gunnergoz

Real world Steps are: 1. WAIT FOR THE F'in BARRAGE TO FINISH 2. CHANGE YOUR UNDERWEAR as may be required 3. SEND OUT THE FNG TO DO THE CRATER ANALYSIS...etc

The M-10 was built on the M-4 chassis, as was the later M-36, which basically joined the hull of the M-10 to a new turret with a 90mm gun based on the 90mm AA gun. The M-18 used an entirely new hull using a new torsion bar suspension that had some elements in common with the M-24 light tank that arrived later in 1944. This torsion bar hull/suspension saw a lot of postwar applications like the M-41 Duster dual AA gun, SP artillery and even a precursor to the 1950's M-59 armored personnel carrier, which IIRC was called an M-44. A heavier torsion bar suspension system was of course used on the M-24 Medium and the variants that flowed from it. Google has a lot of worthwhile links to these topics too. You don't need to buy a lot of books, much of this is now on the internet, you just need to look for it.

This game (and the solid research behind it) is going to bust a few UberPanzer fans' chops. Good. Maybe people will learn to appreciate what tactics were required by the veterans who actually did this stuff, to survive and prevail on the battlefield. Some people's concept of a "cool scenario" is nothing but a glorified shooting gallery from an impenetrable mobile pillbox. Reality was far from that. Every form of battlefield technical superiority eventually was defeated by a counter-technology or work-around technique, usually paid for in lives for each lesson learned.

Given the tactical scale of CM:N and the time factor involved (1 hour battles or less, most of the time) I just see traditional artillery counter battery operations as being beyond the scope of the game. At this level, the most you can hope to do is try to figure out where the enemy mortars are generally located on the game map and either drop some harassing fire in the area or actually send in some armor to take them out. On a campaign level, I could see where, in the presence of strong enemy off-map artillery assets, the player could be able to opt to devote some of his own off-map artillery towards nullifying the enemy's assets in between tactical scenarios. I doubt there is any provision in the game for this at present, however. Counter battery is normally the sort of thing that division and corps artillery HQ's specialize in dealing with, not tactical commanders in this time frame.

If that's the best display size your video card can muster, I doubt you'll be able to play the game. Just my opinion, though. How much video RAM do you have in the video card?

Wehrmacht grog porn. Something for everybody in this game.

I'm all for it. The SF visionaries have it right...spread out the gene pool all over the solar system. Beyond, if it ever becomes technically feasible. It's all there for the taking, after all. We just have to get motivated to do something besides kill one another.

What, the Monroe Doctrine is dead? I'm sorry, I just can's see this happening with impunity. If it did, dollars to donuts says there would be an "unfortunate accident" in an ammo bunker quite soon thereafter.

It does seem to be one of the better ones from the photos. Too bad all the heavy iron is exposed to the elements. I visited APG in the late '70's and was appalled at the badly deteriorated state of armor outside the museum. Don't know what's left now and what state it is in, but once those sort of things go to deep rust and holes, there's not much time left in them. Sickening shame, it is.

Got mine in So Cal today. Very nice indeed. The manual will have pride of place in the, um...library, where most of my reading is done.

Do you mean Facebook or Twitter? Either way, can't get into them, sorry. My head just doesn't get around the concepts. Maybe I'm missing something. What is it you find so special about it? How do you use it yourself?

Can't say I've ever seen a game where screenshots have so much drama. What's more some of them actually look like scenes from WW2.

It's too bad we won't see any modules for North Africa, Tunisia, Sicily and Italy. In particular I think Italy would be a challenging theater to play for either side, with lots of interesting units from various countries.

OTH my experience is mostly limited to observing watercooled .30's and vehicle mounted .30's and .50's and so far I see nothing to complain about. They seem to do their job well. Up close they are vicious and at distance they keep shooting until the target is down. That's all I can ask.

Outrageous! Extremely unrealistic...did the disembodied head say "Argh!" as it flew by? Game is obviously broken. Demand a refund. :D

The American ones often come with a bazooka and rockets, along with extra .30 MG and carbine ammo. I usually clean them out when the squads disembark.

I have so far seen half tracks and infantry go around barbed wire but tanks will cruise right over it.

Son, you have waaaay too much time on your hands...

Don't set up mortars directly behind tall buildings, either, especially if your target is some distance away, since the projectile just might impact the upper floors or roof on the way.

I have the impression we are partly talking apples and oranges...perhaps you are speaking of instances where direct fire has to go through a stand of trees to reach the target. I'm speaking more of artillery/mortar indirect fire and how it is influenced by trees near the target. You must be thinking of trees near the firing unit for the first to be true. I never deploy mortars in particular near any tall objects like buildings or trees, for that reason and I'm careful about direct fire into trees, keeping a healthy distance between the firing unit and the trees. However, in my previous post I'm speaking of trees near the target causing air detonation of the round's fuze just before it impacts the ground at the end of its trajectory. This is mostly an indirect fire phenomenon related to artillery and mortar rounds. And as to the second, trees should be being degraded by fire, whether we see the effects or not and there should be a casualty multiplier for the tree splinters. That should be true for both direct and indirect fire.

My bet's on 50,000.

Nice mods, thanks for all the hard work!

Some things are more random than others, so you may well have a point. If so, I hope it is put on the fixit list, though there may be other issues that have higher priority.

With all respect to the tanker you mention, WW2 Tracks are not the massive, wide modern ones made with superior steels and there is more than just track damage at risk. I concede that I am not a WW2 tanker, but the idea of cumulative damage to the running gear (which may not just be track damage) makes sense in particular because the Sherman and the lights had volute spring suspensions that had all sorts of parts hanging off the hull that could be damaged by tree trunks, roots, buried pipes, etc. The M-4 and M-5 series did not have modern sleek and sturdy undercarriages that go with torsion bar suspensions such as were on the Tiger, Panther, M-24, M-26 and M-18. Also the M-4 and M-5 transmissions were in the front making the drive sprocket vulnerable too, whereas most modern tanks have the drive sprockets in the rear and less vulnerable to "head on" damage. For all these reasons, I think modern comparisons are not completely relevant and that cumulative damage to the running gear, particularly on the wartime M-4 and M-5's, is a certainty if the tanks are repeatedly run through bocage, fences and rock walls. If it is not the tracks failing, then there is a good chance that suspension components will be damaged or the drive sprocket damaged or knocked out of alignment, resulting in a thrown track. Just my 2 bits but I welcome anyone who has access to wartime memoirs or documents that discuss the subject.

If trees are made of ironwood in the game, that should be looked into. Also, if the HE is detonating in the foliage, it should be an even more efficient mankiller since all that shrapnel is now effectively doubled with tree splinters and is, in effect, an air burst. It would be really cool if stands of trees collapsed under fire much as a building does, leaving nothing but stumps and withered branches in a thicket that would be hard to enter and tough to fight in. Any chance of that being added to the game?