dbd1963

It probably is observer bias for the most part. I get plenty of casualties that are not the leader. I've even seen only the leader left of a group. But I'm not counting, and it is possible that leaders go down more often than they should. Then again, it's not just leaders who seem to be bullet attractors.. I particularly recall one whole platoon taking but one casualty as it crossed to safety in a stand of woods. Who went down? The only marksman of the group.

I use engineers -- line them up against the bocage, then choose "blast" as their movement type, give them a short move order to the other side of the bocage, and watch it go "boom" after about 20 seconds or so. EDIT: a second too late!

True, but in my defense, I never have them do this until I know it's safe. My scout force has found a new area for me to stow my reserves, and when I send them there, that's when some of them go wandering off into oblivion. It's just going to take me remembering to add the pause to solve it so it's no biggie. Thanks to everyone who helped me out here. I don't feel like such a noob anymore!

I've got just one more noob issue that isn't related to C2, probably it's just a game mechanic thing. Sometimes when I have my troops "move out" en masse, if they have to go through a choke point some of them will choose a completely different path than the one I've selected for them. (I note that vehicles will use a small pause to wait for their way to clear, but it seems foot soldiers don't do this.) Several times this has been disastrous. Is this a path-finding bug that will be fixed at some point, or is this intended behavior that I need to plan to work around forever?

I'm so used to the way things work now that I did not know that the radios had to be set up before they would work. That probably explains why sometimes when I checked HQs couldn't talk to artillery even when they had a radio. I'm sure they had just moved. Thanks for that info!

Also, pardon this quick post after a post: The more I think of this one, the more I like it. Thanks for that.

Direct fire -- I've not understood how to get that done. Is it as simple as targeting with the unit? I've only noted rifle fire that way. It seems I can't use the artillery menu because that is always labeled something like "denied."

Thanks a lot, guys. I will use this information right away to, hopefully, profitable results.

Follow on medics -- that's a great use for the XO unit. I've just had them tagging along with the company command, which also doesn't do much if it isn't involved in spotting for artillery. I think this is what I have begun doing after losing a few HQ units. SQUAD********SQUAD********SQUAD *************Plt HQ The pitchfork thing. I leave the mortars way out on the edge of the map. So I've stumbled onto some of it. I did not know that we ought to keep within 100m of HQ for visual, or 50m for voice, etc, so thanks to Blackcat for that. I just realized you could check distances with the targeting tool. That should be easy enough. Last question for now -- is there a way to attach a MG unit to a platoon if it didn't start with it? This was pretty easy in CMx1 as I recall, but I haven't run across it for CMBN.

Thanks for that info to all of you, very helpful! I have another one -- what is the XO supposed to do? You don't always get one. Is it just security for the company commander, or does it have a function that I'm not aware of? Also, I don't know what the difference between organic mortar and any other kind might be. I know a bit about strategy games, but next to nothing about real life military structure or jargon. So I'm way behind the curve!

That did help. Now for some basic, noobish questions -- where should the HQ for a platoon be? Should it follow along with it's sections, trying to keep them close together? Should it lead or follow?

I confess that I don't understand C2. I've seen people say that it is important, and I've done the tutorials and read the manual, so I get it a bit. But there's a lot I don't know. Is there a link that talks about C2, why it's important, and how to maintain it? I feel like I need to learn a lot more about it. As it is, I have guys running everywhere. I've tried keeping their HQs close by them but have lost a few. I guess they are a particularly juicy target? Or maybe I've just been unlucky. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Asked, answered. To your other point -- if you want game interfaces built to your design specs, I guess you had better start making games.

Mine came this week, but I'm sure it wasn't a steel box. It was plastic! Nice box, though. Are there supposed to be three other DVDs eventually? I confess I didn't look at particulars, I just impulsively bought. And I'm glad I did. Outstanding game.

I recognize that spot -- Devil's Descent 2nd battle. I had the same problem with those guys. I don't think they finished surrendering before I finished that battle, actually. Held up a unit over there babysitting them. It did not affect the outcome of the battle, however.