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Oddball-47

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  1. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to Seedorf81 in Amazing WW2 combat lessons from veterans.   
    Combat veterans from all ranks and all branches describe their experiences in/with combat, but they also explain what they believed worked, and what could be improved.
    Amount of info is stunning, and some of the tips and advice could still be useful on the modern day battlefield.
     
    Urban fighting, logistics, AT-warfare, combined arms, engineering, camouflage, maintenance, supplies, medical stuff, transport and much more.
    It is a 388 page report, and you can (safely) download it from this WW2 US Bombers channel. Play in Youtube, than see description below this video how to obtain this report.
     
    Whether you want this very interesting download or not, but you have even a slight bit of interest in WW2 bombers, check this channel out. You will be amazed, no doubt about it.
  2. Thanks
    Oddball-47 reacted to Grey_Fox in Combat Mission Red Thunder Battle Pack 1 pre-orders are now open   
    discussion livestream starting in a few minutes:
     
  3. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to Grey_Fox in Combat Mission Red Thunder Battle Pack 1 pre-orders are now open   
    I will be hosting a discussion with @George MC and @domfluff on my youtube channel about the battle pack, as well as campaign and scenario design in general, on Thursday 24th November at 20:00 GMT if anyone is interested:

  4. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to Free Whisky in Visiting history: I made a video comparing a WW2 scenario to the real-life location   
    Hi everyone! I've put out a new video where I compare a combat mission scenario to both the historical events that are portrayed and the actual real-life location. I thought I'd post this on the General Discussion board as it's also kind of about Combat Mission scenario design and research in general.
    As it's about a Market Garden scenario, I've slept a quite few hours less the past few nights in order to get this video done in time for Operation Market Garden's 78th anniversary on saturday the 17th of september. I hope you'll find it interesting; spending the day basicly giving myself a battlefield tour and filming the locations of the scenario that I just played was amazing. Geeky, for sure, but amazing 😁.
    Props to @Pete Wenman who is the author of this scenario for his excellent research and scenario design.
     
     
  5. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to NPye in Battle of Berlin Mod   
    Download my mod here
     
    https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-red-thunder/cmrt-scenery/cmrt-battle-for-berlin/
     
    Loads of scenarios in progress...
  6. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to Artkin in DAR Artkin vs Sgt. Grunt   
    I have been enjoying this one a lot. So much that I want to share it. I will show how I dissect this tactical dilemma my way from the beginning. Whether it's right or wrong, this is how I approached this scenario and why.
    The location:
    We are fighting on the map Summer In The City by The Forger. The map is originally for CMBS, but I've ported it over to CMRT since it's that good. 
    Here is the particular section we are fighting over. I start in the East as the German attackers and Sgt. Grunt starts in the West as the Soviet defenders.

    The theme is a 1942 battle during the winter months. Forces are around 1700 men per side.
    The Soviet force consists of the 2nd Guards Rifle Brigade backed by elements of it's parent formation; 3rd Guards Tank Corps. While this is a motorized brigade, I removed the trucks for the standard infantry squads. While this brigade may look dumb and harmless to the untrained truppen's eye, these badass mot. infantry battalions come with 4 infantry squads per platoon along with snipers totaling around 40 men each. This - when used right - nearly evens the firepower against German platoons. Additionally I expect the Soviets will have substantial armor support in the form of T-34/76. This will probably employed in a counter attacking force somewhere down the line.
    The German Force is as follows:

    Both panzer companies each have 12 PZIIIG Short barrel, 4 PZIIIM L, 5 PZIV L and 1 PzIIIN stubby. The support company and HQ section add 6 PzIV L and 2 PzIIIN stubby.
    Altogether 24 PzIIIG Short, 8 PzIIIM Long, 16PzIV Long, and 4 PzIIIN Stubby. 52 tanks supported by a pioneer and anti-air platoon.
    1/14 is fully mechanized with 3 companies of panzergrenadiers supported by a stummel and mortar platoon.
    14th pioneer company is a typical motorized pioneer company with one flamethrower per platoon.
    14th cannon company has 4 on-map 150mm grille howitzers split between two platoons.
    89th Pioneer is in halftracks.
    1/288 is stationary and pretty much useless, but is there for moral support.
    4/288 has 6 anti aircraft guns
    53rd panzerjager is armed with 14 marder II's.
    And I have 12 guns of 105mm, and 6 of 150mm off map.
  7. Upvote
    Oddball-47 reacted to Magnum50 in It's way past time to list titles in the My Order Battlefront...   
    Come on, well past time to list what the game is we ordered so I can find the one I want easier, instead of clicking on every damn order to find it. Posted in truth but fun.
     
