Pak40

Digging around on the internet will yield some rare gems... According to this book, (pg 308)the piper cubs were attached to the artillery battalions. Each battalion had two cubs. This seems to be the norm whether an organic Divisional battalion or Corps/Army Battalion.

LOL, I can see it now, a full battalion of Piper Cubs coming to squash , er, gingerly float over the opposition.

Well, I was specifically talking about an Undo command for the map editor. For the situation you're describing, the simple thing to do is double click on one of the units to select it's whole unit, then hit the backspace key. That will undo all of their commands I think. If you've already hit the GO button then I suppose your SOL. I think a simple text warning that you have multiple units selected will help people reduce these mistakes. Maybe something as simple as an X5 next to the cursor, this would let the user know that you have 5 units selected.

Also, he's got his face in that guy's butt.

And for God's sake, add an undo button.

US Paratroopers squads can vary quite a bit too. BAR wasn't really replaced since the troopers used them in Normandy and beyond. The MG module often has two BARs per squad plus the M1919, IIRC. That's a lot of firepower when coupled with the usual semi autos of the M1s and the close range Thompsons.

Well, I'm no ballistics expert but there's a reason why they make hallow point bullets. Instead of passing cleanly though your body they collect and redistribute your insides. I think a disfigured round will act similarly and do a lot more damage than a nice clean round.

BYU has all the pre-war German Topos: Use the Index to find a town and write down the Sheet Number (not the grid reference) Then click here to use the search to find the sheet number. Once you find the map you're looking for, Click Download button and choose Large. This set contains the very eastern part of Belgium for the Bulge area but doesn't go past St. Vith, for instance.

True. This is like trying to determine if the ball crossed the goal line if you're standing on the other side of the field. Also, your point about possible info sharing in the C2 structure is something that von Luck needs to be aware of (if he isn't already). I doubt that's the case from this particular screen shot but he'll run across it at some point.

von Luck, The issue with the LOS to the building is a known limitation to the game. As bulletpoint mentioned earlier, The LOS is calculated to the center of the Action Spot, and for some weird reason when buildings are angled to a certain degree the incoming LOS has trouble seeing the center of the AS. Unfortunately, the LOS calculations and targeting to an AS where an enemy is not seen, is to the ground. This is the same reason you can't target hedgerows across a field. You must be able to see the ground at that action spot. It sucks, but this is how it is. I wish it would calculate to the facade of targets instead of the center. The pic of the aerial does not seem abnormal to me at all. The german units are positioned on the hedgrows and can typically see moving units on the other side of the next hedgrow. It's not as if the Germans are getting unobstructed LOS views. These are just instant spots of something moving and are usually quickly lost. Trees don't necessarily block much LOS but it depends on the type of tree.

And here's a preview of the new site: https://web.archive.org/web/19991012210845/http://battlefront.com/ . . . . ...just kidding

I bought this book when it was first released (before the internet as we know it). I was impressed by the TO&Es in the appendix and bought it just for that because finding this information before the internet was hard. However, when I showed the book to my Grandfather, who was in the 99th ID in WWII, he found an error within minutes of reading about the specific areas that he was involved. In short, Dupuy says in his book that the Germans captured a certain town by a certain time and date, but my Grandfather says he was in that particular town on that date and the Germans were not there. I'm paraphrasing here, but basically my Grandfather said that Dupuy had copied errors that were published in previous books (probably the official US Army History). Needless to say, I lost some respect for this book after that. I should also say that the claim that it's overly detailed at times is relative. His entire Chapter about the Northern Shoulder is a brief few pages. It's lacking any real detail where other authors have written entire books on the subject. Obviously Dupuy's scope is broader and meant to be an operational level account but the Northern Shoulder is where the Germans focal point of the entire operation was focused. And when they were stopped there it stalled the entire operation.

I'm going to jump to another conclusion: CMFB is fully finished and on it's way to the press. Why else would Steve spend so much time replying in this thread? Please tell me I'm correct, Steve.

At about the 6 second mark in the second video he points his phone down to show the cursor on the rewind button. This is likely the start of the turn - so it took the Panther about 38 seconds plus or minus, to spot the Sherman. The Panther seems to acquire the target several times(blue line appearing) but immediately looses it. LOS is indeed right next to the burning tank and to me this is the only logical explanation why LOS isn't quicker. I just didn't realize that CM modeled smoke from the burning tank (other than the visible vertical plume).

It's very rare. I've been playing CMBN since it was released and have never seen a case like this. Of course, it's rare to get two opposing tanks so close together in the first place. But even at long range I cannot recall a case where there was no visual impediment yet the tank could not spot another tank relatively soon.

Steve, Thank you very much for these explanations. It's one of the reasons I love you guys. Anyway, I think I'll chalk this one up to the smoke from the burning tank. I can certainly see how smoke from burning vehicles can radiate outwards and block LOS at ground level. Unfortunately the visuals in the game , i.e. a vertical column of smoke, don't really match what may be happening under the hood.

