LongLeftFlank
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Posts posted by LongLeftFlank
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Let's say you were the US commander and had to assault those 75s or 88s on the distant ridge using Shermans. Ideally, I'd do it at night. I saw an episode of "Greatest Tank Battles" recently where that's exactly what they did, forming up in a great big armored phalanx, following the little dot of each other's tail lights. By the time the Germans could react, the Shermans were already in the midst of their positions and were overrunning them, and the range advantages the Germans had were all negated. Would an attack like this be possible to re-create in CMBN? We have the ability to fight at all hours of day or night, right? Do we have illumination effects?
Interesting idea, if the brass will let you do it, which probably won't be until at least 3 daylight attacks have been shot to pieces leaving the battlefield strewn with shattered and burning wrecks! Of course you did get Monty's Moonlight -- by D plus 10 or so the Brits weren't so proud.
Also, moving vehicles offroad at night is fraught with danger. I'd love to see the vehicle off road bog percentages go WAYYY up at night. And it would be even better if they occasionally reinterpreted their waypoints to go the wrong way (this is a pipedream not an expectation).
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Assuming your forum handle refers to some hardware you swapped for flesh out there in the service of the Republic, it's the least I can do. Thanks for your service to our civilization.
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Step 1 at the bottom of the Mission main screen change the forces settings from BLUE vs RED to RED vs RED. Then once you go to the Units menu you will get RED forces to buy for BLUE. If you need more BLUE units, switch it back. If your scenario involves mixed NATO and elite ANA forces, I suggest using Syrian Special Forces as they can split teams and have their own skins.
2. Mod your ANA forces as desired. M1A1TC did nice Iraqi Army (desert tan) and Iraqi police commando (blue digital)unis for Syrian SFs if you don't feel up to doing your own (don't know if anyone has done modern ANA kit).
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Yes, I'm getting more excited to play this game too. And the more I read the more convinced I am that map design and dimensions will be critical. There will be times when you must use your PzIVs in a furball and times when you must assault long 75s or 88s on a distant ridge using Shermans. Cookie cutter tactics just won't cut it.... Wow.
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Glad this feature has fans, but I'd personally like an Iron / extreme FOW option to not display this info. What are the chances an AFV shooting at these ranges can see if and where its round has hit (unless the target is brewing up or being abandoned)? I'd also like Iron mode to not display the red crosses for enemy infantry casualties....
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Great thread and nice list Sergei. Decline in German crew quality as the war went on played a role too, ja?
I know this is the "PzIV thread," but the bulge bracket of German armour by 1944 was SPG's not tanks, right? How'd the PzIVs perform relative to the similarly armed StuG or heavier JgPzIV? Thoughts?
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No campaign, just scenarios (mainly historical). But in general they will show how tactics for both sides evolved over time. I will have some RED scenarios too, although they'll either be 2 player or vs the Iraqi Army (which didn't often counterattack aggressively, unlike Americans).
But my timetable for doing these may be lengthy.
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Well the "game" can be played as a game any way you please, sure. But the name of this game is Battle for Normandy.
I just saw a lot of otherwise fascinating and well-designed CMSF scenarios become science fiction (while remainjng fun games) because of very simple (and readily addressable) flaws in map design. Bois de Baugin was a very "real" looking map to me; this one, not so much. More like a Starcraft map, no offense to the maker. And that means the players and units will behave differently than real armoured forces slugging it out in Normandy. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Terrain matters if you care about history, just as much as the difference between L48 and L70.
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I do hate to be the first to go against the chorus of admiration here, and I know this scenario is intended to provide a demo of armoured maneuver tactics, but this map isn't anything you'd find in Normandy, or anywhere else.
The problem for me is the trees; you go instantly from dense stands of deciduous forest to open terrain (farmland? and if so, where are the walls or fences?)
In the real world, when you cut down big trees you give small trees and brush a chance to grow, creating a dense thicket along the margin. This may seem like nitpicking but it has very meaningful tactical effects on LOS and vehicle movement around the treeline (e.g. risk of bogging, concealment, their ability to see infantry stalking them).
In the pine forests that start east of the Meuse you don't see this thicket "zone" as much (the dense pine stands form their own thicket), so this map might work if you were training at Grafenwohr. But not in Normandy. Except for orchards, you just don't normally transition from open to mature trees. Anyone who hunts will know what I mean.
Sorry to be negative; the game looks gorgeous! But as in CMSF the maps drive a lot of the realism. Terrain is the "third player" in all wargames (and RL battles for that matter). Here endeth my catechism.
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Don't get defensive, I fully understand all that and have said so myself several times. I didn't opine it ought to be included (I have far more important stuff on my pipe dream list).
And I am about the last guy on this board who will claim CMSF doesn't do COIN well, intentional or not! I have proved the contrary I think.
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No, as this action is historical and involved Marines. If you want just the map, I'll upload a version sans units (i.e. just the map) but it won't be for a while as I'm on a ski trip.
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Erwin was one of my playtestesters and he gave me very useful feedback
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As you say, they're pretty much a ranged weapon. They provide a pretty good overwatch for the Humvees across the cemetery or up Michigan. They have pretty decent one-shot-one-kill capability on RPGs in buildings. Once you get into the backstreets they're less useful unless you can find a safe rooftop at a T-junction.
