Zarquon

I'd try and run some tests on this, but my PC (Nvidia graphics card) keeps crashing about every 3 turns... (sob)

What's the difference between an update pack and a new game, anyway? You'll get new scenarios and (perhaps) a couple bugfixes with an update pack. With CMBB, you'll get the scenarios and some _major_ gameplay increases. In the end, just ask yourself : is it worth your $49 (or whatever the price is)? I think yes, and if BTS earns more on an hourly basis than with CMBO, that's fine with me. The hours I will spend with CMBB will be worth my money. At least I know that out there there's somebody devoted to craftsmanship. They should prosper.

My PzIII was immobilzed on turn 2, in steppe terrain, no weapon fire possible. I had to play this turn twice, due to my PC crashing and once it recovered (without reversing, reversing to increase the chance of unbogging is a myth as far as I know), once it did not. If so many people have seen tanks bog down in this scenario, it might be a, eh, feature? On the other hand, if there's a 0.00001% chance of bogging in dry steppe and 10.000 people played this scenario 10 times with 15 tanks each, then, eh... Hmmm... Don't know. It pissed me off. P.S. The greatest game there is, anyway. I usually don't spend money on computer games, but BTS truly deserves it. [ September 02, 2002, 09:42 PM: Message edited by: Zarquon ]

Hey Webs, I didn't stand a chance vs. you in StandStrong. Your infantry was faster than weasels, your tanks kept well hidden while my troops just scrambled from one edge of the woods to the next, trying to react. Next tournament, ban players with 3-digit board member numbers DaveH: They appeared just as I needed them most. Unfortunately, when taking cover in the bocage they came under heavy fire - then the AI decided that bocage isn't really cover at all but considered it open ground (there was a thread here about this a week ago). The next cover was scattered trees - towards the enemy. Scrap most of two platoons... But I would have lost that one, anyway.

When playing the citadel scenario, one of my PzIII's bogged almost immediately and was immobilized. Was this a 1-in-1000-chance or is the bogging probability in steppe terrain really something to consider ?

Hey Laurie, Stand Strong was great fun, but moving the guns would have made absolutely no sense at all.

I just read http://www.battlefield.ru/t35.html and I wonder if this monster has made it into CMBB. I understand it saw action in 1941, so it's at least possible to have encountered one on the way to Moscow. But handling a tank with 5 turrets should prove a major pain for the poor programmer who has to write special code for it. Does anybody know ? What about other multi-turreted tanks?

Actually, I'm the defender in this game but I was trying to advance on the map edge with a platoon. Recon is important and maybe you can get into the attacker's flank or back or at least inflict some casualties on moving troops, then fall back. As he has green, slow troops, too, I thought it a good idea. Instead of a single platoon leading the attack, more like a company showed up, so I decided to get away. Possibly my losses were higher than his, so I'm not sure if it was really a good idea.

Awfully simple question, but I always seem to get it wrong... Just assume you were in a PBEM, deep snow, your green platoon is advancing though the wood patches and stumbling upon enemy troops. The firefight turns against you and you decide to fall back a little from the edge of the woods. How? Run? Move? Crawl? Withdraw? Split the squad? No smoke available, not much support from other squads. (Glenn, I hope you don't read this - too embarassing to ask this)

</font> Wasn't a scope used regularly on the heavy version? </font>Only 2 of the 6-man crew man the MG, but the others will be armed, too, and factored in the FP rating</font>The team leader will probably scan the area for targets (with binoculars) while the gunner is occupied with firing </font>

Blitzkrieg Bop (Ramones). Aaahh, this is only a close second to Streisand and Minelli. Wait - Frank Sinatra! Endless possibilities...

"The secret of realism in CM - play green troops", or so someone said. It addresses a lot of those issues. Just a thought...

