kunstler

Toronto, Canada

Every time I try and update my CMBB copy from 1.01, I get a corrupt download. I still have to organize and get a friend to download it and see if that will work. I have started deleting the maps from the CMMODS site; I could email the pack I've done to someone though, just to see if it's the site that is corrupting them or if it is something on my computer that's doing it. cheers, kunstler

The AI is generally good on the defense, with a few caveats. It doesn't always use artillery very well. Sometimes it doesn't use it at all, sometimes it fires at nothing. It's not as bang on as a human opponent, so rather than giving the AI lots of artillery, a little and air support will probably be more effective, especially if the map has lots of cover. Flag set up matters a lot. The AI abandons positions to counter attack you if you take a flag, which means they generally shouldn't be placed far forward on the map. I tend to put only 1 or 2 flags on a map, close to the rear. Most positions are in front of the flags to avoid the AI counter-rush. Scenarios are great with default set-ups, especially against fixed positions like pill boxes and bunkers, minefields and barb wire. (AI Quick battle placement is often haphazard but it can still take a chunk out of you.) On the attack, the AI leaves alot to be desired, but you can improve things for QBs. Use the +100 or even +200 bonus. Give the AI supertanks and/or take no tanks yourself and try and stop them with AT guns. The AI infantry follow 'rivers' of cover from it's positions to yours. You can design a scenario map with trees behind a ridge winding towards you to give the AI troops cover while advancing. It will follow the tree route. It's terrible advancing infantry across open terrain and will do badly every time. It also does better on wide fronts than deep maps, although you can't specify this in quick battles as in CMBO. On really deep maps, it seems to abandon position and advance if it has had no contact with your forces for several turns. (so it seems at any rate). You can also channel AI troops using the flags. I've found the AI will go after one flag at a time, one after another. Once it takes a flag, it will move everything on, not leave an effective garrison. You often see AI troops in streams moving from flag to flag. I've tried to make a few scenarios meant for single player AI attack with mediocre success. The map makes a huge difference for the AI (difference between mediocre and awful). There are kick arse scenarios by very good players (with their setups) that can give you a heck of a run for your money. cheers, kunstler

ok, now this is getting weird. All uploaded files corrupted? At the same time, when I try and download CM updates, I get corruption problems, and if I download maps, I get the version problem (probably true on that, I'm using 1.01). I know that when receiving CMBB files I have to stuff them or they are corrupted. OTOH I can send files without stuffing and they have been fine. I'll try stuffing the files and reposting, that might do the trick. (edit: I don't think I can do that as it only takes cme files; will it accept .sit files?) If anyone else has had the same problem and has a solution (perhaps a wrong setting somewhere), let me know! cheers, kunstler

ok, now this is getting weird. All uploaded files corrupted? At the same time, when I try and download CM updates, I get corruption problems, and if I download maps, I get the version problem (probably true on that, I'm using 1.01). I know that when receiving CMBB files I have to stuff them or they are corrupted. OTOH I can send files without stuffing and they have been fine. I'll try stuffing the files and reposting, that might do the trick. If anyone else has had the same problem and has a solution (perhaps a wrong setting somewhere), let me know! cheers, kunstler

Well . . . dam. I am on a mac, and I'm running . . . er, it says 1.01. I would think it would be backward compatible for maps though. Couldn't get the later updates to download uncorrupted. They should still be cme files though. I guess the thing to do is . . . update and repost or something? They're not reeeeally exciting maps or anything. cheers, kunstler

I posted a bunch of maps I have made to the site. About 10 I think. Not sure how many of them will really play out game wise, only played through on a few. I was more thinking about believable environments than playability. Point values can probably be upped on the larger ones. Hope they are useful. cheers, kunstler

I've been fiddling around with the map maker and have several completed ones, but they're all fictional. Hadn't actually thought much about uploading them, but if people are looking for maps, I suppose I might as well put the bunch that I've done up. I just have to fiddle with the set up areas. That and the flags. They are a major influence on what happens with the AI. Actually I kind of like just making the maps and not worrying about the troop set ups. I just took a look at Thieke's link, and he's the only chap posting maps there! cheers, kunstler

