Josey Wales

I installed GTMF had a look at it and got rid of it. The reason? I would uninstall Combat Mission too if it was RTS only. @Josey Wales has an excellent video about this subject. 

Can have something to do with combat stress and combat shock. Tired of what? Mentally or physically @Josey Wales made an excellent video about this. If I suffer casualties I split the squad up for that reason. You see very often that 2 fire teams are not as affected as the fire team with the casualty. 

Yes, I've seen morale improve when a squad is split which makes a certain amount of sense. If some of them are getting a bit panicky then it'll affect the rest of the team less if you split to panicky ones up.
And it works the other way when you recombine teams too. They always seem to revert to the better of the morale levels the team had.
But I assume tiring/tired etc. relates to physical rather than mental state. When I split the squad and noticed one was "ready" I assumed the other team would be "tiring". I'd just split the knackered guys from the less knackered ones. But no, they were both "ready". Which seemed odd. Not complaining though. Worth knowing, in fact.

Watch YouTube @Josey Waleshe has numerous multiplayer games recorded. He wouldn't be able to do that without the replay function. 

We can never eliminate it, but the Borg Spotting we I am sure all do to a is the culprit in my opinion. That's what we see between turns or when we have deselected all units. We are dealing here with a complex algorithm. It makes sense we have a guy with binoculars, another with a sniperscope and two with the naked eye. The two with the naked eye spot better if the guys with the optical aid don't know what they look for. Here is where experience comes in select veteran and above for spotting. That's according to @Josey Wales who made a video about the subject.  

@Josey Wales on YouTube is about the best for information for tactics. For observing select Veteran and above. MG's and AT Guns let your mortars deal with them. Don't duel with other tanks unless you're for 100% sure your tank is much better. Houses and Bocage you never see a hiding enemy there. In this game if you never make a mistake you never learn anything. 

Glad I could help! I definitely recommend thinking in terms of a whole fire plan as opposed to a single SBF is thinking in the right direction. 
 
There are a series of videos on CM that I go back to every now and again. They are extremely good, and teach the application of real world tactics in CM by a retired US Army infantry officer. All his examples are in CMBN but like I said, the tactical principles are the same and apply to the modern games as well. Here is a a link to the first of six episodes:
 

Really interesting replies, thank you to everyone.
The responses help with my mindset question. Really rather than thinking about setting up one SBF position to deal with an enemy position, I think i need to be thinking about a whole fireplan in order to gain fire superiority over the enemy where it counts, and then exploiting that area, making sure that enemy positions that I cannot adequately suppress are avoided until later, when hopefully a different angle opens up from manoeuvre that means i can bring forces to bear on it.
I like the idea of tactics scalling up as described by IICptMillerII. I must confess that I have focussed on platoon level tactics where I always have more than a platoon as my disposal therefore I'm thinking too small scale and trying to do the TacAI's job for it.
 

Basic fire and maneuver does work in isolated engagements. The bocage maps in CMBN offer plenty of it, and assaults against isolated strongpoints will be succesful too. However I'm guessing you've encountered the situation that your maneuver element very rapidly gets overwhelmed by multiple mutually supported enemy fireteams. It's very common, and you just need to find a bigger hammer. More firepower nearly always works. Sometimes your reward for assaulting a position is an immediate, urgent, and frightening defence. It's just the way it goes. Real warfare is similar - read about the Marines in Hue City during Tet 1968.
 
One of Bill Hardenberger's rules is 'establish local fire superiority'. This is gospel. If you don't do this, you're going to lose the suppression meta-game, and once that's lost, your attack will fail. One of my personal rules is 'don't leave combat power on the table'. If there's a unit that can help, make sure it's there or can get there quickly. A single tank or M2 Bradley can tip a fight very fast.

