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Lucky_Strike

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Posts posted by Lucky_Strike

    Getting into more complex builds. Is it worth it?

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    23 hours ago, NPye said:

    Yeh it runs fine my maps are quite large but they stil run fine, I have 16gb Ram 1 gig vRAM, imac...

    Interesting, your iMac’s graphics card seems to do a very good job of rendering, seemingly better than that of my more recent (2019) iMac. Reading back through this thread I notice that you were using MacOS 10.6.8, out of interest what OS are you using now.

    Also +1 for providing the au naturel screen grabs, it’s good to see how much can still be milked from the old engine ...

     

    10 hours ago, 3j2m7 said:

    and the vegetation is like the one from @Lucky_Strike 

    I think that Mr Pye is using a mix of mods at the moment, I can see stock(ish) trees and bushes with what look a bit like some of Ez’s doodads. Would love to see what he can do with my Hedgerow Hell mods 😉 (sorry for blatant self promo ...)

    1

    WW II German military marches

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    2 hours ago, fireship4 said:

    You could try the 6 part "Original Uncut Version", released in 2004 on DVD and 2014 on BluRay if you've seen the original or directors cut.

    Good heads up 👍 - I think I only have the Director’s Cut at the moment. I remember seeing the full series when it was originally shown on the BBC back in the 80’s - my Dad let me stay up extra late to watch it (gave him an excuse to watch it as well!). Doing a quick Wikipedia search I can see there is a kind of ultimate version disc set with just about everything on it, that should do nicely ...

    0

    WW II German military marches

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Erwin said:

    Didn 't realize there is a new Das Boot:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Boot_(TV_series)

    One more to add to the watchlist, shame it’s taken so long to make a sequel of sorts, sadly Jürgen Prochnow is a bit too old to reprise his role. Oh well, any excuse to watch the fantastic original ...

    8 hours ago, Sequoia said:

    Erika is also in The Mackenzie Break.

    I didn’t recognise the title, but realised I’ve seen this one many years ago, will have to hunt it down to rewatch.

    0

    WW II German military marches

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    34 minutes ago, John Kettler said:

    Lucky_Strike,

    No joy so far in IDing the film/s "Erika" is in, but I did learn the title is both a common German female name and means heather, specifically, its flower. Lyrics follow in German and English. Belly drum, eh? Good one!

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erika_(song)

    Thanks John.

    Oh no, you mean I’m going to have to rewatch all my war movies until I find Erika! He says out loud so as to distract Mrs Lucky_Strike form her latest Netflix binge watch. Who's Erika? She snaps back. Just some flower ... He mutters whilst firing up the Plex media server ...

    See you all in about a year when I finished the War category on my media server, maybe with the answer to Erika ...

    I did actually manage a bit of marching up and down the other night despite the late hour, shook the furniture a bit, but did it in my socks so not too noisy.

    0

    German Panzer crew uniforms in Italy

    in Combat Mission Fortress Italy

    Posted · Edited by Lucky_Strike
    nuttin' much

    On 7/11/2020 at 5:05 AM, danzig5 said:

    Greetings, it has been some time since I have played Fortress Italy and am having great fun playing online with some buddies. One things I have noticed, and lack the knowledge to answer myself, is that German tank crews all seem to be wearing a grey or green colored wrap rather than the more iconic black one, the exception being of course the special SS and Luftwaffe tanker gear. In fact, using the scenario editor to view battalions of armor across all three game years I cannot locate a single black wrap in any formation.

    Were the German forces so uniform equipped with this uniform in Italy historically? Or is this perhaps an oversight? A small issue if so.

    I think what you're mostly seeing depicted is the reed-green HBT (herringbone twill - a bit like denim) uniform issued to Panzer troops from 1943. The HBT uniform was a lightweight version of the black woollen Sonderbekleidung der Panzertruppen (Special Clothing for the Panzer Troops) uniform meant as summer wear. It was similar to the reed-green drill uniform issued to armoured reconnaissance units from May 1941 intended to improve their camouflage. The Panzer crew HBT uniform featured a large pocket on both the chest and thigh, a factory applied eagle national emblem on the chest, and loops and buttons for attaching shoulder boards. Many troops wore this uniform in preference to the heavy black woollen uniform in summer and wore it over their black uniform in winter for additional warmth. The uniform was also issued to, and sometimes acquired by, Panzerjäger, Sturmgeschütz and other armoured crews. 

    On 7/16/2020 at 1:05 PM, StieliAlpha said:

    IIRC, the uniforms of the Sturmgeschütz-Abteilungen were field gray (green), as those units were considered artillery, not tank units.

