Pak40

Javaslinger, I've done the same thing before a few times(double clicking to see which HQ it is). However, I've since realized that you don't need to double click it - just single click the HQ and all subordinate units will turn bright green. Or you can just take the little bit of effort to actually look at the info panel.

Yea, I've run into this issue before too. There are some buildings where the angle of the LOS does not see the action spot that you are trying to area fire. I really hope this is improved in future releases.

Ambushes can be done with the covered arc command. This can be done by the scenario designer. There are lots of flavor objects that can be done to simulate road blocks etc. The designer will have to mix in barb wire or hedgehogs to make them actual functional stopping walls. Vehicle wrecks can be added also. I'm not sure if any of these things can stop LOS though. Hopefully some of these things will be added by the Market Garden module. Well, it was used for transport and not really for combat so it falls out of scope of CM.

I like the idea of this kind of trigger and was disappointed when I discovered it wasn't in the game. However, there are other kinds of triggers that shouldn't be included. I hated the triggers in THEATER OF WAR where X number of your units died and all the sudden you get reinforcements. It's predictable and unrealistic.

Wow, LT Bull, ease off on the coffee. Has it even occurred to you that BFC has already tried putting the icons at the base of where the unit is located???? I can bet you that they have, although I don't have any firsthand confirmation of this. And I can bet you that it was a big fat FAIL. Why a fail? Because the marker would cover up the pretty 3D graphics that we all so adoringly admire. The reason the a "?" unit marker is at the base is because you can't actually see the 3D unit, therefore there's nothing to cover up. Maybe what you should be asking for is an option to raise/lower the icon height instead of putting it on the base? I admit that sometimes I think the icons are a bit to high (especially when the unit is far away from the camera) and yearn for an option to control their height. I think the real issue is that the icon height doesn't scale to the distance. In other words, a unit that is far away from the camera has it's icon floating at the same height(pixel wise) that a unit close to the camera has.

The user interface can be completely revamped without a new engine. I'm not talking about new commands, I'm talking about user interface purely. There can be significant improvements with little or no coding to the engine. However, Even new commands such as "Vehicle cover arc" which according to Steve would require some changes to AI behavior could probably be added with a "new engine"

I've had lots of difficulty also. I haven't test this out, but the one allied MG that shouldn't have a problem is the airborne version of the .30 Browning, the one with the bipod.

Yes, Wespe is German for Wasp isn't it? I thought that's what he was talking about. my bad. I guess he meant the Bren carrier flamethrower.

Wasp is on the list. I didn't see the Croc listed but they also claimed that it's not a complete list yet. No Mk III yet:mad:

King Tiger...Droooool!

Yes, I know. I've been part of them. But, I've never read or seen any evidence saying that bocage was an impenetrable obstacle to infantry. Undesirable and deadly to attack through, yes, but never impenetrable. My point is that besides the obvious farmer's gaps, the bocage itself is a penetrable obstacle for infantry. A 2-3 foot earthen wall with trees and shrubs will certainly slow down a soldier but will not stop him. Whether it's wise to attack through a hedgerow is a different topic. I'm purely talking about the physical aspects of getting through the bocage itself.

read the currently active thread: Attacking with the American Infantry Platoon. There's lots of good tips in there for the basic tactical level.

I agree with you guys. I've never read an account where soldiers said they couldn't get through a hedgerow. There seems to be a myth floating around these forums that hedgerows are impenetrable by infantry, probably perpetuated by the way CMBN is designed. From all the reading I've done it's the vehicles that had the problem getting through.

Sure, the blasting is a bit gamey but considering that soldiers could typically get through a hedgerow without blasting then it really is a wash.

I agree, flanking is key, but first you have to punch a hole in the defense. Often every hedgerow is defended so there is no way to flank until you have punched a hole deep enough. If you've played the ROAD TO MONTEBOURG campaign then you know what I'm talking about. You can probe to your heart's content but in the end you'll have wasted lots of scouts and time. At some point you have to pick a field to punch into, and more than likely, you'll have to punch two fields deep before you can safely flank neighboring fields. The Germans almost always defend in depth.

@BletchleyGeek Yea, no doubt a human opponent would try to hammer any mortar it saw. I've only played against AI. However, if you split your squads, put your mortar randomly in the line of sections, there's no way the opposing player can tell which is the mortar until it starts firing. @Womble Yes, WeGo will make this tougher and you'll probably use more rounds in the process but I've still had good success with it. Indirect fire works well too but obviously takes more time. Also, any units that are sighted by the enemy are going to take 4-5 minutes worth of MG42 fire. It's best to put a couple of units on the hedgerow to draw fire and fixate enemy positions, then plot the mortar fire, then pull back non spotting units so they don't take casualties for 4 minutes.

