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stikkypixie

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Posts posted by stikkypixie

    So are German forces "better" on average?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Apart from what I wrote in my post on the previous page there are a few additional things that in theory could be modeled. In reality I'm not sure they'd add much to the great game that BF provides.

    As it currently stands the units doesn't seem to react to the general state of the battlefield. The individual squads all consist of die hard ice-cold professionals. Even if the squad next to or in front of them gets blown to pieces they happily trod along their waypoints as if the screams of the dying had no effect on them.

    I take it you haven't played CMSF? Because that is in already, if only by being out of C2 alone.

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    So are German forces "better" on average?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    So to get away from an historical analysis of the Normandy Campaign, and return to the original premise of this post, I would ask;

    How would a computer model heroism, fear, human nature, etc, at the squad level without becoming so complicated as to make a game unplayable. These factors are also important in quantifying the effeciency of infantry units when modeling combat at low levels, i.e squad and company.

    Lots of company sized battles in Normandy were probably won or lost more by individual initiative, courage and desperation, than by weapons, tactics or experience.

    My humble opinion anyway.

    I'll give this a go.

    The easiest way would be in my opinion to lump it all into one big variable as it is pointless to try to poorly model fear, heroism separately. You might as well toss them together and try to model their combined effect decently, especially if they affect more a less the same thing.

    First you decide what heroism, fear, etc... might affect. Is it suppression level? Morale? After that you decide what factors might contribute to a unit displaying more or less heroism, fear. Volume of incoming fire? Command bonus? Sheer luck?

    You try to determine the relationship between the two. Should everything be added up? Multiplied? Some weird mathematical function no-one's ever heard about?

    Then you tweak the parameters of the mathematical function until you get a believable result. For example the mathematical function might give you a number that can serve as a probability of having some unit act heroically; and during the game you roll a dice so to speak and compare it with the odds.

    Simple, no? Of course I have no idea how it is done, but this would be one viable approach.

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    CM:BN vs PC:O like Blur vs Oasis?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    PC:O is waiting to be release because it wants to ride on the coat tales of cmbn. Dont get me wrong, I am a fan of the panzer command series but its 5 years too late. cmbn is light years ahead of pco. why abstract infantry when you can have 1:1 to better simulate close combat.

    they should have released pco two months ago so that more people would have picked it up in anticipation of cmbn. its too late now, most fans of the cmbn series will be out of pocket a couple months after the release.

    I am probably going to pick up both titles but will not play pco after cmbn comes out.

    Is PC any good? From my limited knowledge about the game, I get the impression it's quite similar CMx1. In your opinion what are the main differences?

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    What german tank destroyed the most allied tanks ?

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    I believe the 37mm Stuka to be highly effective at stopping Allied tanks given a high-quality pilot at the controls. A 37mm round, served at high velocity (and from a plane speeding straight down, no less) would be able to penetrate the deck armour of just about anything the Allies could field.

    The only question is, with what accuracy is the Stuka attacking? Having had the chance to fly a Stuka in simulation, I found it's a VERY stable platform when the dive brakes are engaged. Suffice it to say, I'll bet a skilled pilot could put a 37mm round down a chimney if required.

    I have no trouble believing high kill totals for certain Stuka pilots, and I don't think comparing the Stuka to the A-10 is a reliable method for determining what a Stuka pilot could accomplish (provided the skies were clear for them to do their work, of course).

    An A-10 is the product of 30-40 worth of technological advance in terms of flight controls, fire controls and flight characteristics compared to a Stuka. It's the M1A2 to the Stuka's Panzer III. If an A-10 "only" achieves a 25% kill rate, what is the reasoning that a Stuka can get better or even comparable kill rates? The top armour of tanks haven't increased much so that can't be it, and I willing to bet a modest amount of money that an average A-10 pilot has more flight hours than a whole Stuka squadron combined.

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    A newbe looking for someone to PBM

    in Combat Mission Afghanistan

    Posted

    Hi!

    My name is Sven, I live in switzerland and this is my first CM game (preorderd CM:Normandy).

