Three_Oh_Eight

Questions for the more experienced: What is the dimension and coverage of a minefield? Does it match the square graphic visible during set up? Can minefields overlap, to better effect? Thanks!

I've noticed this as well; in my case it's been light, mg armed armored cars tearing them up. Anybody know what the modelling deal is? Is a pillbox not what I think it is vis-a-vis real protection of the occupants from direct fire?

I don't doubt it. But man when they do fire (I bought 3 in my QB... BTW, thinking they were transports... as I said, I'm new), they rip things apart. I think that the AI doesn't key on them like I would playing hth; as support, with squads in front of them, it's the squads that are getting shot at while the M-17s make their ziiippppppper sound.

Been playing for about a week. Too much, but what the heck, it’s only sleep, school, work and family that are suffering. At any rate, rather than spend my limited time theorizing I’ve decided to learn by doing and just get shot up. But in getting my virtual guys killed in droves I’ve discovered a couple things (I think). And these are rather gamey things – I leave it to the pros, the JasonCs and Fionns et. al. to give the real tactical talks. 1) Use the lowest level view possible. As an old wargamer I like and am used to looking ‘straight down’. Even when I do look 3D it’s from an upper position; just easier, can ‘see more’. However! By looking literally from the ground view I notice *all* the little dips and rises, and can often keep out of harms way using them, or exploit an otherwise not obvious LOS to attack. It takes time, but is worth it. Use that ground level view! 2) Running is not bad. With the caveat that you do it either out of sight, OR when the opponent is otherwise occupied. Especially on the defense I find that I don’t manuver enough, partly on the ground that foot troops 1) will ‘never get there in time’ 2) will get shot up on the way and 3) will be useless because they’ll be ‘too tired’ when they arrive. None are true all the time! By using the lowest level view, and tracking along the path I’m going to take I can tell where the LOS will put ‘em in danger, and adjust the path to avoid it. In good weather my Vets ran 200m and were back rested in only a couple of minutes. 3) Quality matters This is all completely opinion, based on about a dozen games, but I’d MUCH rather pay for Veteran or Crack troops than work with lower quality. In QB games ‘Realism’ be dam*ed; I don’t care if there really weren’t that many of them, gimme the best! In working with them against the AI they hold up MUCH better than lower quality, making them worth the cost. The Conscripts and Greens, are brittle as all get out, and even the Regular run like dogs too often. Vet, and especially Crack, troops stand, and when they finally do run rally quickly. 4) Artillery isn’t always fatal. Because… it can be run away from. Really, in the woods even. As attacker the AI had apparently done a first turn bombardment; from the get go rounds were falling on a platoon + HMG, set up in an obvious but vital defense spot. So I took a chance, and Ran the HQ and squads straight back about 85m (to my fall back foxholes actually). Left the HMG, figured it would be too slow, and trusted to luck. And it worked! I think, if blasts mean anything, that at least two of the squads would have taken it on the chin had they stayed. But luck held, the HMG didn’t get hit, and after it looked like the barrage was calming down (after approx 3-4 min), I Moved the squads back into position. Seemed to work well. 5) Use the Covered Arc command. Without it your troops WILL both reveal themselves too soon, and more importantly, waste ammo! The ammo is the biggest hit; in a 30 turn game you will be out of ammo in a whole lot of your troopers by the end. An exception appears to be HMGs, I dunno if they’re just better stocked or what, but they appear to last quite a bit longer than squads in the ammo department. 6) ‘Reverse slope’ works – even where it’s just a few meter dip in the terrain! Don’t think that the only place for reverse slope are Real Hills, the ones that look like hills. Even when the terrain looks relatively flat there may be places where you can get below a ‘crest’. The 3D view takes a while to get used to, and a while longer to use, especially over a modest or bigger size map, but it’s worth it to find those places about 10-20m back from the ‘crest’ that they’ll *have * to come over to get to you. A corollary to this is don’t fire too soon. In my last battle my 20mm had a blue LOS to an attacker, fired for an entire minute, and never hit, instead digging up the ground on the top of the rise! Let him get over the rise and exposed (again, use the ground view); the LOS checker can be deceiving. While old hat to most, hope this helps someone like me. New and stumbling! [ February 21, 2003, 03:36 AM: Message edited by: Three_Oh_Eight ]

Reverse slope is the concept of setting up “behind” “high ground”, aiming at the “crest” that the enemy must come over to get to you. A reverse slop defense sets up facing the enemy, without a line of sight to the enemy, because the rise of the ground in front of them blocks that line of sight. Given flat trajectory weapons you’re safe; behind a “wall” of earth. If he wants to come get you, then he has to come over the rise, and when he appears on top, you shoot. Now the tricky part is that “high ground”, “crest” and “behind” are all relative. It doesn’t have to be a real defined hill, with a crest and all. You just stick to the principle of keeping behind, but facing, higher ground than you’re on that you know your opponent must cross, coming into your sights. Reverse slope is counter intuitive; you give up the high ground, and can’t see what’s happening. BUT, you set up enough firepower targeting the crest that you KNOW he must cross, then just sit and wait. He pokes his head over… Bang!

OK, I'm new, so this is probably old news to all you vets, but I have one word re: halftracks. M-17 Bwahahahahahahahaha! I just discovered in a QB vs 1944 Germans. Ooh. Ooh. Ooh. Look at the Facists fall down! IIRC it was known as "The Chopper"... and it sure shows why in CM!

