ASL Veteran

If you were playing Eye of the Needle as the German then once the Soviet assault force is destroyed there won't be much happening. The problem is that if the Soviets are going to be successful they need the full time allocated in order to capture the town objective on the German side of the map so both an AI Soviet player and a human Soviet player will need every minute of time the scenario allows. If the player manages to destroy the assault force early then you should be able to cease fire. Sometimes it can take the AI a while to get into attack position though so you don't want to do it too early, but once an initial 'something' happens then you should be okay after maybe a twenty minute wait to cease fire. There are a few reinforcements that the Soviets get but I don't think anything else comes in after the thirty minute mark. AI attack plans may also have troops that will be positioned in overwatch or support locations that are designed to bring fire upon known defensive positions, but if you alter the defense significantly or if the overwatch force has taken casualties or were forced to retreat then they will just sit back in locations that you may not be able to see unless you move your defenders out to hunt for them.

Many scenarios have H2H results posted over at The Blitz club website. So if you want to play scenarios blind you can get some idea as to what might appeal to you by reading through some of the experiences and results that others have had. One way that I've selected scenarios in the past is to have one player choose the scenario, but have the other player choose the side. This forces the player who chooses the scenario to choose something that he thinks he can win as either side since the one who chooses the scenario would not know which side he would be playing as. This doesn't work so well if you want to play blind though as both players need to look at the scenario in order to evaluate which scenario to choose if you are the one choosing the scenario or which side to play as if you are the one choosing the side to play since you want to choose the side you think you have the best chance of winning with.

I haven't tested triggers with reinforcements so it's possible that triggers will override the 'normal' behavior of not moving until the entire group is on map. I've personally tried having a single AI group split into an on map group and a reinforcement group so I know that, at least used to be, the expected behavior. It has been a while since I've done anything like that though since - well once I see something doesn't work then I don't typically keep trying to do it.

An AI group will not move unless all members of that group are on map. So if AI group 1 has some troops begin on map and others entering as reinforcements, then no members of AI group 1 will move until all the members of AI group 1 have entered the map as reinforcements. Once all members of group 1 have arrived then the group will begin to carry out the group orders that you have assigned. So essentially it is currently impossible to have AI movement orders with groups that are split between on map elements and reinforcements, unless your movement plan is set to begin after all the members of that AI group have arrived on map.

If you mean individual squads and units surrendering then that behavior is not tied to the type of game you are playing. It happens in all battles when the circumstances are right.

If no points are associated for exit purposes, then the exit zones are undifferentiated from the 'Cease Fire' or 'Surrender' result which can be selected by a player at any point during their game. So, in other words, the exit zones serve no purpose since they do not influence the outcome of the scenario in terms of victory or defeat as defined by victory points. If the exit zones do not influence the outcome of victory or defeat, then they serve no practical game purpose even within the context of a campaign. In the game, campaigns are strictly against the AI and if you are at the point where exiting units for no reason becomes a practical possibility then you can achieve the same result by selecting the Cease Fire button without all the additional trouble of moving your units to the pointless exit locations. However, if you have a desire to add exit zones to every scenario or campaign you make then by all means, go for it.