I wrote a C64 game in BASIC some 15 years ago... I called it Computer Ambush (great title, wasn't it ?), inspired by the VG boardgame. All nazi soldiers you killed were set to coordinate 0,0 (outside the map window) and deactivated, but it had this nasty Bug where somehow they sometimes managed to activate themselves again, walk back onto the map in the upper left corner and mess up my pixel troops. Concerning the program, they were officially dead (0 hit points) and there was no way of killing them again. To me it was pure horror - my old C64 created fanatical zombie nazis, all by itself. Imagine what a modern gigahertz PC with an advanced software could do...

I think the same problems exist with bocage, too. I remember a PBEM where my infantry was lying behind a bocage line. They received fire from tanks and infantry and suddenly, one by one jumped up, crossed the bocage and ran *forward* to the nearest cover - which was full of germans. Needless to say, it was suicide for those two platoons.

Hey JasonC, have you ever thought about putting all your posts together and sell them as the Definitive, Complete and Comprehensible CM Tactics Guide® ? I might even buy one.

What's the best way to attack in close combat? I know about suppression but sometimes you just stumble upon somebody in the woods or you don't have the time/resources to suppress that squad/machine gun properly before going hand-to-hand. Is it worth to split the squad, one half squad going in and the other firing? Is it better to attack a machine gun sitting in a foxhole by moving directly on top of it or to move into grenade range, say 10-20m, and fire?

It's having the right tank for the situation, or using each one as it was meant to be used. Take a Tiger or one of the more expensive Jagdpanzers and park it somewhere on the flank of a large hill where it can play out its advantages - a large gun and thick armor. You won't need more than one or two of those cats, but they can do things no one else can do. Don't move into a dogfight situation, where large numbers of fast allied tanks can flank and destroy you. A Sturmhaubitze 42 is a specialist too, for flattening buildings. Don't use it against enemy tanks. You'll buy one or two of those, no more. You get the idea; a few specialists and all the rest on plain, medium tanks like PzIV and StuGIII. If you like, one or two cheap scouts. I would spend ~2200-2400 pts on infantry (MotInf and/or Volksgrenadiere, you'll want as much plain infantry as you can get, not too many HMGs or mortars). Perhaps buy single companies instead of a batallion. No add. support weapons except 6-8 Schrecks, 2 x 81mm + 2 x 120mm, a few 251/1's and the rest on tanks. Make up teams of 2-3 tanks that work together in the advance - say, a Hetzer (in overwatch) and a PzIV (advancing). Hard to say. Develop a plan according to the actual map (routes of advance, good positions for your Tiger bunkers etc.). Expect to scrap it after a few turns. Don't rush it. Scout with a platoon or less. If they can reach the target alive, the rest of the company can follow. If they can't, the company can't. It's better to reach good positions on your side of the flags and let him do the rushing - under fire. P.S. : I love flanking. Put together a small, mobile force (a Puma and a Panther will do) and move them quickly on the map edge right into his back, while everyone else is busy in the map center. If he discovers you, he might send somebody to deal with that. Good. If he doesn't discove ryou, all the better.

31. Now could the one who's started this thraed please calculate the average and post it somewhere ? Don't know what for ... perhaps av. player age could help BTS decide what kind of sound track to include with CM II. 80's New Wave pop ? Early punk ? Even heavy metal ?

I'm still waiting...

Thin Red Line, I' waiting for your first turn. Have you received your setup ? :confused: Plz mail me at j.ellermann@tu-bs.de

I also think the tempo can be a bit too high sometimes. The thing I thought about was to try and play 2 minutes at a time, i.e. plotting longer moves and then let your next command phase just go by without changing orders. It would lead to more cautious advances since you can't react every 60 seconds to a new situation anymore. Basically, that's another way to add command delays, I think. It will also cause some problems, especially with vehicles. Perhaps they should be excluded. I haven't tried it vs. a human opponent yet (obviously you'd need somebody on whose fair play you can rely , but I will try it against the AI some time. I'm sure it will not comply with this house rule, but it's probably going to loose anyway. Tell me what you think about it.