undead reindeer cavalry

my impressions are: - the more experienced the men are, the more willing they are to attack enemy vehicles. - HQ platoons are more skilled & eager in taking out enemy vehicles. - it helps if the enemy vehicle is not moving. in my opinion infantry is very efficient in destroying enemy tanks. especially late German infantry.

Finns made mods to StuGs for example by adding logs & concrete to give extra protection. :eek: now, i wonder if a) there are mods that show the logs & concrete? the logs & concrete are modelled in CMBB in any way? what about the switch from MG34 to DT? c) the silly logs & conrete were any good IRL? i guess not. [ November 17, 2003, 01:45 PM: Message edited by: undead reindeer cavalry ]

i love ATRs. they are excellent in stealth operations both in offence & defence. few things are as sweet as taking out a KV with ATR fire. the down side is that ATRs eat points from mortars & HMGs in combined arms battles and require great patience & long battles. a squad of 4+ ATRs is surprisingly effective.

LOL!

any suggestions? EDIT: CMBB maps only [ November 10, 2003, 11:17 AM: Message edited by: undead reindeer cavalry ]

it's been cool, but it could have been better. it's been at least as much about MGs and others as it's been about SMGs.

writing a good AI is damn hard. it's not the abstact ideas or rules of thumb that are hard, it's the technical application of the basics that is so hard. one should start with something simple like coding the pathfinding for a single unit. the basic stuff is pretty easy, a standard A* algorithm should do it. you get an AI that considers both speed and distance. your tank will now have the comprehension to find the fastest route to the target, avoiding driving thru scattered woods and such. but once you start adding things like LOS and known enemy positions, you get screwed big time. add to that cover, other friendly units, issues related to firepower & armor, mission objectives etc etc, you get really really screwed. coding it is HARD. about game AI for those interested: http://www.gamedev.net/reference/list.asp?categoryid=18

it would be great if one could surrender single units on will. sometimes i just feel sorry for my men trapped in desperate situation and wish i could make them surrender having an unit surrender could cost only half the points it would cost to get the unit killed, or something. though i must admit, usually the AI makes the units surrender just fine

out of curiosity: does someone know a better AI what comes to this general style of setting? doesn't need to be WW2, doesn't even need to be tanks and soldiers. just something on the same scale etc. i don't know a single one that would come even close.

in my opinion the optimal contact range in 1942 is 200-500 meters. when it gets to more than 500 meters, the German panzers get ineffective - you need multiple shots & hits and that just isn't going to happen. when it gets to less than 200 meters, the speed & fast turrets of some Soviet tanks give the Soviets too much advantage. on the 200-500 meter range you don't need to flank the enemy. just split your panzers into pairs and spread them around a bit. that way the Soviets are forced to stop on that 200-500 meter range, because if they move forwards some of your pairs will get flank shots. by spreading the pairs, you get an extra minute or two of 200-500 meter fighting. this doesn't need to be a defensive position, if it sounds like one. just spread the pairs a bit and try to limit the contact to that 200-500 meter range. don't get obsessed in terrain. don't look too hard for cover. don't be afraid to use open spaces. favourable positions are over rated. once the battle starts the terrain is more or less irrelevant. timing is of essence. just move to positions that give you the 200-500 meter range. in armored battles the lines of advance are very fluid and dynamic. there are no real flanks so there isn't much point in trying to flank. counterflanking is easier than flanking. the best solution is a direct full speed head-on clash with a proper sense for timing. you get the initiative and Soviets are unable to maximize the lethality of their focused superior firepower, moveability & artillery support. in my opinion sneaking, hiding and flanking work only if the enemy doesn't know what he is doing. [ October 23, 2003, 08:15 AM: Message edited by: undead reindeer cavalry ]

Deathdealer, yeah, i think L43 and L48 are about the same. i do get kills, but they are less common than i would expect, judging from the stats. for example, i frequently kill Soviet JS2s with Finnish StuGs with 75/L48, but usually the shots aren't effective. perhaps it's just my subjective experience. but i'd love to know if there is some important factor that can't be seen from the stats

