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Sgt. Schultz

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Everything posted by Sgt. Schultz

  1. Off-topic response to redwolf, I agree whole-heartedly on your views re: ammo loadout of artillery. The 1st thing I tweak after purchasing units for the scenarios I design is to click on the 'edit' button and give the artillery FOs what I consider a more realistic amount of shells. I have found that many scenarios send units of all types into battle with what they are given by default, and that leads to either ammo shortages or length-of-battle constraints that do not seem neccesary to me. Some folks may try to get around this by adding reinforcements along the battle's length, rather than giving units more ammo in the first place. My approach is to take the time to edit every single unit I put in a scenario to customize each one for the task I am designing it to do. Scenario design is a labour of love, and should be approached with the same amount of respect you want to get from the folks who will play them. Back on Topic - In the cases described above, I would have to say... use smoke to approach. Leapfrogging the fire from two light mortar FOs with oblique LOS angles will usually give one a rolling smoke screen to use on an approach march into lethal range of your armor. Pick your spot, and smoke your way in. No.. this will not always work or even be possible, but it is a general rule of thumb I try for.
  2. If you are designing your own scenarios/ops, and you like longer battles, then make sure you use the 'edit' function at the purchase screen. Most units can have their ammo count bumped up. Be aware though, that any support weapon that has its ammo increased will lose that extra the first time it moves. As stated above, putting in reinforcements at regular intervals during the battle will help this as well. If it is a very large scenario, try to give reinforcements transport so they may get to the action in good time.
  3. I would show reserves and then move them if that is possible with the specific terrain involved. As Redwolf described earlier, you really want to be able to shift them with minimal to no danger, or what is the point? They might as well be commited to battle. If it is too dangerous due to terrain conditions to move them, I would say keep them hidden until they can cause the most materiel damage to the enemy.
  4. I prefer medium to large maps to allow more flanking opportunities, as well as the plethora of VLs that comes along with the bigger fields of battle. 3,000 points is my favorite. If life would calm down a bit, I would prefer Regimental and even the occasional Divisonal battle, although those would have to be Ops with a 3rd party placing the forces for my opponent and myself.
  5. I have had a crack Russian 37mm drive off one Henschel and then shoot down another. Of course, the next Henschel that arrived duly sprinkled 70+ cluster bombs across my brave 37mm and destroyed it in a vengance attack. Although this is probably a "tips and tricks" kind of discussion, I will relate what works for me. This is a adefensive thing, as you have to expose your armor on attack. One cheap tank in the open, gaurded by your AAA. Hide the other armor assets in best cover available. The enemy plane will come and attack the cheapo armor and draw fire from the AAA. CMBB planes just seem to love attacking armor and AAA 1st, so this will occupy the enemy air assets quite nicely. It seems to me that defenders have the advantage in the air war, as the planes come on early in a QB and will attack friendly armor if that is what they see 1st. Defenders can hide until the planes are gone/destroyed, and then come rumbling out.
  6. 1 Target 2 teeny tiny move order 3 Pause order to suit situation if needed 4 Lather 5 Rinse 6 Repeat It takes practice to get the setup times and move orders down to just get off those few rounds, but it is do-able... it's just a big ol' pain in the keester and mostly not worth the aggravation. Vehicles and armor do this much better than man-portable weapons, as there is no setup time involved.
  7. The way it is now works fine with a little cover, like it is stated above. I don't know how I would take seeing my little pixelated troops moon-walking to the rear while firing from the hip. I would be constantly zooming in looking for John Wayne.
  8. Andreas: The only test I used was a scenario I made and it was a 79 turn variable ending. The 7 turns is by no means a hard and fast rule, but the planes were always at least five, and sometimes up to 10 turns late from the turn they were set to show up on. I could find no way to make planes show up on the exact turn they are placed.
  9. Andreas.. one of the Beta testers once told me that when placing planes in a scenario, always put the reinforcement in about 7 turns before you actually want the plane to show up... unless it is placed "On Map", in which case it will show promptly. I have no idea why this is so, but testing proves this to be correct most of the time. Example: If you want planes on turn 10 put 'em in on turn 3.
