Combat Mission: TTP

[Bud Backer]

Great info, SLIM. 

Not a biggie but I'll mention it for completeness sake - around 3:20- 3:40 there were two instances where a word or part of a sentence were chopped, presumably while editing. 

It's comprehensible so doesn't require fixing unless you're fussy and want it perfectly smooth.

One thing the video doesn't cover - and I can start a new thread for this if you prefer - is I don't understand the difference between Smoke and WP in game, and how do make the game fire one over the other. I don't know if you want to cover that here or later or not at all. 

Edited February 2, 2016 by Bud_B

[Badger73]

Great info, SLIM. 

Not a biggie but I'll mention it for completeness sake - around 3:20- 3:40 there were two instances where a word or part of a sentence were chopped, presumably while editing. 

It's comprehensible so doesn't require fixing unless you're fussy and want it perfectly smooth.

One thing the video doesn't cover - and I can start a new thread for this if you prefer - is I don't understand the difference between Smoke and WP in game, and how do make the game fire one over the other. I don't know if you want to cover that here or later or not at all. 

I noticed the same glitch as well as a moment of police sirens accompanying your squad drills!  Not worth fixing.

Your troops have passed inspection.  Load 'em up and move 'em out!  Thank you for these tutorials.  I learn something new with every one of them.

[General Jack Ripper]

Not a biggie but I'll mention it for completeness sake - around 3:20- 3:40 there were two instances where a word or part of a sentence were chopped, presumably while editing. 

One thing the video doesn't cover is I don't understand the difference between Smoke and WP in game, and how do make the game fire one over the other.

I don't know if you want to cover that here or later or not at all. 

I'm not fussy about smoothness, I was trying to cut out any sharp breath intakes, moments of silence, or any other unneeded words or sentences to keep the length down as much as possible. A few syllables were unfortunate casualties, I'll do better on the next recording.

The major difference between Smoke and WP is the rate of smoke generation, and the delivery method. WP has a bursting charge to scatter the phosphorous and quickly generate a good smoke screen. Regular Smoke is more like the smoke grenades, it burns a materiel that creates the smoke. I'm not fully conversant on the specifics, I'll be doing some research before I cover it.

I do have plans to cover specific weapons and ammunition later on in this series. There will be a few more parts to Chapter One, then Chapter Two will be entitled "Employing Fires" and will cover the individual weapons, as well as common supporting weapons used at the Platoon level. Basically, all of Chapter Two will be 'how to use your weapons'.

I noticed the same glitch as well as a moment of police sirens accompanying your squad drills!  Not worth fixing.

There was no way to fix it aside from recording again. Personally, I don't use words very often, so recording a voiceover is an effort.

Thanks for your feedback earlier Badger, it closely mirrored my own thoughts, which means it must be most excellent feedback indeed!

[Bud Backer]

I'm not fussy about smoothness, I was trying to cut out any sharp breath intakes, moments of silence, or any other unneeded words or sentences to keep the length down as much as possible. A few syllables were unfortunate casualties, I'll do better on the next recording.

Please don't feel I'm being critical, I think what you've done is awesome, your voiceover is clear. I just didn't know if what I heard would concern you. It doesn't, and that's fine.

 

The major difference between Smoke and WP is the rate of smoke generation, and the delivery method. WP has a bursting charge to scatter the phosphorous and quickly generate a good smoke screen. Regular Smoke is more like the smoke grenades, it burns a materiel that creates the smoke. I'm not fully conversant on the specifics, I'll be doing some research before I cover it.

I know in the real world generally about smoke and WP. What I meant was when units have both smile and WP plus HE, how does one get them to use a specific one over the other. If you're going to cover that in the future that would be terrific, and appreciated.

Thanks again for your effort, these are real gems!

[General Jack Ripper]

I know in the real world generally about smoke and WP. What I meant was when units have both smile and WP plus HE, how does one get them to use a specific one over the other. If you're going to cover that in the future that would be terrific, and appreciated.

Thanks again for your effort, these are real gems!

By all means, criticize! It's part of the scientific process after all, and is necessary to keep up the quality of information presented in these videos. My intention is to strive towards the best quality I can manage, given the fact I have no real setup, merely my bedroom and a headset. Any advancements in quality I can manage, I will do my best to make happen, but I can't be aware of potential improvements without receiving this feedback.

The Smoke vs. WP topic will require some testing on my part. I have no idea how the TacAI chooses between the two types of ammunition.

