Joachim

You need satchel/demo charges or heavy arty. 15cm will do, maybe 10.5. Only a few tanks have such a large gun. Gruß Joachim

Are you 100% sure the router doesn't let anything thru while the scan is off? No loophole anywhere? If not - do not stop the virus scan (I can remove a cable and thus cut off any connection. That is safe. Anything else is a risk). I doubt the virus scan uses more than 2% of your system. That's just not enough to take risks. Gruß Joachim

Install some other browser like Netscape. Less bugs, less (known?) backdoors for worms. Gruß Joachim

Yes. The only question is - how much. IIRC there was a post where somebody improved his system removing several processes (Quickstart for Realplayer, Getright and the likes). Some of them really slow your system and are pretty much useless (except for a slightly faster load time they may gather information and make sure they use the associated files and not some competitors - plus giving some unneeded advice when you do wrong things like not using their products.) I don't think virus Scanners use so many resources that it really makes a difference to turn them off. But if you turn off the VirusScanner make damn sure you are offline, run on a previously checked clean system and remove any physical connection to the internet or any other computer. Gruß Joachim

I want that in CM! Gruß Joachim

Maybe PzIII on a steep crest might work... or at extreme ranges... or with flank shots at long ranges. The trick does work in CMBB vs T34 & KV1

Nils, do you say that a small setup zone in the first battle will affect the front line in battle 2? Ie if the map would have started several hundred meters back and the attacker had a bigger setup zone including that additional space he would have a harder time to "overrun" the initial defenses between battle 1 and 2? Gruß Joachim

Bah... Finns and their gamey ideas. BTW: Did you know that BaFin is even an institution here in Germany. Gruß Joachim

Nothing else? Any Quicklaunch (like Realplayer etc) does count. Anything that promises to start faster if you install sumfink means sumfink is running in the background. And there are quite a lot of programs that run and don't show up in the TaskManager... If you really want to be sure, use AdAware or something similar to discover these things. But your PC is really not the fastest. OTOH I have a 1800 Pentium and it runs smooth - if it weren't for an occasional bug that disturbs the BIOS settings reducing speed. Guess its the AntiVirus program. Battles with lots of units, lots of flat open ground (read: long LOS) and lots of smoke take very much time to compute. That little blue bar in the status panel indicates turn processing. 10000 pts on a huge desert map will take several minutes to compute. Reason: There are millions of calculations if you have many moving objects. Every fraction of a second every unit checks LOS and has to decide what to do (Stop, take cover, fire). There are not many other games with so many units whose actions depend on other units. Gruß Joachim

If you play in the desert, it is mostly open terrain. Guess why the DAK had so little infantry divisions? The infatry is the queen of the battlefield, but the Matilda was the queen of the desert. Infantry has to dig in to survive in the desert. Advancing is near impossible on open terrain vs a dug in defender. Just like RL. If you want decent tanks - do not opt for cruiser tanks. They get killed quickly by the 20mm autocannon. Infantry tanks are better armored and almost indestructible with German early war equipment. If you are so p***ed by Bitish equipment - play Germans with PzIII vs Lee/Grant or Sherman... then you'll be really p***ed. Gruß Joachim

Abandoned vehicles may get repaired (there's even a param in the op editor). I guess those vehciles eligible for repair have to be towed from the battlefield in RL and thus I think CM does the same. Burning tanks are gone forever and remain on map. Destroyed tanks may get repaired... Often you get them back next morning. Gruß Joachim

The only what if regarding the Ukraine is not who was the attacker but who treated them better. If the Germans had treated the Ukraine as friendlies and promised them independece (installing an widely accepted regime), they would have had a big ally... bringing along several million potential motivated soliders, some arms factories and lots of grain. ...that leads to the question... could Germany have won the war without an "Übermenschen" theory... only trying to occupy some Polish and lots of Russian soil? Having all the Jewish brains wouldn't have hurt research and the difference in production between well-fed Czeck workers and slave labor is obvious (same as grain imports from Ukraine and grain harvest in occupied Ukraine). Gruß Joachim

Wait ... PoWs do count as losses. The trick is: "Run" as in "He who runs away lives to fight the other day" Retreat all of your units off map in one turn. Gruß Joachim

As there were some discussion about Ortona recently, I thought there should be a scen on it... over at http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/scenario_finder.html "Little Stalingrad" - an op. Do Dorosh a favor and give him feedback. "Knifefight in Cecina" might suit your taste. "Going to Town" might work, too. A re-engineered classic. German trops are encircled by US inside a town but strong reinforcements are heading for the town which the US has to stop. Both at the Depot. Best list all battles in Italy and check for yourself. http://ns9.super-hosts.com/~dragonlair.net/combatmission/ Gruß Joachim [ May 18, 2004, 05:42 AM: Message edited by: Joachim ]

It would have mightily pissed off the Brits if he hadn't done those things though. De Valera knew he couldn't push his luck with stuff like that: attacking the RAF and holding British airmen as POWs. Wars have started for less than that! </font>