  10. In CMBO they might not show up at all. In CMBB they will always show up. The defender has a slight advantage in airpower use, as his unit are hidden, therefore reducing 'friendly fire' incidents. There are a few ways to nullify the effectiveness of enemy airpower by drawing them to non-critical targets.. such as placing both a cheap tank and an AAA unit next to each other in plain view. The planes have a love-hate thing going with AAA, it either attacks them or gets chased off/shot down by them. In CMBB I don't bother with planes but if it's clear I buy the 'bait' pair in case the enemy does. Better to buy something you have more control over if you are playing a QB. If it is a scenario, just watch your back for friendly fire.
  11. I just finished making a partisan attack on german convoys in the fog scenario, and couldn't resist the temptation ... "Guerillas In The Mist"
  12. Korea. - Long conflict, lots of toys, varied terrain. If BFC stays in WWII, I hope they put the whole magilla in one game, East, West, and Med. 39-45 all three fronts. I would pay large dollars for an all-inclusive simulation like that. I also like the suggestion of a blank battlespace with add-ons that plug in the data for each theatre. -------------------------------------------------- ATTENTION GROGS!!! - Do NOT read below this line! It may hurt your eyes and offend you. I don't need to be chased with pitchforks and torches. It's just an idea. ------------------------------------------------- The guys and gals(?) at BFC could create a Combat Mission evironment with a Fantasy General twist. Each player can make his own troops and vehicles by plugging in data into certain multiple choice fields, then save those choices, and build his/her own force from scratch. A "be your own grog" game. For example; Vehicles - each 5mm of armor would add so much weight, ground pressure, slower speed/etc... each gun size would carry certain benefits and penalies, and so on. Track width and other things could have a few choices as well. (if you have ever played Mechwarrior, you know the concept) Everything still tied to a point system like we have now, the more you want on a unit, the more it costs, with certain synergistic cost penalties for 'uber-units'. (extra for any vehicle that has two or more of the top choices on it) Troops could be adjusted by squad size, number of squads per 'toon, number of men per HQ, and ammo&weapon loadout, etc. Make your own Btn and post it to the Net for others to download type of thing. Modular BMP construction so all the combinations fit might degrade the realism of the vehicles a bit, but who knows? It could still be put on a timline for unit capability upgrades, just pick an arbitrary dating system like Y(year)1-6. Same as what we have here, better capabilities as time goes on. We already have a map editor, we could have a UNIT editor. This way BFC also won't have to grind through the history books yet again just to be squealed at by grogs when they miss three small items of historical fact. ------------------------------------------------- "Blasphemer!!" yeah, yeah, I know. I am not suggestioning in ANY way that BFC should ever stop making historical games. I love them, and will pay whatever they ask for CMIII, however they make it. [ March 20, 2003, 08:00 AM: Message edited by: Sgt. Schultz ]
  13. Gordon .... that is fantastic! Amazing detail. If I may take the liberty of helping Mak out ..... A master's work should be shared.... If these tiny samples don't do them justice Mak, I will of course remove them. [ March 15, 2003, 07:30 PM: Message edited by: Sgt. Schultz ]
  14. As far as I have seen so far in CMBB, you can't ram for damage, but you can push vehicles out of the way. I have never witnessed damage to either vehicle from the actual act of pushing, and all contact has been incidental. If you have a "Horatio at the Bridge" situation where you know you are going to lose a tank but you want to hold a bridge, rotate the tank to a 90 degree angle on the bridge so he covers more of the road when he dies. The enemy TacAI will plot around or through his corpse, but it will definitely slow the enemy down as he crosses, giving any forces on your side of the bridge a better shot. Piling up dead tanks on a bridge just makes it worse for following vehicles.
