Joachim

a) Not many sewers in East Africa during WW2. You can get lost in sewers. Drown in holes in the floor. A sudden flood due to rainfall outside may wash you away. Booby traps inside or on exits. Sewers might collapse from the shockwave of arty or tanks travelling above. And several other ways to die. c) I know somebody who escaped Berlin in April '45. He fled thru the sewers. Many did not want to go thru the sewers. Those all died. Read: Even if they exist many will still object or be unable to enter them even if their live depends on it. Gruß Joachim

How far back was the MLR from the FEBA though? I'm thinking roughly 500m to 1km. I find it difficult to credit that they would have dual purpose weapons very close to the FEBA, since it would make it rather tricky for them to engage air targets without giving away their loc, and thus inviting an awful lot of artillery fire into their home. Regards JonS </font>

Of course you are firing AP when there is nothing else. After all it is better than nothing - they have some explosives inside, too. If my observations are correct, the ammo preference on soft targets is HE, HC, AP, T. Gruß Joachim

Divide-and conquer-technique means to get a better local force ratio. Once successful you can dash forward. The dash is not part of divide-and-conquer, only the exploitation of its success. Gruß Joachim

Hey, that's fog of war. You don't see what it is but a guess what it is. Gruß Joachim

There is an old discussion in the scenario talk. Divide and conquer is the way to go. Smoke and dust will mask a few guns while you concentrate many on few. Rush a few tanks in using terrain as cover as good as possible. Avoid rocky terrain - it will slow you down to sitting ducks.. Once you are in MG range, you have a better chance to suppress the guns. Area target the guns with a few tanks (use short covered arcs to avoid them switching targets) and have a few in overwatch for other targets. BTW - if there are sandbags visible - guess where the guns are.

Dann lass' das Deutsch weg. Egal wie rostig es ist, wenn Du es halbwegs lesen könntest würdest Du feststellen, daß es Schrott ist. Wenn du dann noch google et al. Dein "Deutsch" in Englisch übersetzen lassen würdest, würde Dir einiges auffallen. Leave out the German parts. No matter how rusty it is, if you would be able to at least read a few bits you would see that it is crap. If you would use google et al. to translate your German into Englisch, you'd notice a few things... This is the translation of your translation: "I cannot speak English. I speak Japanese. I am original from Stuttgart, Germany. I induced to Osaka, when I was a child, so that my German is rusty. I have to help a software upward gradient to translate for me and it does not have Japanese, hense my German." I especially like the "upward gradient". Even beats your typo in "probebly"... There's no German word that is spelled remotely similar to that... not so in English. Gruß Joachim

Dann lass' das Deutsch weg. Egal wie rostig es ist, wenn Du es halbwegs lesen könntest würdest Du feststellen, daß es Schrott ist. Wenn du dann noch google et al. Dein "Deutsch" in Englisch übersetzen lassen würdest, würde Dir einiges auffallen. Leave out the German parts. No matter how rusty it is, if you would be able to at least read a few bits you would see that it is crap. If you would use google et al. to translate your German into Englisch, you'd notice a few things... This is the translation of your translation: "I cannot speak English. I speak Japanese. I am original from Stuttgart, Germany. I induced to Osaka, when I was a child, so that my German is rusty. I have to help a software upward gradient to translate for me and it does not have Japanese, hense my German." I especially like the "upward gradient". Even beats your typo in "probebly"... There's no German word that is spelled remotely similar to that... not so in English. Gruß Joachim

Donwload maps, download scenarios and use their maps or create generated maps in the scen editor and import them in the qb. IIRC if you have flags saved with the map, the setup areas and flags are fixed. If there are flags and no setup area - tough luck. If no flags are saved with the map, the flags and setup zones are generated according to the mission. Gruß Joachim

I remember a Soviet AI Assault where I had no chance and dug in way to the rear.... a T34 drove on a minefield and got immo'd. A few turns later there was still no contact when I heard a big bang. After the game I investigated loading old saves. The T34 got immo'd. Casualties: 1. Then pioneers arrived, removing the minefield. total casualties after that turn: 2 tanks, 40+ grunts. A TH team had killed 1 tank and a few grunts. None of my other men had fired a shot . The Soviet engineers had one satchel charge less. Gruß Joachim

Sergei, do a search function. Same topic was already covered (except for the FlaKPanzer). Result was: 20mm FlaK was used in MLR by Germans for dual purpose - ground and air targets. There are battle accounts from Normandy et al. On FlakPanzers I'd guess that they were used to protect columns. Once the battle starts, they tend to hang back a bit to stay out of harms way. The better the armor, the better the chance for them to move forward. Especially the Wirbelwind is a real infantry killer from beyond zook range. IIRC planes attacked towards the own lines, thus coming in from the enemy rear (a) hitting the rear armor of tanks firing at the enemy is the best sign you are friendly (->if it flies it dies) c) If you get hit, you have a better chance to head towards safety behind your own lines). Thus having FlaKPanzers or FlaK a bit to the rear would make sense. Gruß Joachim

