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Okay, lots of tests... All units were targeted by AK-74 and RPK (7.62) small arms only. (2 x 5 man uncon fighter groups, elite, fanatic, full ammo. Each group had 3 x AK-74 and 2 x RPK.) The ranges varied to a maximum of only 100 meters. All Brit Rifle, Brit Engineer, and USMC squads had 8 men. All were placed on open ground pavement and hemmed in by walls. The uncons were elevated and inside a building. At no point, in ANY test, did any uncon get wounded; in fact, I do not think a single blue force even fired a single round. Pure targets. (They started out under HIDE; this gave the red an immediate and unassailable advantage, especially when coupled with the terrain they were in.) The results: there is NO difference in how rapidly one group sustained casualties when compared to any other group. In game, obviously, red would not have such a consistent advantage. It took a LOT of tweaking to get all the blue forces to just sit there and get shot. If the Marines were not PINNED immediately, or had a full squad (13), they would shred the red forces, even with all the advantages red started with. I think the different "feel" for how long British forces last, or how they "take" fire, has to do more with how they dish it out. They do not produce the immediate "in your face" firepower advantage over an enemy that the USMC are able to produce. This is what results in more casualties to the British; they don't win the firepower battle as rapidly as USMC. Regards, Ken

Cool. I'll try that (no time for a few days). Regards, Ken

I had to use Uncons. Actually, all I wanted was a pure AK-47 unit. (And, being greedy, a pure AK-74 unit.) The best I could find was the 5 man uncons with 2 RPK's. All the rest seemed to have RPG's, SVD's, and other types of weapons. Regards, Ken

birdstrike, Thanks, I never knew that! The workaround is just not putting the teams in the same action spot; adjacent, they stay split. Regards, Ken

Secondbrooks, just to clarify, if a unit has AK-74 it does NOT mean they have RPK-74. (That was the source of my confusion.) The tooltip differentiates between "RPK" and "RPK-74". The unit armament progression seems to be an increase in "quality" for the rifles, then an increase in "quality" for the support weapon. In this case, 5.45mm is considered better than 7.62. (Perhaps "newer" should be substitited for "quality"?) So, if they have AK-47's (7.62), then they can only have the 7.62 version of the RPK. If they have AK-74's (5.45), they may have either RPK (7.62), OR RPK-74 (5.45). The tooltip will reveal which one. Ken

Gents, I've repeated this. I created a small test scenario involving British, USMC and Syrians. In order to get all blue forces down to 8 man squads, I had to change the USMC squads. In the editor, under Units, Deploy Blue, I selected the USMC squads. Admin, Split Squad. I put extra units in an isolated area on the map (Hey, it's test map...). I did that with the 5 man squad leader team. That leaves the 2 4-man teams from the original USMC squad. If I leave these two teams next to each other, in different action spots, then save, the scenario opens fine. If I place these two teams in the SAME action spot, then select another unit, this forces the two teams to rejoin, forming a single unit of 8 men. (Remember, the 5-man squad leader team is about a klick away. This is all EXACTLY how I want it.) If I then save, it all SEEMS to save. However, upon opening the battle to play, the USMC 8-man squad is NOT where it was placed. Instead, it has transported itself to where the squad leader's team was placed and all 13 men are joined into its original squad. The save does NOT work. This is repeatable. Has anyone else noted this? Thanks, Ken

It's later... I've run several iterations of my test at 100 meters. Marines, Brit Riflemen, and Brit Engineers all seem to have similar characteristics. These are initial results only... More later. (Something I noted during the tests and then had to tweak to keep it from affecting the results: Fire superiority is KEY in winning the battle/suppressing the enemy. One of the most important aspects of that seems to be automatic support weapons and, more importantly, High Explosives. Engineers have none of either. The USMC M32 is a winner if it gets into the fight. The first few seconds are the key...) Oh, did I mention how much more impressed I get the closer I look at this game? Ken

Lomir, Thanks. Right now the units I've selected (Veteran Uncon) is equipped with AK-74's and RPK's. The tooltip states exactly that: "AK-74" or "RPK". I would think the unit would have similar ammo. Evidently, that's not true. (Obviously, the Uncon's would have a hodgepodge.) Edited to add: Now I see that the 5.45mm RPK is, indeed, labelled "RPK-74" with the tooltip. Regards, Ken

Gents, A quick question: when my Syrians are equipped with AK-74's, what caliber is the RPK used by that squad? The choice is either 7.62 or the AK-74's 5.45. (I thought the 5.45mm version of the RPK would be labelled RPK-74, but the tooltip in CMSF may not be accurate.) Thanks, Ken

dan/california; yes, fireteams would work (or just taking out the 5 man squad leader team from the USMC squad). I like the 8 man British engineer section; 8 man British rifle section. So, I think I can get 8 men of other types (US) as well. From the shooter side, I'd like nothing but AK-47/AK-74 shooters. Right now I've got grenade launchers and RPGs. More later.... Ken