Tactics scale. Think of it like math. First you learn to count, then add/subtract, then multiply, then divide, etc. Eventually you go from 2+2=4 to [insert long equation with numbers/letters/symbols here]. 
The military (well, competent ones at least) teach everything following a crawl, walk, run style. That is, you start small and simple and build up from there. The point of those manuals is not to show you how to overcome every possible tactical situation you are going to find, but to give you the basic template that can be applied to any situation and built upon. So you are correct that a lot of the examples in the manuals are not ones that you will find out in the real world, with a few exceptions. But, when you apply the right tactical principles to situations which the manuals attempt to teach, you will be better off than not. 
Don't think you are alone here. A common anecdote from many wars is that "only newbies actually follow the manuals." That is a famous line I've heard in reference to the Vietnam War more times than I'd like to recall. Doing something "by the book" and stating that in a bad context is the same idea. When people want to learn about military tactics, most turn to manuals covering the fireteam and squad level. This is the wrong thing to do, but this is what pop culture fuels (videogames such as Brothers in Arms, while great, depicts a ludicrously oversimplified depiction of combat at the squad level) people to do. In actual warfare, squad "tactics" are irrelevant. What is more important is squad SOPs, such as "spread out enough not to all get wasted by one shell but not too far that you get lost/unsupported," and "keep track of yourself, your gear, and your team members," and "be aware of your surroundings and your own status, such as ammo and injury." In CM, all of this is taken care of for you by the TacAI. 
Here is a better way to think of tactics in CM; you always want to apply tactics from the highest level you command. What that means is, if you are in command of 1 platoon, then use platoon level tactics. If you are in command of 2 platoons, use company level tactics. If you are in command of multiple companies, then use battalion tactics. Another way to think of this is, if you have multiple elements (lets say 2 companies) what authority would be required for you, the player, to give company commanders orders? The answer would be a battalion commander, and so battalion level tactics is what you want to use. 
Tactics generally scale up, not down. If you are in an environment where you have an entire battalion at your disposal, a single platoon likely will not be able to do much on its own. This is where that scaling comes into play. If a manual depicts two platoons attacking an objective, one as the base of fire and the other as the assault, but you are commanding multiple companies, then you just upscale it all. Instead of using a platoon to fix and a platoon to flank, you swap the platoon for a company. There is a lot of nuance to that, but that is the general principle. 
A final note on manuals: most of them that you will find from a quick google search are going to be somewhat dated. The principles remain, but the nuance changes a lot. Basic infantry tactics are the same now as they were in WWII. However, the weapons of war have changed a lot since then, creating a whole different set of nuance to deal with. 
Manuals are not a bible, and by that I mean a perfect reference. Many of them are more complicated than they need to be, confusing or unintentionally misleading. For example, the manual detailing how to call for artillery is long and dense, but the actual procedure is very simple. In the case of an artillery manual, it also makes general assumptions about its reader, like the ability to already know how to read a military map and derive coordinates from one. So, sometimes manuals are missing a piece of information because it assumes the reader already knows the institutional knowledge. If you don't know what information is missing, this can complicate reading manuals even more. This is one of the many reasons why basic training exists in the first place, to create a common standard of knowledge, and why further instruction is needed to learn a given specialty within the military. 
Hopefully that helps some. 

I wondered if the CMFB community could offer any insight or thoughts into the soft factors of the forces involved?
A quick reminder from the Manual
Regular: professional soldiers who went through extensive, quality training programs, but lack combat experience. Or, Regular can represent troops that received mediocre training that have a fair amount of combat experience.
Also @Josey Wales 
wrote a brilliant piece on The Relationship between Soft Factors, Morale & Fatigue
 
So far into my campaign build I have 40x or so German platoons, excluding Fallshirmjager, from the KG involved in various scenarios and ranked them as follows
10x Crack, 10x Veteran and 20x Regular, experience
12x Extreme, 28x with High motivation
7x with a +1 and 23x with +2 Leadership modifier
The Fallshirmjager of the 9th Regiment a mix of Green, Regular, Veteran with High motivation 0 and -1 Leadership. Who doesn't go for plan B after trying to charge uphill against dug in machine guns and then repeats, come to think of it who'd see it as a good plan A. May downgrade to -2 Leadership. 
The Fallshirmjager of the z.b.V, Crack, Extreme motivation and +2 Leadership
On the Ami side
Where units of the 394th Regt/99th Infantry Division made a stand, e.g. Lanzerath the I&R Platoon, and the M platoon on the morning of the 16th at Buchholz, I've classified as Regular, High motivation and +2 Leadership.
Realise M Platoon was brushed aside by the KG in the early hours of the 17th, but they had done a solid job the previous day. 
Other units of the 99th Division in the rest areas of Honsfeld for example, Regular, Low motivation and 0.
Where Ami reserve units made tactical errors, for example initially at Stavelot, Regular, Normal, -1.
117th and 119th Infantry Regiments of the 30th Division, Veteran, Normal,+1 
 
Any additional insight or opinion is welcomed.
 
 

The Relationship between Soft Factors, Morale & Fatigue 
 
Preface
Hi all, I'm pretty new to the BFC forums but I've been milling about over at the FGM for a little over a year. I recently created the below post and it received a lot of positive feedback to the point that it has now become one of the sitcky threads over there.
I have been prompted to post the thread here and after a conversation I had in another thread on this forum, I thought that by placing it here, then non-FGM members can have a read through without me having to copy and paste snippets from the original post at the FGM.

Introduction

Whether selecting unit attributes in a quick battle or whether in game wondering if you should use your +1 Leadership squad or +2 Motivation squad to assault a farmhouse. it can be difficult to make an informed decision due to the fact that there is not a lot of information in the manual which explains how the attributes of Experience, Leadership, Motivation and Fitness (hereby collectively known as the 'Soft Factors') affect certain game concepts such as Morale, Suppression, Firepower and Fatigue.

The forums can be slightly misleading as some posts describe exactly how something works whilst others are more how people feel something is working and it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The information below is based on a painstaking process using the editor to separate out the impact of different factors by isolating them and testing them under different conditions. By isolating and testing these factors, the mechanics behind the concepts of Morale, Suppression, Accuracy, C2 and Fatigue start to reveal themselves and after several red herrings, dead ends and lots of repetition the information below has been teased out from the game.
2 videos accompany this post to explain some of the findings, however all of the findings can be backed up by video evidence.

The editor used was the one for Fortress Italy v2.00 Engine 4.0.

SPOILER ALERT - if you prefer the murkiness of not knowing how the Soft Factors affect gameplay then please stop reading.

