CMBN Pacific: Makin Atoll

[LongLeftFlank]

Ok, I'll give it a chance if I get an opportunity.

[Erwin]

I guarantee anyone who sees the MY WAY movie that they will be impressed by the depiction of Japanese fanaticism and the desire to win or die. Knowing about it intellectually is not like seeing it enacted on the big screen.

It will definitely put players in the "right" frame of mind regardless of which side they play.

(Yes, I am getting a % of box office net lol.)

[Boche]

I guarantee anyone who sees the MY WAY movie that they will be impressed by the depiction of Japanese fanaticism and the desire to win or die. Knowing about it intellectually is not like seeing it enacted on the big screen.

It will definitely put players in the "right" frame of mind regardless of which side they play.

(Yes, I am getting a % of box office net lol.)

Hey, this is how we get to watch great films, thanks tons for the recomendation

[LongLeftFlank]

OK boys, take it over to the movies thread. Nothin' ta see heeyah! Oh, you already did. Cheers.

Screenie for tonight: Good old Uncle Sugar -- always firstest with the mostest. Sorry for the low rez - I need to be on Fastest for my elderly PC to handle 1-1/2 battalions moving and shooting on a heavily jungled 1500x750 map (plus Japanese opposition).

Dress rehearsal minute 26: half of the 2/165th is now safely ashore, not unscathed (3 casualties) but in reasonable shape. A few poorly aimed artillery shots sail in now and then but the remaining forces should be on the beach within the next 5 minutes.

The weary and battered (nearly all Shaken/Rattled/Broken, 15% casualties) men of the first wave have done their job, and look forward to being relieved. They've discovered at least 6 Japanese fortification complexes and lost about a dozen men probing them, even with Shermans and Alligator .50s to support them. But the newly landed forces are going to need some time to get reorganized for the big push inland.

[LongLeftFlank]

Air clipper view of YELLOW beach, minute 28. In case you ever wondered what an entire Battalion Landing Team looks like.

[LongLeftFlank]

Maybe Kettler's kibitzing is getting under my skin (just kidding, John), but I decided to see if I could reskin the M5 halftrack to look a little more like a LVT Alligator. After trying out a couple of vehicles (including Churchill VII and a BMP-1 from CMSF, sans turrets), I settled on the M7B1 Priest, sans 105mm gun (I alpha channeled it invisible).

.

You get a few oddball visual artifacts such as a "Fred Flintstone" effect with passengers sticking down into the ground, the .50cal gunner sitting well backwards of his weapon and the shots coming out of the (invisible) cannon barrel. But it ain't bad. I think I will include it in my PTO mod pack.

Here's a real LVT-4. At the time of GALVANIC, none had turrets or rear doors.

[John Kettler]

LongLeftFlank,

Re BLT,wow! Re Alligator, what is that thing to the left of the gunner in the image? It looks almost like a loaded Milan, but it's too small in diameter. I can't connect it with anything on a Priest, either.

Congrats on getting Relief of JOKER 3 out!

Regards,

John Kettler

[Field Marshal Blücher]

So do you give the Priest no ammunition to prevent it from firing the invisible 105mm?

Incidentally, this seems like an awesome project. I never play battalion-sized scenarios, but I might have to make an exception for this one!

-FMB

[LongLeftFlank]

That's the Ryujin magic; it's still a halftrack for all game purposes. However, for purposes of visual display only, it's a Priest. The passengers are shown in different places but again, it's just an illusion. And since the 105 is tbe primary armament on the Priest, but the .50 is primary on the HT, the animation is executed for the 105; it rotates to impossible angles to shoot MG bursts. that's why I rendered it invisible. The M2HB in the pulpit isn't shown as manned since the M5 has no secondary weapon.People can make up their own minds whether they want to see the halftrack (WYSIWYG) or a more amtrac-looking vehicle which occasionally delivers an odd visual like a muzzle flame out the side of the hull. it has zero impact on gameplay. Just a neat graphical trick showing the flexibility of this wonderful game.

I'm going to finish my playtest with this mod in place to see if it triggers any other weirdnesses or game crashes, but since I haven't mucked with the code, just renamed certain files, it should work.

[Field Marshal Blücher]

That's the Ryujin magic; it's still a halftrack for all game purposes. However, for purposes of visual display only, it's a Priest. The passengers are shown in different places but again, it's just an illusion. And since the 105 is tbe primary armament on the Priest, but the .50 is primary on the HT, the animation is executed for the 105; it rotates to impossible angles to shoot MG bursts. that's why I rendered it invisible. The M2HB in the pulpit isn't shown as manned since the M5 has no secondary weapon.People can make up their own minds whether they want to see the halftrack (WYSIWYG) or a more amtrac-looking vehicle which occasionally delivers an odd visual like a muzzle flame out the side of the hull. it has zero impact on gameplay. Just a neat graphical trick showing the flexibility of this wonderful game.

I'm going to finish my playtest with this mod in place to see if it triggers any other weirdnesses or game crashes, but since I haven't mucked with the code, just renamed certain files, it should work.

Ah, I think I see--it's still a halftrack for gameplay purposes, but it appears like a Priest whose appearance has been further modified by rendering the 105mm invisible? Clear as mud but if I understand it correctly seems like a cool solution.

