Peter Cairns

Any chance of setting up a separate PENG forum so that all the in crowd can talk amongst themselves, and let the rest of us get on with talking about the game.... Peter.

Okay It's a separate title, smarty pants. Peter.

Heres my idea for a future follow on module for CM:SF. Set in 2009 it involves a future conflict on the Korean peninsula. After five more years of internal stagnation and famine, and unstable North Korea, still close to developing nuclear weapons and with an even greater percentage of it's forces concentrated against the DMZ, is deamed to be close to collapse. On April 1st 2009 and force of over 400,000 troops of the PLA. launch and offensive into North Korea with the intent of driving 150miles south to liberate the North korean people from Tyranny and starvation and to prevent this dangerous and unstable regeme from deploying nuclear weapons. The Scenario has the player taking the part of the PLA as it moves rapidly to consolidate control of the bulk of the country including key nuclear instalations before the immobile south forces can respond and react. Reasons for this scenario as a module. 1) It's different from the normal NK scenario. 2) Given Tibet it's not entirely out of the Box. 3) As China already has the second largest number of Internet users in the world, it is a huge market for a good game where China aren't the bad guys. We're talking up to a billion users. 4) It allows you with CN:SF to play Blue on Red(yellow) with creating a game where china is the bad guy. China again is a good market for BF to break in to. 5) In may ways the two side are actually better matched than in CM:SF. 6) It lest you play US v NK as well, though I doubt BF will loose sleep over the loss of the NK market. 7) I think it would be a good game. OKay you guys fire away as I've said before, being Scots I've a hide like a Rhino. (yeh yeh and a brain like one too.) Peter.

Steve, On another topic I raised the issue of the need for far more detailed and complex rules for the damage of buildings, depending on construction and the nature of the weapon inflicting damage. given that a building is just as much a model as a Stryker, are you doing something similiar for them. Peter.

Cpl Steiner, I suspect that a BHD scenario will be produced by someone within the first week or so of CM:SF being released, so it would be BF reinventing the wheel, and though I am a big fan I wouldn't pay £20, for a module when I could down load the scenario for nothing. Peter.

I'd give my right arm to be ambidexterous. Peter.

Well actually I think the reason for closing the skeptics thread because it nad become more about Scotland than Syria. As one of the people responsible for that I'd like first, to apologies to the rest of you, and secondly state that I don't have a problem with it being closed for that reason. By and large if I open a topic that interests me and find that it's about something completely different I tend to get ticked off. Claiming it was closed because of a fear of critcism of Stryker is bordering on the paranoid I am afraid. Great captions and cut and paste though, If I didn't have a life, I'd do things like that too. Peter.

Michael, My experience is mostly of the med down to about Cyprus, but the use of reinforced concrete seems pretty wide spread ( look at Israel and the Lebaon for example). Construction tends to be based around a frame of reinforced concrete pillars ( steel reinforing rod, sheathed and filled with concrete, then a supported concrete slab is layed on top of sheathing ply and when its all set and hardened you go on to the next story). Now once that frame is built internal walls are added made up of either light blockor hollow brick, then rendered. This gives a strong yet light construction. Now in some cases usually residential the entire ground floor is letf open, just as pillars, acting as a car park. So it's ground as opposed to underground in many cases. In others as I have said it's offices where the front is all glass. In terms of shoot and scoot, as the glass fronts on the blocks on both sides of the street face each other, the tactic would be to drive half out fire up the street and then drive back in. The danger would be of someone spotting for a quad 23mm on a 4x4. I'am also not sure how this strong pillar light wall structure will react to HE hits or the likes of Thermobaric. I could see the block/brick walls rupturing but the structure itself satying pretty much intact till it became a shell. However if enough columns were hit then like a precast building the whole damned thing could concertina, like a house of cards. How BF will simulate all this I have no idea but it's all very different from your CMx1 two story wooded farm building. In addition if the internal and rear walls parallel to the glass front are light weight, none load bearing ( the reinforced pillars take the weight and there is no need for insulation) then it shouldn't be a tough job to knock through a hole that will in theory let a jeep go all the way through to the rear courtyard area. Sometimes these blocks are built as a square with a central courtyard, communal area, with vehicle access,which would be ideal to fire mortars from, making counter battery fire difficult especially if it's residential. One way in which a 120mm fibre optics morat round could be usefull is by using it's high trajectory to drop in to the square, although the operator would only have seconds to locate and target the offending mortar and guide his round on to it. I suppose one option would be for the first spotting round to be a dud, that way if it turns out he's buggered off and the square is full of kids, well lets just say. they'll still show the round to the press, but you don't have to live with having wiped out a family. As to using WP in direct fire mode, well you'd need to fire it to hit the roof and the whole thing is dependant on getting a clear shot in a built up area. For example if you could rig a SPG-73 on a quad take it to the edge of a carpark and cover a junction, then when the first vehicle came in view you would "Fire anf F**K". I don't envisage these tactics winning a battle, but as the irregulars would be trying to cause casualties and then get out of the way before effectively engaged it's the kind of thing you'd need to expect. They would be limited to what they could use, by head height as I don't you could get a BM-21 style MLRS in due to lack of clearance. Peter.