     

  8. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to Phantom Captain in RT Unofficial Screenshot Thread   
    5th Kompanie is tasked with moving up the center to edge of the forest and then determining their course of action from there.  Unfortunately, they have wounded men from the day before and are proving extremely slow through the snow as the wounded soldiers try to keep up.
    On my left, 6th Kompanie has moved up quickly to the railroad tracks running directly through the battlefield and keep an eye out for enemy scouts that have been reported in and around Stare Kozary.  My men do NOT want scouts reporting back our positions.

    Because the snow makes my men so slow the Panthers have been ordered to scout forward and "find" the Soviet enemy.

    My tanks creep forward, unbuttoned, desperately gazing ahead to find the reported Russians and their AT guns.

    The tension is palpable and can be cut with a knife.  30 minutes of moving and scouting has only spotted a squad of Soviets around the tracks and forest in my center, but my Panthers have killed a pair of scouts seen running back to their lines.

    Contact!  Russian guns open up and the Panther on my far right breathes a sigh of relief as at least two guns opened on him yet missed with five rounds that churn up the dirt around him and bounce one final round off his glacis as he retreats.

    My tank platoon commander radios back and calls for my FO to move up!

    On my right, waiting for the artillery a platoon from 7th Kompanie mounts up to storm the enemy's left flank once the artillery and smoke have done their job.  However a few unlucky men get picked off their tank mount by a couple wild stray MG bullets from over 500 yards away.  The panthers wisely back away to wait.

    Suddenly, on my left, my Panthers have unmasked the enemy line.  Multiple AT guns open up at once as my Panthers return fire.  However, my line of 10 Panthers has HUGE combat power and it's coiled up and ready to spring.


    Unfortunately, my first Panther casualty just so happens to be one of my Crack tanks.  A lucky Soviet AT round pierces the turret instantly killing the commander, yet, the crew manages to get out alive!

    An additional Panther has lost its gun but the Soviet guns are silencing.  We have just under an hour to go.  My StuGs are now moving up to support my infantry who have worked themselves into their assault positions.  The storm is about to break...
  9. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to kohlenklau in Few Good Men Problemo   
    <satire>
    actually, this was a major attack on civil liberty by left-wing media and MP's. They are up in arms and demanding that @Bootie change the site's name to:
    "The indeterminate number, of relative quality in your own truth, gender non-specifics."
  10. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to geist in Game give away (Merry Christmas!)   
    I wanted to remind that I'm giving away 3 CM games for Christmas. I will make a Discord offer https://discord.gg/Aggnw37g  for a fair chance to the entire CM community. The gift will be released on December 23rd so you can play on Christmas Eve. I will write a message to the chosen people.
    Merry Christmas and God's blessings!
  11. Upvote
    Oddball-47 got a reaction from c3k in Moire Removal - Worghern Mod   
    For anyone playing CMFB who has been seeing the awful mess the moire patterns make, I've come across a mod made
    by "Worghern" which removes it. I reccomend that you first fire up "Battle For Chaumant Part 1" before trying the mod out in CMFB to get an
    idea of just how awful the moire effect was in that particular scenario.
      The download for the mod can be found here:
    http://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/combat-mission-final-blitzkrieg/cmfb-scenery/worghern-blitzkrieg-environment-cmfb/
      Once downloaded and unzipped, it'll make a "Z" folder with everything contained in the mod within that. I renamed the resultant "Z" folder
    to "ZZ_Warghorn CMFB" and just placed it into my main CMFB installation folder within  the DATA\Z subfolders and it works
    very nicely.
    Regards, Odd
      