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All true, but in COIN of course, where there is no "front" this can all break down frequently and everyone picks up a rifle. In my Ramadi scenario where the US forces were completely tapped out, one QRF was led by the Weapons Co Gunny, while an Army mech force escorting ambulances included the Brigade commander and his PSD plus the CSM (who won a Silver Star). In Iraq, US commanders covering huge AOs reorged their Weapons and HQ companies into secondary QRFs and even primary combat forces. A lot of Master Sgts and Gunnys saw heavy combat and some paid the ultimate price.
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I have the same question. If I had to guess, it most closely resembles the Germans - ISTR a lot of harmonization in the 1990s. Capacity of their IFV/APC is likely the determinant of squad size. Built around a GPMG, right?
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Now that's a name I've not heard in a long, long time....
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(CNN) Gadhafi's son, Saadi, told CNN Thursday evening that troops will change their tactics and take up positions around Benghazi Saturday or Sunday and assist people fleeing from the city.
The younger Gadhafi said there will be no large-scale assault. Instead police and anti-terrorism units will be sent into the rebel stronghold to disarm the opposition. Unspecified humanitarian groups can help with the exodus of civilians from Benghazi, Saadi Gadhafi said.
In other words, it looks they intend to cordon off Benghazi with ground forces and then try to wait the West out. My guess is they will likely not even try to enter the city or do anything else that could possibly be painted as a military "reversal".
In the meantime they will certainly be trying like crazy to divide the rebels and reach (financial) accommodation with some of them -- probably tribal sheikhs and Army officers while meanwhile solidifying their control in the Tripoli area.
I'd guess they also hope that as weeks go by the rebel-controlled populations will become restless and disaffected with the "revolutionary councils" as they prove (a) unable to dislodge Gaddafi's troops and break the stalemate (
fractious and bickering © incompetent/ impotent at providing basic services (d) increasingly dependent on foreigners whose motives are suspect.They will also be hoping that cracks rapidly appear in Western resolve if they don't do anything to provoke (i.e leave their planes on the ground and ships in port).
In the meantime though, expect some suicide VBIEDs to show up at those checkpoints. Al Qaeda organizers are very likely already on the ground and setting up bomb factories either in Benghazi or (my bet) Tobruk and Baida, close to Egypt (and Sudan). Cyrenaica is a natural recruiting ground / safe haven for them, and very well located....
One man's opinion.
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Also, at some point players will get sick of hedgerows and rolling hills and start doing Italy.
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So about those French....
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Haven't seen evidence of loyalist effectiveness in MOUT, so if you have any I'd be interested. Pummeling rebels from a distance in small towns and oil complexes is one thing; rooting them out of a built up area is another.
I just look at the photos; they're a real rag tag bunch. Little evidence of the kind of elan it would take to fight house to house against do-or-die opponents. I'm sure some of them are brave enough but guts alone isn't enough; would they die for the guys on their left and right? Do they have the discipline to do room clearing drill or proper overwatch moving dowm a street? What about when the chips are down, sniping is all around and that T72 has just erupted in flames cooking its crew alive? And the wounded aren't getting medevac or anything stronger than qat or raki? Is what the Leader is paying you worth that? I don't know the answer but I've seen nothing that says to me at least some of these guys are badass commandos....
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Good post. Gaddafi's army can't really hold a "front"; it seems more like a bunch of guys in pickups and jeeps (like the rebels) following a bunch of tanks and HW around. Seems like a single wave of well chosen air strikes could
seriously impair their mobility. Hell with the tanks; the repair shops and fuel bowsers. The desert aint any kinder to T72s than it is to M1s.
Thinking back to 1991 when Saddam sent that tank regiment across into Saudi. ISTR it was largely air that took them out. And that was 20 years ago!
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Still think we'll somehow be able to turn a blind eye to that? I hqve a 4 year old and I tear up just thinking about it....
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This is not actually true, Ghadaffi's Army is very effective. win.
I suppose you're right inasmuch as using 125mm tank guns and direct fire BM21s to level rebel fighting positions from a safe distance has so far proved "effective" in the desert.
But we'll see just how much the Robed One's soldiers love him (or fear his son) when they have to move into Benghazi to root out the rebels (who know they will die if they lose) and bring those tanks into RPG / IED / car bomb range. That's an infantry fight and even highly motivated and trained Western armies find it hard to pull off. Fallujah. Grozny.
And trying to bomb/shell the city into submission won't work either, although I predict they try it once they get a first bloody nose. At which point I predict you will see enormous civilian suffering live on Al Jazeera and a heightened call for intervention. Sarajevo.
P.S. First target will be the drinking water supply for 1 million people.
Little kids will die first, of dehydration and dysentery, live on TV. God help them.
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Dude, there you go again with the politics here. I don't really want to argue about whose side we should take, just how "we" might go about it if we did.
fractious and bickering © incompetent/ impotent at providing basic services (d) increasingly dependent on foreigners whose motives are suspect.
Hit texts are back!
in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy
Posted
Never mind hit decals, bring on the burnt out wrecks with ripped off turrets!
The text off toggle feature takes care of my needs. It wouldn't be possible to toggle off the "rout" (!) markers and red crosses as well, would it? In CMSF it always bugs me that players have such immediate info on the status of enemy infantry inside buildings. For me, it is good enough to see your enemy's prostrate corpse and hear Mord's "Lamentations of Their Women" Mod.