Jump to content

Sgt Schultz

Members
  • Posts

    884
  • Joined

  • Last visited

About Sgt Schultz

  • Birthday 09/05/1961

Converted

  • Biography
    Military Gamer since age 12 and WWII history grog. Feeling lucky?
  • Location
    The Land Where Flight Began
  • Interests
    gaming, map making
  • Occupation
    Historical Restoration

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

Sgt Schultz's Achievements

Senior Member

Senior Member (3/3)

10

Reputation

  1. Greetings all. Seven months with no comp(no... not incarcerated ), but back with solid state drives and new comp. While re-downloading my mod library(I swear I will back it up this time), I could use some advice from the community. Especially any who may remember me from CMBB. I have CMBN, CW, but not MG. All taken to ver 3.0(reads ver2.something in game tho). 35 smackers for MG. 55 for RT. Cannot do both at this time. I still have at least three CMBN/CW scenarios and numerous maps in progress. If I get RT, I know that they will be consigned to bottom drawer priority. I was still enjoying CMBB at time of crash and had MG battle concepts. However... Fire. Russians. Late-war tech. Red Thunder looks like Schultz scenario/map-making paradise. What say ye? Is there much crossover or has there been a migration to RT? Has the community divided a bit like a paramecium? Will eventually acquire the entire catalog, but on the fence as to which way to go in the shorter term. Any input would be appreciated while I grind through the endless mod downloads. May your artillery never fall short.
  2. My scenario, "A Morning Run', is predicated on just those types of smoke use. The Allies can get chewed rather badly if they do not use these tactics. Shermans have sixteen(!) pop smokes as a rule. One can hide the Rose Parade behind that with the right wind conditions. Another battle I am working on just says "Aw the heck with it! Go big or go home!" and gives the Germans a 159mm rocket battery for the attack. The first time I sent an HE volley from this weapon system I was reminded of a line from a movie... "Better to fall back and nuke the site from orbit... it's the only way to be sure." Mr. Nebel Werfer does lay down the smoke though.... With light wind, that screen is on the map for around 3-4 minutes, or in other words, until the next volley comes. --------- In battle, infantry units with an active "pop smoke" button should be placed UPWIND, and then moved downwind once their smoke has been used. It can be a real heart-breaker to find that all your smoke is on the downwind side of the battle line. Even if one does not use smoke on the attack, it should be considered in any back-up plan. If things go t*ts up, you may want a few pop smokes to cover your retrograde movement. It makes a pretty fair "reset button", to return your force to its start line in some semblance of order.
  3. If you rubble a roof, you destroy the structural integrity. Any incoming indirect fire will immediately penetrate and start hurting folks. I had to compromise for my warehouses... Great map umlaut! I know how long an urban setting can take, even without flavour objects.
  4. In CM scenario design terms, using "Conscript"can be used to attempt to avoid gamey behavior by users. For example, truck drivers are less likely to be used as scouts or cannon fodder if the commander knows they won't obey orders that will put them in harm's way for long. Plus, if a historical designer is making up a battle that included the use of cooks, quartermasters, etc, then by all means "Conscript" would be a valid setting... along with Low Motivation. Bulge battles come to mind... I am thinking that on more than one occasion, there were men on the line that were not exactly combat troops. Now, THOSE would be more likely to have High Motivation, as Bastogne was surrounded and there is no place left to go.
  5. The following is all just my observations to date through the versions... Any head sticking out of a vehicle, whether it be a commander, gunner, or firing passenger, is a high-priority sniper target. MGs as well will go for the head shot rather than a dismounted target. It is my opinion that it is a targeting code thing, that rates any vehicle mounted personnel higher than dismounts. An actively firing 251 gunner gets more "attention" than one may feel is appropriate for the level of supposed real protection. This can lead to all sorts of under-the-hood dice rolls or whatever witchcraft BFC uses to determine each trooper's momentary level of competency. Like the trooper that cowers uselessly for five turns, breaks, then somehow summons the will to kill three enemy before running away. Troops shooting at mounted gunners may just have their "inspiration" rheostat turned up too high. I agree that "there is something out there", but it just falls under my general category of... too bad/sucks to be us/war is hell. Work your tactics to fit what you experience... just like they had to back then. --------- So one must accept the reality and move on.. like so ... To get the most out of a 251's gun shield, the player should always try for both an elevation advantage and a slight backwards tilt to the 251. Keeping engagement ranges outside of zook range, and within normal "deployed" MG42 team ranges helps a lot as well. 251/1 has no organic gunner anyway, so until a mortar team or two is out of ammo, or some combat team has been rendered ineffective for other duty... they have no real way to contribute in an assault/direct support role. Company XO teams are the most expendable assets at battle start if one would want to even use 251s early. 251 passengers CAN be given targeting/arc orders, and WILL stand up and send rounds downrange. A platoon of 251s advancing out of a smoke screen in echelon on Slow towards a woodline, with six or seven scout teams chewing up the woods with MP40s may just change a few minds about whether or not to use 251s in direct assault roles. A Puma, Lynx or other light support vehicle adds a nice touch as well to a mini-kampfgruppe. Treat Hannomags and their passengers in any direct assault role just like all your chips at a poker table... already lost. Then bet them when you feel you should. l'audace l'audace toujours l'audace... or keep 'em in the rear with the gear like they were used. If you DO manage a breakthrough, you just change orders to FAST and now the enemy is really screwed, as you run rampant in the rear... dropping off a team here and there like little deadly Easter eggs. --- The majority of CM players most likely do not play at the point levels or battle sizes that would make any true offensive use of hannomags a sensible choice, given the likely casualty rates. But when it works.... what a turn file!