  15. 3,000 point minimum for me to really enjoy the game. The 5160 I get for a 3,000 Assault is starting to seem thin at that. That is roughly two Btn of troops, and two to three platoons of armor with various support if the prices fall my way. I am happiest at the vanguard of a full regimental formation. Especially if it is a 3rd party placement battle where reinforcements can be fed in gradually. A 'kampfgruppe' mobile reserve force with real punch and its own security screen can only be afforded if I go the larger route as well. I have no problem spending the time at level 1 and 2 to get to know the terrain, and once I go over it a few times, the orders phase goes faster every turn. The same goes for the units. I spend time at setup to get to 'know' them and their strengths, position them accordingly, and then they play out their roles naturally if I have done things correctly. The more eyes on target and area fire, the better my chances of crossing that ground as well, so bigger is better for me. Not to mention that my still-feeble CM skills are helped somewhat by a large force's ability to absorb a foolish error or two on my part and still remain a credible force. If I lose a 'toon in a 1,000 pointer I am hurting, I lose one in a 5,000 pointer, I bring another up to replace it and move on that much wiser. [ March 11, 2003, 09:12 PM: Message edited by: Sgt. Schultz ]
  16. Great thread. I learned a lot and am impressed with the future plans for the new engine. The idea of generating in-game TRPs appeals to me. I prefer longer battles, and having a 10 minute or so TRP generation period wouldn't be all that hateful to me. If your scouts are doing their jobs and spot something unexpected, it would seem natural to be able to react in some way, even if it carries a time/spotting round penalty. Of course the enemy now knows you have the area registered if he is paying attention to his borg spotting, but that is neither here nor there, it is stand off on whether he wants to cross known registered terrain or risk a place that might still hold a previously placed TRP.
  17. It seems that are are variables in place with the adjustment option. It may or may not fall where you want it even with numerous 'green line' adjustments. I cancel and re-target. Of course, by then I have usually lost the battle due to timing issues that depended on the arty falling when and where it was supposed to, but my little pixelated troops aren't that important to me. I just request a ceasefire and get another battle going before real frustration kicks in. My latest theory (completely unproven and just to make me feel better when errors happen) is that the larger arty is farther back from the front line as well as having the request going through a longer chain of command, and this allows simulated targeting errors to creep in. 81mm mortars are basically "just over the ridge" behind you, but the big stuff can be kilometers away. A small target error given by a real world FO would be miniscule for a short trajectory, but the farther the shells travel, the greater the possible miss distance. It's like the answer to the great question .. "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?" The World May Never Know.
  18. How about barrel rifling? Was every gun in this discussion a rifled barrel weapon or do they just lob them out a smooth bore barrel?? Were there more rifle turns per barrel inch for an AT gun than an infantry gun for more accurate trajectory? That ought to set the grogs a-quibblin' ... how many turns and numbers of rifling are in each weapon and class?
  19. All that has been said before and this as well..... Check the wind speed before committing to advance under smoke. A windy day will rip your screen away and leave you bare-assed naked out in the open. Smoke is great but practice is the key. You have to have a good idea on the time it will take for the shells not only to fall, but to start generating smoke. Then you have to be confident that the screen will stay up until you have reached your objective. I like 120mm mortar and 105 smoke. It is big and sticks around, even in a breeze. I supress like a madman while waiting for my smoke mission, and at the same time get all assaulting troops as ready as possible by resting them and making sure they have clear lines of advance without a bunch of terrain impediments(houses/etc) in the way. You have to take into account the command delay needed to get your boys off their butts and moving. Then figure how hard you can push them without getiing them all the way to "tired". Make sure that by the time they FIRST expose themselves, the smoke screen is about halfway generated. This means the shells have fallen and about half are blowing smoke. DO NOT smoke right on an enemy or right on your objective. You want to block LOS of the most possible enemy units by screening the area in between. There are of course exceptions depending on terrain and distances involved. Smoke should be adjustable with a green line onto enemy positions, or, if you will need to walk the smoke.. you need to start long and walk the smoke towards you to keep a solid LOS to the target area. Direct fire smoke is great but the russians are short in that dept. Use all that HE to blow up buildings in between you and the enemy and they generate rubble dust that lasts for a while and blocks LOS just fine. If you know the terrain will be open ... load up on the cheapest FOs you can get. Green 120s are my favorite for smokers, but if the wind is still 81mm Mortar FOs will smoke for a while. 105s get expensive but can put out tremendous smoke screens that will last long enough for the slowest lazy bums to get their rears in gear. There are fewer things more beautiful than a properly executed advance under smoke right up to the enemy and he can't do one damn thing about it. He knows you're there and he knows the hurt is coming, but so what? Then you hit 'em right in the lips with adjusted non-smoke arty and lay into them.
