Mark IV
-
Posts
1,993 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Never
Posts posted by Mark IV
-
-
One of the points of Doubler's book is that there was no "one" theater-wide solution to the bocage. Individual units and teams came up with their own solutions, and some of them caught on.
One that was used a lot, was two steel pipes welded on the front of the tank. The tank rammed the earthen base of the hedge and backed away. Engineers then stuffed explosive into the deep holes made by the pipes (they even pre-stuffed the explosives into expended 105 cases to facilitate this) and blew the hedge.
-
MrPeng has eloquently described the concept of "combined arms doctrine" which evolved in WWII and continues to the present.
Armor, infantry, artillery, and specialty units were designed to operate together, not as separate entities. Infantry had pretty good anti-armor teeth at close range, by the time represented in CM: bazookas, Panzerfausts, Panzerschrecks, and satchel charges. If your armor is too close to an enemy treeline it will pay the price.
That's why you screen the armor with infantry in all but the most open terrain (and even then when possible). Dump artillery on potentially hostile zones if you've got it to spare. Drop smoke shells in front of the enemy positions and infantry can move up behind it to close in with minimal casualties. Protect your specialty units until they are needed. Avoid dark dangerous spaces and send the smiley faces in them first.
Peng has also alluded to the importance of reconnaissance (scouting ahead with a couple of guys), and using the terrain for movement. Charging across the open will be costly against experienced enemies. Try to find out where he is (the enemy, not Peng) before exposing all your forces to target practice.
You should have a plan, and a big part of the plan is to concentrate your main force on a single point, ideally where your enemy is weakest. This doesn't always mean physically moving them to that point, but positioning longer range weapons where they can blast it in support of the grunts.
von Pengwitz, a noted Military Genius, has also defined the role of machine-guns and another key concept in combined-arms tactics: suppression. You don't have to kill every enemy unit at once. Shooting at them from long range with MGs and other weapons while you advance with infantry will keep their heads down so that they are less effective. Suppress, suppress, and enemy return fire (and thus casualties) will be lessened.
Unit cohesion is really important in real life and really important in CM. Keep platoons together (not holding hands, but within the command radius of their HQ unit). Then they will respond more quickly, behave better under fire, and recover more quickly if they do suffer morale problems. Also, look at the experience level of units and use them accordingly. Green units will not do well on their own in dangerous assignments; a Veteran unit may accomplish the same task easily. If you have to charge something, you could order the Green squad to fire suppression and have the Veterans do the charging.
Observe enemy units closely to see what they are and where they're going. If you're the Germans and you see these individual guys armed with binoculars, suppress and better yet KILL THEM. American artillery is horrible to endure and these guys are its source. Killing one of them is like killing several giant guns.
Keep your tanks unbuttoned in all but the closest, heaviest fire-fights. Tanks can't see diddly when they are buttoned. Tanks must work the hardest to take advantage of the terrain; ideally they engage enemy tanks from "hull down" meaning only their turret and gun are poking over a hill. Even slight rises in the ground can work for this, but you really need the level 1 and 2 views to choose their paths and stopping points.
These are some of the main ideas as I understand them. They could either be straight out of the CM manual or a WWII Army Field Manual. Interestingly, you can follow them all to the letter and still get your ass kicked.
-
(rabble) AHHHHHH! (applause)
(Stuka's entrails examined for portends).
(Curtain).
-
"Old" WWII tactics are still kind of popular with modern warriors, to an extent, only the ranges have been changed to endanger the innocent.
Knowing the Game Mechanics has a lot to do with it, so try a little of both. You can afford to lose a couple for the cause, like they did in real life.
-
The StuG at the end of the muzzle gotta die unless the 'faust gets the Shermie first.
15m (45+ feet for OBMax) is a no-brainer unless you got a shaped-charge blast cone where said brain used to be. That looked like a definite flanker on the StuG to me.
Does this open the door to CM (shudder) gambling?
It does, indeed. $20 USD on the Sherm v. StuG, but $10 safety he doesn't see the next turn...
-
Don't post while drinking, an even better one. Of course that rule would cut the board volume to a trickle, and I would have to go back to Usenet where it doesn't matter.
A nice PBEM should settle things?
[This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 06-08-2000).]
-
Mattster, the Sci crack was the laff OTD (well, Germanboy got a couple in this AM).
But the explosions- gawd, I was just saying how I love them so- this is real box of hankies stuff (er, yes, I mean they make me kind of sad). I know I should be asking if the persisting smoke ball is an LOS obstruction, but sometimes you gotta just drink it all in.
