FM Paul Heinrik

Yes, surrending and cease fires should have more of a tactictal value than all or nothing. I guess it's not important in single qb but should have some strategic advantages in campainges or linked scenerios. If your surrounded or about to get steamrolled a surrender option should allow for some pt. retention vs bonus pts for the opponent. Therefore knowing when to surrender and when not to is more tactical than just quickly ending a game. I appologize for taking this thread so far off track. I'm just knew to CM and have so many "?"s

Flamingknives, yep, my mistake, Marder III not marauder. Thanks. Spotless, yes I'm finding crew experience IS a big factor. But, I don't think it is a simple linear progression, I think it is more of a bell curve. Green crews are horrible compared to regular but crack do not seem that much better than veteran. It would be interesting to see a statistical curve showing skill vs effectiveness. This game seems very simple to play but in reality it can also be very complex. It is probably very apparent when a good tactical player fights a novice. Thanks for the insights, this game has a lot of things that go on that is not that apparent to the initiate of tactical combat so helpful insights of tactical docterine is much appreciated.

Flamingknives, yep, my mistake, Marder III not marauder. Thanks. Spotless, yes I'm finding crew experience IS a big factor. But, I don't think it is a simple linear progression, I think it is more of a bell curve. Green crews are horrible compared to regular but crack do not seem that much better than veteran. It would be interesting to see a statistical curve showing skill vs effectiveness. This game seems very simple to play but in reality it can also be very complex. It is probably very apparent when a good tactical player fights a novice. Thanks for the insights, this game has a lot of things that go on that is not that apparent to the initiate of tactical combat so helpful insights of tactical docterine is much appreciated.

There is lot of talk about "long range" (1000+ m) but I haven't experienced a map that allows over 500m of clear sight. There is always trees, hills, or buildings in the way. I experience this in CMBO. Is the maps more open in the other games? I should be getting CMBB soon through the mail, I hope. How do you choose which type of round you fire?

Very nice! You put a smile on my face, thank you.

How come the German tanks don't have any tungsten shells? I'm starting to think that US armor IS better than German armor. Pershings wow! They tear up Tiger IIs. Even the M4s have thicker turret armor than pzkw IVs so in a hull down shoot out, US Sherman wins plus the Sherman' turret rotates so fast. It can usually start turning getting off 2 shots before 2 pzkw IV can even get guns on it. Btw, I played a QB using 2 Marauders, pzkw IV H, 1 rifle platoon vs 2 M4s, 3 Stuarts, a half track, and 1 machine gun team. Lost 1 Marauder to a Sherman but not before it took out a Stuart. My remaining Marauder killed 1 Sherman and 1 Stuart while the pzkw IV killed the remaining Sherman and Stuart. I did lose the last Marauder because the crew bailed out because the half track was shooting at it's front armor. That crew should have sit tight because my infantry was engaged with the half track and the pzkw IV was coming up on it fast, oh well. The infantry took out the half track as well as the machine gun team. I have done a lot of searches and see all the ref. to "JasonC" but all I'm finding is stuff on broad strategies/tactics and others are just arguing different subtleties it seems. There is a lot of post though so it takes time to wade through them all. thank you for your insights

Instead of new post i edited the one above. This can be deleted. [ May 25, 2004, 02:03 PM: Message edited by: FM Paul Heinrik ]

Thanks guys. (or gals) Cold Steel; I notice you omitted Major? JonS; you omitted Captain? To me it seems a Major in charge of a company is heavy handed shouldn't a Major have a Battalion? For the US, is it battalion - regiment - brigade - division - corps - army? How many companies to a battalion? How many battalions to a regiment? I'm not familiar with the term brigade. What is a good WW2 OOB for US, USSR, Ger? Specifically, detailing where the division served which corps/army it was attached to and who commanded it. I have Nafitzer's (sp)German Infantry OOB, but unfortunately it doesn't list what ranks are in charge of each group nor does it list who commanded the division and where it served. Besides that, it is a good reference guide. Is a section the same thing as a squad? corpral = section, what does sergant = ? I know that there are NCO for all the grouping but what does a 3 stripe command? Could someone explain the make up of the HQ sections and corrasponding ranks. Is the HQ section the "command staff"? Such as executive officer, intelligence officer, chief medical officer, ect. Every group has a HQ section are they all similiar in make up just lower ranks and authority? Sorry for all the questions but my ignorance is without boundaries. [ May 25, 2004, 02:02 PM: Message edited by: FM Paul Heinrik ]

Ah-ha! So that is what's happening. I got it working now, no problem. What is the benefits of surrendering or just playing until you lose? Pts for tournament play or is there actually a tactical advantage to surrendering vs getting whooped?

