Mark IV

HAHA nice write-up. I use that flaming Sherman blocking strategy myself- the fools fall for it every time. Just run 3 Shermans up to the Panther- best smoke screen money can buy.

You should buy more Shermans. No annoying crew residue, though a somewhat bitter aftertaste.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Henri: You could have given a couple of pause orders; of course, that would have meant that the FT would have waited 30 seconds before starting to squirt...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Henri, nice to see you here. I haven't been to Usenet in a while (this forum is better, but harder to keep up with). But AFAIK Pause has no effect on targeting and firing, only movement.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Germanboy: As it was in reality. I always try to go for the HQ units...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Ditto. One other thought is that if you are being peppered with annoying mortar fire and can't see any mortars, there's a chance one of those HQs is the FO for it.

This is one of those slippery slopes, as LOS points out. If the AI is that "smart" it may decide not to do other things I told it to, because it's "smarter". The stroll through Paris was instructive. POSSIBLE SPOILER!!! X X X X X X I'll bet a lot of us ordered the infantry to move straight ahead, inside the long rows of buildings, unaware that the connecting walls were impassable. So the AI figured it would help, and plotted 700 waypoints that moved each unit into and out of each successive building. The alternatives would have been for the squad to run into the impenetrable wall and continue ramming it with their helmets for the balance of the turn... or for the AI to reason that I wanted to reach the endpoint, so why not disregard my orders and take the easy route down the center of the street (cue MG42 .wav file). Some things are just better learned by experience- I would prefer the units try to execute my orders even if they seem stupid.

My unlimbering IG came under fire from a distant tank. So, I ordered a nearby flamethrower to area fire about 20m in front of the IG, with the notion of blocking LOS while they set the gun up (hey, I was desperate, and you know how IG crews can be). The ft proceeded to dump all 9 squirts in the same spot. I would have ordered 1 or 2 max. Now he is a useless civilian for the rest of the game. Here again a timer for area fire would have made the difference. Area Fire = 15 seconds would have accomplished this, and so many other little goals, conserving ammo and enhancing realism. It would also add punch and realism to an assault to hose a building with MG fire for half a turn, then have the infantry enter it, within the same turn. It would have stopped this gentleman's rapid downhill slide from contributing member of the Wehrmacht to, well, hamster... NOTE that in no way does this spoil the game for me. Nothing could do that. There are other features that are more important and my life will continue merrily whether this is addressed or not. But an "official" comment would be welcome! Now I'll have a hot mug of shut-the-hell-up and go to work. [This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 07-18-2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Disaster@work: few of the European observers thought that this kind of slaughter would be repeated in Europe, preferring to think less of both the Russians and the Japanese.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> The Russians, in turn, thought this of the Japs. The tsar called them "little yellow monkeys", and their army and navy leaders mocked and ridiculed Japanese ability. The Russians were lucky to get out of it as lightly as they did (settlement-wise, I mean; the military cost was almost unthinkable). Was there really any difference in the thinking of the Allied commanders in the Somme? Like the Japanese at Mukden, they believed that elan (or for the Japanese, bushido spirit) would win out over massed quick firing rifles and machine guns.

The preview for the horror of WWI was the Russo-Japanese War, with all the high-powered artillery, machine-guns, mines, barbed wire, trenches, and accurate repeating rifles. Frightful body count for such a short period. The R-J War did feature large-scale maneuver around Mukden, but more often than not developed into long lines of trenches, as each side sought to outflank the other. The battle for Port Arthur was a headlong, "I've got more people than you have bullets" kind of thing. It just about coexisted with the Boer War and the Spanish-American War, which yielded very different pictures of war's development.

DrD: Nice expanation. I thought WW2 was the patch for WW version 1, to fix the obvous playability problems...

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by GreasyPig: I know what "heavy water" is (atomicly). I believe it was used in the purification process of urainium. Is this correct? If so can anyone tell me why? How did this aid in refinement?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Dear Mr. Pig: Heavy water, or deuterium, is used as a moderator in controlled chain reactions. It slows down neutrons in the chain reaction preventing a runaway condition, and because it's water can also be used as a coolant. Unlike regular "light" water it does not absorb the valuable neutrons. http://www.heavywaterboard.org/docs/moderator.htm I cannot say enough good about the High Energy Weapons Archive http://www.fas.org/nuke/hew/ as a resource for understanding, building, and properly caring for nuclear weapons. If the radiance of a thousand suns Were to burst at once into the sky, That would be like the splendor of the Mighty One... I am become Death, The shatterer of Worlds. The Bhagavad-Gita

Right- Pause actually ensures that even more ammo will be expended before the unit moves. See the "Robo Area Fire" thread for my whining about this and proposed solution.

