George MC

OK - stayed up late - so here goes. Let me know if you need other info: German OOB some numbers Source: Jentz 14th Panzer Division Appears to have only had the III Battalion. III Battalion Pz Rgt 36 49 PzIV 44 Stug 9 Command panzers 7 Flamepanzers Organised into four companies. 24th Panzer Division Only III Battalion Pz Rgt 24 49 PzIV 44 Stug 9 Command panzers 14 Flamepanzers. Note: before going into action all companies at 22 AFVs per company. By early November after nine days combat the average strength of a company was 10 – 15 AFVs. II Abteilung Pz Rgt 23 96 PzV operational Aug 43 By September 20th they have 8 operational split into two small groups 8 with Kampfgruppe Sander and 3 with the battalion. The other 57 are awaiting repair. I Abteilung SS Pz Regt 2 71 PzV operational Aug 43 LSSAH (Nov 43) Jentz shows 96 operational Panthers going into action. Panther I Abteilung Khulmann arrives at the front 7/8th November. By Nov 15th only has 35 Panthers operational. 7 write offs and 54 out of action being repaired. LSSAH also has 95 PzIV and 9 command tanks. The heavy company has 27 PzVI 1st Panzer Div (Nov 43) IPz Regt 1 has two battalions, four companies in each with 95 PzIV 76 PzV 7 Command Panzers 7 Flamepanzers

If I mind some of these army panzer units might have had mixed panzer regiments i.e. one battalion Stugs the other Panzer IVs. Jentz has a combat account from one of these units. Not long in from work so will post more tomorrow. Cheers fur noo George

Yup he used spies - 'fassands of em!

I'm using a Nividia GeForce 8800 Gt at best - and that's running pretty large scenarios. You checked the tech forum about this? See if anyone there has some ideas.

I'll be able to check it for you this weekend. I think I did an operation called Kampfgrupped Langkeit which deals with some of the fighting around this area about the same time. I'll post more on Saturday Jason. Cheers fur noo George

Mission 8 - is that The Screen? That scenario is on a large map and takes w hile to load so looks like the screen has frozen. Maybe let it sit for ten miutes or so and see what happens?

Got it in one - but as the man said best to play the demo that way ou can get a feel for all the subtilties of the game. Enjoy! Cheers fur noo George

It's not for us as testers to yay or nay bugs. We just post em and BFC make the call as to their priority. So yes it is the developers, BFC, who decide on what issues have what priority, not us as testers.

Re the autosave - in CMBB I've never seen it take that long to save a turn. I play and design pretty large scenarios but most take less than 30s to save. I guess though that this is a variable depending on the type of PC you have e.g. processor speed and RAM. No you can't interven in during the video playing sequence. In saying that the tac AI is pretty good in making it's own choices i.e. if it sees a threat (mind the crew don't have your god like view of the battlefield) then it will do it's best to respond to the threat. Any glitches in this you can put down to some scared tank crews panicking!

Hi Twan Welcome The game is played out a 3D map, although you can change your viewpoint on the battlefield so your position can be done with the wroms or floating above the action looking down on a 2D map. It's easy to switch between the two views. The models are good in game but the mods available from http://www.cmmods.com take the game to a new level in terms of model detail and immersion factor. As for realism - well John Kettler in this thread makes the point very eloquently http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=83105 There are also several sites where you can download, for free, custom built scenarios - more scenarios than you could about play in a lifetime I think! http://www.the-scenario-depot.com And http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/ Cheers fur noo George

Hi! Just played it out and managed a total victory after the OPFOR surrendered. Had a real blast with it and must admit the surprise was just that Great job Cheers fur noo George

Just tweaked the AI Plans in this. You can grab version 10 over at http://www.cmmods.com

You can grab my stuff both at TSDII and at the webaddress in my sig below. Cheers fur noo George

Hi Seabee Downloaded it but pretty busy with stuff right now so had no chance to load it. Like the sound of it though Cheers fur noo George

Stand by your beds!

I would have thought that in RL if you achivee the objective you might first have to clear the objective to ensure there are no enemy units that have gone tog round. Would not your suggestion mean that this aspect of FOW would be lost i.e. player would know if any enemy units are still lurking close by albeit gone to ground. I must admit I use this my AI plans to ensure that the player as well as landing on the objective has to also clear it - as unit do in RL - then when you are sure your obejctive is clear announce it?

Unless you are playing 'play where they lay' rules - in which case he would not be able to.

Hi Heinrich Glad you enjoyed it and found it a challenge. The German panzer crews (we used a lot of Scheibert's account in this one and he talks at length about the Panzer III vs T34) were very critical of their panzers ability to fight the T34. In RL it was a tough fight - only Scheibert's company making a welcome appearance in the Soviet rear saved the day for Bäke's unit pinned dwon outside the village. The actual scenario itself it still over at The Proving Grounds, I've not sent it over to TSDII till we are ready to send across the whole scenario series (still got a few to do). You can post any comments here http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/scenario_details.html?command=search&db=scenarios.db&eqskudatarq=1436 Thanks again for taking the time to play this out and post your comments. Cheers fur noo George

Check it out http://http://www.amazon.com/Tank-Men-Robert-J-Kershaw/dp/0340923474/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218311210&sr=8-1 Charts the training and combat experience of tank crews from US, UK, Germany and the USSR from the first tanks through to the Eastern Front, Desert and Tunisia and the war in Europe. Eye witness accounts of combat from the crews angle. be warned though some accounts are very graphic. Cheers fur noo George

Hi JasonC Cheers for the comments re the Bake series. Glad you appreciate the historical side - we've gone to great lengths to get the background facts right. I appreciate the size of the scenarios is not your cup of tea - but if you think you can reduce the actions (think Readers Digest) then I'd be OK with that. I think this period on the Ost Front is frequently overlooked so anything that exposes people to these actions is OK with me. Cheers fur noo George

I've not received the file - did you send it? Try this email: georgemc at blowtorchscenarios dot com Cheers fur noo George ps away for the next few days so won't get to my emails till Wednesday.

Just to update on XP I am using a Zotac GeForce 8800GT PCI-E with no problems - in fact large maps run just fine with it as does CMSF (graphics are just superb).

Hi Big Duke Check out the manual in my sig. It was done for the first wave of scenarios during beta testing but most of it still holds true. Cheers fur noo George

Hi Ken Sorry for the delay - had some PC woes. Could you email me please? Cheers fur noo George

Close assault by infantry or hail fire on the KVs from multiple angles from your panzers. The KVs although they outclass anything the Germans have are crewed by poorly trained guys. Immobilise the beast or pelt it with AP and the crew will bail. Only snag is you will lose some panzers in the process. Think what it was like for the actual panzer crewman at this time! Cheers fur noo George ps glad you like the map