Phantom Captain

Apparently there are protesters in the streets in Moscow being dispersed by riot police.

This all makes me so angry and I too, emotionally, want a No-Fly Zone or for NATO to hit back and hard! Anything to help the Ukrainian Army and their people!! It's horrifying and I hate the helplessness of watching this go down. I am happy, however, that the Javelins are working. I just wish...

Stay safe @Haiduk This is awful. My heart is with you and your countrymen. Thank you for giving us your assessments and updates. It's truly appreciated.

Inspired by the headlines I am FINALLY finishing up Shield of Kiev...and winning!! Really loved all the Black Sea campaigns that I have played including the community made ones. These brave and stalwart defenders hold the tree line that has just been seized as my T-84s do their work... These Russian T-72s pay the price for their brazen invasion and are left smoking wrecks on the battlefield and at the cost of only one BM Oplot. But the wood line is taken! On to the next...

Thanks!!! I was looking for these!!

Ohh! And for the main attack. Use smoke to cover! I actually moved the Strykers with long guns up onto the berm and then had 2 or 3 Abrams roll in with my Strykers and infantry. Infantry dismounted in the fort, there was a very brief firefight with tanks, Strykers and infantry all unloading and boom, the Syrians surrendered with only a few minutes left. And another thing.... As MMM said, always take your javelins. They are great for spotting on top of killing tanks and have one of the best optic systems available with huge zoom. Your javelin teams, laying low patiently, WILL spot tons of things. Cover arcs are your friends too as you can set up OPs, set a cover arc and your men won't fire and expose themselves. You will learn quickly, how important it is to sometimes just sit and spot for minutes on end.

Patience. Patience above all else. This is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for new players, imho. I think I spent 75% of that battle with my Abrams on the berm and my FOs calling in fires etc. for all that time. You don't need to press and you just have to wait for your arty and tanks to do their jobs. Let the Abrams sit on the berm and systematically take out everything. You don't even need your MG teams out on the berm as the range is getting a bit long there and they would just be wasting ammo. Stay at range where you can deal all your damage and they can't touch you! You have thermals and night vision! Huge advantage. Stay back and dismantle them at a distance where they can't do a thing to you. PS, those old dug in Syrian tanks can't hurt your Abrams. Sit back and pick em off one by one. At about 15 min left, I called in all my heavy artillery on the barracks and fortress. Call linear strikes across the buildings, the heavy arty will level those buildings or cause massive damage to the building and those inside. Once those start hitting and kicking up dust etc. that was the time to move my Strykers in. I dismount my infantry about 300-350m from the the enemy lines and they pretty much just mopped up with Stryker support. My artillery pretty much leveled the fortress and the enemy surrendered about the time I rolled into the smoking fortress. I think I only lost 2-3 men and maybe one Stryker at well trying to get through the mines. The biggest hurdle will be for you determining how to utilize your infantry, set up attacks and determining when to launch. Patience really is everything in learning how to watch things develop and then time your attack at the opportune moment. A lot of CM battles will be very low key and not much combat as you maneuver, scout and work yourself into your attack positions. Combat tends to be, and should be, extremely violent, fast and furious. With all the American firepower, USE IT!! Annihilate everything and when your enemy is back on his heels deliver the killing blow. The big fights tend to only last a couple minutes. When things get drawn out is when you get in trouble. I suggest really paying attention to effective ranges and knowing when and where and how to use your different weapon systems. Infantry should only be dismounted and engaging close up or otherwise used in small scout teams, or with javelins to sit way back and just spot. You are the Americans, overwhelming firepower and destruction is your friend. Use it all.

Haha! Or, "well, look at it this way, we have some new data on hull integrity..."

Shhhhh...

Hey all, Does anyone have copies of Kieme's digital Oplot and Bulat? Or any other versions? Checked on the Depot and there wasn't much there.

Whoa! Cracked the hull of an M1??! I guess all that mass... What were the repercussions for said incident?

Hahaha!! I thought it was perfect! I think the point that @Grey_Fox is trying to make is that maybe spotting should even be worse?? This video is actually very telling.