Having said that the following information does not quantify the game concepts affected by the soft factors but instead generalises as what is likely to happen within a certain concept under certain conditions to units with high and low values for the soft factors.


Morale

Before being able to explain the characteristics of the 'Soft Factors', it is imperative to understand how Morale works in the game.

Morale reflects the psychological state of a unit and determines its ability to respond to orders and fight.

Morale states from highest to lowest are;
 
Ok > Cautious > Nervous > Rattled > (Shaken) > (Panic) > Broken
States shown in brackets () are temporary states.

The states Ok through to Nervous are simple gradations and a Nervous unit will not behave differently from an Ok one.

Rattled troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) will dash for safety, even if they are stationary when they become Pinned (or highly suppressed).

Shaken troops will cower in their current position in the hope that the pressure will ease. They will not respond to orders or fire their weapons.

Note: Shaken troops observed running for cover have been Pinned (or highly suppressed) in the Rattled state prior to becoming Shaken.

Panicked troops will try and run away from the perceived threat to save their own hides. They will not respond to orders or fire their weapons.

Shaken and Panicked states are temporary and will eventually revert back to one of the other persistent states depending on the situation and the Experience, Leadership and Motivation of the unit.

Broken troops will respond to orders but are 'Brittle' and will quickly become Shaken or Panicked if fired upon. Broken troops will remain Brittle for the remainder of the battle irrespective of their Experience, Leadership, Motivation and Fitness.

Morale is affected by 2 conditions of the battlefield and each of these conditions impact on Morale in different ways.
 
1. Combat Stress

Combat Stress has a persistent impact on Morale and is caused by casualty build up.

Casualties sustained reduce the Morale of the unit for the remainder of the game and is therefore known as a persistent effect.

Morale affected in this way cannot be regained (except under one specific condition - see Leadership). The impact of Combat Stress depends on the number of casualties sustained over time and the Experience, Leadership and Motivation of the unit.

Not only does taking casualties effect the Morale of the unit directly impacted, other units organisationally closely connected are also affected in the same way but to a lesser extent. The persistent Morale effect of casualty build up only effects other units via organisational connection regardless of geographical proximity.

Example 1 - 1st and 2nd Sqd of 1st Plt are separated by 500m. As 1st squad sustains casualties and suffers a persistent Morale impact, 2nd Sqd will also suffer a persistent Morale impact even though it is 500m away and has no LOS to 1st Sqd.

Example 2 - 1st Sqd of 1st Plt is within 10m of 3rdSqd of 2nd Plt. 3rd Sqd of 2nd Plt receives incoming fire and half of the unit is wiped out and the Sqd is instantly Shaken. 1st Sqd of 1st Plt receives no impact to their persistent Morale state due to the fact that they are in a different Platoon. 2nd Plt would have to take far more casualties before any of 1st Plt become affected.

The way that Combat Stress is distributed to other units is vertical between different platoons and companies although it is horizontal between units of the same platoon.


2. Combat Shock

Combat Shock has a temporary impact on Morale and is caused by suppression.          Suppression has a temporary impact on Morale and the affect is removed once the suppression is lifted.

         The duration the unit remains suppressed for depends on the amount of incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained, Experience & Leadership of the unit.

         The temporary impact on Morale of being suppressed depends on the amount of incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained and the Experience, Leadership & Motivation of the unit.


Suppression Indicator

The Suppression Indicator is not merely a measure of incoming fire, more accurately it represents the units perception as to how much danger it is in based on the incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained, and the Experience, Leadership & Motivation of the unit.

Inexperienced, poorly led and unmotivated units suffer the greatest Morale impact from being suppressed whilst inexperienced and poorly led units can remain suppressed for sometime after the last shot was fired in their direction.
 
Pinned

If the Suppression Indicator becomes full the unit becomes Pinned. Stationary Pinned (or highly suppressed) troops will return fire but will not respond to movement orders until the suppression has reduced.

Troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) whilst moving to a waypoint will attempt to dash for cover. If no cover is nearby, they will hit the deck.

Rattled troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) will dash for safety, even if they are stationary when they become Pinned.

Experienced and well led troops recover from being Pinned quicker than inexperienced or poorly led troops.
  C2 - Command & Control

C2, or Command and Control, reflects the effect of having a unit being able to receive orders from and deliver information to its HQ team.

Being within a C2 link does not provide resistance to the persistent impact on Morale caused by Combat Stress.

Being within a close C2 link (Close Visual/Voice) does provide resistance to the impact on Morale caused by Combat Shock - troops within C2 range of their HQ unit are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale as they are less stressed by being shot at and the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded is reduced.

More experienced units pass on information to their buddies and superiors quicker than less experienced units. This includes verbal, visual and radio communications.

The range of visual and audio C2 is fixed for all Soft Factors, Morale and Fatigue states but will vary by terrain. In open ground;
: Voice range < 50m (unless the HQ is hiding in which case voice range drops to <25m)
: Close visual range <100m

  Experience

Experience reflects the amount of training and combat experience the unit has.

