Horncastle

Anyone got any good tactics for drawing out the enemy? How do you entich a rather defensive or shall we say careful player out into making their attack? Played a PBEM, where I spent ages just waiting for a sight of him, so in the end just bundled everyone forward and waited for his counter attack(then was blown apart!) If you can take all the best ground 1st then thats an adv. but surely being able to know the exact disposition of your enemy and then counter attack is a better option? I have been trying to get my inf in positions where they are too tough to root out by inf alone and so require him to commit armour. Then if lucky have my AT cover these positions to take out the armour then move in my armour to defeat his inf and reinforce the position with some more inf. However to draw out the enemy one really has to convince him that this is a full scale attack, so I cant seem to get it right on how much of my force to use. Also throw into the pot if the ground doesnt suit you and the ememy armour can pound you without revealing himself to you, plus arty dropping on your position it all seems a bit of a tough nut to crack!

Wouldnt it be great in CMBO:II if you had a seperate utility that enabled you to load in turns or say a map and let you easily annotate it. One can take screenshots I know, but you cant really manipulate the map like you can in game. It would be good too if you could view maps with a basic set of very low res bmps and thus work out and annotate say setup and mark objectives and dispoistion of troops etc as an aid to drawing up a plan. This would be good for very big maps and games, where when you have 5000pts and things get hard to manage. From a learning point of view too, you could say draw up a plan marking on the map/scenario for example Plt A and B will take these woods, Tank 4 will advance to this hill and provide support. Then go into CM and do all the turns and see how your plan deviates. One could post these map files etc and people could comment on how they would approach them etc. Plus you could link them all into AARs, thus turning us all into super-napoleans Probably been mooted before, but surely cant be too hard to implement. All you would need is the rendering engine and some way of overlaying a few graphics etc. Does any of this make sense?

Are you extracting the downloaded MODS to your BMP directory? This needs to be done, you dont extract them to a temporary one. Thats what I done at first, hope this helps and its great being to chop and change MODS. I do hope Big Time Software intergrate your CMMOS idea into future releases MikeT, you seemed to have put in a lot of effort and hopefully you will be rewarded!

I know this wont get implemented but in the suped up verision of CMBOII it would be nice if they had a June and July 46 era where one could fight fictious battles against the Commies in Germany. Not as a huge add on that would have a fictious campaign just the ability maybe to pit Allies against well ex-allies. Then you would have the most accurate model of what if scenarios pitting machines that never had the chance to do so against one another.

Was looking on Ebay for a second hand CMBB (fat chance!) and found this, number of new copies of CMBO going cheap so theres no excuse for not owning a copy. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3046177057&category=27234 Might even be worth buying one for a backup!

" But the last vehicle I lost was KOed by an AFV hunting forward. To me this falls outside reasonable parameters. In addition I find it interesting the all respondents have been victims of unsighted fire but no one claimed they had purposely fired in this way, let alone mastered the technique. " Well a good firing position should ideally not give away your position. Hunting is like the word a hunt, and I imagine it as a lioness slowly stalking forward, not some charging bull. The AFV may have been hull down on its path, had a small silouette or you may have been buttoned or distracted by something else, or your crew just plain. CMBO does model the confusion of a battlefield and depending on the experience of your troops sometimes it takes them time to even see targets dead in front of you. I wouldnt get too frustrated by it if you have, just use it to your advantage and turn the tables! Regarding the latter it is nigh on impossible to 100% verify if you have achieved a hidden KO, as one cannot see the viewpoint and Fog of War as the enemy sees it. If I had a PIAT sneaking through woods and taking a stug out from the sides I would be pretty sure there was no chance of being spotted, but in many situations you just dont know if anyone has seen you. From playing the CMBB demo the spotting of firing units is far more realistic and as in real life, spotting a flash from 500m away while under fire is nigh on impossible. Best of luck, happy hunting!

