thebigJ_A

If that's the case, why would the gray ammo only appear on a few of the vehicles, and why (if what was said above is true), only in later battles of a campaign? IDK about that. The ammo the crew itself has is on the left, and is often just 9mm (for the Germans) for their pistols and SMGs, while there is white MG ammo, and Panzerfausts, and 9mm in the main ammo display too, regardless of the crew's weapons.

Yes, I'm playing the Panzer Marsch campaign after doing the two beginner campaigns the manual goes through. (It's quite the challenge, so I'm not sure this is how I'm "supposed" to be learning, but it's fun!) It's good to know that the gray ammo is unavailable, but I can't figure out *why* a certain amount is so. I've figured out that the list of ammo will show, in green, what I think is supposed to be the total amount the unit has access to rather than just what it's holding (via sharing with nearby units, I presume). But, the amount that the crew is holding doesn't seem to be factored in. The same seems to be so with MG squads (whose heavy MGs seem to act like un-dismountable vehicles). If I take the crew out of a vehicle with a 7.92mm machine gun and have them take ammo from a truck, then put them back, the ammo they got isn't shown in the middle box. (Easiest to see for me now because the halftrack only had 7.92 AP, and the crew got plain 7.92 (non-AP)from the truck). Does that mean I can't resupply my vehicle ammo that way, that only the crew itself would use that ammo, separately from the vehicle's weapon? Do I know have a driver and gunner, personally armed with pistols, loaded up with ammo that'll never get used? (Unless... perhaps if they died, and say an MG team looted their corpses.... sorry, I meant 'buddy-aid". My rpg roots show!) Which leads me to another, more specific question. I found that my (German) MG teams would use AP ammo taken from halftracks, on top of or as well as their normal non-AP ammo. I presume this deals better with soft and lightly armored vehicles. Is that so? Is it modeled? And will the rifle-armed soldiers use the AP ammo, or just the MGs in the squad? I don't want to end up with squads who can't shoot their small arms because the ammo I gave them is only good for the MGs. Edit: Hell, I did it again. sry.

Thank you, I appreciate the reply very much. And to be honest I'm not a programmer, so I *don't* know how hard these things are. I'm also nearly consistently impressed with the things that have been done in this game. The only game I've seen like it was one called Achtung Panzer Operation..... something, and that not done as well. (or perhaps it was just 'rougher around the edges', so to speak. I did enjoy it. Is there a consensus on that series on these forums?) Please forgive me if I've inadvertently belittled your work! But I'm not quite following you on the bit about no games doing it. We're talking about vehicles bumping into vehicles (and not even necessarily the exact edges and faces of the models), not "soldier #32's left hand mustn't clip through the windowsill of the third-from-the-left window in house B". Lots and lots of games have vehicles that don't drive through one another. I am honestly perplexed.

Well that much is good to hear, at least. Thanks. I brought it up, though, in reference to a statement above about tanks blocking the way not being relevant to battles. It was an aside, in other words. I should have put a quote in at that bit for clarity.

Just a quick question, as I couldn't find this in the manual(s). I've been having my soldiers load up on weapons and ammo from halftracks and such, and while doing so I noticed the different colored text that ammo in a vehicle can be listed with. In the list of ammo, I've seen text in green, white, and dark gray. I presume green is ammo the vehicle has for itself, and white that which can be taken with the "Acquire" command. Corrct me if that's either wrong or not the whole picture. For the life of me I can't fathom what the dark gray ammo signifies. For instance, I've got a bunch of halftracks in this fourth mission of the campaign I'm playing with the exact same ammo loadout, except the one carrying MG troops has an additional 250 rounds of 7.92mm AP in gray text. At first I thought it might be the passengers', but they've got their own in non-corresponding quantities. Plus one of my armored cars has 10 rounds for its 20mm gun in gray, on top of the larger green amount and that hasn't got passenders, nor can its crew lug around the main gun. I've since noticed it on tanks, as well. I jut realized I'm being too verbose, as usual. How do I make sense of the ammo list, is what I mean to ask.