Experience levels from least experience/training to most experience are;
 
Conscript > Green > Regular > Veteran > Crack > Elite
Experience has 6 characteristics which impact on the unit;
 
1. Spotting - troops with higher experience are able to spot enemy contacts sooner than less experienced troops.

2. Firepower - higher experienced troops will engage at longer ranges and have greater accuracy than less experienced troops. They therefore tend to cause more casualties to the enemy than their less experienced counterparts during a firefight.

3. Resistance to Combat Stress - more experienced troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership and Motivation. 

4. Resistance to Combat Shock - experienced troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. They are more used to being shot at and better desensitised to the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded than less experienced troops.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership and Motivation. 

5. Suppression Recovery - experienced troops recover quicker from being suppressed (including being Pinned), they realise when the incoming fire has shifted away from them sooner than less experienced troops do.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership.

6. More experienced units pass on information to their buddies and superiors quicker than less experienced units. This includes verbal, visual and radio communications.

Leadership

Leadership reflects the quality of NCO's or other team leaders in the team or squad to organise and support the troops. Leaders can be of varying quality.

Leadership is shown as a simple modifier ranging from;
 
-2 > -1 > 0 > +1 > +2 Note: A Leadership modifier only applies to the unit with the Modifier (like all other modifiers). In other words it does not filter down to sub-ordinate units (see HQ Leadership Modifier Example).

Leadership has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under duress;
 
1. Resistance to Combat Stress - better led troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Motivation.

2. Resistance to Combat Shock - well led troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. The NCO's are better at encouraging the troops under fire and getting them to remember their training when faced with the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Motivation.

3. Suppression Recovery - well led troops recover quicker from being suppressed (including being Pinned), they realise when the incoming fire has shifted away from them sooner than poorly led troops do.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience.  Unlike the characteristics denoted by Experience, if the Leader of a team or squad is incapacitated, the Leadership value of the unit will change to that of the next most senior member who steps up as the Leader. This value can go up as well as down, for example, a unit with a +1 Leader incapacitated and replaced by a -1 Leader will suffer a hit on Morale which may be enough to cause a persistent drop in the unit's Morale state. Similarly however, if a -2 Leader is incapacitated and replaced with a 0 Leader, the unit will receive a boost in Morale which may be enough to cause a persistent increase in the unit's Morale state.

Note: In Engine v4.0 manual page 68 it states that a Leadership bonus will help "direct fire to be more effective". However, this has not been possible to reproduce using various tests. Whereas the difference in accuracy between Crack units and Green units is repeatable and obvious, the effect of Leadership on accuracy is not apparent.

  HQ Leadership Modifier Example

Reading some posts, there is a lot of confusion over how this Modifier works with HQ units. So I will clarify it here.

The Leadership (Ldrshp) modifier for all units (from Btn Hqs through to Plt Hqs down to squads and teams) only effects the unit that the modifier is for, in the same way that a -2 Fitness modifier only effects the fitness of the unit that the modifier is for.

In fact, it helps to think of the Leadership modifier in the same was as the Fitness modifier. An unfit Plt HQ does not make all of the squads in that platoon unfit aswell.

So a squad with a -1 Ldrshp modifier is not offset by the +1 Ldrshp modifier of its Plt HQ. The squad will still suffer the penalties of having -1 Ldrshp.

So how does having a Plt HQ with a poor leader affect the performance of the Platoon?

This is best illustrated with an example;
  Lt Bike is the Plt Leader of 1st Plt. He has a Leadership modifier of -2. All 3 of the squads in 1st Plt are Regulars with average ability NCO's so no Ldrshp modifiers for the squads. For reference 1st Plt HQ is also Regular.

1st Plt are on a patrol and 1st Squad makes contact with an enemy force. After a couple of minutes, the casualties from 1st Sqd begin to mount. Not only does this have a persistent Morale affect on 1st Sqd, it also has a persistent Morale affect on the other 2 Squads and the Plt HQ because of their close organisational link.

However, because the Plt HQ has Lt Bike with his -2 Ldrshp modifier, it suffers a greater impact on Morale than 2nd or 3rd Sqd does from the build up of 1st Sqds casualties.

After another minute of combat, the persistent morale states of the Platoon are;
  Plt HQ - Rattled
1st Squad - Rattled
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous As the combatants manoeuvre for position, the Plt HQ comes under fire. As the HQ team is already Rattled, it doesn't take much suppression to drop their Morale state temporarily into Shaken.

Now that the HQ unit is Shaken, the C2 link between the HQ and the 3 squads is cut. This makes the squads more vulnerable to the Morale effects of suppression (see C2 - Command & Control).

As 1st Squad is already under suppressive fire, its Morale state instanteously drops from Rattled to Shaken because of the loss of the C2 link (see C2 - Command & Control).

The HQ will take longer to recover from the supression than it normally would for a Regular unit because of its -2 Ldrshp modifier, meaning that as a consequence, the C2 link is broken for longer.

