Siege

I always thought it would be interesting to institute some type of slding rarity. For instance, if you would pick something with a positive rarity number, then the points cost to pick an additional one after that would be higher. This would help to simulate the fact that less would be available in the supply system, and it would be harder to find more people who would be willing to give up a King Tiger or other powerful unit. Conversely, if you pick something with a negative rarity... then after the first one you choose, any additional ones would cost less as you choose more (It would have to have some type of limit of course, and at much less of a rate than positive rarity). This would simulate units with excess of things they don't want trying to pawn them off on some poor sap that actually wants obsolete or useless units. -Hans

Driver dead, gun inoperative, and The British were coming! the British were coming! If I were in a tank that couldn't run or shoot back, I'd bail too. -Hans

I know the Pink Panther cartoons were out well before the movie, and actually had a panther colored pink. The movie had the same inspector, but it was a diamond called the "pink panther diamond" instead of a furry animal. I didn't know that about the "blown up" stickers in the forming of the SAS. But I do remember the story of the founder of the SBS stealing gun covers off a Royal Navy ship to prove his point. -Hans

I've loaded up garand clips in the past, and to even think about doing it while in the gun and during combat..... forget about it, too hard under the conditions. It's difficult enough to do when you are sitting in a warm dry house and can actually hold onto everything outside of the gun. You would save a lot of time by either shooting it empty, or just pulling the magazine out and putting a full one back it. Lets not mention that if you aren't careful loading the magazine into the rifle, and the bolt catches your thumb on the way forward, it can easily break the bones. The injury even had a name "M-1 Thumb". But you do have to compare it to other weapons in use at the time worldwide such as the 1903 Springfield, SMLE, Nagant and 98k. I'd still take a semi-auto 8rd rifle with quirky loading than a 5rd bolt-action rifle. Just try cycling the bolt on a bolt rifle when you are trying to lay as prone as possibly and you'll understand. -Hans

To answer the question, other than the M-1/M-2 carbine, all .30 cal US weapons used the same interchangeable cartridge. The .30-'06 (.30 caliber government design of 1906). This means that a single bullet could be used in any of the following. M1903 Springfield rifle, M1917 Enfield rifle, M-1 Garand, M1917 and M1919 Browning machine guns (both ground and aircraft mounted), M1918 Bar, Johnson rifle and Johnson LMG. I think there were a couple other limited service rifles also, such as civilian hunting rifles used as sniper weapons that used the caliber. The same round is still very popular in civilian use here in the US. While supposedly a slight bit less accurate than the current 7.62 Nato, it is also a lot more powerful. Between that and the .45/9mm, We really came off on the short end of things with Nato standardization. -Hans

I see your concept there, and I wonder the same thing myself (As I can't afford CMAK until after christmas) However, during the time frame of WWII it would have to be heavily modified Chevrolet trucks used by the LRDG. The SAS and their "Pink Panther" land rovers didn't come about until the 1950's, but were very similar to the LRDG in many respects. In fact, Land Rover didn't even exist until the late 1940's as a response to the flood of US made Civilian and surplus Jeeps. -Hans P.S. Yes, the Pink Panthers actually were painted pink. Seems that it's a very effective camo color in the desert

What he is saying is that the M-1 Carbine used a totally different round (and was a completely different weapon) than the M-1 Garand. The M-1 Garand fired the .30-06 full sized rifle cartridge, while the M-1 Carbine fired the .30 carbine round, which had a short bullet and a significantly smaller shell casing. It was more in the performance range of 9mm pistol rounds. Prior to the war, the US had actually developed a different round for infantry rifles, the .276 Pederson and had intended to introduce the Garand rifles in that caliber. But with war about to begin, and huge stockpiles of existing ammo, it was decided that it was a bad idea logistically to introduce a new caliber for front line infantry without the time to stockpile sufficient ammunition. -Hans

My understanding is that they were historically Ninja horses, and to make it work right they are still trying to find a workaround to allow separate targetting for the horse and what he rides in on. -Hans

