Mannheim Tanker

IIRC the sharpshooters in CM are not to be confused with true snipers. A search on "sharpshooter" should come up with BTS's thoughts on this topic.

Texas Toast: Thanks for the info! I believe the book in question was written in the 60's, so that's probably it. Now that I have some authors to go with the title, I'll hunt it down.

Cool! I just bought that book...didn't realize there would be a movie (the books are usually better anyway in any case). Does anyone remember another book on Stalingrad called, uhm "Stalingrad"? I remember reading it in early high school for a book report (my choice!). It was a rather grim book, but quite well written IIRC. I'd love to read it again, now that I have a lot more background knowledge on WWII, but I can't remember the author. I'm sure that it's out of print, so I'd probably have to find a used copy. Does this ring any bells out there?

THAT was funny, Madmatt! I nominate this thread as one of the goofiest yet (at least in my limited history of following this forum). BTW, Madmatt: When designing the editor, did the topic of, uhm, "shrubbery" ever come up?

Maybe those responsible for the bird inaccuracies are at fault....because their WITCHES!!! Only one way to determine if they're witches: Build a bridge outta of 'em!

markgame: "Please keep up the good work, guys, and continue to ignore the irrelevant." Just a bunch of goofballs having some fun at lunchtime here. I think BTS will see the humor in this thread (You have to be a Monty Python fan to "get" half of the jokes being made!)

"African or European?" Not sure; I didn't check the stats for the average wing velocity.

Yeah, there's also a white-crowned (or is it -throated?) sparrow in there. Not sure if they're endemic to Europe or not. How come the Grogs never picked up on these details?

ROFLOL! That's hillarious.

Speaking of weird things...I witnessed a clash between a lunatic driver and a clueless AT team: Last night, I ordered a 'schreck team to move about 5m from hiding behind a barn to take out a halftrack. I should also point out that this was the last turn, so the HT in question had just made a psychotic last-ditch charge into the town that I was holding in an effort to capture a flag (fanatic driver?). It was quite hillarious watching him slam through the streets at max speed, MG shooting everything in sight - right out of the Dirty Dozen! ANyway, my schreck team moved as ordered - then promptly turned their back on the halftrack and were summarily MG'ed to death. Maybe they were trying to moon the HT! It looked so stupid (and funny) that I had to replay it 3 times...

Now you really have me curious about Jung's interpretations! Good thing I didn't mention the BIG missiles that the Germans were sporting in the dream Doh! just did...

"I truly loathe the SS now." Or at least their friggin AT guns that multiply worse than rabbits! Nice job - I was riveted to this operation for several nights (I had to restart it a couple of times as I ran, ahh, a little short on tanks and had to call for a cease fire when the guns switched to chewing up my infantry!) Barely one the third try.

Thank God that I'm not the only one that's had a CM dream (and I only play a single game a day at most! Plus PBEM's, Plus... oh well - I'm hooked!). Last night I had my first CM dream. I beat the crap out of the AI but they retaliated with death-ray-shooting AA guns and flying saucers! Where can I get a reference on these?

Hawk is a friend of mine from another PBEM game, and he turned me onto CM - direct the sales commission to him. The ironic thing, is that he ordered many months before I did, and I got my copy a month earlier than he did (if he's even gotten it yet! He's in Norway...)

Thanks for the tip on Wav locations (I had to do this with the grass textures, too - the new ones are great, but bogged down my framerate too much). I can't say too many times, though how much better the new small arms sounds are! I like the additional languages, too.

Great job with the Mod Packs! I finally got around to updating my wav's - one word: Immersive! I duck when I hear the rifle fire, as it brings me back to the ranges and hunting camp (although we didn't have MG42's out there!). One question about the new arty explosions: Are they supposed to be quieter and sound like breaking glass (even when in an open field)? Those are the only original sound files I'll be keeping. Keep up the good work!

Kind of like joining the zombie masses on Night of the Living Dead, huh. Only, we don't eat brains. Exotic cats, however...

