Jingo

It has to be done manually. For example, everytime I send a certain event like a key press or a mouse click. Currently I have it setup so that everytime I press PRINTSCREEN it adds a frame with the screenshot to the movie. There isn't a way to do it 1 frame every second-- at least I don't think so. If there are any processes running in the background it usually waits for those to complete before the screenshot gets taken. So visually I don't know if we'd see the bullets flying or not. I doubt it. I'll give it a try and see if I can come up with anything.

I do have CMBB (just got it along with TacOps 4). But no, I doubt it has the ability to put all the 1 minute movies together. This program essentially takes a screenshot whenever you press a key (or if you want whenever you click a mouse). It isn't a true "movie" but a series of screenshots tied together. After all the screenshots are taken then text boxes can be added. That's one of the features I had wished BF put into CMBB was the ability to tie all the movies together into one big movie that you could watch the entire thing from any angle. I think it would be a very good way to do an AAR. Just tie them together and watch away. Maybe someone will develop a 3rd party program that can do something like this...

I must confess that I didn't give the mission a terrible amount of thought or preparation as I wanted to finish it so I could do my AAR. Go figure... So it was sort of a rush job and of course I weighed things heavily in my favor so I wouldn't have to think overly much to pull off a victory. But hey, it's been a while since I played TacOps and I had to ease into it. And I didn't want to suffer a major defeat like I did in my AAR for Taskforce Fenwick. I need a win now and then to bolster my courage prior to getting my butt handed to me on the more difficult missions... Well, I'm willing to learn. How can I improve?

It was created using RoboDemo (product I use for work that's about $900 but I got on sale for $400). But since I work from home and had it on my computer I thought I'd give it a try. Well as far as tactics go, I don't dispute you could 'learn me'. After all, I consider myself a lowly beginner at TacOps. My problem is a love too many different types of computer and wargames and I end up spreading myself and my time too thin to get good at any one game. But I'm good at doing AARs

Well, I've created a rather new type of AAR for your enjoyement. Inroducing Task Force Pucci. Follow this link and click on the TF Pucci AAR link: Jingo's TacOps Mission Results Page Whew... Hope you like it. Must sleep now....

Randy, I think the umpire puts us observers in a neutral side's vehicle that we get to fly / drive around and thus can maintain-- at least to some extent -- the fog of war.

So Slagg, I'm assuming for this CPX we'll be using standard 6 digit map coordinates, unless our COs send out some maps with Battle Positions (BPs) on them. I re-read the section on UTM Grid Coordinates. Never had much use for them in single player, but it seems like they'll be useful in multi-player. I *think* I have it down.

What do you mean by BP locations?

Since I've never been in the military, I figure I'd ask a few questions about what to expect in the upcoming CPX. While I'm currently an observer in reserve. It's possible that I may have to jump in now and then: 1) What is a sample for orders as they are passed down the chain of command? 2) What is a sample for reporting info back up to HQ? I'm assuming there's a specific military way that this is done that cuts down the verbage and only passes along the necessary details. Any help would be appreciated.

Hey hey. It's been a while since I posted on the forum. Anyway, I just ordered TacOps 4--should get here before Nov. 9th. I would like to sign up as an observer / possible reserve for BLUEFOR. Some background: -I've never been in the military. -I enjoy wargames, but I don't consider myself a true Grognord -I'm not terribly familiar with TacOps, but I know the basic. -I did do some beta testing for version 4. -I've never played TacOps online or even PBeM. -I don't know all the jargon you folks throw around like candy -I'm sure I won't be staying all 6 hours. If these aren't problems, please sign me up!

QUOTE]No experience/morale? Then it will be hard to simulate a fight between factions of vastly different motivation level. How do you simulate Elites vs. Militias? :confused:

What more could we want?