    They did indeed. Initially Stug crews were issued with a variety of uniforms, however by 1940 a feldgrau version of the black woollen Panzer uniform was issued. This was originally much more grey but as the war progressed the colour varied quite a lot. Also some Stug crews adopted Panzer uniforms, if they were integrated into a Panzer division, complete with death's head insignia. Still others just wore the death's head insignia but on regular Stug crew feldgrau uniforms.

    I had a look at some of the units in the editor, and at some of the .bmp texture files. What I can see is the generic Panzer crews are pretty much all wearing the green wraps with deaths head patches and pink piping, while the Stug crews are wearing green wraps with army style Litzen collar patches and red (artillery) piping. Unless of course the Stugs are part of a Panzer division ... in which case they could wear Panzer uniform (or not!) I don't know what the game chooses in these cases. There are a smattering of black Panzer uniforms - some appear for Luftwaffe Field Divisions (all black), as the OP and Nik Mond pointed out the SS have a mix of black and camo, while the HG have tropical and black. I did see a black uniform in a Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung unit manning the SdKfz 250s.

    By war's end the German uniform situation was a bit of a mess in some respects, although they did innovate in other ways. I like to see the game reflect this. For the Heer Panzer and Stug troops I personally prefer to see a mix of uniforms to depict how the units might actually have appeared. Looking at period photographs for the Italian front it's pretty clear that they often wore the black uniform, or the black wrap mixed with perhaps the HBT trousers. What I'd really like to see is a shirt sleeves uniform and perhaps somebody wearing the overall fatigues, but I think this requires some new skeletons for the troops. (Advertisement) I did a mod last year for CMBN for both Panzer and Stug crews that features the HBT uniform mixed with black or feldgrau. It was based on Ez's excellent uniform mods and could probably be adapted to CMFI quite easily. If you want to have a go at adapting it to CMFI you can download it on CMMODS IV here and here.

    Cheers

    LS

     

    0

    Documenting uniform model/texture problems

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    On 7/13/2020 at 2:44 PM, Lucky_Strike said:

    Two hats better than one ...

    Saw this recently in CMBN seems to affect drivers mostly, but sometimes others as well, notice whole crew is having a bad hat day in pic 1, they can't decide between a soft or hard hat. I think this is an armoured recce unit. It was in an old quick battle I had saved. Never noticed it last year when I was doing some uniform mods, so must assume it crept in with the 4.0.2 updates. Looks similar to the issue pointed out by @DougPhresh in CMFI. Ran a vanilla install with no mods and it still happened.

     

    Have to big-up 👏 @waffelmann  👏for helping me track this down - an old game save was the culprit.

    Shame - quite liked the spies in funny hats feature.

    0

    Scenario editor assets

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    You certainly have a point @RobZ Tell me are the textures used just the same texture as the short hedge repeated and stretched, or does the game have the equivalent of a bocage texture specifically made for tall hedges, would make this doubly perverse. Don’t have FB so can’t check what bmp files it has.

    Bocage, or tall hedges, may be less common in other parts of France and Northern Europe, outside of Normandy, but they most definitely exist. And even in winter a proper thick hedge will provide a significant amount of cover, diminished for sure, but still very useful.

    0

    Documenting uniform model/texture problems

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    33 minutes ago, waffelmann said:

    I checked my units in the scenario editor (july 44), german armoured recce and everything looks ok (Game Version 4.02).

     

    Can you reproduce the apperance in the scenario editor with specific units and dates? Then I will re-check it at my installation.

    But I still think that you have a wrong installation. Maybe a missing pack?

    Thanks. Will try, the QB was quite old and memory is a bit weak. Can you list all the .brz files in your Data folder? Then I can compare. Both my Mac and PC installs were done in the last 6-8 months from an all-in-one full installer with all the BN packs (supposedly).

    0

    Documenting uniform model/texture problems

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted

    24 minutes ago, waffelmann said:

    What were your scenario specifications (year, date, chosen units)?

    I believe you have a corrupted installation. But I can check my visuals, when you tell the circumstandes...

    Thanks Waffelmann. Don't know the exact answers to most of those questions. Date: July 44; Germany Army Mech Infantry, US Army Infantry only; Map: QB-018. 

    Just took a look on my Mac at the same scenario (problems first reported for my PC install) and both issues are identical, spies, funny hats, all there. 

    0

    Documenting uniform model/texture problems

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted · Edited by Lucky_Strike

    Taking prisoners or spies at work?