Okay, starting a couple of tests. I'm being a bit ruthless here, placing units like targets on a firing range. Good for the Syrians, bad for the Brits. I still need to tweak my setup a bit, but so far, Marines kick ass. Despite being targets, they're wiping out the shooters. The Brits are not. (HE weapons make a difference. Rapid firing 40mm back at the Syrians pins them.) These are not even worthy of being labelled initial results. The test is not apples to apples yet. More when I get it... Ken

DaveDash, Having read through the link Chops provided, I now remember your thread quite well. It seemed to get sidetracked a bit. Regardless, there seems to be a lot of "feel" that the Brits die too easily. BF.C? Ken

BigDuke6, Very well said. Ken

I believe this has been addressed. A search would perhaps find more information on this forum. At the platoon level, there are enough seats in the BMP's to transport the riflemen. However, that requires splitting off one or two men from different sections into other BMP's. That would be a HUGE game and coding nightmare. The game solution is to "flex" the seating up one or two spots. Now all the men in a platoon can find a seat in their BMP's. This is also true for Stryker platoons. (All this is from memory. If it is wrong, my apologies. Again, a use the forum "search" tool for some in depth commentary.) Regards, Ken

DaveDash, Thanks for the corroboration. My initial post was based on more than one observation of this perceived vulnerability. I have not done any test. (A bit busy with life and playing the game!) My idea for a test would be to set up a firing lane, perhaps 100m long, sealed in by tall walls and paved so there is minimal cover/concealment, and set various units in it. The enemy would occupy a raised structure at the firing end. Several runs with different "target" units should provide some reliable data. Anyone have a better suggestion? (I won't do this for at least several days.) Thanks, Ken

Elmar Bijlsma, well played. A doff of the hat. Ken

Exactly, a code issue. Well, "issue" may be putting it a bit strongly. It's great that this game puts the first non-driver/non-crew up on the gun. Seriously. But it would be BETTER if you then gained vehicle status information to include the ability to shoot the gun. None of this is game breaking; I post it purely to bring these minor observations more notice so if BF.C has time, they can work them into the next patch. (If they're deemed even being needed to be fixed.) Ken

Gents, Some more fun. Let me set the stage. I had a Bulldog. It only had a driver by this point. He ran away. Rpg's or something. Wuss. Anyway, that left me with a DISMOUNTED Bulldog which had a perfectly good 7.62mm machinegun and plenty of ammo. I took a single survivor of a squad (tough day, that), and loaded him into the Bulldog. This is what I saw: Note that the Bulldog shows DISMOUNTED. I could NOT get that guy to fire the machinegun. I couldn't get him to fire his rifle, either. He just sat there, despite having LOS/LOF to a pair of enemy 30 meters to his front, in open ground. This is what it looked like: (note that the enemy "C2" icon and the friendly infantry icon are illuminated. The friendly infantry knows about and has LOS/LOF to the enemy pair." The obvious response would be, "Oh, the machinegun must be broken." Well, with the Bulldog showing DISMOUNTED, there's no way to access the maintenance tab. The machinegun was fine before the driver ran away. I'm glad I was able to get him into the Bulldog... But why wouldn't he use a weapon? Even if the machinegun was broken, he then should've defaulted to his rifle. Thanks, Ken

Regarding the Vista comment: I had this issue as well. It seems that Vista creates two folders for savegames (as well as a couple other items) when you install CMSF using defaults. (Vista does this for other games as well. It also utilizes "odd" locations, such as "My Documents" for game related folders.) The solution is to specify a non-default install location - that forces Vista to do it correctly. Regards, Ken

Good arguments regarding Syrian strengths vs. USMC strengths. My only input to this would be the "Oh my God" moment the first time my blue forces got hit by some direct fire 125mm high explosive. Those Soviet/Russian built tanks can really put the hurt on infantry (more so than US - IMHO). It would only take one or two to shred a company defense. Let me know when the scenario is ready to be played. Ken

Oh, very nice bone. When will it be done? Thanks, Ken

Re: Drescher's series. That chain reaction of dropped grenades highlights what an incredibly detailed game this is! Each grenade tracked, even in the midst of being thrown. Ya gotta love it. Alex, nice pix. What explosion mod are you using?

Do it. I was not a fan of this theater/modern warfare. Oh, did I say "was not"? Now I am. Get the game. It's well worth it. Enjoy, Ken

Yes, but has ANYONE else noticed an increased vulnerability to small arms by the pioneers? (Note that this vulnerability has NOTHING to do with BLAST all. ) Thanks, Ken

Hmm, only option to get those Javelins is to area fire with explosives at the squad. Kill the sticky fingered thieves, then move in and have a Javelin team perform "medic" functions. They should get the Javelins. Good luck! Ken