Dr. Rosenrosen

Yeah! I discovered the same thing. Any word on this? Dr. Rosenrosen

When they surrendered to me, all of their survivors counted as prisoners, even all of the little crews scattered about the map. Since I filled out the Favor sheet using the AAR stats for everything else, I thought that I should count all these prisoners. After all that's how they count towards my final percentage score. Or should I differentiate between prisoners taken during the course of the game instead of just at the end of the game? Actually this brings up a bigger question, when I'm on the losing end. If I am defending against bad odds, what's the best way to survive? If I actually surrender or allow my men to be pummeled, my entire battle group ends up being killed or captured. Then I would start over with a new, inexperienced company. The enemy won't agree to a cease fire unless I give him the flags. My options in this case become A) move my battle group into hiding away from the flags, let the enemy have them and hope for a cease fire, or move my men off the map and take the hit for the "Fled Map" setting. Either way, I'd take a major hit to favor, but at least my guys wouldn't be decimated or captured. Any opinions about A or B? Any other options to handle a really bad defensive position? At least when you are attacking against the odds, the enemy will be more likely to give you a cease fire. How weenie is it to cease fire during turn one if the game looks really stacked? Is it worth going to that extreme to preserve your men? Thanks for helping me out. I've only done 2 games now and I can feel the addiction creeping in. Dr. Rosenrosen

First of all, many thanks to those who have responded to my posts. I'm taking the results from my first game (generated by Biltaid) and trying to process things by hand. It's going well and I'm actually starting to get the hang of things. Question about Favor and prisoners. The enemy surrendered and I have lots of prisoners (39). I also captured a handful during the course of the game. In the Prisoners section of the Favor sheet, it separates out the HQ units and the ** tells me that I should count HQ units as a team. (Thus, capturing a Company HQ gives me +4 points no matter how many casualties the HQ received.) For the non-HQ units should I count them as individual soldiers or as squads/teams like I do with HQs? Here are two ways to score my prisoner favor: A) I captured 39 guys, including 2 HQ units comprised of 8 men total. This leaves 31 enlisted prisoners. I therefore get 33 points favor (3 for my first enlisted prisoner and one for each additional). I get an extra 8 points favor because I captured 2 HQ units. Total prisoner favor = 41 I captured 39 guys. This breaks down to 12 squad/team/crew units and 2 HQ units. I get 14 points favor (3 for my first captured squad and 1 for each additional) plus 8 since I captured 2 HQ units. Total prisoner favor = 22 Please let me know which method is correct (or if both are wrong!) Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen [ March 18, 2003, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Rosenrosen ]

I just played my first game using Biltaid and I'm not convinced that this is the best method to proceed. I tried to enter my after action data and it prompted me with a series of questions about using my Favor. I ended my first battle with 50 favor and attempted to spend zero of it. However in the list of favor options (ski troops, night battle, etc.) it wasn't always clear which option resulted in no favor spent and what the alternatives were. Sometimes I even clicked on the X in the upper right of the dialog instead of clicking a choice that I didn't understand. By the time I finished the list of questions, I had somehow spent 10 favor. So I thought that the best way to learn the rules is to do a battle or two by hand so that I understand the automated system better. I'm wondering what automated system is best, if any. Should I continue using Biltaid, switch to the Auto_rules spreadsheet, or just do it by hand? Any tips? Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen [ March 18, 2003, 08:07 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Rosenrosen ]

Seahawk, I like your idea of setting up your battle group in the editor first. This gives more control over names, experience, etc. How do I decide what the HQ units bonus parameters should be? Can I just give them all +2s or is there a rule to figure out the settings for all the HQ units? Similarly, since I can set number and type of antitank weapons as well as ammo amounts in the editor, I'm not sure what to choose here. Should I just accept the defaults or is there a way to figure out the right settings? One other question as I set up my first battle. I'm told to launch a QB and purchase the following: Motorized Inf Co (406 purchase points); Panzer IIC (46 points) Panzer IIIG (85 points); Panzer IVE (116 points). I rolled "infantry only" and it won't let me buy tanks. Do I need to add the tanks in the editor and import them, or do without tanks for my first battle? Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen [ March 17, 2003, 08:14 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Rosenrosen ]

On the v2.2 rules spreadsheet, the Parameters tab prints out extremely small and unreadable. The other tabs print fine. I assume I'm supposed to print out this sheet to use it. How can I change it so that it will print the correct size? I tried copying and pasting that tab into a new spreadsheet, but then it extends onto multiple pages very awkwardly. Also, on the AutoParameters spreadsheet, one of the variables is Player Experience. I'm not sure what to put. I feel fairly experienced with the game, but never with BCR. How does this setting impact the others? I'm gonna give this BCR thing a shot for the first time. Wish me luck! Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen [ March 17, 2003, 06:46 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Rosenrosen ]

Hi Slater, I like both those ideas for scenarios. I'm not sure what you mean about "outside the box" though. Are you referring to smaller engagements with more dramatic context in the briefings? What "regular scripts" are there that your ideas deviate from? Dr. Rosenrosen

You should have a breakdown of the points at the end of the game. Perhaps you could post those if you have them. Since you said you surrendered (involuntarily), I presume that he got the points for the flags. If you got sufficient casualty points to pull off a draw, then it sounds like a fair fight to me. Dr. Rosenrosen

BTS, do you agree this is a confirmed bug? Are you interested in the save game file?