Cheers for the feedback guys. The 25pdr Fo is a tad pricey, but I thought for the amount of rounds he got maybe he was worth it. How about using him for smoke is he better then? A quick question about smoke what is the relationship between size of the round and smoke i.e. how can you work out how long it will last, I would assume 300mm rocket smoke would last for ages? Ill have a closer look at the Churchills and do away with the 17pdr in future. The extra armour would give me more flexibility to go forward a bit more. One thing that is interesting is towing AT into position as it seems a bit tricky. I did try this once and thought I was in cover as he unlimbered and moved through some woods, but next turn I took a load of mortar fire and he was knocked out. I assume you need to use a spot of smoke to cover this but seems a bit of a waste with the time it takes to unlimber and move someone into position. Ta

Im not sure about taking the 75mm 'wellies Im a bit timid of using armour vs armour and prefer to chew up inf with them, maybe Im not doing the brits justice I just expect them to get knocked out at the sight of a german kublewagon Sorry for the Qb yes i mean meeting engagements, where you dont get to see the map and work out possible LOS for guns before hand so I can end up buggered if relying on ATs Regarding art. I was wondering if it was a bit gamey to take loads, though I do find it invaluable. For instance in one 5000 point battle I took the following to support a rilfe Batt and a few coys 5.5x2 4.5 25pdrx2 4.2mx2 3m(comes with battalion) Around I think 1000 points that is

Searched for a few posts on this, but not sure all my questions are answered and anyway its nice to discuss things with people who are currently playing. Had a few online games, current opponent disappeared, been playing as the brits. Mainly combined or unrestricted and I generally balance my force though probably take a little too much artillery. Heres my general force 1) 33% infantry a rifle company and a platoon 2) 25% Artillery 25pdr and motars as much as the points allow 3) Couple of cronwells VIII (95mm guns) 4) extra Piats to make 2 per platoon 5) couple of AT guns 6) scout car and maybe a wasp or MMG carrier Scout out as much as possible with a car and 1 platoon. Launch my art on enemy troops if they make the first move then move in to take ground. Generally try to take ground which will draw out his armour then piat them or I generally hope to take out enemy tanks with the guns, use the cronwells to destroy buildings and inf, keep them well hidden for most the game. Seems to work quite well, generally but I think only works if the enemy is quite bold and doesnt hold back too much and then counter attafcks Problems I am facing which I could do with some feedback on 1) His armour staying back and never crossing my guns LOS. Then I have to rely on PIATS sneaking close and thats only if he finally commits tanks to close anti inf engagements. If I cant get good ground Im fecked as the PIATS have a low strike rate and need 2 turns maybe to get hits and my inf take casualties 2) My armour can only engage tanks really at close range, I cant use them too flexibly and need enemy inf to attack within my proteced LOS. Normally place them behind forest or buildings, not sure how I can use them more proactively as they can get easily killed. 3) Not sure if im putting my eggs in one basket with the AT guns. I like the 17pdr and the 6pdr, but sometimes they cant hit anything and they are the only things that i rely on to take out german armour really, once they are spotted and killed his tanks can run riot 4) The brit inf dont seem to be too great, nice and avg and can hold off an attack but without artillery I cannot see how I can use them to take well defended areas especially if there is armour about. Heres some ideas anything extra to add much appreciated I like the british 95mm gun on tanks and have great success supporting troops with it, but not sure how to use brit tanks though in general. My current idea is to use them in groups. Say a firefly, churchil and cronwell all in one bunch. Havent tried this yet but was thinking, move out the churchill draw the fire hopefully shrug off the hits then if timed right get the Firefy and cronwell to open up too. Ever been tried by anyone? Brit troops. Think im on the right track with the piats as they are easy to use and nice and cheap. I have been using engineers to bolster attacks to, I rush them in if I can afford in half tracks or UNI carriers, so far not really got to grips with anyone to see how much damage they may cause, and flamers are very difficult to use. Should I take a rifle pltn instead? Is it worth supporting a platoon with MGS? They dont move as fast but I have sometimes dropped them off with carriers next to a platoon. MMG carriers seem slightly more cost effective. Should I do away with the AT guns? Playing QB you dont know the map so have to take a chance you will get a good line. Is it better to take say a fire fly or wolverine rather than a 6 or 17pdr. How should you attack without relying on Artillery with the British? They cant seem to do damage at long range and can get ripped up in close combat, so need lots of support. Whats the best way of supplying it? Any axis players like to tell me how you take on the Brits and what kinda nasty tricks you have been on the end of? Any responses much appreciated ta

I think it would be a very good idea for the scenario designer to place emplacements, foxholes, wire, bunkers, ditches and other such devices in the same way as when you buy them. In that way it would be far easier for people to design and create defensive works, rather than overhauling the map desinger thingy. This would add much more flexibility and really create some decent nuts to crack scenarios.

