xerxes

Multiplayer with player specific level fog of war! -marc s

That would be great if that could really happen.

Spread out and when a spotting shell falls - run or withdraw.

Sharpshooters in cover and hiding typically only get ID'd when the enemy runs directly on top of them. If you're facing very high quality troops they are found more easily. The advantage of using a sharpshooter over a 1/2 squad for detecting the enemy are: 1. Sharpshooters are much more difficult to spot. 2. Sharpshooters are less likely to fire and give themselves away 3. Sharpshooters are weak in firepower, a 1/2 squad depletes your firepower more. Not good in closed terrain where you need all the firepower you can get. 4. Sharpshooters are most effective against afvs, afvs will not dominate in the terrain you describe. Once the enemy main force in the area passes by the sharpshooter, if the shooter has good LOS to an enemy HQ or support team you should unhide them. Pinning an HQ can really mess up an advance. -marc s

snipers forward, spread out and hidden. Try to place them were he is unlikely to run directly over the. Don't worry about killing with them, use them for information. You can be easily overrun with the poor LOS. Keep each of your companies together. Spreading out too much will make you vulnerable to a fast attack. Identify his main attack, shift at least a company to meet it. Make it a place where you can get your arty FO LOS of at least 60-100m. The goal is to "freeze" his infantry for a turn or two to let your arty fall. Multiple FOs at the same time is worthwhile if he has a big force. If he is coming to strong in a section, bug out ASAP. Don't let him overwelm you. Keep the TDs back pretty much, bring them forward only with good keyholes to do a little direct HE fire. His armor (if he has any) is pretty vulnerable. This is an infantry/arty fight. My guess is the best arty work will prevail. -marc s

Holiens is spot on. Even with bigger stuff trying to cause damage with arty only is a mistake. Unengaged targets can avoid your arty. Overlapping FOs cause a much worse hit on morale.

In scenario design there's all kinds of reasons to tweak ammo, dpending on, duh, the military situation. In GENERAL, increasing rifle ammo some and decreasing smg ammo some is probably a good idea. If you're simulating a beaten down force fighting it's third batle in a day trying to escape, you'll probably reduce ammo. If you're simulated a heavily entrenched, very well supplied and prepared defender, you might increase ammo. As always, scenarios and QBs are oil and water when it comes to most of these types of issues. -marc s

Sneaking units WILL fire on their own if a good enough target (as determined by the TacAI) is spotted. I've had it happen when I didn't want it to. Sneak is still a good choise, as soon as the first unit fires at you, your sneaker should halt. Much better than running over the hill screaming and yelling just to get shot completely to pieces. -marc

maybe the brit rifles should even be tweaked up to 55 to represent this?

The topic of what is a good level of control is a very reasonable one. Players naturally ask for more control, but the possibility that less control might make a better game is much more difficult to see. The suggestion of having the TacAI take care of the details of exact positioning is really an interesting one. It would emphasize tactics instead of endless LOS checking. I think lessening micromanagement of exact positioning would be an improvement. And it would increase realism (from a player=commander perspective). -marc s

JasonC's ammo adjustment is an excellent recommendation and nobody has even really tried to argue against it's realism or game balancing effects. I always adjust ammo in my scenarios and I appreciate sensible ammo adjustment in scenarios I play. The only problem is it's a pain to go in and edit all those ammo loadouts. Too bad you can't just make it global when editing. 'nuff said. -marc s

Both are fun little scenarios, I definitely recommend them! -marc s

I ran some new feature polls over at the Band of Brothers. We're certainly pretty hard core CMers, just thought you might be interested in the 3 top rated features of CMBB. 50% vehicle command and control 45% movie playback 38% covered afv firing arcs Movie playback was the second most requested. Having played games (such as myth) with movie playback I can tell you it is not just chrome. It's an absolutely critical feature that helps veterans, but even more so, newbies. This is one of the most anticipated features of CMBB. Heck even if you had to hack a separate playback application that would be better than nothing! - marc s

I have to congratulate admiral keth and big dog on the scenario depot, it's a wonderful resource for CM. Great work guys! Any suggestions on how to get people to review a scenario? I posted my first scenario, "seize the day" and I've gotten a good number of DLs but no reviews. It's a smallish scenario, byte battle size. A little unusual I think, but fun. I also get the impression that the bulk of people play scenarios vs. the a.i.. Is this correct? -marc s

Greens are bad? Try playing conscripts. Those lightning quick all knowing redeployments are a thing of the past. You plan your attack/defense and you stick with it. If you abandon an attack it will take quite a while to reform, move somewhere else and try to relaunch an attack. In addition you level of information about the enemy will approach nil. I find conscript games quite interesting and challenging. -marc s

I agree with L.Tank, if your opponent can manage to "rush" the flag in the last turn and make it contested you have totally failed to achieve your tactical objective of CONTROL. You can't claim to your commanding officer that you've achieve control if the enemy can place an afv or a squad in the objective without you killing them first. I don't like when a rush happens to me, but I know it is 100% my fault for failing to adequately protect what I was supposed to have captured. flag rush = not gamey If anything, complaining about it strikes me as questionably gamey. There, hah, take that. - marc s [ March 16, 2002, 04:20 PM: Message edited by: xerxes ]

Just jok'n with ya redwolf. I know you're looking at it from a QB purchase viewpoint. I don't do QBs so my tactics are based on using what I'm given in a scenario to maximize my force effectiveness(MFE). MFE theory dictates HTs are used for rapid transport in the snow and on roads and finding mines, lastly for close support when there is no tank/AT gun danger. Now allied M3A1 HTs are a different story. A pack of those chews up infantry like a five year old going through a bag of oreos. - marc sullivan

Last I checked tanks were more expensive.

Good for finding mines and AT guns. heh.

Wrong hill is next on my list of "to-be-played". Sounds fantastic. Now I just need to work down my games so I have the time. -marc

Beating physically massed tanks is really not hard. You need two tank killing afvs. Send them to each flank out of LOS of the enemy, but able to move 10m to get shots with a wide range of fire. The two tanks should be able to intelock their fire. Once the armor horde is spotted (not hard). Shift your two killers to positions were they are out of LOS of the horde but can move 10m to get LOS. These positions should be at least 45 degrees off the center facing of the horde (90 degrees is optimal but hard to achieve). 1. Now, move tank #1 just into their LOS with a hunt. Add a reverse. Do another hunt and a reverse. 2. Pause tank#2, hunt into los of the horde, add a reverse. You should have your two little killers move asymetrically. #1 presents to the horde, pops a shot, horde turns to engage, #1 retreats. Just as this is happening #2 emerges and pops a shot. If you time it right, the horde will be totally helpless. Once they realize what's going on the horde will either retreat, try to move out of possible LOS of one of your killers, or split up. -marc s

Vehicle fords are a great addition. Will infantry be able to cross at a vehicle ford? I would have to assume yes.

It'll probably raise the hair MadMatt's back, but, you wouldn't believe what my 7 year old uses CM for. He's played the game but what he really likes is the editor. Now, he doesn't make battle maps at all. What he does make: 1. amusement parks. tracks trucks hills, voila, a roller coaster. water, boats, it's a water ride! He's created the most elaborate wwii amusement parks in the entire world. 2. They also like to make "neighborhoods" and have their friends visit each other. Odd, but very cool. The next BTS game should be "build your world". - marc

That's why the Queen ordered the creation of the bren carrier.

Pushing won't mobilize but it will reposition. Nice little trick. -marc s