Heartland

Yeah well, I'm not here to convert anybody. But as an aside I was not very impressed with CM:BO, for whatever reason. Nowdays (and for the last years) I'm pretty glad I decided to check the series out again! Anyway, just pointing out that this particular TOAW problem has not been around for the last eight years or so. Someone might get the impression that the problem is still present, which would be a shame. It is a great, very flexible, game system. [ March 27, 2007, 12:19 AM: Message edited by: Heartland ]

The "semi-tactical" engine introduced in 1999 largely removed the problems associated with this, where each tiny AT factor of a large jeep unit was rolled into one big AT factor, causing too large casualties on a Tiger unit. Nowdays each jeep fires a certain number of shots (depending on stance, terrain, etc) that is compared to the Tigers armour value. I have not really seen any Jeep/Tiger type problems since this engine was introduced (before Y2K!). Also note that not all caualties in TOAW are direct kills. Half of the losses are moved into the replacement pool as "mission kills" and soon redestributed to the frontlines. Hence a "kill" in TOAW can just as well be a thrown track, as blowing the turret clean off. At the operational scale this works just fine in my experience.

That's not true in the strictest sense...the Red Army started launching counterattacks the moment the invasion took place. Already in August the major counter-attacks near Yelnya were having some success in halting the Germans. By the way, have just started my first 41' campaign - great stuff! Thanks for your effort!

Thanks for all the good work, Gordon. We need Gordon back...BTS, please fix or do somefink!

Yeah, I've seen several references to this kind of action by primarily Russian tanks. When there was a deep hole that could conceivably contain a nasty enemy, they moved over the trench/foxhole and rotated or "wiggled" in place, efficiently burying the unfortunate occupant and removing the threat. Now, if the occupant had a panzerfaust and felt like taking someone out with him, I imagine the tankers would soon be very uncomfortable.

I would tend to agree. Perhaps we can ask BTS to change the crew bitmap for the Sturmtiger crew to green aliens with tentacles, or perhaps some Zombie Nazis from Return to Castle Wolfenstein? I mean, some people could actually mistake it for being modelled after reality now! "Eat hot plasma, alien scum!" Seriously though. I do think it is just a bit on the silly side, at least the effect of the shell. Sure it was a big gun, but it was no wonderweapon like it is portrayed in the game right now.

Well, that wasn't what I think, it's from an interview with a Russian veteran... Sure it's a long reload time. On the other hand it would be nice to have it modelled realistically. We also have nuke-firing Sturmtigers, so I guess it's a pretty small discrepancy when looking at the big picture...

I think Fly Pusher gets partly credit, for how the Katyushas operated, but still no good explanation for what the crew are doing hanging about. From the veteran page of "The Russian Battlefield", interview with Semion Aria: ---- Have you seen "Katiushas" fire over open sights? Yes, but very rarely because it was risky, and Katiushas were valuable. After all, a Katiusha completely unmasks itself when firing, it raises a large pillar of smoke. That's why we tried to fire only during the dark time. If we fired during the day, the probability of enemy hitting our position increased. That's why Katiushas didn't have stationary firing positions. They had shelters where they stood, and from which they drove out to the firing position. They left immediately after each salvo, so that there wouldn't be time for the enemy to hit them. Also, as a rule, we fired right from the wheels, without using the required supports. (...) How much time between salvos was needed to reload a Katiusha? Not much at all. Maybe 15-20 minutes. A Katiusha crew consisted of 5 men. They managed quickly -- loaded and then, right before firing, inserted squibs into the shells. Did you ever fire a second salvo from the same spot? It happened, but rarely. Usually we tried to fire and leave. We preferred to drive away and load somewhere behind a hillock than fire again from the same spot. ---- So clearly, they were not afraid of killer minks thawing out by loading before firing...