LongLeftFlank
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Posts posted by LongLeftFlank
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Thanks for the explanation, Jon; earlier jibe withdrawn. In that case, I suppose I'd sooner see all unit pistols with "Full" ammo loads in single digits than continue with these frequent rampages, at least until this can be fixed properly. Personnel whose primary weapon is a sidearm are typically so equipped because they have more critical duties than shooting. This would restrict it to its proper intended purpose; emergency self-defence. It's just silly to have it so frequently employed as a lethal offensive weapon.
Game breaker? No. Fixable without massive brainjar damage: probably.
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Thanks, Bil. That means a great deal coming from you.
Here's some clips from the Japanese side briefing (you can only play Japanese side H2H). No spoilers.
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The long ribbon of shoreline that makes up Makin Atoll cannot all be defended. Therefore, the Japanese defensive scheme concentrates their limited forces in a heavily fortified zone in the central segment of the main island, Butaritari, where the prewar British commercial facilities (and fresh water supply) are located, surrounded by overgrown coconut plantations.
However, the planned fortifications remain incomplete and the Americans have bombed Butaritari regularly over the last several months. To make things even harder, many of the *** SNLF troops were recently redeployed to Tarawa and Nauru, together with all remaining aircraft and ships. This leaves fewer than *** trained soldiers to defend Makin, augmented by a few hundred poorly armed aviation personnel and construction workers. Since then, the command has worked feverishly on completing the two Tank Barriers that cross the narrow island at either end of the fortified zone, but sections still consist only of wire and a heavy log fence. There are nowhere near enough cement, landmines or heavy weapons to complete the original scheme.
And now we are out of time. At dawn this morning, a gigantic American fleet abruptly appeared and commenced an intensive bombardment of heavy naval guns and carrier planes. No warning was received from headquarters on Tarawa (150 miles away), and they are out of communication at present; it appears they have problems of their own.
At about 0900, approximately a regiment of American troops, including tanks, landed at two rocky beaches at the western end of Butaritari, which is barely defended. Phone wires have been cut by the bombardment, but it appears that the invaders are well ashore and advancing inland toward the West Tank Barrier.
Enemy bombardment of the core fortified zone (game map area) has now intensified, making movement hazardous. Yankee aircraft have set alight the aviation and diesel fuel stores, wreathing the island in oily smoke; they have also silenced our 3-gun 200mm shore battery facing the ocean. A direct hit on the command post also appears to have killed the garrison commander, so the company HQs are now acting independently.
At 1030, it becomes clear that the Americans are conducting a second beach landing, between the two wharfs on the lagoon side. A large force of transport ships has entered the (unmined -- the Navy never got around to that) central lagoon, and at least 50 smaller landing vessels and amphibious tanks are now approaching the north shore of Butaritari. Estimated force size is a battalion.
This is a cunning, though risky move by the Americans. If this landing succeeds, the West Tank Barrier will be outflanked, cut off and subject to assault from both sides. The lagoon side is also less heavily fortified than the ocean side. However, a broad, shallow reef separates the landing craft from the beach. The invading forces will need to wade across this reef, completely exposed, for up to 250 meters. Red meat for our well dug in field artillery and machine guns! at least for those that survive the hellish bombardment.
For some time, rumour has it that a powerful Imperial Navy task force under Admiral Koga, including the invincible battleship Yamato and 3 carriers is already at sea, looking to attack the American fleet as it is pinned down supporting their landing forces. The longer our brave troops can keep the invaders intensively engaged on these islands, the more likely that the Navy can deliver a decisive blow, avenge the setbacks at Midway and Guadalcanal and bring the arrogant Americans to their senses. Regardless, it is a glorious thing to die in battle for the Emperor.
Banzai!!!! Banzai!!! Banzai!!!
You stand "in the boots" of the commander of 2nd Company, Imperial Navy 3rd Special Naval Landing Force Special Base Force (formerly the Yokosuka 6th SNLF). The island commander, Navy Lieutenant (JG) Ishikawa, appears to have been killed by a direct hit on his command post, so each of the company commanders must defend his prepared positions as best he can, using only his own battered forces.
It is 1030 and the American first wave is approaching the reef, followed by still more boats. Kill as many of the enemy as possible while they struggle out there. Do not waste men counterattacking the Yankees once they gain the shore however; bayonet charges have proved counterproductive against their many machine guns and squander our mens' lives.
