Erwin

Lol, I’d give you the dollar, and drinks would be on me, Erwin, but you wouldn’t tell me where you were before, so you'll have to settle for another upvote!

Dollar already spent (in my head).

Well, somebody give me one so I can get to an even 100 (and I’ll give you a dollar!).

Remember when the reputation system was turned off entirely because people were mass-downvoting other members they didn't like?
It should have died then, and stayed dead.

Done and done

I for one have always appreciated your dumb-ass jokes.  (Please upvote me now.)

Howitzer can fire at a steep/high angle ( a bit like a mortar trajectory) and thus can shoot at targets closer than a "gun".  Good for landing on targets behind walls for example.  Not sure if that effect is modeled in CM.
All calibers are good vs infantry - altho' the larger (105mm) and larger are increasingly effective vs buildings and vehicles - so may be a waste to use large caliber vs infantry (unless inf is your primary problem).
The smaller calibers are usually faster to call for and arrive - so 60mm and smaller can be kept close to your inf and used for direct fire (assuming the mortars are safe from enemy fire).
 
 
 

Howitzer can fire at a steep/high angle ( a bit like a mortar trajectory) and thus can shoot at targets closer than a "gun".  Good for landing on targets behind walls for example.  Not sure if that effect is modeled in CM.
All calibers are good vs infantry - altho' the larger (105mm) and larger are increasingly effective vs buildings and vehicles - so may be a waste to use large caliber vs infantry (unless inf is your primary problem).
The smaller calibers are usually faster to call for and arrive - so 60mm and smaller can be kept close to your inf and used for direct fire (assuming the mortars are safe from enemy fire).
 
 
 

The Victory calculations for CM2 many times make little sense (compared to CM1).  In CM1, one could sense much more accurately if one was winning or losing.  In CM2, one can end a battle in terrible shape, but win a Total Victory, or believe one has met all Victory conditions and find that one has a Loss.  Sometimes, the difference between a loss and a big Win is a single man surviving.  
To stay sane, recommend that you judge your own performance and not worry too much what the game's Results page says.  However this can be more problematic in Campaigns where one may have to win to progress to the next mission.

It sounds like someone was using the AT guns properly - ie: at much longer ranges than the small maps we usually see in CM2 games allow.  Because nearly all CM2 maps are small and/or have short LOS due to blocking terrain, gamers have become accustomed to playing almost exclusively short range "knife fight" battles.  It's obviously much easier to spot at short ranges.  On small maps, AT guns usually get to fire once and are then KIA.  Perhaps we CM2 gamers simply don't have the experience needed for dealing with long range fights.
That's a primary reason that many of us still like CM1 games and also CMSF - they often feature much larger maps and much longer LOS/ranges.
What is your scenario?

In the very few instances that have experience that IIRC it does follow.  IIRC regular arty will as well if focused on a unit (as opposed to area fire).  (However that may only be for modern ie CMBS games and not for WW2 era.  Not sure about that.)

Only problem is that there is nothing new to say, so people get bored, minds wander etc.

The TOC map looks v realistic.  The large no. of flavor objects helps a lot.  I love looking down at eye-level and driving along the roads.

A great example of how useful a new "Shoot & Scoot" command would be for AT (and sniper) teams.  ie:  Hide in ambush until you shoot, then run and hide.

Fun article.  Thanks...
"What was that Charles V said about the many languages he spoke? "I speak Spanish to God, French to men, Italian to women, and German to my horse?"

I enjoy working with salesmen (insurance, car etc) and can do the calculations in my head faster than they can on calculators.  They then look at me with fear in their eyes as one does when one meets a witch or demon...   

Not sure who "we" is, Michael.     
Things go in swings and roundabouts, fashions etc.   We may be coming to the end of a very permissible era of moral relativism and going back to a more harsh judgmental period.  Not saying it's better or right, just that things oscillate around a mean.  And one can probably predict where things are headed by studying history.
What bums me out is being lumped in with all you other white men as the current "enemy of society".  Since my family came from (basically) Tsarist Russian empire lands, they were practically slaves.  But, here in the west I am supposed to feel guilty/responsible for historical slavery.  We are made to feel abnormal if we want to live and associate with people like ourselves.  There is a movement in our society that believes that we can negate tens of thousands of years of human evolution and genetic programming and simply legislate human behavior so as to change it in a generation.  As a result, we have young men growing up confused about their maleness and insecure, doubting themselves...
Again, am not saying one thing is right or wrong.  But, one cannot simply legislate human behavior and basic tribal instincts that took millennia to evolve.  
Maybe us blameless white guys can be assigned an armband or somesuch that we could wear to show that we, the "good white men", are not in any way responsible for the heinous acts of the ancestors of all you deplorable white men?  
 

+1
Even though ones gets hostile reactions from some here whenever one talks about wonderful aspects of CM1, the virtual operational scale of CM1 (8 Km x 4 Km maps and a Regiment + on each side) is what keeps some of us still playing over at WeBoB.   At that level, mobility and recon become much more important as one doesn't have a fixed front line and one can get a much more fluid mobile game.
We'd need more powerful computers top play that scale in CM2, and due to CM2's greater detail it may not be playable (in a reasonable amount of time) with that many units.  But, the moving window effect that CM1 operations has would be wonderful to see in CM3.

Interesting article.  However, I only skimmed it and didn't notice the important aspect of EU coming to realize that incorporating Turkey into EU would open the floodgates to massive Islamic immigration - an increasingly serious problem in Europe already.  The WSJ recently had articles illustrating how Muslims are well on the way to creating a parallel Sharia legal system, where they can go instead of to British courts etc.

Not making it up.  WSJ article:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-visit-to-islamic-england-1535581583
Also:  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3001087/sharia-law-uk-muslims-islamic-legal-system/
While Sharia Law does not (yet) overrule UK law, the problem is that as the population grows the pressure to include Sharia will inevitably grow.  
It's kinda like that saying "The difference between a cult and a religion is that a religion has gained political power" applies to "the difference between unenforceable laws and enforceable laws".

Not making it up.  WSJ article:  https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-visit-to-islamic-england-1535581583
Also:  https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3001087/sharia-law-uk-muslims-islamic-legal-system/
While Sharia Law does not (yet) overrule UK law, the problem is that as the population grows the pressure to include Sharia will inevitably grow.  
It's kinda like that saying "The difference between a cult and a religion is that a religion has gained political power" applies to "the difference between unenforceable laws and enforceable laws".

In my eyes, "large" CM maps are just medium maps, really. Small maps usually lack ("cut off") observation and support positions. This in turn means that many units suffer disproportionally, especially scouts/observers and other recon elements as well as support elements (assault guns, infantry guns). Due to the tiny size of many maps, these units are forced into closer, uncomfortable ranges to the "frontline". Ranges at which they're spotted more easily and at which the opponent's shots miss rarely. Also, since the overall number of positions is limited on a small map, artillery can be extremely dangerous - there are only so many positions where the enemy can hide, which again increases the weakness of the aforementioned units which are typically only lightly armored. 
Anyway, back on topic!

As with most expensive weapons systems, it's to keep defense manufacturers earning massive profits.  How is someone like me supposed to enjoy my villas in France, New Zealand and Hainan Island and pay for my collection of private jets???!!   You a commie or something?!!
Edit: Ooops.  No offence intended to my Chinese overlords.  I really like my Hainan Island place.  Thank you...

Well of course I can - I work out almost every day!  
The point is that he wasn't ordered to acquire anything.  It may be a bug that he exited the vehicle with all that ammo.  

Am sure you will come up with a brilliant plan, Baldrick.