  12. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to A Canadian Cat - was IanL in A Complete List of Combat Mission Scenarios   
    The above is the goal (see special note about ShockForce and Afghanistan below*).  This is a new project and while some people have looked it over and helped me fix mistakes I expect there are more to find.  My request is that if you find a mistake please let me know - post here or send me a PM. You will notice that there are still quite a few scenarios missing the author's name - one thing I have not done is open those scenarios and read the briefing I hope to get there eventually. If you find your scenario listed but I have the credit wrong or credit is missing - contact me.  If you find a scenario that is the wrong version - contact where your file is uploaded to and get it fixed and me too just in case I have an old version.  If you have a scenario that is available but not listed here put it some where permanent (note I do *not* consider a drop box link permanent) and let me know.  I monitor new additions to the scenario depot and theBlitz so you only need to tell me about new stuff that you host in other places.
    Check it out here: http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com
    Enjoy!
    What this site is
    It is supposed to be a search-able sort-able list of all scenarios for CombatMission games. It combines a list of all stock scenarios and all downloadable scenarios from the old repository, the new scenario depot with information from play result information from theBlitz.
    What this site is not
    It is not a source for uploading or downloading scenarios.  This site does not host anything it only provides links to where the files are hosted.
    A little background
    The site is totally generated from the .btt and .cam files along with some data files with ulrs, author's names.  What I have done is created directories for each game and organized the .btt files into Scenario, Map, and QB Map sub-directorires and the .cam files in to a campaign directory.  I place the additional data (urls, authors names) into appropriately named files. I have a simple system of scripts that run @Mad Mike's scan tool to produce xml data for the scenario files which I then process into html pages using xslt.  So, when new content is released all I need to do is copy the .btt or .cam file to the right location add an entry with the additional data for the new file and run a script which creates the new html and ftps it to my web server.
    * CM ShockForce and CM Afghanistan are not included.  This is because the scan tool does not handle those files.  There is talk that CMSF will be updated and @MadMike says he would consider updating the scanner for those files when that happens.  When he does I'll add CMSF to the site.  I don't think there is much hope of Afghanistan being added but again - if the scan tool is updated to handle it I'll add it to the site.
  13. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to A Canadian Cat - was IanL in A Complete List of Combat Mission Scenarios   
    Fun update. With the release of Shock Force 2 @Mad Mike updated his scanner tool to correctly handle the new files. I quietly updated the site to include new and updated Shock Force scenarios and campaigns. At the time I cooked up a scheme to manually update all the old files too. That proved a bit unworkable so I was wondering where that would go when I discovered that the new tool mostly doesn't die looking at old file so with a few tweaks I managed to get a full scan of all the old scenarios and all but two campaigns. There are some issues. You will see plenty of "unknown" strings in the tables - the new scanner does not get the correct information for all fields and likely will not so this we will have to live with. Also there are now even more scenarios that don't have a home (that I know of) on the web. I still owe @Bootie a list of such files so we can reconcile them.
    Check it out here (321 scenarios, 25 campaigns etc.):
    http://www.combatmission.lesliesoftware.com/ShockForce/Scenarios/index.html
  14. Like
    Oddball-47 got a reaction from George MC in Colossal Crack - with spoilers   
    Myself and a buddy played this one live, turn-based tonight and man, oh man, has it played out beautifully
    thus far. So much action and anticipation!   We played a solid 5 hours and still have about 60 minutes
    of game time left to play tonight. 
      I've never seen so much Allied armor on a map before. It was jaw-dropping to see it all pointed
    at me!
      Highly recommended for human vs human play! 
    Regards, Odd
     
      
     
  15. Like
    Oddball-47 got a reaction from Megalon Jones in Starshells and Flares   
    Personally, I think this would be a fantastic addition to the CM series! How cool would it be to be playing a 
    night scenario and watching 'em burst in the air, lighting up for awhile various parts of the battlefield, then
    fading/dropping to earth? 
      You're sneaking a platoon across a relatively open area in the dark of night when suddenly they're all caught
    'neath the glow of starshells? This would be, as we used to say in Boston back in the '60s: "wicked pissa!"
     
    Regards, Odd
     
  16. Like
    Oddball-47 got a reaction from Lethaface in Starshells and Flares   
    Personally, I think this would be a fantastic addition to the CM series! How cool would it be to be playing a 
    night scenario and watching 'em burst in the air, lighting up for awhile various parts of the battlefield, then
    fading/dropping to earth? 
      You're sneaking a platoon across a relatively open area in the dark of night when suddenly they're all caught
    'neath the glow of starshells? This would be, as we used to say in Boston back in the '60s: "wicked pissa!"
     
