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Aco4bn187inf

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Posts posted by Aco4bn187inf

  1. This was a case of necessity (a lack of alternatives) being the mother of invention. Based on his location, the IS-2 was unlikely to get LOS to any other HE targets for the rest of the game, so I was willing to use up the HE shells. And concentrated in the target area was the enemy's last functional offensive force, about to launch an attack.

    True, Joe, the severe limits of communication between radioless units are not shown in the game.

    I note that an on-board gun will never get a treeburst, no matter how far the shell passes through trees.

    I guess I shouldn't be surprised the IS-2 shoots so flat, as it is has a gun similar to modern MBT's in bore and length.

    Thanks for your comments, all.

  2. Don't know if this has been discussed before, and some people may disapprove, but here goes:

    In a recent CMBB game I got an IS-2 to do what is virtually indirect fire. I targeted a hilltop in the expectation that some of the shells would overshoot the hill and come down in a certain enemy-occupied area. The key, I think, is to target the most distant point possible on the hilltop.

    The IS-2 fired three shells from about 600 meters away. Two hit the hilltop and exploded uselessly. One passed over the hill, travelled about 80 meters, through some trees, and hit a small house. The 122mm shell destroyed the house, knocked out one halftrack, killed the gunner of another, and likely did other damage to Panzergrenadiers trying to assemble in the area. (Some of my infantry could see into this area, but I was unable to get an HE shooter within LOS of it.)

    Some might say this kind of shooting requires a level of command and control not available in real life in 1944. Maybe so.

    But it's not too hard to imagine a quick radio exchange like the following-

    Soviet commander: 'Heavy tank platoon! There is a mass of German light armor in the lower end of the village! Destroy them immediately!'

    Tank platoon leader: 'I'm still in the valley and I can't see $#!* in the village!'

    Commander: 'Listen, they're near the trees just west of the double column of smoke. Fire as far into the village as you can and let's see what happens!'

    The technique depends upon estimating the trajectory of the shell, the steepness of the reverse slope, and upon luck. The big shell from the IS-2, for example, flies surprisingly flat for a long way. If no hill is available, you could try firing (lower velocity guns) at the very edge of a 2 story building whose ground floor is not in your LOS. Some shells should fly past the building.

  3. Sometimes you have to 'manage' a Tiger rather than kill it.

    Penetrations by 6pdr, for example, even non-damaging ones, can intimidate the player and cause him to withdraw. If he bought Tigers, he had to skimp in other areas. Apply pressure everywhere the Tiger's aren't. Create a situation where he's worried about losing the Tiger to an inexpensive unit. Fire arty smoke on him to make the Tiger irrelevant at critical moments. I have won a couple of games where the enemy Tiger survived but all other German units were smashed. That's good enough for me.

  4. Here I am the first to post on this remodeled forum. Is anyone out there interested in a BPEM game?

    I can do about five to eight turns per week, roughly.

    My computer can handle large maps, but not huge.

    I don't like settings with medium or deep snow.

    Apart from the above, I'm up for anything.

  5. The notion of early war crack Soviet armor platoons would be fictional, I think, though it might make a fun game.

    I have tried to make small scenarios intended to give early war Sov tanks a chance against German armor, but they just seem to disintegrate as soon as the shells start flying. Maybe consider a matchup that is unbalanced in numbers, or with Russians defending in terrain where they can ambush.

  6. The AI is definitely better at defense than attack. In particular it is not intelligent enough to move its infantry properly.

    If the terrain is hilly or dense enough, you don't need a big overall advantage in points to attack successfully- you only need to outnumber the defenders in a chosen area, then turn and do it again in another area. If the map is flat and open then things are harder, of course, but you can try using smoke barrages to isolate certain areas.

    Certain units don't lose much value when they're green- artillery spotters, guns or SP guns firing mainly HE, MG's intended to fire from long range. Basically units who are mostly expected to merely pull a trigger.

    The best is a carefully chosen mix of green and high quality troops. For example, in a meeting engagement, I once used a green infantry battalion to cover and hold territory while a veteran company acted as the spearhead- and the green troops ended up doing the most damage to the enemy. Of course battalions often come with added goodies like arty and heavy weapons companies.