With respect, how is collision detection, something that's been in games for ages, something that would prevent features being in the game? And even if it were, how is that relevant? That's like if a bunch of textures were missing, and rather than agreeing it be fixed, one argues that putting those textures in would have taken time from something else that we'd not now have. In the strictest sense it might be true (then again, it might not. It's not necessarily a zero-sum game.) but that wouldn't bear on the validity of the complaint. An object comes into contact with another object, it stops. It hasn't got to be perfect, or even nearly so. A little clipping on the edges is to be expected (though less and less as the years go by). Running straight through 2/3rds of an object just shouldn't happen. And tactically speaking, wasn't it a basic practice to knock out the first and last vehicle in a column, precisely because the others would be trapped, or at least slowed? To be clear, I don't think it's game-breaking by any measure, and I think the OP got a little hyperbolic. In principle, though, I agree. It's not too much to expect. I'm still new to this game, and am enjoying myself immensely, but I've had this effect happen and it took me right out of things. I'm here for the simulation, among other things, after all. (And to be clear in another respect, I'm not talking about any "pushing" debate. Just simple collision and clipping, which I took to be the OP's fundamental problem.) Just an opinion, no strong emotions here.

Didn't they stick telephones on the backs of tanks for infantry to talk to the commanders in the later parts of Normandy? I was just reading about it in D-Day The Battle for Normandy by Antony Beevor. Well, not reading, listening to on Audible on my Kindle (love that service) else I'd quote the part that mentions it. Edit: d'oh, I missed the post above that mentions these. Still, shouldn't they be in?

Where are theses "FAQ and related links", pray tell?

Isn't it a bad idea tactically to line up your units right next to each other, though, bar thinks like ammo teams?

I'm learning the ropes, too, and am occasionally aggravated by invisible tanks. I understand the spotting mechanism. I even like it. It makes sense that I can't see what my units can't, and that a unit doesn't see something just because others do. But it often feels like my troops are blind, especially with armor. It seems way too hard to spot a tank in an open field, or even blasting at you with its machine gun. If a tank's driving across open terrain even a couple hundred yards from you, you ought to see it bar extenuating circumstances. Too many firefights come down to which side magically pops into existence first. It's not a huge thing, and I'm having a blast. I just think tanks not in cover, or firing, should stick out more. Other units, too, to a lesser extent. Maybe I'll get used to it. Maybe a veteran will educate me on why my thoughts are invalid. Either would suit me fine.

I hadn't thought of that, thanks. I just now had an artillery strike that was lining up to be very effective... until my FO got killed by his own spotting round. I guess he wasn't far enough back! Poor lil guy. :'(

I could use some advice. I'm having some trouble with artillery and other support. Specifically, I'm having trouble making any damn use of it at all, bar certain relatively rare circumstances. My problem is the delay. A short delay of say 4-5 minutes I can just about manage, but often it's more than that, significantly more. Add the time of getting an observer in position, and it can be upwards of twenty minutes before rounds fall on target. I don't know where I'm going to need fire twenty minutes from now, or even ten sometimes. I keep getting these situations where either the strike I called ends up no longer relevant, or the strike I need won't arrive in time to be helpful. It doesn't help that much more often than not, the only eyes I can get on target aren't a FO, so the delay is even worse. Obviously I can target the objectives on a map, and possibly any obvious defensive locations/routes of advance (if I'm attacking or defending, respectively), but even in that second instance I'm just guessing at the beginning of the game. Almost the only times I've been able to call effective strikes during the game are when I'm defending a static line against an obvious attack. But if my line held for ten minutes waiting for the arty anyway, I probably didn't need it all that much. I guess I'm just having trouble organizing a planning ahead in such a way as to use the tools I have usefully.

Quick question: Is there a way to get rid of the lens flare (and preferably just the lens flare)? It's my own preference, but I can't stand lens flare in most (though not all) games. For one thing, I don't understand its purpose. What is it supposed to represent? My eyeballs are not cameras. I do not see multicolored circles when I look towards the sun. Or am I supposed to understand that my character (in such games as have them) walks around with camera lenses glued to his or her face? In a game like this, it's even worse. This is supposed to be an as-accurate-as-possible simulation, but I don't think lenses of the era would even have this sort of flare in them, even if the idea of lens flare weren't absurd on its face. I like many of the modern effects games have (though don't get me started on depth of field, that's not how eyes focus!) but this one I find silly and distracting. But I'm going on at too much length. Is there a file I can delete, or something?

There's more to it, though. If they're moving Fast, they're paying less attention to their surroundings. They're less likely to notice a threat, possibly until it's far too late.

I love it. I've got his silhouettes mod that adds little bars to show how thick armor is (including bits the vanilla defense report thing doesn't show, like lower hull) and the vehicle's gun penetration, but I didn't realize it took slope into effect. It hasn't got the numbers version shown in the preview (third post) which, though cluttered, I'd prefer. On the charts there's things like "design flaw", "quality flaw", and "armor flaw" (and even one that says "pioneer vehicle", though idk what that has to do with the data in the chart...). Is that stuff modeled in the game? And if so, how?