    Regards, Odd
     
  17. Upvote
    Oddball-47 reacted to Megalon Jones in Starshells and Flares   
    The implementation of star shells and flares would make a great improvement for night fighting in the WW2 titles.
    Could it be done?  I'm assuming the problem is with the Tac AI's visibility and viewing regimes.
    Just a thought. 
  18. Like
    Oddball-47 got a reaction from Bulletpoint in Infantry not using nearest entrance to buildings   
    It has been a ridiculous problem for years. It's not merely annoying. It's often scenario breaker. Seems like it would
    be a relatively simple fix. Is there some mystical property(ies) assigned to front versus rear doors? 
      
  19. Upvote
    Oddball-47 got a reaction from sttp in Infantry not using nearest entrance to buildings   
    It has been a ridiculous problem for years. It's not merely annoying. It's often scenario breaker. Seems like it would
    be a relatively simple fix. Is there some mystical property(ies) assigned to front versus rear doors? 
      
  20. Like
    Oddball-47 got a reaction from Megalon Jones in Megalon Jones Youtube DARs & AARs   
    An outstanding production, Megalon. I loved the intro. Thank you for working it up. Very immersive and informative and the use
    of music was the icing on the cake. Great job on the narration as well.
    Regards, Odd
  21. Like
    Oddball-47 reacted to John Doe in Terrain Readability Suggestion   
    Terrain readability is crucial for assessment of and ease of planning for tactical options. Readable height differences can reveal a slight slope that could shelter your movement or be the cause of your troop’s deaths. Furthermore, the nature of a hills slope, convex or concave can to make or break your defense. Without getting down to ground level for all movements and positions the player is blind. To make the map convey information from the birds eye view several changes are proposed: first and principally, hill shading; secondly togglable contours, and lastly and not too important Hypsometric tints. This will go into what those things are, why it would be needed and why it should be considered for development.
    Hill shading. 
    Both relief shading as well as shadows rendered. The reason to do this is quite apparent, no gully or ridges missed- I can pull out a pen and start planning operations right away! Now the picture is something I made Blender and if this where to make it into Combat Mission it would look like the examples bellow. Not only can you see generates good looking shading on the fly but the code is also provided. Implementing it in combat mission could be a worth while instatement as it provides great benefit too relatively little cost, code is provided and something similar is down with clouds in the game at the moment.
    Example: https://observablehq.com/@awoodruff/diy-hillshade   
    Code: https://observablehq.com/@sahilchinoy/a-faster-hillshader
     
    Togglable contours.
    Have a button that turns on/off a contour overlay. Contours are at regular height interval with thicker index lines at a larger easily referenced variable. For example, every 25 meters and 150 meters for each respectively. This is to more easily show exact terrain shape in a easy and accurate manner. This though harder to implement.
    Hypsometric tints.
    A shader that tints ground texture to have gradient darker green to light yellow based on their evaluation. Hypsometric tints make subtle grades visible and provide a non-intrusive way to discriminate evaluations of different locations. Is this that ridge taller or shorter than this one?
     
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    Oddball-47 reacted to Bud Backer in CAAR - CMFI Rome To Victory Beta - The Kirpan & the Rhino   
    Here is what I think the Allied commander’s options are:

    Plan A:  Use the fords to cross the river and go north, cross the ridgeline and pivot west to take the town. 
    This plan requires the enemy to either defeat the hamlet defenders, or to try to use the woods as cover and close on the town, bypassing the hamlet defenders. I don’t think the latter is likely. The woods offer only a narrow band of good cover. My guns can hit units some distance into them so that would be asking for an artillery barrage on the woods. I have TRPs on the ridgeline in any case as this either way, he will initially be paused in the woods dealing with the hamlet, or crawling through them.
    Plan B: Head across the flat, open plains on the south side of the river to the village, defeat the defenders there, cross the bridge, and then cross the ridge to attack the flank of the town. 
    Despite the flatness of the southern plain, sightlines are not as ideal as one would expect due to crops, low walls and cultivated fields.
    Plan C Cross the fords Near the allied zone, climb the ridge and use it bypass the defenders in the hamlet, and avoid contesting the bridge, then enter the town as in Plan B.
    I see this as the least likely approach. It is exposed to fire from the village defenders, and I have some defences that will make it a bit more cumbersome to move there.
     
    As we start looking at plans and deployment, I must remind you that this battle has started and so there is no alteration possible to what you see.
    Coming up: breakdown of defences and the psychology of play
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