Thanks for the info, Jeff. I guess that makes sense now that I think about it. I'm not and have never been in the military, so the only experience I can draw on is simulated experience. For instance I was playing Operation Flashpoint the other day (in my opinion this is like 1st person TacOps and each of your examples came into play. When our squad came under a "butt-load" of small arms fire for a forest line, we immediately dove for cover and tried to find where the fire was coming from. Usually the best way for me to find where the enemy is shooting from is to look at the flashes from their guns since camoflauge works quite well (at least in fooling human eyes) in that game. Also when buttoned in a vehicle it's quite difficult to see much at all, much less find out where enemy fire is coming from. My question is, if this option is unchecked, what's the best way of finding and countering enemy fire? I mean, even if I know the direction the fire comes from, TacOps doesn't allow me to supress a location that 'may' contain the enemy.

Thanks for your responses. First Tar's comments: But is this realistic? I'm not sure so I left it checked. I've always heard that after a sniper takes a couple of shots he had best move to a new location or else counter snipers can get him. I was a little miffed that after the first minute or so, both sniper units were mowed down by APC and MG fire. For this, I was just following the setup guidelines described in the scenerio, it said OPFOR didn't have any thermal capability. Well, what smoke I had didn't seem to help very much anyway(even when it did land on target). Apparently, with my choppers hovering above the drop zones, my BHs were within the 150 meters or so of visibility of the enemy units, so that even blanketed in smoke they were still targets fro their RPGs which were quite (and I would say overly) effective. The only thing I can think of maybe doing differently is first supressing the entrenchments by using firesupport from some ground troops from the treelines. But doing that would take time (moving 10 to 15 mintutes to get to treeline fireposition) and cut my mobility. Of course, if I had managed to keep my snipers around for longer they could probably have take out most of the perimeter defences (like in Oerjan's AAR). My main question is, if the RPGs are so effective against BHs even when the enemy is supressed and covered with smoke, what other options do I have than to go in by ground (which wasn't an option given the time constraints of the mission), or go in by hopefully overwhelming and coordinated Helo force and drop down on top of them (which is what I attempted). Yes, I could have bypassed some defences (mainly those on the West and used the forest for cover). But I still think I would have to take out any defences that have LOS on the A-E objectives (that's nearly all of them), or else my occupying forces would take continual fire from bunkered units (not ideal), or I would have to lay down multiple layers of smoke continually so they couldn't shoot me (again, not ideal since I don't have that much coverage). Jeff's Comments... Thanks. I just wish I could have showed greater poise in completing the mission... It was a hard decision. I kept thinking, maybe if I stay in a little longer, I can pull this thing off. But just thinking about the amount of what I would have to do to with my remaining assets, I had to call it off. I didn't have the man power to hold out for 20 minutes against the OPFOR reinforcements and extract with enough forces intact to meet a successful mission. So, I decided if I'm going to fail, I may as well fail with as much as my force structure alive as possible. [ May 30, 2002, 04:36 PM: Message edited by: Jingo ]

Sigh... This was a very tough mission for me and TF Fenwick handilly kicked me in the behind and sent me packing. :mad: I have much more respect now for Oerjan's wonderful success on this scenario. But I decided to post even my mistakes so that they serve the same purposes as Oerjan's successes. In my case, to teach by example of what NOT TO DO . <sigh> I fear I still have much to learn about real tactics. One interesting thing about suffering this defeat, knowing I was going to post my results was that I got increasingly more frustrated with the mission and I know this affected my judgement on some decisions. An interesting phenomena to say the least: a real emotional response that through the game simulated how emotions can possibly affect military judgements. Anyway, enjoy it in a sick sort of way, just click on the Task Force Fenwick link from Jingo's TacOps Page .

Well, ask and ye shall receive. . . not from me though! Oerjan Ohlson heard about the request for the Fenwick scenerio and sent me his excellent AAR. Since he didn't have webspace, I posted it for him on mine. Check it out here !

Well, I'm flattered! I'm glad you like viewing my AARs. I would actually like to see some of your AARs to learn from you folks, since I'm a relative newbie to TacOps, and I still have much much to learn (for instance, I'm not even sure what TRPs for artillery do or how to really use them-- as evidenced in my last AAR). I'll see what I can pull together... it'll likely be some time, though, since I'm sort of on a TacOps break; maybe over Memorial Day weekend, I can work on it. Thanks all!