I use my 60mm mortars in a direct fire role up on the line with my squads. Every situation is different but my basic strategy is this: 1. move a scout team up to an undefended hedgerow(the next hedgerow will have Germans). Let the scouts sit a few seconds to look for enemy and draw their fire. 2. Move up the rest of your platoon onto the same hedgerow including the 60mm. Try to time all your squads arriving around the same time so that fire superiority is quickly gained. Usually, I split my squads so that when an squad takes MG fire, it only affects the section, not the whole squad. Keep the HQ back a few meters so it doesn't take fire. 3. Deploy the 60mm asap. By this time at least one of your units should have spotted an enemy unit on the next hedgerow, even if it is still a '?' 4. Once the 60mm is deployed, have it fire just behind the hedgerow where the enemy unit is spotted. The first two rounds are spotting rounds so they are slow to come and are usually off target but after that the rounds come in fast and close to the target. 5. Generally speaking, it takes about 10 60mm rounds to silence an enemy unit. Watch your ammo count on the mortar, they fire fast. If there is another enemy on the same hedgerow then after 10-12 rounds you can switch to the other target. 6. Just in case there are survivors, your squads and .30 should keep area fire where the enemies were spotted as your scout crosses the field to investigate. Your squads' responsibility in this situation is to draw the MG42 fire while trying to suppress it at the same time. The actual killing is done by the 60mm. It's unavoidable that your squads will take casualties.

Anyone interested in this subject should purchase THE AMERICAN ARSENAL I have a copy at home but I'm at work right now, otherwise I'd help. Maybe later tonight I'll have some time.

Using triggers is a slippery slope. I was very turned off at the triggers that Theater of War uses, i.e. X units die and then reinforcements arrive. I am for triggers that allow the AI to shift it's forces if it can see that it's being flanked. So I agree, no Borg trigggers.

You're right. I think "successful" or efficient UI is what we're hoping will happen to CMx2. At this point I think it's an "adequate" UI. I have done UI design for database programs. I'm not a programmer but had to learn some programming in order to do UI design. While I would never call it easy I can go out on a limb and say UI design is a lot easier than programming the other components of CM, the complexities of which I can only imagine.

You're wasting an entire squad when scouting with this method. 1. Split off a scout team and use the rest of the squad as an additional fire support. 2. Set the scout team to hunt and have him leave the friendly side towards the enemy. The scout team's job is to draw fire. Likely you are going to lose them at some point, so don't get sentimental. 3. As the scout team is leaving, bring up as much supporting fire as possible. If you are U.S. side, put at least on 60mm mortar on that hedgerow for direct fire support - this is the quickest way to kill a unit once they are spotted on the next hedgerow. Also put your platoon HQ team on that headgerow - this will help with C2 to the scout and therefore better spotting. Ideally you want these teams on the hedgerow before the scout team even leaves, but usually you can time it just right. Also, don't target random areas, let them fire at will when they finally spot enemy. Once they do spot an enemy or two, then you can use the target command for all available supporting units. 4. Once your scout team is fired on it will go to ground. Keep them alive as long as possible to help with spotting. 5. Once it seems that all enemy are quiet on the opposing hedgerow, give another hunt order to your scouts. If they are dead, then split another scout unit off another squad. If they move halfway down the field without being fired on then you might change the order to Quick and move up another unit. Scout/armored cars are analogous to the 2 man scout team that is split off of the squad. When you have tanks, the armored cars are the sacrificial lambs. However, if all you have is armored cars, then I would use them in a support role for your infantry.

Sorry, I interpreted his request to be purely about determining LOS from one point to another without having a unit at either point. However, the feature that is in the game can be used to see if a unit will have LOS to it's leader once it moves to the new spot. I'll try to find some exact directions but basically it involves selecting the desired waypoint and then using the target command.

*sigh* - this has been requested a billion times it seems. It's actually in the game already, do a search. Second, this is a debatable gamey feature. Maybe it should only be used for WEGO because that's one of the limitations of the WEGO system. Personally, I never use it. If I want to see if there is LOS between two points I put my camera on the spot and go to level 1 and make a judgement call.

*IF* triggers ever show up in a Combat Mission game you can bet your sweet ass it wont be from stupid blimps. Where's the logic in that??? What's next Permanent, are you going to lobby for tank power-ups? Just roll your Sherman over the power-up and shazam, your tank gets a 76mm upgrade

God, I hope not for two main reasons: 1. As you said, this is not realistic. CM series is built to be as realistic as possible within the confines of BFC's budget. A true wargame, not a game about war. This would alienate their fanbase, in effect BFC would be "selling out" to the RTS twitch crowd. 2. Over the years, there have literally been dozens and dozens of RTS games with unrealistic engines and features like you describe above. However, there have only been a small handfull "realistic" wargames and then an even smaller number that would be considered good. PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JUST LET US KEEP COMBAT MISSION IN THE REALM OF REALISTIC GAMING.