HerrTom

While I agree in that the combat pilots are not getting much more experience than they would be getting at a live fire range (apart from identifying real targets in a real combat zone - apartment block or not), there is one branch that is getting a lot of critical experience in the RuAF: Ground crews. To quote General Barrow: "Amateurs think about tactics - professionals think about logistics." The Russians are getting a lot of very good experience in managing logistics trains from the ground crews to ordinance expenditures and ready rates. While I'm sure many of us like to think of the heroic soldier turning the tide of the battle, in reality war is a numbers game, and the numbers lie largely in the noncombat personnel. Everything else on top can definitely be a factor in war, but without sound logistacl means, they mean nothing. And that's definitely something the Russians have shown as a weakness. And there's no doubt in my mind that they'll be fixed in short order.

Tell me about it. Quite the headache! Thank you Haiduk for the correction.

That's not very helpful. ------------------- Thanks everyone for the information about Censor.net! The More You Know! All in all, it seems the following has happened: 18. Dec a DNR detachment attacked Ukrainian positions on hill 220, leaving 3 Ukrainian soldiers dead, and 4 dead and 1 wounded on the DNR side. In response, the Ukrainians lead a 20 man detachment to cut off the retreat, routing the DNR attack. In response, artillery fire commenced on Ukrainian positions. Ukrainian artillery moved forwards to retaliate but was unable to completely silence the DNR's guns. There may have been tanks and BMPs involved in the battle. 19. Dec further skirmishing and a cease fire of artillery at 2000L 20. Dec continued skirmish using infantry weapons - presumably DNR units from the neighbouring heights engaging the Ukrainian trenches and vice versa. Overall, Ukraine says 7 dead, 1 missing, and 25 wounded. An IFV was damaged but repaired in the field.

Reminds me that the language used in Bulgakov's White Guard very accurately mirrors the language used now. The wheel of history always comes right back around...

Sorry Kino! Seems like the engagement has been pretty quiet for today. Here's some more info on the battle. http://en.censor.net.ua/resonance/420138/svitlodarsk_fighting_of_dec_18_and_19_seven_ukrainian_soldiers_killed_one_missing_in_action I'm not sure what to think of the news website, but it definitely seems to show the official line. Oh, and yesterday - http://en.censor.net.ua/news/420363/two_ukrainian_soldiers_killed_four_wounded_four_shellshocked_yesterday_ato_speaker And today: http://en.censor.net.ua/resonance/420313/fighting_at_svitlodarsk_situation_report_as_of_dec_21 Does anyone know anything about censor.net?

A lot of Ukrainian media is just as bad, especially the state media under their Ministry of Information, and the number of Ukrainian journalists that were murdered in Kiev - one of them being a good friend of my girlfriend's grandfather when he worked for Pravda in the 70s. On one side you get made up crucifixions, and the other you get misinformation. Two sides of the same coin, really. Honestly, the OSCE and other western news sources do their own reporting are probably the best sources. By the way - thanks for the other sources earlier in the thread, Steve.

Looks like those long exposures of MIRVs. Cool shot!

0803 A tank shell explodes harmlessly against the trench walls protecting a Konkurs team. The battalion FO team pulls back from the fighting after calling in an artillery strike. 1st platoon retreats from their fighting positions behind their burning BMPs. Another BMP smoked by Russian autocannons. This one belongs to the weapons platoon. A squad from 1st platoon advances through the treeline to defend the ford crossing. The view of the crossing from the north side. there's a lot of cover on the south side, but I've mined one of the approach paths, and there's a TRP located right in the middle of it. Panicked messages are coming into my command centre faster than the orders are being sent out! Perhaps we underestimated the Russian army! Bah to that, I say! The initial engagement forced the rest of the Russian scout company into the orchard, as expected. An artillery barrage is already on its way to cover the entire area with steel! 1st platoon got hit pretty hard by the Russian tanks, so they've moved to the ford crossing to defend the south side. Recon and 4th platoon are moving back to prepared positions on the north end of the bridge. Any Russian forces heading for the bridge will meet mines and a knife fight with T-64s, RPGs and some long range Shturm fire located further back. I'm going to continue skirmishing the Russian force with my Konkurs teams along with the antitank platoon's vehicles. 2nd platoon will also remain in place to greet any Russian forces attempting to leave the orchard. Sometime in the next five minutes, I'm going to pull back most of my forces to the other side of the river, leaving behind some brave "volunteers" to ambush advancing Russian forces from the buildings in Malooleksandrivka. Hopefully I've bloodied the Russians' noses enough to slow down their advance. After all, I need all the time I can get for my reinforcements to arrive.