Rikusentai of the Imperial Navy! sell your lives dearly! If your brave soldiers kill one Yankee for every man they lose, you will likely win even if they overrun all the fortified areas. The more costly these invasions are to them, the more likely the Americans will negotiate honourable peace with the mighty Empire of Japan.
Let the blue-eyes seek out our hidden positions inland, then kill them in close range ambush, or by sniping. Use their wounded as bait to lure out more enemy. Blow up their tanks as they flounder on the marshy, sandy ground or amid the matted jungle roots. Infiltrate behind them and slaughter their demoralized stragglers. The American boys are amateurs and lazy, and have little stomach (hara) for this kind of fight. They try to let their enormous firepower do all the hard work for them. Outsmart their guns, then send them, terrified, to hell!
We shall certainly perish, but with dignity, watering this parched island with the blood of our enemies. Do not wait for us, faraway mothers and sweethearts. And do not weep!
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Another convert, bwahahaha! :{D
CM Uberpanzer queens will hate the PTO because armour is basically a gun platform (that bogs down constantly in the lousy conditions). But if you love down and dirty small unit infantry combat, it's awesome -- better than bocage because the terrain is both dense and totally random.
Holy hell, Izzy! This island is one giant goddam' bunker!
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Oh, absolutely. The PLA is probably even less ready today to fight a determined enemy, especially outside China, than it was in 1979.
Its officer corps, like much of the rest of the Chinese state sector, is vastly more concerned with repurposing military resources (including extensive land holdings and conscript labour) for its personal enrichment than in bothering with the humdrum of readiness and training. The old saying "good iron is not used to make nails, nor good men to make soldiers" remains true; smart, ambitious Chinese do not generally seek a military career, and if they do they want to be influential officers, certainly not the career NCOs that lie at the heart of the effectiveness of a modern army.
That said, the PLA does do a certain amount of training of course -- this isn't the 1930s, and there have been periodic crackdowns by the CMC on excessive absenteeism and other extreme abuses (embezzlement of soldier pay) since the 1980s. And certain elite formations do maintain a higher degree of readiness, especially for control of domestic dissent.
But there's a good reason the Chinese hesitate to invade Taiwan, even though they are well aware the Seventh Fleet would likely not lift a finger.
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That (changing experience based on current habitat) would be an overly complex solution to what is - really - a fairly simple and minor problem.
Ah, dear old JonS, many time winner of the "JasonC Airily Dismissive Response" award.
Well then here's a "simple" solution: give them a Severe level of ammo, regardless of what the TOE shows; pretend they didn't wear their ammo pouches (they snag) and they were left in the burning tank, so all they get is the clip in the pistol. Voila, no more Wyatt Earp rampages, unless they find an intact vehicle to scrounge from.
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Note that I did not intend the above observations to be a reason not to develop a Second Korean War and Aftermath CMSF game. Just saying that if BFC were ever to develop such content, they should take care to provide thoughtful RED force briefings for H2H scenarios, as well as including a campaign from the RED (DPRK or PLA) point of view. Since I believe that once word got around the interwebs, a substantial Asian gamer community would come out of the woodwork.
And they'd bring their nationalism with them; not that BFC needs to cater to that, just acknowledge that they'll want to play their nation's forces with a reasonable chance to win at least on points, think of themselves as the "good guys", and also be VERY irritated by game mechanics (sterotypes) like unsplittable squads that seem to "tilt" the scales in favour of the White Boys (I suspect they do understand and accept that their equipment is generally inferior at long ranges).
This in sharp contrast to the overwhelming BLUE slant of the CMSF series. Community generated content aside, there was precious little to encourage players to "like" playing the RED side. Just my opinion.
EDIT: All these comments also apply to the announced CMSF:Ukraine venue. There will be Russian (and Ukrainian) players, and they will want to play their own side on a "fair fight" basis, etc.
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Latest playtest once again had a brutal FF incident; this time 2 Alligators (halftracks) were strafed on the beach, with a dozen casualties. Couple of key lessons (1) air strikes can go on for several minutes after they no longer show up as active on the Air Support menu (2) with that in mind, hit CANCEL once you know friendlies are nearing the strike area.
The tanks are now getting ashore well, though slowly: only 3 Immobs this time around.
