon and shot me! My current inclination is shoot them all and let God sort them out, but do I get penalized for doing this?

Some missions require that you make sure no civilians get harmed in any way.

That what you said about some civilian picking up a gun and shooting you sounds kinda weird. They've always been just sitting nicely in the ground, and they don't move ANYWHERE, even if you empty a few clips at their way. I think It's a bad thing. They should at least get scared and run like hell away from the scene instead of walking around in my line of fire.

Last two games I've had civilians, Germans, shot my troops. In one game a civilian in a random encounter that I had been careful not to shot picked up a MP40 and ran up to where my guys were behind a wall and opened up on them. As he died, he was still whining about us being uncivilized. Next game, mission to intelligence HQ in north Germany, one of my guys almost get killed when a civilian emptied a clip from a SMG from inside his kiosk. I'm starting to develop an attitude about them!

Of coursez civilians attack you. I wrote some posts about S2 game with some screen shots where you will see civilian/allies attacks. go to FAQ S2/S3/H&S support, Topic title, then official FAQ for silent storm.
Good game pals.
Only a well trainned scout or sniper will notice these German terrorists: he would notify "armed civilians" if you point cursor on them!

I'm scheduling a little 'wall-to-wall' counseling session with my scout before our next mission!

Not knowing any better I was suspecting there might be some downside to randomly blasting obvious civilians, but once they started shooting at me they are targets. Thank God CNN hasn't been invented yet!

let them come to you! go close to each civilian, and wait a bit, if they attack bare hand or whith weapons is another way to identify them! and as your living points increase each time you are hit, it is useful too... at least if they do not kill you on spot! Then...slaugther them
Good Game

I think I remember reading something about losing Medal points if you kill civilians.

But, do Medals actually do or mean anything?

I've also had civilians grab up a weapon and blow away my squad, so yeah, shoot first and ask questions later.

Which is why I conduct civilian hunting sessions after wiping out British troops from the missions I play.

I kill them so's I leave no witnesses...