Akula2

:eek: :mad: :eek: :mad: Eek! No!! Rocky & Bullwinkle aren't nearly as cool as Secret Squirrel and Morroco Mole!! I wish I knew how to post pictures. Secret Squirrel! I think I'm WAY over my smiley limit here. [ November 10, 2004, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

:eek: :mad: :eek: :mad: Eek! No!! Rocky & Bullwinkle aren't nearly as cool as Secret Squirrel and Morroco Mole!! I wish I knew how to post pictures. Secret Squirrel! I think I'm WAY over my smiley limit here. [ November 10, 2004, 09:47 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

Pyewacket made a Map Converter linked it wrong the first time. [ November 10, 2004, 09:11 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

I've always found that panicked/broken/routed units don't try for worse or better cover at all. It seems to me that they are going for complete defilade where no enemy has a line of sight to him. They at least often have the smarts to stick to cover in their attempts. I find this behavior very realistic. I agree with Dschugaschwili when he says,

Trenches are tough. More firepower works for almost any situation. HE never fails to discourage a determined defender. High trajectory shells work nicely. Nothing is a one-size-fits all situation but whenever possible I like to have supressive fire from multiple angles and multiple weapons types. 90 degrees even helps, especially if the HE is limited. Then (if possible) and once the enemy's (hopefully) pinned I try to assault the trench from the edge. This usually often means the enemy can't bring his whole broadside to bear. I try to use a leader with good morale and combat bonuses. If I can get a flamethrower in that corner behind the assaulting units, he's gunna lose that trench to me. If the trench is slightly behind a crest it's very difficult to even supress him. It's worth the effort to work your way around behind him or to the side of him so that crest no longer plays to his advantage. Crests seems to work in the reverse of the height advantage that these guys are tellin ya to try to get against trenches. That's my observations anyhow. Sometimes I just plain bypass this tough nut if at all possible. One of my favorite plays is to ignore it so he's forced to vacate it in order to deal with a crisis somewhere else on the board. someone'll come along and say "smoke!"

Don't forget to review it!!! It's easy!! Just a couple of clicks!! There's also a section for comments!!! (I know you already know this and would probably review it anyhow. I'm just taking my own advice even if I have nothing to do with TSD)

I think those maps look pretty awsome Carl. I especially like the Abbey one.

I'm an infrequent downloader too. I never play against the AI unless I've agreed to playtest a scenario. Whenever possible I try to insist that my pbem opponents pick the scenario. I do this for a couple of reasons that stray from our current topic, but the result is that very often I don't even know what I'm playing. I do, however know that it came from the Depot. I'll start asking my opponents the names of the scenarios. I'd be happy to post short reviews when we're done. In fact, I wrote a few quick sentences on jwxspoons Ponyri Express last night only because I found him posting in this thread. In truth, I didnt think he cared either way. He had plenty of opportunity to tell me to go over there and do it every time I came into irc drunk as a monkey. The depot's greatest tool to get people to post reviews is to make it as easy as possible. I was very pleased last night when I saw that I could rate it with bullets instead of words. It took me 2 seconds and gives both designer and downloader a quick visual of strengths and weaknesses of the scenario. I would say, start simple. Advertise how easy it is with a plea to "please review". Make it full screen before or after the download. Make it upon entering the Depot. Plea often and effectively. Stress how simple it is to just check a few boxes. I have one other point to stress. Ya know what scenarios I remember? I remember the ones that I complained bitterly to myself while I was playing them. I remember the ones that made me fight hard and smart. These are the ones that stick with me. I hated them while I was playing them. I like the evil ones, I guess. (A Cold Winter's Morning played as German and rune's Hedgehog Hell come immediately to mind) I love them all now. Can't you see I even remember the names? I can't remember my own name half the time. Do you guys want me to review these gems directly after I play them? ... or do you want me to wait, cool down and get back my objectivity? Anyhow, thats my perspective for what its worth. Maybe it's unique, but probably not. I also try to get suggestions as to what scenarios to play. This sort of behavior, if exhibited by a number of players will lead to lopsided download numbers for certain scenarios and maybe even designers. I guess that's the way of the world. Theres no sense in complaining about it. It's probably more effective to do something about it by promoting one's battles by word of mouth at every opportunity. If somebody like me posts begging for a 2 player scenario suggestion, you should be "Johnny-on-the-spot", elbow your way into the thread and say, "Hey try this! I made it! Playtesting went well and I think you'll enjoy it! Please post a review at the Depot when your finished. Reviewing is easy. It takes 2 seconds. All ya have to do is check a few boxes. Of course, I would like to know your thoughts also so don't be shy about using the comments section." I bet they play it. I bet they review it. I bet if they like it they play your other stuff too ... sooner or later depending on how evil it is. I've seen Battle suggestion threads scroll off this page without a single reply. My suggestion is to start there and raise awareness about the importance of reviews. EDIT- Perhaps after the first 10 downloads and every 5 after that that weren't reviewed could result in an automated email back to the downloader. This is just a suggestion if anyone is worried about losing people from banning them from more downloads. The email might be something in the line of, "It's come to our attention that you have downloaded 10 scenarios ... blah blah blah ... importance of feedback to designers ... blah blah blah." Be a pain in the arse ... often and effectively. Guilt is your friend! [ November 03, 2004, 06:31 AM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