Wait... Your Tiger is shocked, and bugged out, but the crew did not bail out. So you've still got your tiger (or you'll get it back a few battles later). Your opponent lost several tanks. You lost a HT and some inf. Where's the problem? BTW: It pays to send some recce before you start your counter. Pushing listening posts ahead in quiet areas early on. Halfsquads, THs or snipers are great for that. Maybe include some in your op. And make sure the op does no consist of 20 battles with 20 turns each where you can not perform recce and exploit your gained knowledge before the battle ends. Gruß Joachim

AP shells have reduced blast. Dunno if there is a common factor or if each gun and AP type is handled differently. Gruß Joachim

Actually I heard that Hogan's Heros was shown in Germany. </font>

SS well equipped in 1940? They were amateurs then who still had to cope with an embargo from the Wehrmacht. Force ratio? Supply stat of dropped FJ? I always thought that the bombing of Rotterdam happened after the capitulation and bad comms were not able to stop it. But back on topic: It is Barbarossa to Berlin. No Dutch troops on Allied side in the Eastern front. Best story I heard about those 3 (4,6,7 - choose whatever you like) days was a sIG shell burying several Dutch soldiers. Cease fire. Both sides running over to dig them out. Both sides running back to their positions. Skirmish continues. Gruß Joachim [ May 28, 2004, 11:26 AM: Message edited by: Joachim ]

Yep, now most topics are covered. The only problem is that Panzer_M has to figure out our different views on some matters. But that means he has to think about the answers and why we like what. Thus he will derive his solution based on his preferences Gruß Joachim

Hehe...memories... CMBB scen "GD Romanian defence". 2 7.5cm ATGs. Entrenched. Behind crest after rotating the fixed trenches. Targetting 30+ T34s at above 1000m. IIRC there were a few TRPS. Lost 2 or 3 men from the crews and the guns after taking out two dozen of the T34s. Wait for hull up side shot. Shoot one turn - set short covered arc and hide till the T34 stop to target the gun. Wait for side shot... Gruß Joachim

88 is for level bombers - and only if they are set up accordingly with equipment. Changing them from AT to AA takes time and is not in the game as there are no level bombers in it, too. SPAA are priority targets for planes - after all they are bigger than AA guns. If two targets are as dangerous, target the one that is easier to kill. OTOH it is great to have priority targets.... they can act as traps. Several ACs (222, 251/9?) with the 20L55 gun are AA-capable. Not as good as a dedicated AA as they have worse optics, but optics do not count for accuracy in CM. In a test with several AA systems, those ACs did well and can withstand small arms fire while the cheap SPAA are unarmored and can not support forward positions. Gun types 3,7 is able to penetrate Shturmoviks, 2cm has problems doing so. IIRC Quad has higher accuracy, but problems with Shturmoviks. Scaring them away might be enough and the quad can achieve this. 2cm is cheap. Shturmoviks are a problem to kill but can be scared away -cf Quad. With rarity on, you can usually buy almost 3 of them for the price of one Quad. I'd guestimate that 2.5 2cm AAs close together are as capable as one quad, but if dispersed they offer more targets and can better protect areas. Thus 2.5 2cm are worth more than 1 quad. The criteria to look for are price, bang (gun capability), protection vs incoming (armor) and the bait factor (do the flyboys target them first?). Weapon types Towed AA: A mix of 2cm and 3,7cm. Quad only if it cost less than 250% of a 2cm. Great on the defense or to protect rear areas in the attack. If you have several of them and it is a long battle: A HT makes them mobile, thus allowing to protect your advance. SPAA - unarmored: Ideal baits. Position amid several towed AAs. Keep them 100m away from tanks to avoid collateral damage (to the tanks from airstrikes on the SPAA, to the fragile SPAA when the tanks receive incoming). Can support the advance, but have to remain out of sight of the enemy as MGs can kill them. As they are baits for the flyboys they are not ideal to protect the advance. Usually the surcharge for quad is less than with the towed guns - so quad is affordable. Sometimes a Quad SPAA is cheaper than the towed quad... IIRC their hit prob is slightly better than with towed guns. That might increase their bang. Better keep them away from the frontlines. AA tanks: Use as SPAA, but they can withstand some punishment. A properly used SPAA might actually be worth the same for less points. An MG can't kill them, but you don't want a bait to close to your tanks, do you? SPAA based on HTs - light armor Between unarmored SPAA and AA tanks. Can withstand MG fire if it ain't .50cal, but still preferred targets for the flyboys. AA capable ACs: Ideal for forward areas. Especially when ATRs are less common. Conserve the ammo for AA purposes if flyboys are around! Cheaper if bought as full plt. What to buy: Depending on terrain, mission and troop type - start with some cheapo 2cm AAs, add some AA-capable AC, then a 3,7, a lightly armored or unarmored SPAA (depends on the price). If you have no vehicles - use towed guns only and hope for friendly fire (which is really friendly here). If you defend - towed AA guns might be enough. If you defend with armor - add SPAA as bait. Maybe some ACs if you can spare the points. If you attack a short way with armor - towed guns might do the trick, add SPAA as bait, ACs if you need some for others purposes, too. If you attack a long way - towed AA that leapfrog with the help of HTs (you'll need some for toher heavy wpns anyway), some SPAA as bait, some ACs to protect the spearheads. I would recommend not to use AA tanks as they offer to little bang for the buck. Gruß Joachim [ May 28, 2004, 06:21 AM: Message edited by: Joachim ]