  6. I have been asking for ammo crates since release. Each crate could take up a certain number of passenger slots in either a vehicle or bunker, and then be subject to the acquire command. Largest ammo in the game for on-map asset is the 150mm German Infantry Gun. Say 3 per crate, 2 HE and 1 HEAT/Smoke. Scale ammo count up as caliber scales down from there. Stick them in the "Independent Teams" section for QB/Design purposes. I would love to have a truck full of ammo crates come on the map at around 45 minutes... wouldn't you? The US 60mm and .45 cal Thompson rounds... The German MP44 "K" ammo and Panzershrek ammo... Everyone's large ATGs... There are work-arounds for most ammo, but crates would make everyone's life a little easier in longer engagements. - Edit - Plus, if they could be placed in structures, then one can imagine the effects of artillery fire/demo charges, and sympathetic detonation effects, in a village turned into an ammo dump. The night commando scenario from Hell...
  7. BFC's fire-generated smoke will be less than that in real life, because a designer can just add light fog/fog to the atmospheric settings to give that "forest fire" ambiance.
  8. It isn't in the rule book. I just watch troops go from pinned to scrambling back towards friendly lines. It could even be entirely observer bias, but I somehow doubt it after all these months of using the command versus other move commands.
  9. The evade button creates a FAST move order that will ignore all but the worst pinning, and it has a face command at the end. This will become a QUICK order if the unit is TIRED or worse. One can grab this move order and swing it from its usually idiotic endpoint, and move it somewhere nearby that has cover and is actually in a direction AWAY from the enemy. The face order at the end will self-adjust as one moves the endpoint. Giving a HIDE command at the end never hurts, since they wouldn't be bugging out if they were in good order and in a tenable position. --- I use this order all the time. Being pinned in WEGO is the kiss of death unless you can GTFO of Dodge. Your boys will take a morale hit, and will end up worse in both suppression and fitness... but they will have a much greater chance of having warm bodies left over at the end of the movie file. You can recover from TIRED. Dead... not so much. -
  10. DasMorbo, If you think your variety is silly... you should come over to our side of the pond and watch US Civil War reenactments. I grew up near Manassas Virginia; and seeing folks spend their weekends living in 1800's conditions so they can go lie in piles of bodies all over a field... then surrender every time they play .... Well let's just say it takes a special kind of person. On the other hand, it is no worse than a comicon or Star Trek convention... and war re-enactments at least give living history lessons, however inaccurate. I can only imagine the horrific outcry from the United States of the Offended if we tried to have WW2 reenactments here. Whoever played for the Axis side would be lambasted in the press.
  11. I use them more to focus attention closer, than to prevent fire. If troops are in the woods, I set arcs that are just outside the general LOS for that area, and send them off to Hunt. Same for any tall grass or crops. The units are looking close in, not spreading their precious spotting code cycles "looking" out towards the horizon as much. Arcs are so hideous-looking that they are the LAST order I give to a unit if at all possible. The worst are chained Hunt commands for armor with different arcs at each waypoint. My eyes... they burn!
  12. Yeah, they were my vehicles that sublime's mines damaged. I have save files from my side. On SLOW on railroad tracks, which slowed the StuG even more... the thing crept up and .. BOOM. stopped dead in its tracks and canceled the rest of its assigned move order(i liked that). Crater at forward edge of tracks, with a just a slight lean in. I looked at the info panel ... YELLOW! Oh happy day. She backs off next turn, rumbles down off the tracks and continues on her merry way. ---- StuH on SLOW on dirt road, possibly edging the ditch area to slow it down a tad. BOOM. Same same... stops dead and waits out the rest of the turn while changing undergarments I suppose. YELLOW! I can roll with yellow tracks all day long. Just have to avoid crunching any more fences, hedges or walls. Back away and edge farther into the woods. ---- The hannomag was an idiot and went down on MOVE or HUNT. The mine blew as it went under the passenger compartment. We won't speak of the mess that made. ---- Now granted, I will not allow any more vehicles to go beyond SLOW without following a known clear path, so the mines are doing a hell of a job slowing the entire freaking advance.... but I no longer live in mortal terror of A/T mines ... and neither should you.
  13. Playing larger battles, with the appropriate map sizes, can greatly reduce the perception of uber-arty. Limiting the ammo counts and calibers also helps. There are myriad tactical options to reduce the effectiveness of enemy indirect fire, including decoys, smoke and quick response to spotting rounds. --------- This is not to say that I have not found a few examples like the ones stated above. Some designers either adhere to historical information, or just use common round-per-man ratios that were used at the time. My first attempts at design showed this, and I reduced ammo counts and number of tubes to make a "playable" experience. The editor is your friend, and no scenario is locked. Tweak them until you find your sweet spot.
  14. I have found one simple guideline works for my ATGs... "Keyhole or die." Traversing, re-laying, adjusting, then getting taken under fire.... all these things lead to premature gun death. Heavy cover and hopefully a few troops towards the axis of enemy attack. Gun set up to cover flanks shots at an angle to enemy axis of attack. Mines, wire, walls, something to slow armor down while inside keyhole arc. Arc set withing gun traverse limit. Better to not be seen at all than to take a bad shot, or dilly-dally playing with your gun out in front of God and everybody. Once a gun crew starts messing around, they tend to stand out and get noticed by the folks that really hate them .... like tanks with big cannon.
×
×
  • Create New...