I'm not an "older player" ... just gettin old. I've strayed away from tcip games in favor of pbems. The pbems are less demanding and are more consistent with my current mood. When I play tcip, I feel as if I'm chained to the computer from anywhere between an hour to three hours with no bathroom breaks. Out of 6 current pbems going on now, only one of them is a QB. The rest are single battles. Pbems seem to be so much less demanding than tcip that more often than not I'm not getting my full CM fix. I'm rough on my opponents too. I usually have their turns back within an hour. If they don't have it back in 8 hours, I'm probably dead or in jail. -RG

Aye. I made the mistake of Reading Red Storm Rising and Hunt. After that I consumed everything by both Clancy and Bond. That led me directly to the Harpoon paper and pencil game. I had already been playing Squad Leader since it hit the market. My interest ebb and flow. I played a number of both Naval and ground games on both the computer and tabletop. I had my grog phases with both also, exploring the "what ifs" and being enamored with big cats. ASL was always a staple in my diet as is (now)casual reading. I'm certain CM has taken it's place completely. I'll be buying Dangerous Waters. I enjoyed it's predecessor very much.

Ageed, they do spot far too well ... particularly buttoned up. Have fun and cheers. -Robert

I guess your arc depends what you expect to be facing and what your gun is. It's often best to get a good idea of what armor is out there before letting the gun fire. In a current AK pbem I'm defending as American against a German assault. I bought 76mm ATGs. I stifled their fire and it wasn't long before I spied a column of assault guns. (towed guns too) Anyhow, my guns were good out past 500m. When I determined where he'd prolly pop out of his rabbit hole, I rotated the guns to that spot and set a narrowish arc somewhere over 500m. The terrain dictated it's shape. My initial stifling arc was 5m. Had I spied a couple of Tigers instead of StuGs, I'd have had to come up with something more creative. Maybe I'd have had to hope they'd pass within 100m of my guns without spotting the trenches they are in. Not likely, but hey ... what's a guy ta do. For sure, I'd be regretting that I didnt buy 90mm AA guns. I managed 2 kills against his StuGs with one gun inside one movie. Not bad. I guess it was just under 500m. My gun is surely gonna perish though. He's too good. Infantry is close and already putting down supressive fire. I'm certain his mortars are on their way up. Still, a good trade. 88 Pak/Flak is great at great distances against almost any AFV as far as I know. They still bark like a Glock 19 though. Though never buy em, when I'm given them in a scenario I try to use them at the greatest distance possible. Same tactics apply though. Ambush. Kill quick and move. Move him if possible after he eliminates a threat. Didnt they do that in real life? If they did they probably did it cause they could measure their life expectency in a matter of minutes. Smaller guns are easier to move too. I don't hold with guns as the ideal offensive weapon. They can work and did in real life, but if they worked so well why did they encase them in steel, put em on tracks and rename 'em panzers. I contend they're ambushers. Even the light skin non-turret Tank Destroyers are ambushers imo.

My experience is that smaller calibre guns are harder to spot also. For instance the 88s seem to bark pretty loud and their size is comperable to maybe a small tank or at least a tankette. Trenches don't seem to help the spotting issue for me either. It seems like the trench at least gets revealed even if the units in it haven't yet. On the other hand, trenches are excellent cover even if they seem to degrade concealment. (at least thats how it seems to me) When defending I almost always put my guns in trenches when they're available to me. I do what these guys are saying. I put a real short covered arc on my guns so they don't fire at the first fleeting target that comes inside their maximum range. When I have a target I'll set another covered arc (often a blue one) to limit his field of fire. Guns seem to rotate to face the centre of their covered arcs so be careful. I don't hide them without reason though. I do rotate them quite a bit once I get a hint of the enemy. (that fleeting glimpse that I didnt waste a round on) I rotate them to where I think that target will show up and present a good shot for me. This makes for quicker kills and possibly multiple kills vs the Borgs. A premptive narrow-ish arc can be used in this case too. On the rare occasion, usually when attacking I'll make covered arcs so narrow as to encompass a single defending unit. This way I can conserve some ammo be deselecting him during my orders phase and be ensured that he's still a priority. It's a supressive fire thing that works best with HMGs vs pesky guns in trenches. It keeps their heads down whilst my armor does it's thing. Of course a HQ with a stealth bonus helps a lot too. The guns experience may or may not help. Doesnt seem so for me though. If you quickly eliminate your target and are a decent distance off, you may try a new very short covered arc and hiding in the hopes the enemy only got a sound contact. Like Meateatr said though, a human will rarely be fooled by this. Small guns have their merit when it comes to sound. This is all just based on my observations from playing. Some or all of it may be totally wrong. [ October 31, 2004, 02:48 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

yup. 50-80 I think. Mine was curved also giving it only a "fair" to kill probability. afaik, all or almost all StuGs have same armor. I could be wrong ... but lets cast some grog bait!

