Nolloff

No, it did. Actually for me this is the first time i´ve seen it without muzzle brake .. Cheers Nolloff See here... Achtung Panzer Sturmgeschütze Jagdtiger.de - StuH 42 [ December 27, 2002, 07:03 PM: Message edited by: Nolloff ]

as always .. you rule, totally! Nolloff

What about this? Encyclopedia of German Tanks Andreas, in case you know both books. Is the one you recommended better? Cheers Nolloff

From "Encyclopedia .." it seems the main reason for the "N" was the better AP capability of the 75/L24 in comparison to the 5cm L/60 when firing shaped charge projectiles plus the more effective HE round. Only 37 were converted to "N" and 663 produced (M completed as N as far as I understand). Might have had the advantage of using aleady existing production facilities for the III vs. converting them to produce different tanks. Nolloff [ December 25, 2002, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: Nolloff ]

Now I don´t want to bend this thread into a direction that originally was not intended but I´d be fairly interested in some further comments that would help me understand recon and real-world behaviour of recon units when compared to what´s usually going on within the scope of CMBB. Most war-games I´ve played seem to emphasize a "recon by death" approach in a sense that when talking about scout or recon vehicles they are very likely to get shot to pieces and by their sacrifice help to reveal enemy positions. It´s likely that both my tactics and playing skills need improvement although I´m aware that speed and cover are my friends. Nevertheless chances to acually gather information with a platoon of scout cars without having 75% or more of them bite the dust seem to be rather low. This might be connected to the rather short distances within tactical level wargames as well as scenario design which to a certain degree focusses on ambushes and well-placed and hidden defenders. Usually there´s hardly a hill or decent spot to observe which wouldn´t guarantee intial front turret penetration. I can well imagine casualty rates being pretty high among recon units but it´s hard to imagine it was really the suicide mission I feel it mostly comes down to. A recon detachment with 6 vehicles wouldn´t press on after 2 got taken out by hidden enemies, be it yet unspotted AT guns or ATRs, wouldn´t it? They´d retreat, report and the next step would be a full-blown attack or a change of the intial plan to attack here. The point made earlier about the CMBB battle taking place AFTER the reconnaisance mission seems to make a lot of sense. Nolloff

You must be right! The truck driver kept taunting and insulting me and I didn´t understand a word. Must be bug or a new v1.01 EFOW feature. Nolloff

You underestimate me. Just the other day I suffered a major defeat against the AI-controlled Germans in a 1250 points QB. I spent the full 1250 points on my Russians and manually purchased 1 Panzerschreck and a truck for the Germans. Maybe I should have set the German casualty level to 50% ... :confused:

Yeehaa!! Now I´ll get my butt kicked ... :eek:

I was very close to post another "Where´s Panzermartin" thread ... THANK YOU!!!!

If you´re playing CMBB "Follow Vehicle" is not an individual command available in the orders menu. You have to place a movement order on top of a tank, then it becomes "Follow". Works within a 50m range. Nolloff

A bit too subtle imho. I rather see him stepping in Braindead-style (the film) during the happy end scene, yelling "The party is over, I kick ass for the Rodina" while the razor sharp blades of his never-retreating lawnmower start rotating. The blood, the gore, the ramming ........... A Master Goodale AAR would appear like a Michael Jackson "Thank you, I love you" message in comparison. [ December 04, 2002, 07:25 AM: Message edited by: Nolloff ]

I´d also work with a cover arc command that makes sure they´ll not fire away at the tank or tank commander until they are close enough to use their AT equipment. I´ve just done the "follow" thing for the first time yesterday and it worked incredibly well although I have to say that in this specific situation "advance" did the trick as well when playing the turn again.

Bye then. Your attitude, and I doubt it´s your grasp of the language, has been annoying from the start. Redwolf would have received a lot less flak and this threat would have gotten to the point quicker wasn´t it for your "contributions". I can´t touch you too. Not that I wanted to. Nolloff [ December 03, 2002, 07:57 AM: Message edited by: Nolloff ]

Old Dog, I never thought a QB could be that good. With maps like this it rocks, totally! Thank you very much! Nolloff

A question: IS2 = heavy breakthrough tank. Understood, as well as the role of the ISUs. But what would a Soviet commander then send into tank combat, assuming that he knows what he´s up to and had the choice. I know this is womewhat theorectical and unrealistic. Would he rather have T34/85 and TDs lead the charge and leave the IS2 and heavy assault guns behind? I know this choice might hardly have ever existed but the portrayal of the non-uber IS2 sounds a bit as if the poor bugger would not have been the better choice vs. German medium and heavy tanks than all the tracked rest in the Russian forcepool. Cheers! Nolloff

