c3k

My Battalion HQ is in the church... NOT to give last communion, but, rather, to give Bil's Huns their BAPTISM of fire! Verily, will they be welcomed to the pearly gates. A turn is percolating. Pix, later...

In real life, given the geometry of your test (unknown to us), how many rounds which impact the Panther would've ricocheted down into the top of the hull?

I've read a lot of accounts of infantry close assaulting tanks. Most of them were Germans, in the early/mid East Front period. (There are obvious reasons for that.) Most of the behavior was complex. One (or more) would blind the tank. Smoke grenades tied with comms wire would be draped over the gun barrel. (Tossed, bolo style?) Some men would use crowbars to smash the machinegun barrels out of straight. Others would pour gasoline over the engine vents. (Doubly dangerous, that.) Some would attach 6 grenades around a single one with a stick, pull the cord and wedge it under the turret overhang. Placing an antitank mine on top of the track so it will fall right in front of the tank was a method also used. Engineer demo charges were used, as well. Then, jamming a good chunk of wood into the drive sprocket was also used. Opening hatches and tossing in grenades, or spraying smg fire about was a technique. Pulling antitank mines on a string (or board) from hiding into the path of a tank was a bit more refined, and rare, but still seen. Now, of the above, how should it be coded? I'd -love- to see some or all of these. Does each squad need a designated crowbar man? Should one man rush out, or two? Would the odds of successful attack increase with more men? (I -assume- we agree that abstracting the actual attack mechanism is okay. The goal is to SHOW that a man (men?) must touch the tank to damage it. What if a squad is tucked up behind cover. Should the player have to order "ok to assault" or its opposite, "don't leave cover", to ensure a man (or men) won't rush out when they hear tracks? None of the above is meant in "fanboi" mode. Nor is it tongue in cheek. How should the game show the attack? Ken Edited to add: A lot of the above is meant to be thought about from the TacAI perspective. If you play WeGo, think how it should work in RealTime. If you RT, what about WeGo? If a human controls the squad or the AI? Either way, the TacAI has to perform the action. Other thoughts: perhaps multiple grenades should be used as the abstracted attack mechanism. A minimum of 7, to use the German concentrated charge technique. What if a squad had 6? What if a squad had 8, but an enemy scout appeared and the squad threw 2 of them (reducing themselves to below the minimum number), just seconds before the tank were attacked? If a team is present, should it split off a single man? How would that work? (An unsplittable tactical element, splitting.) There is a LOT that would go into changing from the abstract.

Your patience will soon be rewarded! My men have been putting the time to good use. Bayonets are sharp, grenades are at the ready, Jaggie 241 hunting jeeps are warmed up! Soon, very soon, the hounds will be let loose once more! Bil has confirmed that a turn is inbound before the Earth will have transited more than 1 degree of its celestial dance with our closest star. Gird yourself for a cornucopia of screenshots! My plan will bear fruit! Ken out.

The tank: was it really rendered hors de combat, or were the crew so shaken by being attacked (even ineffectually) by hidden infantry, that they bailed out? Just a thought. I'm, obviously, okay with the abstraction. Perhaps Jenkins was able to worm through a hole in the bocage after shrugging off all his kit and uniform, and place a charge on the road. With a stick. Whatever. Then he rejoined his mates. Tall wall? I don't know if it is possible. If it is, good. If not, also good. This abstraction is only for 1 AS, I think.

I imagine my iron-level troops see arterial spurting. That's reported up the chain as a red cross. Just sayin'... Ken

Juju, I defer to your greater focal array! Ken

Cool bonus. Open up a setup turn which has off-map artillery available. The delay information is very nice. I've only just noticed this. Woot.

Why not? There should be. Someone should start it. Really. Ken

jppsx, Thank you. I'll look at the M15A1. Ken

Actually, CMBN's version 2.00 brought CMBN up to the level of CMFI v1.00. CMFI came second and incorporated many advances over CMBN v1.00. Ken

That's harsh. I would guess the development time to rework every scenario after every patch, and then include that reworked battle into the patch, would probably delay each patch by a very long time. Just my .02.