Just gave this scenario a whirl. Figured there'd be a thread like this about it, it's a tough one. I got totally slaughtered as Russians. SPOILERS for von Lauchert - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - As the Germans, you get a pack of Panthers. I stood of f and engaged the Soviets at long range. The biggest worry was that I'd run out of ammo, as the Soviets have a lot of tanks. Fortunately for the Germans, they can't hit anything, and if they do, they can't penetrate the forward armour. I took out 69 Soviet tanks, 3 or 4 KV-1s, 4 Shermans, 4 Churchills, 10 T70s, some captured German tanks, most of the rest T34s. I lost nothing. Not a single tank. Hell I didn't have a single casualty in my entire force, including the infantry advancing over open ground! The Russians didn't hit my tanks with more than two or three times in 45 turns, most shots missed. It was a breeze. By the end of the fighting however, I only had 3 Panthers left with AP rounds (20, 30, 16 or so). By then he only had 2 or 3 tanks left so no biggie. Played later as the Soviets. I had foreknowledge about the German positions and numbers so I thought I'd do better. I think I followed the logical strategy for the Russkies: I rushed my tanks ASAP to the gorges that feed into the main ravine/soggy bottom river bed, using them for cover, then set up to hit the Panthers as they crested the ridge of the ravine at point blank range. I got most of my original slew of tanks in safe (minus the tank commanders, the AI nailed them, and a few T70s which toasted quick). Then I got all but two of the reinforcing assault guns into the gorge. The next wave of T34s I tried to shuttle up as well, but the Panthers had moved forward by then and butchered most, one made the gorge, one I managed to pull back from the crest. The remainder of the reinforcements I stopped at the hill. It was just getting too risky, the Panthers too accurate and my tanks too inaccurate to risk long range exchanges. I tried some shoot and scoot but nobody made it to the scoot part. So I waited for the Panthers to crawl up to the ravine. Here I had positioned my tanks in groups of 3/4 to either side of the advancing panthers. Couldn't get the dang LOS quite right and the different tank pods didn't engage at quite the same time, the command delays for some were pretty long. I screwed up on coordinating that and getting LOS exactly right for them all. The Germans got the jump, started shooting first. They had advanced in two big packs on either side of the map. Engaged at around 69 meters direct, 200 meters flanks. Some of the Panthers on the far flank started firing into the rear of my tanks on the other side trying to ambush the other set of his tanks. Whoops. Had to move forward quick with the force set for them to stop that fire. Heck fiddling with the LOS was proving difficult so I just moved everybody to contact at the ravine, and then rushed forward with the horde from back at the hill. It was a slaughter. Half the horde rushed to the ravine, none made it. The other half tried to hull down and distract/fire into flanks of the Panthers. No luck there, they were dead pretty fast. At the ravine, I took out 4 Panthers, but the T34s kept reversing into cover rather than shooting (they were less experienced crews) which hurt the number of shots I got off. It was hard to get them forward from two angles at the same time. Even at short ranges 60m-200m the Panther frontal armour was tough. Each turn I got a slew of Knocked Out messages popping up over my tanks. I still had infantry in the trees but only 3 tanks left. He'd knocked out the AT guns I 'd tried to position on the hill side and rear trees. So that was time to hand in the towel and surrender: 69 vehicles to 4. Man that's an awful result, especially since I knew what was coming. I didn't manage my attempted ambush at the ravine as well as I could have. Still. I thought the scenario illustrated the superiority of long range German guns and piercing ammo over Soviet armour quite aptly. Gotta go now and search for a thread that explains how to win von Lau as Soviets. ---------------------- And here I am. Trommelfeuer, that's an amazing performance. Couldn't see the picks but the results . . . . holy moses. Very impressive! I'll have to try again another day. cheers, kunstler

