Sarjen

I do share this frustation in many battles when i play the soviets. Just now i experienced a harrowing view. My T80B1 is driving into the enemy. Many of its company are already dead from invisble enemies. C2 didn't help. Infantry spotted and relayed the contacts to the HQ, but the info didn't trickle down to the tanks. So i just drove my tanks to near (20m) range of the enemy, still seeing nothing. I have recorded this from both views. Playing the soviets is no fun at all.
 
View from the T80B1:
and the view from the US side:
 

I have this morning uploaded the 'final' versions of my creations including:
(1) Normandy and Netherlands Master Maps (7 maps)
(2) ASL/SL to CMBN conversions. (11 Scenarios)
(3) Kandu's Original Scenarios (6 Scenarios)
(4) 82nd Airborne in Normandy standalone scenarios (29 Scenarios)
(5) Mission Boston - Objective La Fiere; a short, five mission, linear, 82nd Airborne in Normandy campaign. A longer version is still in development.
 

This was forwarded to me I and decided to post it here for wider distribution:
https://secure.braintumor.org/site/TR?fr_id=3783&pg=team&syclid=cheq0auf216rlb1pbau0&team_id=91439&utm_campaign=emailmarketing_148425113754&utm_medium=email&utm_source=shopify_email

Just some info regarding the IR capabilities of the T-80s: the early T-80s uses the TPN-3 which is equipped with a much more sensitive infrared image converter assembly than its predecessor. The passive range of the early versions is between 500 and 800m. With the support of the modernized infrared headlight L4A, which had received a more luminous lamp, the visibility in active operation increased to about 1200 m. Still worse than the western technology but still more than 20m as in my video example. 

Exactly this. Thanks domfluff for getting the point through.

The TPN-3 is not a thermal optic. It does have passive night vision out to a decent range, which a lot of the earlier models lacked, but it's not comparable to a thermal optic.

Direct comparisons of those are always a bit deceptive - in the below case, this is looking at something a tiny number of metres away, which isn't really indicative of any kind of real situation, but it gives you an idea of how much of an advantage a modern optic gives you:
https://packaged-media.redd.it/lqjq2oe3zzu81/pb/m2-res_720p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1683761911&s=fce3986b5d013acede59eb3727f2b360cced2c80#t=0

(Ukranian T-64 with thermal sight, compared to the regular one).
The thermals in CMCW aren't going to be of the same resolution to pick out details, but they'll certainly be similar in terms of contrast, and finding hot tanks against a cold background.
 
Of course, none of this minutia is actually the point of this post. The Soviet tanks do indeed have worst situational awareness than the US ones in CMCW. They also have significantly better fire control systems, a much scarier armament, and superior protection. They are in most respects superior to the US tanks, until the generational change that happens with Abrams and Bradley (and to a lesser extent, the M60A3 TTS). This naturally leaps ahead of the Soviet designs, and this was late enough such that it wasn't something the Soviet Union ever really caught up with.

I've mentioned before that I think the best way to approach CMCW is about 1980 or so, and with Strict rarity, if you're playing a QB. The more thermals you add, the more the game looks like Shock Force.

Totally agree. M60 A1's/M-150's/M-1113's vs T-62's/BMP1's/BTR-60's is one of the most even match ups in the series while playing radically differently.

Against high-end US vehicles the Soviets suffer from a noticeable quality gap, but the earlier American stuff is another story. I certainly didn’t feel like I had any kind of technological disadvantages as the Soviets playing Mittelaschenbach for example, rather the opposite actually.

Yes, tanks have very narrow fields of vision, which means that the closer they are to something the less likely they are to see it. Remember, you're essentially looking at things through letterbox-sized periscopes or viewports, and in the case of the gunner through a straw.
To overcome this, they should be used en-masse where possible.
Western doctrine is to fight with the commander at least partially turned-out. Soviet doctrine was to fight turned-in and en-masse.

there is smoke around area , night time +smoke + nou thermals 

It's also night-time isn't it? Bradleys have thermal optics, while the T-80s don't, they have IR lamps which only provide visibility out to something like 100m. And I'm not even sure if they're used.
Edit: yeah it's 4.30AM, so visibility would be very low for non-thermal optics.

I was expecting German forces, as the war is mainly fought in German lands and I think they are a must have, but I have to admit, I also want to see the Brits in the game, and getting the Canadians as well is a great bonus. Looking forward to it, many were requesting it.

This was my first dive back into the world of reshade. Some are better than others (at least to my eye) as I was figuring out how reshade works again and trying out different settings. Not sure why I decided to go with CMFI to test this out, something about this game always seems to pull be back from time to time. It's got a certain character to it. There are a handful of mods alongside the reshade in these pictures. 















