GhostRider3/3

I know from the last patch.. that HE rounds are better at Killing as the radius effect has been modified a little I believe. I have played this scenario 6 times.. the first two got my arse handed to me nicely. To go up against any of the ATG's.. or PAK Fronts.. is a dangerous thing unless you have them suppressed. They have great visibility to see your troops and of course approaching armor. Unless you can suppress them you will get basically murdered. Smoke screens can help. But to answer are they more deadly? I don't think so, as I believe only the HE was improved upon.. but that was for all HE, artillery AT, etc. The Zis 57mm is nasty.. I believe its either this weapon or the 76mm has canister shot.. which can effectively eviscerate your infantry at close range.

The Russian Player will utterly destroy the German player (if the Russian Player is even slightly experienced).. if your talking about the First scenario, its hard just with the AI.. Spoiler Alert The Soviets outnumber the Germans 5-1 in tanks and about 1.3 to 1 in Infantry, but they have LOTS of Artillery. I think you could re-create it and tone down some of the Artillery and maybe 3.5 to one in tanks to make it feasible in my opinion.

The other way I have had the AI engage in artillery is to make the FO its separate group, and to "Support" using the Artificial Intel options. basically I believe you can paint the area you want the "FO" to Support. just make sure he can see the areas in question, then the FO will use Artillery. Not sure this helps. Other then that if the AI is Defensive I think they call Artillery more often as they see the enemy.. but TRP are good to have for AI.

@MARS42 So I did what you did, I did take less casualties all around initially except for the area around the Village. (I honestly think that place is bound to get decimated no matter what, so you lose on average 2 HMG, and around 2 platoons... if your lucky maybe a platoon and a half... I stopped it about 20min into the game.. its luck of the draw. I lost 2 Tigers on the Left facing the Left, The Soviets just bum rushed the open field and it was 4 to 2 and then the next minute another 2 tanks appeared, you can only shoot so fast, and at point blank range.. around 200m max it makes no difference. The Panzerfaust teams were eliminated as the Tanks could see them in foxholes and destroyed them at range. Middle was more successful, however another Rush by the soviets overwhelmed the 2 HQ tanks, one was penetrated and the crew killed except for one, and My Hauptman Claus was a casualty... end of story so why even keep going. The Two Tanks on the Left facning the road have a hell of time supporting the middle as they cant see a bloody thing through all the trees, and if the 2 left facing tanks fail.. their ass is in the wind. Right side.. again the T-34's on the reverse slope pick off HIDING Panzerfuast teams in a trench.. go figure they may have Infra-red technology.. and the fact they were in that tree line. They died horribly which left 3 teams in the area.. they did ok but in the end all died... They again Rushed with 5 T-34's and the Paks and Tigers killed them all but lost another Tiger.. Thats about it... its really in rough shape. In making many scenarios myself, there is somewhat balance. As a player you should NOT have to completely be gamey in your setup in order to achieve victory.. or in this case just bloody survive. EDIT: I just saw Dragonwynn's posting.. LOL so will download the latest version.

