Gyrene

Not to knock on WWII vets or the new Spielberg series, but I really wish some big name talent like Spielberg would turn his attention to the Korean War, battles like the Pusan Perimeter, Seoul and the Chosin pullout would provide great stories that amazingly very few in the US know about. Maybe the poor US performance during the first year of the war made Korea a Hollywood unfriendly topic.

Most MG squad members in WWII were issued only a pistol as a personal weapon, so without the MG they are little better than crews. MG crews spend a great deal of effort remaining a good distance away from the enemy usually well outside grenade range, and when you have 200+ pounds of gun, tripod and ammo to haul you really don't want to carry grenades you'll never use.

Thanks, I'll see what I can dig up. I supposed I could use SnapShot Pro (Im on a Mac) to capture to whole session as a QT movie, but that would be a drag on the system.

That system of area fire would be more realistic if used on a defending side only to simulate the defenders having had the time to set up areas of fire and limiting stakes, etc. On the assault I'd expect Machine Gunners to get "Tunnel Vision" like anybody else, but I do find it kind of silly how a unit will continue to area fire even when a enemy unit stumbles into its direct LOS. Maybe it has something to do with discipline (Your orders were to cover that area, not take potshots at fleeing enemies!) A sort of "Area Fire Till Contact" sort of command would be nice.

I often read on this forum about being able to replay the autosave movies, how do I get to do that? I looked thru the manual and couldn't find anything, all I get is the "Go" button when I load an autosave file, there are no movie controls. Am I missing something here?

I don't think that MG's are any more powerful today (With exception of .50 cal and up guns with the newer API or SLAP ammo) but the big difference is that squads are FAR more powerful now than in WWII, when you compare today's Marine Rifle Squad (As an example) with its 9 M16's, 3 M203 Grenade Launchers (Yes, under 3 of the M16's), 3 M249 SAW's and often 3 or more AT4 rockets (No such thing as bazooka teams anymore), along with more effective grenades and ammo carrying capacity in general (More .223's carried today per man than 30.06's in WWII) You start to get the idea. It might not be an exageration to say that two modern squads have more firepower than a WWII platoon.

Are those the remote controlled tracked mines? I don't think they were very common, but they'd be interesting in the game. If they are added, then the Russian "Dog Mines" should be added to the Eastern Front CM. Or maybe not, I never found the notion of Kamikaze dogs very appealing.

Is there any in game difference between the types of infantry squads? i.e: Aside from the different firepower ratings and experience status are paratroopers, for exemple, more combat effective than regular infantry? In essence, assuming all things being the same (Same firepower, same experience, same extras like rifle grenades, etc) would a paratrooper unit be able to run farther, clear a building better, etc? Just curious.

While not WWII books I very strongly recommend "Breakout" by Martin Russ and "East of Chosin" by Roy Appleman both about the Chosin Reservoir campaign in Korea, both gripping accounts of some of the most intense squad level combat this century. I hope that someday (When BTS is done with all WWII CM modules, of course ) there'll be Korean war CM modules.

Thanks for the replies. I'd do a search on the forum.

You might want to try one ot the several "Cd Saver" gizmos out there that clean up the scratches on your cd, I use one called the "Radial Cd Cleaner" by Scotch that works great, even with very scratched discs, its basically just a hand cranked, rotating sponge, squirt some drops of the cleaning fluid provided and voila. Anyways, its cheaper than a new cd. [This message has been edited by Gyrene (edited 03-26-2001).]

I have noticed the tendency of the AI to dump artillery smoke all over my side at the first sign of of better tank or if a manuevering element of mine is getting the upper hand on it. I for one, am glad that the AI does that, I'd rather wait a couple of turns in the smoke than live thru a barrage of HE. But I agree that it seems like kind of a waste of Arty rounds when the HE would have served the AI better in the long run. It maybe unrealistic. I'm not sure how frequent calls for Arty smoke were.

I'm wondering why the M16 is not on CMBO, the four .50's on the Maxson mount would be an excellent addition to any US side. I'd get a grin seeing the "Meat Chopper" go to work supporting assaulting squads.

"Question: do you consider burning unoccupied buildings out of combat to deny later enemy entry to it inappropriate tactics?" I guess a similar question would be to demolish a building that is blocking your LOS or one which is a possible refuge for fleeing opponents...All's fair in love and war, they say, after all the Allies bombed the crap out of St. Benedict's monastery in Cassino because they thought the Germans were posting Artillery spotters there.

"They couldn't hit an elephant at this dist...*" "Retreat? Hell, we just got here!"

Funny enough an experienced observer can make out quite a bit about the level of experience and morale of enemy troops just by sight. Things such as brand new uniforms, overly cautious movement, bunching up, equipment that is worn at perfect regulation and many physical clues can peg troops as "green", also the quality of incoming fire will also tell if you're facing seasoned troops or not. If you don't believe me, go play paintball one day and see the difference when you run up against some experienced players. Of course, you can't glean any physical clues from AFV's

Another problem that machine gunners sometimes face is the "runaway gun", when you CAN'T stop shooting. The recommended procedure for the M60 (Early M60E1's were suposedly very succeptible to this) is to break the ammo belt and let it run off. Off course, on a .50 its a different story, you're likely to have your hand pinched against the gun if you try that.