There are a number of head to head, meeting engagement scenarios between Russian and German tanks. Just played one called: von Lauchert (something like that). Think it comes with the CD. I tried it from the German side and later from the Soviet. I thought it was an especially tough scenario for the Russian. Anyone else played it and won as the Soviets? If you haven't, give it a whirl. See if you can pull out a win. Even against the AI I think it will take me several more goes before I can do so. MAJOR SPOILERS for von Lauchert - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - - - -- - As the Germans, you get a pack of Panthers. I stood of f and engaged the Soviets at long range. The biggest worry was that I'd run out of ammo, as the Soviets have a lot of tanks. Fortunately for the Germans, they can't hit anything, and if they do, they can't penetrate the forward armour. I took out 69 Soviet tanks, 3 or 4 KV-1s, 4 Shermans, 4 Churchills, 10 T70s, some captured German tanks, most of the rest T34s. I lost nothing. Not a single tank. Hell I didn't have a single casualty in my entire force, including the infantry advancing over open ground! The Russians didn't hit my tanks with more than two or three times in 45 turns, most shots missed. It was a breeze. By the end of the fighting however, I only had 3 Panthers left with AP rounds (20, 30, 16 or so). By then he only had 2 or 3 tanks left so no biggie. Does that make me a tactical genius? Heheheh. I wish. Played later as the Soviets. I had foreknowledge about the German positions and numbers so I thought I'd do better. I think I followed the logical strategy for the Russkies: I rushed my tanks ASAP to the gorges that feed into the main ravine/soggy bottom river bed, using them for cover, then set up to hit the Panthers as they crested the ridge of the ravine at point blank range. I got most of my original slew of tanks in safe (minus the tank commanders, the AI nailed them, and a few T70s which toasted quick). Then I got all but two of the reinforcing assault guns into the gorge. The next wave of T34s I tried to shuttle up as well, but the Panthers had moved forward by then and butchered most, one made the gorge, one I managed to pull back from the crest. The remainder of the reinforcements I stopped at the hill. It was just getting too risky, the Panthers too accurate and my tanks too inaccurate to risk long range exchanges. I tried some shoot and scoot but nobody made it to the scoot part. So I waited for the Panthers to crawl up to the ravine. Here I had positioned my tanks in groups of 3/4 to either side of the advancing panthers. Couldn't get the dang LOS quite right and the different tank pods didn't engage at quite the same time, the command delays for some were pretty long. I screwed up on coordinating that and getting LOS exactly right for them all. The Germans got the jump, started shooting first. Engaged at around 69 meters direct, 200 meters flanks. Some of the Panthers on the far flank started firing into the rear of my tanks on the other side trying to ambush the other set of his tanks. Whoops. Had to move forward quick with the force set for them to stop that fire. Heck fiddling with the LOS was proving difficult so I just moved everybody to contact at the ravine, and then rushed forward with the horde from back at the hill. It was a slaughter. Half the horde rushed to the ravine, none made it. The other half tried to hull down and distract/fire into flanks of the Panthers. No luck there, they were dead pretty fast. At the ravine, I took out 4 Panthers, but the T34s kept reversing into cover rather than shooting (they were less experienced crews) which hurt the number of shots I got off. It was hard to get them forward from two angles at the same time. Even at short ranges 60m-200m the Panther frontal armour was tough. Each turn I got a slew of Knocked Out messages popping up over my tanks. I still had infantry in the trees but only 3 tanks left. He'd knocked out the AT guns I 'd tried to position on the hill side and rear trees. So that was time to hand in the towel and surrender: 69 vehicles to 4. Man that's an awful result, especially since I knew what was coming. I didn't manage my attempted ambush at the ravine as well as I could have. Still. I thought the scenario illustrated the superiority of long range German guns and piercing ammo over Soviet armour quite aptly. Gotta go now and search for a thread that explains how to win von Lau as Soviets. cheers, kunstler