Now guess why that scandal was settled very quick and the rich Swiss banks (an ideal target for a US jury) were not sued for billions. Gruß Joachim

Grandpa only mentioned the MG42 had a tripod making it more effective. The fp increase is Kobal2s' last 3 points: - higher accuracy with tripod - faster change of barrel - faster reload plus - dedicated spotter with binoculars (LMG has binocs, too, but the 2nd man has several tasks) - the whole team is concentrating on one weapon. Spotting targets or supporting it. The LMG has only 2 men operatib it. Leader bonus or experience is not in the fp listing in the black unit info window. This fp is for regular crews. Leader bonus or experience modifiers are added on the field. Ie if you are targetting a unit with your team, you can see the actual fp on that distance (as well as the exposure). Compare that to the regular fp and you will notice differences: If you change the experience of the squad, you get higher fp. If you add a combat bonus, the experience is increased one level per bonus and the fp accordingly. Gruß Joachim

- What do you mean about the "Nazi Gold Scandal"? - Could you tell how the Swiss was FUNDING the German war effort? </font>

The Batt. Regt. Div. reinforcements arrive whenever a certain force ratio is reached. If the Attacker is too strong, the Defender gets reinforcements from higher up and vice versa (on exact numbers for force ratio do a search) There is no possibility to enforce that a player has to capture flags in a certain order. Reinforcements: Dunno if I understood yopur question correctly... so several answers for several meanings provided IIRC there is a parameter which edge is friendly to whom. Did you switch that parameter Reinforcements in battle 2 or later always arrive in the friendly setup zone. The setup zones usually have a linear frontline across the whole map. If the Soviets are pushed back very far and the Germans dominate the west side of the river, the setup zone might cross the river and the reinforcemtns might set up there. If the Germans already are across the river, the frontline is pushed across the river and the reinforcements can set up there. To achieve your goal, try the following: Create a river that runs straigth north-south. Have it concave. Broad in the north and south, a bit smaller in the center where the bridges are. Long bridges would increase probability that you can't cross anywehre else in between battles, but it is hard to cross 500m bridges (I did once... glad there were 2 bridges. Traffic control was key as I needed many AFVs to shuttle the grunts across the bridges. A single squad dropping from the vehilce meant several turns delay.) So I'd suggest an island in a broad river with bridges to each river bank. Experiment with the size of no mans land. Experiment with the amount of stationary Soviet units (unable to hit from the west bank!) on the east bank to prevent the Germans gaining ground between battles. Create a map that forces the Germans to advance linear on a small front. Either using a map that is not that wide or by using choke points between VLs to channel the advance. Ooops.. that was German reinforcements on the wrong side. You want Soviets on theirs bank. What you need is reinforcements tied to map location - once the Soviets are pushed back far enough (aka behind the bridges) the reinforcements arrive. But that only works with assault or advance, not with static ops. As you say Axis assault, it should work. No guarantee they arrive in battle 2 though if the Germans are slow. If the Soviets still hold the bridges, I see not much problem with their reinforcements on the west side... If they control the bridges, they should be able to get reinforcements across. So just tell the German attacker he has to reach the bridges in battle 1 to gain a favorable defensive position and make sure the Soviets have overwhelming forces in battle 2 which would wipe the Germans forces until in battle 3 the main force of the Germans arrives. ... lots of crude ideas that might help in a river crossing op... see what you can make from them. Gruß Joachim

If any AI unit can spot one of your units (maybe only if the unit is worth enough points) the AI targets that unit, probably supsecitng troop concentrations. A gamey trick is to put a cheapo tank on a hill. You might even see 76mm or 82mm stuff, so even "responsive" arty might be used by the AI in preplanned barrages. BTW: Pre-planned needs no LOS from FO to target. Gruß Joachim

Smoke dischargers

What do you expect? It is 60 years old and had a bad smoking habit during its youth. Gruß Joachim