Michael Emrys, If they say use ATGM's from deep on trucks they can shoot and scoot within the structure. Some Carparks are below larger buildings , possibly residential. As to WP, well thats fine for the roof, but how much would you need to use for it to drift down two floors, and what would you be able to see. A lot of modern Concrete buildings have apartments on the top and offices at street level. These offices often have a full sized glass front and concrete floors and sides, making then ideal to hide and shoot and scoot for a flatbed, with almost anything mounted on the back. I think the ability to use heavy stuff to blast them out might have to give way to men on the ground clearing them shop by shop. Peter.

MikeyD This is from Globalsecurity who are usually not bad, Zulfiqar The Iranian Zulfiqar [Zolfaqar] main battle tank is believed to be pieced together or developed from major components of the Russian T-72 and American M48 and M60 tanks. This tank, which is claimed to be in production in Irana, is said to be similiar in configuration to the M-48 and M-60. Other reports suggest that it bears a close resemblance to the American M1 Abrams. One of the features of the Zolfaqar tank which has drawn the attention of the Defense Ministry is that indigenously-made parts have been used in it. The testing prototypes of the tank were tested in 1993. Six semi-industrial prototypes of the tank were produced and tested in 1997. In April 1997 Acting Commander of the Ground Forces of the Iranian Army, Lieutenant General Mohammad Reza Ashtiani announced that the mass production of Zulfiqar tanks, which began in 1996, was still in progress. He stated that the manufacture of 520 different kinds of tank parts, 600 artillery parts, repair of 500 tanks and armored vehicles have been carried out. In late July 1997 Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani of Iran formally inaugurated a production line for the domestically manufactured Zulfiqar main battle tanks and Boragh tracked armoured personnel carriers. The facility, the Shahid Kolah Dooz Industrial Complex, will also produce the BMT-2 personnel carrier identified. The Iranian tank is armed with a 125mm smoothbore gun fitted with a fume extractor which may be fed from an automatic loader. It is known that the Zulfiqar uses suspension like that fitted to Western MBTs such as the M48/M60 MBT. The diesel engine is not taken from the T-72 since this has a distinct exhaust outlet on the left side of the hull. This feature is absent on the Zulfiqar. The most recent T-72 is the 'S' version. The T-72S MBT weighs 44.5 tonnes and is armed with the latest stabilized 125mm smoothbore 2A46M gun, IA40-1 computerised fire-control system (FCS) with laser rangefinder and day/image intensification night sighting system. As well as firing the normal types of 125mm separate-loading ammunition (projectile and charge), the T-72S can also fire a Svir 9M119 (NATO designation AT-11 'Sniper') laser beam-riding guided projectile to a range of 4,000m. The T-72S is powered by the V-84MS diesel engine, which develops 840hp and, with a combat weight of 44.5 tonnes, a power-to-weight ratio of 18.87hp/tonne is obtained. For greater cross-country mobility, the suspension has also been upgraded and mine protection improved. T-72Z An upgrade has been developed in Iran called the Type 72Z in order to extend the operational life of the T-54/T-55 MBTs, and the similar Chinese Type 59 equivalent used by Iran, all of which are armed with a 100mm gun. The existing 100mm gun has been replaced by a 105mm M68 rifled tank gun in service with Iran on the M60A1 MBT. The Armament Industries Division of the DIO probably makes this weapon because for some years it has had the capability to bore tank and artillery barrels, such as the 122mm Russian D-30. To improve first-round hit probability, the Type 72Z has a Slovenian Fontana EFCS-3 computerised FCS. According to the manufacturer, installation of the EFCS-3 FCS enables stationary or moving targets to be engaged while the Type T72Z MBT is static or moving. The 7.62mm co-axial and roof-mounted 12.7mm machine guns have been retained as has the ability to lay a smoke screen by injecting diesel fuel into the exhaust outlet on the left of the hull. In addition, four electrically operated smoke-grenade dischargers have been mounted on each side of the turret. At least one example of the Type 72Z has been fitted with a roof-mounted laser warning device, probably coupled to a commander's display and the electrically operated smoke-grenade launchers either side of the turret. Iranian sources say the upgraded Type 72Z is powered by the V-46-6 V-12 diesel engine developing 780hp. This engine has been integrated into a new powerpack, which also includes the SPAT 1200 transmission for use in automatic or semi-automatic modes. The V-46 V-12 diesel engine is also installed in early production T-72 series MBTs, such as the T-72 and T-72A, and Iran could obtain these from various sources besides Russia. The Type 72Z's combat weight is quoted as 36 tonnes, power-to-weight ratio 21.66hp/tonne and maximum road speed is 65km/h. This compares with the T-55 MBT, which has a power-to-weight ratio of 16.11hp/tonne and a maximum road speed of 50km/h. Last year, the Shahid Kolah Dooz Industrial Complex revealed it had developed a new ERA package that can be rapidly fixed to the T-54/ T-55, T-72 and other MBTs to improve battlefield survivability against chemical energy (CE) and kinetic energy (KE) attack. This Iranian ERA package is similar to that being made and marketed by Russia and has been installed on Russian MBTs, such as the T-80BV, for some years. The Iranian ERA armour system comprises one composite layer. This protects against KE and CE projectiles and an extra energetic material that provides protection against KE attack. Iranian sources said this system can be dropped from a height of 5m; will not be activated from small arms fire up to 30mm in calibre or grenades; and is resistant to napalm type weapons. http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iran/images/zolfaghar3-pic1.jpg. Peter.