So I replayed the First scenario another 4 times to see if there is any way to minimize Infantry casualties. #1. Spread the men out on the left flank in the known set up zones.. spread 3 Platoons on far right. 4 Tigers Left, 4 tigers Right and 2 Middle covering the Road from tree line next to village. Results: Artillery Barrage came to the Center and Left, initial casualties were around 60 in the first minute, and 10 minutes later the Center and 1/4 of the Mortars were wiped out. I sent 2 platoons from the far right to at least assist the Right side of the road as I knew the tanks were on the way. Tanks Crushed the Left side knocking out 2 tigers from the tree line they advance to. They made it all the way up to the 3 AT gun (that is placed by the Author with no defenses.. its just there to the left.) Since the Artillery did a bit of damage to the Left side the tanks finished off most of the infantry but paid a high cost.. at the 20min mark, there were virtually no Tigers left on the left and very few infantry.. the Company ceased to exist except for single or small groups of men... Right side and center held out, 1 Tiger was damaged (Main gun out of action, and another later was immobilized) All the Panzershrek teams were killed and lost about half the infantry to direct fire from T-34's coming from the Right side of the map. Stopped the scenario at 32min left. Germans had 4 Tigers operational and maybe 180 soldiers. #2 went almost identical to the first scenario with the exception I only lost 4 Tigers, again all on the left Flank, and all ATG were destroyed. (One by Artillery) #3. Set up most of the Tanks center and in the Field.. moved all the Infantry from right side of Road to the Far Right near the tree lines. to make AT traps with Panzerfaust and Shreck teams. Left Side allocated 4 Tigers. Scenario went better at first although the infantry took a pounding on the Left Flank this time, and the second Barrage 15min about destroyed about 40 percent of the Center's fighting force including 2 HMG, and forced 1 ATG crew to run for their lives. 20 minutes in Left Flank was destroyed completely and 3 Tigers lost. The Russians pay dearly but they have another 7 Tanks and around 120 Infantry still coming. Both ATG on the Left middle have been neutralized, panzershreck teams decimated. Right side and middle, Russian tanks are put out of action and troops coming up the middle are dealt with, right side Infantry take a pounding by Bionic eyeball spotting Tank crews who see troops in the woods hiding, anyways the infantry takes a pounding and that plan did not go.. as planned. #4 Gave up on Left side.. moved all the units to the far right and then reinforced the middle area.... Artillery Barrage hit the Middle and village destroying a good amount in the first 6 Minutes, large battle middle and Right however the Soviets steamrolled left and took out the one ATG.. we counter attack and push them out of the village with a loss of 3 Tigers and 2 useless from all the hits they took.. in the end troop strength is about 40 percent. To those that have somehow managed Total Victory... nice.. would like to know where you placed your units.. because I feel its the luck of the draw with the artillery bombardment going either Center mostly, Left, or sometimes just the Setup zone area but towards left and village are. Basically its a kill box for anyone left of the Road or in the Village, including all of your lovely assets.. HMG's Mortars and Shreck teams that get virtually eviscerated. Just my observation again not trying to be hard. just trying to figure the point to the campaign.

Still cant get past the First scenario... well I probably can but do not taking that many losses... I find it sort of buggy that the HMG that I put in HIDE.. resort back to normal mode. I think I have tried it about 6 times.. the Rocket attacks take out about 120 casualties in the first 5 minutes. I even went gamey and killed the Idiot FO in my setup zone, but that does not really matter to much as the artillery is already coming in.... it is what it is, cant do anything about that as the troops and mortars are not in any setup zone so you can not move them.. its all luck really. My one complaint about the map is no German officer would have placed the line so far back from the initial reverse slope.. it seems odd to me that they would give up a defensive postion overlooking the main road into the village and put everyone in a small kill box... so its odd that they give up an advantage, and would not have a second defensive line.. where the first line is. Iam not sure if the designer thought the mission to easy for the Germans or felt that a massacre was more fun. I think the scenario is a great idea, looks great and gives you that feeling of the massive weight of Russian Artillery and Rockets... as a campaign, no idea because you have to survive the first scenario and on average I lose between 3-5 Tigers, and 230 plus casualties.. and its not even over with around 38min left. I have gamed it and put troops far away from most of the artillery.. most of the tigers on one end to stem at least one of the Assaulting approach avenues, although that does not help the other two. Anyways I will keep reading some of the reports here but its immersive, obviously challenging, but if its a campaign.. and barely anything survives, whats the point. EDIT: I just downloaded what I think is the latest version. I still think the map is small and just made into a killbox for destructive enjoyment, and the forward German positons are still completely incorect... I know the Author wanted pants down scenario but still the forward placement to cover the road facing the enemy lines is wrong IMO. If the front line covered the road and the farm.. then the Artillery barrage would maybe be that more spread out. 1. Infantry takes on average 50-70 casualties the first minute. 2. By the end of 10minutes on average your infantry casualty rate is over 125. Thats I almost 1/5th of your starting strength and the tanks are just now rolling up. 3. I am not free to place the Mortars away from the village... If the Village is or would be a target, why would you place your support assets so close to a potential target area? 4. I understand the pants down of bagration, but that does not mean they would have been complacent in their defensive setup. 5. If the Infantry is a CORE element, then the first scenario is ridiculous, as you will lose at least half if not more. 6. The Tigers are CORE most likely which is fine, but the Russians for the first mission on such a small map does not allow the Tigers to manouver very much to get any advantage. Its a shootout at close range with no real advantage to the Defense. T/34/85 at point blank range is about on par with the Tiger, although I give more penetration value to the Tiger, however they are still outnumbered 5 to 1, each time you lose a Tiger the ratio changes drastically. (MAP TO SMALL) Its nice but to many assets so close together its a "ClusterFck" For the ammount of artillery used. IMHO. 7. This scenario would be a great stand alone.. "bloody hell of a day" "To the last Big Cat" 8. I have done this mission 6 times looking for ways to minimize the Infantry casualties, its nearly impossible with them being that close together and that much saturation Artillery.. big artillery at that. Although challenging I could see many first time players just simply clicking the exit button and going off to another battle, as the first scenario can be completely demoralizing for the player taking that many losses and barely winning, if you call it that, or getting to continue to the next scenario. Will give it another go to see if I had the latest.. if not then I will report any differences. Semper Fi.

