Bone_Vulture

Screenshot, please...

Swedish volunteers for the Finns. (Ok, not to insult the brave volunteers. The actual Swedish army of WW2 would be the real horror! )

I know that units can shoot outside their cover arc; according to the manual, this behavior decreases as the observed unit's experience level increases. Perhaps I mistakenly understood from the original post that the unit actually "cancelled" the cover arc, meaning that it removed it completely, instead of just shooting momentarily outside of it.

Ok, I've never witnessed a tank area fire on its own accord, nor have I seen it cancel a fire arc by itself. Tanks can make stupid maneuvers if they are bombarded by off-board artillery though; the scurry away from even the (relatively) tiny 81mm mortar shells. The phenomena you described is hard to believe without screenshots.

That's slightly under 25 meters. Nothing shocking.

Ground doodads cause little strain since they're just two flat 2D sprites slapped together. FPS loss caused by smoke is most likely graphix card related.

The processor still has to compute the aspect and size ratio of every crater each time you rotate your view.

Since I have a poorer graphics card (and it's a Radeon, I might add), I usually use minimum coverage, since trees eat major FPS. And I don't think it's a realism issue, as the LOS of your your troops (which is what you're supposed to see of the field anyway) will stay the same, no matter what the tree density setting is.

Very true. I remember this one legendary case in CM:BO where all of my AT assets very destroyed, save on 37mm flak. My opponent was approaching with a Sherman Jumbo (obviously a truly heavily armored bugger). It entered the sights of my flak, and with major luck, I managed to cleave both the tank's tracks and main gun. After being hammered with a several hundred salvos of ricocheting flak rounds, the tank crew took a hike. Obviously my opponent was rather annoyed.

I've had Hotmail warn me of a virus in a PBEM turn file several times. It might be that the raw text format these files are in sometimes trigger the heuristic scan of e-mail applets.

Glad to hear that. Sadly, I don't remember the link to CM:BB vehicle charts, but you'll probably find it. In the future, pay attention to whether your tanks have cupolas or MG's. Those are very important factors.

Back to the "Peng" thread with you! :mad:

Ok, this clears things up a bit. It's been a while since I've played CM:BB, but if I interpreted the Excel charts correctly, the StugIIIE model does not have a cupola. This fact alone makes the tank very passive and sluggish to acquire new targets on its own accord, if it becomes buttoned. And since the vehicle lacks an MG, it's effectiveness against mobile infantry squads is questionable. I suggest that you focus the HE shells against enemy vehicles, slow moving soft units (field artillery / mortars / MG's), or static fortifications, like the mentioned bunkers, or targets located in foxholes / trenches. You might want to "lock down" a specific (static) target by giving your tank a very narrow cover arc around it. This way it will not attempt to acquire new targets, but will concentrate on this one target. You can also use a cover arc to force area fire near a visible target (in a situation where the target keeps appearing and disappearing, and targeting the unit directly would lead to your tank losing track of it swiftly).

Wait a sec; willbell, what model are your tanks exactly? I am unclear of their MG capacity and gun caliber.

Aren't there some programs (commercial at least) that can grab monitor feed directly? If a program like this is available in some freeware form, I'd be most pleased to know.

Hide might keep the team better in check, but it also eliminates all attempts to return fire, unless the enemy is literally standing on them. Sure, if your team is pinned in the middle of an open field it won't be returning any fire anyway, but it might become problematic if your opponent decides to maneuver his own forces around. Fire supremacy is the key. Since you're the attacker, you should always have more metal than your enemy in any battle situation.

Thanks. I wonder though, has the great forum sage JasonC anything to say about this?

Yes, this started to puzzle me; has anyone ever tried to figure the formula behind this phenomena? Is it just a fixed probability, or is it dependent on vehicle type, model, location of the hit (front/side, turret/hull) or armor quality? Does the probability increase as the round's potency reaches the point where it'd penetrate the armor anyway according to the odds?

*SLAP* Well, now you know it's a Jagdpanzer.

What was the temperature / weather? Also, accuracy varies by round type and velocity.

So it would appear. Although the tank with the narrow optics (usually a Marder) might spot a Russian tank from a longer distance, if it moves inside its FOV. Temperature, however, seems to affect accuracy. In extreme cold weather, German tanks are like snipers. I have my own experience of this (on the receiving side :mad: ).

there seems to be a consensus about the optics here: It would appear that the optics only improve spotting distance, not accuracy. Obviously, some sights also have a narrower field of vision.

Sounds a bit extreme, doesn't it?

You'd hit it... TWICE. Anyway, the Russian 82mm mortar team really is an oddity: I never remember the huge crew size. Can't keep a track on how many times I've based my strategy on hauling mortar teams with jeeps or MG carriers. The results have been most frustrating.

Well, you know: those cartoons were actually deep criticism towards a modern society. An animal who fails fulfill his animal instinct (catching the roadrunner) with the help of man made technology.