gunnersman

I asked ChrisND this same question in one of his live streams of Black Sea before the release. What I took from his answer is with equipment like the M1 SEP has it is best to stay buttoned. Otherwise I use the the Hardenburger tried and true method of getting as many eyes on the battlefield as possible.

Now I've seen it all...a Radar Horizon Calculator! On the interwebs! Pretty frickin' cool in my nerdy humble opinion.

Good point! It also works if you set the blast waypoint parallel to the target.

All limitations of the engine. As much as possible CM is 1:1 scale. But there are times when there will need to be approximations. And the running animation is one of them. And bunching up is a limitation due to the fact that all action revolves around one point in each 8x8 meter square of which all the maps are made from. See above. A well know issue that seems to go against proper military doctrine all armies understand. The best workaround is to split your squad. It requires more work, but it saves pixel lives. Urban fighting is a well known limitation. Needs work. Us lay-folk know it. Battlefront knows it. Requires time and resources that's not available at the moment. In the AAR Bill Hardenburger is participating in, he mentions the best work around to entering a building is to have your guys wait outside for a minute or two take make sure the interior is clear. I've used this with good results. Also, if you have breaching charges, make your own door. The blast will stun whomever is inside. (Big guns help with this too. ) Again, another approximation to get the point across in a visual way that the unit is effected psychologically. I hope this helps.

I do! I've been lobbying for it since CMSF. I used it all the time in all CMx1 games!

Also, the smaller the area you give your UAV to observe, the more likely it is to spot something in that area sooner. The bigger the area, the less likely the UAV will spot something quickly.

I would guess more along the lines of Javelins or GPS guided mortars. This is a good website for just such questions. They dont give you yes or no answers, just analysis. Con...subscription only. https://www.stratfor.com/geopolitical-diary/escalation-ukraine-would-add-putins-concerns

In CM: Black Sea The Javelin has only a Command Launch Unit which has an Infrared Optics. The Missile itself also only has an Infrared seeker. There is not laser seeker. It is a "fire and forget" weapon. Page 90 in the manual.

What Sergei said. Other than that, recon vehicles are pretty much used to carry your FO's around the battlefield. As things are now FOs really only have all of the useful equipment you will need to spot and target contacts for arty/airstrikes, unfortunately.

I need to apologize for this in advance...I could not resist. T-64 Harlem Shake

That's just effin beautiful right there.

When playing the first scenario as blue (I forget the title. Tiny, infantry only. US v Rus) it did seem as though my troopers most likely to be wounded by the air bursts from mortars and not incapacited or killed. And that was in the open or in a sparse tree line.

Really? Specifically target individual weapons stations? How did they do that from 4 miles away...or even less? On a moving target. I would hope it would enough just to get one bullet to hit anywhere on the airframe.

I always forget to take a screen shot. But it does seem like when on a steep slope at the crest of the slope the guy with binoculars always seems to be just behind the crest and prone while the rest of his team is above the crest line with the battlefield in full view. :-/

Evade or withdrawal...as in right now. And there is a morale hit when your guys retreat.

We-go. Elite. Maps are too big for me to play real time. And I love the replay option.

Unless there is a "Belarussian spring" I dont see much changing. It's been four years since I visited. Minsk is like a mini Moscow. A lot of the streets are Russian named streets. Frunzesky(sic?) subway stop named after a famous Russian general. There is a Red Square. There is even a Gorky Park. Busts of Lenin are everywhere. They share a lot. And there is still a high security state. You cannot move to Minsk unless you have permission. The U.S. Embassy is only allowed a skeleton staff. Russian cheap gas subsidies, among other things, help keep Lukachenko in power. Uprisings have occurred but were brutally beat down. Last Dictatorhip is right.

There is no "healing". Nobody gets brought back to 100% health like in a First Person Shooter. There is only what the others posted previously. The advantage to buddy aid along with retrieving weapons and ammo is if you do NOT "save" a comrade who is "incapacitated" (bright red crosses as opposed to dark red crosses which are dead) then there is a 25% chance that soldier dies and THAT goes against your score in the AAR.

Observation vehicles were pretty much useless for what they were designed to do, in CM:Strike Force. The maps were too small. The advantages observation vehicles in a defilade enjoy in real life are negated by certain "line of sight" limitations of the game engine. This does not appeared to have changed much in Black Sea. The only possible exception is that some maps are bigger, open and more expansive than before. The short version: Dismount those FOs! Or they will be destroyed along with their mount!

I do know that in CM Red Thunder with certain weapons such as flamethrowers, the LOS tool will let you know if your target is going to be out the range of the flamethrower or small caliber mortar. Since CMBS uses the same 3.0 engine as Red Thunder I think effective range might appear in some instances. I think most weapons have such a long reach that the LOS tool will not say whether or not your weapon is limited in range If you want the effective range usually there is a number giving the max effective range of any specific weapon system you choose to observe in game, in the user interface. But the weapon needs to be equipped. Meaning, if your squad does not have it (such as a Javelin) they will need to "acquire" it first. Otherwise the manual is usually a good place to go even though it is not in the game. And then there is Wikipedia (for what it's worth). I hope that helps.

Im enjoying it. It is definitely a HUGE improvement over Strike Force, IMHO. It is what SF should have been. Mortars appear quickly! Dont stay in one spot too long! Or dont be seen.

Thanks guys. Yea, this is how Im treating it. I figure it is best to have someone getting a view of things on the BMP. The next dilemma is with or with out binoculars! Only the squad leader has them and I prefer to keep him on the ground.

I never played the Red side much withe CMSF, so I do not remember this dilemma. But I never realized the BMP 2 does not have a dedicated TC (for lack of a better term). Is it best leave a commander with the BMP? Or is it just as well to dismount all of your troops and have them advance? Im playing "Interdiction" (my second game after install). I am the Ukranians in this scenario.

That Abrams looks under inflated.

And don't get your FO's shot. :-)