Here's my next AAR: Team Ohara. This one was done with TacOps v4 (Thanks to MajorH for letting me test drive it and find bugs) and is a relatively quick mission. Defend OBJ. A. for 40 minutes. But for me it took all week to turn it into this AAR -- You can see my AAR by going to my website and clicking on the corresponding link: Jingo's TacOps Page Somehow I don't think my friendly casualty rates would ever pass real military muster... Ah well!

Thanks. I like doing it. It helps me stay more focused on my game if I know I'm going to be showcasing it. It takes a little extra work, but at least I have *something* to show (besides the bloodshot eyes) for all those evenings spent hunched over the computer until the wee hours of the morning... Yawn ( ) Anyway it lasts a little more than the fleeting feelings of sweet victory or bitter dissapointment. Jingo

Also, one thing I learned when I did this mission on my retry is if you have a good idea where the enemy SAM units are, you can still put your choppers to good use by flying Nap O' Da Earth and staying down in the valleys and behind trees and ridges, and then position them where you can have a view of their armoured units but where their SAMs can't see you. Enemy ground anti-air units can't fire at you if your moving at NOE unless they have direct LOS or unless you pop-up above the tree/ridge lines.

I like to split them up mainly to lay down multiple smoke screens. My question is if I lay down multiple smoke screens in *one* location is visibility hampered even further or is this merely redundant smoke? Sometimes, I want to extract an infantry squad from a particularly mean close up combat (50 to 75 meters distance) with OPFOR infantry squads, but one layer of smoke only cuts down the visibility to 100 meters or something. Would it be possible to lay down three smoke screens essentially making it impossible for the enemy to detect me so that I can pull out?

Phil, I use Snagit (version 5.2) to take the screen captures and to add the circles and text. Once you take the screenshot you can go to the "Snagit Studio" and add all the extras. See Techsmith's description of the product here: Snagit. I'm sure other software is out there that does similar stuff as well. I like it because I can do capture scrollable windows. Nice for getting mission results captures. Jingo

Howdy TacOpers: Here's an AAR that I did for Team McMains. I took screenshots and made comments every five turns in this sixty minute battle. This is a fun and challenging 'little' (it took me past 2 AM in two nights of combat to complete since I was doing screenshots and comments) scenerio if you keep the factory defaults on the setup options (no friendly reinforcements, OPFOR has improved guns and thermals). Anyway see my site with my comments as the battle raged : Team McMains -- Mission Results Enjoy!

Well, after my first TacOps victory (Task Force DeGoey which came at a high cost casualty wise), I decided to try a different but similar scenerio a few days ago: Task Force Harper. On this one, I'm supposed to make sure that the enemy forces don't exit through to the west side. I mainly wanted to see the advantage of only me having thermal sights. This time I also accepted the reinforcements in the setup options and the option to place mines. What a difference those options (and the additional supply points) made in this battle. I was able to setup my defences in 14 turns before the OPFOR column started on the eastern edge. FOs for my artillery were able to cause serious damage with the powerful ICM rounds initially and as the column continued its arduous approach down what I affectionally called "The Road of Doom". Anyway, they never even broke through my line of defences (although they had some mean arty drops and lucky SAM shots that kocked out some of my units). This was because of these critical differences: * FOs close up were better able to pinpoint arty on the enemy when they were in tight compact columns. * Supplies were high. I was able to restock all my COBRA gunships a few times which made a big difference. * Thermal sights. I know without these my tanks would have taken an even greater beating. All in all I thought it was a good mission. You can check out the results here: Taskforce Harper Results One question. In militarily realistic scenerios do OPFOR units usually have thermal sights? I know for game balance it's probably good to keep them on for OPFOR, but for real-life scenerio re-enactment, what's the general rule?

Wow... Congrats. I feel lame, now, since I had 77% casualties and thought I did a good job... But it was my first time. I'm learning more now. I'll have to try it again sometime.