[LongLeftFlank]

"

" (Always Should Be Some Mod You Really Love). I did manage to find a Blur vid that wasn't TOO, umm, flaming.

[LongLeftFlank]

Here's another possibility: the CMSF BMP-1, with turret and skirts rendered invisible. I applied Mangouste's Russian green and slapped on a US star so it wouldn't look quite so much like a refugee from the Syrian Republican Guard....

The "boat" shape is more amphib-like than the Priest mod above, and the length is about right although the silhouette is on the low side. I may also need to scrub out some of the surface textures that scream "BMP". I've browsed the hex editor file as well, but there's nothing there that would let me easily swap in an alternate superstructure. The vehicle files aren't as easy for a non code geek to work with as the infantry textures.

Again, for comparison, the real animal....

[Erwin]

I admire your innovative ideas to get the look you want (or close to it).

So we can use mods/vehicles etc from CMSF in CMBN???

[Field Marshal Blücher]

I admire your innovative ideas to get the look you want (or close to it).

So we can use mods/vehicles etc from CMSF in CMBN???

Just appearances, of course, but apparently, yes.

[LongLeftFlank]

As I mull over my work, I am actually leaning toward the M7 version; in spite of the more amphibious shape, the BMP just looks too alien, low slung and modern. If I could slap a superstructure of some kind of it, or at least some M2HB mounts, it might pass but my coding skills aren't up to the job. The stumpier BMD might look better, but I never bought the CMSF Brits module.

OK, enough procrastination. Pour another glass of Chianti and get the battalion sorted for the big push inland.

[LongLeftFlank]

My father (RIP, Dad) was there as a BAR-carrying grunt with the 105th/27 Inf. Div. Strange to think that when he was 35 years younger than I am now, he went through that (and Saipan)...and I'm playing a game about it at age 58!

MJ, I think I just found your Dad; he's lightly wounded.

He was walking point when his half squad discovered a complex of buried dugouts just behind the beach, in the smouldering ruins of a barracks adjacent to a coconut grove. The occupants are about 70 shell-shocked and half-clothed Jap and Korean construction workers, but a few are armed with rifles and are using them. They fled the first bunker, but another two behind it caught the flanking element by surprise, taking down 4 Yanks. The platoon leader who was directing the attack has vanished in the confusion.

Even the combined direct fire of a tank and an Alligator .50 at point blank hasn't exterminated these sonsabitches. The Company CO has now come forward, and is ordering your dad's battered unit back into the breach to cover a bazooka team. Their ugly job is to systematically kill everyone in those bunkers, whether they're fighting or not. Just in case you ever wondered why your Dad never talked much about the war.....

[Boche]

Yeha I Think the m7 version is the better one

[LongLeftFlank]

So here's a big picture, illustrating the not inconsiderable tactical command problems in securing a beachhead, sorting out your forces and moving on your objectives. I guess it might be a spoiler if the scenario were fully finished and you, dear Reader, had a photographic memory, but let's risk it because it's interesting.

In this case, CPT Leonard of Company F, 2nd BLT (165th) is supposed to cut off and advance on the West Tank Barrier, supported by G Company and tanks (platoon axes of advance = green arrows). This requires him to march west, lateral to the beach, and then to cross the island, clearing 2 settlements. One of which we have discovered is enemy fortified, courtesy of MJK's dad.....

However, owing to the unexpected ordeal slogging across the reef, his platoons (highlighted units) have arrived scattered all along YELLOW beach. About half of them have gotten involved hunting down scattered enemy who are still sniping from the jungle into the 100 meter wide beachhead (US perimeter = light green lines). Moreover, the east-west road is a mess of shell craters and vehicles are still frequently bogging in the miserable conditions.

[LongLeftFlank]

Playtest DJ pick for tonight:

a proto-punk classic!

Green troops advance into the jungle. One grenade could kill the lot of them.

[LongLeftFlank]

End, Minute 30: Rifle Companies E,F and G are more or less reunited and commencing their various moves inland, moving cautiously. And while I suppose this thread has become somewhat repetitive and self-indulgent, I wouldn't put all this work in if I wasn't proud of it. I just never get sick of shots like this -- they remind me of that spectacular long take from The Longest Day, one of the greatest moments in military cinema. Maybe I'll try a FRAPS clip in a bit.

[Boche]

So good...really outdone yourself mate.

[Fizou]

You should be proude. Looking forward to try it out when playtest etc is finished

[Erwin]

And basically, here is Vietnam...

[LongLeftFlank]

Definitely an apt comparison. Most of WWII Pacific post Guadalcanal was profoundly asymetrical.... i.e. there really wasn't any question that the big white men and their infinite firepower were going to end up in control of the battlefield, given enough time and courage, just at what price in blood. And at the end of the day, I hate to say it, that's probably why BFC won't do PTO or Vietnam.

Not that the latter, especially, didn't provide plenty of challenging tactical engagements where the US found itself in a losing position in the firefights and having to pull its men out of the vise. But the tactical balance (either side can "win" in terms of routing the enemy, vs "on points") that generally exists in the ETO is hard to replicate in Asia without getting fairly obscure (Kokoda, early Guadalcanal, Imphal/Kohima, Korean War, A Shau, Long Vieng, etc.)

[Heinrich505]

LLF,

I'm loving it. Your screenshots are superb and you should be proud of the work.

Heinrich505