Some great discussion, and interesting points being made in this thread. One question to ponder that hasn't been addressed: The US often does help with purely humanitarian, (mostly) apolitical missions (eg the Earthquake in Turkey last year). The only example that I can recall of another country helping the US was in 1993, when Bangladesh send aid to help the Mississippi flood victims. Quite interesting the one of the poorest countries in the world extended at least some token of aid to the richest, while nobody else lifted a finger. Not to say that we even needed it, but some moral support would have been nice if nothing else. Just some food for thought, and not meant to point fingers at anyone else...

Originally posted by guachi: i had an 81mm mortar get a top penetration on a Hetzer. I was happy but puzzled until I noticed that the Hetzer only has 8mm of top armor. Jason I would expect nearly every mortar/arty round to penetrate the top of a vehicle. That armor is really thin, even on today's AFV's. That's one reason why a (modern-day) tank's biggest enemy is not another tank, but a helicopter.

How's THIS for a true hull down story: While on maneuvers with the 1st AD in Germany (early 90's), I served as a loader on an M1A1 with a brand new 2LT. The engineers completely screwed up the hull down position they tried to dig for us; the bottom was sloped such that the only way we could get a shot off was if we climbed up the far side, thereby exposing the the belly of the tank (and requiring the gunner to practically max depress the gun to get it on target). When backed into the position, we could only see 50 meters to our front. My LT's solution: post me 10 meters in FRONT of the tank and wait for the enemy to approach. When the enemy appeared, I was to "throw rocks at our tank to signal the LT and then scramble like hell to get back on board". The rest of the crew and I just looked at him like he was from Mars! No Sh**! We talked him out of that stupidity and simply moved to some woods. Kicked some ass from there. I've got a dozen more "butter bar" stories where that one came from! EDIT: Spelling (as usual) [This message has been edited by Mannheim Tanker (edited 07-10-2000).] [This message has been edited by Mannheim Tanker (edited 07-10-2000).]

Pretty good suggestion, Killmore. I think the coding for my brigade of idiots is more like this: AFV behaviour: while(target not in LOS) { ...If(any other threat appears) ......Target = new threat, exit while loop; ...Move slowly toward the target } Continue moving forward Target (appears.outofnowhere) AFV continues moving foward WHILE Scanning cluelessy in the wrong direction Target fires.hitmypoorAFV Ronson.Start Crew.Bail(headforthehills) END (chance of victory) LOL!

I can't resist chiming in here, since I finally have loads of real-world experience with this topic (as opposed to my usual mindless ramblings!)... Moon: In reality, it's not that difficult for the driver to get the tank into a hull-down position; all he needs to do is hit the brake when the gunner (or TC) yells "Stop!". I may be a little slow, but I got pretty good a getting into a hull down without the verbal command (you do it enough times, and you get a feel for what is the right position). Also, Lewis was right about the gun elevation/depression problem. Sometimes, you can get a good hulldown, but the tank is tipped at such a weird angle that you can't get the gun on target. Usually, a good TC can tell ahead of time if a position will cause this problem. All-in-all, it seems that some of this could be added to CM to make the hull-down a little more realistic (Tac AI or added feature to the interface). Right now, it takes an inordinate amount of time to get the tank into a good position (much longer than it ever took me to, as either gunner, driver or TC). edit: spelling. MT [This message has been edited by Mannheim Tanker (edited 07-10-2000).]

My guess (only a guess) is that the Allies don't get pillboxes in CMBO (key being June 1944 and beyond) because they were usually on the offensive. Many of the pillboxes were actually part a of a larger defensive complex, and so took quite a while to build. Not much time for the allies to build complex defensive structures in the Battle of the Bulge... It WOULD be cool to have them, though, to allow one to simulate the Allies occupying abandoned bunkers.

Greasypig: Don't get too down about it; I AM a tanker and it took me a while to get the hang of putting what I know (from reading and experience) into play in CM. It takes a lot of practice to use the terrain to your benefit, but that's the key. Take heed of Paul Gardner's posting (as well as the others here) - they speak the word of the tanker gods!

I seem to recall a story (can't remember the source as hard as I may try) about a British unit using a small stream in 1940 as an evacuation route to the coast. Their other option was to cross an open valley in full view of a German regiment. The stream had steep sides, but a rocky bottom and tree cover, so it provided the ideal escape route. Do any Grogs out there recall exactly where/when this happened? This would make for a cool scenario, BTW