    I decidet to buy this because of its "uncommon" setting and the possibility to play turn based (my brain is to slow for rts :rolleyes:)

    Now I'm looking for someone who would like to play via play by mail.

    I played a lot of RTS Games (ToW2, MoW, MoW:assault squad, DoW II) but as i said, the micromanagement and the stress due too the RT Gameplay made me turn away from this games half-way thru.

    Look forward for some matches

    Sven

    Send me a private message, I am already playing a couple of opponents but I would love to find someone who plays CMA :).

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    A Quick Battle AAR: Shermans vs Pz IVs, Not Your Fathers Combat Mission

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    The formulas are all based off of Rexford's book. If you have that then you have a window into the inner workings of the game.

    If not, then its all magic, like it is to me. :)

    Seriously read the "explanation" post and the threads surorunding it and I think you'll have a better understanding of how the game does its calculations

    Here it is again...

    http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1239443&postcount=303

    I also read that thread. But I did not know where the formulas came from, thanks!

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    german helmet retake

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Does the game model the trajectory of shell fragments and take into account intervening armour on infantry? It does on vehicles. So, if it does on infantry, missing that piece of helmet will increase the casualty rate.

    Not to that detail probably (as in penetration charts for bullets to various types of helmets), but in CMSF the game knows if the body part hit is protected with body armour or not.

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    A Quick Battle AAR: Shermans vs Pz IVs, Not Your Fathers Combat Mission

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Hopefully the pics show up now (atleast I can see em).

    To the time of experience regarding the exchange results very true of course. But it would be very interesting to hear how detailed the calculations are done regarding such armor as in the M4A3 early-Mid (tiled etc.) . Is it calculated as a single fine piece of armor ? In that case the M4A3 Mid looks fine in the game in a way which is not in accordance with reality.

    But nevertheless it's great to hear that the sequel finally did it.... !!! I will have it on my rig for sure.

    The pics work for me. As far as I understand it, the game model is used to determine the location of the impact and the corresponding angles. So if you see something bounce of the .50 machine gun (to say something wild) it's the machine gun that gets damaged and nothing else. As for the formulas to determine the actual effect of hit, only BFC knows, although it would be reasonable to assume that there is always some uncertainty factor factored in.

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    A Quick Battle AAR: Shermans vs Pz IVs, Not Your Fathers Combat Mission

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    There was a lengthy discussion earlier in the thread about the hows and whys of the Shermans being able to withstand so many hits. So, it's not simply a response to a few minutes of combat as much as it's a response to half a thread full of explanation and discussion.

    I know, I followed it :). It's just that those opening four minutes do not provide information to settle the discussion either way (not that it's not fun to banter this sort of stuff though until the game comes out).

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    Installing the NATO Module

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    hmm, nobody has an answer? :( So I can asume that the latest download for the NATO module is the version 1.31? Iam downloading atm

    I found this on the website:

    It's not required to own any of the other CMSF modules to enjoy the NATO Module, but you do need to have the base game of CM:SF patched at least to v1.21. It doesn't matter where you purchased CM:SF, CMSF NATO will work with all releases (as long as they are patched to v1.21). You can find the v1.21 patch for all versions here: http://www.battlefront.com/patches

    I believe the NATO module is 1.30. If I were you I would wait with downloading the 1.31 there is an annoying equipment bug in 1.31 that affect German units (no Panzerfaust launchers).

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    Air and Artillery Support Issues

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    Thanks for your answer. :). The manual didn't mention that the vehicles will move around. Im just wondering now whether there is any other extra information that is missing. Is there a document that I could download for hints and tips?.

    I thought my first post was clear but obviously it wasn't. :)

    There is a lot in the game that is not covered by the manual, simply because of the quantity. Some of things you'll just have to find out by playing. Posting stuff here usually helps. I can go by the rule, if it seems reasonable in the real world it is reasonable in the game. For example if your trying to hide, you won't spot anything. Running and making phone calls and the same time is really hard, so infantry with radios, those fancy PDAs and other gadgets aren't able to use them unless they are standing in one place. Some vehicles have equipment mounted on top of them that can only be used if the vehicle is unbuttoned. I think one of the artillery Strykers is like this. You can check by zooming in on the vehicle, look at whatever is on top, and check whether there is some sort of eye piece to look through :). Good luck! Oh, me and another poster once tried to make a FAQ, you can check that out as well, it's in the repository.