    Saw this fella when I was looking for other examples of bad hat day. In the same game as the above. I thought at first perhaps prisoner-taking was now a thing in-game, dismounted the kubel's crew and he got out with them armed with an MP40! So not a prisoner, is he a spy? He also seems to be wearing a helmet liner as decorative head gear! Again, a vanilla install, no mods at work. v4.0.2

    spy_1.jpg

    spy_2.jpg

    0

    Documenting uniform model/texture problems

    in CM Normandy Maps and Mods

    Posted · Edited by Lucky_Strike

    Two hats better than one ...

    Saw this recently in CMBN seems to affect drivers mostly, but sometimes others as well, notice whole crew is having a bad hat day in pic 1, they can't decide between a soft or hard hat. I think this is an armoured recce unit. It was in an old quick battle I had saved. Never noticed it last year when I was doing some uniform mods, so must assume it crept in with the 4.0.2 updates. Looks similar to the issue pointed out by @DougPhresh in CMFI. Ran a vanilla install with no mods and it still happened.

     

    hat_trouble_1.jpg

    hat_trouble_2.jpg

    Also not sure what the guy in the kubel is doing - saw this a couple of times, is he doing a new dance? The bunny hop? Shouldn't do this when driving folks, keep both hands on the wheel.

     

    0

    I hate panther tanks

    in Combat Mission Red Thunder

    Posted

    @danfrodo I ran into this exact problem. If you click your profile top right you can manage your attachments under My Attachments. Once an image is added to a post you can delete the attachment in My Attachments and the image seems to remain.

    @MikeyD I notice you have in the order of 500MB of attachment storage! Care to share some around a bit😉 Us mere mortals only seem to get a couple of measly MB.

    1

    Tank Gun Damage

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    15 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

    Thanks a lot. Finally a pic of a barrel penetration that came from the front arc. So it can actually happen. Not sure exactly what angle it came in at, but it's clear it wasn't from a 90 degree side shot. What shell size would you say made this hole?

    Nothing mentioned in the caption, it's definitely come from an angle to the front, not head on, my guess is a 45mm, perhaps a 76mm, I think anything bigger would have decimated the barrel from that angle. I know there's a shot in a PanzerWrecks title that shows a real front on hit to a muzzle brake by what looks to be an anti-tank rifle, would have surely disabled the gun and sent the Tiger back to the Werkstatt!

    0

    Tank Gun Damage

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Lucky_Strike

    32 minutes ago, Bulletpoint said:

    Thanks for digging up all those numbers. Does any of those books include any pictures of a barrel penetration coming from the front? I think that's the important part here.

    No problem, very interesting threads. Yes, here's a few examples from Schneider's Tigers in Combat III which I have at hand. One taking off the muzzle brake, a penetration along the length, and a glancing blow into the the shroud. The last is the result of firing a damaged gun! Yikes! I guess the take away is that the game can't really depict what the damage actually might look like. 

    IMG_2375.jpg

    IMG_2377.jpg

    IMG_2378.jpg

    IMG_2379.jpg

    Do not attempt this at home kids!

     

    3

    Tank Gun Damage

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    57 minutes ago, com-intern said:

    Thanks for bringing stats up for us.


    Over in the tank accuracy thread it appears that gun damage is pretty heavily tied to whether a vehicle is hull down or not. So depending on how you fight you might actually be seeing fewer or more gun damage results. I wonder if more casual players are intuiting that there is a difference but not understanding why. Because it appears that a Panther could reliably wipe the floor of a large number of Shermans if it were in the open while if it were hull down it would lose its gun.

    Yes. Indeed, at distance, in the open, the Panther is always going to wipe the floor with the earlier marks of Sherman. In hull down their ability to withstand hits is severely reduced. Tigers though present a slightly nuanced problem in as much as their mantlets could withstand more punishment. That's not to say though that one should leave them sitting in a hull down position once targeted.

    In Wolfgang Schneider's Tigers in Combat III there are some reproductions of interesting Soviet instruction manuals for tank and anti-tank gunners, issued soon after their first contact with the s.Pz.Abt in 1943. They highlight areas of Tigers to target: frontally - vision blocks, tracks, machine guns, optics and commander's cupolas; from the side - turret side, fuel tanks, between the tracks & upper hull, wheels, drive sprocket, commander's cupola, loader's hatch and gun barrel. All of which seems to tally quite nicely with the kinds of damage reports returned by the Werkstatt. In one of the same documents the gunners are exhorted to Bombard with all weapons, Use guns of every calibre, Throw incendiary devices and use All anti-tank weapons. 

