Shosties

Psst, Atlanta-class CL's had 5"/38s; 15 x 6" I think you're thinking of a Brooklyn-class And in The Brawl, both Atlantas didnt do so good (mind you, no one was unscuffed , except USS Fletcher ) with Atlanta pounded by both IJN and friendly fire and sinking later, and Juneau getting her back broke by a long lance, and later obliterated by SS torp while retiring. Gotta love those monster Long Lances though, serious force-multipliers </font>

Yeah, serious torpedo envy on the part of the USN for WW2! Theirs actually went boom ( ), were fast, and had much longer reach than ours. Still, I would have taken the fifteen rapid fire 6" and good radar that the USS Atlanta had. If you miss with torpedoes you've largely shot your bolt. Guns are the gift that keeps on giving. Too bad Adm. Callaghan was old school. As it was, that melee hurt the Japanese significantly. EDIT: as far as going "from worst to best", I think this an unfair label for the USN. Would the RN have done that much better under those conditions? [ May 07, 2004, 12:54 PM: Message edited by: Shosties4th ]

The USN needed to get thrashed around in the Slot before it was learned how best to fight ships with good radar at night (hint: go from the bridge to the CIC!). The Japanese had drilled for this sort of battle for ages (presumably the disappointing results of the night torpedo attack on Port Arthur rankled, and this was originally how they invisioned attriting the US Pacific Fleet as it made its way to the Phillipines from California IIRC). They partly made up for their lack of radar or poor radar by searching hard for folks to conscript with excellent night vision and giving them good optics. Having the Long Lance helped too. [ May 07, 2004, 12:20 PM: Message edited by: Shosties4th ]

Did the Germans ever give the ISU-152 a nickname?

Hmmm. Good question. If the round had ballistic properties even slightly different than normal 155 HE then it would make sense. But in the game, 155mm VT spotting rounds go off just like the following ones, right?

*spotting round of 155mm VT goes off not too far away*

Did they underestimate the club-footed little guy perchance? What did they try to do about Himmler and Goering (admittedly Goering was rather out of it by that point)?

Advice on purchasing: beware of the temptation of buying veterans or above and "really sexy" pieces of gear with significant rarity premiums. Buying green and "plain vanilla" ensures that you come to the party with plenty of rifles, bullets, shells, and AFVs. Learn to use off-board arty. Then go ahead and max out your point allowance on it, going for the most powerful you can get without having to pay too much premium or put up with too much delay (or learn to pre-plan everything if you play Soviet). In general, don't waste points on halftracks (one or two to tow stuff can be useful), recce vehicles, or other "thin crap". Concentrate on squad infantry, assault guns/tanks, and arty on the attack. Heavy machineguns, anti-tank guns, wire, trenches, mines, and TRPs are vital on the defense (pillboxes and bunkers suck because they are easily spotted as full contacts). Proper placement and use of anti-tank guns on the defense is absolutely critical, and will take lots of time and painful experience to learn. Also keep in mind that buying armor by the platoon gives you a "volume discount" as does buying infantry by the company, or even better, by the batallion. Heavy weapons come cheap with the bigger units too. While high firepower is nice to have for your squad infantry, staying power is better IMO so I like squads with more men and ammo. Advice on PBEM gaming: Forget meeting engagements in general; play them only for the occasional laugh. Play attack or assault/defend primarily. Go for scenarios or import maps for QBs rather than settling for the random-generated maps. Be very aware of opponents attempting to put the snow job on you by the force type. German "combined arms" later in the war has a slim armor budget, so insist on "armor" force type with them if you are on the attack, especially against Soviets with "combined arms". If you play Sov and your enemy takes "unrestricted", expect TRP'ed arty from hell on your infantry. OK, that's pretty general. For more specific stuff, use the board search function or try the Anthology of Useful Posts II thread which is "stickied" up at the top of this forum. [ May 07, 2004, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: Shosties4th ]

I remember reading in an older biography of Grant that he was mocked as a young officer fresh out of West Point for appearing, on one occasion, in his new uniform as something of a dandy. It stung too, especially as he wasn't born to high social standing or possessed of impressive stature to begin with. In the Mexican War he saw Zachary Taylor, the king of slovenly-looking but effective generals, in action and looked to him as something of a role model ever afterward.

You got it the other way around I believe. The M16s up to A1 had rifling with 1 turn in 12" to impart spin to the M193. With the A2 that was tightened to 1 in 7" for the M855 (SS109). The spin on the M193 was (so I've read) marginal. It didn't tumble in flight (accuracy would have gone to hell), but it could do wierd and funky stuff on the recieving end (or just as likely sail right on through neatly).

Upper right hand corner of the battle select window. Two buttons labelled "battle" and "operation", to the right of those are the arrows that page up and down the list.

The newbie FAQ (the thread right above this one) is a good place to go. After that you might want to check this one out in "Tips and Tricks". http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=7;t=001648 And there is the manual, of course.

Yeah, there are a few wierd cases where two squads make a platoon, and two platoons make a company. And I was beaten to the punch. Takes too long for me to write and proof-read.