Remembered two more. Golden Rule #2: Trash talk to your buddies as much as possible. Even better if you're Kino and rolled a natural twenty on the trash talking skill check. Golden Rule #3: Do a DAR!

I'd say that's pretty much the crux of it, I think. If it's a zone where you'll be hard pressed to miss the enemy, then it's a little gamey. Hence why on the attack/defense scenarios (where there are many places they can be) it makes more sense.

Oh no! Another bugfix! Thank you for catching my mistake.

In regards to artillery - usually no barrages planned on the set-up turn unless you're doing an attack/defense scenario, in which case the attacker can do it. Otherwise it's pretty poor sportsmanship! And Steppenwulf's rule is definitely #1 in anyone's book, I'm sure!

I can see what Bulletpoint is saying here. The game has some issues with anisotropic filtering and the shadowmaps are pretty wonky. They flicker something fierce when the camera moves and you're in the wrong place. Nothing too much to handle, but it can sometimes be annoying. WRT Armchair General. Excellent. I look forward to seeing what they say about it!

Thanks for the feedback! 1. and 2. - I was planning on using most of 1. company as a picket force to delay the Russians such that 2. and 3. companies can take up positions on the other side of the canal in force. You may be right, though. So far, my T-64s have done nothing but miss the BMP-3s. Konkurs and BMP-2s seem to be doing much better. Perhaps the two Shturms can be put to good use... I am probably going to retreat my remaining tanks to the other side of the river, along with the Shturms further back to provide long range support where ATGMs are pretty good. 3. That's definitely a mistake on my part. I didn't really think they were within range or something, but it's definitely a problem that needs fixing. Overall, I'm probably going to add more earthworks to the map for the players to decide where they want to set up to address points 1 and 2. I wonder the same thing! Orders be damned, I'm going to blow the bridge with my artillery if the Russians get too close. Then I can focus on the ford.

How dare you!?! No worries. I'm still waiting for the next turn from my buddy. Unfortunately the canals are both deep and surrounded by trees. There's a fording point south of Pryvitnoe but that's about it. Teaser for upcoming Combat Mission title? Combat Mission Crimean War?

Haha, topical! Oh damn. Don't want to tempt fate here...

Hell, why not. I still haven't finished a lot of stuff. Map itself needs road cleanup and the Russian briefing has some errors in it. And there's no Ukraininan briefing or AI plans. Here it is anyway!

0800-0802 4th platoon's tanks engage BMPs cresting over the hill in the distance. The BMPs close in, but not before 2nd platoon begins raking them with autocannon fire. The Russian BMPs manage to guide an ATGM straight into 4th platoon's foremost tank The commander is killed before the other two crew members bail out. A BMP-2 explodes in a huge fireball as an autocannon shell ignites its ammunition stores. A Konkurs impacts a T-72 in the treeline. Only time will tell if it's knocked out. Only two minutes into the battle, and I'm already down some 4 BMPs and one of my four T-64s. Russian casualties include one (suspected) T-72 and two BMP-3s. This looks like a reconnaissance force, so I'm sure I can expect both artillery strikes on my positions and even more enemy units moving in on me. At least my dismounted Konkurs teams are doing qiute well, taking credit for a tank and a BMP knockout. One BMP is tallied to the now-dead T-64, and the last was taken out by two BMPs pumping shells into it. Even this forward force is getting a little overwhelming. I fear what the rest of the Russian force is going to do to my defences. Promises to be quite the fight!