    In the 30 September 1943 report I mentioned above, by a commander in the s.Pz.Abt 506, the types of damage suffered by the Tigers does seem to support how the Soviet troops tackled the Tigers: 6 Tigers lost by direct hits from around 1000m, the tanks burnt out and exploded in enemy territory; 1 Tiger knocked out by a T-34 at 200m by two penetration to the hull side; 4 divers', 4 radio operators', 1 loaders' and 2 commanders' hatches blown off; 8 cannon and 4 gun gimbals damaged; 3 final drives broken by hits to hull armour; 3 instances of armoured cover and 6 of glass viewing blocks of driver's viewpoint shot-up; one armour protection to exhaust destroyed; 15 hatch-cover latches destroyed; running gear of 21 tanks badly damaged by projectiles, including 6 drive sprockets and 2 guide wheels; 6 radiators damaged by splinters from hits on the turret; 14 engines rendered inoperative caused by enemy fire; 3 air intakes and 2 ventilator fans destroyed; etc

    Not to mention some very deaf crews thanks to the hammering on their hulls!

    2

    Tank Gun Damage

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted

    On 6/25/2020 at 7:53 PM, rocketman said:

    Just a wild guess here, but here goes: in the game we can see all enemy tank hits with hit decals, in the war only knocked out tanks left behind could be studied. Not all knocked out tanks were photographed and not all photographs remain to be studied. Perhaps a lot of tanks with gun barrel damage were salvaged and repaired? Are there records of what tank repairs were made, would be interesting in this matter. But perhaps there is a limitation in the engine for the kind of grazing shot a hit straight to the front would be. The incoming shell hits the barrel at a very shallow angle so maybe it doesn't take much for it to skim off the surface and continue. Perhaps the engine detects contact and penetration is calculated making the barrel susceptible to full penetrations?

    Here are some original statistics from Lukas Friedli's excellent volumes Repairing the Panzers (my bold):

    Volume 1 pp190-191 a section on Losses of s.Pz.Abt 503 makes for interesting reading. A 10 October 1943 report for the period 5 July 1943 - 21 September 1943 showed 18 total losses of Tiger I, with 240 Tigers in and out of the Werkstatt (ie recovered or broken down vehicles). Damages/Repairs listed included: 142 technical failures (engine burn outs etc); 227 damages due to shelling (incl 35 turret damages, 19 caused by mines and 2 friendly fire by a StuG, the rest hull damages); 52 weapons damages (6 turret jammed due to PaK hits, 3 turret jammed due to HE hits, 10 KwK 36 inoperative due to PaK hits, 2 mantlets inoperative due to 7.62cm PaK hits, 1 commander's cupola newly adjusted, 12 commander's cupola exchanged, 4 optics inoperative due to shelling, 5 optics inoperative due to normal use, 7 ball mounts due to PaK hits, 2 by friendly fire from a StuG).

    If anything this example shows that damage to the main gun by the enemy was more common than, for example, damage to the optics and mantlet, in this report almost 20% of damages to weapons are to the main gun itself. And what was that StuG up to!!

    Another report, this time in Volume 2 pp60-61, from s.Pz.Abt 506 on 1 January 1944 covering repairs carried out from 20 September 1943 - 31 December 1943 shows Weapon damage: (where the turret needed to be lifted for 40 Tigers in total) 6 gun barrel replaced caused by enemy, 3 mantlet replaced caused by enemy, 2 turret replaced caused by enemy, 1 muzzle brake replaced caused by enemy, 6 elevating gear repairs caused by technical issues, 3 traverse gear repairs caused by technical issues, 12 cupola repairs caused by enemy, 3 visor repairs caused by enemy, 2 visor repairs caused by technical issues, 7 ammo racks replaced caused by technical issues, 6 ammo racks replaced caused by enemy, 12 hydraulic drive fluid renewals caused by technical issues, 5 hydraulic drive control repairs caused by technical issues, 9 MG mounts repairs caused by enemy, 4 hatch lid repairs caused by enemy, 4 firing mechanisms replaced caused by technical issues, 2 recoil brake repairs caused by technical issues, 27 turret traverse mechanism repairs and checks caused by technical issues.

    An experience report by the commander of the same unit dated 30 September 1943 for action over seven days and nights from 20 - 26 September stated that: "6 Tigers were lost from direct hits" (unrecoverable) and "8 guns and 4 gun mantlets were damaged by hits, 3 of them heavily" whilst other damage included "the intercom system failed on17 Tigers due to vibration caused by shelling" (I assume from their own main gun!).

    Again these examples show that main gun damage was quite common and enough to at least require a visit to the Werkstatt.

    The PanzerWrecks series of books does feature a few images of damage to main weapons which appear to have occurred from frontal hits ie chunks taken out of muzzle brakes and glancing blows along barrels. Great source for all you damage nerds out there.

    LS

     

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