So if this is indeed an acknowledged bug, are there plans for a fix in the next patch? Would reverting to a previous version help with this problem? Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen

Oops. Okay, my pics are slightly confusing since they are targeting infantry at that point and not the buildings. However, since they had the same problem hitting that infantry (and that's when I took the pic), it all made sense to me. So that it can make sense to someone else , here's a pic of the tank attempting to hit the house using area target. Notice the shell hitting in front of the house. Notice also the other craters from his multiple previous attempts. Dr. Rosenrosen

Hi there, I'm not sure if this fits into the invincible gun category or not, but I had a strange problem in my QB game last night. I had several tanks (one immobilized) that could see buildings according to the LOS tool. But all of their HE shots were short of the target. For the most part the buildings were on slopes, and the area immediately around the building was flat, which resulted in a small ledge right next to the building. The tanks were lower in elevation. Even though the MG fire could reach the building, the HE couldn't. And this happened with two (of three) tanks and with almost all the buildings on the map. Very frustrating. Since a picture is worth a thousand words.... Notice all of the craters as these two tanks shot just short of the building and the infantry squad. Here's a closer view. So, if I can't hit the building, the LOS tool shouldn't say I can. I area targeted the building for several turns and ZERO shots hit the building. Naturally I have a Save Game file if anyone is interested. Dr. Rosenrosen [ March 15, 2003, 12:24 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Rosenrosen ]

Uh... which tanks have canister? I know of a couple: T34 (only the 76mm, not the 85mm) OT-34 (again not the 85mm) Any others? Are there any German tanks with canister (besides the captured T34)? Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen

Back to the more sensible portion of the original post.... Why do you need a guard detachment? Can't you just issue a Move order for the prisoner to head for the border? What happens if he's not guarded? Dr. Rosenrosen

Dr. Rosenrosen

Personally, I just grabbed Captain Wacky's gridded snow, steppe and grass and I'm doing fine with it. It appears Strontium Dog has done a similar mod for less common terrain (mud, etc), but I haven't tried them personally. I might if I ever get a game with those conditions (but I try to avoid it!) I haven't compared high-res vs. low-res to see if there really is a visual difference. Try them both out and post some screenies! (Anyone done this already?) Dr. Rosenrosen

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding the question, but you understand that the gun barrel can be adjusted up and down without moving the turret? This means that the tank can be on the safe side of the slope, not perpendicular to gravity and that the gun barrle can be lowered relative to the turret angle and fire just over the top of the hill. If you achieve a target from a good hull down position, you can see the gun barrel lower to aim at it. Dr. Rosenrosen [ March 09, 2003, 05:45 PM: Message edited by: Dr. Rosenrosen ]

Hi there! Thankfully my busy schedule still allows me to read the battlefront forums! In answer to your question, you cannot have both the hi-res grass and the gridded grass installed at the same time. I don't know if anyone has done a high-res, gridded grass tile yet, but that would be the only solution. The reason is that each mod replaces the grass file entirely. If you are in doubt about whether two mods are compatible or not, compare the file names that you are replacing. If two different mods replace the same file, then you have to decide which one you like better. Dr. Rosenrosen

The real answer to this is the "different tanks for different situations" appraoch. However, i agree that these two are good all-around tanks for most conditions. (Give me a flammpanzer or something with canister for the night, thick fog maps.) Speaking of canister, I usually go with the T-34/76 instead of the T-34/85 because the former has canister ammo available to it. I prefer to have something nice to share with the enemy infantry unless I'm expecting the Germans to have the heavy stuff armor-wise. For similar reasons (and for point savings, i believe), I have regularly chosen to use captured T34s as the Germans instead of getting Panthers. Dr. Rosenrosen

This got me interested in finding other tanks that have canister. I know that the T34/75s usually do, whereas the T34/85s do not. I checked out the Soviet tanks described as "Infantry tanks", expecting lots of canister. To my surprise, the Valentine III, Valentine IV and Matilda II (all infantry tanks) don't even have HE! They only stock AP ammo! What gives? What makes a tank an infantry tank? Also, anyone know which tanks (German and Soviet) stock canister? Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen

I only have one mod installed and (as far as I know) it is the only one that really affects gameplay instead of just making a visual change to the vehicles, buildings, etc. These are Captain Wacky's gridded terrain mods. Go to Combat Mission Mod Database and choose D/L Mods Here. Sort by type, sort by terrain and scroll down to the Gridded Grass, Snow, Steppe, etc. This mod imposes a grid of lines across the terrain which really helps a lot to see the changes in elevation very clearly. And it is subtly done so as not to spoil the visual realism. Are there other mods that directly affect gameplay? Dr. Rosenrosen [ March 07, 2003, 09:02 AM: Message edited by: Dr. Rosenrosen ]

Check out this link for a discussion of T34/85 tactics to take out German Tigers. Helped me out a lot. Dr. Rosenrosen

Couple of questions for you experienced tankers out there: What ranks generally serve in the various jobs in a tank? Is the tank commander of every tank an officer, or would an officer only be in the HQ tank in charge of a platoon? Would that be an LT or a higher rank? Among the other roles in a tank is there a hierarchy? Does a loader move up to be a gunner or driver (or vice versa)? If the TC gets injured, which member of the team would take over? Who would take over the new TC's former duties? I understand the roles in a 4-man crew: TC, gunner, loader, driver. Aren't there also 5 or 6 man crews? What do the 5th and 6th crew members do? Thanks, Dr. Rosenrosen

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Athkatla. Any vets out there know of any situations where people were panicked? Is "panicked" even a term that would be used in the military? I would also think that self-preservation would override suicide in almost any situation, but I've never been in combat. Dr. Rosenrosen

Not that I've been involved in this discussion, but the number of pages can be found in these previous threads, so it's not a great test: here and here