The AI controlled Japanese (German, actually) 75mm infantry guns are using indirect fire pretty well, but the problem is their rounds are largely pulverizing the trees in front of them; I think all of one round actually landed in the US area. This is a very strange effect. I don't want to give them 81mm mortars instead, since this gives them a lot more HE firepower (ROF) than they actually possessed. Need to tweak this some more -- maybe setting them farther back in a clearing will help.
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Unless I've missed it somewhere, it's not in the (mid 1944) CW force mix. No, the Japanese AT capabilities are limited to demo charges, mines and various ordnance weapons. I'm not redoing all my work in CMFI (which I haven't bought yet) just so I can access the Italian TOE, although it does most closely resemble the IJA. Maybe some other time.
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Korean War Part II gets brought up perennially; do a Search with Keyword Korea and you'll see. Here's my particular take on the topic:
Putting Chinese (or Korean) forces into a Combat Mission product has huge potential to attract a gigantic new audience for the game.In this case, as a software company, BFC needs to consider a critical business question (and their CMA experience with the Russian audience may inform this): will they actually generate any revenues, or will the game simply be hacked and pirated on day 3 after release?
Also, please note that the moral circumstances surrounding a Third World War pitting US "main forces" against their Chinese counterparts would likely be vastly murkier than the CMSF Syrian backstory. That one was a total soft-pitch -- Syrian-enabled terrorists kill a bunch of white people, Syrian regime refuses to disavow it and pays the price. Pretty clear morally who the "good guys" are in that one, even though we're invading their country.
Assuming that the venue for such a scenario would be Asia (as opposed to a "Red Dawn" type thing on US soil), the moral circumstances -- big picture here -- would be far murkier.
Even in a Korean War Part II scenario, where the US and Chinese forces come to blows over the prostrate corpse of North Korea, the morality isn't clear. The Americans would see it as simply fulfilling their longtime obligations to the ROK as an ally, and disposing of a dangerous rogue nuclear gangster regime even more odious than Saddam's Iraq. And the Chinese are recklessly interfering in the reunification/rebuilding of the Korean nation. Oh, and a fair number of American troops have lost their lives in this cause over the past month or so (particularly if the KPA popped nukes and chemicals in their initial attack) -- sunk cost.
The Chinese, on the other hand, would see the US presence in Korea as the tail end of an awful* 500 year pattern of exploitative Western meddling (and far worse!) in what was, for most of human history, China's sandbox -- including in China itself. Kind of a Chinese Monroe Doctrine, if you will.
And there is some truth in that view, even though the Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese and Filipinos wouldn't necessarily like it any more than the Mexicans or Cubans do. Enough truth that the Chinese would likely see the forcible ejection of the last "white army" (not counting the Russians) from mainland East Asia as a just and reasonable cause. Especially when that army was now advancing to their own borders. Which means the Chinese soldiers would fight hard and cunningly, with all the resources at their disposal.
US mechanized ground forces intervening in some kind of Chinese civil war would end up as another lopsided asymetrical fight with Chinese tanks instead of T90s, and I think BFC has learned its lesson on that one. And would definitely make the US the "bad guys", harking back to the imperialist Opium Wars and Boxer Rebellion.
BTW, all of the above also means that Chinese players will see themselves as the "good guys" in any hypothetical CM game they play, not as another set of faceless hordes for the US to butcher.
* Although the US Navy benevolently guarding an endless stream of Chinese exports flowing across the Pacific to WalMart under extremely generous terms of trade since 1980 could be argued to be a significant goodwill gift or reparation to China, enabling their super-rapid modernization. But that wouldn't necessarily occur to the average Chinese soldier, or hardline demagogue.
Remember the Twilight 2000 RPG? Pretty imaginative and well researched work, and IIRC posited on a Soviet-Chinese war that then becomes a European and world (nuclear) war when NATO invades East Germany. Although anyone being able to field an even nominally mechanized army in a post-apocalypse world did strain credulity a bit.It's pretty difficult to devise a plausible scenario where a US or NATO armoured force would go head to head with PLA mechanized forces CMSF style. Best bet would be the Korean peninsula in the wake of a second Korean War -- even if the Chinese weren't behind a North Korean invasion (unlikely, at least with their current leadership), they would certainly intervene quickly and seize a fair chunk of territory to keep Americans away from the Yalu border. So you could get:
(a) An "accidental" clash in the outskirts of Pyongyang between PLA armoured forces and US/ROK Marines moving in from the coast (the DMZ presumably being devastated).