So we now have the following situation after 5 minutes;
  Plt HQ - Shaken
1st Squad - Shaken
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous If we rewind the clock and give Lt Bike +2 Ldrshp modifier, then re-run under exactly the same circumstances the situation would have been after 5 minutes;
  Plt HQ - Nervous
1st Squad - Rattled
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous This is because the Plt HQ would not have been so affected by the casualty build up of 1st Sqd so that when the HQ came under some suppressive fire, it was still in a high enough Morale state not to become Shaken by it and therefore the C2 link between the HQ and the Squads and the benefits it brings (see C2 - Command & Control) would still be intact.



Motivation

Motivation reflects the units dedication to the cause and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for their squad mates and commanders.

Motivation from best to worst ranges as;
 
Poor > Low > Normal > High > Extreme > Fanatic Motivation has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under duress;
 
1. Resistance to Combat Stress - better motivated troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Leadership.

2. Resistance to Combat Shock - highly motivated troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. They are less psychologically affected by being shot at and better desensitised to the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded than their less motivated counterparts.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Leadership.

3. Resistance to Panic and Breaking - highly motivated troops can be Shaken but are less likely to Panic and try to run from the fight to save themselves. They are also more likely to recover to a positive morale state after being Shaken than less motivated troops and are less likely to become Broken and Brittle.

Fanatic units will not surrender.
Fatigue

Fatigue is the physical effect of running around and using up energy.

Fatigue states best to worst are;
 
Rested > Ready > Tiring > Tired > Fatigued > Exhausted
Tired troops cannot Fast Move.

Fatigued troops cannot Fast, Assault or Hunt Move.

Exhausted troops cannot Fast, Assault, Hunt or Quick Move.

More tired troops do not move slower than less tired troops moving at the same movement command, ie Unfit troops moving at Fast Move, cover distance at the same rate as Fit troops moving at Fast Move, they just won't be able to keep up that pace for as long.

Keeping troops stationary recovers their fatigue relatively quickly. Hiding troops has no additional benefit.

Troops will recover fatigue whilst at the Move but it is at a slower rate.

Experience, Leadership and Motivation do not effect Fatigue states or recovery times.

Fatigue has no effect on Morale either from Combat Stress or Combat Shock.

Fatigue has no effect on accuracy nor the range at which targets are engaged at.


Fitness

Fitness represents a units physical resistance to Fatigue.

Fitness states from best to worst are;
 
Fit > Weakened > Unfit  
Fitness has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under physical exertion;

1. Fitter troops tire less quickly from Fast Move (sprinting), Slow Move (crawling) and Quick Move (jogging).

2. Fitter troops recover from tired states sooner than less fit troops.

3. Weakened and Unfit troops recover fatigue on the Move extremely slowly.  
Closing

All of the conclusions made above have been arrived at through thorough isolation and testing procedures which can be backed up by video evidence.

There is more stuff in the CMx2 engine to dig up than what has been uncovered here but for now I'm unable to go further into this rabbit hole.

Hopefully the information presented here clears up some of the historical confusions that have been around on the various forums. It may also affect the way in which unit purchases are thought about, and hopefully it allows players to make better informed tactical decisions and enhance the way their game is played.

Josey Wales updated 24/09/17

You do realise you have destroyed the British Army from within;
Sgt: "Perkins what the hell are you doing? You were supposed to be on patrol 10 minutes ago!" 
Perkins: "Err yep.... be right with you sarge... just got to split off this scout team, give them a hunt command"
Sgt: "Perkins get your backside in gear!"
Perkins: "Yep yep, just calculating the turn.... just got to quickly watch this replay" 
Sgt: 'PERKINNNNSS!"
Seriously though, really interesting to see this. Well done. 

Bullets to the left of me, bombs to the right, here I am stuck in the middle with you...
There's at least two aircraft flying overhead dropping bombs and raining .50 caliber rounds. Three bombs so far. The Ostwind is working overtime. No sign yet that I've scored any hits but those large 37mm shells are from the Ostwind are causing the aircraft to veer off target most of the time.
North
As per my little teaser I thought I had this flank in the bag. The Panzer IV started roaming shooting up every Soviet infantry spot it had. Then out of no where a heavy round at close range took it out in one hit from a gap between the buildings. I've had no spots in that location and swear a tank couldn't squeeze through that gap!
Soviet watches Volkssturm, Panzer watches Soviet.


Then he added some fuel to the fire.

Meanwhile KG @Bootie moves across the main street and starts a close range firefight with handful of troops. Their morale is already shattered and they break quickly when coming under fire. Their leader rouses them multiple times but they'd rather bury their heads in the ruined buildings than shoot their guns.
Meanwhile the Soviet aircraft are focusing on my forces at the end of the street on my side of the map but the only kill they've got is a lone ammo truck.

 
Centre
Actually very quiet. The JzPzIV amongst the other tank wrecks is still safe and has been destroying a number of infantry remnants but nothing much else has happened.
 
South
Elvis takes many casualties as my PanzerIV in the south moves up and saves KG @benpark. It then comes under attack from the aircraft with many hits, but luckily only strafing and not from bombs.

Meanwhile Elvis drops a heavy load of mortars right on top of OBJ Elvis causing a few casualties and causing my entire 'Wall of Aluminum' to hunker down and panic again. THye poke their heads up just in time to see Elvis' recon element that is quickly taken down.
"... it was in this moment that Ivan realised, he f****** up."

