Pak40

The Beta 1.1 is much better than the official 1.05. I highly recommend you download it. You can still run both versions of the game.

You're in partial luck. I found a link to the book mentioned above. It has the text from the book but none of the maps are scanned http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/wwii/100-13/st-lo_0.htm [This message has been edited by Pak40 (edited 12-15-2000).]

I recall a really good book but I'm not sure of the exact title. I think it was either "ST . Lo" or "The Battle for St. Lo". I think the US War Dept published it. Anyway, it has some really detailed pull-out maps of the Normandy countryside- very detail with contours and locations of US and enemy forces etc. Perfect for CM. It's hard to find, I've only seen it in my old university library and they wouldn't let me check it out because it was a non-circulating book. I think it's rare and fragile with the maps that come with it.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Skott Karlsson: Basically my strategy lately is to use my tanks like a big mobile mechanized sniper. Sneak about, position, and reposition them constantly in order to get a flank shot at the German tanks. And its always best to do this with at least two tanks against one German tank, preferably three if available. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> You're doing the right thing as far as allied tactics are concerned. Now, all you to do is experiment with the best weapon for those tactics: the M18 The M18 will give you these advantages: 1. superior speed to get into and out of trouble fast 2. good punching power with a 76mm 3. A very fast turret for quickly engaging threats 4. Costs less than shermans and other tanks. it has it's drawbacks such as an open top, little armor, and few HE rounds but for the tactics you're using it's the best tool. You could literally do dohnuts around a Panther or Tiger and they will never be able to get a shot off because their turrets are so slow. The real challenge is getting close enough to do the dohnuts.

Sounds like a personal hygene problem

I think the GI attitiude had a lot to do with how the Japanese treated allied POWs early in the war esp. with the Batan Death March. The ruthless acts by the Japanese pissed a lot of Americans off.

Bates, It takes twice as long for the artillery to come in if your FO does not have LOS to the target. Look at the timer countdown when you have your FO selected, it will tick twice as slow. In other words, one second will tick off for every two seconds of real time.

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Kingfish: Yes, I noticed that after I posted here. I actually got the idea a long time ago from a post on the main forum, back when Reisburg and Last defense were our only scenarios to play. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Now everyone knows about our secret

It seems that some of you are jumping to the conclusion that being hull down is worse without weighing what type of vehicle. For example, it is pointless for a nonmoving M18 not to be hull down because its armor is so weak that it would almost certainly die if any shell were to hit it anywhere. In fact, it makes perfect sense for all light armored vehicles to be hull down. The fact is, they're going to die if they're hit so you might as well make it harder for them to be hit.

"Here's a technique that I use when defending. During setup I take my platoons and split the squads, putting half in front line positions and deploy the other half behind them in a second line. The terrain will dictate the distance between the two, but generally try to keep them within a turn's running distance. As soon as the first turn's plotting phase begins the troops immediately dig foxholes. Now move the rear units up to join the front line units in their foxholes. " Hmmm... this sounds familiar I posted this exact technique yesterday in the main CM forum.

The sad thing is that CC5 is probably better than CC3 & CC4 because it is more infantry oriented had has better campain options. The real thing that killed CC3,4 & 5 is that they didn't bother to make the TacAI better. It's basically the same as in CC2. Once anyone learned to defeat the CC2 AI all the rest of the games are easily mastered.

A little side note: This is mainly why the value of Tungston ammo is so high. It is a denser metal and wont break apart upon impact of thick armor.

I think you should get a 10% finder's fee

Here are a couple of things that the defensive AI should use: 1) Don't fire AT guns at anything that moves. Too many times AT guns give away their position when firing at infantry several hundred meters away. 2) Infantry tend to open up too early. They also fire at enemy infantry far away, giving away their position. Ambushes should be set or infantry should actually use the "hide" command. 3) Somehow program the AI to setup his troops better.