I saw the posts, Steve, None of it was logical to me with the current visuals that are present in the videos supplied: 1. The tree is obviously not blocking LOS. If the tree is blocking LOS in the underling code, then something needs to be tweaked with how the trees are rendered. Although it's not a bug by coder's definition there's definitely something wrong in that video, i.e. not realistic, not intended in programming. 2. If smoke from the KIA tank is blocking LOS then something needs to be tweaked with how the smoke is rendered. 3. If the LOS/LOF clock is the issue then please explain how it took 44 seconds in the second video for the Panther to acquire LOS. I can understand the Panther not acquiring LOS with 7 seconds or whatever the clock is but I know it's not a 44 second clock. And this is after 4 rounds fired by the Sherman which should bloody give it's position away. [edit] Steve has since explained the LOS clock system below.. 4. Optics being knocked out: I'm guessing that an unsuppressed crew, even if buttoned, will be able to spot a big tank 30 meters directly in front of it. Optics wouldn't help at 30 meters anyway. Using vision slits shouldn't take much time for the gunner to acquire a close tank. It's completely believable situation but the visuals in the game don't show it. The tree is hardly blocking any part of the tank. It suddenly pops into view as if by magic. I've played this game and CMx1 long enough to know that many things in these games are abstracted but USUALLY things such as smoke and foliage give you visual clues that they are blocking LOS. In this particular case though, there isn't a shred of visual evidence that would explain why this tank could not be seen. If the visuals matched the outcome then I'd be fine with everything. I'm sure the OP would be too. That's the best explanation yet but it still doesn't make much sense when you say a "handful or two extra seconds" because the second video clearly shows it took at least 44 seconds! Also you forgot to factor that the Sherman fired 4 rounds which should drastically help the Panther spot the tank, no? Whether it's a "by the book" definition of a bug or just some values that need "massaging", something in that video just isn't right.

While there may be infinitesimally small chances that one of these issues is the cause, I'm going with the odds and saying it's a bug. It should be treated as one until BF can prove that it's not. Whether it's a bug cause by an error in code or a "bug" caused by a smoke value or a "partial tree" blocking the view - it needs to be fixed. There's no logical explanation why a unsuppressed crew facing an enemy tank wouldn't see it from 30m away, especially after taking several rounds from it. If it's chance, then that Panther would have had to roll 01 on a D100 several times in a row. Extremely unlikely. And if that is the case then BF needs to re-evaluate how it calculates these obvious close encounters.

Why would a hide command make a vehicle more quite? Are they actually turning off their engine in that case?

I'm not sure why you would think this is game balancing. Clearly it's a bug and a rare one at that. Your best bet is to submit the saved turn if you have it.

Yes, Pg 19 shows 12 armored battalions in two regiments for the 2nd Armored Division. He repeats the error on pg 21 with the 3rd Armored Division. Yet on pg 11 he correctly lists the correct number of armored battalions that a "Heavy" armored division has. Another example of an error is on pg. 59 for the 106th ID. The 820th AT battalion is shown with a cavalry symbol. There are other minor errors in some of the other volumes too. Still, it's a good reference to have.

You're welcome. I've just started another book last night by Will Cavanaugh that you may be interested in also: The Battle East of Elsenborn and the Twin Vilages J.C. Doherty lists this book as one of his sources. It has some well made maps(much better than Doherty's book) and has some great aerial photos of the different battle areas.

Yes, they were heavy but I think he put two extra battalions in there. I'll check it out later tonight when I get home. Also, just checked the series on Amazon and a reviewer posted a similar error in the OOB: Osprey Bulge OOB series

I agree, Bil's force was potent and he could have won if he had played the force the way he originally intended, i.e. mobile hit and run tactics. A few thoughts on how things unfolded and what I would have done differently if I were Bil (obviously all this is hindsight): 1. Force Selection - Although the game didn't progress long enough, the lack or infantry and anti-infantry assets in Bil's force selection would have hurt him eventually. Baneman had a long march to reach his objectives over open terrain. Artillery would have caused lots of casualties on Baneman and more importantly would have caused slow downs. Infantry would have also served the same purpose. The recon teams served their purpose for spotting but were useless otherwise. 2. Bil's strategy and execution - His plan was to be mobile, get some jabs in early then fall back to next line of defense. His execution didn't quite pan out that way. It seemed to be a static frontal defense where the bulk of his armor had no place to retreat to. Sure he would use his Hellcats on a few shoot and scoot type tactics over a ridge but the lay of the land wasn't enough to protect them. 3. Setup - This is the part that kills me: The M18s and other armor assets are put up front early in the complete open. This gave Baneman two advantages -1) He quickly figured out Bil's force composition and knew that he couldn't have much infantry 2) Baneman knew that if he pushed his JT up to the ridge that Bil had no place to run to. The M18's best advantage would be to scoot and shoot from behind cover and to flank armor. It's impossible to flank that early in the game because Baneman's units would be very congested. Bil could have more easily flanked in the southern parts of the map once Baneman's infantry was more spread out and/or partially neutralized. He had more favorable terrain in the southern part of the map too.

Now what am I supposed to do until the release of CMFB?