Erwin

LOL. Amazing that some folks still had no idea about these spoof shows that Baron created so many years ago.

Seriously SS, you are a talented bloke designing missions. If you list the reasons that you have a hard time completing development of your own scenarios and campaigns and multiply that by (say) 1000, that might help in understanding the challenges facing BF.

Nibbling around the edges is usually a very good winning strategy in the CM2 game system where one can win on points (without worrying about the political and other demands of RL).

Saar Campaign - November 1944. November 1944. As the Allies advance approaches the Westwall and the German historical borders, German resistance intensifies. On 27 November 1944, elements of the US(1?) 80th ID (under General Mc Bride) enter into Saint Avold. The German troops were to withdraw(2?)? The previous night the SS XIII Corps left the city in order to establish a new line of resistance West of the Saar river (Sarre in French). The same day, US Colonel Lewis orders his 317th Regiment to pursue the retreating Germans in the direction of Farebersviller. In order to regain contact with the enemy the regiment marches off on foot because of the mud which hinders the mobility of their trucks. At dusk, contact is established about 10 km NE of Saint Avold in the vicinity of Farébersviller. Colonel Lewis orders the regiment to deploy and sends his leading battalion, the 3rd, to attack in the direction of Farebersviller while the 1st and 2d Battalions move forward south and north, respectively, of that village. The American stumble onto a German rearguard element comprising the 17. SS-Panzergrenadier-Division « Götz von Berlichingen » tactical reserve tasked to delay the American advance. For 7 days, fierce combat take place into and in the vicinity of Farébersviller. On 29 November, during the afternoon, Companies A and C of the 1st Battalion cross the railroad south of Farebersviller and gain the wooded ridge that lies beyond. About 1600 seven(3?) German tanks and a company of their infantry slice in between the advance companies and the rest of the battalion… 1) These are US troops I assume 2) Unclear if you intend to say that the Germans “withdrew.” or they “intended to withdraw.” 3) Don’t understand what you mean

Yeah, I'll be playing CMSF2 for a long time before am comfortable to bid a final farewell to CMSF1 "just in case" something is missing. Over at WeBOB site we still enjoy CM1 tournaments!

Maybe if they drop from 10,000+ feet (freezing cold and need oxygen). Can you imagine the scramble to get out of the vehicle - and then probably get tangled in your vehicle's defective chute! If you think about it, the concept of deploying formations like this in RL (as opposed to carefully rehearsed exercises) sounds like propaganda BS.

An strong political platform which leaves all us fans in no doubt as to which side of the issue you are on, Michael. You running for election someplace? I'd vote for you...

Interesting. Thanks...

Software is usually released with the last few percentiles not done. These days, early adopters are guinea pigs and later updates and versions get the product closer to the 99.999%. If God hadn't intended development to be this way, it would be different. So, relax and be happy.

It's been a very long time since I played this, but IIRC it was relatively easy to get the crew to the Tiger by blowing holes in the bushes... and then reversing back out keeping the tough end vs the enemy. The only problem was that one kept getting barrel hits and it was common to have the Tiger's main gun disabled. Don't recall needing to use the supporting armor that much.

"... Didn't realize the crews dropped with the AFV!!

Impressive work!

To be fair there are legitimate issues like "Why did my men avoid the door right in front of them and run into the street and get gunned down?" "Why did the enemy manage to shoot my tank thru X dozen meters of dense trees when it's impossible for me to see that LOS?" "Why can't I target the building down the street when there are no intervening obstacles, but the enemies in that building managed to kill me with no problem?" etc...

MOVE was more of a safe rear area route march mode in CM1 and they would not react well if fired on. However, my experience is that CM2's version of MOVE is ok to use for troops (not in immediate combat) as the troops will react quite well if unexpectedly fired upon.

This is a great idea. It's kinda what I was suggesting for a N Africa DAK Pak module for CMFI a few weeks ago. And "DAK Pak" just rolls off the tongue beautifully - so good marketing already inherent.

That 2nd pic is wonderful, MOS.

<sigh> yes, it's understood that you hate trumpy and therefore nothing he does like getting our economy moving and challenging China will ever make you happy. So, no point in engaging anymore. This elitist attitude of negating the honestly felt beliefs and desires of so many of the "deplorables" is what got trumpy elected in the first place. And am confident that these attitudes will help get him elected again in 2020. Congratulations. Keep up the good work.

That ends the discussion. Well done.

Well, am happy with the way we are being told things are going (who knows how real that info is of course). We may have to wait several months or even years to see how things work out. But, these are actions that should have been done many years ago - and those leaders chose appeasement instead.

Thanks for the repost of JasonC's post. Very useful reminder of Red tactics. This "echelon" part I didn't understand. What is the point of this echelon attack? Would it not be more effective to (as he earlier stated) do a "multiple wave attack" on exactly the same part of the enemy defenses so as to completely wipe out that force to the front. While the first and 2nd waves then reorient to attack both enemy flanks and go on the defense, the third wave would pass thru unhindered. "The second echelon does *not* hit the same frontage as the fixing attack, because the attacking formation is not column, but echeloned right or left. The whole attacking formation remains in motion, and therefore some time after the fixing attack has begun, the second echelon reaches the active battle front, off on one flank of the existing battle. Perhaps overlaping(sic), perhaps not. It continues straight on, and therefore it either collides with some supporting defensive unit off on that flank, or if there isn't one, a portion or all of the second echelon will "hit air" to one side of the defenders or the other." This was also interesting: A typical tank or motorized rifle company attack frontage is from 500 to 800 meters. Platoons normally attack on a frontage of 100 to 200 meters, with 50 to 100 meters between vehicles. The frontage of a 4-tank platoon attached to a motorized rifle company could extend to 400 meters. There would probably be little maneuver evident in platoon and company tactics. These subunits normally attack on line, in unison. However, maneuver probably will be evident in the way a battalion commander moves his companies. An issue when playing CM2 is that am not convinced that the above works properly in the game. My experience that it is much more effective to keep armor in at least two-vehicle teams within a dozen or so meters of each other so that if one tank sees a target or gets shot, the 2nd can join in rapidly. When 100 meters apart, it's often that LOS being limited on CM2 maps, that the tanks often cannot effectively support each other. Also, how often do you get to deploy a company on an 800 meter frontage? With that sort of separation one can get picked off one by one in the game without the survivors having LOS or being able to immediately destroy the shooter. Not sure if it's a map issue or what...

Has anyone attempted to make or run an 8Kmx8Km map? Would love to see that. Probably more so than more detail on a 4kmx4Km. It would be great to have a use for vehicular recon down long roads etc in order to locate the enemy. And also more mobile-type ops.

Exactly. Past administrations didn't have to balls to do what was necessary. Putting pressure on China is the only way to bring the NK's to heel. And finally we're doing that.

For players who are CMA fans there is no other option so could still have a long life (as has CM1). You can't match the experience of playing with 1980s era gear and tech with any other title. Playing CMA is a great antidote when one gets burned out on the other modern titles.

It's always nice to have tons of info in a game so one can micromanage to enact perfect tactics etc. But, as said above, RL LOS can vary in the same weather conditions depending on location. Is fog or rain density ever 100% homogeneous? IIRC that's why BF stopped providing those wonderful CM1 range penetration and firepower effects tables in CM2. There's no harm in having info, but studying them and expecting the same result every time makes the game less realistic imo.

Clearly a propaganda pic showing no food shortage in German Army.