Tank is hit and is destroyed Just so you guys don't have to take my word for it, what does a crew do when their tank is hit and destroyed? Essentially the crew bails out and they are out of the fight. My comments will be in italics. After inspecting our target, discussing possible danger spots and driving tactics, we mounted and informed Arno, our gunner, Karl, our loader, and Egon, the radio operator. Their first combat action was now before them. Ready to go, ready to fire. ‘Panzer March!” Our nerves tight to the breaking point, each alone with his thoughts, complete silence inside the vehicle, only the engine was humming. So we crawled and crept slowly toward the hill top. What was waiting for us on the rear slope? Otto was standing in his hatch. ‘Slowly, a little higher! Stop! Turret three o’clock, aim at the edge of the woods! Again, nothing, Helmut, let’s go, march!” I geared up and opened the throttle all the way. We crested the hilltop. I spotted the edge of the woods and steered toward its left corner. We wanted to go around it so we could see what was behind it. Then, a violent rattle on the outer walls, machine gun and rifle fire. Our turret MG was firing. I recognized a rapidly firing enemy machine gun, spotted the flat helmets. De clutching on the right, aiming the hull MG, firing – all that happened in a flash. There, at the corner of the woods, enemy soldiers moving a gun into position! Report to the turret again aiming the hull MG. Our gun was firing with the Panzer moving at full speed. ‘Stop! Stop! Back! Back! Faster!’ Otto shouted that order. I knew the engine was at full speed, it could not go backward any faster. I turned toward the instruments, we were way past the maximum allowable number of revolutions, the time was sixteen minutes before sixteen hours. Just as I was about to look out of my sight slit I was blinded by a flash of light. There was a bang as if a soda pop bottle had smashed into a stone floor. Hit to the forehead, alive, those were my thoughts. Then, the Panzer was shaking as if in the grip of a giant fist, brightness, howling, shrieking noises, totally inhuman. Smell of sulfur, complete silence. Then Otto’s voice: “Bail out, Panzer’s on fire!” I unlatched my hatch, pushed it open, it moved only a few centimeters. Flames immediately blazed through the opening. The turret skirt sat above. I saw how Egon, our radio operator, pulled his legs from his hatch. That was the way. Across the transmission, the radio, my breath stopped, it was getting so hot, I had to get out, I could not take it anymore. Far away, a face. Arms stretching toward me. Shouts: “Helmut, get out!” Pulling, ripping, fresh air. I was outside, jumped off, letting myself drop. Egon had come back and pulled me out. Thanks comrade! Egon helped me to get up, I was standing again. Bullets whistled by and hit the hull. We leapt to the side away from the enemy, there was Otto. What about Arno and Karl? Otto pointed to the turret, its side hatches were still closed and yelled: “Both were killed outright, I was still inside!” I could not believe it. Arno Eltus from Konigsberg in East Prussia, my gunner. Since Hasselt we had been together with Otto, always in the same Panzer. We lived through our first actions, victories, always the three of us together. Now he was gone, just left inside the turret. What a terrible realization. Dark smoke billowed from the open hatches. We ran into the direction of our front line. Suddenly I heard: “Helmut, you’re on fire!” I rolled on the ground, Otto and Egon helped extinguish the flames. Again, machine gun bullets were whistling by us. We ran and ran. Finally we reached the rear slope, found German soldiers, houses. A squad of soldiers addressed us but I did not hear or comprehend anything. I could see but not recognize , felt pain, severely burning pain. Then it turned all black around me and silent. End Once again, in this next one the crew bails out and they are out of the fight. Note the jammed hatch. We advanced further through the gently rolling terrain. I Zug suddenly found itself on a wide open plain and under fire from Canadian anti tank guns. Four Panzer IVs of my platoon were immediately on fire. We in the fifth Panzer IV, took a direct hit between the side of the turret as we were making the big mistake of trying to turn while under fire from the anti tank guns. We had been unable to knock out the Canadian anti tank guns firing from 1500 to 2000 meters distance. The shell ripped off my Panzer commander’s leg. He was Oberscharfuhrer Esser. As I heard later, he still managed to get out of the turret. Because it was a phosphor shell, the whole panzer was immediately in flames. I lost consciousness since the rubber cover of my gunner’s hatch charred and jammed the hatch, preventing me from getting out immediately. Somehow, sub consciously, I managed to crawl to the loader’s hatch. I can only remember the moment clearly when I fell from the hatch to the ground, head first. With severe third degree burns I walked back in the direction of our grenadiers following behind. They stared at me as though I was a ghost, that is the way I must have looked. End Again, with this one, the crew bails out and they are no longer a part of the fight. Note the jammed hatch. Approximately 1000 meters ahead was a railroad station where some movement could be spotted. I was driving already approximately thirty meters ahead of the company in a slow left turn in order not to fall behind. At that moment after a muffled bang and a swaying as if the track had been ripped off, the vehicle came to a stop. It was quiet inside the vehicle. I thought we had driven onto a mine. When I looked to the left to check the situation I happened to see the turret being torn off the panzer driving on the left flank. At the same moment, after another minor explosion, my vehicle began to burn. The machine gun ammunition caught on fire and there was a crackling noise like dry firewood burning. Since we were to push into the town, I had closed the turret hatch. I could only lift it with the spindle but could not swing it out. Paul Veith, the gunner sitting in front of me, had apparently been seriously injured by fragments from the hit. Veith did not move. I tried for a long time with all my energy to swing out the hatch. I was only successful when I tried different height settings on the lift crank. It had probably been damaged by the hit. I jumped out, fell on the rear and was unconscious for a short time. Then I saw flames coming out of the open hatch as if from a blowtorch. I got up and tried to jump off. However, I could not keep my balance and landed head first on the ground. I do not know how long I lay there. Then I got on my feet and saw to my left along the same line as my vehicle, other burning panzers. Among them was Stagge’s. End In this one, the enemy crew bails out of their tank and is no longer a part of the fight. In fact, the crew of the panzerjager completely ignores the survivors of the tank they just destroyed even though they run into a church that is only a few yards from their vehicle. I stopped my Panzerjager at the intersection after the church and ordered the motor turned off so that I could determine the situation by listening. Now and then I heard shots behind me, but suddenly , to the right of me and apparently behind the church, the roar of a heavy engine. The only thing I could see was the corner of the church standing out from the snow covered square. I suspected an enemy tank starting to move behind the church. I had our own engine started and pivoted my panzerjager around by ninety degrees to the right. In that position, I spotted a Sherman pushing out from behind the church, in reverse gear, some 8-10 meters away. I ordered “anti tank shell” had the barrel lowered and when the giant was right in front of my gun I disappeared into my hatch and we knocked out the tank. It was in flames immediately and lit up the battle ground and the church square for a long time. Two men were able, limping from the tank, to flee into the church. We left them alone. End In this one, there are apparently several panzer crews all hiding out in a shack. They don’t stand and fight the Americans as infantry squads. Nope, they are basically all huddling in fear in this shack trying to avoid capture and when the opportunity presents itself they all make a break for it. The panzers of 1 Kompanie drove at the point, then followed our Kompanie, with Brodel as Kompanie chief. Myself, I was slotted in behind Beutelhauser, my Zugfuhrer. When I reached the vicinity of the church a gruesome picture was waiting for me. Beutelhauser was knocked out in front of me. We had both already crossed the second intersection. When Beutelhauser was hit, I was able to spot the approximate location of the enemy twin anti tank gun. Beutelhauser was able to bail out and reach safety. His loader was killed by rifle bullets as he bailed out. I moved my panzer into position behind a house, which provided visual and fire cover, without knowing right then what to do next. Brodel’s vehicle stood next to me, burning lightly. Brodel sat lifeless in the turret, he had been killed. Along the course of the street ahead of me, all of the panzers had been knocked out, some were still on fire. One panzer was still moving, I believe it was Freier’s. It was able to pull back in the direction of the eventual Abteilung command post under my covering fire. Some of the crews from the knocked out panzers who had been hiding in a shed took advantage of that opportunity. They also went back using the panzer as cover. They barely escaped being taken prisoner by the encircling American infantry. End Once again we have several knocked out tanks with crews bailing out, but none of the crews join the fight. After bailing out they are essentially out of the fight. Untersturmfuhrer Schittenhelm had just reached a protrusion of the forest, when a flash of flame as if ignited by the hand of a ghost, shot up from his panzer. A thick heavy mushroom cloud of smoke covered the vehicle, two men bailed out. Hauptmann Hils issued orders to take up position toward the three o’clock. He stood in the turret of his panzer studying the map once again, to make sure of his exact location. Then he fired a signal flare to mark the final direction of the march. It died away on the terrain sloping downward to the estate. We awaited the ‘March, march!’ for the attack. Since nothing happened, I looked again toward his panzer. The turret was burning! Hauptmann Hils could no longer be seen. The hull crew was leaving the panzer. I recognized the driver, Unterscharfuhrer Bunke as well as the radio operator whose name I did not know. It had to be assumed that the turret crew made up in addition to Hauptmann Hils, but the gunner Lorentzen, and the loader Krieg, had been killed. Abruptly, an almost indescribably devastating fire from the American artillery set in. The pasture turned into a plowed field, a number of panzers took direct hits. Renewed and well aimed anti tank fire was directed at Untersturmfuhrer Engel’s panzer. He pulled back about twenty meters so that the rear of the panzer stood in the woods. From there he was hoping to have a better field of observation. At the same time he reported on the situation by radio. In the line of trees suspect from the start of the attack, he assumed at least two American anti tank guns. Since he could not land any effective hits by direct fire, he fired explosive shells in rapid sequence into the tree tops in order to neutralize the American gun crews by shrapnel. He was successful, several Americans fled into the close by forest. Immediately he rolled his panzer forward to the row of trees. For the first time the view to the estate was clear and he opened fire on it immediately. The artillery fire had continued at unabated strength. Finally Untersturmfuhrer Engel was also knocked out. The crew was able to bail out. Only the radio operator Sturmmann Fitz lost a finger. Chased by the artillery fire, the crew still managed to carry a seriously wounded infantryman out of the zone of fire. End These guys tried to run back but failed, so they ran back to their knocked out tank. They were eventually discovered there by other tanks and those tanks helped the crew to escape back to their own lines. We mounted the attack to the left of the road and closed in on the first houses of the estate. The Grenadiers, however, were stalled and unable to keep pace with us because of the heavy artillery fire. During that attack, one of Oberscharfuhrer Kretzschmar’s tracks was blown off. We took one of his crew into our vehicle, and continued the attack with six men in the panzer. We were knocked out close to the first houses of the estate. Then we tried to reach our own lines along the road without success. After moving back toward the spot at the estate where we had been knocked out, we managed to be spotted by our Kompanie, and split up into the remaining vehicles. Since we were in front of the estate without Grenadiers, the order came to pull back. End Eight enemy tanks are spotted on the road and all eight are destroyed. The crews of the vehicles simply flee after their vehicles were destroyed. With four or five panzers, I rolled along a narrow path toward our objective. To the right of the path ran a muddy creek with a lot of water from snow melt, its banks lined by poplars. The valley widened. To the right was a wooded hill, on our left, first a somewhat steeper slope covered with grass. Then we spotted ahead of us the outlines of one or more large buildings; a mill? Caution was necessary before we approached! No guidance, nothing to be seen anywhere, neither friend nor foe. The point vehicle slowly approached the huge building. Suddenly it stopped and immediately fired. ‘Let’s go closer – full throttle,’ I ordered my driver. ‘An anti tank shell loaded?’ – ‘Yes sir, anti tank shell loaded!’ the loader reported from below – ‘Attention! Something is happening there – Gunner, open fire when target is determined – Distance 400!’ The vehicle at point fired . Through my headphones, scratchy, the message: ‘Attention! Attention! – Enemy tanks ahead! Out!’ It took my breath away, and the cigar probably dropped from my mouth, when I recognized the situation: enemy tanks, some eight to ten T-34s were sitting close together on the path along which we were rolling. Behind the building, dismounted, stood the commanders during the stop for orientation, probably in a briefing with their chief. The luck of war was on our side once again! I immediately ordered the two rear most tanks knocked out, the two at the point of the column were already burning. The crews fled, under fire from our Grenadiers – who knows where they may have come from? In no time all the tanks were ours. The radios were still on, and one of us who spoke Russian took over the radio of a T-34 together with Ivan. End This guy bails out of his tank and feels lucky to have made it back alive. His crew wasn’t so lucky. There was no thought in his mind of standing and fighting toe to toe with the Russian infantry. A network of trenches ran across the road and into the field to the left and right. I posted two men with Panzerfausts in the trench and put an anti tank gun in position a little farther back. On the left wing, we sat with four Panzer IVs, Grenadiers in the trenches in between. We were ready for Ivan. A feeling of misgiving made me put on my leather gloves and button my leather jacket to the neck. It was cooling off, and the leather protects from fire in one was knocked out. I climbed inside, just as the gunner reported to me that the night illumination of the gun sight did not work. That meant, with increasing darkness we would be unable to make out the cross hairs, to aim the gun at the target. ‘For heaven’s sake – that’s the way they send it back from the workshop? How could we drive back and leave the infantry by themselves?’ In the last light of day, I ordered the gun aimed at the closest tree along the road, distance 200 to my half right. I was planning to fire when an enemy tank approached the tree. It only took a few minutes before the enemy spearhead appeared in front of us, at the point three tanks, surrounded by a group of infantry. In the meantime, darkness had fallen. The Soviets were feeling their way forward slowly. Then they were level with the trench, the ‘tank busters’ should be firing; it remained quiet. A quick communication with my gunner, he understood the situation. ‘Anti tank shell in the barrel’ – ‘ Can you still make out the cross hairs?’ – ‘No’ – ‘Then the tree will be the target’. The Russians kept advancing, they must have passed the anti tank gun already and still there was no movement. The lead tank was stopping right at the tree. Very soon, it would move on and roll past us. Therefore we had to fire. ‘Open fire!’ The first shell raced out of the barrel – the flash of fire at the muzzle brake blinded me. The Russian also woke up and one exchange of fire relentlessly followed the other. We had no way of aiming and I could not observe the shells at such short distance in the darkness. Suddenly an explosion inside our crate, and we were engulfed by flames. Next to me, the signal flares went off, there were orange colored sparks and smoke. I wanted to get out but was caught between the seat and the cartridge guard. The rivet heads, which had popped off, were ricocheting through the panzer. One of them caught me in the knee, but I only noticed that later. Using all my strength I freed myself from the burning prison, finally made it outside and immediately heard the sinister ‘Urraahh’ from the figures rushing at me. They were firing and racing toward the panzer which was burning like a torch. I rolled off to the rear, fell on wet grass behind my panzer, wanted to jump up and disappear but could not do it. My wounded knee refused to work. But here also the courage of a desperate man who wanted to survive helped and I managed it somehow. Barely fifty meters to the rear of my panzer I dropped into a depression in the ground and was safe. My crew had bailed out, but instead of running into the meadow for cover they ran to the road. I heard an unearthly cry, then dead silence. End I included this Soviet account simply for completeness, but I have to admit that I’m a bit skeptical about the veracity considering the description of the Hollywood type ‘Hitler Salute’ thing with the sentry. You can judge for yourself how much credence you decide to put into the account. Having waited for darkness we set off for the crossing. Marder and I were covering the withdrawal with our two tanks. We were the last to reach the pontoon bridge and had already crossed the most exposed part, when strong cannon fire struck us from behind. I found time to tell Misha over the radio “We’re on fire!” Then I heard his reply “We’re on fire too!” The Germans had managed to set both of our tanks ablaze by hits on the rear. One shell struck our transmission, and the engine caught fire. At the same moment, flares lit up the crossing and the riverbank. A storm of fire ensued! There was no chance to leap out through the turret hatches – everyone would be mowed down. We slipped out underneath the tank through the emergency floor hatch in the middle of the fighting compartment, having first grabbed the most necessary stuff: submachine guns, ammunition drums and hand grenades. We also removed a machine gun, first aid kit, and camouflage cloaks, and then hid in waiting beneath the tank. My entire crew was alive, not even wounded. We had to find our way back to our lines. We looked at the map in the light of a pocket torch, determined a route and headed out. We noticed a column of smoke rising from the ground ahead of us. Having approached it, we discerned a whole row of dugouts, with a sentry strolling about. The German was scared at first, but Marder threw up his arm in the fascist salute: ‘Some of your own!” The guard had just begun to raise his arm in response, when my gun layer Misha Tvorogov clubbed his head with a submachine gun and the German toppled over. We didn’t throw hand grenades to avoid raising an alarm. End Here we find this Tiger crew bail out of their tank and they take their wounded crewmate to the first aide station. Our four Tigers were supposed to traverse an area of terrain with numerous hedgerows. I was hit while sitting by one of these hedgerows, probably by a so called hollow charge projectile, which penetrated the armor and sprayed a jelly like burning mass inside. The turret was instantly filled with flames. We had to get out, but I was held fast by my headset and throat microphone. I bowed my head and ripped off the cables. In those few seconds my hair was singed. Everyone got out of the burning tank, although my gunner had severe burns on his hands. We were soon able to deliver him to an aide station for treatment however. End The general theme here is that when a crew bails out of their tank after it gets destroyed their thoughts focus on escaping the tank as quickly as possible so they don’t burn to death. Once out of the tank they look to wounded crewmates and seek safety away from the vehicle. Once safety has been reached they take any wounded crewmen to get medical treatment and they are basically out of the fight. In Combat Mission terms, I would characterize it as the crew bailing out, running for a covered location, and then disappearing from the battlefield in the same manner as surrendering troops disappear now. Once a tank crew bails from its vehicle, account after account after account indicates that they are out of the fight. This is the sort of behavior that would be expected to happen and could be considered the norm. One other aspect that Combat Mission lacks is jammed or blocked hatches. As it is now, the only crewmembers who are killed or injured are those killed or injured by the round that penetrates the tank. I think it would be good if there is a chance that a crewmember doesn’t make it out of the tank, even though he was uninjured prior to attempting to bail out.

