B.B.Toys

Piles of hay stacks, perhaps by modding over the Cemetery bmps. Then I can place do-dads around my villages.

I already own Wolfgang Schneider's Panzertaktik: German Small-Unit Armor Tactics and wonder whether there would be any reason for me to want to also get the Nafziger vol. on German armor tactics. Can someone comment on the amount of overlap? TIA, Richard

Many thanks for the replies. I guess nothing can be done if the PzSchreck is hardcoded.

Searched CM:HQ and this forum but found nothing. Can anyone help?

These are good points gentlemen. I did not mean to make an assertion since I have no relevant practical experience here. In fact I was simply guessing from the photograph about the use of tracer bullets. The SS soldier was was loading a MG ammo belt in front of him and has taken care to leave a blank spot after every five bullets. I was assuming that he would then stuff those spaces with tracer bullets (there's a pile of bullets in front of him; can't tell whether they are tracers or not). Perhaps someone can comment on how unusual or common the use of tracers was the eastern front. I'd be curious to know. I don't know about the visibility of WWII tracers (as compared to more modern ones) in daylight but I agree that that would have an impact on their use beyond aim correction by the specific weapon-wielder. I don't remember much night fighting around Kharkov so assumed that they could be seen by troops in day time fighting. And if infantry can see them then the MG gunner, driver and the commander of (esp. German) tanks facing in the right general direction ought to be able to make them out too given some of the better optics aboard. This assumes that they were trying to spot tracers as a way of cooperating with infantry to locate enemy resistance and AT gun emplacments. Does anyone have information about whether there was such a practice in WWII?

Hmmm.... Interesting. Neither CMBO nor CMBB would run for me when I boot with OS X and then load OS 9 in software mode. I remember an earlier thread in which people have said much the same thing in a rather definitive way. I would myself be very pleased to know that I'm wrong here. The inconvenience of having to reboot the computer everytime I want to play a game is the main reason I am still opting to boot in OS 9 even when OS X promises to deliver so much more.

Perhaps Borg sighting isn't completely unrealistic after all given the practice of using tracer bullets (fired from squad MG34s and MG42s) not only for aim correction but also to indicate to friendly forces, including buttoned-up tanks, where they should be firing. I have in front of me a picture of a SS veteran loading tracers on an ammo belt for a MG34/MG42 during the Battle of Kharkov in 'Jan 43. The process of manually replacing every fifth bullet or so in an ammo belt with a tracer bullet must have been very time-consuming esp. given field conditions but it would make sense if it served such a dual purpose. Does anyone know how common this practice was on the Eastern front over the years? Did the Soviets also use tracer bullets to coordinate group targeting?

*Bump* Almost slipping to Page 3...

This would nicely simulate how the Germans used Marders and StuGs in the defensive role. You take a shot at a target and then quickly back out of a prepared hull-down position and move (hopefully sight unseen) into one of several other prepared hull-down positions to repeat the process. Another use of the trigger command may be to allow tankhunter teams with chuckable TNT to run out of cover a certain distance and assault a tank once it has entered a covered arc (which in this case should be pointed in such a way that the TH will hit the tank on the rear or in a flank). This might be a handy (if also very risky) option if limited range of projectile and scarce terrain cover makes it unlikely that a plain hidden TH hunt will be lucky enough to get a tank to wander within effective range. Limited range in this case increases the need for such a trigger since within one minute a tank could easily have come within and then out of (the now slightly extended) range again of a TH team.

You might be able to try out a set of similar moves by creating a scenario on a map imported from the ongoing game. You don't even need to have an opposing force in that case; perhaps just an enemy trench to keep the AI in the game. Although exact placement of vehicles duplicating their location in the game will be tricky, you can still explore the terrain and test LOS etc. This solution somewhat resembles a live exercise and so should seem less gamey than having the ability to make a "dry run" (a.k.a. "try until you succeed")...

Laxx is right. You need to get hold a Mac some time soon this year before new releases come out that will no longer be bootable in OS 9. At present CMBB cannot be played in OS X, even in simulation mode.

Dear John, I am using a 800 MgHz iBook to play CMBB and it works very well. Computing speed is good except for monstrous scenarios such as Seelow Height; but then that would be the case for most computers. CMBB graphics are *not* downgraded it seems with 7500 Radeon video card. The game looks good and plays very well with the new iBook. So enjoy. All best, Richard

Tiger Is did not see action in the Battle of Kharkov due to adverse road conditions; never got to the fight. No Panthers either of course. The SS Panzer divisions used Pz IIIs, IVs, StuGIIIs and various SPGs in the counteroffensive and did rather well. But then they didn't have to slug it out with T34/85s or IS2s either.

Sorry I did mean telephone poles. I notice that you can have 3D for, say, the cemetery. Don't know whether that's two separate BMPs though.