@Haiduk The news over here keeps screaming that the invasion is imminent but I keep looking at the Ukrainian weather for the next 10 days and it's awful warm. I'm still HOPING you are right and he's going to back down. What is it looking like on the ground? Oh and stay safe!

Looks great! Thanks!

@Haiduk Thanks for the continuing updates!!!

Oh we can dream can't we?? I'd just throw BS in there alongside please!

@domfluff I do have to say I completely see how they are used on the defensive now along with an ATGM team. They really are perfect for just dropping off and having them hold a location as the rest of the formation moves on. I can see the same utilization for them in BS now too.

No, you are right on all points. I actually do use my vehicles for those duties, much more so than the MG teams themselves. In both Cold War and Black Sea. It is interesting how integral the vehicles are to the squad in both Russian and Soviet formations. That's why I was asking the question in the first place! I think I am combining both Soviet MG teams and modern Russian MG teams in my head. In Black Sea I do utilize the MG team more the old fashioned way as it is slower paced compared to CW and there is more opportunity to move into place and slowly set up an attack in BS. I do see how Soviet doctrine morphed into what the Russians do now but it is very differently paced and thus my confusion. I'm also still trying to figure out what best to do with the MGs in the much faster moving CW. So, I think what I am doing is looking to utilize my Soviet MG teams in much the same way as I use my Russian MG teams in modern but it really hasn't worked that way so far in hindsight because, as you stated, Cold War is just too fast.

I think pretty much the only manual targeting orders I ever give are "Target briefly" when I am trying to suppress a known or suspected position in coordination with my troop movements, otherwise I just let my pixeltruppen figure out who to shoot at. They are pretty good at figuring it all out.

People who have no experience actually using firearms have a terrible misconception of their inherent accuracy. People truly believe that you can point an SMG or automatic rifle, hold the trigger and hose down and annihilate every thing in front of them at a whim. The truth is far from that. I think movies, TV and VIDEO GAMES have added greatly to this misconception. Bullets occupy a very very tiny amount of space for an almost miniscule amount of time. Factoring in all the other human components when it comes to combat and actually trying to hit another person who is also moving, stressed, trying not to be hit and firing back at you it's pretty amazing that anyone is actually ever hit. This is exactly why you hear stories of a police officer and a suspect unloading on each other from 10 feet away and both completely missing with every shot. How many war stories have you heard the same thing? That all being said, I think the AI's accuracy is pretty spot on too.

Except for when you have to dismount your infantry. The infantry are there for the up close nasty work when you need it. Use the MG teams as a base of fire for your squads to move. Think WWII German tactics. I like to keep them on my flanks and use them to suppress for my infantry to move.

Target arcs! If you are running a team or squad up into a building to overwatch just make sure to set very small target arcs first! (Hold shift and I set mine to about 25m. Set the same target arc on the last waypoint as well. Doing this usually your teams or squads won't fire prematurely and will not give themselves away. You can run them up where you want them and they will sit and spot and not fire. I am trying to remember myself how exactly I did that mission myself.

Whoa! This is amazing! I just dl'ed and threw in the mods to see and I'm impressed! Can't wait to play this campaign now after I finish up a couple others! Thanks!

Exactly!! I mean simply enough, tunnel vision is a very real thing. And being shot at? Under stress? Dust in the eyes from bullets hitting around you? Over focused? Someone (maybe even a buddy) screaming in pain 20m away and being utterly distracted by that? There are a million different "real" things that can be happening that would make one not "see" something in the distance or even up close for that matter. Same with behavior. I do think of it as a feature as well! We also know as a fact that the human brain does not see things sometimes that it isn't looking for. It's how people don't see motorcycles on the road because our brains are programmed to look for cars. Perception can be very imperfect.

Haha! Not at all! I just meant the general complaints that have been around forever about spotting and soldiers breaking, etc. I am of the camp that feels that those who do complain about it are just doing it because they also love the game just as much and just want it to be better. To me, I can always abstract weirdness in the game on those issues. There is a reason we have such common phrases in usage as "C'est la guerre!"