I have not seen any Fausts at all, if the squad did not have it, your out of luck. the Trucks (Opels) have 9mm and 7.92 ammo and the SPW have the same but the 7.92 are AP ammo. Never seen any Fausts to pick up or extra rounds for the Shreck. I guess that's why you add Supply vehicles or I think they look like crates.

I think the Front Hull can be penetrated by a Tiger !, you just have to be within 300m. I thought I got that info from Thomas L. Jentz Tiger 1 book. and is the JS-2 slow rate of Fire really modeled in game? I know they only have 28 rounds, and at best could fire around 3 rounds per minute... its astonishing to think after about 30min or combat, they could well be useless and out of ammo. I did another large test recently between the JS1 and the Tiger I. Starting range was 2000m open field, 8 tanks apiece. Tested 5 times. 1. All JS tanks destroyed for 3 Tiger1 and 1 immobilized 2. All JS tanks destroyed for 2 Tiger 1 and 3 immobilized 3. All JS tanks destroyed for 4 Tigers destroyed 4. All JS tanks destroyed for 2 Tigers and 1 immobilized 5. All JS tanks destroyed for 3 Tigers and 2 immobilized, and one crew Bailed out, but was able to re enter their tank. I may do another test with JS2, but in all regards, the King Tiger was the new Tank Killer aimed at taking out Russian tanks. I think the goal was to Replace all Tiger 1 battalions with the Tiger II, and replace all Pz. IV tanks with the Panther, although the Germans were to achieve this. Anyways I will run a test with JS2 vs Tiger1. 88 mm KwK 43 L/71 Penetration Data: PzGr. 39/43 (APCBC) PzGr. 40/43 (APCR) Gr. 39/3 HL (HEAT) Shell Weight: 0.2 Kgs 7.3 Kgs 7.65 Kgs Initial velocity: 1000 m/sec. 1030 m/sec. 600 m/sec. Range 100 m 202 mm 238 mm 90 mm 500 m 185 mm 217 mm 90 mm 1000 m 165 mm 193 mm 90 mm 1500 m 148 mm 171 mm 90 mm 2000 m 132 mm 153 mm 90 mm Source: JENTZ, Thomas L.; Kingtiger Heavy Tank: 1942 - 1945; ISBN 185532 282 X

Nice... this should be fun.

Copy that.. no Marine can just leave his units in half ass shape.. I went back and deleted all Panther Files and started from scratch. Downloaded the files from the Repository instead of GreenJades.. which is an awesome site. No issues now, I have all the Decals working on all the Panthers, and the strange anomoly with the Panther A late is now gone and is working fine... Once again the Limey's and Canadians will press the attack in one of the most beautiful games on the planet. thanks for everyones assistnance, much appreciated. Semper Fi J

Well I started from scratch. The panther D, A early and mid work fine, although the only decal set was for the Panther A mid. Panther G turrets are fine but the Hull for the 12th SS will not work, never shows on any tanks at all. Loaded an entire Battalion of G, and A's. Found out that the Panther A Late must be corrupted because the Hull shows vanilla stock, while the Turret, tracks etc are modded. This was all loaded new and unzipped and popped into the Z folder like I have done 100 times before. Anyways, thought I would give it ago, but no bueno.. something must be wrong, because this is not rocket science.. lol.. anyways spent enough time going back to Red thunder.. everything works fine there.