Must… resist… easy… shot… I give up! And don’t forget that facing matters as well; for example, penetration is often easier from the rear.

From one newbie to another, I can say that using HIDE, at least with infantry, with a set covered arc is way cool. They walk right up and often don't see anything until it's too late. Very satisfying!

Thanks, Tom.

I've looked and don't think these have been asked/answered elsewhere, at least not recently: 1) A h/t crew bails out; it stands ‘Abandoned’. Even after the crew returns to an OK morale status, it will not embark into the h/t. Am I doing something wrong or is this intended? 2) Is there anyplace to see the actual seconds that will elapse as ‘delay’ before an order is executed for a specific unit in the game? Not an overall chart, but the actual time my h/t, say, will sit there *now* before it moves ? (Unrealistic I know… but hey, I’m a gamer!) 3) Is there any way to activate AFV smoke dispensers on purpose? I know it says ‘no’ in the rules, but are there things (movement orders, within so far of an enemy, bu vs. not bu, etc), that are known to trigger smoke? 4) Is there a way to plot the move for a loaded vehicle whereby it moves and the passengers disembark at the end of, or along the route of, movement? There is no ‘Pause’ option for embarked passengers that I can see, and any ‘move’ (debark) orders given to the passenger are executed at the beginning of the turn, before the vehicle has moved. Thanks for the indulgence.

I noticed the anomaly in The Iron Roadblock. Too cool. Thanks! With folks like y'all out there I think I'm gonna love this game.

I got CMBB less than a week ago, and it's 1.02 on the CD.

The same reasons he embarked on such a war in 1939 - the threat of two frontiers didn't disuade the attack on Poland. And at the time there was *no* assurance that the Poles would fold as quickly as they did, no matter the pact with the USSR. Or that France and England wouldn't launch an offensive into Germany - only a few 10s of kilometers advance from the low countries would have put a severe hurt on the Reich! As well, in 1941 it wasn't a two frontier war. Germany was at war with only one other power, and that one was isolated on its island with no ability to threaten Germany. I'd argue that the situation for the attack on the USSR was *better*, less risky (from the view of Germany), than the attack on Poland - a tried and validated military, no threat of attack from the West, an isolated opponent in the USSR, an alliance with a power (Japan) on the other side of the opponent. In short, I have to disagree with the appraisal that war was launched when it was because Germany felt *immediately* threatened by the USSR. War was, in Hitler's view, inevitable, between the two. When it was launched it was the adventageous time for Germany, not because of any Soviet troop build up on the frontier.

Hear, hear. Newbie - old ASLer - and I usually *hate* these pat-em-on-the-back type posts. (They got my $, they should feel complimented enough already! ) But I'll make an exception here because CM has been so *cool* to play. And I've barely scratched the surface. Thanks for the excellent system! Thanks for the huge variety of scenarios! Thanks all round!

Just thought I'd chime in on your beating. (Joke, it’s a joke! Really!) But your assertion is off the mark, and sounds like the result of reading too much German (or German biased), history. The Wermacht was the premiere military force in Europe by virtue of training and their military's 'culture' (starting well before, and having nothing to do with, Nazism BTW). When faced by troops without their level of training and expertise they romped. Most Soviet units had nowhere near parity in this area. This was not the case, however, across the board, and at the tactical level it could easily be the reverse. Global casualty ratios are interesting, but have little to do with a game at this level; this is obvious in that a 1:5 ratio doesn’t mean that every time there was an engagement 5 Soviets died for every German. A series of dead even fights followed by a rout (of which there were many, especially early in the war) will produce the same ratio. In short, the idea that, at the tactical level, all Soviet troops sucked, is flawed. Soviet experts were as expert as the Wermacht. And from my short (short!) time playing the game it seems that this is modelled well using relative experience levels. I’m having a heck of a time attacking with Conscripts!

Didn't make myself clear - trying to get more for the fewest dollars, looking for tips on what I've got now. I'll try the res suggestion, as well as checking my drivers. And showing my PC ignorance... I have little idea what the settings mentioned refer to, and no knowledge of how to get to them. (I'm definitly not a tweaker-for-the-fun-of-it! ) Long in the tooth? Hmmm, bummer. Any suggestions on a good replacement? I'm not a total clod with my PC, having put in HDs, CDRD, memory, modems, over the years, so a new board may be in my skill set. Thanks for the tips. [ February 15, 2003, 09:59 PM: Message edited by: Three_Oh_Eight ]

I’m running both CMBO & CMBB on a Dell, 966mhz, with 256k ram and an NVIDIA TNT2 M64 card. The game actually runs well, with the exception that turning on the Trees noticeably slows down the response when scrolling, selecting, etc. during planning. With Trees completely off it’s great… but wanting it all I’m wondering if there’s anything I can do to speed it up when trees are on. Thanks!

I'm on the left coast, out Oregon way. Can hardly wait. Really shouldn't be so excited though; it's a b**** of a quarter and I don't have any time! Thanks for the scenario tips. I'm sure I'll be back here looking for opponents (once I'm up to speed).

OK. Spill it. When did you place the order? I ordered mine (the pack of both CM games), on Monday. What speed does $7.00 shipping buy me? I'm licking my chops in anticipation. Baffling, given that I'm an old SL/ASLer and love wargames overall, that I'd never put my head up and noticed CM. But them day's are over... soon... Oh yes, any tips on first scenarios to try? I notice the hundreds on the scenario depot site; any standouts? TTFN