There are a lot of aspects of crew behavior that could be looked at, but I think it would be helpful to keep in mind that tank and crew behavior in Combat Mission are nowhere near what might be considered 'actual' or 'normal' behavior according to the personal accounts that I have read. Keep in mind that these tanks that were being operated during WW2 were known to go up in flames fairly easily and quickly. Tanks and crews in Combat Mission are almost robotic in many respects and so what you, the player, sees as normal while playing Combat Mission should be viewed through that prism. I would personally like crew and tank behavior to better represent what I would consider to be normal behavior, but I am also aware that many players would find actual tank and crew behavior to be frustrating and unenjoyable from a game play standpoint. I think it might be helpful to list a few points about where reality and game diverge 1. Vehicles were assigned a crew and it would probably be uncommon for a crew of one vehicle to exchange vehicles with another crew during combat. I can't say that it never happened, but I am confident that something like that would be improbable. The only exception would be in the case of a commander trying to remain in the fight, but as I hope I showed above even in those situations it isn't necessarily as simple as we might hope or expect. Even in the case of a commander though, the commander doesn't typically take his entire crew with him. He typically assumes command of the crew that was already in the vehicle that he is taking over. Sure, if the crews are back at the maintenance depot sometimes the crew assignments could change. However, that's not what we are talking about within the context of a Combat Mission quick battle or scenario. 2. Once a crew bails out of a vehicle they don't typically stick around unless circumstances dictate otherwise. In Combat Mission your crew bails out of their tank and then what happens? They typically stand around and the player moves them about the battlefield as he sees fit. Well that's not normally the way it works. The pattern of behavior for a bailed out crew is first to escape the vehicle, second to check for who made it out of the vehicle, third they would move to a covered location. Once in a covered location they would treat any wounded and then remove themselves from the battlefield either to bring wounded crew members to an aid station or to rejoin their unit wherever their maintenance section is located. 3. Crews that involuntarily bail out of a tank that was hit by enemy fire are almost never armed. They evacuate the vehicle so quickly that there simply isn't time to grab anything on their way out. Crews also don't typically wear a lot of stuff that can get caught on the various projections inside of the vehicle and so even wearing a pistol might be considered uncommon. 4. A tank that takes a penetrating hit by enemy fire but is not destroyed will typically leave the battlefield. This is especially true if a crewman is injured or killed. If the vehicle is still mobile the tank will typically turn around and drive away. When a tank is immobilized whether or not the crew bails out or remains in the vehicle depends on a lot of different circumstances and it is more difficult to discern a pattern of behavior. Sometimes the crew remains in the vehicle and sometimes they bail out. It just depends on the situation and the crew. To put this in Combat Mission terms, the entire situation being discussed where you have crews laying around on the battlefield with no tanks, and fully functional tanks laying about the battlefield with no crews is a situation that is almost entirely fictional and specific to the game Combat Mission. Most vehicles that are abandoned will have something wrong with them. Not all for sure, but most. Certainly a random soldier or crew seeing an abandoned vehicle on the battlefield would have cause to assume that the vehicle was inoperable in some way. Now there are personal accounts of crews encountering abandoned vehicles on the battlefield, but these are typically cases where a tank might be driving to the rear and they see a tank that belongs to a platoon mate and they check it out to see if any of their friends are dead. Infantrymen might check an abandoned vehicle for rations or ammunition as well. German soldiers thought American tank crews lived like kings with all the stuff they had hanging on their vehicles. Certainly all the accounts I have read are taking place without the abandoned vehicle being under fire at the time the vehicle is being inspected. Tanks sitting around taking multiple penetrating hits without flinching is also a fictional construct of the Combat Mission game. After the first penetrating hit, the tank would leave the battlefield if it wasn't immediately destroyed as long as it was possible to do so.

