Macisle

It can happen. Even medium mortars can take out tanks if they hit the right spot. It's just very rare. One of my best CM moments to date was having the first round of medium mortar FFE hit the engine deck of a Panther that was covering my desired avenue of approach. Brewed it right up!

FYI, I just saw that 2021 will see an engine Upgrade 5 release. Part of the reason this project has taken so long is that I've taken some long breaks in the hope that new engine features would hit (well, that, plus a near complete evaporation of any free time, and occasional burn out 😁). Given the amount of work left to do once F&R hits, Upgrade 5 will likely be landing at a good time to integrate it into the project.
However, if I get done, but Upgrade 5 is right on the horizon, I'll likely hold release to integrate it in (if the features are applicable). I've invested too much time to barely miss out on something good.  And, I'm likely to have even less time in the future. So, it's now or never.
But, we'll see. Like I said, the upgrade will probably hit at a good time. Maybe perfect. 😎

Happy New Year, everybody!
Just a quick post to say that I did finish the elevations. So, other than smoothing out anything that pops up that my eyes missed, that giant bit of work is done.
So, the plan now is to add more flavor objects from the current pool while waiting for F&R. I can't really do anything else without the new module assets. I don't have enough time these days to repeat work (map slicing and unit setups for example). So, I want all potential assets in hand before proceeding.
Macisle out.

My experience from scenario work is that player-controlled vehicles always start buttoned-up (player can then unbutton during setup), but AI vehicles always start unbuttoned -- no matter what the designer attempts to set. Once buttoned, AI units will not unbutton again during a battle.
The current AI behavior can be rather penalizing for the Soviets, because most of the vehicle fleet has four-man crews and even those tend to lack situational awareness. A T-34/76 with a dead TC is fairly blind. One work around I found is having T-34/76's do lots of Area Fire, as that will keep the TC safe during the AF.
I really wish BF would change things so that the designer can actually set what he wants (make the unbutton/button choice made during the scenario unit deployment preview "stick" at scenario start), depending on the action.

Shock! 
Imagine being inside that thing when a whopping great chunk of metal comes through it, rapidly decelerating from a couple of multiples of the speed of sound. 
I'd imagine sticking your head in a church-bell would have nothing on that!
PS - Remember the first-hand accounts would be written later.....Once the gibbering and meeping had subsided!

When the Russians hit the 'Germany' region a number of basegame German vehicles switch to a new 'late war' factory camouflage. So even if you've got the 'usual suspects' fighting it out in a scenario its going to feel like a whole different game. 

I'm really late to the party.  RL stuff has been difficult.  Wait till you see the artwork for urban stuff.  Yeah I saw the somewhat negative comments, but the time has been well spent.  F&R is pretty amazing.  You'll be spending quite a bit of time just looking at all the options for appearances much less the toys.

124 sounds right.
Nearly every QB map this round is derived from the master-maps, which are all created from the period historical maps and images.

Betcha America invades somewhere new long before Russia does. 

I had to lobby hard to get Valentine into the game. Steve was originally not going to include it. He'd imagined Valentine numbers had petered out due to attrition by the title's timeframe.  But I provided documents with Valentine numbers in specific Russian units in the closing months, plus photo proof of their use in battle. Steve said he was genuinely surprised how many Valentines were still active. One reason why the Russian loved their Valentines was the darned things just didn't break. As reliable as a hammer. It also had a tiny light tank silhouette while mounting a medium tank's cannon. So yeh, its a MikeyD favorite. 

Shucks.
That Matilda would be great for improving my 1942 Kholm Pocket mod...

Really pleased to see that Valentine. 

No, I just don't believe in nagging about something like this.....It'll be ready when it's ready, or it won't.  Nothing we type here will make the slightest difference. 

I've owned the CM games for decades and I doubt I've played 50% of the available content.....Happy to wait. 

There's another rooster in my henhouse -- a Sherman.

 
It's not looking good for my HQ Hetzer, but friendly infantry up ahead are in a position to help out. They chuck a number of smoke grenades toward the enemy that increase the tank destroyer's chance of escape.