Rookies. I simply buy a screen twice as big as I need and sit back twice as far. Same effect: simpler tech. Seriously: great explanation, great links. Thanks for sharing. Ken

Yes. Get CW, learn to play the British. (And the others.) Don't forget: CMBN was upgraded to v2.00 along the way. There is a fee for that engine upgrade. As well, prior to the upgrade a FREE patch was released. Patch it, upgrade it, add CW, add MG. Then your CMBN will be up to speed. For CMFI, patch it (Free) and add GL. Then CMFI will be up to speed. (Fwiw, CMFI v1.xx = CMBN v2.xx. The CMBN v2 engine upgrade significantly changes the game and incorporates all the improvements worked on for CMFI. This is for clarification purposes only. There is NO need to have CMFI to run CMBN, and vice versa: they are separate games.) The website should have some bundle pricing to save you money. Does that help? Ken

A central mount Notek blackout light. Just a light with a hood, to illuminate the ground sufficiently for the driver to see without destroying his night vision or giving off too much illumination so the vehicle could be targeted. Ken

Sigh. Okay, go ahead an post your credit card number, expiration date, SSN, address, phone number, date of birth, bank account number, bank name and address, and we'll see if someone on the internet can get that sorted. NO! Do NOT post anything like that...unless you like paying for other people to have stuff. (And, no, this is not an invitation for a political post.) Sheesh. Ordinarily, credit cards have a 3 digit code on the back. I would think that is what you need to submit. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Card_Security_Code Ken

And, yes, your issue has been reported to the authorities. Thanks! Ken

Armored ports. Look for the cone. Grab one in the editor, give it a target light command and you'll see how it works. MUCH simpler than the kugelblende mantlets they were producing. The entire jgdpzIV production was an economy of effort attempt.

If we assume the unit is below full strength on July 11th, then those casualtie rates will skyrocket. Interesting, in a macabre way. Thanks

Thanks. If the bridge crossing is too much of an issue, I suggest that you hold your last savegame, whether vs. the AI or pbem, and await a resolution. Ken

Okay: as axis, for each PhilM, Mad Mike, and mjkerner? Do you mind telling me which vehicle you first noticed this behavior with? And where in the "convoy" of crossing vehicles it was located? Thanks, Ken

Normandy casualty rates exceeded those of WWI, when broken out in a per-day basis. (Or so I've read. No, I haven't double-checked the figures.) So, indeed, the Allies were more than willing to take losses in WWII in ETO.

Redwolf, Why don't you tell us how many CAS missions actually flown in WWII were as close to the troops as the ones in the game? C'mon, give us a percentage so we can figure out what to do. Sheesh. CAS in WWII was USUALLY much further ahead of the troops. BECAUSE of the issue of fratricide. Let me use a "ridiculous" example. When the air support was desired to be more effective, there were DAYS of planning and it still killed friendlies. Get it? Planned attacks killed friendlies. Unplanned, on-call, attacks killed friendlies. See the parallel? Or is it still too ridiculous for you. How many combatants used CAS as shown in game? How often, based on the total number of CAS sorties flown, were they done as close as is shown in game? How many of them resulted in fratricide? (Please break it down based on the target types involved; infantry only, tanks only, geographic positions, or a combination of the previous.) We await your analysis. Seriously. Or ridiculously. Ken

Just reading a book with pix of the aftermath of a friendly fire incident in 1940. Some Stukas nailed the spearhead of the German attack near a French town named Chemery. (Going by memory.) Several dozen casualties. That's just a quick example I read about in passing in the last week. There were many more. But ask redwolf whether or not that example is ridiculous.

A bit of perspective might serve you well. It was preplanned CAS, by the definitions in use at the time. They were not all heavy bombers. They also had medium bombers, dive bombers, fighter bombers, and strafing. But I am willing to hear what you have to say on the subject. Ken