laze and blaze

Yes I did! It was somewhat instructive however.

It would be interesting to get several people to set up battle positions for a German defense, then have each participant prep fire against their opponents with Russian 3x122mm prep fires as you suggested in your post. Sort of a self-taught artillery prep fire clinic. If you get good at predicting platoon BP locations, then prep fires could really get dangerous.

How many FOs would that be in 122mm? And how many rounds would be dropped? Won't the squads you hit with 122mm prep fire recover by the time you get up there to attack them? The rocket artillery was killing the squads outright in my test. While the lower calibers (120mm and below) were creating casualties and breaking a few squads in the impact area, but they would still be able to fight later I think. How bad is a squad with the "rattled" dot on the defense vs. on the offense? Do most players consider a rattled squad a right-off in the offense? How about the defense?

I did a test with German arty last night. I set up one company of Russian infantry, dug-in along with some ATGs. I used various calibers of arty/mortars to see the results. Then I got to the rocket artillery and fired the 300mm rockets. There isn't even a comparison to the devistating effects of rockets vs. arty. The rocket arty wiped them out! I didn't used to use prep fire, but the rockets would definately be worth it. Does anyone use heavy arty for prep fires? Or do you just stick with rockets?

After reading some posts from this forum I started uping the caliber of my arty strikes and buying 150mm Hummels. They have helped with smashing Russian infantry attacks in QBs. I'm using a 150mm infantry gun for the first time in my latest QB (I'm Germans on the defense). It's a regular crew, but they have really shined in battle. The 150mm IG is set on the right-center portion of the map (medium size, moderate trees, moderate hills) in a patch of tall trees just behind and to the left of a platoon of sturmgenadiers and 2 HMGs. The AI has two main avenues of approach with his infantry. I set up the IG to cover the right avenue. I had to open fire earlier than I wanted to because one of my ATGs that I really needed was getting hammered by two MGs and ISU-152s. The IG routed the MGs after a few rounds, but that brought some unwanted attention from two T-34/85s on the left side of the map. They were about 450-480 meters away from my IG. I thought the IG would have a short life, but both tanks have apparently expended all their HE rounds trying to take this valiant IG crew out. They have sat there and fired for about 10 turns often forcing the crew to go to ground, but the IG crew has never broken. Now the tank fire has slackened and my IG is going to work on the the Russian infantry attack on the right side. The Sturmgenadiers, 2 HMGs and a 105mm arty strike were able to deal with the first part of the attack, but the Russians keep coming! I brought up a Hummel from the right rear and together with my IG they are giving 150mm therapy sessions to any infantry that bunches up. My sturmgrenadiers and HMGs are down to 2-3 ammo. My Hummel is out of ammo and my IG has 7 rounds left. I have one a platoon of infantry and one ATG covering the victory flag about 250 meters to the rear. I hope it will be enough. On the left side of the battle there is a bunch of woods and a church with the forward-most small victory flag. I couldn't deploy troops to the far (enemy) side of the woods due to set-up zone forward limit, so I set up a platoon of sturmgrenadiers inside the woods with a flame thrower. There is also a HMG, a HQ and an infantry squad in the church with a flame thrower in the church too. The sturmgrenadiers in the woods put up a good fight, but were quickly overrun. After eating my sturmgrenadiers as an appetizer, the Russians began licking their lips in anticipation of taking the small victory flag in the church some 50 meters away. They began suppressing my church defenders and sending squads rushing toward the church. That's when I called in the 150mm arty into the woods. This was a crushing blow! No Russians of any consequence have ventured out of the woods since the arty strike 10 turns ago. In fact, the only troops I've seen that went into the woods came running out of the far side about midway through the arty strike. Then I plastered them with the IG gun and they turned around and ran back into the woods. I'm sure they are in there, huddled together and quaking with fear. My point of this post is that I'm getting much better results from the big stuff against the massed AI infantry attacks. 105mm arty would not have stopped the left side attack by itself like the 150mm did. 105mm SPs and 105mm IGs would not be stopping the right side attack like my valiant, soon to be veteran, 150mm IG gun crew. I used to use 81mm arty because they were cheap and they had lots of rounds. I'm learning that you get what you pay for! I'm sure an experienced human would have taken apart my defense like a Mercedes in an East L.A. chop shop, but I'm learning. And when I get a little better I'll try my luck against you guys.

I think Edgars was being sarcastic about the scouting being gamey.