The main attack in the south comes but not where I expected. I run into the main Soviet infantry force which is still on the main road creeping forward behind the wrecked T-34. A brutal short range firefight opens up but my last Panther in the area manages to spot the fire and unloads MG and HE fire into the blob of infantry, breaking up the approach. I'm counting my lucky stars here since my fallschirmjaeger are questionable at this point. I'm surprised Elvis had no idea I still had the Panther here.

With that I send the last PanzerIV in the south (that just survived the air attack), down the main Soviet road to join the JzPzIV. It's time to go hunting that OT-34. Revenge will be surved this night.

Finally the map. The number of stars reflecting enemy fire really picked up in these last ten minutes.

10 mins on the clock.

In memoriam KG @Josey Wales
KG Josey Wales has been wiped out to a vehicle. Well except the Ostwind but it's done nothing all game.
North
Up first just a nice scenic shot that I think summarizes the upcoming module - minus the snow.

Josey Wale's last surviving halftrack saw an opening as the lend lease Sherman on my far left flank pounded some infantry from KG @benpark. The Sherman's turret was facing away from the halftrack so with bravery it rolled forward. Mistakes were made. It easily got into position, aimed and was elevating the long 75mm gun barrel, but Elvis had been sneaky over the end turn. The Sherman began reversing to break contact with my infantry and in the process swung the hull and therefore the turret back in the direction of the my halftrack. The halftrack came off second best with two quick 76mm rounds through the hull.


(Centre right of the gun shield. A thin piece of metal doesn't protect much against a 76mm round. )
Payback was quick, but not against the Sherman. The tank retreated further back into the main road that has been Elvis' main logistics line all battle. It did however give up it's overwatch position across the park that dominates the north east side of the map.  @DoubleD's Panzer IV (minus DoubleD himself who sits dead in his commander's seat!) rolled into the park and took out a Soviet AT gun and some infantry that hand been loitering for a while.

It then successfully rolled back to safety after popping smoke. Unsure why which has me a little concerned. The green crew is rattled following the death of it's commander but it saw something. Back in it's position of safety, it immediately came under fire from a Soviet mortar position. A few close calls but one some scuffed paintwork.

Meanwhile elements of KG Benpark are setting up to enter the park. There is preciously little Soviet defence now on this side ( I hope they haven't traveled south) so time to apply some more pressure. Elements of KG Benpark are occupying the old Sherman position with their panzerfausts, daring the Soviets to come back to the park. To the far north, Elvis rains down some off map mortars (I assume). Takes out a kubelwagon and some infantry gun crew but I think it's falling well off it's intended target which is the Benpark's infantry closer to his lines.
Centre
Strangely all silent. KG @Bootie has pressed some Volkssturm forward and even the crossroads of death appears vacant of enemy troops. Probably not the best shots but they hold a lot of panzerfausts covering the intersection. They are also doing a little to much thinking for their commander's liking...

KG Double D is just about ready to spring it's trap.
South
The final KG Benpark platoon has crossed successfully to flank to Soviet's trying to take OBJ Beer. I'm getting eyes on a lot of Soviet corpses which I don't remember killing. Mortars actually did something other than damage some buildings?


And then their brothers in arms show up and try to even the score with their SMG's. The one positive is I think these were troops ELvis was setting up to assault OBJ Beer which I don't think my 'Wall of Steel' of @mjkerner's fallschirmjaeger would be able to hold. Elvis did conduct a probing movement towards OBJ Beer since my last update, and even though they were dispatched my troops still panicked and went to ground. I don't think Elvis realises this. My 'wall of steel' is actually a 'wall of aluminum'.

20 minutes remaining.
Finally the map and the next moves.

KG DoubleD will launch it's attack once one of it's tanks crosses the park. We'll hit that Sherman from both sides while covering the approach the SU-85 in the south may take to react.
KG @Hapless is firing some smoke rounds and will race past the Su-85 to assist Benpark's pioneers. Hopefully he won't be too late.
KG Bootie surprisingly holds the centre of the whole operation.

With 30 odd minutes on the clock it looks like Elvis is making his move. Update soon. It's kind of lucky the fighting was ramping up again, the pixeltruppen were starting to contemplate the war...

 

No plans to sorry. DAR's have always been picture and forum post affairs. Some of the magic has to be left for when you get your own hands onto the new content.

One, Two, Three Tank...

North and Centre
We start in the centre of the map. So many Soviet tanks went boom over the last few turns. @DoubleD came to fore and did their job as a number of Soviet armour elements tried to reposition and break up my control of the main roads. A Sherman, T-34 and a SU-85 all went boom in the space of two minutes.



It wasn't a complete walk in the park as KG @benpark lost most of a platoon in about 30 seconds. One of the pioneer platoons was lining up to enter buildings along the main street and pick off some known infantry taking pot shots at the Volkssturm. They went in and...


It was a red cross blood bath.
@Josey Wales personally charged forward, covered by DoubleD's PzIV to seek revenge for poor benpark's men. A blazing MG34 and 20mm cannon and close range started picking off Soviet soldiers popping up in every window. As the turns rolled around the Soviet anti-tank rifles started appearing but Josey became a machine.

