handihoc

Bardosy, Webwing, Phantom et al. . . you guys have been noticeable by your absence lately. Are you still out there? I can only assume you are all v busy creating great new scenarios and campaigns for the Marines module, so that people like me can have lots more fun! I certainly hope that's the case! OK, that's enough downtime. Back to work, soldiers!

Oops! Done it again! This thread was meant for the SF general forum.

Bardosy, Webwing, Phantom et al. . . you guys have been noticeable by your absence lately. Are you still out there? I can only assume you are all v busy creating great new scenarios and campaigns for the Marines module, so that people like me can have lots more fun! I certainly hope that's the case! OK, that's enough downtime. Back to work, soldiers!

Hi Ratguts, and welcome. I have to say, I envy you. To come into this game at this point, where it's in the best state it's ever been, with a mass of new scenarios/campaigns/mods to play with and a new mega-patch and Marines module imminent . . . you couldnh't have chosen a better time. There's a hell of a lot of depth to this game. I've been playing solidly for over a year now, and am still loving it and still regularly impressed by new discoveries.

That is mega-cool.

But which quarter?

Can it be September 1st, please?

Splendid pics, but what made them kill that poor mutt?

Fascinating article. Thanks for posting it. I am also impressed (and somewhat slightly alarmed) by the material in a couple of your other recent threads, here: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=83276 and http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=83274 As a non-military man with a lifelong interest in military history and development, as well as wargaming, I like the fact that I can come to this forum and learn, even if much of what I learn makes me less comfortable.

Yes, Field Marshal Blucher is right. I just put it in the wrong forum first time round. And I guess it isn't really a bump, is it? But though I could delete the message here, I couldn't work out how to delete the header/title. Sorry for any confusion.

I'm no expert but I would say that a heavy tank (or two) would be capable of nudging any other wreck out of it's way, even if it took several minutes to do so. It worked well in CMx1 and seemed wholly realistic. Recent newsreel in Georgia showed a BMP effortlessly knocking a police car aside and dragging it along the street, so a heavy MBT shouldn't have a serious problem.

I've just finished a battle in which I had to take a village by crossing a river via a single bridge. In fact, I won with an enemy surrender before I actually crossed. But the point I want to raise is that several enemy afv's had advanced onto the bridge and were destroyed by me, which left the bridge blocked. Because I had a win and the game ended I wasn't able to test what would've happened if I'd tried to push my tanks across and through/past the enemy hulks. In CMx1 dead vehicles could be pushed aside, but I've never seen that in SF. So unless there is a known way around it there is quite a serious issue here. I would only have been able to advance with infantry - not satisfactory, and potentially deadly too. If it is the case that dead vehicles can't be moved it also leaves the way open for players to employ questionable tactics by blocking a bridge with their own vehicles. Does anyone know if it's possible to push through/past enemy vehicles? Yes, could just go ahead and run a test, but I won't have time for the next two or three days, so it'd be interesting to hear of anyone else's experience. __________________

Bump . . . . . . . .

I've got that mod installed and I love it. Haven't spotted that anomaly, but I haven't been looking for it. I'll check for it in future.

He's never bought me one.

Yeah, the tanks are outstanding. The detail quite wonderful. I've got Gordon Molek's excellent Plain Russian Vehicles mod installed, which makes them look battered, weathered and tarnished, and it's really effective. I also love the animation when a tank or other vehicle takes a non-fatal hit and rocks back on its tracks. Superb programming (I assume by the maestro, Charles). There is so much in this game that really impresses.

Gordon Ramsey comes into my local pub. True!