Yes, even Stuarts have killed my Panthers, after a lot of hits though. And that is a real pisser when my Panther is slugging it out with a Stuart and the Stuart wins. I can actually hear the unbuttoned crew laughing at me :mad: . I didn't realize that Panthers sides/rear wear so vunerable. On a side note, I've experience a Stuart wondering right up to a my 2cm flak and I open up on him at around 100m and watch the flak gun spend the next 5-6 rounds bouncing shells off of the Stuart. The Stuart does nothing but sit there until the game ended. I don't remember what exactly was it's problem but it got immobilized (I think just bad luck on it's own) but it never returned fire and the crew didn't bail. Cromwells? Maybe I meant Churchills, the ones with very flat armor faces and big visible rivits. Churchill or Cromwell, one is easy to kill and the other is a real bear. But, I'm right about the M10s they punch through me like my tanks are made of cheese and I see my shells bouncing off into the stratosphere. I didn't think that it's open turret was that thick. I was under the impression that German armor (the heavies anyway) was king of the battlefield and could roam with impunity against Western armor but, I guess I'm mistaken. I guess I will have to learn and utilize more real world combined arms tactics to cut down on my armor losses. Mainly I'm talking about QB that have my armor attrition numbers so high. In the canned scenerios I do quite well, such as "Wittman's final hour" and the one with the Pershings. I've won both those the first time around and on subsequent go arounds it's not unusual for me to not lose a single panzer. I haven't really played that many games so maybe I'm just getting unlucky, coupled with inexperience and the "curve" will go on my side soon. I should be receiving CMBB any day now, it does sound a lot better, not that CMBO is bad just that CMBB has more features.

The ones that can kill me but I have no problem killing in return are: Sherman V or any 76 gun version, M18 tank destroyers, Fire Fly/Jumbos, Church Hill VII. The ones I have a hard time killing (multiple hits to kill or at least a weak side armor shot) are: Cromwell IV & VII, M10 Wolverines I usually use some combo of Panther, Tiger, Tiger II, all models. I shy away from pzkw IVs because if the pzkw V and VI can't do it, what chance do the pzkw IVs have? Now, the King Tiger does out preform both the Panther and Tiger IVe by being able to take a very hits before brewing up but a lot of the time my (very expensive) King Tiger will get it's cannon damaged and become useless. Also, it seems that my tank crews miss a lot more than the ai crews even when I send the points on "crack" tank crews. I thought that the Germans have better optics so should be able to bracket shots quicker. In game terms I think the Allies get more bang for their points than the Germans, they can purchase twice the # of tanks that I can. I notice the AI likes to use Stuarts to sucker me into firing so as to locate my tanks, I could do the same with my recon armor/vehicles but I don't like to just hand out death sentences to my soldiers. Now, I might be just prejuiced or over confident in Panzer abilities because I do dish out a 2 or 3 to 1 kill ratio most the time but I find it so flustrating that I try my hardest to keep my armor alive and the AI is able to kill them. I've even experienced a "super gung-ho" infantry platoon hiding in some woods, charge my King Tiger from 150m out and kill it (with hand grenades??) the whole time the King Tiger was unloading main gun and machine guns at them as well as some support from a near by mg 42. That infantry (US) closed the 150m distance in 1 turn and suffered only 2 casaulties before routing and running back (wtf?). I still won that quick battle but, again lost all my armor. Needless to say, if I can't keep my best battlefield tanks alive I have had absolutely no success keeping anything light alive (assault guns, sp guns, spw 250 series, ect.) That is, at least when enemy armor is hunting.