Even Russian village roads show up in photos lined with telephone poles. Is there a Mod for this and if not can one be made? (Hint Hint...) [Edited to show "telephone" rather than "electrical" poles in header and body of post] [ January 18, 2003, 08:34 PM: Message edited by: BBToys ]

*BUMP*

Dear Redwolf, As shown in pics above Ostketten are special track extensions, not wider tracks per se. I seem to think that some German tanks such as the PzVI had a set of narrower tracks for rail transport (to conform to European railway gauge) that were put on/off at railheads; the wider tank tracks were in fact the "normal use" tracks and not designed to cope with winter conditions. Dear Steve, Thanks for responding. I am working away from home but fortunately have a copy of George Nipe and Remy Spezzano¡¦s Platz der Leibstandarte (Christmas present from girlfriend!) to hand. In it I found a goodly number of PzIIIs, StuGIIIs and PzIVs from the Kharkov campaign photographed with Ostketten. Since I¡¦m not sure about the ethics of posting scans of those pictures on the Forum and you and many others no doubt have ready access to this book, I will just refer to pages numbers where I found Ostketten depicted: pp.38-40--Pz IV p.93-- StuGIII P. 97¡Xa battalion of StuG IIIs,, at least five visible in photo (all fitted with Ostketten) p.99¡XStuGIIIs of Pz.Gren. Rgt. 1 p.107¡Xmore StuGIIIs p.121-PzIII p.155¡Xa divisional StuGIII p.174¡XPzIV of 1st Battalion of Regt. "Totenkopf" pp.176-177, 178-179¡X2 PzIVs p.184¡Xa whole bunch of "Totenkopf" PzIIIs (all fitted with Ostketten) Also of interest: see p. 276--Ice cleats being put on a Marder II(?). On some of these pictures we see whole Pz. units, platoons but seemingly even whole battalions and regiments of LSSAH, outfitted with Ostketten. Only PzIIIs (and StuGIIIs on their chassis) and Pz IVs seem to have them, which makes sense. Does anyone here know whether the Kharkov campaign of Jan-Mar, 43 is the first time German vehicles on the famously "boggy" Ostfront were so equipped and what practical effect the extensions had on bogging rates? I suspect their use yielded mixed results for the Germans but doubt whether any hard data is still available. If these contrivances had been notably effective I suspect the German tanks in the Ardennes, for instance, would have been fitted with them (I hope I¡¦m right in assuming that they were not¡XIt just wouldn¡¦t be right to fit "East Tracks" on tanks on the Western Front ). I well understand and appreciate that factoring in the use of Ostketten (along with other added equipment) is impossible with the current game engine. And if CMIII is going to be the Mediterranean theater (Yes!), well, the point will become very moot there as well. In that case, I would want the engine to be able instead to simulate the effects of vehicle dust, mirage, sun direction and glare, offer dynamic maps that can turn out not to be what they seemed at first glance, and monitor the consumption of scarce petrol in an operation ¡K (sorry, just dreaming away) With warm regards and thanks, Richard

If you are playing a scenario against the AI you might try the rather gamey (but useful) trick of seizing one of the flags (i.e., moving some armor up close to claim it) in relatively open ground farthest from where danger might lurk. This should prompt the AI to unleash its previously entrenched infantry to come reclaim the flag. Of course a human player would rarely fall for this one. As I type the above I wonder whether Battlefront might consider adding a toggle for turning on/off automatic AI counterattack mode in CM3. Best, Richard

________ Once in a while, an infantry type hidden underneath a wreck, or behind it and peeking around the corner, (in my experiences), does indeed receive some sort of benefit. To what degree exactly I cannot say. But, I have seen instances of units hidden under wrecks that the enemy units have a very difficult time of seeing, and I've seen units firing around the corner of a wreck where small arms incoming fire is deflected by the wreck. _________________________________ Were these instances during an AI or human opponent game? A human opponent can conceivably not see (graphically) such hidden units especially if in enlargement mode wheresa the AI should have no problems. Best, Richard

Do the lower ground pressures of jeeps and trucks make it less likely that they would set of AT mine fields, thus giving the heavies a false sense of security when they follow in their wake (all this assumes that the jeeps etc. made it that far). Regards, Richard

Is there a list of which German vehicles get fitted with the Ostketten (track extensions to increase surface in contact withground) and should CMBB vehicle data include possible alternative purchases for those so outfitted? Thanks, Richard

Maybe certain house tiles can be coded as if they are also "rough" terrain to simulate houses with "stuff" lying about them such as sheds and woodpiles that would render vehicle movement around them difficult? These can be used together with normal house tiles to create more complex villages etc.? Best, Richard

Do AA guns unhide selectively depending on targets? Specifically do smaller calibre guns 20mm-37 mm etc. open up on strafing and diving planes while higher calibre guns, eg., 88mms, work on level bombers etc. only?

Yes I noticed this after I split a squad in order to occupy two separate rear area victory flags in a battle. In the fighting I annhilated the Russians with 0 casualties but the final battle report lists about ten casualties. I was puzzled for a little while until I noticed the split squad. Should have moved other squads back to claim one of the flags after the fighting has died down and allowed the split up squad to reintegrate.

I have sometimes tried to place HQ units in cover and within command radius but with a small covered arc so that they can spot but will not engage and get shot back at. This seems to work pretty well. The rest of the platoon carries most of the fighting in the meantime. Best, Richard