Does anyone remeber this old magazine from about the 70-80's. I used to have around 10 copies which my cousin gave me, but cant find them anymore. I remember a good article about Montys Operation Goodwood. Is there any similar magazine out now days or anyone ever seen these on ebay or something? Cheers

Cheers for the feedback BTS, I never really believed that such details as I griped about would slip your mind, and am glad to hear that you are trying to find a solution next time around. I also agree that one must remember the need to abstract many areas of the game, as it is a game and there are somethings that are unavoidable. I personally would quite welcome a far more chaotic little affiar, where the troops were less responsive, things more confused and targetting more difficult much like the real world. However then all the little Napoleans that we be, would be complaining why our complex pincer/attritionist flank masterplans dont work, much like they wouldnt in real life!

I personally feel that the targetting in CMBO is unrealistic in a few ways, being far too clean cut and computer like rather than being realistic. My main gripe is the time it takes for a unit to assess the results of the engagement and then immediately switch targets. A tank crew somehow can realise within 0.5 seconds whether its shot has hit the target, penetrated the target and then caused enough damage to knockout the target, all through the smoke and chaos of battle up to ranges of 1000meteres, and then immediately begin targeting another tank. It has been said that it would be easy to realise that the target is knocked out as the crew would bail out. Even so it would take a number of seconds to bail out, and in CMBO crew do in fact also take a number of seconds. This problem (albeit a minor one maybe) also applies to infantry. I have no idea how infantry squads can tell the number of casulaties in a squad or squad strength. You will rarely see all memebers of an enemy squad lined up and shooting at you, so how in the middle of a battle you could even guess how many there were is unrealistic. Also infantry will have the amazing ability to deduce that there is in fact one man left in a squad and once he dies that threat is over. How they would know that the chap was panicing and hiding or actually dead is also a point, they will both look the same as they would not be shooting back at you. I think an improvement would be to model the difficulties faced in warfare to actually 100% identify a kill and a slower reaction than is at present to switch from targets. At present the code just says once the target is killed, immediately switch targets, where as it should be more in depth than that. It should be once the unit has realsied the target is neutralised then it begins to change.

I think Deadmarsh probably made a tactical mistake to get his team to crawl to the woods across open terrain. AT dont blend in to easily and coming under fire would cause them to have second thoughts. He has got a good point though about the team then running back rather than into cover. There is certainly much room for improvement for deciding what panicked units do I feel. A panicked unit is trying to save its bacon in what ever means possible, regardless of orders. I dont agree with the definition of panicking as meaning they are not thinking clearly. This is true to some extent, in that they will not stop and think for too long about their actions, but they will be definetly focused on the best way to survie. This would include running towards cover in Deadmarshes example, no man would decide to lug their heavy rockets all the way back across open ground while coming under fire. Imminent death tends to focus the mind on survial above all things. Not being a psychologist or having faced the barrel(s) of a gun, I cannot back this up with evidence but I think its a fairly natrual conclusion to make.

Would love a universal carrier MOD. Is there a white scout car out there?

Is it possible to fire a MMG from the hip, for instance the MG42 while standing and unleash a burst of 50 rounds? I never thought you could do this with MMG's, an LMG like a Bren maybe. I played that new "realistic" Flashpoint demo and you could run about and fire off 50 round bursts on an M60. Anyone know of any times this has been done in real life like WWII??