 

This former Bradley crewman loves it!

It looks like M2 in Ukrainian service will be called „Kitty Cat” (I do not dare to suggest another name, commonly used for both cats and ladyparts). UA are really good with social media and I love witty videos they usually post - but this one is just too much 🤣😂
 

First of all, my posts are not about who was worse. My posts about disinformation being spread here:
Calling RU evil is incorrect RU needs to be given the benefit of doubt RU is not bad yet etc.  The disinformation above is wrong and must stop. 
You think wrong. German Extermination camps were just German way of mass execution. They must be compared to RU mass executions. RU used different creative ways to mass murder people. When they needed to genocide UKR they used famine. When they needed to genocide Crimean Tatars, they used deportation. Unlike Germans, they used plausible deniability in both cases. The rest was done by gullible westerners who lied that RU needs to be given benefit of doubt - it was by accident; they did not mean it; they are not bad yet. 
 
It is because you have no idea how it worked in reality. They fooled you with labor word in the name. In reality prisoners themselves called these labor camps Extermination-Labour Camps. RU used famine to slowly kill prisoners without much trace and with plausible deniability - it was by accident; we did not mean it. For that they implemented Frenkel Method - they aligned food ration to work norm. Except they calculated work norm in such way that you could never complete work norm to receive normal ration. As soon as you got there you started to die but very slowly.
Quote:
 Welcome to the real world of RU Evil. The world where I was born and the world you know nothing about.  
 
RU attacking Chechnya and committed genocide of Chechens - They are not that bad! There are nuances! RU attacking Georgia twice and committing genocide of Georgians (1,2) - They are not that bad! There are nuances! RU attacking UKR twice and committing genocide of UKR - They are not that bad! There are nuances! The only nuance is that now the Western World does react somewhat to crimes against humanity severely limiting scale of RU war crimes. It is just difficult for Putin to commit crimes on the scale of Stalin. Nothing more, Nothing less.
This is my last post about RU evilness. But I strongly advise everybody who gives RU benefit of doubt to stop talking and start learning - the real world is different Western European school textbooks. 

1000 pages and 1M views, well safe to say that this thread has expunged the shame of the Peng Thread being the largest and mostest longest on the forum.  This is now the Forum Thread of Legend...we well all be able to tell our grandchildren that we were here, and they will all think we are lying about it - which is the exact opposite situation with aforementioned Peng Thread.

I would argue that there are a lot more lessons than that - this war is the first major peer-on-peer war of the 21st century and everyone in professional circles is watching it closely as to what it might mean to our assumptions.  We have gone at length to discuss and analyze possible impacts of this war based on what we are seeing on the ground.  We have pulled in expertise from many corners and view points, some directly in-theatre.
Beyond that, this thread attempts to cut through the massive amounts of mis/dis information and make facts based assessments as they relate to the war, again very often pulling from open source information, which we try and filter through.  As to ghoulish, well I think we try and avoid the worst of it, but a lot of the video streams of combat tell more than simply stuff blowing up and are a necessary evil at times.
In the end if this is not your cup of tea - and I get the fatigue that can come from this thread -  there is an entire forum to go have other discussions; I spin by CMCW to keep up with stuff.  As to "conversation about CM", well a lot here will inform the next CMs, and for many a wargame is not the focus right now as the world has once again become a pretty scary place.

Probably late to this party but if you are screaming for content without realizing that you are getting to witness the discussion and analysis that's going to lead to far better content in the future then you folks have lost the plot completely. In fact, you are reading some of the very best analysis of the war pretty much anywhere. If your sights are set a millimeter higher than the screen in front of you then shouldn't be upset, you should be be ecstatic that you are getting to have this resource.

DMS, Russia has started the most unnecessary war in approximately forever. Then proceeded to wage it with a unique blend of genocidal barbarity and complete incompetence. Russia then turns around and tries to play the victim, and claim everyone is out to get them. To put it mildly that isn't going to work. Russia has managed to focus at  least two continents on ensuring that Russia can't do this again for generations. I mean what did you expect would happen? Putin's fantasy of a quick victory and a parade in Kyiv? That ship hasn't just sailed, it sunk with all hands
I ma going to repeat Von Rundstet's quote to the German high command when it became clear D-Day had been a success. "Make peace, you fools". It was good advice then, and even better advice now. Because if Putin ruins the ENTIRE Russsian army in pursuit of his Ukrainian fantasy Russia will find out how much of its outer reaches are unhappy with Moscow's less than enlightened ruling style. You won't like the answer very much.