    Certain types of units are really best selected as veteran or better- units that have to react quickly, shoot accurately and 'do things right or not at all'- like Hetzers for example.

  7. Umlaut- These are great creative ideas! I tried to make a similar telephone pole mod once, but it produced poles of two very different sizes, which looked terrible. How did you avoid that? I think I had replaced one of the tree bmp's with a pole image.

    The huge craters as rubble is an excellent idea!

    How about a version of rough terrain, with its vertical doodads, as thick urban rubble? It would have an advantage over regular rubble in that guns could be emplaced in it. I tried to make one once but I couldn't produce a look that I liked.

    Cheers!

  8. JasonC- True enough, those big Katyushas are good. I'll concede also that the German incendiary rockets have an effect on the battlefield as well, when they're available.

    Considering what one reads about the devastating effects or rocket barrages, the less than 30cm types may be undermodelled in the game. Or perhaps they need to be used with multiple batteries on the same target. It seems odd to have seen, several times in CM, an occupied area hit by a rocket barrage and have either zero or a handful of casualties inflicted.

    I follow your idea on the human wave. By 'onto' in this case I mean into good ppsh range in a contested village. Come to think of it, I might consider human wave more often as a way to get smg troops into range of the enemy. I'll have to see how it works out.

  9. Human wave is probably best used against a substantially outnumbered defender, and with the Maxims rattling away from behind. I would use it primarily for its speed advantage, when sporadic fire is expected. Most of the time I forget it's even an option!

    I do like that hurrah, tho, in the same way I like rocket barrages which look and sound cool but never hit enough enemies to justify their cost.

    In my current battle I'm looking for an opportunity to human wave my SMG infantry onto the remnants of a German force that's been utterly hammered by shelling. My opponent has never heard that 'hurrah' before, and he may well soil his Lederhosen.

  10. SPOILER

    I played this last year. I guess it depends on your opponent's decisions about his deployment. If you send the bulk of your men at the factory, you may have trouble getting into the village, once more German vehicles start to arrive on the map. OTOH, if the factory's heavily defended, you'll need to send a lot of men.

    I guess it's a tough one for the Russians.

    As the German, I was able to kill 3 t-34's with infantry weapons when they came too close to the factory. The last one died against my one upgunned PzIII.

    My 37mm gun killed an entire platoon of tanks without being spotted.

    The Russian just needs to not make any mistakes, and to have a lot of luck.

  11. Found these while compulsively googling 'panther tank'.

    http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/02/wwii-nazis-tank-manuals-unexpectedly.html

    It shows a number of pages of cartoon illustrated German tips, rules of thumb and rhymes for big cat crews.

    Includes some very interesting info, like the pattern of shrapnel created by HE shells and how to aim to take advantage of it. Also how to bounce shells off hard terrain to get airbursts. Appropriate range and targets, in some detail, for several types of weapons and ammo, right down to the crew's pistols and grenades. How to get houses to explode like a bomb (as seen in CM graphics), etc etc.

    Very cool.

    Helps if you read a bit of German- perhaps someone whose German is better than mine can do a proper translation.

  12. Individual infantry or support units will often surrender if they are surrounded, wildly outnumbered at close range, reduced to the last man of a gun crew, or in such like situations. If they are not under command of a nearby HQ unit, or global morale for your side is low, that doesn't help either. You'll see it happen soon enough.

    For example, once in CMAK I sent a British squad to hide in some woods and ambush an approaching tank. Well, three or four tanks suddenly came around the corner, within about thirty meters, and the squad just up and surrendered without a shot being fired. Disappointing, but can you blame them?

    When an enemy unit surrenders to you, give him a movement order to get him to safety in your rear area, or off the map. Captured men who survive the game are worth considerable victory points.

    Captured men can 'escape' if the enemy leaves their area and friendly units come near. The escapees don't get any weapons back tho. (And if they're Soviets, they may get a trip to Siberia.)

    By the way, is 3sierra an MOS?

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