 
Eat fog, rooster!

 
It works and the HQ crew manage to back their vehicle to safety.

 
Meanwhile, the last fully-functional Hetzer leads a combined arms advance on the other side of the woods to try and open up an avenue for a flanking attack on the rooster gang.

Green, but mean. So, far, these guys are having a good day.

 
Having repositioned, two of my trio of Hetzers engage and bag an AG trying to sneak onto prime real estate. Next up, a TD comes into view.

 
The roadbound Hetzer gets off two inaccurate shots while the platoon HQ to his left tries to get eyes on. The commander can't locate the TD and his Hetzer eats a round, knocking out the main gun. The roadbound Hetzer sends off a third round that lands short. The TD sends one back, but the Hetzer, thankfully, bounces it. The German crew then lobs a fourth round at the TD.

 
Despite spotting first, firing first and getting off four shots, the round is high. 😦

 
The TD fires a second shot. 😬

 
I doesn't bounce. 😟

Both of those features would make a big difference - agreed!

Yeah, that would be my guess for mostly likely reason. If so, it's almost certain not to change, unless unit type-to-group channeling functionality is added for the QB map designer.

That could do it.....The AI doesn't know what's in each group and thus they might be given impossible orders (vehicles through heavy woods etc.).
Just a thought.

Yup. This.
It's been said many times by many people for many years.
The AI isn't going to get smarter with CMx2 and I doubt much smarter with CMx3. The only way to mitigate that is for scenario designers to have more groups. That actually makes the workload less, not more. Less groups = more time spent with workarounds and testing, testing, testing. More groups = less time as the designer can get something organized, test a bit and move on.
32+ Groups is still at the top of my desired feature list by a country mile.

I'd be fine with them allowing the player to have control of air (as in the other titles) during the setup phase. As things stand, the risk of having friendly air attack your own troops is so high that the air feature is essential useless in CM:RT. I've had friendly veteran soviet air on a huge map with clearly defined lines take out a large chunk of my force over the course of battles.
I understand the logic behind the current system, but it basically prevents the feature from being used -- which is stupid in a tactical game. So, let the player get the use of air as a tactical asset by setting orders in pre-planning and then let him reap the fate of Eastern front air after the pre-planned air attacks have been completed, if the planes still have ammo.

Okay, I won't Carry On with that bawdy kind of humor anymore. Back to our regularly scheduled program...
An HMG team throws smoke to conceal itself from the hungry eyes of the Rooster Gang and relocates across the street in response to infantry contacts moving away from Rooster and toward the German right flank. They make it to the farm buildings safely.

 
Not so lucky are some German teams attempting to join the marsh road flanking attack. A salvo of artillery lands further left and wider than expected, taking out a squad's worth of men across the teams.

 
The flanking attack group pushes forward down the marsh road that comes out on the right of Rooster's position. A few minutes ago, it had been the scene of a probe by US paratroopers. With intel and visibility on the probe poor, the German response had been to saturate the area with blind fire from four HMG teams, which repelled the Americans. As the Germans move through the zone, a number of dead paratroopers are found, along with brief sightings of enemy soldiers retreating along the marsh edge. The left Hetzer, with its higher vantage point, spots a paratrooper with a machine gun waiting in ambush in the tall grass. A quick HE round ends the American's ambitions before he can hurt any friendly infantry.

 

I'd be fine with them allowing the player to have control of air (as in the other titles) during the setup phase. As things stand, the risk of having friendly air attack your own troops is so high that the air feature is essential useless in CM:RT. I've had friendly veteran soviet air on a huge map with clearly defined lines take out a large chunk of my force over the course of battles.
I understand the logic behind the current system, but it basically prevents the feature from being used -- which is stupid in a tactical game. So, let the player get the use of air as a tactical asset by setting orders in pre-planning and then let him reap the fate of Eastern front air after the pre-planned air attacks have been completed, if the planes still have ammo.

And thank you Mac, for taking the time to share this stuff with us. 

Really liking those screenshots @Macisle!