SBU was purged hard. It's a bit more complicated than that and involves nepotism, incompetency, cowardice, all under a 'pro-russian lobby gaining some power back' sauce.
Part of that "pro-russian"* lobby is Gerashchenko hence why I, just as Haiduk, strongly advice you to avoid him. Same as I advise you to ignore Podoliak, Arakhamiya and Arestovich as they are from that very same lobby. It's our burden to deal with them.
*It's in quotes because they don't exactly want us to become a territory of Russia like Belarus de facto did, but those people realize they won't be able to be corrupt if Ukraine goes for EU and NATO and hope that they can simply deal with Russia instead, like it was before 2014, with someone more "moderate" than putin at the helm. Of course this will never work out because there are no "moderate" russians as 300 years of history show, but politicians aren't always the most intelligent and educated bunch.

We need more patience. The situation is not bad at all. The implementation of the delivered weapon systems need time and will have more and more impact. More is in the pipeline.
Time is on the side of Ukraine, not Russia. Against the autumn the Ukrainian army will be in a better shape than the Russian army. Putin may be pretending to laugh about the Western sanctions,  but I'm convinced he's bluffing. He knows it will destroy the Russian economy. 
So all we need is patience. And support the Ukrainians as much as we possibly can. Becoming a candidate for the EU is not just symbolic. It means Europe and the US will go all the way. Zelensky knows that, the Ukrainian people know that and they will fight the fiercer for it.
Ukraine will win and be build up again. Proud member of the EU and NATO, as it deserves. Putin will fall and with him the whole rotten country.
Patience.

Both sides downplayed each other's contributions to winning WW2. But there can be no doubt that Lend-Lease was absolutely critical to providing the Soviets with raw materials to make weapons, explosives, and material, as well as in feeding their army and keeping it supplied, something that even Stalin himself acknowledged.
They lost 2/3rds of their chemical industry for making explosives when Ukraine fell in 1941, and it was Lend-Lease that gave them the lifeline. Without Lend-Lease, then the Red Army probably fights with sticks and bayonets in 1943/44.
 

Hello, I used to lurk these forums in the CMx1 days.  Thanks everyone for the great thread, I did not remember to check here until a few hundred pages in.  (Kinda sad to see a few familiar names permabanned or even passed away, RIP Michael Emrys).
As far as I can tell, Ukrainian's will to fight remain very strong.  Without full mobilization, Russians probably cannot militarily win as long as Western support persists.  At this point Russian's main mean to win is more like to wear down the will of the West, and we are just beginning to see the attrition on that front in the form of inflation and economic woes.  I think in some European countries it has been the public opinion that drags their government forward, so it is relevant to track the public opinion.  This is an interesting poll report:
https://ecfr.eu/publication/peace-versus-justice-the-coming-european-split-over-the-war-in-ukraine/
Regarding China, don't overestimate the factor of economic concerns in China's policy and behavior.  In the past few years it has been making a sharp turn to the left and steadily moving towards totalitarianism.  I think the ultimate goal of the CCP is not money, or well being of the people, or even nationalism.  It is the eternal survival of the CCP and its eternal grip on the control over China.  Economy is one important factor, but "national security" has been the keyword of the day for the past few years.
A thing of note is that in the later half of this year, Xi Jinping will seek a third term and possibly a term for life.  There has been speculation that Xi will seek to "resolve" the Taiwan question during his term, as well as speculation that China will attack in the next few years (not necessarily full invasion, possibly attacking outlying islands like Kinmen/Matsu or some islands in South China Sea that is controlled by Taiwan.  When a few months ago some unconfirmed FSB letters mentioned that China was to attack Taiwan some time this year, I think it was not far-fetched (or at least it is not far-fetched that China might led Russia to think they are doing it this year instead of the next).
There is a worrying trend that many in China seems to think that a war with US is inevitable, that the West is in decline and China should push US influence out of the western Pacific.  In that line of thought, a defeated Russia is not in the interest of China, and instead if the West finishes off Russia then they will threaten China through defeat in detail.  In some sense it is similiar to Russia's stance, that you threaten their national security by merely existing.
The fierce resistance of Ukraine and unexpected solidarity of the West in this war probably stunned China, but recently tension around Taiwan intensify again, and it has been aggressively diplomatically pushing into the Pacific (it got sort of a foothold in Solomon Islands and unsuccessfully strike a deal with a group of Pacific states).  Maybe CCP smells blood and thinks the West is weakening.
Apparently there is no one in China that can keep Xi in check, because everyone high up was more or less corrupt in the past and vulnerable to Xi's weaponized anti-corruption campaigns, and they are especially heavily monitored under state surveillance.  He grew up during cultural revolution and is fond of it as well as Mao himself, so better don't count on his sanity.
Xi has just signed a "outline of non-war military operations".  Sounds familiar?  It is supposed to provide a legal basis for China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “safeguard China’s national sovereignty, security and development interests".
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/15/tensions-heighten-in-taiwan-strait-as-china-acts-to-extend-military-operations
China a few days ago claimed that Taiwan Strait is not international waters.
https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/taiwan-strait-is-an-international-waterway-taipei-says-rebuff-china-2022-06-14/
Reuters had an interesting piece on the wargaming the Battle for Taiwan
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/taiwan-china-wargames/
I haven't read the rest of the series but it seems interesting
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/section/taiwan-china/
 