KG @Bootie and about one and half platoons from KG benpark hold the position closest to OBJ Jaegermeister. It's a nasty little block of flats that will become a SMG paradise if Elvis ventures across the main road. The pioneers have blasted some walls allowing easy access between the buildings out of line of sight of the enemy. With Elvis' armour now concentrated in the south, (more on that next), I'm pretty confident I can hold this and get shots off at anything being sent south to reinforce his main effort.

(You're meant to look towards the enemy guys...)
And for something a little humorous. Some Soviet tank crewmen and the Bootie's Volkssturm decided to both put down their rifles and surrender to each other. I think they cottoned on that it was May 1945...



South
@mjkerner's Fallschirmjager are putting up a stiff fight but whenever one of the five Soviet tanks looking their way gets a spot they fall under a hail of bullets and HE fire. Saying that they can only see one face of the objective building complex so most of the troops are still there to put up a fight when Elvis decides to get in close. His tanks cant move without being barraged by tanks and recoiless rifles and I'm sure Elvis knows this. The clokc is ticking so I'm expecting a big final push at some point. (Oh and the late @Hapless's surviving crewmen continue to do him proud).

 
Finally the map. OBJ Jaegermeister is out of the question now but I still have the strength to old OBJ Beer.

It's Getting Bloody
I'm sad to report the Lieutenant @Hapless is no longer with us. He took a stray burst of machine gun fire observing the situation from his PzIV cupola. More on that shortly but first here's the current situation...

KG DoubleD and KG @Josey Wales have had their roles reversed. There are now at least 2x T34's covering Elvis' objective so sending across a bunch of armoured cars became a touch dicey. The two panzers from KG DoubleD is moving across to the far right of the map while the armoured cars take up positions to cover the north south main road in the centre right of the map. Honestly, I was incredibly shocked to see this road was open to quickly went to lock it down. A lend lease Sherman popped smoke and tried to cross but was taken out by the JzPzIV's.


A second Sherman appeared and the armoured cars with their 75mm guns opened fire. The rounds went slightly over it's head! The Sherman then methodically popped all four armoured cars from KG Josey Wales. Josey himself is alright but and is moving forward with the second half of his KG.




Meanwhile, KG @Bootie sends up an AT team to try and pop the Sherman but comes under fire. Well... that was close.

Meanwhile in the south, KG @Hapless exchanges fire with another T34. The PzIII with it's short 75mm gets a number of hits and causes at least one crew casualty but they lack the penetration capacity to do any noticeable damage. As the T34 is backing up, a burst of MG fire takes out Hapless himself. It was honestly a great shot, a stream of bullets arcing over the PzIII to hit the unlucky tank commander in the vehicle behind. Second image below is Hapless' last moments.

Meanwhile KG @mjkerner sends up another squad of fallschirmjager to flank the Soviet SMG platoon and takes them fully by surprise. Mjkerner's troops are holding, exposing minimal numbers to the enemy from a forward platoon, while a flexible reserve platoon as moving to engage where it's safe(r) to do so.

 
As the last turn comes to an end, another juicy target shows up in front of the JzPzIV's. Mmmm... maybe Elvis doesn't know that KG DoubleD is on this right flank???

 
 
 
 

You do realise you have destroyed the British Army from within;
Sgt: "Perkins what the hell are you doing? You were supposed to be on patrol 10 minutes ago!" 
Perkins: "Err yep.... be right with you sarge... just got to split off this scout team, give them a hunt command"
Sgt: "Perkins get your backside in gear!"
Perkins: "Yep yep, just calculating the turn.... just got to quickly watch this replay" 
Sgt: 'PERKINNNNSS!"
Seriously though, really interesting to see this. Well done. 

You do realise you have destroyed the British Army from within;
Sgt: "Perkins what the hell are you doing? You were supposed to be on patrol 10 minutes ago!" 
Perkins: "Err yep.... be right with you sarge... just got to split off this scout team, give them a hunt command"
Sgt: "Perkins get your backside in gear!"
Perkins: "Yep yep, just calculating the turn.... just got to quickly watch this replay" 
Sgt: 'PERKINNNNSS!"
Seriously though, really interesting to see this. Well done. 

Super kool seeing our beloved CM being used by the actual military! 👍

5 Mins in Update

The Map (North is north this time around )

KG DoubleD has managed to get into position first and effectively cut the map in half for Soviet armour. There is a small back alley way around to avoid their line of fire but it will be traffic chaos for anything more than a platoon and slow BFCElvis down.
KGMjkerner and KG Hapless have have reached the Beer first! This I'm a little surprised at honestly as I thought the Soviets would be tank riding to the objective like I was. Plenty of arcs of fire for my AT weapons and KG DoubleD covers the only other known firing solutions to their left.
Given the situation, I'm throwing two thirds of KG Josey Wales into the fray. They will advance along the northern map edge and support KG Benpark in the future. This force will be the one to pressure KG Jagermeister from the north. I'll wait a little bit though as the big unknown for the moment is what has BFCElvis got coming at me from this approach.
Waiting game for a little while as I try to gather more intel.