Thanks GreenAsJade. When I get home from work I will check it out. I just figured the CMBB manual would be the same as an adobe CMAK manual. Hotkey buttons! What a concept! This CM community is incredibly helpful and well informed. I can't believe the time and interest people take to help other players. Speaking of help. Is there a help line for CM addicts? I may need to call it. I'm spending more and more time on this game. Is it possible to be able to play the game only sometimes as opposed to all the time? Am I destined to lose contact with all my friends and family as a result of this game? What happens when CMx2 comes out? I might manage to pry myself away from the computer and then I will be hit with BFC's next product. Any suggestions?

SGT AA, Hi! I am a noooobie at this scenario making. I'm in CMBB map editor and not seeing any option to add craters. I'm not completely patched up because I only have internet at work and not at home. Can't download stuff! Is the crater editor a patch, or is it in CMAK? I have the CMBB hard copy manual so I'll look in there. I also have the CMAK disk. Is there an Adobe manual that is worth reading on the CMAK disk? Does it contain additional info? What is Mapping Mission? Is this a website or a CM community tool on a CM website? That would be cool because as much as I enjoy making this map, it does take a long time.

The higher probability of first shot hit-first shot kill, the more valuable tank fire distribution becomes. Modern U.S. armor units always distribute fire because they will very likely hit and kill on the first round. You can wipe out a tank company in short order using good fire distribution. You could use this to advantage even in CM. If you are at long range and unlikely to hit/kill, then maybe you should volley fire on one or two targets. If you are closer and your gun is likely to kill what it hits, then distribute the tank fire evenly.

When I set up AT guns in a position that can see everything, they always get killed quickly when I open fire. Because you get the multiple tanks firing at you as described. When playing against the AI the tanks will usually follow ducks in a row. Position ATG to take advantage of this. Key holeing was mentioned, but if you position ATG so that only one tank will be exposed at a time, then the ATG will be a killer. As AI tanks crest the hill or come out from the treeline they can be picked off one at a time while being ganged up on by multiple ATGs. You can still have a large arch covered by your ATGs this way.

I wanted to make my scenario a battle damaged area (artillery craters), I don't think I can do it except on random generated maps. Can anyone give ideas on this? Can you add foxholes? Also when creating reinforcements, will they automatically jump onto available transport in the same group of reinforcements? Any way to control this? I'm all excited about this really cool map I'm making. I used an actual map of German country side that I got off of Old Hickory.com (I think that is the name of the site.) Anyway it really makes for better map making to use parts of actual terrain as I'm sure you all already know, but it's something I'm just discovering. My map is a 1.5km X 2 km area. I may have to make it into an operation due to the size. Which is something I've never done, but if it's as fun as making these scenarios, then I'm in for some sleepless nights.

Do USMA (United States Military Academy) History Department search on Google. They have excellent maps of most major wars/campaigns.

Can't find an answer on the searches I've done, but I'm sure this has been covered. Why can't we re-embark the 88mm AA? I read on a website that a well trained crew could get this gun back in it's traveling configuration within a very few minutes. I could have sworn I saw some footage of the 88mm firing from it's traveling wheels in North Africa. Why can't we do these things?

I play CM because I love how it perks my interest in WWII. It seems I go play CM after reading a WWII history book or vise versa. But I also really got a kick out of playing the game Mech Warrior. I always thought that sim lacked the strategy component necessary for replayability. I think it would be cool to have a detailed product like CM in a future war addition. This would make lots of economic sense for BFC too. There are plenty of younger people who would buy the game just because it was like Mech Warrior. You could have UberMechs and whimpy Mechs just like CM. Armored vehicles, light vehicle, aircraft, and tough fortifications could all be in a game like that. Infantry would be nearly useless however. I would dearly miss the crunchies. The forum for a game like that wouldn't have all the interesting historical tid bits about how the actual weapon systems fared. But what it would have is lots of posts from excited players wanting to tell their stories of how they managed to keep their Mechs alive. I'm not advocating a future war additon for CM2 be the first or second product out, but it would be cool to have a different arena to test your skills in.

A most satisfying kill...Playing against AI. I was the Russians and a Tiger had knocked out four of my T-34s. In doing so the Tiger moved down into this depression next to some woods. I rushed a tank killing team to the patch of woods. On the next turn the tank killers threw a shape charge grenade or something at the Tiger. It took a high arch and landed on the back deck of the Tiger. There was the satisfying sound of bang, and the Tiger caught fire. The crew bailed out and were not taken as prisoners by the Russians.