Try I think its spelt "Kommerschiedt" as the Germans its on the CD, you can lose very easily on this against the AI if you dont have lots of luck on yourside. Id buy anyman a drink if they can beat it with +2 computer experience

Yes I have installed some MODS, I dont think the actaul computer is accessing anything off the CD-ROM it just starts to speed up and get faster and faster in big scenarios when hte computer is processing all the moves and calculations. I will experiment tonight, with replacing the original BMP/WAV's etc. Thanks for the advice

Yep I did a full install. Normally if I try to play the game without the CD in it wont let me play single player and stuff. Not really too sure what you mean about disk images, is that just copying the whole CD-ROM to my HD?. From what you say though I can load up CM then take the CD-ROM out and say put a music CD in and still play the game? Also whats a Crack? Is that an illegal copy of something? Im not asking for that as I already own CMBO. When I asked for any other solution I was referring to some work around not illegal software or any thing, as your very correct in saying its not something to do. Thanks very much for you help.

Got a slight problem that I cant explain. On large scenarios when the little blue bar begins to progress when it gets to 3/4 of the way and has been thinking for sometime, my CD-ROM slowly speeds up until I can hear it wizzing around at some stupid speed. It doesnt always crash the game, although it does ask you to take the cd out and clean which I have done but it still sometimes goes crazy. Is there any way I can play the game off the HD without the need to have the CD in? Or any other solution would be appreciated. Thanks in advance

My grandad gave me a load he had hundreds of these little chaps. I remember having a load of romans ( I think you could remove their shields) some Egyption types. Commandos with little canoes, some germans dont know what type and british Paras I think, as they came with a little base that you put them and their parachutes on to stand up I bet no one here used to have the MatchBox Bridge assualt set that I had. It was wicked it was this large piece of cardboard and you folded one end up slightly to make the background sky. Then it cam with all these plastic houses ( with pock and shell marks on) and two landing craft and a big missile launcher and you pressed these buttons and they shot off. It also came with an excellent bridge, plastic bushes, tank traps, telegraph poles and a few old matchbox vechiles. Me and my mate created an excellent game involving this and the airfix men and some dice. It wasnt too advanced you used to roll first to see how many bullets a chap fired and then how much chance it was to hit(which we both guessed and then agreed upon), dont know why we rolled for the number of bullets as it only needed one to kill someone. All rather good fun though when I was 8 or 9 though

Thats a good point. It might be better to show any estimate of the number of people in the squad but yes casualties are beyond knowing really.

What about this situation then. Your a TC in the middle of a large battle you emerge in some woodland and see a tank with its flank to you down in the town 500M away. It looks a bit lifeless admitadly but would you take a chance with it before advancing? I certainly wouldnt Id pop a few rounds in the side. In war I am quite sure that things like conserving ammo and taking chances like this were not the done thing. And I certainly wouldnt rely on a probable kill that might match the description of this example coming over the radio to ease my worries earlier on.

Does the accuracy of the spotting round affect the time it takes for the delivery of the fire mission. For instance a real wayward spotting round meaning more adjustments needed thus longer time to fall?

Is it wrong for me to think the CM modelling of tank kills is incorrect. If I was buttoned up in a tank duelling with someone else at a range of 300-500m I would keep shooting at the thing until I was sure it was dead. However in CM a TC seems to be 100% accurate all of the time when to stop disenaging the target. Of course if the thing brews up it obvious the thing is out of action. Seeing that if your lucky a tank can survive full penetration, I see no difference from the firing TC how he can discern a penetration that does KO and one that doesnt KO ( no innuendos about sexual prowess please!). Taking it further what about armour hits that cause crew casulaties? One could assume that you would disengage a target if it stopped firing back after a few good hits to it ( dangerous but might happen?) however the target could then fight back alter albeit less effectively. What was the SOP for engaing tanks in WWII? I can understand you plugging shot after shot into a tank to render it useless and unrecoverable, but how in the heat of battle would they confirm a knockout and would they fire a few more rounds to make sure? Would a better model be that tanks will often fire an extra few rounds into a target to ensure a kill? With Green crew obviously not as competent at confirming a KO, and sometimes even firing at KO vechiles might be an idea. Cheers for comments