 

Aside from that, here is the second half of the video. I've skipped to posting a final cut, done along the same lines as the previous part:

Once again, this will stay unlisted for review purposes before going public. Enjoy.

Edited February 5, 2016 by SLIM

[MOS:96B2P]

Once again, this will stay unlisted for review purposes before going public. Enjoy.

As always interesting stuff.  I noticed you had German two fire team squads in the video.  Some German TOE does have three fire team squads. The one I use in most PBEM Quick Battles is: On the purchase screen, Mech. infantry selected, Panzergrenadier Battalion (Motorized), then down below select the panzerschreck option.  This will give you three German fire teams per squad.

I just mention this in case you wanted, for comparison purposes, to have German three fire team squads for your examples.  

Nice job on these videos.  This was a great idea.  I hope at some point down the road you can put in some TACSOPs / Drills.  Example: Using the squads smoke grenades to obscure and then cross a linear danger area, attack with bounding fire teams, clearing a building etc.       

Edited February 5, 2016 by MOS:96B2P

[General Jack Ripper]

As always interesting stuff.  I noticed you had German two fire team squads in the video.  Some German TOE does have three fire team squads. I just mention this in case you wanted, for comparison purposes, to have German three fire team squads for your examples.  

Nice job on these videos.  This was a great idea.  I hope at some point down the road you can put in some TACSOPs / Drills.  Example: Using the squads smoke grenades to obscure and then cross a linear danger area, attack with bounding fire teams, clearing a building etc.       

I do know of German units with 3 team squads, but I wanted these early videos to use bog standard Infantry Rifle Platoons. It's an artifact of my initial design plan, which rapidly changed from then to now. I left in the two-team squad mostly because you'll see that squad type very often, and I've noticed a trend among new players (and some old ones) of never splitting squads. I wanted to point out the fact that even if your squad only has two teams, you can still do things with it.

I will definitely be doing videos with some common drills/maneuvers. The very next video in the series will be showing the four "F's" in a simplistic fashion, utilizing the 'Tactical Maneuver', 'Components of Firepower', and 'Splitting Squads into effective Teams' concepts already covered.

My initial written outline for this series has basically become obsolete, but I definitely still want to cover 'Tactical Decision-Making', 'Combat Power', and 'Situational Awareness' before I jump full-tilt into battle drills and combined arms. Granted, I'm not a qualified instructor by any means, so the best I can do is go by the book, and collect lots of feedback.

I might ask for volunteers to help make demonstrations, but that won't be until later down the line. Of course, anything you guys want to submit, in the form of TACSOP's, Drills, Rule of Thumb, etc. is more than welcome.

The more varied knowledge we can cram into this thing, the better it will be for everyone.

[Badger73]

    <snipped>

Once again, this will stay unlisted for review purposes before going public. Enjoy.

Your men have passed my inspections.  Load 'em up and move 'em out!  Well done.  Thank you, again.

[Bud Backer]

Very nice, SLIM! You're showing me things that I never really considered before. I split squads regularly, but without the depth of understanding that you're imparting here.

One thing I don't quite follow is when you mentioned that splitting off the German squad leader is a bad idea as the bulk of firepower comes from his SMG - I understand that, but I don't see how I could split him off alone. He always is with that first team, isn't he? That would mean he is with 3-4 other men? I don't see how I can split the squad leader off with one other man.

[General Jack Ripper]

I understand that, but I don't see how I could split him off alone. He always is with that first team, isn't he?

Sorry, I should have clarified when I said "my normal rule" because my rule of thumb is to split an assault team containing the squad leader, and use it as a dedicated non-combat observation element. (See the Part 3-A video.) Thus, when playing the Germans, I violate my normal rule, and leave the Squad in one piece.

That would mean he is with 3-4 other men? I don't see how I can split the squad leader off with one other man.

Minimum of 4 men, out of a typical 9-man squad. Thus, splitting off 4 men and not using them as a fighting element, is seriously reducing your available short/medium range firepower. Especially when splitting off an "Assault Team" also brings any semi- and fully- automatic rifles with it.

So, if you're going to Split your German Squads, you need to make sure you have two combat-capable elements, both with sufficient firepower. The normal "Split Teams" command seems to work best for that purpose.

Edited February 6, 2016 by SLIM

[Bud Backer]

 

Sorry, I should have clarified when I said "my normal rule" because my rule of thumb is to split an assault team containing the squad leader, and use it as a dedicated non-combat observation element. (See the Part 3-A video.) Thus, when playing the Germans, I violate my normal rule, and leave the Squad in one piece.