Ah! City fights at extremely short ranges. The ammo consumption rises the closer you are to the enemy. You can waste lots of ammo firing on pinned units in cover. The trick is to overrun (advance, assault) the enemy thus forcing him out of cover. Moving units are easier to shoot. The good thing about that trick: it conserves ammo. The bad things: Make sure other units don't throw grenades at the unit you want to overrun. Make sure it stays pinned cause your units are moving. Make sure there are not many unsuppressed enemies nearby. Next trick is to force the enemy out of cover. Do not attack on a broad front. Try to render some of his troops in positions that are useless vs your attack and position some blocking force so these are just cut off - they have to move thru open or across streets to get at you. And anything mentioned above... covered arcs are especially useful for ambushing. Gruß Joachim

There is no way to connect reinforcements to contact. The designer expects contact in 5-10 minutes. The reinforcements arrive 5-10 minutes afterwards - i.e in turn 15. He can set a likelihood for the arrival of the reinforcements in each turn. I.e. a 60% likelihood beginning in turn 15 means they'll arrive with 60% in turn 15. If they don't come- it is 60% in turn 16. Still not there... again 60% in turn 17 etc. But that is all the designer can do. So the clock is ticking from the start and your actions won't influence it. Like in every battle you have to make decisions to sacrifice a few for the sake of the whole. If your scouts get wiped out but the info avoids an ambush for your main force... their lives were not spent in vain. What you can do is have some covering fire for your scouts. That will increase their chances if they survive first contact (cf snorri's post) - plus there are eyes to see what kil... shot at your scouts. If the scenario is balanced, you usually have symmetric setup zones... If the designer is evil, he might have traded space for troops (ie a ME that is really a probe). Best bet: If it is a plt action - don't wast your troops. If it is tank heavy - the halfsquad is usually worth less than one tank - scout aggressive If it is a btn action - a halfsquad is expendable. Run for 2 turns, then move to contact. Gruß Joachim

vs T34: Depends on the range and the T34 variant. At above 800m they won't hurt each other frontally. With Tungsten, the PzIII has a small advantage below that to score a penetrating hit. As the probability to kill with a penetration is higher with the 76mm, I'd rank them equal in firepower. The T34 is more mobile, so I'd prefer the T34. The Sherman is definitely better than the PzIII. Even the Grant is a tough nut for the 50L60. The M4 is about equal to a PzIVg.

Why use AP when the blast of 152mm HE ruins any German tank in '41 anyway? Plus the fact that close counts with HE. Gruß Joachim

Massed fire works. A direct hit will destroy the gun, but lots of incoming will break the crew if the amount of suppression from the incoming is bigger than the decrease in suppression from recovering. 20 rounds over 5 turns have a different effect than 20 rounds in one turn. Read: A single small mortar may destroy the gun, but will not rout a veteran crew (or less but with morale bonus). A single area targetted MG will keep the suppression between incoming mortar rounds and might make a difference A few HE chuckers, MGs and squads in the same turn might persuade the crew to rout very quickly (if it is not fanatic). If it just pins and thus hides from view, you might loose the target. So use area fire with a small covered arc set to where you ain't expect a target. No enemy enters the arc - no other target selected - one full turn of metal delivered). Ohh... one thing about confirming gun/mortar kills... check the status bar for the the gun marker. If the terrain window for the gun is empty, the gun is dead. (Gamey!). An Infantry marker near the gun is a good indicator, too. Gruß Joachim

Denying a rumour proves it is a fact. Gruß Joachim

From that webpage: "The term was coined by the now sadly defunct site Der Kessel and denotes a Combat Mission scenario designed to the following requirements:" It's been over a quarter that Der Kessel is back again - it was upagain when I started PBEMing one of their newer scens last year. Guess you should update your website, Derfel . Rumors say a few things are in the pipeline over there. Gruß Joachim

German version went your way yesterday - sorry for the delay. Gruß Joachim

Sure. It won't work "Short with HE - aim higher with AP" But as both ballistics are known, a good gunner might still use the point of impact to correct aim. E.g. if he was short but close with the slower HE round, he will make sure to depress the gun a certain amount for AP. Gruß Joachim

An attack on partisans at 200% strength with 40% ammo. I had 8 tanks and several guns, but only a company and a half of infantry. QB map was a city in medium woods and medium hills. I got one out of ten flags... and then offered an armistice due to heavy ammo shortages. AI accepted - draw. so the underdogs stopped an armored onslaught. A defense on a huge open map with several small villages. I had 2 plts of PzIIIg, 1plt of PzIVe/f, 1 plt of StuGIIIbs plus a few PzII. Lots of halftracks, a few bunkers and an array of guns (1 5cm Pak, 1 7.6cm Pak, several 3.7 PaKs with HC) and a few TRPs, mines and wire. 2 Coys of infantry. 5000pts, 100% bonus for the AI and I had only spent about 3500 pts. 17000 pts for the AI. 30+ T34, a handful of KVs, 20+ light tanks and 4-5000 grunts. Plus lots of FOs. Wet terrain - the AI stayed on the roads. Soviet attack plan: 2 armor pincers, one infantry column. The latter hit a TRP in trees... plus I had an entrenched 15cm sIG way back and a couple of MGs - so much for the enemy infantry. One minefield got a KV and a T34 plus a light tank. Another one got a T34 (all without LOS to my MLR). The PaK did a great job. TRPs and 3.7cm HC is great vs KVs. I got many of the Soviet tanks with the PaK, then the armor and a plt of infantry nearby charged one pincer and eliminated it before my ammo run out. I kept the flags, the 2nd pincer was delayed by offering targets or sniping at them. Gruß Joachim [ May 11, 2004, 09:02 AM: Message edited by: Joachim ]