I'm playing CMBO and I can't seem to keep my German armor from being decimated. Tigers, King Tigers, PzKw V, it doesn't seem to matter, they all brew up whenever contact is made with enemy armor. My armor blows up so quickly it seems as if the ai is cheating or something. I'm ok if the ai can't get a shot but as soon as they make contact "boom!" I'm toast. It is really quite flustrating. My armor seems to take forever to bracket shots while the ai seems to make one shot kills. How do I survive? My strategy has been to engage allied armor from as far away as possible because german armor has thicker plating and I can out slug them. I'm starting to think I'm losing this match because of historical reasons...poorer trained tankers and lack of quality pzgr 40 rounds? My 75mm anti-tank guns have absolutely no problem wasting allied armor because they aren't spotted quickly enough to be destroyed, only after it wipes out an allied platoon is it destroyed by arty fire. But, my tanks...if it doesn't kill with the first shot it's toast. I hope CMBB has better (funner) tank vs tank engagements.

Just for fun could someone post a rank vs what type of unit it controlled. If that is unclear I mean a lt. col is in charge of a bn, right who controls a rgt., a div., company, corps, army, ect. I realize that command ranks vary especially during war time. But, a good reference pt. would be nice. Thanks

The PS2 does have a keyboard and mouse, I never seen it used though. It is getting a hard drive this x-mas too. With that said, pc ports to console do not turn out good, at best it would be a "cm lite". But then again the consoles have no problem porting or creating 1st person shooters. I don't how you play those without a pc, and I don't enjoy using the console controllers, but others find it just right. Also, there is no way a console is going to out look a pc, so if some think that cm is ugly? then wait until you see it on a console.

LAST YEAR!!! Oh crap I haven't seen it anywhere yet. About 2 weeks ago I discovered CMBO and have since found this web site and now want them all. btw here is a link to the outpost.com ad [MOON: Link removed] Edited to add: Thanks, I'll get it from gamestop. [ May 21, 2004, 06:11 PM: Message edited by: Moon ]

I've seen a dvd style box with the cover of a grant titled combat mission 3 "AFRKIA" at outpost.com or their retail store Frys Is this the same thing that battlefront sells? I ask because I thought that CMBB hasn't even hit retail shelves yet.

Will the CVD release contain the printed manual or is it just the CD-Rom? Your site says it is selling in N. America (USA?), which retailers are selling it? I found CMBO at Best Buy, took a gamble and it turned out to be one of the best war games I've played. Looking forward to getting CMBB, but not found it anywhere yet. Thanks

I have a question....if you want to surrender, due to losing, how do you go about it? The manual list a key to do it (ctr-s or something, i forget) but when I do it nothing happens? Is there suppose to be an on screen response, 1st informing me that a surrender option has been activated and 2nd if the enemy has denied or accepted said proposal? thanks

I had a German sniper sneak up to a 2 story house, with intentions of using him to recon the surrounding terrain via the 2nd floor. Unfortunately, there was a US FT team hiding up there and they spotted my sniper as he started to enter the house. Fortunately, the US FT team took a shot, missed, and torched the house. On the next turn, I ordered the sniper to run back to his original defilade and hide again. I never saw the FT team exit the burning house and after the scenerio I could see that they died in the house presumably roasting themselves. Very cool indeed. I luv this game.

Hi, I'm new to the CM games and I'm currently playing Beyond Overlord. My problem is that every tank seems to be a "tin can". Shouldn't Tigers whoop on M4s? There doesn't seem to be a problem offensively but the problems seem to lie in shot placement and armor values. To me it doesn't seem to be much difference if an M4 shoots at the Tiger's glaci plate or at the rear deck it seems to get "knocked out" regardless, after 1 or 2 "hits". The only way that armor survives the scenerio is if tank crews are bad shots and simply miss a lot. I thought that 1 Tiger should be able to take on 5 Shermans and it would be considered fair game. At certain ranges the M4 should not penetrate the Tigers front armor. Is this an omission that needs to be patched or is this for game play balance? Whatever it is, it is flustrating to witness such armor attrition for both sides. On another note I've experienced a 2cm flak gun fire all it's ammo at a Stuart and do nothing to it. Unfortunately, for the Stuart it got stuck and never did fire on the flak gun (couldn't see it?). Maybe the flak imobilized the Stuart but no message noted that action.