GSX, Which would be fine if our summer wasn't even shorter than Maine's. Peter.

Renaud, Steve has already indicated that different sides will be able to have different objectives and that it will be more than just flags. Like editing "Game" scenarios I think that is much more practical than scripting something as complex as the AI. Peter.

I know there are a number of people looking at Fibre Optic 120mm mortar rounds, which effectively let the firere look down on the target. On difficulty with PG mortars in an urban setting are things like multstory carparks which effectively give the defender a reinforced concrete roof. Not only does this obsure vision for a designator, but I doubt if a mortar round would penetrate 1 floor let alone servral. I am assuming the target would have the sense to fire from deep within, as you would from woods as opposed to the edge. What are the stats on GMLRS, I remember someone saying ( not on this forum) that as the diameter and length of the forward munition carrying section of a MLRS round was virtually the same as a Hellfire, the two would be a marriage made in heaven, The same effectiveness as a $40m Apache from a $2m MRLS, with less risk and without the 60 mile round trip to refuel and rearm. This assumes something like a Stryker unit to designate targets of course. Peter.

Dinger, If you can call it in then it should be in. The whole point about Stryker is speed of response and tactical mobility. If a recon element of a Stryker Bn comes across a Tank regiment of 30+ T-72's ready to move out, then if the reaction time of the updated MLRS really is under 30 sec, then within two to three minutes of detection it can have an ATACMS, shower the whole regiment with AT bomblets. So I think they should be in. Peter.

After raving about the CM series from almost day one, my mate finally bought CMBO for his PC, for £2.99 in Morrisons supermarket, which given how good a game it still is, must be the bargin of the century (given that we're only five years in). Peter.

I am not sure why, Dill, But a while back there was a debate on the CMAK site about just how detailed after action reports should be. One school of thought wanted a far more detailed breakdown, which had casualities by type and even things like partical penetrations etc. Me I wanted something closer to a AAR, which just gave confirmed dead or whatever and which read more like a description that a field CO would actually give, rather than a computer print out, though now doubt pretty soon unit commmanders will probably de getting a computerised report with video etc. Peter.

Steve, no need I was only joking about it all, your the last person I'd expect to say anything offensive so when you do have a go I tend to take it tougne in Cheek. Peter.

Okay hows this for a solution, as units take casualties or people get detached have the rst of the units say things like, "Oh my God Chucks dead !" or "Where the hell is Pete ?" Okay not one of my better suggestions, but then given my suggestions thats pretty bad. Peter.

Abbott, Ever hear of British Leyland.... Peter.

I find that last remark of Steves deeply racist, Most Kilts aren't funny colours, they are muted and tasteful. As a Scot I can't really complain about the rest as it's pretty accurate. Peter.

Michael, You seem to have a detailed knowledge of this kind of thing, is there something you want to tell us..... Peter.

I doubt they would have put in the effort they have to build the game engine up from scratch and put it at the core of their future buisness strategy, if they plan to stop producing games for it within three years. Peter.

What if you live in Austraila, winters in July and August.... Peter,

cassh, Since when have "we" been an informed minority, most topics on this forum don't get by a half dozen posts before we're argueing amounst ourselves over detail and principle. I've always enjoyed the debate on this forum but I've never seen it as any sort of font of wisdom. Peter.

Michael, How about I wear a mask, you can choose, though that's another frightening thought. Peter.