"One other thing I do that helps create a layered defense is to park my troops at the back edge of a woods during setup. They they appear in foxholes on the first turn. Then move them forward about half way through the woods and then stop and hide. " Ah, but your initial defense is not in foxholes, only your fallback position. Try my method instead: Split your squads and put half of them forward and half of them back. On the first turn sneak your back teams up to the front teams so that they will merge back into their original squads. Hide and wait for ambush. When the heat is too thick run back to your fallback foxholes. Some other tips when executing this defense: 1) make sure that the enemy can't use the first set of foxholes against you. Place them far enough ahead in the woods so that they can't see the second set of foxholes. 2) place the HQ unit behind the secondary foxholes, but sneak the HQ unit up on the 1st turn so that the initial ambush gets the benefit of the HQ's bonus. When the fallback occurs your HQ unit will have a foxhole to make the final stand. 3) HQ units with stealth and command bonus will help you during the pullback. 4) If possible use smoke to aid in the fallback. 5) know when to pullback before it's too late.

"btw, that double foxholes/split squad thing is damn clever. But is it gamey, in the sense that can you fit a whole squad into a split squad foxhole?" It's not gamey at all. These are prepared positions before the battle takes place, they can be dug as big as needed. Plus, I think the foxhole graphic represents several foxholes. You never put an entire squad in one foxhole unless you want one mortar round to take them all out. Also, defensive positions often incorporated a dug in fallback position.

I'm not a statistacal major or anything but I think you guys are confusing "Aimed chance to hit" with "Random chance to hit" - I use these terms with lack of the proper statistical terms to use. Here's what I mean by Random: Let's say you have a sqaure drawn on your computer screen and it takes up the entire screen. You program the computer to pick a random point on the screen. It has a 100% chance of getting it within the square. Now shrink that box to half the screen size and the computer now has a 50% to hit the sqaure. Here's what I mean by Aimed: Picture the same square occupying the entire screen. Stand two feet away from the screen and throw paper balls at the screen. You will probably hit every time (unless you are phyically challenged). Now, picture the sqaure taking up half of the screen. Throw paper balls at the screen again while aiming for the center. You're success will not drop by 50% just because the square is 50% smaller. You are aiming for the center, therefore most of your shots will fall within the square, maybe a few will miss. CONCLUSION: Just because a Hull down tank's sillouette is 50% smaller doesn't mean that it will be 50% harder to hit.

Splitting squads in the setup will double your foxholes. This will enable you to make an initial defensive line and a secondary defensive line that your squads can fallback to when the enemy seems overwhelming in the primary defensive line.

If you're going to pay a lot of points for some sort of support, I recommend large calibur Artillery. Especially if your enemy is tanks or infantry in heavy buildings. I played a TCP/IP game yesterday where my opponent used a 240mm Artillery against me. The first round hit right among a platoon which were hiding comfortably safe in 3 separate light buildings. That one round demolished all three buildings and killed/wounded 37 men in that platoon!!! ONE ROUND!!! After that game I tested American 8in howitzers, 8in guns, and another large caliber and it was devistating. Not as strong as the German railway gun but 8in guns can take out city blocks very well.

Quoted from page 554(hardback), chapter 30, in Ambrose's D-Day: Porteous lost nearly a quarter of his men getting over the seawall, either to mined obstacles, mortar fire, or machine-gun fire coming from a pillbox to his left. "We got off that beach as fst as we could. We put down smoke grenades which gaves us quite a bit of cover to get across the beach. The pillbox was protected by concrete and they were safe as could be but the smoke let us get over the beach."

Or how about a foxhole graphic with sandbags around the perimiter of the hole?

"He proclaims that every other nationality, except Americans, are gutless fighters. " Uhh, just where in the book did you read that? Can you support this remark?

Oh yeah, Also from the german POV: The forgotten soldier (never read it but I've heard it's really good) The Black March (excellent book but there are rumors that it is fiction and not autobiographical) I think both of these only deal with the East Front, though.

Great Great Book. It's very descriptive, as if he wrote it the week after the battle ended. One of the best 1st person accounts I've read. I have his newest book but havn't read it yet. His first book, Curahee, is excellent too. Other recommendations are: Company Commander Band of Brothers Panzer Commander Paracute Infantry Citizen Soldiers and D-Day are two excellent books by Ambrose and have lots of 1st person qoutes so that you get a real feel for the common soldier's point of view and not so much of the General's point of view like most history books.

This may be known already but I'll post it anyway. The following is based on the new BETA rules for M5A1 halftrack capacity. I played a user made battle(designed pre-BETA) last night that had M5A1 halftracks in the setup. Full squads were already loaded in them by the scenario default. This shouldn't be with the new Beta, right? I took the squad out of the halftrack and tried to place it back in, but CM wouldn't let me, which seems normal.