This situation is more complicated than perhaps some may be appreciating. You are viewing the battlefield through the prism of the player who has full knowledge of everything he is in command of. The actual troops doing the fighting have a bit of a different perspective. You see a fully functional tank with no crew in it. Why can't you just recrew it? How does the crew in question know if the tank you want them to recrew is even operable. If another crew abandoned it there is a good chance that they had a reason to abandon it so simply jumping into a tank in the middle of combat without knowing what the tank's mechanical status is would probably be unwise. Maybe if the enemy isn't in the immediate area then perhaps you might snoop around to assess the situation, but even in those cases they typically drive the vehicle back to the repair shop rather than go into action. As far as commanders taking over another vehicle - sure that's considered standard practice and it is supposed to happen if possible. There are a lot of complications that the troops face that the player doesn't have to deal with. For one thing, how does the tank that the commander wants to transfer to know that the commander wants to transfer to it? The commander can't talk to them by radio since he is no longer in his tank. Where are the other tanks under his command? Are they nearby? Are they also under fire? Climbing in and out of a tank when the enemy can fire weapons at it is a very dangerous activity. Here are some first hand accounts of the 'unhorsed commander' situation. Note that the example with the American commander seems to take place over an extended period of time - and even then he has to hitch a ride with a tank from another unit in order to catch up to the vehicles under his command, so while it may seem like he immediately jumps into a new tank in the way it was written, it is clearly a description of events that probably span hours. Unhorsed Commander Mine was the panzer at the point. Since the stops to fire were becoming more and more risky, I raced towards the edge of the woods for cover. A shell exploding in the treetops turned out to be our undoing. The tree top fell down on us from a great height and hit the center of the vehicle in such an unfortunate way that the leafy branches cut off our visibility completely, the turret got stuck, and we were thus out of action. We quickly turned back and forth but were unable to strip the monster from us. I bailed out and wanted to get into another panzer. In the meantime, however, two of my vehicles had driven forward past me. They both were hit when they next stopped to fire. One lost a track, the other kept exchanging fire for a while yet. The fourth panzer had slid sideways into a shell crater and was also stuck. The panzers were out of action even before they were really involved in any. End At approximately 10:30 hours, the fourth wave prepares for the attack. This time, it appears, there are more tanks. The same drama as before is repeated, but during the frontal tank duels an anti tank shell suddenly rips open, coming from the right, the floor of the chief’s panzer. The lone tank, mentioned before, had sneaked close and while our turret is still being swung to the three o’clock position a shell hits the front right and like a flash the chief’s panzer is engulfed in flames. Hatch covers fly open, the gunner bails out to the left in flames, the loader dives out to the right. The chief wants to get out through the top turret hatch but is caught by the throat microphone wire. He then tries to make it through the loader’s hatch to the right but bumps heads violently with the radio operator who could not open his own hatch. The barrel, having been turned half right is blocking it. The chief has to move backward. He pushes the radio operator through the hatch, is engulfed in flames for some seconds, in danger of fainting. Still, he manages the jump to freedom but he still has the steel boom of the throat microphone at his neck. He cannot pull it over his steel helmet. So he is hanging at the panzer skirt, almost strangling himself, while machine gun salvos are slapping against the panzer. With a desperate jerk, he rips loose. The wire, almost finger thick, dangles in front of his chest. In the hollow, scene of the attack at night, the crew assembles except for the driver, Sturmmann Schleweis, who remained in the burning panzer. He was probably wounded or killed by the impact. His hatch was free, he would have made it out otherwise. The gunner lies on the ground still in flames. The crew covers him with their own partly burned bodies trying to smother the flames. He was not wearing leather gear, but only fatigues since he was taking the place of the regular gunner only for the night. The Regiment had to thank it’s commander Max Wunsche for the leather clothing. He understood the value of such gear. It was booty from Italian navy supplies and saved the lives of quite a few men. The gunner died of his burns later in hospital. Initially, the chief as well as the others, do not notice their own burns on their faces and their hands. The tank attack is still rolling ahead it has not been stopped. However, this is soon looked after by the other three panzers. They seem not to have noticed the drama which just ended. The excitement of combat holds everyone in it’s grip. Almost helplessly the chief stands in the middle of the action and observes to his reassurance and joy how courageously the commanders, all NCOs, are doing battle and how well the shells are aimed by the crews. Almost each shot is a hit. They have been spotted behind this excellent cover, but only by their muzzle fire. The embankment covers them, it would have to be a direct hit to the turret. This attack too is repelled. The hatch of one of the panzers opens. A face looks out, barely recognizable blackened by powder smoke, marked by exertions, and shocked by the view of the chief who resembles more a baked potato than a human. After handing over command to the senior panzer commander, an Unterscharfuhrer, the chief drives the wounded men back to the Regimental command post in the VW Kubel of the artillery commander. End As the tankers reached the north edge of town, Perkin’s tank began to draw heavy fire from large caliber guns some 2500 yards to his front. After firing one round at the anti tank guns, Perkins directed his tank behind a small stone wall. A shell hit the muzzle, forcing it into a violent recoil just as Perkins was reaching into the breech to clear out some spilled powder. The breech broke his arm in two places, and the tank was bathed in flames. The crew jumped out as Perkins cut the bedding loose; the men hastily withdrew to a building some 100 yards to the rear where they splinted Perkin’s arm. Perkins directed the men to accompany him back to the tank. He crawled inside to retrieve a secret code, while the others splinted Sgt Tim McMahan’s leg. Hailing a nearby tank, Perkins rode ahead to finish the battle. Corp Kenneth F Grogan, Perkins driver, told a correspondent for the Armored News, that the company commander was finally ordered off the battlefield and forced to have medical treatment. End Commanders report to me – we’re attacking – Flak panzers will swing wide to the right, then turn in and attack the village from the north when the frontally attacking panzers have reached the edge of the village. All others, spread out wide and then at the village and into it at full speed. There will be no firing, no stops to fire on the way! Assemble at the church. I will watch the attack from herein the Jagdpanther and if required will provide cover fire. I’ll follow when the edge of the village has been reached. Panzers March! I stood in the turret of the combat ready Jagpanther and followed through binoculars, the progress which was almost like a drill. Everything went well, then just outside the village an explosion. One panzer stopped. Anti tank gun or mine? Down into the panzer and at the scissor telescope. The gunner had already taken aim at the target, was waiting only for the order to fire. An explosion, a hit to our own Jagpanther’s front armor plate! The scissor telescope was gone, rivet heads popped off, ricocheting, crisscross through the fighting compartment. “Back into cover!” Right away, the second hit to the right drive sprocket. The panzer swung its front to the left, but rolled into a depression in the terrain. Luckily it was not burning. Out! Our own panzers were inside the village, out of sight, and without leadership! Motorcycle messenger over here! Onto the back of the cycle, no seat, only a carrier to sit on, into the village at full speed, following in the panzer track so as not to be blown up by mines. Through the dawn we arrived unscathed in Deg. My panzers had their hot moments behind them already. They had encountered Russian assault guns, 10 cm, about a dozen of them. The Soviets were surprised some of them were knocked out, others were able to escape from the opposite edge of the village to the south and southeast. Two were sitting in the creek bed next to the bridge, the others rolled across it. The highlight was that one of the Flak panzers had knocked out such a behemoth with its 2 cm or 3.7 cm gun from behind in the engine compartment. End Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched! Our quick reaction had only partially ruined Ivan’s surprise. He hoped to shell us when we were helpless in the minefield, but even on the edge of it we were not exactly in a good position. The company was subjected to murderous anti tank gun fire. Tiger 100 took a bad hit. An 85mm armor piercing round ricocheted off the lower part of the gun barrel and penetrated the upper deck of the hull, right between the driver and the radio operator positions. I stared at the hole in disbelief. My radio had packed it in. The driver, Werner Grasse, looked at me in horror. I became aware of an unnaturally warm feeling in the area of my lower abdomen. I was terrified. A stomach wound? I mechanically worked my way in through the winter coveralls and uniform. In my underwear I found a big fragment, almost a cubic centimeter in size. I was relieved. Nothing had happened to the crew. The company started to engage the anti tank positions. For us, however, the turret would not move. It was jammed. Oberleutnant Adamek leaned down from the commander’s cupola into the fighting compartment and called to me: “come with me. We’re going to 131.” I said something to the effect that, “You can’t do that. That is Oberfeldwebel Fendesack’s tank. We have to use another one.” The Oberleutnant, however, was already out of the tank. I caught up with him on the rear deck of Tiger 131. He sent me back to our own vehicle for his maps, which he had forgotten. I ran back. As I was standing behind the rear of Tiger 131 with the maps, the Oberleutnant stood next to the turret beside the tank commander in order to tell him and the radio operator to go to our tank. At that moment, a high explosive round struck the turret of Tiger 131. Oberleutnant Adamek was killed instantly. While the attack continued, we rolled back toward the rear. We ran into Spiess Haase. He was all ready to climb aboard as tank commander. It was only with difficulty that we got him to understand that we had been penetrated by a shell, that our turret was jammed, and that the damage could only be repaired at the maintenance facility. End