And your Hetzer is excellent.
Does anyone else ever find themselves just talking to the screen saying WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO PLEASE, PLEASE, SHIP THIS GODDAM GAME and getting funny looks from people around you?
Thought not. Sorry for the outburst.
-
Stodge: it's the church in CE. The guy has all 3 StuGs right behind it. The Amis have sent one Sherman forward (3 covering from well back) and it is on the immediate opposite side of the church.
Looking straight down from German POV, the rightmost StuG is firing smoke immediately in front of itself to the right of the church (there is a huge smoke cloud there). The Sherm inches around that corner, creeps through the smoke and bumps right into the StuG doing the firing (it gets another smoke round off as the bump occurs) and actually shoves it sideways.
The center StuG (all 3 are pretty much touching) is going to help his smoking buddy and was moving up on the right when he sees his pal levitating sideways and a 75mm retirement notice (muzzle of the Sherm) 15m away.
HOWEVER: the church has not one but two German squads with 'fausts at point blank range on the flank of the very offensive Sherm.
Given some leeway for the fact that the graphics are a reflection of the actual game calculations, this strikes me as pretty cool. The turn ends just as all the fingers are tightening on the triggers. I'll bet one dead StuG and one dead Sherm (from the 'fausts) and this is why God makes turrets.
-
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stuka:
you guys really know how to make a new guy feel welcome. I'm glad you're not my squad leaders, my first day in your platoons and you'd have me digging out land mines with my dick. (easily done of course!)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Nothing personal. The crowd always chants for a good penging- one of the best features of this vastly entertaining and informative forum.
Click the thingie for user profile above Peng's post, and then click the "read all posts by this yahoo" thingamabob. Read them.
If it takes a denunciation of your niceness to goad Peng into a pengippic, sorry about that, but ya gotta break a few eggs to make an omelette.
Being penged is sign of social acceptance, a rite of initiation, a passage unto CM manhood. Square those shoulders and take your penging like a man. The survivors are always better for it.
Anyway, if you're so nice, why are you killing little digital people?
Here's the mines. Start diggin'.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
-
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MrPeng:
you are new and seem like a nice fellow <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
He's NOT nice.
Peng him! (rabble joining in) Peng him! Peng him!
-
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Thin-skinned vehicles, OTOH, are usually devastated. They're not as strong structurally and they often carry a lot of really big HE shells. This is the type of thing IMHO that should have a good chance of wiping out nearby grunts and using fragmented models for graphics afterwards.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
OK, that'd be fine.
Explosions are good, is my point. I have really enjoyed getting to know my infantry gun for this reason.
-
Kinda think there was a Napoleonic bridging of the Rhine... I'll have to look it up.
-
Welcome to the "club". Kiss the rest of your life good-bye.
My advice would be not to read the manual. Then we can PBEM for money.
Look out for the human opponents around here- they are much nastier than the AI.One cool thing about CM is that is so realistic, that you can figure most basic things out right away. Just about anything weird or detailed has already been discussed here, so think of the Search function for this forum as sort of an online manual. The REAL, printed manual is what we are all dying to see (ships with the game).
-
Believe it or not, there are trebuchet reenactment societies (some interesting web sites, too).
Therefore they are the ONLY authorities in these matters, including onagers and ballistas. The historical record is NO substitute for actually lobbing a pumpkin or an engine block 100 meters or more.
PS: Narsus was a pusillanimous little dwarf.
-
Very nice write-up, John. You not only convinced me to go look for a copy of Panzer Elite, but darn near got me to pre-order Combat Mission all over again.
-
It should be rare.
It should occur at random intervals within a minute or 2 after the hit. An M4 might brew with a fuel fire for a bit before the ammo rack is heated and served.
It should have the blast radius of a nice HE shell so any cowering infantry get suppressed or maimed. I would not expect to see the turret arcing through the air or anything.
My .02.
-
Did she mention whether it was the Ausf. G? What kind of bloody toilet is this anyway?
-
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Maximus:
This following statement stems from the statements regarding Mel Gibson's Patriot and Braveheart movies.
Apparently the English people don't understand the concept of free will and freedom.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Dude. They, like, totally invented both concepts. (OK, well, developed them for modern folk, ya bunch of nitpickers). John Locke, David Hume, Magna Carta, Thomas Aquinas, Adam Smith, bunch a no-names like that.