Minimum of 4 men, out of a typical 9-man squad. Thus, splitting off 4 men and not using them as a fighting element, is seriously reducing your available short/medium range firepower. Especially when splitting off an "Assault Team" also brings any semi- and fully- automatic rifles with it.

So, if you're going to Split your German Squads, you need to make sure you have two combat-capable elements, both with sufficient firepower. The normal "Split Teams" command seems to work best for that purpose.

Ah, that clarifies it, thank you! 

This all changes with 3-team German squads. It will be interesting later on if you get a chance to cover that. I expect they should offer more flexibility, as might later kit where more automatic weapons are prevalent. I've also seen some squads where they are equipped with an MG42 in each team. 

Thanks again, SLIM!

[Txema]

I will definitely be doing videos with some common drills/maneuvers. The very next video in the series will be showing the four "F's" in a simplistic fashion, utilizing the 'Tactical Maneuver', 'Components of Firepower', and 'Splitting Squads into effective Teams' concepts already covered.

I am really looking forward to your next video !

Very nice work on these videos, they are really appreciated !

Txema

[General Jack Ripper]

I just wanted to post a quick update:

I've been working on a personal project for the past couple weeks, but I'll be starting the next part of the TTP videos sometime this week. I'll be demonstrating a purely 1:1 frontal assault using the Split Squad techniques introduced in the last two parts.

[Bud Backer]

I just wanted to post a quick update:

I've been working on a personal project for the past couple weeks, but I'll be starting the next part of the TTP videos sometime this week. I'll be demonstrating a purely 1:1 frontal assault using the Split Squad techniques introduced in the last two parts.

Sounds fantastic, SLIM!

[General Jack Ripper]

One more update, I was playing doctor for my dad who had pneumonia, and I think I've come down with something.

I'll have to doctor myself for a while, so the next part will be delayed.

Blame my dad and his horrible germ-warfare.

[General Jack Ripper]

The beginning of Part 4 is uploaded. This part will be an attack exercise, demonstrating the use of the knowledge imparted up to this point.

A purely frontal assault, against a fortified enemy, needn't be suicidal. Yes, you heard me correctly.

The recording of the exercise ran to more than an hour, I will trim as much as I can, and stick to a 15 minute time limit for this series of videos.

Be aware, this is strictly an equal strength exercise for demonstration purposes, rifle platoon vs. rifle platoon.

If the enemy had HMG's available, this would, in fact, be suicide. I know, because I tested it.

We will get into how to defeat HMG's and other things when we discuss supporting weapons, in a later part.

[General Jack Ripper]

Part 4b:

These Part 4 videos are posted as unlisted for review purposes. Any feedback is welcome.

[General Jack Ripper]

I was chopping this series together between midnight and 3am, so there's no voice this time.

[General Jack Ripper]

Part 4c:

One more piece to go for the whole Part 4 section. This did come out longer than I wanted, but I don't want to skip over anything.

Once Part 4 is complete, we'll be moving away from the Rifle Platoon, and start talking about supporting weapons, before moving on to other things. According to my initial outline, we've covered the fundamentals as much as I can.

• Tactical Maneuver - Covered in the Part 1, planning fire while you plan your movement.
• Advantage - Mitigating the enemy's greatest advantage by splitting your squads. There's also a bit about using small teams to avoid casualties in Part 4. I suppose I could go over this subject a bit more, but each new part will include some talk of advantages/disadvantages.
• Combinations - Not really covered as it is an abstract concept, but the Squad breakdown and composition study in Part 3 could apply to this topic.
• Individual Leadership - Not covered, as that is really up to the player. I can give you the knowledge, but I can't make you use it correctly.
• Combat Power - Done in Part 2&3, weapons, firepower, and flexibility.
• Situation & Tactical Decision-Making - This will be covered at length in a later video.

If there's anything else about the rifle platoon in particular you want me to cover, speak now before I move on to Part 5.

Once we've moved up to Company-sized formations, we'll move on to Chapter Two: Employing Fires.

[General Jack Ripper]

And finally, here is part 4d:

Phew, that was a big one.

As before, any comments, criticisms, feedback, etc. are welcome.

I'll wait a bit for any feedback before making these public.