For scenarios it really depends on what you like to do. If you want to play 'blind' then absolutely you would not want to look at the set up situations for both sides. That leaves you at the mercy of some level of randomness in terms of scenario balance when making your scenario selection. I used to select a new scenario with someone by telling them that whoever selects the scenario does not select the side that they want to play as. So if I select the scenario then my opponent gets to look at both sides and then choose which side he wants to play. Since I wouldn't necessarily know which side my opponent will pick, then it would be prudent for me to select a scenario that I think I can win as either side. That method won't work for blind play though and so the best way to do blind play is probably through the scenario of the month type of set up like they do at the Blitz where you have a third party selecting the scenario and determining who plays which side. As far as set up zones - well for a QB they are pretty straightforward. With scenarios though, both the set up zones and victory locations can be in non intuitive locations. Victory locations in particular can be different for each side. Most scenarios are also typically not set up like QB meeting engagements and sometimes if the defender's setup zone is on the small side it can give the attacker an advantage that maybe they shouldn't have. Having said all of that though - even if you aren't playing a scenario blind I have found that no two players will play the same side in the same way and so even a player who has played a scenario before may experience a great deal of surprise as their opponent will typically not do things the same way that either that player did when playing as that side or as a previous player may have done when that player played against that side against a prior opponent. So in my opinion, the blind bit is probably overstated a bit, although there are players who feel very passionate about the blind aspect so it is important to be open about whether you have played something before - or examined the set up zones and victory conditions for each side.