(Budbaker has his comics… but I’m not an artist so expect memes)
Welcome to the Fire and Rubble German DAR as I take on BFCElvis and his pesky Soviets in a very late war May 1945 urban engagement in Berlin… and it’s somehow snowing. The war has effectively ended but my guys didn’t get the memo, so our adhoc combined arms force is going to push forward into no man’s land one last time.
The mission is a simple meeting engagement. Secure Objective Jägermeister and Objective Berliner Weisse, while holding our own starting Objective, codenamed Vodka. The Soviets deploy around Jägermeister.
The map is a very small slice of Benpark’s absolute monster 2x master maps covering the centre of Berlin. Honestly each master map with no units took my PC around 25 mins just to load in 3D preview mode. The part of Berlin we’ll be fighting over is towards the north east corner of the eastern map. If I’ve got my bearings right, I think we’re close to Alexander Platz and a hostel I stayed at back in 2017… I digress.

The map from above. Well... the right way up because I'm from Australia... (I took the picture looking south <facepalm>)

 
The forces…
To show off the variety of new kit I’ve done away with forming a coherent force for a little bit of everything. Command and control is going to suck.
These small forces are organised into small kampfgruppes of between a platoon to a company in strength.
KG @benpark – In honour of the mapmaker himself, he commands the central force which is a company of Waffen SS Pioneers with enough demolition charges to level a few of his meticulously placed buildings. Part of his force will however need to remain behind to cover Obj Vodka if it all falls apart. The bulk of the force will advance. (Benpark's force highlighted in the picture below).
KG @mjkerner – Commands the Fallschirmjager who will be the main infantry force trying to take and hold Obj Berliner Weisse. (Picture of the KG that will take the beer objective).
 

KG @Hapless – Will be working in tandem with KG Mjkerner to secure the beer. This adhoc Panzer Platoon (more on that later) includes a Panther, PzIV’s and a PzIII. Yep a PzIII. For all the grief I gave poor Steve I had to include at least one in the DAR.
KG @DoubleD – The other adhoc Panzer Platoon is kitted out with 2x JzPz IV/70’s (including one of the ugly versions), a Panther and a Panzer IV. They will be initially responsible to heading up my left flank to get into a good position to effectively cut the map in half. Oh and something new...
 

KG @Bootie – The local Volkssturm unit. Initially will be responsible to provide security to KG DoubleD who will be exposed in an urban environment.
KG @Josey Wales – The adhoc Armoured Car unit. Will be holding back for the moment but will be used as a mobile reserve depending on the situation. Oh and some weird ones...

And I’ve just noticed a bug. Every single unit is set to typical/default ‘Green’ experience. The joys of betas.
 
The Enemy
We’ve picked forces in the editor and not the quick battle generator so some variety can be included in the DAR – particularly on this side. Benpark has ensured it’s roughly balanced. I’m expecting a solid Battalion (+) of Soviet infantry coming at me and probably a company or more of tanks. Probably Lend Lease heavy….
We’ve sort of agreed to avoid major spending on off board assets and focus more on the visible units.
 
Da Plan
KG Mjkerner and Hapless have the initial glory as they race to secure Obj Berliner Weisse, (Green and blue). If Hapless can get his tanks into position first it will be a big help as we wait for the foot slogging infantry to catch up.
KG DoubleD probably has the most crucial task of trying to cut the map in two, (Red). That major street running through the centre of the map will be key. It’s closer to BFCElvis’ deployment zone so I’m expecting Soviet tanks to roll past it or already be on that road by the time I arrive. But if I can split up to Soviet armoured force or I’m real lucky and BFCElvis plays cautious and leads with his infantry DoubleD’s JzPzIV’s will have a field day.
KG Bootie (white) and his Volkssturm will cover KG DoubleD, while KG Benpark (orange) will advance with the intent of pressuring Jagermeister. KG Josey Wales will remain behind in the deployment zone ready to move to where he and his armoured cars are required. Either helping Benpark around Obj Jagermeister, or to backup Hapless and Mjkerner around Obj Berliner Weisse.
The map….

That’s about it for now. Feel free to post any queries below but obviously no promises that I’m allowed to answer anything. Also, the usual caveat that all screenshots you see here are taken from a beta so everything you see is subject to change. I’ll try to avoid the placeholder art where I can but who knows, maybe we’ll have purple Panzer IV’s in the final build.

Please elaborate on this since in America memorization is used as a technique only for items like multiplication tables and at an early age. Talk to any educator - memorization teaches focus at a young age. It is a basic tool. Then it can be used a lot less when kids move on to high school with reading writing and and math skills learned in elementary school in place. Some skills require memorization so those skills become second nature early in life. And last a lifetime. 
As far as "understanding" - that is not the role of public education unless it's related to (for example) a 10th grader understanding why the moon orbits around the Earth and at what distance. But the understanding you are mentioning implies political indoctrination. Youth will form their political ideas based on life experiences, not sitting in a classroom falling asleep to Plato's Cave. You can't go very far in life without memorization at an early age; but a life can certainly crash upon accepting the "understanding" and drinking the kool aid from those who have no interest in anyone as an individual. Those who are just trying to keep their tenured jobs teaching social science as if it were a natural science . 
Kevin