Also note on those M1919 and 1917 Brownings that the 1919A6 featured a bipod and buttstock for firing similar to a rifle and all the other versions using the tripod had only a handgrip and basically required either the tripod or other form of sturdy mounting to fire accurately. I have to look up and see if the LMG version of the Johnson rifle ever saw any combat, I know the battle rifle did in limited numbers but ended up being unreliable compared to the Garand, despite having better features for combat use. Also, the M-60 IIRC was never used as a squad level weapon. Being belt-fed, it's always been considered a crew-served weapon. A fire team consists of a primary gunner to carry and fire the M-60 itself, and an assistant gunner to carry the ammo and spare barrels.... just like the MG-42 LMG which it is partly (and badly) derived from. -Hans

How about US tanks and vehicles with the very early tri-color stars? At the outbreak they had national markings the same as US Aircraft... the white star with blue circle background and red dot in the center. Very distinctive looking, which is probably why they got rid of them. Then there are new unit icons for the allies, ANYTHING nicer looking for the "in command" icon. -Hans

Normally a "partial penetration" means something along the line that the round just barely penetrates the armor, but not enough to do anything significant. Like the old APC joke of "it didn't pierce the armor, it just came in one side and rattled around a bit". Still, even the best crews can only stand so many enemy 75mm AP shells littering the floor of their tank before they decide to leave. -Hans

The ammo loads are a bit high, sure. But then again the usability of a lot of the equipment is a bit lacking anyways. For instance, all the talk about indirect fire capability of the MG-42 and M2 is a mute point in CM anyways, because you can only do direct fire. Even in prepared positions with TRP's, if the gunner can't see the target...he ain't shooting. On-map mortars are given a bit of a boost with being able to use HQ units as spotters, giving them some ability to do true indirect fire. But even that is somewhat limited as since they have to be within yelling distance of the HQ and it doesn't matter if the HQ unit is from the same platoon or even a different battalion completely. When the new engine comes out, hopefully their will be a major improvement to the indirect fire model (which deserves a whole thread of it's own, and my wish list is long and detailed)... but until then I'm happy with the really lightweight ammo that my troops can carry in their back pockets. -Hans

I think the past 6-7 turns in a row for me in "Line of Defense" have all involved my poor US troops being strafed by that P-51H. It would be nice for it to maybe take a run at that German Flak that has been shooting at it every turn, but at least the Flak is using ammo for something other than my infantry. I agree, the friendly fire ratio is far too high. -Hans

I see where I went wrong in my post, forgot to keep with my point and got lost in thought. My point was that inside the range of the MG-42, the MG-42 definitely does have a superior indirect fire capability due to the better sighting, mounting and higher ROF. But due to the sheer weight and muzzle energy of the M2's ammunition, it does have a range that extends far past what a .30cal bullet can reach with any effective energy. I was just arguing the quantifier "at all ranges", not the general concept. And the published 1500meter point target range is I believe when used in single-shot mode. I know that in Vietnam that it was occasinally used by sharpshooters with a telescopic sight out to that range against individuals, but after the first shot it just shakes too damned much to hit anything. And lastly, judging by this photo, it's a real uncomfortable and phyiscally intensive thing to use any optics on an M2, this is the PBY mounting with optical sight I was talking about.

I know that some flexible aircraft mounts for the .50 cal did have an optical sighting system. I can scan up a picture of a PBY bubble gunner using one, must have been uncomfortable too. It was found very early in the war (maybe even before our entry) that the recoil of the gun made the optical sights useless. Not sure how well it relates though, considering they were direct fire aircraft defense guns. IIRC by the end of 1942, they all the optical sights removed and went back to the open sights. The rest of your post I will agree with, but I do have to argue this one point. For out to about 500 meters i'd say this is correct, but an M2 is published to have an effective range of 1800 meters for indirect fire, and 1500 meters for direct fire against point targets. A bullet of 1,000+ grains carries a lot more punch to a lot longer distance than one in the 150-200grain area. I also think that 12" is far from accurate for penetration of steel plate. The manual for the M2 only lists a maximum penetration of 1" of homogenous plate at 200 meters with AP ammunition. -Hans