That's lucky. I posted in that "Doh!" thread about hitting my opponent's StuG-IIIG with 2 bazooka rockets. They scored a penetration and a partial. The crew didnt even bail. Several more G's were behind him, all with riders. What happened to my bazooka team can only be described as "extreme prejudice".

They are a disappointment indeed. <--my understated tip of the day.

Aye. They played very much the same though. That sorta got lost on me. I do remember all those Ost Bn. They died well too but they did have a knack for holding road junctions etc. They slowed the Allies and basically enforced the attrition thing that the game eventual ground into. Great game!

Brent caught me. rofl. =D My initial info was, in fact, from TLD. Subsequent info corroberated these facts. -EDIT Thanks Brent.

Gollum hatesess the hedgehog! and all it's prickly bits! Master leeo is tricksty. Yes he is!

Aye. Could be. 21 was tough though eh? Somehow, I keep thinking infantry though. 356 Inf 465 maybe? -EDIT No, that can't be right either. [ October 26, 2004, 04:45 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

There was an entire division in Normandy on D-Day that was comprised completely of improvised and captured equipment. I keep thinkin 352 Inf. but I'm uncertain. I've forgotten most of this trivia long ago. I'll perculate on it and rummage 'round a bit. If I find it, I'll email or post. I'm not much for research anymore. -EDIT This division was a source of very exotic if not completely effective weapons. I think they mostly converted French equipment to some semblence of serviceable weapons systems. Their entire mandate to even remain a Division was to completely scrounge and improvise ALL their equipment. Of course the mix included Chzech, Russian, Polish, and even Italian doo-dads. Amazing. Sun Tsu [ October 26, 2004, 03:13 PM: Message edited by: Akula2 ]

D'oh! I'm playing a pbem scenario now that is described as a meeting engagement. CMBB early war. The terrain is heavily wooded with a road up the middle. There's one flag deep in my "territory", one deep in his. A third is in the middle and on a bend in the wooded road. (big patch of woods) I was given a company of grenadiers mounted on halftracks. Close terrain isn't really their forte. I figured it being a meeting engagement and one patch of trees is as good as another so I'll rush the flag. Maybe I'll get a little use out of these battlewagons. So I careen down the road into the relatively open close-middle of the board into the waiting arms of 2 T-34s. They had obviously started right where they sat looking at me. Early T-34s aren't known for their snappy execution of orders. I lost some half a dozen haltracks and 20 grenadiers in the next couple of turns. I guess I knew it could happen. Scenario setup zones aren't like QBs. I gambled and lost. =) I'm having a ball trying to sort out this debacle! =) YEESSS!! I just watched the movie of another pbem. This time it is a QB. I can't say much in case he reads the forums but I just watched a lone bazooka team ambush an assault gun at 25m. I don't have a solid ID on it. It all happened too fast but It may be a StuGIV. He pumped two rounds into it. This may not sound spectacular but in this particular QB I desperately need an edge. The terrain is unfriendly and the troops I purchased are less than ideal for what the map layed before me. My opponent is just too dang good too. A few more breaks like that and I might just have a chance. Tell ya the truth, I don't get that many breaks in this game. I'm certain that I don't have the best perspective on myself but it always seems to be the other guy getting the lucky breaks. I don't mind. While playing jwxspoons Ponyri Express not too long ago as the Germans a timely and lucky rocket hit took out 2 ATGs, 2 prime movers, 2 lmgs and a kublewagon. I forget what was riding the kublewagon but it survived. Probably a HQ. This was my first and only traffic jam of the game. What luck! =/ P.S. I'd recomend Ponyri Express to anyone that can commit to it. It's a gem.

Imagine this as a mainstream collateral effect of gaming/computer gaming. This is an ideal.

The short answer is ... realistic combat on the squad level scale. why do so many love it? I personally can't answer that. CM is a tactical level game that puts you in control of anywhere from a squad to a regement. It is the premier WWII tactical game of our time. You can either participate in it's sucsess or not. I would recomend evacuating this area if you are not interested in where modern day tactical consideration evolved from. Otherwise, stick around and find out why you do what you do.

This game and the Romanians behind it will be assimilated.