hi Redwolf, I can see why with the Tigers. I read they were used, like you say, in wedges at Kursk, leading in the other tanks. Of course lucky shots take some out, but carefully handled by a skilled player they're mobile fortresses. I try to limit exposure of assets when facing the enemy as much as possible but in the open plain scenarios it can be difficult to do, and my only solution so far is to lose tanks. Interesting about the Russians using artillery on the tank approaches. It makes sense. But I've read on the board about how slow Russian artillery was, that's why prepatory bombardment was brought into the game, because CMBO didn't cover the scale of combat at which large Russian guns would be used (ie. to slow to respond to fluid situation). I have no doubt they used the guns but how did they manage to bring them to bear fast enough against mobile assets? Until late in the war I get 7 or 8 minute waiting time for artillery a lot. I've played a number of CM scenarios where tanks have artillery support and some with little or none, which are the most difficult. Good to know commanders weren't forced to do that often, because it's a nightmare challenge. I was thinking that tactics are as complicated as the terrain (totally flat = tank rush, lots of gullies,hills,trees = lots of options/finesse) but that doesn't wash because the less sophisticated Soviets were outclassed in open terrain and much better in the cities. (is the German advantage at mobile warfare really in the scale of CM or a step up from that?) To get a sense of what the fighting was like on the Ostfront, I'm experimenting with fighting in wide open terrain in various weather conditions. If it is flat for miles, how far ahead do you send recon? How far can 85mm Russian guns shoot? =) If your column is rushing to cut off Soviet troops trying to escape a pocket, you can't be too cautious or they'll all escape. Even the best commander must be forced into taking unwise, wild, tactical risks to secure larger scale tactical goals, no? One question for those in the know: How much artillery was used in historical situations? Is the artillery support you get in attacks in CM equal to the amount generally employed in historical advances, too heavy, or too light? With tons of smoke, turn after turn, I could probably advance a strictly infantry force towards entrenched defenders, but on a big open map it would require on heck of a lot of 81mm smoke spotters to keep up long enough for the entire approach. Keeping up enough of a bombardment to keep the enemies heads down would also take a lot of shrapnel. Without artillery, tanks, or massively outnumbering the enemy, I can't see any way to do it. Even tanks need smoke/artillery support to pass ATGs without serious losses, and on the open steppe, only mechanized seems to have any offensive capability. Infantry alone are just to vulnerable and exposed. They spend all their time on their bellies. From a game perspective, artillery has to be limited, but historically, in general, is the level of artillery support proportional? Thanks for all the responses guys. One of these days I hope to master open terrain advance. I'll have to to play CMAK! Joachim, thanks for the tip, I'll try that! cheers, kunstler [ August 13, 2003, 01:47 PM: Message edited by: kunstler ]

I wuz doing the half-a-hill overwatch in the last game, Into the Void. That one I was using the left side of the hill as protection and limiting my field of fire/exposure. As you say, the best spotting locations are also fire magnets. I always try to set up defenses with limited, overlapping fields of fire so enemy tanks can't support each other. But it's true, often I'm heading up over the top, especially of the low rise ridges. Moving up the side of them is a very good point. Sometimes though all you have is a long, unbroken ridge line at the start of the map (to conceal your troops from immediate fire and truncate the length of the map). Here there isn't always much choice. I try to limit exposure with the ground as best I can but LOS and surety aren't always easy to achieve, sometimes I overshoot or underestimate the concealment/curve of a mound and then . . . it's bam! The covered arc command sounds like it has more uses than I've given it credit for, I don't use it much. I'll start giving that a go too. With the 6th scenario, no amount of artillery is enough for me. I want to flatten the whole dang map before I send my guys in. Taxpayers would not be pleased. =) WIth default defender positions and fixed emplacements like ATGs and pillboxes, the AI can do a real bang up job. The only downside I have found is the AI rearranges the facing of pillboxes, even with locked unit placement. How do you get around that? I think I've seen it in other scenarios. Good advice fellas, thanks! kunstler [ August 13, 2003, 10:55 AM: Message edited by: kunstler ]

Is the key keeping some tanks stationary not for shooting but for spotting? What increases chanes of spotting ATG positions? I'm playing SP-6th army probe now; it's got some depressions but not much cover. I do have a bit of artillery, hope it's enough for his guns. Otherwise it's gonna be costly. Approach to Sevastopol is another one that comes to mind. k

hi kmead, Thanks for the offer! I'm up in Canada, but that's a good get around. I think I can get a friend with a fast connection to download it. The stuffit problem is still a conundrum. cheers, kunstler

SPOILERS Cracking the Egg - - - - -- -- - - - - - _ _ _ _ _ _ _ - - - - -- - The tigers popped into being when my ISU tank horde was reaching the paved road on the left, just behind the hill. I had about 12 tanks vs. 4, 9 engaged first turn, 3 more the next turn. I lost 10 tanks to the German 2. the ISU makes a very impressive bang but they just don't have great accuracy. I think the Tiger crews were more experienced, too, but I'm not sure. Brutal! Have to try and move in faster next time I guess!