****SPOILERS!!!****** I've just completed the Tumah Crossing. One of your best maps and a great battle. I loved the fact that it was essentially two separate battles in one: clearing the Estate, and taking the village and hotel whilst dealing with the counterattack. Lots to think about, careful tactics required, and very tense. However, in the end I got a surrender and won a Total Victory with only 12 men killed and 1 T55 and 1 BMP1 destroyed - and this was without reverting to earlier saves. I'd like to brag that it was my brilliant tactics and expert use of the terrain that won the day - but a lot of it was actually down to patience. I'll tell you briefly what I did. First couple of waves of BMPs and inf were responsible for a methodical and systematic scouring of the Estate, with the first squadron of T55s on overwatch on the edge of the forest near the road. A heavy 135mm bombardment on the store houses (unnecessary, as it turned out) and 120mm on the stables (good call!), then the inf go in with four BMPs in support. There was plenty of time to let that happen at a fairly leisurely pace, hence minimal casualties. Spotters were at either end of Hill 205, which gave them an unrestricted view of the entire battlefield. I slammed the village and hotel with artillery, and when the next two waves of T55s arrived I positioned two on the near shoulder of Hill 205. This gave them cover from the enemy vehicles coming in from beyond Phase Line Alpha but allowed them to very effectively pick off anything coming into the village along or near the main road. Four more T55s sat hidden in The Pass until the enemy T72s had entered the village and advanced close to the bridge. I then pushed out of The Pass, putting two tanks on the hillside and two rushing down into the woods overlooking the river. From these positions I was able to put flanking shots into the T72s, who were now simultaneously coming under fire from my first squadron of T55s advancing through the woods beside the West Yard. Finally I brought 5 BMPs onto Hill 163, but in fact they weren't needed. When the surrender came I still had more than 30 minutes left. So I think I anticipated the enemy's (your!) tactics well, and had the strength of forces to punish them convincingly. My feeling is that, had there been,say, another 3 or 4 enemy tanks, who had sat back somewhere in the region of The Garage and Phase Line Alpha, effectively providing overwatch to those that advanced into the village, I would have had a lot more problems. Also, the weight of artillery at my command gave me a major advantage (this, I guess, will change with the new arty AI upcoming). An interesting point, which I wasn't able to test, was that towards the end dead enemy tanks completely blocked the bridge, and would have prevented any of my vehicles entering the village. In CMx1, vehicles could be pushed aside. I don't think this is the case in SF. I've certainly never seen it. Does anybody know? So had the battle continued, I may have had to enter the village with infantry only, which would've been quite unrealistic,and possibly deadly. Overall, then, another excellent battle, but I feel the enemy could be beefed up just a little as the terrain in general does favour the attacker, particularly in approaching the village, and less time would have forced me to make advances at a pace that could have made life more difficult. Now, on to the final battle!

Mord, please post again when you eventually do a Brits sound mod (hint, hint). Jolly good show, old chap!

Great idea, could be very useful, although with all that's going on on-screen it's easy to miss supplementary visual cues (I know from other games that I've often missed visual or text alerts on mini-screens, and only discovered the damage at turn end or Pause, which made the alerts/cues semi-redundant). Would it be relatively easy to code/programme? I have no idea. If it's well done it would be potentially a big plus.

Are you saying the updated campaign will be Blue on Red, ie Marines v Syrians? Great shots btw.

HOT!! Meach, yo' a lucky boy!

Welcome back, Mishga. It's been hell here without you! And welcome back Meach, too! I think it's time for a party!!!!!

This sounds interesting. Elmar, I'd love to hear/read your report on this. PT, your latest post makes me wonder about going back and starting again with 1.1. Having said that, I'm really enjoying mission 2 so far, and don't want to abandon it. (replayed mission 1 from a save and, with the benefit of prior intelligence, was able to march successfully to the end with little trouble. Not the way it should be done, I know, but I was keen to get into mission 2). So does the new version have significant enough changes to warrant starting again?

Actually, I forgot to mention, but I had the ATGMs open fire on my infantry several times, with extremely painful results. On one occasion (which I've mentioned in a different thread as I thought it was a bug) my engineers were blasting through a wall in the first hill house and got hit by a missile. It was devastating. Every squad was pretty much taken out! At the time I thought they'd been killed by their own demo blast. It was only after several replays that I discovered it was a missile from a hidden team. By sheer chance it hit them at exactly the same moment that their charges exploded.