SgtMuhammed

This is definitly an issue that I feel needs to be addressed in CMAK or at least CMX2. Being able to assign units to commanders and to designate commanders would be a worthy addition. A quick note about unarmed command tanks. The "befehlswagen" were battalion and higher assets. They were made to carry really powerful radios as well as have space for maps and other command goodies. Regular command tanks such as those in companies and platoons were just regular tanks with maybe an extra radio and antena. In all other respects they were just normal tanks. That is why they are not modelled in the game, there are no higher level command tanks in CMBB.

They look like the Berlin I know. Considering that about one of the only ways to set individual "wohnblocke" apart was with color it isn't that unusual to see multicolored streets. Some styles have changed in Berlin but basic things remain pretty constant. Now once you get into individual houses it is a different story. I remember road marching through neighborhoods and not seeing a single house that looked like its neighbors. Well done.

Yes they are a bit of a double edged sword. I once had the same flight of aircraft kill a platoon of my T34s and then the very next pass kill two of my opponent's trucks. Maybe there was some UN intervention going on or something.

More explosive for the weight of the shell. Many aircraft bombs were up to 50 percent or greater casing. There was a tendency to over engingeer bombs from fear that they might break up on impact rather than explode. Once this was proven false there were just so many old bombs in the depots that it took a while for newer, better ones to come on the scene. If you want to play with the Sturmkitty some more try my operation "If Only" at the Scenario Depot (shameless self promotion). Since they were designed in response to the Wehrmacht's difficulties in Stalingrad, this op looks at what might have been had they been there.

Got the first set, are the others ready yet?

The new armor package on the M1 doesn't sacrifice HEAT effectivness to combat kenetic rounds. It adds a layer of DU to the mix to make it more effective. It doesn't take from but adds to.

Ok here are a couple more: FOs for aircraft later in the war (44 & later for the Allies at least). More scenario designer control over the AI. Being able to set units to defend or attack or shoot and scoot, stuff like that. More detailed AARs. A list of dead units and cause of death would be nice.

Yes dynamic lighting would be nice. One trick the Germans used was to fire flares behind their tanks. The light would blind allied gunners but would reveal allied tanks. A deadly little surprise to pull on a PBEM or TCP/IP opponent.

One reason you don't see a lot of bridges is because they really screw up the AI. "Der Manstein Kommt" is one you should check out. It is from the Stalingrad Pack.

I had one like that were my guys ended up shooting at an abandoned rifle. Like yours I had to tell them to stop targeting the area.

Just a quick note on the question as to why this may have been written by this particular office. One of the ways to get a step up on the competition for promotion in the Army is to be published. Since officers aren't restricted to things in their own field they tend to write about whatever interests them. I have seen articles on supply management and how to set up an NBC room written by Infantry officers. These articles often don't come under the same scrutiny that real historical writing would and so can be a little dicey as far as being true source material.

Yes, it is quite rediculous to think that any TC would be ok with his driver jerking the tank back and forth to aim his MG. This is in the days before good turret stabilization systems remember.

The main thing is the "oh crap we're on fire!" factor. As for actual damage, remember that unlike most molotovs flamethowers weren't just spraying regular gas. They used a sticky jell and burned longer and hotter than just gas. This could do neat things like raise the temp inside the tank as well as suck out all the oxygen. It cooks exposed wiring and any flamable material it encounters, like engine wiring, and can ruin the tanks optics. It also has the annoying habbit of flowing into the little holes one tends to find in the tanks of the era, air vents, shell hatches, the space around the coax mg, etc., and actually starting fires inside the tank. You don't have to blow a big hole in a tank to knock it out.

I have always felt that as long as it fit within the general historical framework a scenario qualifies as semi-historical. Some may be more historical than others, accurate map but not units etc. Fictional, on the other hand, is just that, something that either didn't or couldn't happen. For my scenarios I try to at least place the units and terrain that were actually in the battle I am trying to portrait, even if they are not completely historically accurate. For "Model," which is semi-historical, I based the units on those actually fighting in that area and built the map on photos of the area. For "If Only" I borrowed WWB's historical map but put fictional units, Sturmtigers and Brummbars, so I regard it as a fictional scenario. I am finding that it is quite hard to actually find enough CMBB level resources to create a historical scenario that hasn't already been done to death.

I've been using Noob's T-34-43late for CMMOS and I think it is stunning. I do lots of Kursk stuff so I get a lot of milage out of it.

Lucky bastard. 700 DLs and my scenarios have only been reviewed twice, once by mistake.

From what I have seen WWII units relied more on the "tow them to the rear" methode of repair. The field stations might be close to the front but not quite what we see today. Time standards in FMs almost always make me laugh. As OPFOR we were expected to be able to identify, assess, breach, proof, and mark a mine-wire-mine obsacle in 3 minutes. 20 minutes to put track back on only works for those rare occations in which you can pop it back on by turning the vehicle. If you have to break track, especially on a tank, that was 30 minutes minimum and then only if the track gods were smiling on you.

One thing to remember about the effectivness of AAMGs isn't so much their ability to hit but their ability to put things into the air. Studies have shown that if you fill the air with tracers and flak it greatly decreases the effectivness of the enemy aircraft even if you don't hit anything. Even today troops under direct air attack are trained to respond by firing as much volume as possible into the path of the enemy aircraft. No one really expects Snuffy with his M16 to shoot down an attack bird but you sure can make the pilot wish he were someplace else.

That's the system I use as well.

Not unless you are reeeeeeal lucky.

I have heard a lot of people say that it is fine played PBEM.

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug.

OMFG! Thanks man.

One thing I have found that really helps with "To the Volga" is to go into the editor and remove a ton of craters. They really sap the compute cycles.

Crash, Spill it man, where can one get that Red Baron Patch? That is my all time favorite flight sim.