DaveDash

Just completed Milk Run. Jesus that is one hell of a fight, and it's left me somewhat exhausted. I still won with a Syrian surrender and I sustained 10 KIA and 33 WIA (Roughly 10% of my forces) and 1 LAV, so that's not to shabby. Especially considering the -vast- majority of my casualties were from the seemingly unlimited artillery the AI has. Constant enemy fire missions at multiple parts of the AO in Real Time, what a headache. It also greatly peeves me off that the AI has eyes on your assembly area (chosen by the scenario designer) to call down arty there. I just deleted 10 minutes or so of inaction at the start, and the running time is still 2 hours and 26 minutes of video. It's going to take a good few hours (6-7 or so) to do audio commentary, encode it, and upload it. So it will break it down into a couple of parts (Part 1 and 2).

Gibson, What is the best way to defend against top down attack ATGMs like Javelins? Shoot 'n' scoot? Also as a Kiwi living in Aus, cheers for your service mate.

I just ran some tests, which were inconclusive. What I did discover though, is that a Syrian reserve infantry squad in trees has no problem taking out a sniper team (in the open) from ~300m with AK's. > <

There are LOS issues in the game still that make it frustrating in those decisive moments. Such as vehicles not being able to area fire at a building directly infront of it, but bring able to engage infantry inside the building when their contact pops up. Also vehicles not being able to area fire at ATGMs who CAN shoot at them. Seems to be an area fire and vehicle issue. I have videos of this happening. Still, the game is much improved from the good old days of not being able to shoot infantry on rooftops, etc

I'll be popping my PBEM cherry soon, so I'll get back to you on that one.

I'm not sure I've ever had a vehicle launched ATGM fired at me in CMSF. I imagine this is in part due to map size constraints and the fact that ATGM's fired by T-72s etc are laser beam rided (AT-11 I believe?), and the vehicle is unlikely to survive long enough to provide a beam for the missile. In real life, I imagine things are different. I'm just referring to the game here. A classic example of what I mean is the first US Army mission "Breakthrough at the Berm", where two static M1's on the berm can effectively wipe out a Syrian armoured company. I've also used static MBTs in many missions in hull down over watch positions down main MSRs, where they are extremely effective at engaging enemy armour that is trying to cross the MSR to support enemy forces.

True. Also, I just realised from another thread AI plans need to be taken into consideration. Still, my main pet peeve in CMSF is the time limits scenario designers force upon you. You can have the best plan in the world, but if your units enter the map all over the place (ie, where the scenario designer wants you to attack from) and you only have one hour, well, good luck.

What's the time in Poland at the moment? Been having a good discussion with him on another forum regarding armour. gibsonm is onto it. Tanks have mobility, firepower, and protection on the front. So you need to take advantage of all three. Also, always use them in pairs, so if one tank has an ATGM fire at it, the other can destroy it. If you're losing Leopards to T-72s then it sounds like you're rushing your tanks around unsupported and being hit by flanking shots. Most maps in CMSF require a combined arms approach, so you need to clear buildings with infantry (and use them as eyes and ears) before exposing the flanks of your tanks. Sitting static and duelling against T-72s actually should be an unfair fight, to your advantage, if you're engaging them from the front. But if you're outnumbered you need to shoot, reverse, pop up, shoot, reserve. Or manoeuvre another team of tanks to get flanking shots against the T-72s. Real Time helps a lot for this.

X2. I actually wish the timer counted UP, not down. The mission ended when victory conditions were met, or one side surrendered. Points could be allocated to one side or the other, if taken too long, but there should be no arbitrary time limit. If I'm 1 meter away from my objective and run out of time, that's silly.

Yeah Im keen. Ill flick you an email (and anyone else too). Haven't played PBEM yet in CMSF, keen to give it a go though.

Mission 05 - The Battle for Objective Pooh. Link to playlist Got a bit impatient at the end and took needless casualties. Note: I skipped 'Decisions Decisions' for obvious reasons.