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Later on, incidents along a "new DMZ" in the Chinese-occupied buffer zone.© Ongoing guerrilla warfare by die-hard North Korean irregulars, abetted by China, against the "occupying forces".
But very hard to imagine a head-to-head ground clash. Even with major improvements in Chinese airpower and support arms.
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This was my earlier suggestion: no Prokhorovka II / Fulda mass carnage here, but plenty of possibilities for sharp internecine clashes at the battalion scale in a screwed up fight where it really isn't clear who the good guys are. And, e.g. you can get French turning their guns on US or German/Polish/Ukrainian forces. Just like in Beirut 1982 where you nearly had US and Israeli forces coming to blows, or Mogadishu where the Italians and Pakistanis wouldn't lift a finger to help the US troops, whose high-handedness had offended them.
Or you could always do alternative history and do the CMSF version of "Twilight 2000" RPG; the original setting was a group of 25th ID survivors wandering about post-nuclear Poland.Also, I believe the setting for CMSF2 was supposedly Ukraine, not Georgia.
That setting is not too hard to believe -- a plausible backstory for a campaign could go something like this....
Germany leaves the Euro and EU in disgust amid world recession in 2013 and forms a rival bloc -- say Netherlands, Poland, Denmark, and Czecho. Relations with the remaining EU deteriorate quickly, although Britain, the US, the Nordics, Switzerland, Turkey and the Baltics are friendly to the new Zollverein. NATO remains intact but an increasingly disunited and impotent talking shop. And no, there's no appetite for military conflict -- I don't personally find that plausible.
Meanwhile, Putin sets out to reassemble the Slavic portion of the Soviet Union; Belarus quickly declares economic and military union, but his machinations in the Baltics are resisted, and the Germans and Poles back the Balts. Violence erupts -- Russia threatens intervention; the EU sponsors talks although they are suspected of being pro-Russian.
Ukraine. You figure out which caused which:
1. Russian populations in Crimea and east of the Dnpr agitate for their "human rights". 2. The Kyiv government draws increasingly close to the German bloc; some might even say, dependent
Bottom line: sectarian violence erupts here too in short order.
2016. Ethnic cleansing escalates in the Donbas and Crimea, including districts that never had Russian majorities before. The Ukrainian army performs poorly against well-armed Russian irregulars and the tottering government becomes increasingly dependent on German bloc aid, including "Polish" advisers and arms. Tension increases on the Belarusian frontiers; the Russians accuse the Poles of seeking to recover Lviv and Lublin.
Russian minorities scattered throughout western Ukraine begin to face revenge persecution by Ukrainian extremists who have lost patience with Kyiv. An especially gruesome massacre occurs in Odessa; the Russian navy "quarantines" the port, indignantly threatening to land. Open war now looms, although both sides shy away from that fateful step, preferring to fuel their war by proxy.
In a desperate UN-brokered effort, a peacekeeping force (UNPROFOR), including French, Italian, Hungarian, Brazilian, Egyptian, as well as an Anglo-American regimental team (US and British Royal Marines, plus a Stryker battalion?) included at Ukrainian insistence land in the strife-torn city to enforce a cease fire. At Russian insistence though, only the French are permitted to ship in heavy armour*, and the UNPROFOR commander is French. The Ukrainian Army agrees to withdraw its heavy weapons from the UN area of operations, and the Russian Navy to return to port.
As UNPROFOR deploys into Odessa and the surrounding countryside (Transnistria, the lower Dnpr), the Anglo-American commanders quickly become suspicious of the motives of their EU colleagues. They also become aware that the Ukrainians are hell bent on rearming and retaking their lost lands, and need the US nuclear umbrella to do that. And if that means ensuring that Leathernecks and Bootnecks come into conflict with Russian "terrorists" then, well, so be it....
Anyway, you get the idea. The chess pieces are on the table. I guess you'd be disappointed if you're looking for the massed clash of Russian and US tank brigades refighting Prokhorovka, but this backstory provides plenty of opportunity for dramatic tactical actions between ersatz combat groups on a reasonably equal footing.
Also, it's really not clear who are the good or bad guys here -- the Russians have legitimate gripes too.
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There will always be exceptions rather than the rule and as you state these are unusual conditions but I think results such as the above occur to often.