Sorry, wasn't being defensive. I often do stupid things. It makes opponents easier to find. And after all, this is a thread about machine-gunning my own troops. I have also come up with workarounds, like issuing a minor Move command to mortar (and other) units to get them to shoot a little, but cease area-firing before a turn ends. But that's gamey and can expose them to nasties.

Situation was dawn, overcast, HT unbuttoned (and low on ammo). There were no threats present. Advancing squads began from 5m either side of the offending HT. They did not move precisely on the axis of covering fire (even I'm not that stupid), but in order to reach the objective house they had to turn on a new axis and enter it. The more I think about it, timed Area Fire would handle several CM situations that seem a little awkward. Mortars spring to mind- especially smoke. I might want a little smoke somewhere, but right now they dump the whole smoke load-out before the 60 seconds is up.

Right, expected that. But: Why would the HT keep shooting when he can see his own guys? How else can you lay suppressive MG on a house (etc.) right up til you run inside, and then STOP, within the space of a single turn? The Area fire command could use a tweak for timing, as units assigned area fire continue to blaze away for the entire turn, often consuming all their ammo. If it's too much for the TacAI to decide when to stop firing for fear of hitting its own men, it should be relatively easy to specify a duration for the AF (shoot at that building for 30 seconds then quit).

A minor pecadillo- or maybe a sudden awareness... Bringing my HTs over a rise, I plotted MG area fire on a house and hedge in a holler that looked unfriendly. I ordered a couple of squads to move down into the house area, as the "recon by fire" might smoke out any nasties. The squads started out right next to the HTs (I mean, 5m) and worked straight down the valley, into the house, and directly into the area fire, which continued unabated. Commendable modeling of grazing fire, no doubt- I lost 4 troops and had 2 squads panicked and broken, all to my own HTs (the suspect area turned out to be unoccupied). There doesn't seem to be a way to schedule covering fire which recognizes friendly forces- you'd think that the HT gunner would think "hmm, those guys were right here a minute ago, they're wearing the same uniform I am, I watched them walk down a straight line down the hill into that house, perhaps I'll lighten up for a bit". I'd like the TacAI to be smart enough to recognize its own troops and cease area fire when my guys hit the zone (DIRECT- indirect fire is a different story). Otherwise, I have to wait a full minute's turn before advancing on foot, thus losing the effect of any suppression I may have caused. Keep in mind that walking into your own mortar/artillery fire is an entirely different, and painful, subject- this is about direct fire at 125m. The gunner should have laid off when he saw his own guys enter the area. Comments?

Yer on. Small QB in the mail shortly. You're Allies.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Freyland: How do you suppose they manage to fit it in that little wheel?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> No problem- just scale the unit size to realistic. The wheel is a terrain feature and is not resized (manual p.17). Hamstertruppen are no laughing matter! Wait to you stumble across some Elite Gerbiljaeger in thick cedar chips and tell me who has the last laugh!

Actually, http://www.21stcenturytoys.com/wwii_section.html will put you right on the money. It's a Flash site, and pretty cool browsing of the little dudes.

Small QB, defending a village against night attack. I have one platoon of Fallschirmjaeger (that's it), a 20mm Flak, and an IG. The guns get wasted. You BET the crews just made it into the infantry. They will hold a little house or something and fight to the last cartridge, gamey or not. It's the Alamo, fer chrissakes, and everybody who can hold a weapon is gonna use it. Sue me.

Can that be applied in midstream with on-going PBEMs? Or would you have to maintain two separate .exes, til the old ones wrapped up? (I suspect this may be a dumb question and someone will tell me so ). [This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 07-16-2000).]

Törni, I don't know if you read the whole thread, but that issue was disposed of 15 months ago. There are water-crossing scenarios with assault boats in the released version of CM, now. So, no issue there. The Russians and Finnish were not represented well at Operation Overlord so their amphibious battles will have to wait for CM2. The "beach landing is a slaughter" debate is not about excessive death (?), but about the fact that it would not be very fun to play because it would be one-sided. Some people think it would be. Try one of their scenarios.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PvK: BTW shouldn't bazooka-type units (and FO's) have sidearms, too?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Yes. And at least one rifle or carbine. It's not that I want to perform Audie Murphy-style heroics with them, but an "empty" bazooka team or FO should at least be able to fend off gang-raping hamsters.

I am thinking that my expectations of the SS troops were more along the lines of "fanaticism" than being more "elite". I think that nails it perfectly- that would be my expectation. "Fanatically incompetent" is a distinct possibility, and my limited knowledge is that some (but not all, or even most) SS units fit that description. Generally they should be less likely to break. That doesn't necessarily translate into more effective, especially on the assault.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael emrys: I kept kicking over the coffee can, so I went to the hospital and had a catheter bag installed.Michael<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> My god, that's brilliant (I had been thinking about a funnel-and-garden hose contraption)! When did you find time to go to the hospital?

Sorry, I was just kidding about the ammo (it was a biggie awhile back). I'd rather have the movie. I'll shut up now.