Well it's a Hetzer with a flamethrower mounted on it instead of a 75mm gun so .....

I'm not sure that I understand what you are describing here. Let me try and break down your sentence a bit and perhaps you can clear up any confusion that may be involved here. "When I check my units individually" so you are clicking directly on individual friendly units? "none of them show that they see the enemy units that are being revealed" and when you click on each individual friendly unit the enemy unit never appears? "when I click on the one known enemy unit" That part doesn't make sense within the context of the first two parts since you would either be selecting a friendly or enemy unit so I'm lost if that's what you are doing. Alternative interpretation: "When I check my units individually" you have an enemy unit selected and you are examining your friendly units. "none of them show that they see the enemy units that are being revealed" and none of the friendly units are being highlighted? "when I click on the one known enemy unit." So you select a known enemy unit and no friendly units are being highlighted? "If others of my units were saying that they saw these enemy units then I would agree that it is a global view but none of them are." I don't understand what one thing has to do with another. What I described above is how it works. If you have an enemy unit selected you see the global view. Everything will look the same whether the enemy unit is selected or not. Selecting or deselecting the enemy unit will change nothing as to what you see on the game map. The only time something will change is if a friendly unit is selected. So have you gone through and selected every friendly unit to see if the enemy unit you are concerned with ever appears? Or are you saying that you selected the enemy unit and no friendly unit gets highlighted and you select every friendly unit and the enemy unit never appears - yet it appears when nobody is selected (otherwise you wouldn't be able to select it to see what it is). Now I'm confused as to what the issue is that you are describing "I click on an enemy unit symbol that I have LOS to and other enemy symbols come up which I do not have LOS to" When you select an enemy unit, everything that you see on the map is seen by some friendly unit somewhere on the map. What you see when the enemy unit is selected is the same thing that you see when the enemy unit is deselected. Select the enemy unit and deselect the enemy unit (in other words, click on the enemy unit and then click on the map somewhere such that no unit of either side is selected) and what you see on the map will remain unchanged. The only time it changes is if you select a friendly unit. At that point, with the friendly unit selected you only see what that specific friendly unit sees.

Yeah, generally speaking I think this is how it works: No units selected - you see everything that every friendly unit sees one friendly unit selected - you see everything that only that specific unit sees one enemy unit selected - you see everything that every friendly unit sees and the friendly units that see the selected enemy unit are highlighted.

Including tank riders requires the addition of a new vehicle model for each vehicle that can carry them so it isn't just a coding 'rule' change but rather it requires extra work on the models and or art.

I think gnarly makes an excellent point from a game play standpoint. Seriously though - it doesn't take very long to reload if the reloading consists of a full magazine or a strip clip. Just push the button to release the magazine and it falls to the ground by itself. You then slam the new one in and you are ready to go. I don't know how it is with the Bren since it is top loading so I guess you would have to pull it off and toss it to the side. The reality is that swapping out a magazine or popping in a new strip clip doesn't take but a second or two and if all your ammunition is already in a magazine or a clip I'm not sure I see the point of constantly topping off just because you have expended a couple of rounds of ammunition. I certainly never paid much attention to the actual number of bullets in the magazine of the old M16. I'm not even sure how you would count them to know how many were left or how you are supposed to keep an accurate count during the stress of a firefight. I guess it is obvious if you remove the magazine and there are only two or three but if there are like more than six or seven left ...? Well, and then I don't remember, but if you remove the magazine to top it off there may be a round chambered if you didn't expend your last round. I seem to remember that there was a specific way to reload the M16 and the bolt was supposed to be open when you put the magazine in. The bolt is open when you fire off the last round. Maybe that doesn't make a difference though - I haven't fired anything in a few decades and the memory is fading. Of course some weapons fire from an open bolt and some from a closed bolt. If all you have to do is slam another magazine in to reload though, removing the magazine that's loaded to count rounds every time you have a quiet moment almost seems like obsessive compulsive behavior to me.