I agree with your post above, and suspect the best "fix" would be behavioural rather than "nerfing" the pistols themselves. In other words, bailed crews might be Elite inside their vehicle but once bailed they're at best Regular troops, and at minimum Shaken... they can protect themselves if overrun but are unlikely to become gunslingers looking for a fight.
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Well, I remain hopeful that in some future iteration of the engine, BFC adds some features to enrich urban fighting (e.g. flat-roofed buildings, industrial buildings, locked gates/heavy doors, low Walls topped with (uncrossable) iron railings, urban flavour objects) and so forth. One would think the Market Garden (and Aachen / Paris Lib) module would be a logical place for them to do that, but so far I haven't seen any clear indication that they're putting resources into these features (and yes, I appreciate that the workloads are likely significant).
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Have you tried putting High Walls along the building wall? That would require you to place the building edge so that it's "halfway" into the square, but it should keep infantry from entering, or shooting between buildings, at least at ground level. Unless they Blast a hole.
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Just had a Sherman crew bail after their tank was KOed by a Japanese (modded British) demo charge (Breach) team (I deliberately had the Sherman NOT spot and kill the DC team, which it would otherwise quickly have done -- the test was whether the AI side will throw DCs at a moving tank of its own volition. They do)
Range is point blank; the Japanese have rifles and are in cover. Two crewmen fall at once; a third cowers. The last guy pulls his 45, kills one Japanese more or less immediately, moves a few meters left then pins and kills the other after about 6 shots. Seems not unreasonable for a motivated, hacked off tanker.
Intrigued, I swapped vehicles for a M7 Priest. Bailed the Veteran/High crew (8 pistols) and had them advance on a Japanese (British) rifle squad over a crest that let them close to within 20 meters before LOS gained. Result: the Earp brothers did hit 4 Japanese (Regular/Fanatic) during the shootout, but the squad Sten and Bren gun made fairly short work of them.... pinning and then killing. Done within about 30 seconds; no grenades used until the very end when it was already over. Again, not unreasonable under these unusual conditions. FWIW.
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Yes, it totally sucked to lose that squad, although from a realism standpoint it's another awesome win for CM. They weren't in the A/C strike zone, but weren't that far away either. The air controller watched in horror then called off the air strike (by then in its 7th or so minute), but too late.
In the real Makin operation, with 800 men landing on a tiny island enshrouded in jungle and smoke, there were major problems with troops having to hold up their advance or even pull out of positions they'd taken when "friendly" shells began coming in. This even though the Navy had been carefully briefed on the fire plans and was trying to be very careful where they shot/bombed and when. Errant rounds, mostly, but when so much HE is coming in it's a problem.... on the plus side, a lot of Japanese defenders were indeed killed or stunned. The stubborn Japanese snipers in the ship hulks also created a lot of confusion and "crossfires" -- tank rounds overshooting and landing ashore. The support landing waves were delayed some 90 minutes while these hulks were pounded by aircraft and the USS Dewey's destroyer guns.
The above tragedy included, my latest latest playthrough last night began to feel "right". 5 minutes of intense prep bombardment before the first wave comes on map allows Force Z to come ashore with far lighter casualties, but with most squads still Rattled/Shaken/Broken and in no state to do much more than secure the beach for the next wave (very appropriate for Green US forces).
Had a couple of very dramatic close assaults against Japanese snipers and Nambu nests though. Fanatical troops, even Green ones, just don't give up! Grenades and tommyguns are essential to finishing the bloody job.
Fewer tanks are Immob although I continue to tinker with this key dynamic (if 12 Shermans can wander about too freely ashore the scenario will be a pushover).
In recreating a historical operation of this scale, I am also becoming aware that 90-120 game minutes can actually represent a RL historical action of several hours quite nicely; assume some significant lulls in the action while troops hesitate, rally, look for the enemy, etc. The landings began at 1030; the main force was ashore by 1110 but didn't move inland until after noon. First elements didn't reach the ocean shore (300m) until 1400 and the 1st BLT wasn't contacted until 1600. But it seems to work nicely without 6+ hours of gameplay
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Which is why the backstory is going to need to be fairly carefully crafted.