I have a feeling there is a patch coming for CMAK very soon. From what I've heard it adds more theatres, equipment and nationalities. It also expands the timeframe that the game covers. They ship December 5th. I'd say lets wait until the full version arrives before we pass judgement on the Demo and demand it to be patched. They may have fixed some of the issues by then, and we might find even worse stuff in there. Too soon to tell. -Hans

IIRC, the M2 broke down for leg transport similar to mortars. One guy carries the gun body, another the barrels, a third the tripod and everybody else in the crew carries ammo. It really isn't comparable to either the MG42 or the 2cm FLAK at all however. It definitely is far beyond .30 caliber rifle bullets, but doesn't yet work into the explosive rounds that a 20mm starts to deal with. AFIK anything over from 20mm on up is lumped into the Cannon range rather than MG, at least in aircraft anyways. If anything, I'd class the M2 more like the Maxim and 12.7mm DShk which all fired a heavy non-HE bullet. I really wouldn't call the MG42 on a tripod a heavy MG anyways, it's just a different mounting system with the same gun as an MG42 LMG. -Hans

Was doing some digging in the CMAK demo BMP files, and BEHOLD There is a button for "Human Wave" in the correct woodgrain color scheme! Funny, I thought that would have been left behind with CMBB. Explain?!?!

yep, you need to clarify which M3 you are referring to.... there were a bunch. The M3 Light Tank (Stuart) originally had 5 .30cal MG's, 2 in side positions, 1 on the turret, 1 on the roof and 1 coaxial... and later the 2 side guns were removed. The M3 Medium tank (Lee) also had 4 .30 cal guns. 1 coaxial gun, 1 cupola mounted gun, and 2 barely visible guns in the lower front hull that were fixed to fire foreward only. I don't know how useful those 2 fixed guns were, and if they were ever really used... but you're right, they are NOT modeled. I think it may just be calling the gun up in the commanders cupola the "Bow" gun, though it should be treated more like the remote gun on top of a late Stug, since the commander can operate it fully while buttoned. Here is another question, I forgot to look at the crew size in the M3 Medium. Is it 7 like it should be? Still, despite the shortcomings, it's nice to have that butt-ugly monster on the field. And it doesn't seem to operate too badly, even though it does need a couple fixes. I'll wait until the full version arrives before I pass judgement. -Hans [ November 22, 2003, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: Siege ]

Damned metric standardization. I wish they would list a 2pdr as a 2pdr, .50 as a .50, and 3" as a 3". Switching everything to metric is nice and all, but looses some of the charm of picking different nationalities. -Hans

I've noticed a few bad things that will answer some questions here that have and haven't been asked. Took a "Gun hit" today in the demo.... both main guns stopped firing. It didn't specify which took the hit, but it knocked out both the 75 and the 37. The tank survived another 2-3 turns before the crew bailed, with good LOS at a number of tanks, and never fired a shot after the gun hit. Had a tank engage a tank outside the arc of the 75. The 37 fired, and while it said "reloading" the hull would rotate to bring the 75 in line. But it kept pausing for the 37 gunner to aim, which meant a lot of stop-start-stop-start for the hull rotation. I also watched the 75mm NOT fire at a front target, while it waited for the 37mm to come in line from pointing outside the 75mm arc. The 75mm didn't even track the target until the 37mm got within the 75mm firing arc, then they both traveresed in parallel to line up on the target. TAC AI did some odd things too. Watched a half-track turn around and reverse AT the panzer III's. All my armor did some really strange evasive maneuvers that kept putting good flank and rear shots right into them. -Hans

According to the main page, CMAK is shipping December 5th. Oh, Happy Happy Joy Joy! -Hans

I just get back from Vacation, and I notice that on my Birthday you guys announced the ship date and released the demo for CMAK! Wow, I do feel touched! Now if only Dad would finally call or send a card..... -Hans

He doesn't mean they weren't named, but there was just no real overall scheme for the naming. Some were taken over from civilian shipping companies, some were named by their manufacturers, etc... -Hans

The little radio picture on the bottom bar means if he is in command or not. To see if he has a radio or not, pull up the info screen and see if it actually says the word "Radio" in there. -Hans