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    Air and Artillery Support Issues

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 1

    Posted

    I have CMSF fully patched and have started doing the Training Campaign. I got to the mission where I had to direct support to destroy the bunkers and tanks but I am abit confused. When I directed the planes to come in and the mortars the vehicles started to just move by themselves going backwards and forwards. One was even trying to reverse off the map and its engine was revving constantly. Is this a bug, my CMSF copy is corrupt or is it the case of them moving to get better LOS?. I think near the end of the scenario the vehicle revved that much that its engine blew. lol. Has anyone else experienced this?.

    The vehicles are trying to run away because in a normal game tanks and bunkers can easily destroy them. You should also see lots of smoke popping. The best thing to do is to put the Strykers where they can't see the enemy and use your infantry to kill the bunkers and tanks. Small tip, preview your post because (and this might be because of my poor reading ability) I trouble understanding what you were saying at first :).

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    A Quick Battle AAR: Shermans vs Pz IVs, Not Your Fathers Combat Mission

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Ok, I need a person to show me how to use this quotes system, i.e. a step by step idiots guide! For those who remember my constant appeals about modding, you know what I'm after, and also what you are dealing with!!

    You click quote and everything between "["QUOTE"]" ... "["/QUOTE"]" will be quoted (without the "" of course). You can delete the text in between but not the brackets or the slash or the word QUOTE. There is also a preview post for you to experiment.

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    Casualties

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Because the system knows exactly where the round hits, it's vector, and what is on the other side of the armor... it's somewhat easy to predict the results of a penetration shot (or spalling for that matter). And this is where super-geeky ballistics stuff comes into play.

    When the round penetrates the degree of penetration, the characteristics of that shell, and the direction it is heading all determine what is damaged on the other side. Some of the penetrating hits Bil got in his AAR didn't have much "oomph" left when they got through. So they might have messed up something inside, but not all that much. Like a light wound of a radio operator.

    To give you an example of an opposite effect, the other day I was firing Flak36 (88mm) at a bunch of PzIVs and Shermans to see what happened at particular ranges (we were testing a theory). I saw one round clear through the front of a PzIV turret and land about 20m behind the tank! That's right, the sucker went clear through one side and out the other! Was it "designed for effect" to happen that way? HELL NO! The physics modeling said that's what would happen so that's what happened. And it was so cool to see :D In this case the driver and radio guys got out, but nobody in the turret did. And the tank did go up in flames.

    Experienced CM:SF players are used to seeing stuff like the above because so much of the Blue firepower is complete overkill for the lighter armored Red stuff. I even remember one example of an Abrams knocking out two BTRs that were parked next to each other. The round went straight through the first and into the second. Heck, I think it might have even gone through the second!

    Steve

    Once lost two T-62's to a shot from the side from an Abrams from about 1500m away. That 120mm packs quite the punch. Due to an unfortunate coincidence my tanks were lined up perfectly for that shot.

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    German tank vulnerability

    in Combat Mission Battle for Normandy

    Posted

    Steve,

    I also remember reading that 2/3 of all hits were to the Turret ( the other 1/3 to the upper & lower Hull...mostly upper ). This was because armor crews overestimating ranges as standard practice.

    In regards to the PZIV H/J ( and other armor ), it may have a 50mm Turret face ( about 50% turret front ), but a 80mm curved Turret Mantlet ( other 50% turret front ).

    This means you will have a higher survivability chance in CM:BN then you do in CMx1, and especially so if you go hull down.

    Joe

    Wouldn't the fact that the turret is the most exposed part of the tank not account for a large part of the 2/3 (assuming that number is correct) more than some sort of overestimating ranges standard practice?

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