FLASH MESSAGE FROM UKRAINIAN HIGH COMMAND: ATTN ALL UNITS RUSSIAN INVASION CONFIRMED ALL RUSSIAN UNITS ARE HOSTILE ENGAGE AT WILL GODSPEED ----- Priority message from 26. Mechanized Brigade HQ: To commander 2. Battalion 8 JUNE 2017 SITUATION Russian military units crossed the border in force an hour ago in Eastern Ukraine. We must assume that the forces stationed in Crimea will begin operations at any time. High command is quickly forming a plan, but until then we are ordered to stay in position. * Enemy Forces * The 18. Motor Rifle Brigade is currently stationed on the border in Crimea. You can expect elements from it to move North along E-97, straight into your AO. Expect T-72s, BMP-3s and artillery. * Friendly Forces* 2. Battalion, 26. Mechanized Brigade is the only formation in the area for at least the next two hours. The Battalion is composed of BMP-2s, T-64s and an attached Shturm platoon. The PSU is scrambling aircraft, but it is unknown whether any strike aircraft can be sent to support you. MISSION Defend the bridge crossing at Pryvitnoe. Keep the bridge intact until ordered otherwise. EXECUTION 1. Company is already in position along with the battalion antitank and reconnaissance platoons. 2. Company will arrive in approximately 20 minutes and will move to take defensive positions near the river 3. Company will arrive in 40 minutes SUPPORT A battery of 2S1 Gvozdika SPA are on call. Battalion mortars are on the way. Possible air support in the coming hour. SIGNAL * SONYASHNIK - 26. Mechanized Brigade * TULPAN - 2. Battalion * MALVA - 1. Company * ROSMARYN - 2. Company * CROCUS - 3. Company * KROPYVA - Brigade artillery ----- The situation at 0800: 1. Platoon, 1. Company (Moskalenko) is holding the westmost edge of the battlefield, but has been hit pretty hard by the advancing Russian tanks. Next is the Antitank Platoon (Prikhodko) and 2. Platoon (Boiko) The Battalion Reconnaissance platoon (Fedorenko) and 4. platoon (tanks, Kovalenko) are dug in around the bridge. 3. Platoon is in reserve, dug in facing the bridge at Pryvitne. We currently see a company-sized force of BMP-3s advancing across the field to the East, and a T-72 platoon moving into the treeline in the west. Pictures forthcoming... (I think with the maps, you'll have to right-click and "view image in new tab" until I can figure out a good way to hyperlink them. Normal images will be hyperlinked, though.)

Okay, so this took a bit longer to organise than I thought. Thankfully all the pieces fell together just as Kinophile and TFO finished their wonderful DAR! (Right click "Open in new tab" on the map to view full size.) This battle is occuring in the area around the village of Pryvitnoe in Southern Ukraine. The crossing here represents a strategic chokepoint, one of the only highway crossings across the many canals north of Crimea. If the Russians can capture this crossing, they threaten Odessa and even Kiev. Currently dug in around the bridge is a lightly reinforced company. Word of an attack after the start of hostilities has kickstarted the Ukrainian forces, and the rest of the battalion is en-route. A Russian MRB is bearing down on the village, key to the rest of the regiment's attack. Tactical map and screenshots are forthcoming...

Wikipedia tells me it has a colour video camera, infrared camera, and a photo camera @ 10MP.

I'm no expert on this, bit did you install it as OpenGL? It's usually on startup but of you use the wrong API it will crash. The depth buffer shaders and anti aliasing also don't work with movie mode but shouldn't be causing crashes.

Haha! I totally thought you did too! Bonus PSYOP point.

That's some impressive performance TFO. I guess you can't beat an FO at his own game? Thank you Kino and TFO for the wonderful reports, it's been a fun read!

Best brace yourself. I hear that released some 10 MT TNT of energy. Your battlefield is about to get exciting!