I WILL MAKE THIS FORUM UNHAPPY! :mad:

i still feel as if visiting Disney Land :eek: for example, is it the +3 dexterity bonuses bestowed by the Atlantic sea fairy queen, that makes it a strategical advantage when you have to ship all the goodies across the Atlantic?

this is something i have always wondered: if one looks at the stats, the 75/L43 gun should be able to kill any Soviet tank face-to-face from 1000 meters. [except ISU-152] however, this does not seem to materialize on the battlefield. why? is the penetration margin just too slim, so that randomness steals the much needed last 10 millimeters of penetration? or is the punch just too weak, so that even while the shot is able to penetrate the armor, it won't cause enough damage?

time for a reality check [ October 13, 2003, 04:31 AM: Message edited by: undead reindeer cavalry ]

the battle is over. the enemy has surrendered i set my lines some 40 meters off from two victory locations, so that my troops would ambush the enemy infantry taking over the victory locations. and it worked. enemy infantry (two companies) got wasted around the two flags. the 150mm guns both scored only 7 kills, but their fire broke the soviet morale, causing commies run in panic to the fire of my infantry squads & MG42s. actually, direct hit from a 150mm gun didn't do much damage to a soviet pioneer squad. the squad just got a nice crater to hide in the only moment of pain was when a T-34/85 flanked from south-west: i lost my stug needless to say, the T-34 got KOed fast by the panzerfausts of my squads :mad: other losses were one gun tracktor (grrr!) and a stürm squad. most squads had only 0-2 losses. it seems 150mm guns are very hard to detect until they start firing. even then they are pretty invisible. on these conditions i will definately use these pretty guns in future battles.

now this is unreal. i thought my posts were pathetic offtopic waste of bandwidth & human life, but this is degenerate even on my standards. i'm impressed.

doesn't sound like advancing in snow would make a squad go from rested to tired in 10 meters, as the claim has been. getting under fire while in snow is a game over situation anyway. nowhere to go, except underworld. [ September 17, 2003, 10:24 AM: Message edited by: undead reindeer cavalry ]

squads won't tire after 10 meters of walking in snow. they won't tire after 10 meters of running either.

yeah. funny thing hmm. perhaps i should google about historical military utilization of the reindeer.

visibility is 46 meters. what kind of indirect fire missions you have in mind?

i like it how the invinsible ATR fire makes the enemy commander stressed, sometimes causing him to make hasty decisions. same for the tank crews. ATR squads rarely get wasted, so you won't lose victory points so easily.

put on all that battle gear and try moving 10 meters more than kneedeep in snow. then do the same, but this time run & duck, run & duck the 10 meters. you will get tired. very tired. you simply don't do infantry attacks in snow. it's a suicide. what you do is you blast the enemy away with big guns and then walk in and defend those positions.

a report from the front. the game is progressing slowly due to illness (no, not a mental condition this time) so it's only turn 4 at the moment. i decided to stick to my original plan and just pack my troops closely and try to ambush the commies near the victory flags. to just sit down, drink some vodka and let them walk in. the 150ers haven't fired a single shot yet (hey, it takes 2 turns for them to setup), but otherwise it's been good. i have wasted about 10 commie squads while my own losses are 3 men (toast to them, may they reign in valhalla!). there are no worries. lots of ammo, vodka & commies left. ok, here's a map. kinda small, i know, but it will have to do for now. ha, love that stürm platoon position at the north. flanking poor sobs trying to flank me from the north *grin*

i have found myself in a peculiar situation. i am playing a ME set at nigth with fog & rain. unfortunately i didn't know about this setting, so i bought, amongst other silly things, two 150mm infantry guns. planned to tear apart some commie butt, you see. now, what to do. at the moment i am planning to just pull the guns (fast, with gun tractors, on a road) to a position near one flag, and hope that some enemy infatry will materialize to get wasted big time. a sort of ambush. and thereafter just shoot blind defensive fire to the general direction of the evil commies. i fear this plan will fail dramatically. any better ideas? any hints or tricks on how to make use of these monsters on these conditions? visibility appears to be 46 meters *insane laughter*