Matt May

Put them into trucks with their also-not-represented artillery.

It can't be much more dangerous than the run-down areas of most of our large cities (sadly).

I set up a QB with guns in pillboxes and in trenches and shot at them with various things. The 20mm autocannons seemed deadliest to the pillboxes, but I didn't record any statistics. Usually the pillbox was supressed with the first slit penetration and died soon thereafter. HQ's commanding guns in trenches had a big effect, too. Odd that HQ's don't also have effects on bunkers & pillboxes (even at reduced range due to communication problems). I can't figure out why Battlefront didn't make bunkers & pillboxes empty and let the player fill them with whatever, but knowing what I know, I won't bother with pillboxes. I far prefer the way these forts are handled in Advanced Squad Leader.

Yes, I have done experiments comparing the survivability of guns in trenches vs. pillboxes and there is no doubt that the trench is far more survivable for the gun - just backwards of what one would expect.

I wonder if the designers got the stats for the concrete and wooden bunkers switched?

Maybe they can represent them as trucks like they plan to do for heavy arty. <#@$%&!*>

or whatever it was that the Germans called the women who flew the biplanes at night and straffed their camps. They could reduce a unit's readiness the next day by denying them sleep.

You don't suppose the Israelis would allow us to go through the Golan Heights, do you? Or maybe they will have their own forces jamming that area.

We can always hope, and this IS the proper venue for making noise!

"Very exciting", eh? I would imagine so! Thanks for the input from an expert!

Thanks for the help, John & Jason. My source was the ASL soviet artillery notes. I had assumed that they had done their homework, looks like they got a poor grade on that assignment. Just goes to show you that plagurism doesn't pay!

Ok, I'm not likely as well read on unit actions as some or perhaps even most of you. I rely on my knowledge of other games with designers who have presumably done their homework. Yes, I know its third-hand knowledge, but it works for me. Having said that, every game I've played has the Germans with increasingly less access to OBA as the war progresses. Why is that if, as some seem to imply, the arty escapes (into a smaller area thereby concentrating the number of such units)? This DID happen with German AA units, BTW, as the Americans found out in the Hurtgen Forrest. This isn't a highschool Oxford-Oregon debate where everything you say must be supported by a reference. It's OK to use your heads here (isn't it?) Look, if Battlefront wants to ignore this issue, fine. No game is perfect.

So there must be some way to distinguish between German OBA fired by 105mm & 150mm field guns and that fired by Wespe's and Hummel's (only the 150mm howitzer is not in the game), right? Perhaps, but then why is the 105mm howizer in the game? As the Russian, I might be perfectly happy with that so I could use 152's as AT guns. ...which is understandable, but, again, why does the German 105 howitzer get special treatment?

Yes, I can picture the scene: "Hey, Ivan, there's a Fascist tank over there comming this way. Do you think we should shoot it?" "I don't know, we have orders to fire at map coordinates XZY. If we survive the imminent destruction of our position, we may get shot by NKVD troops for not following orders."

Most of you guys seem to think it was quite rare, yet somehow, the majority (if not more) of German arty units in the war suffered this fate. I rather doubt Hitler would have tolerated a doctrine that basically threw away his heavy arty when they came in contact with the enemy, though I must confess that I have not studied the historical record in detail.