Bimmer

I watched US infantry lob multiple grenades into loaded halftracks from the second floor of a building in v1.10. They were effective.

It's a minor thing, but I really wish the icon of a selected unit did flash exactly the same colors as a unit that's just taken a casualty. It's freaked me out more than once.

OK, just got word that the other unfinished game is also inactive due to one player disappearing. So here's the deal - Zebulon Pleasure Beast II and funkeesax: You have until Sunday 18 March to contact me and your respective opponent and resume play or you will forfeit the current round. Failing that, Round 2 will conclude on Monday and I will post results and begin preparations for Round 3. I have strong doubts that either game can be concluded in the remaining time, but I want to make sure I have given every opportunity to all players.

4 US wins and 2 German wins so far. Some games have been very close, some have not. AARs should be interesting.

One week to go. Still two open games: Bracket 1 poesel71 v. Zebulon Pleasure Beast II Bracket 2 funkeesax v. Odin Again, one game is inactive and will likely be a default, so we have only one game left actively running. Please get this wrapped up on time so we can move along to Round 3 as planned. Just a note for everyone, we will continue from here on out with v1.10. If the patch for non-CW users has not yet been released when we are ready for Round 3, I will make a determination at that point as to how and when we will proceed.

The only way I can think of to isolate grenades is to put two opposing units on either side of a high wall. They won't see each other, so you'll have to use area targeting, but they will confine themselves to grenades.

Well, that's a step in the right direction.

To my dismay, it appears that the rather absurdly long delays in calling indirect fire from units located immediately adjacent to the HQ remain in v1.10. That is, an HQ calling fire from a mortar in the next action square (obviously in full contact) is still subjected to the same delays as if the mortar were in command through the radio net via contact with another HQ. I was hoping this would be looked at and addressed. Any insight into whether it was considered? On a related note, does anyone know if the dead FO bug was addressed? This is the one that occurred when an FO was killed with a fire mission pending, causing the mission to continue and going into an endless spotting round loop (which the FO couldn't observe due to deadness), with no other units able to cancel the mission, rendering the battery effectively useless for the duration.

I just ran a test scenario with CW troops (UK airborne, to be specific) and watched them lob grenade after grenade into several bunkers (wood and concrete) to good effect. When they ran out, they used satchel charges, which were also effective. The only weirdness I saw as German troops bailing out from the front and sides of the bunker after the first few were massacred coming out the rear door. Not saying there might not be some sort of issue, but everything in this admittedly limited test worked as expected.

Status update: We are 12 days from completion of Round 2. There are three games still being played: Bracket 1 poesel71 v. Zebulon Pleasure Beast II Bracket 2 funkeesax v. Odin ~Viajero v. dan/california One of these is inactive because a player has disappeared; it will be resolved be default if necessary.

Rounds 3 and 4 will be played using v1.10, either as included in the Commonwealth module or the freestanding patch. Ongoing round 2 games should be completed with v1.01 to avoid technical difficulties. BTW, I've been busy the last few days and haven't had a chance to respond to a few emails and such; if you reported results in the last week and I haven't gotten back to you, don't worry, I'll get you a confirmation shortly.

Better sights on the No.4 than the K98.

Just checked - they can.

Sorry, but this tournament is underway and filled. There will be others down the line, I'm sure.

I'd be happy if this could be explained by some sort of AI self-preservation instinct, but pushing armored vehicles through that tiny gap in the bocage (problem #1) put them closer to the enemy and potentially exposed them, whereas had they remained on the road they would have been completely covered (problem #2). I've messed around with issuing orders enough to have a pretty good idea of when I need to add additional waypoints to get units to go where I want them to. This was just so bizarre and inexplicable I thought it warranted mentioning.

I was doing some initial testing on a scenario I'm designing and I saw several M10s do something well and truly odd. I gave them Move orders down a road, with 10 seconds between them. The path I gave them was straight along the road, which included a single waypoint that incorporated a 45 degree turn; they were never ordered to leave the road. What they did was to drive to the waypoint and make the turn as ordered, but shortly thereafer they each stopped and turned into a field through a small gapped bocage tile (these are not Rhinos, BTW), then turned and continued on to their assigned end points through the field parallel to the road. Furthermore, the gapped bocage tile was also a mud tile, so there clearly was no advantage to leaving the unobstructed road to pass through it. I can replicate the orders and send a save if desired.

Just a heads up for everyone still playing. I've gotten two sets of results, and it is painfully obvious that I screwed up something in the victory conditions, as points are not being awarded for enemy losses as they should be. This makes ties rather likely, which is not at all good in a bracket tournament. Thus I will have to make judgement calls based on losses; to this end, please send me a screenshot of the scoring screen when you are done. Hopefully this will not cause too many problems. My sincere apologies for the oversight and resultant confusion.

The briefing was intended to be appropriate for your mission: reconnaissance. Certainly, caution plays a part, but reconnaissance can also be about speed. Some players rushed ahead and benefited, while others rushed right into ambushes. In other words, it was deliberately vague in order to get players to make their own decisions about how to proceed. I fully recognize that this can be frustrating, but that comes with the territory. Glad you enjoyed it.

A valid point about being able to achieve the objectives from the outside. That should be changed. As far as it being like a fortress, that was intentional. Norman farms can be quite fortress-like, with very thick walls and few windows and entrances/exits. I wanted it to be a very difficult complex to assault if someone was actually able to gain control of it.

You're right, it should have, most of all from me - sorry. I read the whole thing and got so engrossed I ended up leaving the house in a rush as a result, thus not having time to leave a comment. Well done AAR, and I certainly hope that it inspires everyone else who has not yet contributed theirs to this thread to do so. Likewise, there hasn't been much discussion of the scenario itself. How did you guys feel about it? There are clearly some tactical choices to be made, but it's interesting that some who made similar decisions came up with radically different results. What style of play do you think best suited the scenario?

I don't think you need to go on an organized tour as long as you have a car; everything is extremely well-marked and easy to find, and the whole coastal area qualifies as a "known battlefield". There are a lot of museums, but most of them are fairly underwhelming if I'm honest - they get rather repetitive for the most part. I know some of them have undergone expansions in recent years, which may have improved things, but to me the battlefields are more interesting than the museums. Unfortunately, they are turning the former into the latter; Point du Hoc now has giant platforms on top of the bunkers, and they've added a sort of access platform to the observation bunker at Longues-sur-Mer. I prefer to stay in Bayeux. It's very centrally located and has enough restaurants that you won't have to worry about driving around trying to find a place to eat. Hotel Mogador is good and reasonable. The Hotel Churchill is good too, if more expensive. Book now if you're going in the summer - rooms fill up fast.

Yeah, playing solo as the Germans could work, I guess, but it's really not set up for that. As you found out, however, the time limit is set to 90 minutes for a reason; it is not a scenario that tolerates lack of due caution.

Yes, all games are played on Elite.

FYI, I just updated the posting in the Repository to clearly indicate that this is H2H only (no other changes were made). It may be unavailable temporarily, as the updated submission will have to be approved. Sorry for any inconvenience.

FYI, the Round 1 scenario is now available in the Repository. Click