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Speaking of which, Monarchies are dead! The concept of a ruling King and Queen is totally ludicrous.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Indeed it is. For bonus points, name the ruling king of England:
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>You have one ruling person until they die??<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Historical fact aside, how do you reconcile that math with "a ruling King and Queen"?
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Gee, talk about being static. I'm with Mel Gibson in his anti-British sentiment. Being from Australia, the so-called "penal colony" of Britian, I don't blame him for his film role choices.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Whoa, who's from Australia, you or Mel? Mel's about as Yank as you get. Spent a few years down-under but lives and pays here in the good ole USA. I lived in Germany for 3 years but I'm not German. Mel's a friggin' box office ATM for producers, but he's as American as Hostess Chemical Pies (TM, and my fave is Cherry).
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>If anyone wants to know my ethnicisity, I'm part fascist-Italian (I wish I could say Sicilian, but I can't), and semi-Russian Lithuanian. But I'm first and foremost--American.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Gawd. No wonder people hate us. Be a stranger in a strange land, and get back to us. And what the hell is a semi-Russian Lithuanian? The Lithuanians I grew up with, insisted that you pick one....
[This message has been edited by Mark IV (edited 06-07-2000).]
-
Seanachai: LOL, that was truly, very well done. Quite the classic. Impressive.
Bygones, eh?
-
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Stuka:
Still can't get it right
not :0no I have'nt been penged, does it hurt?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Yes.
-
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Hakko Ichiu:
Perhaps, but could they have run with a fully supplied MG42 with Lafette Tripod Mount and Volksklobürste?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
The Early Republic formations surely could have (LC-035, Librellus Campi: Monas Parvas Tacticas) but Imperial Legions would have had to conscript Germaniae for this role. Imperial troops were decadent panty-waists whose service violated the constitution.
If it wasn't for Scipio you'd all be speaking Carthaginian right now.
Long live the Republic! Death to kings! Remember Regulus!
-
Choose your most stout-hearted men.
Find a suitable wall (consider ricochets).
Remember they are subhuman, and ...
Whoops. Sorry. Click the "Smilies Legend" thingie to the left of the reply box, after you hit Reply. It'll tell you all about it.
Have you been penged before, or will this be your first time?
-
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Commissar:
Considering how detailed CM is at modeling virtually everything, I was wondering if it is possible to not only brew up an enemy tank but also create that very satisfying Jack-in-the-box effect of the turret just completely flying off the tank from an overwhelmingly effective hit.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
There are a lot of great photos of the blown-off turrets. I believe most of them are the result of secondary explosions from the ammo and fuel stew, though. BTS has been suspiciously silent on the topic- usually a good sign.
I LIKE the fact that most tank kills DON'T brew up. It makes it so much more satisfying when they do (like totally powdering a clay pigeon instead of just breaking it up- score's the same, but you feel like you're having a better day).
If CM2 threw in a secondary or two I wouldn't complain. There's no shame in appealing to the inner puerile (even more) and it could happen on turret penetrations every 50th time, for instance. Then there's the occasional 500lb. Jabo or the 240mm direct hit. Would a 155 do that? Dunno.
-
A moment of remembrance, then.
Imagine charging out of a landing craft into a wall of **** and a cold ocean sucking at your feet.
Imagine how cool and noble it seemed when you signed up to kill some Nazis and meet some French girls, and now here you are listening to the little hornets of death, watching a buddy get hit, picturing your family safe at home on the porch, and pretty sure you're not going to see them anymore.
We owe these people.
I doubt it was much more fun for the Wehrmacht troops getting hammered on the beach by what must have seemed like 3 whole navies and 2 whole air forces, watching landing craft out to the horizon and doing the math in their heads, knowing their families would soon be at the mercy of this pitiless horde or the one at their backs (if their families weren't already buried and incinerated in rubble).
It was some serious scheisse.
FO and Radio's
in Combat Mission Archive #2 (2000)
Posted
<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ARCHANGEL:
Radio's DON'T always work regardless of combat or weather conditions. They are like cell phones..they can be disturbed by terrain, sunspots, storms, etc.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I know what you mean: that radios, like cell phones, are at the mercy of external factors.
But the worst cell phone ever made was WAY better than the radios we had in Germany, and those radios were WAY better than the ones in WWII. They were the best technology could do at the time, but they were awful.
If you really wanted to get crazy, you could model comm outages when FOs are in the "shadow" side of hills from the battery, in valleys, or in deep forests, which would include about 2/3 of the terrain we have seen so far. The best places to communicate with those old radios (clear, high areas) are usually the worst places to survive in a tactical environment.