Brille

Correct ! My bad.

Well the maximum range of SMG in general is 200m in CM. If you can keep them under that range you simply cannot be hit back by them except for the single DP machine gun they usually have. They may be not as effective at this range but the further the range goes down the more they grow in potential. Around 100m they will most likely pin any opposition when they get the chance for it. Go further down and they will shred enemy infantry. The germans however can obviously hit farther with their rifles and MG. Farther than even 300m but the effectiveness will go down and so does the ability to spot.

At the moment Im doing 4 games but one is at a really slow burner. Turn rate of my oponent there is several weeks or months even. 1 CMBN, 1 CMRT, 2 CMFB. That would be my comfort zone actually, especially when the games last longer turn-wise.

Soviet/russian vehicles are more likely to throw their smokegrenades much further to give room for maneuvre. However it takes longer to build up, while western smoke dischargers are quicker in that regard. In any case I believe those are fixed charges in most of the cases that are set at a certain angle with a certain distance in mind. And while it probably was used to give infantry a helping hand, it is first and foremost a defensive capability of the tank/vehicle to escape unfavored situations. For the game I prefer those vehicles with internal smoke mortars over the external smoke dischargers. You have plenty of smokebombs and you actually can use them for offensive purposes as well. When you know that there is no serious AT threat in the area or you have a Tank that cannot be harmed by it, you can set up some short waypoints and set on each one a "Pop smoke" order. With this you could rush a tank infront of the infantry and lay a wall of smoke to conceal their movement. Here is an example of it from one of my games:

"top-notch offensive unit". That depends on where you use them. Usually they are with their tanks that they should guard. That means they are in tank favored environment/ more open ground. That´s where they will be superior to other infantry formations. If you want to clear out a forest, supposedly filled with smg, well....just don´t... or call for the specialists like the "Sturm" squads. They are just the opposite of the soviet SMG squads: Those like to close up and fight in knife fights, while Panzergrenadiers are best for fighting mid and long range. Choose your tools wisely. If your really want to fight the soviet in the forest I usually go with one scoutteam cut off of one squad while the rest stays intact. This will function as a tripwire. The other squads I can either use fully deployed or cut into teams (usually I choose the second). But against a soviet SMG Platoon the chances of winning are rather slim. Usually I go as far as the (dead) scoutteam has traveled, set the weapons to "Frieden" and area fire the MG42 to suspected enemy positions, rinse and repeat....or die at the spot. (most likely )

I´ve made a short test and you might be surprised: The position of those soldiers matter. So it is not just a graphic issue, more so a heavy gameplay one I might add. When infantry fires at the tank from the left or right the mounted infantry is almost invincible... Most if not all shots are intercepted by the wheels/tracks. You can see that the soviets try to fire at the direct location of the soldiers. Now when you therefor position those soviets in front or at the back of the tank (notracks or wheels in the way) and let them fire, casualties will jump upwards to a point where the infantry decides to disembark the tank. As they are clipping through the tank in the middle, they seem to be targetable at this point. I only tested this with normal small arms weapons, no explosions. @BFCElvis could you please note this as this seem to be a big one. I can provide video evidence if need be.

It worked fine in my game, like I´ve said. Pioneers mounted the PanzerIII perfectly within the setup.

Mounting the normal Panzer IIIM with infantry is no problem in my game. For the Flammpanzer III though it is like you mentioned. First of all it is not in the "Single vehicles" menue and can only be obtained with a formation and secondly there seems to be a placement bug. The soldiers are "visible" but they are not on the right spot. If you move inside the tank you can see them in his innards, each soldier within the other.

Nothing substantial here but boy that is frightening. And yeah, soldiers most likely would not have been firing this way if not in immense panic or danger but still...

Simple answer: The crew will move the MG with the tripod attached for a few meters for quick repositioning. To give you a picture: Each soldier grabs a leg of the tripod and runs. The weapon in this configuration is heavy and unwieldy. For the MG42 with tripod and ammo is, I believe, somewhat around 20-30kg. So soldiers probably won´t do this for longer marches. Though they could do it farther than it is depicted in the game but you have to set the rule somewhere. I believe the sweetspot of when the soldiers will move instantly is around 30m (3-4 actionsquares). After that they will pack up the configuration in 2 pieces again.

Well I remember a recent CMRT match where my HMG42 switched positions with no "deploying" phase in the new one. Could you be a bit more specific ? Which game ? Which scenario ? Which weapon ? Savegame ?

So you want to know about (tank) tactics? That did not come over well from your Initial post. With "Box formation" I guess you mean "massing tanks" ? And yeah that is what is favored in real combat and it is what works best in Combat Mission. The problem is that you can't do that very often or just in a limited style in both realms. Limiting factors are the terrain (swamps,forests, towns) and ressources at hand. In your mentioned scenario "Cat and mouse" you dont need to fight at all...at least on the german Side. But If you need to do it, it is best to have multiple Panthers to engage a spotted or suspected enemy position. Overwhelm the enemy with local numerical superiority. Always consider that the other tanks shoot back and hit. So it would be beneficial to have one or two additional tanks that hopefully spot the ambusher and take care of him. My general tactics are often to move the tanks in a pack pairs, so If one missed a shot or gets taken out, the other one can step right in to finish the job. It is one of the simplest tactics honestly and a fundamental one that translates to mostly all encounters and to all categories: Never let a unit walk alone! That goes for tanks as it goes for infantry. There may be some instances where a unit will turn rambo and actually achieve a thing but most of the time they'll get chewed up with no real gain.

This is a quote from the CMRT manual: "In Real Time, the action will be continuous and you can issue orders at any time; you can also pause the game by pressing the ESC key and continue to issue orders." (Page 9) It also tells you that in the "hotkeys" option ingame. So if you struggle and can´t keep up: Pause the game, give orders, un-pause and so forth. If you haven´t enabled floating icons you surely should press ALT+i to get them. Those surely help with identifying enemy forces quickly.

Is no one playing CMBN anymore ? Well lets try to kick start it with a few pics of my most recent and still ongoing battle: Cromwell and 6pounder guarding a bridge. Rivercrossing with suppressive fire from the Cromwells. German Panzers guarding any entrances to the objectives. Mortar battery ready ! Smoke covers the rivercrossing and a Cromwell transitions to another fire position. A Churchill Crocodile clears out a german held forest. Screams are heard somewher in the woods. In the back a Sherman Firefly keeps a overwatch from the woods. One Cromewell climbs out of a trench. Another Cromwell was not lucky at all. He spotted a Panther, retreated a bit back and bogs down. This is where the Panther spotted him....

Well I cannot say for sure as surrendering troops are rather rare and even rarer to rescue them. Though one might think that the reason for surrendering on the field is out of desperation. Nowhere to run to and no means to fight back. I would guess that takes a toll on troopers permanent morale or they surrender because of it. So my bet is that they would at least be rattled once you get them back.