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^^^ Agreed. The next "big one" will be a "run what you brung" fight. The lead-time required to manufacture modern weapon tech is pretty long. Existing production lines may be able to hasten their output, but I don't see new lines coming on or non-producers becoming a producer. In WWII, the US was producing a B-24 (heavy, long-range, 4 engine bomber) every hour. 24 a day, day in, day out... Let's not even start talking about tanks. Or jeeps. Or Liberty ships. The US was able to do this, only because the war broke out in '39...and the US didn't enter (for all real purposes) until '42. That 3 year time gave the US a chance to plan for it. Now, products are as specialized as their production lines. (In a lot of cases.) Just because you make refrigerators does NOT mean you can make an artillery barrel. Etc.

At a guess, check your hotkeys.txt file. Otherwise, a reinstall of the game may fix whatever is going on. Keep it directed to the current install location and it will only overwrite existing (corrupted?) files: nothing should get deleted. Someone more knowledgable should be along shortly... Ken

Agreed. While I have been frustrated by semi-auto pistol wielding crewmen killing my brave infantry, mostly the crewmen die. And fast. The other times are usually because I have an unsupported, small team team near the vehicle. Tactics help. (<- not snide: the game rewards overwhelming fire superiority) Ken

^^^ TL;DR: "If you bother me about my long posts, I'll make more, longer, posts."

I'm a huge proponent of the 120mm breechloading mortar in a turret on a wheeled chassis. Commonality with the 120mm mortar, very light recoil, and brings the "boom" to the party. The 105mm would be introducing a whole new weapon/ammo. (C'mon, what is left in the inventory that uses it?) Sure, it's a good weapon for non-MBT, but the Javelin is better. Anything carrying a 105 would be shredded by the same stuff which would shred a 120mm breechloader. https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=120mm+breech+loading+mortar&view=detailv2&&id=FF0B5861B0F6D53E8517229100F5F01110A70825&selectedIndex=0&ccid=pQsR8gVi&simid=608000789998864297&thid=OIP.Ma50b11f205625944827b099ec3934fbeo0&ajaxhist=0 Toss some vehicle-launched Javelins, and you've got your platoon of fire support vehicles. Put 3 or so in each light company. Direct fire HE, Indirect fire on-call, Javelin for MBTs. Commonality helps. A lot. Logistics and all that.

My forum skimmer notified me that there was "boobies" in this thread. Thanks.

Yes.

LWRs and Smoke: yeah, it can be frustrating, but less so than a burning wreck. Or worse, a tank with red x'es on all the important systems. (I always order the surviving crews to disembark such tanks and then use them in the van of the attack. "Better dead than lose your tread!", is what I always tell them...) Most of the tanks will slew their turrets towards the lase, just before popping smoke. That should give you some intel on the threat location. Neutralize that area. Put a smoke barrage out there; call in some napalm runs; flank it; use surviving crewmembers to close assault it and give away the position; SLOW move a spotter up into LOS and stare at the suspect zone for ~5-10 minutes and maybe get a "?" spot; charge several tanks through the threat zone and hope that some make it through; avoid that area all together. YMMV. The key item is the clue given by the turret slew. The laser is somewhere along the line pointed by the tank's main gun (give or take some degrees). Smoke barrages are your friend.

Some nice fixes included in this patch. If I do say so, myself. Pouches? Hmmm...something for v1.03?

The best thing to do is take the smallest battle (Beyond Belice?), and play it. You'll lose. Play again. And again. And again. Focus on small things, like getting that machinegun setup...in a GOOD location. Watch whether your squads stay in command (Alt-Z) or not and how that affects their combat performance. Play in WeGo mode. (Turn-based.) That way you can rewind the turn and watch everything as long as you'd like. Notice how men get suppressed, who throws grenades, etc. There are so many small things going on, the only way to suss it all out is through experience. Start with basic tactics. If your fundamentals are sound, the rest will sort itself out as you gain experience. Get the basics of fire and movement, then use them until you've mastered the first battle. You'll be amazed how rapidly and how greatly you'll improve. Ken Edited because we all know alt-k toggles smoke and it's alt-z that toggles command lines.

