von Murrin

Gotta love blast. I had a team all set to make a breach, and they did. In the wrong place. The blast pinned the squad on SBF, which got the assaulting squad killed, which un-pinned the schreck I was ignoring, which KO'd the Shermie pumping rounds into the MG across the hedgerow, which routed the SBF squad, which collapsed my left flank. I don't think I did a thing that whole time. I just sort of admired the beautiful friggin pseudo-randomness of it all.

I don't remember the source and am not an arty guy, so take it as you wish, but I remember reading the following: A fair number of 1st ID AAR's off Omaha credited "indirect 88mm fire" with being a considerable PITA and generally causing some minor mayhem. They were told that the Germans had no 88's behind the beach and they were mistaken. It wasn't until sometime much later that it was discovered there was indeed an entire flak unit behind the beach, and it had been savaged by the prelim bombings that missed the beach.

I think they recover fine. What they don't do IMO, is hit the dirt fast enough.

I didn't expect so many replies. I like this. The AI isn't going to do it, so I do think it would add much to the game, especially as MG's in-game are pretty much "run here, deploy, fire here" tools. Now, can BFC add this without too much trouble is the real question. As you said, "best of conditions". I can attest to the difficulty of hitting moving or simply evasive (cover, concealment) targets 150-200m away with incoming fire. Even with an MG, this is far more challenging than it seems. A superb gunner can wield his charge like the hand of god. A superb gunner I was not. Successfully engaging targets in a fullblown firefight is irritatingly difficult. Not trying to nitpick your nitpick, just reinforcing the point. I think he took greater issue with reactions to suppressive fires, and with this I agree.

Well stated. MG's are not superweapons. Indirect fire is called plunging fire and is an interdiction, not a suppression technique. As to the accuracy complaints, a 2mx1m silhouette is not an easy target past ranges of about 150m under the best of conditions, especially if it's moving. Even open ground isn't ever open, and finding and hitting a target that has gone to ground is difficult at best. MG's are superb at suppressive fires, especially when the target is known to be in a small, specific area and static. This they do very well in-game, where targets behind walls or in structures are made rather more miserable than they would otherwise be. Mowing down dozens of men who are doing their best not to get killed is pure Hollywood. T&E adjustments also make effective sustained rates of fire much harder to achieve with any real accuracy. Bottom line? Use area fire, target static enemy positions, and use them for suppressive fires more than as direct killing tools and they do what they are supposed to do.

I think 1:1 makes it easier to maintain situational awareness, and that results in fewer casualties. I "relate" to the battlefield better. Made a platoon-sized infantry skirmish just a few minutes ago, and kept the camera about head height. Probably the most fun I've had all week.

Just for you: Cheers!

No, that's the genuine M4A3 Can O' Whoop-Ass. It's so rare BFC decided to make it a random hidden unit, which is why you can't buy one for QB's. On a more serious note, this was a one-off event created by battlefield conditions. I sent it creeping around the corner of a shack on the last TF Raff mission, right into the faltering German advance. They ran into a whole platoon and went cyclic with every weapon. I had some idea what was there, but didn't think it would lead to the complete collapse of the German attack. Combined with flanking fire and some serious artillery, they just melted away. Probably one of the coolest moments in gaming I've ever had. Love this game.

Now these guys... saw this and said, "Holy mother of god!" Out loud. Really. Because I'll never see something like this ever again.

360 7.92 long cartridge rounds is a friggin' lot. Fortunately, BFC did well with the fatigue model and they tire badly after running a few hundred meters.

Thanks. I don't normally trot out stories, but sometimes it's worth sharing. We used to take a Charlie and his 60 with us on longer patrols. I remember one time we were moving through these damn wide-open potato fields and our lead team took fire just as we passed a small house. I'm pretty sure everyone had a suspicious eye on the house about 500m out on the only high ground in the area and so we were kind of expecting it. I ended up in the farm house looking for a target when I heard "SHOT!" I turned just in time to see our LT bent over our RTO, who was completely entangled in his own handset cable (think Twister, only far more strange), and our Charlie fire a round from about a foot outside the doorway. I felt my skull crush in like I'd been hit by a plank, and even my eyes hurt. This unaccountably set me to a rage and I apparently said some not-nice things about finding a decent firing position. Then I proceeded to walk around the back of the house and take up on the far corner. That's when AQI decided it wasn't worth it and withdrew. That single 60 round of the firefight impacted a few feet from the only window on the target building. He was trying to hit the roof. The point is not just the accuracy of mortar fire, but the strange and often humorous happenings and irrational things people do in combat, all of which happen in-game. I love it.

Oh, they still get plenty of usage the old-fashioned way. Polar fire missions were our most common mission request, and that was four years ago. As a former 11B, I can back this up. In fact, we had one firefight where one of our Charlies was putting rounds mere meters from his target, and all the while exposed and taking fire rooftop to rooftop. 60's are godly support.

Yeah, I love the OT vehicles, I just wasn't prepared in the slightest to see interiors in the others. I suppose the guns function too? God, I'm going to lose my fair share of battles simply because I'll be obsessively following my vehicles around.

I made this excellent discovery when poking around the demo and I accidentally "drove" the camera through a Panther at low speed (keyboard control). I guess that makes for a good undocumented feature, and I get it for OT AFV's but... Get carried away much?

Looks like some kind of laser boresight. The only kind I'm familiar with is in this pic </font>