So for the record, calling Jomini a "little conservative" is akin to calling Billy Graham "a little religious" - the man tried to create a deterministic theory of warfare based on geometry, and Clausewitz called him on it...and frankly I think Uncle Carl was extremely conservative by modern standards.
That said, I am not sure what the story is around Severodonetsk to be honest.  I completely disagree with J of the West assessment that Severodonetsk is a "strategic decisive point for the RAF" and by taking it they gain "a pivot for operations" and a "pivot for manoeuvre".  If we look at wiki for the latest situation:

And then a G-Earth shot (I will try and do an MFSF flight later):

None of what J of W is stating as "importance" makes sense.  If this was a break out battle over the river and to take Lysynchansk, maybe.  But his argument that the "undefendable terrain of the western Donetsk Oblast" on the other side of this river, also make no sense as we know the RA advances out of Popasna have stalled.  As have the attempts coming down from the North out of Izyum...this is all the same type of rolling terrain spotty with water features.  The idea that if the RAF somehow takes the far bank town of Severodonetsk it is set up for a rolling breakout manoeuvre battle is sensationalism at best, and applying metrics from the Gulf War to this one at worst.  If the RA takes Severodonetsk, they still have a major water obstacle dominated by a very long ridge line to try and assault, then more urban area, and then rolling terrain which the UA has stopped them on along other axis.  So seriously, WTF "Jomini of the West"?
This battle is likely more along the lines of Verdun albeit what I suspect are for different reasons (I am not sure of the historical angle but Haiduk did mention this was a big fight in WW2).  This is a "I want that" and "you can't have it...jerk" type fight.  The UA is there because it is a spot they can make the RA's life miserable an pull in forces. The RA wants it...well why does the RA want anything?  Likely because Putin has been briefed and figures it is also "really important" for reasons.
This battle is interesting in 1) it is definitely attritional, and 2) it looks like it may be the one spot where the Russians have managed to create information parity (but I have a major caveat to this).  The noise about guns and UA casualties is just that "noise".  The UA is not stupid, that is one thing they have proven in this war.  They would not be holding onto a far bank defence - one they really do not need - unless there was some serious advantage attached to it.  My bet is that it comes down to two things: the concentration of arty and EW.
Lets leverage Jomini for a second and lay it out (in some ways he was not wrong):

I am going to be extremely generous here and say the RA has its guns positioned within 30km of Severodonetsk based on ranges (D-20s do about 18 and the Pions can reach out at about 37, so for arguments sake).  That is a slice of a pizza that is 188 km around.  The Russians can realistically put their guns in about 1/3 of that circle - so about a 63 km arc, which translates into about 942 sq kms.  At "900 guns" that is a density of a gun per sq km.  That is a pretty high density of gun positions - not WWI - but likely the highest of this war.  Further you have all the logistics to support all them guns.  
Finally, the RA has concentrated a lot of EW to try and make this op box go dark for the UA: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-technology-90d760f01105b9aaf1886427dbfba917  All these emitters are pumping out an ungodly amount of EM and easily visible.
So what?  Well there is a lot of talk of Ukrainian losses in this fight, and I believe them.  But war is negotiation and sacrifice.  Those lives are not being spent for the far bank town the UA really does not need.  They are likely being spent to pull in the concentration of arty and EM...so the UA can hit them - attrition, like tracers, cuts both ways.  What is missing from all this is the RA losses on key arty, EM and logistics because  they are concentrating them around and on top of this operationally near-worthless town, that when successfully taken will bring all the joy of a colicky baby because you still have to take that brutal set of ridges...on the other side of a freakin river.
We have no idea how bad the Russians are taking it right now, because "dark box"...but you know who does...the UA.   The one thing all that EW cannot turn off are the space-based ISR assets that the West (primarily the US) are beaming directly to the UA.  All those RA assets are very visible to multi-spectral space-based ISR and I have every faith are being hit regularly in this fight; it is the only thing that makes any sense - the UA are trading infantry for RA arty, EW and logistics right now.  If they wanted to trade infantry-for-infantry they would be doing it from all those ridges, which is the the obvious fallback position.
The Russians on the other hand are trading their own critical resources so that Putin can declare a "great victory" of very little military value - just like they have done throughout this war.