[Badger73]

@Slim,

As expected, these are excellent.  Thank you for your time and effort. You mentioned "no voice" between posting 4b and 4c but it seems you meant "no voice" for all four (4).  Is that correct?

My feedback is that I would like more explanation, if possible, as follows:

4a
- How much time is allowed for achieving the objective?  How time is a factor?
- When does SLOW command cause "tired" / "fatigued"?  Suggestions to manage; affects on effectiveness.
- Whether cover arc's are static to the advancing unit.  How often they should be refreshed?

4b
Explain
- How did / should you prioritize targets for suppressing fires?
- Why you chose not using "pause" when advancing 2nd & 3rd squad fire teams?
- Using smoke - when and why?

4c
- Could you state / expain the difference in ammo consumption between target / target light?
- What factors should one use chosing one over the other for the judgement call?

4d
- Why you first used smoke here?

While, Bil's "Battle Drill" is superlative, these demonstrations compliment them very well.  I stayed frosty with a Maiboch!  Kudos for fine work.  Again, thank you.

Good luck and good gaming.

[General Jack Ripper]

@Slim,

As expected, these are excellent.  Thank you for your time and effort. You mentioned "no voice" between posting 4b and 4c but it seems you meant "no voice" for all four (4).  Is that correct?

 No, thank you for watching and giving feedback. Without peer review, this project would be garbage.

POST EDIT: Given the feedback posted, there are some serious deficiencies. What I'm going to do is set aside some time, and attempt to record a narration for the existing videos. If that doesn't work, I'll re-stage the entire exercise, in fact, I think I'll just do that.

4a
- How much time is allowed for achieving the objective?  How time is a factor?
- When does SLOW command cause "tired" / "fatigued"?  Suggestions to manage; affects on effectiveness.
- Whether cover arc's are static to the advancing unit.  How often they should be refreshed?

I hadn't given a time limit for the exercise, but there was scheduled reinforcements that arrived at the 30 minute mark for another demonstration I later cut from this Part.

I merely advanced as quickly as I felt was safe. I could go over that in detail when I get to 'Tactical Decision-Making' in a later part.

That's a good point about SLOW command, but that one crawling move at the beginning was the only time it was used. I could cover that in greater detail in the next series, which will introduce HMGs and MMGs, and demonstrate a single envelopment attack as a way to deal with a defense including emplaced machineguns.

All the video is recorded already, so I don't have any video specifically showing the use of cover arcs. The trouble is, what you see is what you get with this part. I did cut a bit of video, but it was mostly useless.

 4b
Explain
- How did / should you prioritize targets for suppressing fires?
- Why you chose not using "pause" when advancing 2nd & 3rd squad fire teams?
- Using smoke - when and why?

Damn that's a good point. I didn't even mention that.

To Pause or not to Pause, that is the question. Sometimes it's safer to move everyone all at once in a rush, other times it's safer to move teams one at a time. Depends entirely on the enemy, how much fire there is, how well you're able to pin down the enemy. Given that it's purely a judgment call, I can cover that later in TDM. I guess I could have mentioned it though.

Another good point. I'll have to add those topics, priority of fire, and use of smoke.

4c
- Could you state / expain the difference in ammo consumption between target / target light?
- What factors should one use chosing one over the other for the judgement call?

 Yup.

4d
- Why you first used smoke here?

 Those two teams were temporarily outmatched by enemy firepower, and at risk of taking casualties. Smoke provides temporary concealment, and forces the enemy to change his fire plan. <- I'll have to add that in.

While, Bil's "Battle Drill" is superlative, these demonstrations compliment them very well.  I stayed frosty with a Maiboch!  Kudos for fine work.  Again, thank you.

I'm assuming that's beer?

 

SO: I'll leave the existing videos up as unlisted, then once I've finished redoing them, I'll post the new versions as replacements. I'll see if I can tighten things up a bit too.

[Badger73]

   <snipped>

I'm assuming that's beer?

Yup.  You did say, "Stay frosty".  Maibock is a style of beer, a "May Beer" traditionally brewed for spring and Easter.  There's an embarrassment of riches for the plethora of craft brew choices available now.  I was drinking Schell's (New Ulm, MN) "Maifest".  'Twar good!  Went very well with your lessons of war.  Thankee agin'.

[Warts 'n' all]

I hope that it had a Billy Goat's kick to it. Personally I washed the videos down with a few pints of a Kentish ale, Bishop's Finger, or Nun's Delight as we call it.

[snarre]

realy nice videos , ceep it going