I always thought the mound, itself, gave cover. Sometimes you'll see pixeltruppen who are taking incoming fire crawl behind a foxhole and be protected. (In fact, being behind it may be better protection from incoming than being IN it...if the fire is coming from a single direction. That way there are two mound walls between the pixeltruppen and the fire, not just one.) Ken

...was the response to my, "I'm not interested in Vietnam being gamed." I'd be interested in company vs. company fights, or larger. There were several regiment vs. battalion/company fights, and they have been exhaustively studied and analyzed. I really don't know how many, but if there were more than 2 dozen, I'd be surprised. (Owning up: it's been well over a decade since I read up on the Vietnam War.) AIUI, early, post-buildup phase, saw most of that. It seems that so much of the conflict involved patrol action with ambushes and fade aways. Kind of how modern Afghanistan would be hard to create an interesting game. Patrol, an explosive goes off, unit is pinned, takes some fire, as US support forces respond, enemy fades away. Death by a thousand cuts. (From the other perspective, waiting to spring an ambush and inflicting some casualties while not caring about own casualties is the other dynamic.) Jungle with minimum visibility; brittle allies; mines/boobietraps; guerillas hiding in the populace...makes for a tough game (let alone real life). JMHO. Ken

I'm not interested in Vietnam being gamed. WWII island hopping? Meh, need better caves and tunnels. How would a game like that be a different grind-fest than the battles themselves were? Shrug. But, I'd love an early-war ('39-'41) series. Fulda Gap, with the Soviet tanks shrugging off Nato shells? Tres cool. North Korea, modern? All in. (Make it a NK supported by China, vs. US/SK/Japan kind of thing.) Again, need better caves/tunneling/subterranean modeling. Luckily, I don't get to pick.

The reason you garrison any forward base, before a conflict, is not necessarily to DEFEND it; it is to make the enemy realize that trying to seize it will mean a declaration of war. Blood spilled is hard to talk through. But, an empty island discovered to have a foreign force on, is hard to get back. Green men in Crimea is a case in point.

I -think- that any passenger in a vehicle, who gets wounded, loses his weapon. There is no scrounging. If it was the gunner (the mortar carrier), then the mortar is gone. At least, that's how I remember it from testing several years ago. Ken

That link to MOS:96B2P's test was a good reminder. He did a fabulous job with that test and showed how well this game simulates a lot of behind the scenes factors. That should get a sticky... Ken

I like it! Let's get some product out so we can see it! (And by "Let's", I mean "You". )

"flying" can only be blamed on thumbs and silly little fake keyboards...or advanced VDV tank escape pods.

A lot of sources I'veread relate how panzerfaust were used against infantry. Not frequently, but they were used. In game, my sense of how often they are used in that manner is roughly correct. If you disagree, and you want it changed, then show some savegames and point out what you think is wrong. Firing at a flying tank crew? Yeah, seems excessive, but I've never seen it, so maybe it's a rare event.

Patches are for the weak.

Tracer screenshots are very informative. Nicely done.

Jason Mark/Leaping Horseman: Just send him your credit card. It'll be simpler.

Nice job finding how the Team Leader makes a difference. Thanks.

Get rid of the grass. It may help to conceal the FO team. (As Ian posted, above, a one man team would be a better comparison.) Tank Commander may be better compared to a German halftrack gunner as far as exposure over the shield/armor is concerned. Keep the targets stationary. Eliminate all variables. Are moving men more difficult to hit than a man stationary on a mechanically moving platform? (Running men duck down in game.) Is the speed of the foot-soldier movement the same speed as a vehicle? Just make 'em stationary. Shooters: get rid of the auto weapon. It introduces another variable. When does THAT guy shoot, versus when do any of the other guys shoot? Yes, a lot of holes to be poked, but you're at least trying to see if there is something amiss. Thanks.

LOL...third the funny/informative content. I love my BMP-3...when it's in distant overwatch. I love my oppo's BMP-3 because they took all the effort to put a vbied right where I want it, and I get to make it go "boom". And "boom". And "boom", again. That thing must've been produced to help reduce some sort of weapon surplus.