Lol, I gave it go. Maybe it makes more sense: Right from the start: With Combat Missian 2, CDV lives up to the reputation of being a publisher for hardcore gamers. This game is not suitable at all for beginners but a hit for hardcore strategy gamers. It´s impossible to portray battles on the PC in a better and more realistic way. Those who love these kind of games will be addicted to CM2 and the immense fun it provides. For this audience the game is almost a must-buy. Due to the immense depth CM2 will provide long-term motivation to continue playing it although it is difficult to master. The difficulty level can get adjusted but newcomers should stay clear of this title. Nolloff [ December 02, 2002, 09:37 AM: Message edited by: Nolloff ]

I do also have some in the 3-5 MB size playing a small map but I haven´t played PBEM before and thought it´s normal. Nolloff

Thanks again. The scan would be great! The last picture at this location www.stalingrad-info.com seems to be the whole Volga bank from (left to right/south to north) northern city center, the two-pronged east-west riverbed which might be the Krutoi ravine, oil refinery, hill 102/Kurgan to the south-east of the tennis racket, tennis racket, another Balka and there must a huge viaduct or bridge crossing it to the right of the tennis-racket,Red October, Red Barricade, tractor works, the joining of the river-beds of the Mokraja Metschetka and Orlovka (seems to be deeply cut-in) and leading to the Volga and finally Spartakowka suburb on the far right. Rynok must start just where the picture ends. Nolloff [ November 30, 2002, 06:17 AM: Message edited by: Nolloff ]

hmmm - maybe 1. Guards Army = 1. Tank Army then the American tanks would rather have been Lees which would fit a description of bulky, easy targets. Nolloff

On Beevor and women: I found the mentioning of female workes from Red Barricade gun plant manning the flak at various places. The Russians placing AA batteries on the high bank of the Volga makes sense. Von Strachwitz must have made extremely good progress. 45km in one day starting at the Don to reach the Volga only 10km north of Stalingrad doesn´t sound like much resistance but mucho surprise. Russian forces attacking the corridor from the north would be 1. Guards Army and/or 66. Army according to what I´ve read elsewhere. The availability date of the Sherman in CMBB matches with the account from 2. Panzerregiment. Not sure what sources CMBB uses to determine the Sherman availability though. I´ll have to look for that other thread. Could you give me a hint where it is please? Thanks for the other answers, links etc. Personally I find what happened before the fight for the city/factories and the encirclement of 6th Amry incredibly interesting. Unfortunately it seems there´s not that much info on the earlier part of the battle. Cheers! Nolloff

AFAIK it doesn´t work (unfortunately). Maps for operations have to be specifically designed after selecting that you want to create an operation. Cheers Nolloff

In the afternoon of August 23rd 1942 the 2. Panzerregiment of 16th Panzerdivision (XIV. Panzerkorps) reached the Volga in the area of Rynok, a northern suburb of Stalingrad. Russian counterattacks from the North cut through the small corridor to the West the Germans had opened and the XIV. Panzerkorps got encircled for a week or more, defending against strong Russian counterattacks (one source mentions first Russian attacks with American tanks). So far my books and Google searches. Does anyone have some additional info, maybe maps of the area around Rynok and more on the encircled German forces? What I´ve found so far describes Rynok as something like a Garden of Eden with vineyards etc. etc. in comparison to the Steppe from where the Germans where coming. There seems to have also been a large railway ferry across the Volga in this area but I haven´t been able to locate it on maps. Thanks Nolloff

In the Yellow-livered IS2 thread I´ve given examples of retreating Germans (seen with my own eyes, on a German computer, in Germany). Cheers Nolloff

Thanks. I see. My understanding of what Steve said was that the number of units does not matter. A unitin sight is not automatically considered a threat. See for example my "test" where I ran the IS2s up on the ridge and getting targetted specifically was enough to make a difference between stay and shoot and retreat What I saw in my games seems to indicate that there is a distinction between number of enemy units and number of threats. Eg. when seen from the perspective of a IS2 facing three or ten PzIVs or being accompanied by five or twenty IS2s does not matter. But getting targetted by two out of the three PzIVs makes a difference compared to a situation where the IS2 is only targetted by one PzIV. At least that´s how I thought it works. Regards, Nolloff

Redwolf, might be a stupid question but maybe I missed this point: I thought the number or units, friendlies or foes do not matter. Seems I missed the "number of threats doesn´t matter part" in this or earlier discussions. Could you point me at where this was said? I was under the impression that the number of direct threats to a unit does matter. Thanks Nolloff [ November 27, 2002, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: Nolloff ]