In the absence of an existential threat to the West itself, there's just no way IMHO a Western expeditionary force intervening in a Ukraine civil conflict is going to be authorized to initiate a bloody stand-up fight against Russian mech forces. And the Russians wouldn't attack unless confident of inflicting a humiliating defeat and forcing the exit of the meddlesome West; i.e. the odds very much in their favour.
But even under those conditions, you aren't going to get more than a couple of battles before a disengagement and cease fire is ordered. And we now return you to your previously scheduled asymetrical / proxy war against well-armed Russian partisans bent on ethnic cleansing. Either that or WWIII has now broken out and nukes are flying, in which case you get Twilight 2000 Redux: Beyond Thunderdome
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True, it appears the tank was advancing down a typical city street without an infantry screen, it seems (I assume those feet running around behind it before the fireworks start are FSA fighters). But that seems typical for the government forces -- they're short of infantry (only so many reliable soldiers to go around) and with the primary FSA threat still being light weapons, they tend to hide in their armour.
Kind of dumb of the RPG gunner to try a frontal shot though, especially while running, as opposed to a somewhat aimed oblique rear shot from a sheltered alley or shopfront (backblast permitting). Unless there are other regime troops (e.g. a sniper or BMP) behind the tank covering its arse as it moves forward. Which may have been the entire point of this exercise, use the tank as bait to lure the FSA guys out to snipe them.
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.... if that enterprising lad then wanted to get his town intensively shelled by the irate artillery unit for no good purpose.
This actually happened: Fred Cederberg's excellent combat memoir The Long Road Home relates how a Canadian got his throat slashed by some locals (a mugging I think) in a village taberna and his unit then basically leveled the place with mortars; the CO papered over the incident. We Canucks can be right bastards if you offend our sense of fair play.... just ask the SS. No, never mind, you can't (without a Ouija board).
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Beautiful screenies and map (although the shadows could use a little tweaking)! just gave me an intense urge to buy CMFI, but I want to release my little PTO project before spreading myself even thinner.
The "real" town shot actually reminded me of something I noticed in Tuscany; the extremely thick doors on "prewar" houses.... basically wooden gates, with bars. One doesn't simply run in and out of these doors if they're locked and barred, and there isn't an obvious way for squaddies to jimmy or shotgun a lock to get in -- you either need some serious HE or a vehicle as a battering ram.
I've longed for some kind of rules around such secure building doors and locked security gates (in high compound walls) since Ramadi days (e.g. you can always exit a building freely, but it could take infantry up to a minute to destroy a specified "heavy door/gate" without using a BLAST command). But I suppose that needs to go on the "if wishes were horses" list....
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I'm on the road for the next couple days, so no playtest screenies for a bit.
But I am curious: any bona fide Japanese or Korean WWII wargamers lurking out there? (expats, Westerners of Asian ancestry, white dudes who dig Asian women or just love kimchi need not apply). I am trying to test my hypothesis that an Asian market exists for CM games (the "Tamiya factor"). Anybody? We don't mind poor English skills... most of us speak pretty lousy English too.
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Playtesting tonight. Here's my take on the famous AP photo in the OP of this thread....
And Hell followed with him.....
So once again Detachment Z is pretty much a broken force by the time it gains the shore, with the company taking about 60 casualties and nearly all squads Broken. Some guys even try to Surrender to the Japanese. The defenders have lost about 40, mostly from the prep bombardment or when the Shermans blast hell out of them.
8 of the 12 tanks are Immob en route to the beach, which is a lot more attrition than I wanted.... may need to ratchet conditions back to Damp.
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Enters thread briefly, quickly regrets having done so. Tiptoes quietly away.....
Later on, incidents along a "new DMZ" in the Chinese-occupied buffer zone.
Infantry Tac AI
in Combat Mission Fortress Italy
Posted
Agreed. A "Hit the Dirt!" reflex triggered by perception of an incoming threat that hasn't quite arrived seems like a logical evolution. On the other hand, it's likely not simple from a programming standpoint. Is every unit continuously checking enemies in LOS for "imminent threats", and how is that defined? What's the PC hit?
My thought was that the "reflex" (varying by unit Experience?) could be triggered by the exploding HE round itself, not needing a separate scan. Instead of one "bang", there would be two.... the first is undetectable to the player, but triggers the Cower reflex (and perhaps a warning shout) in eligible units a split second before the "real" fireworks. Still requires some programming gymnastics of course, and probably best left to a later engine evolution, but economical in terms of calculation load. FWIW.