Seriously this is getting out of hand, and I have had nothing to drink. Ok I checked out for example the Panther G. Aris vanilla hull was 'panther-g-hull" I took out all the ones I had renamed and re-inputed Aris mods back with a different number on the end. Example "panther-a-mid-hull_HitlerJugend 2" inputed for the Panther G the following: "panther-g-hull_HitlerJugend 1" The base Hull is still there as well. 'panther-g-hull" Obviously for mor flavor so they are all not the same. Did a test and nada.. All of the Panther G have the same vanilla Hull, and none of the Panther A-mids were different as well, just with the regular vanilla. So I am at a loss.. mods are not difficult, and this is the first time dropping anything into the z folder has had issues.

Mods are Panzer Lehr, and 12th SS HJ decals for the Panther and Pz IV. I have tried everything to even renaming the Hulls I want that display the decals and cant get them to work, anyone know what I could be doing wrong? Example I named a panther hull "panther-a-late-hull-pzlehr 1" did the exact with the 12th SS hull and for some reason the Turrets are fine but the Hulls with the decals never appear. thanks for any help.. sorta wierd, never had issues with mods before. Semper Fi. J

The vehicle pack has some good flavor to them, as shown above through the link you can see what you get. At first I thought Na.. don't need it, but then re creating some Normandy scenarios and throwing in that Crab or Flail tank was cool, and later on the AA units... you can create your own type of scenario, I think they just add that more flavor and realism.

Copy that, I swear in the Normandy vanilla version I could use Regiment but maybe I was passed out and dreaming from some good English Beer. Good to know, I will do what I can Adhoc.

I was trying to re create battalion size formations, which is no problem, but I seem to not be able to find the correct date or such to create a Regimental HQ for Battalion of Panzers. This seems to be the same with regular Pz/Grenadiers where you can purchase Battalion size, but with no Regimental HQ. Some formations do have Regimental HQ's but I wanted to make a Regiment of either Panzers, or Grenadiers, and attach units to it, with at least the top CO being that of Regimental Level, which should be either a Major or Lt. Col, not a Captain... unless your Dick Winters of course. Can anyone tell me how I can simulate this, or what dates I should be using. Thanks.

Thanks Oddball, I primarily was just looking for the Divisional insignia from the 9th, 10th, and 12th Waffen SS Divisions. They were usually located on the front plate of the sdkfz/250 and 251 family. The Side Hull would of course have numbers just like the Panzers, Company/Platoon/Vehicle. I have to dig out some of my books for the proper numbering and colors used for the side Hull Numbers, other then that, I think they mostly would have had just their Divisional Insignia on the front, and in the rear of the vehicle. I am at work now, or I would explain and show some pictures. I think that's what you were getting at. I think someone did Panzer Lehr already, I have to double check on the Repository. By 1944 Germans rarely used tactical markings, but would sometimes include just the divisional Insignia, as well as the appropriate Numbers on the Turret for Panzers and side hull for Halftracks.

Interesting, what level crew are in the Tigers?

I know this is trivial but was looking for possible decals 1. Re-doing all of the Normandy Missions around the Caen - St. Lo area and was looking for decals to apply to the entire series of Sdkfz family. For the Panzer Lehr Division and the 12th SS HJ Division. 2. Was also looking for Panzer and AFV Decals for the 9th and 10th Waffen SS Divisions. for more immersion in the Market Garden scenarios. again wanted to say thanks for all the time and effort you moders put in, its much appreciated and we would not have the experiences without all of your assistance in making the game that much better. Semper Fi. J.

I usually park the vehicle in a wood line, or on the reverse slop of a hill I am about to crest, or parked behind a structure. I then walk my Recon crew to get visual on the enemy, the crews are equipped with binoculars. I used to use hunt reverse etc, but they always seemed to get destroyed by unseen ATG, tanks or suppressed by AT Rifles. I use the fast command, or quick, and go from cover to cover. Hiding the vehicle and using my crew,

Updated to 3.11 fixed the issue. no more crazy bunkers.

Right.. yeah I guess what I was trying to say, once I am in Hull down or at a defilade, instead of hunt, to use slow.. then reverse? No matter I get what your saying and will start changing tactics... I have not had huge issues, but saving any tank is a plus. Thanks again for the heads up.

Right on, thanks for the heads up Vanir. Cant wait for the next module.

Say is it just me or are there no JagdPanthers available. Do I have to tweak the dates? Most of them served on the Eastern Front if I am not mistaken except for the 654th Jagd.Abt.(Heavy) Anyways just checking, was looking to do a scenario with them. Semper Fi.