Well this isn't necessarily as simple or obvious as I think you may be envisioning things. For one thing weapons don't necessarily have a ammo 'counter' on them in real life so the soldier may not know how many rounds are left in the clip or mag until the last round is fired. For another most, if not all, ammunition that is going to be carried by soldiers will either already be contained within magazines or within strip clips. Most guys probably won't be carrying around 'loose' ammunition, although I suppose it might be possible. The time a soldier would be topping off magazines would be prior to contact with the enemy when the supply truck is nearby. For a bolt action rifle that uses stripper clips I think it would just be silly to remove individual rounds of ammunition from one clip to add to a rifle when reloading is such a simple process. Just jam the strip into the top of the rifle, use your thumb to ram down the rounds into the rifle and pop the empty strip off when you push the bolt forward. It would probably take just as long to top off as it would to load a fresh strip. For a box magazine like the BAR I don't think there is a way to know how much is left in the magazine without physically removing it and examining it - and even then with the rounds stacked on top of each other it might not be obvious - I don't know. Once again though - if the soldier isn't normally carrying around 'loose' rounds of ammo (somewhere - I guess in his pockets or something since most ammo carrying pouches are purpose designed to carry mags or clips) then you would be removing ammo from one magazine to put into another.

It's split up like that because windows requires it to be like that. That's why all releases after CMBN are broken up like this. I'm not tech savvy enough to know the rationale behind why Microsoft would require this. Maybe someone with more computer knowledge can explain that.

I can't speak to how effective it is or how it interacts with various computer systems and set ups. All I can say is that it changes all the time and it is likely that what is being used now is different than whatever was being used by whomever might have complained about it in the past.

Just to follow up a bit on what Ian just said - the security features that Battlefront uses has changed almost with every release. The game's security is definitely not a static feature - which really wouldn't make much sense when dealing with computers. The technology changes so rapidly that I would have to presume that the way content is secured must change just as rapidly in order to remain effective.

For maps in France there are extensive aerial photos available for the map maker. The thing with aerial photos is that it isn't always easy to get the scaling exact since you don't always know exactly what altitude the plane was flying when the pictures were taken. Even if you do know it can be a difficult task to match the scaling with the game map in the editor in order to create an overlay. That's where google earth makes things simple. You can block out a map and you know its exact dimensions to the meter and that translates easily into your map scaling within the editor since the scaling can be matched exactly. If my map is blocked out as 500 meters by 500 meters then all I need to do is block out 500 meters by 500 meters in Google Earth and you're in business. It is true that the modern topography can be very different than how things looked back in 1944, but at the same time you would be surprised by how similar some areas are. Generally speaking the closer you are to a major city the more the area has changed. Even in areas with a lot of urban build up you can typically find 'the bones' of the old landscape by recreating the road net. The road net almost never changes. Additional roads may be added, but the roads that were there in 1944 are typically still present in 2016 and once you can identify the original road net then recreating the rest becomes fairly simple. The original road net becomes your guide and acts as reference points to recreating the 1944 landscape using modern Google Earth. The bigger problem with map making in the game is the fact that you are limited to 90 degree and 45 degree angle of placement for buildings and roads. That limitation is much more of an issue than any limitation with Google Earth. As long as you have access either to aerial photos or topo maps from the 1940s for comparison purposes then Google Earth is your friend.

If you sent the file to Ian then I am confident that he can find any bugs that may be present.

The Brush terrain object is painted over other terrain in an action spot, therefore whatever the underlying terrain is the Brush will always remain. In order to remove Brush you have to go into the Brush section of the map terrain. When looking in the 2D editor you will see Ground 1, Ground 2, Ground 3, Brush, Foliage, etc. Choose the red X in the Brush section and paint over the brushy parts of the map to eliminate it. My first question when reading this thread would be - Aragorn, are you building this map from scratch or are you using a previously created map and simply modifying it? If you are using a previously created map then Brush tiles can be hard to see depending upon what the underlying terrain is. The best place to spot it would be in the 2D map editor section as pointed out above, although even there it can be difficult to spot on occasion because it only shows up as little spots on an action square. If you are having difficulty spotting the brush in the 2D map editor, just use the maximum sized paint brush, select the red X under the brush section, and paint over the entire map to eliminate it. Flavor objects don't leave any 'residual' presence on the map. Flavor objects are an entirely separate item from the terrain mesh and have nothing to do with whatever the underlying terrain is.

Just toss them into the 'scenario' sub folder that you should find inside your 'game' folder.

A designer can add variable time to the entry time for reinforcements. The game will have them enter in a range of up to fifteen minutes from the designated entry time, either early or late. The range is not in five minute blocks either so they could enter 2 minutes early or twelve minutes late for example. There are useful situations for the variable entry times, however, the unpredictability of the arrival time makes it more complicated when creating AI plans.

You are right, this has been discussed before. Your Caen 'example' also sounds familiar. However, it also is a mischaracterization of the situation represented by time limits in the game to state that the battle suddenly comes to an end. It just means that you, the player, are unable to continue because you, the player, did not achieve the objectives within the time limit as specified by the scenario designer. The battle may very well, and more than likely does, continue on after the 'time limit' expires. That battle continuation is functionally irrelevant though because if the conditions for the determination of victory as specified by the scenario designer (an inherently artificial construct) is not achieved by the player within the time limits that designer specified then the player loses when that time limit has been reached. The designer determines what victory and defeat mean within the context of the battle he has created and time limit is simply one factor of many. I understand the desire for players to eliminate time limits and I personally don't care how someone else plays the game. If you can find a way to eliminate time limits then more power to you. I don't think trying to make an argument about time limits as being unrealistic is going to move the discussion forward though because, for one thing, the case for time limits being unrealistic isn't necessarily a persuasive one and for another there doesn't seem to be any desire on the part of BFC to include an 'unlimited' time limit option.