Commander

...so thats why my cat fell off the desk the other night!!

I was wondering how other players start up a game as far as organizing their units? I place logical units together and then form my security, recon, main body and reserves from there. Then I place them on the map in regards to my mission. Do you guys put platoons into formations or ...? Do you place arty spotters with command units? How do you get organized at the beginning of each battle? I think my question pertains more to Quick Battles than Scenarios.

I was thinking it would be nice if the infantry units could come with a one or two smoke grenades (another add on like molotovs or satchel charges) to be used in these situations (i.e. break LOS of the attacker) so that you could do a withdrawal. Maybe limit the smoke grenades to command units and limit the distance they can be used. If your opponent saw you using the smoke then they may be inclined to rush your position knowing that you are withdrawing BUT, what if you stayed so you could ambush the attacker?

The lack of a "learning" AI really shows. If the AI had only a small memory of the battlefield then you would see a big difference in AI attacks. The difference would be noticable as the AI would see the stack of bodies in a kill zone and stop sending troops that way. Memory would also allow the AI to use encirclements and other flanking manuevers. I have seen the AI in CMBB split its forces and attack from several directions at once but you could tell there was no pre-planned reason for it other than an attempt to capture a VL.

I try to base my decisions on the mission and the parameters surrounding it. For instance, if I am playing in the rain on a rural map then I do not typically purchase heavy tanks. In CMBB, I notice that I purchase more machine guns than I used to. I don't care if they are slow, those babies rock. I think thats why I like the Soviet M17 halftrack. I had one catastrophically brew up a kraut armored car the other day...what a sight! :cool: [ December 11, 2002, 03:47 PM: Message edited by: Commander ]

Oh yeah. At one point there was an ISU 600m. away on a ridge at 10 O'Clock and two T-34's on another ridge at about 1 O'Clock maybe a little closer and the At knocked out one T-34, repositioned itself and knocked out the ISU and then went back to take out the other T-34. It was just bloody awesome.</font>

I did notice in a recent CMBB QB when I plotted infantry moves too close to a burning building that the TacAI took over and moved the units away from the fire. Also, a squad on the back of a tank jumped off when the tank traveled too close to the burning building.

I had a T34 sitting in scattered trees at the base of a hill providing overwatch as another T34 moved up the hill on a road in front of the overwatching tank when an enemy tank appeared on the crest of the hill. The overwatching tank fired and blew the head off of the commander of the traveling tank. Friendly fire sucks! :mad:

LOL - The trees (or number of them) have or do nothing to add to the size of a PBEM file. The terrain part of the file should be a fixed size and would contain data describing the X loc,Y loc,altitude,terrain type, etc... The units and the plotting of moves make a big difference. If the battle being talked about consisted of large amounts of armored units with all of them moving at the same time then that is probably why the file size is so big. I have to admit that I would freak out with a 6 Meg file size!

I used to enjoy playing against the AI in CMBO as the allies without taking any armor. I found out quickly that in CMBB, playing as the allies that I need to purchase armor in order to survive. One time I did purchase a gun and a truck and hauled it to the battle and barely won. The difference now is the way MG fire is modeled. You can still kick kraut a** with good tactics backed up with firepower.

Leta and I are playing a PBEM right now and we just went through what Steve said above. I have a T34 trading shots with a 150mm assault monster and both tanks stood their ground while my T34 bounced several shots off of its frontal armor. After about three shots, I noticed that his assault tank started to reverse. Knowing Leta, I bet the TacAI made the decision to back up because its obvious my shots are doing nothing to his monster tank.

agreed!! :mad: :mad: </font>

Maybe Charles likes playing as Germans and he programmed the Soviet tanks to backup like that so his precious kraut Panzers won't get killed!

Sure would be nice if this truck had a steering wheel. Is that a Panther?! :confused:

I will tell you how to keep your Stugs alive. Drive them away from the battlefield. If you don't then my Stug killing buddies will get you for sure. Face it. Your Stugs don't have a chance. Quit buying them. Go with Panthers. A Panther is a dangerous tank.

:cool: Now that is some serious fighting there!! I would love to see the action movie for that and the audio. I can just imagine at the end the sound of grunts and "Take that you gamey bastard!"

Those are the kinds of turns that make this game what it is. That tacAI puts on a good show!

Oh, sorry. I use my own campaign rules (or heavily modified Wreck's and Biltongs rules). I rename all of the units because I don't like the game chosen ones. I had a huge amount of fun playing this way. It does make you care for your digital soldiers more. You should have seen how much time I spent pushing Whisper's immobile M17 into a stand of trees...probably kept him alive. [ November 18, 2002, 12:40 AM: Message edited by: Commander ]

I started my campaign tonight too. My allied 2,100 point reinforced company kicked some major Axis butt in a 3,000 point ME. A notable thing the AI did. Near the end, I had worked a smg squad led by Sargent Killemall into some rubbled house about 20 meters from a large woods to pick off the krauts that were eating dirt when 20 meters to either side of Sgt. Killemall two kraut flamethrowers fired simultaneously roasting 3 squad members and paniced the rest. I majorly kicked butt in this battle though (got a 95% versus 5%) 14 casualties with 3 KIA while causing over 400 casualties with 100 enemy KIA. The KIA's are wierd though because some lousy kraut pioneers hiding in a blown up building threw a satchel charge into Lucky's tank with catastrophic results. There were no survivors and those T34's have 5 crew members... I think Sargent Lucky is dead. His platoon leader Lt. Patton thinks so too. :eek:

There is one unit the Soviets lack and that is a Panzershrek or Bazooka type of weapon. I know they have the AT rifles but you need a lot of them and they seem worthless against the large German tanks. In CMBO you could play a pure infantry force against German armor as long as you had bazookas. This type of battle would be nearly impossible in CMBB.

I think it would be an excellent way to try out tactics and be able to see what they look like from the "other" side. As an example, just how far does the sneak command get you before your sneaking unit is noticed?

I tried this once but all my guys would do is sit there waiting for the other side to make a move... Actually, I am going to try it out. Thanks for the suggestion.

Thats what I thought Lumbergh but I wasn't sure!

So does that make the Merkava or the Abrams the best American tank? </font>

IMO, its the Merkava 4 Main Battle Tank http://www.army-technology.com/projects/merkava4/ ohhh! for WWII, definately the Panther IV G.