In general... The squad is the basic level of infantry unit. At full strength it will consist of 9-13 men led by a NCO (non-commisioned officer, a sergeant). Under certain circumstances it can be split into two teams (one lead by a corporal) and then reformed again. Three or four squads (depending on nationality and infantry type) make up a platoon. The platoon leader (a comissioned officer - a lieutenant - his senior NCO, and a few enlisted men, will make up a separate unit in CM which is the platoon HQ (headquarters). Having the platoon HQ "in command" of his attached squads (as represented by the red command lines you see when you select the HQ or one of the squads) means less delay time for the execution of orders. Also the HQ unit can have bonuses to stealth, combat power, or morale that will apply to his squads when they are "in command". Teams/crews are 2-6 men that serve a particular heavy weapon like a machinegun, artillery piece, or anti-tank weapon. Often they are grouped into sections or platoons with their own HQ unit. Three to four platoons make up a company. The company has its own HQ, with more men, lead by a Captain. The company HQ does not have squads dedicated to it, but it can assume command of squads and teams that are out of command of their own platoon HQ. A popular use of the company HQ is to spot for on-map mortars and keep some machinegun teams "in command" to act as a "overwatch" or "base of fire" for a company-scale attack. Three to four companies make a batallion. And it has its own HQ unit led by a Major. Larger formations don't enter into the scale of CM. There will be more attached heavy weapons teams at the batallion level. Other than that, there are FOs (forward observers) that call in indirect artillery fire from guns placed off the map, vehicles and tanks, and ground attack aircraft. Armored vehicles can be purchased individually or in platoons (of 3 to 5) with one being the platoon leader/HQ vehicle in a situation analagous to the infantry platoon HQ unit. Does that help? [ February 22, 2004, 07:08 PM: Message edited by: Shosties4th ]

I did some cartoonish playing around in the scenario editor and was a bit surprised at what I found. Don't jump all over me, please, because this is just some tinkering I am reporting rather than a full-out grog test. 1. The 45mm ATG and 37mm AA are, of course, deadly, but will reveal themselves as firm contacts soon after they open fire (range less than 800 m, guns sited quite deep in tall pines), when this happens the remaining SPWs can rain MG fire on the gun and keep the crew's heads down as the remaining distance is closed. Things to try here would be to open up the map to allow longer range fire, give the guns a HQ with stealth and morale bonus, and try more of a "PAK front" style deployment of the guns than I did (SPWs have limited MG fire arc!). 2. The DShK seemed totally ineffective against the SPWs' frontal aspect all the way down to virtually point-blank range. 3. The PTRD's low RoF and weak behind-armor hit effects meant they got little result as the SPWs sped past on "Fast Move". The SPW needs to park within the PTRDs field of fire to get hit enough times to get rattled. Thoughts? Suggestions?

Here is a great one I found last year at Battlefield.ru... DESTROY FASCIST TANKS WITH THE ANTITANK RIFLE!

DESTROY FASCIST TANKS WITH THE ANTITANK RIFLE!

John Ketter posted a link to this site in the CMBB forum and it's an interesting read. Sprocket and idler present themselves from the side.

Thanks for that link.

The range of threats halftracks need to take seriously is generally too great to use them in an aggressive fashion [as infantry carriers] in the context of CM battles [as it initally ocurred to me, some rough tests showed results that surprised me!]. I would say this is especially the case for SPWs in CMBB because of the weak but cheap and stealthy anti-armor assets that often come bundled with the Soviet infantry batallions: the PTRD teams and the 45mm ATGs [having tried a couple test scenarios, the 45mm ATG's stealthiness leaves something to be desired and the PTRDs have trouble doing significant damage if the SPWs move fast because of slow RoF and limited behind-armor effects]. The DShK doesn't seem to be as ubiquitious as the Ma Deuce for American forces, but it should be at least as potent (the Russian 12.7 x 109 mm cartrige is bigger IIRC) [in the rough tests I ran, the DShKs did no damage to the SPWs from the front, I haven't tried fire from positions flanking the SPW advance route though]. There are also the light and medium caliber AA guns too [the 37mm AA is potent but will be spotted like the 45mm ATG and can thus be supressed by the SPW's massed MGs]. These will tend to stay hidden if you present them with just with infantry scouts [at long range, if they are right upon them, then why would the HT rush be needed?] and overwatch tanks. Interesting topic, deserves a good test scenario to illustrate what just what goes on. I just did some rudamentary fiddling. [ February 22, 2004, 03:41 PM: Message edited by: Shosties4th ]

I have noticed the 'has binoculars', but how do you use them? I guess that just means they can spot easier or at longer range than units without? </font>

Hello everybody! I'm behind the tree! Re: dude in the lower left picture... keep your finger away from the trigger unless you intend to shoot, tough guy! :mad:

Jason, could you e-mail these files to me? Thanks.

JasonC's take on how to emulate what the Russians actually did in the context of CMBB... http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=23;t=007977#000019 In essence, buy as many conscript wire FOs as you can (most 76 mm, some 120 mm mortar) and build a barrage fire plan. LOS for the FOs will then cease to be an issue. Naturally this isn't something that will likely work for you right out of the box, but will require learning through experience.

PH, you can remove the first thread I mentioned as it is linked in the first post in the third. New JasonC: Infantry advance illustrated (was infantry advances over open ground)