Erwin

Attrition realities: Population of Russia (2021): 143 Million Population of Ukraine (2021): 44 Million Ratio 3.25.

Right... AI controlled.

The trouble with "auto-hulldown" is that the system doesn't know which threat it is supposed to be hulldown to. It is common that it will not position the AFV hulldown to the threat the player wants, but actually open itself up to fire from another direction. Manual hulldown is much more accurate/safer and not hard to do.

As mentioned, unless an update changed the features, these MG's get used by the Tac AI. I can't recall any situation where one can manually target them.

Glad this is still in progress. Sad you had such a frustrating time with this.

It was probably firing HEAVY for a too lengthy period.

That is amazing. I don't know if people are old enuff to remember wargaming up to the later 1990's - one had practically PAY people to play the WAllies. EVERYONE wanted to play the Germans on the East front, with DAK (North Africa) being second.

Thank you for reposting the spotting chart. Very useful.

I have this vague memory that the MG's on top of tanks get used by the Tac AI at its discretion. Can't recall if one has to have the tank opened up. But, there have been so many updates that it's hard to know these days.

Not really players' fault - more due to the limitations of map sizes and scenario designs. Nonetheless, there are dedicated scout, sniper and engineer units in the game so they should be better at doing that function. However, in the CM2 game, it is hard/impossible to detect any difference from reg inf units. The easiest solution is for designers to give specialized units a higher experience level than the average inf unit.

Yes, that's what I was recommending for all specialized units.

Good point. But since we don't know what Ukraine's manpower reserves are, it's hard to judge if they can survive a year or three+ years. Look at how Germany survived the last year or two of WW2 with boys and old men. All rational thought was that Germany would sue for peace. Of course there is no equivalent cult of personality around Zelensky. But, my prediction is that the West will put pressure on Ukraine to negotiate due to the West's own domestic problems. The only question is how the West will be able to spin the result to its own population (us) as a "victory".

My question is whether it was standard for the Soviets to have the commander unbuttoned as it was for the Germans? If the Soviet SOP was to be buttoned then are we unbalancing the game by having them act like Germans? Or, does the game give the Soviets a poorer spotting capability regardless of being unbuttoned or not?

I think it depends on the designer. I have found some designers provide as good an oppo as human. ie: The H2H games I have played were not noticeably harder.

Thank you. V useful.

Aw man... condolences are insufficient.

The Soviet arty performance is even more impressive when one considers how much larger their theater of operations was compared to Europe.

Am sure someone has better info. But, have always assumed that scouts, snipers and engineers had more training.

This is my understanding as well. If someone has substantive proof that these specialized troops function better at spotting than reg inf, please let us know. My regular advice is for designers to give the specialized troops like snipers, scouts and engineers a level higher experience than the inf. As mentioned earlier, it was a lot of fun using the crack scouts, snipers and engineers in Paper Tiger's "Gung Ho!" campaign. That high experience made a noticeable difference. It was a real pleasure to use these crack units as one normally notices no difference from reg inf in most scenarios/campaigns.

We have long wished for an operational layer for the CM (tactical) games. I hope you can make your project work.

Always great to see a nicely painted Tiger.

In the same way that the Russians were expected by most on these forums to collapse last year, and instead the Russians summoned up their historic defensive stubbornness and willingness to endure massive casualties/pain last seen in WW2 (a personality attribute that we in the west historically do not understand) and survived and according to many journalists now seem to be doing ok (with support from around the world from those who are either hostile towards the US/West or at least neutral). My sense is that Ukraine also has massive reserves of stubbornness and if they are not forced by the west to negotiate, they will stick their heels in and fight - possibly to the detriment of their own future. Maneuvering the yuan as an alternative or replacement reserve currency has been a significant effort by the People's Republic of China. The PRC has pursued this goal by conducting more international trade using the Chinese yuan, and negotiating deals to allow the purchase of Saudi Arabian oil in yuan.Jul 4, 2023 https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/05/16/china-yuan-renminbi-us-dollar-currency-trade/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/09/21/china-yuan-us-dollar-sco-currency/ https://www.noemamag.com/china-wants-to-ditch-the-dollar/ However, no need to panic yet: It's unlikely that the world will wake up one day with dollars no longer holding international appeal. Rather, in examples such as the British pound, there was a multi-decade process by which it went from the center of world economics to a second-tier currency.Sep 20, 2023

If you can substantiate that, it would be good to know. My experience is that in the CM game, scouts, along with other specialized troops like snipers and engineers function the same as inf. At least I have found it impossible to see any discernible difference. I always recommend that specialized troops are of higher experience level so that they are a noticeably superior in their jobs. Crack scouts are very good at scouting. (See them function in Paper Tiger's "Gung Ho!" campaign.)

IIRC the developer was a Russian company: "Snowball" I think.

Looks like the next foot is dropping as part of China's strategy of overloading the US/West with crises to demonstrate our "fecklessness" and "impotence" to protect our allies and interests: https://www.wsj.com/articles/kim-jong-un-drops-the-mask-north-korea-nuclear-threat-biden-administration-war-a7357bae "North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un last week eviscerated any remaining pretense that his regime seeks peaceful reunification with South Korea. Now that Pyongyang has nearly developed the ability to deliver a nuclear warhead on an intercontinental ballistic missile, Mr. Kim has decided to scrap almost 80 years of intra-Korean policy. In a Castro-length speech filled with rhetoric about America’s “policy of confrontation,” Mr. Kim announced his decision to strip the North’s “constitution” of all vestiges of peaceful reunification and to eliminate the government offices handling the issue. By effectively recognizing that there are two states on the Korean Peninsula, Mr. Kim has ensured there is no turning back. If war breaks out, he said, the North plans on “completely occupying, subjugating and reclaiming” South Korea and annexing it “as a part of the territory of our Republic... Counting on weak U.S. leaders who didn’t see South Korea as a strategic asset, and whom they could subject to nuclear blackmail, the Kims followed a version of Deng Xiaoping’s “hide and bide” approach: concealing their growing nuclear and ballistic-missile programs and awaiting a docile regime in Washington. Today, the North sees its moment at hand in a weak Joe Biden...”