The mission parameters are as follows: BLUEFOR must sustain minimal casualties. REDFOR gets points for each BLUEFOR unit killed. BLUEFOR cannot call down artillery on the main towns. Towns are walled compounds. Also check out the evil terrain and layout of the towns. Plus, you're the Brits with their wimpy amounts of HE and tin can vehicles (minus the Challenger, of course). This mission was designed to be a challenge against the AI. A human player in charge of the Syrians would be a very difficult mission. Having said that, I'd like to see the principles of war put to test *hint hint* *new tutorial cough*

All that stuff from the unit panel is now detailed in the manuals.

What you see is what you got. You can download the full manual off the BFC website I believe. If you go to the game page (CMSF NATO, or just CMSF) there should be a ' game manual' button on the left menu.

Load your guys back into the Stryker, go to the third menu across for orders, hit "acquire", and load up on ammo/weapons.

GeorgeMC's campaign 'Forging Steel' for CMSF is along these lines. Not sure what the future holds for Operations in CM:N though.

Hehe yeah that was great! "Shut your god damn mouth and listen up!"

In one of the videos in my recent AAR, my CAAT teams couldn't see some tanks about ~1000 metres in the distance, until I gave them smaller covered arcs, then they spotted them immediately. They definitely work for vehicles.

My lips are sealed. When I played that Scenario I thought it would be great in PBEM. I feel sorry for the BLUEFOR player though against a human!

USMC Campaign - Mission 04 - "Saving the Beachhead" Link to playlist This one ended up quite intense.

USMC Campaign - Mission 03 "Guard the Flank" Mission 03 Playlist

I don't have any access to the code so I cannot state facts. However I have noticed an observable difference in units spotting ability with, and without arcs. This difference is even more pronounced with vehicles. Not only that, with vehicles setting arcs in the right direction can decrease turret traversal time and warrant quicker responses. To give you an example, I have witnesses numerous times a ? contact turning into an identified contact immediately after setting a covered arc over the contact. My personal observation are that Arcs work a lot better with smaller units and vehicles. My theory on this is that spotting is based on number of eyes, so a 13 man Marine squad for example has a lot of spotting potential and can maintain 360 degree SA much easier, whereas a three man vehicle crew would find it difficult to maintain 360 SA, especially with blind spots in the turret, but would fare a lot better spotting in one small direction. I'm sure it would be easy to set up some tests. Put various units (Squads, Tanks, Sniper) on a map and set up arcs to see if they spot enemies more reliably with, or without. Regarding your last point, I am not sure about whether the direction matters or the arc itself.

Units spot WAY better with an arc. Especially vehicles. Hide and Arc is basically 'ambush'. I'm not sure if giving a shorter arc increases spotting in that general direction or not.

Excellent. Will check it out shortly. I also like to do what you do regarding BLUEFOR. There is a very challenging and excellent British scenario called 'Cain and Abel'. After starting with the Brits, getting absolutely trashed, I decided to change the scenario with the equivalent US Army units. Made quite a difference.

Hi guys, Inspired by tyrspawn, I have decided to do a video AAR with commentary of the USMC Campaign. After an ENORMOUS amount of mucking about trying (literally all night) to upload to youtube, I discovered my ISP and youtube do not like enough other. I discovered by VPNing into a server at work, I can bypass whatever restriction my ISP has placed on me, and I can upload to youtube. FINALLY. Unfortunately I have a 15 minute limit to what I can upload to youtube, so all the videos are broken down into parts. This is the first time I've done such a thing, so hopefully my commentary and technical skills will get better as time goes on. After I have finished this campaign, I plan on doing an AAR for NormalDude's Task Force Panther campaign. USMC Campaign - Mission 01 - "Beach Recon of LZ White" Mission 01 Playlist Part 1 USMC Campaign - Mission 02 - "Amphibious Assault into Hamidiyah" Mission 02 Playlist Mods Used: AKD Sound Mod V1.2 Iconed Bases Scipios Silhouettes Scipios Muzzle Fire Scipios Tracers and Explosions Mords Death Knells Mords Vocal Mayhem Mords US Radio Chatter More to follow.