  20. Pillbox killer, infantry ravager, HMG hauler. Half Tracks and MG carriers cry in fear upon the sight of the versatile PzII. It is cheap, well-armored for the tasks you set upon it, and has that high rate of fire. Think of it as a Puma that survives longer at the cost of road speed. If the rarity price allows, I would pick PzIIs over just about any scout or armored car in the german inventory. I don't get stupid and buy them no matter what, but if they are affordable, they have plenty of uses.
  21. Watch out with not buying towing vehicles in human v human QBs. One should always be polite and make sure that is OK. A lot of folks I battle with(including myself) request that all towed guns be towed into battle unless a player is defending. That means both players in a ME, and the attacker in all others. In a small battle like a 1000 pointer, those vehicle points can make all the difference in how many guns one buys. As far as actual numbers of AA per game ... I would think you want one for every major element on map. If you are going up both flanks and leaving the center empty, buy 2, and so on. Numbers don't seem to count as much as position. They need a decent LOS to as much area as possible and altitude seems to help as well. Rather than go off topic I will start another thread regarding where to put them and see what we can learn.
  22. In my meager experiments in design, I have found that one never wants more than a Company of troops or a large platoon of vehicles to show up at any one point at any time, unless there is no way for the enemy to have reached a point where he could see any of the entry area. Anticipating the maximum reasonable forward advance for the enemy is hard to do but still must be reckoned with by designers. If you play the AI with lots of bonuses for your side, nothing will prevent teleporting reserves, as you will have inbalanced the scenario beyond its parameters. On the other hand, some scenarios are also historically inbalanced to the point of needing bonuses for one side to compete in a human v human game. That could lead to one side running up on teleporting reserves as well. CMBB does a great job of filling up all available transport, but it can still be a bit scattered and confused as to who is riding where. Possibly setting the troops to arrive on one turn, and the transport to arrive 1 or 2 turns later would be a good compromise. Then the troops can mount up in good order and proceed. Turns must be added and/or the reserves must be placed on an early turn number for this to work well, but it relieves a lot of confusion, as well as compressing each individual entry area. The troops, by entering first, can also be used as a screening force to ensure that there is no teleportation of the armor at least. Moving reserve entry areas back farther down the map as the battle progresses is hard to do in an attack/defend battle, but can lead to fierce constant combat. Just feeding in all reserves from one main support line in the far rear is usually safest, but the defender has to protect his line of support in a realistic way, or you run into teleporting again. Any scenario that has reserves coming in should have some way to communicate where as well as when said reserves are arriving to the individual players. This allows players to know where they have to protect without them having to go in the editor and peek. Peeking blows it for both parties. I use T(number) and (direction)(number). reserves marked in the briefing as so ... T19/E2 would be coming in on Turn 19 on East Road 2. If you don't have roads, use Area. Mark the map with Landmarks in all appropriate spots and then a few more to throw off the enemy. This way both players know exactly what, when, and where everything is happening, for their forces only.
  23. Islands are easy and very doable. Load up my scenario to see many samples of islands and how they can be made to look quite nice. (if I do say so myself) Meatgrinder right click and save to scenario folder in CMBB I like the new way of doing things myself, but can certainly appreciate the opinions of those that would like rivers to actually have some slope to them across large maps. If a stream leading into a river even touches a CORNER of a river tile, that stream auto-drops to the river level. T'was a biotch and a bummer at 1st, but I adjusted. [ November 15, 2002, 06:05 PM: Message edited by: Sgt. Schultz ]
  24. for very large Fictional CMBB scenario. This is for PBEM only and for human vs human play. If you have a friend that likes to battle it out with large forces over varied terrain, this could be a lot of fun. The forces are semi-historical and realistic(IOW, no uber-units), but have totally fictional unit designations. The terrain is editor art and does not relate to any known location. I have had a lot of great help from scenario making masters who have given their input on the nascent versions while it was under construction, so it should at the very least not suck. Meatgrinder right click and save to the scenario directory of CMBB. I need as much input as possible from players so I may enhance it before posting it to The Depot. Please email me at newtron@beachaccess.com with any and all input. Please do not post input here, as folks may be swayed to not try it after it has been tweaked if they see negative input here on the beta version. The turn calculations can run rather long once the battle is under way, but it shouldn't be a comp-locker. Ver1.0 at present and will be upgraded and posted as new versions here as testing progresses. All changes will be posted with each new version.
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