rocketman

Oh goodie, another war with a begrudging and resentful partner we are supposed to arm to the teeth, be continuously told we suck and are doing it wrong, and then enjoy the post war sh#t show as we have to sink billions more into a resentful nation to keep it propped up.
Seriously man, we get the frustration but why not follow the lead from your political leadership and offer a simple “thank you” now and again?

Not enough. Neither tanks, nor especially IFVs and APCs. In that time, when hundreds of M113, older versions of M2 and Murders just stand useless under sky in that time when western politics 9 months are thinking will Russia nuke them for M2 and Leo or not. 
If West would give us weapon with the same zeal as it forced us to disarm in 90th for paper security guaranties...

How can I get hold of your mods for some testing? Searched CMMODS and found some that Kohl had changed but moved the TC up from a too low position. I'll compare your screenshot to in-game when I get time, but it looks just about right.

China Deals Hammer Blow to Russia's War Effort (msn.com)
 

Is this too low? Or just right?


The model for the M4A2 75mm is basically the British & Commonwealth Sherman III with a few tweaks. Interestingly the CMFI model for the Sherman III (and Sheramn IIa) is actually sitting in the CMRT Data repositories in our game folders - must have been left there when the BF minions were porting the model over, it's complete with it's FI camo and all!

Coincidentally @Ultradave and I have just exchanged the initial password turns for Cat and Mouse and it seemed normal so far. 
@George MC / @rocketman I'll report back if we hit a problem.

Every autocratic regime creates highly effective slave-drivers, to keep the masses in line. Either the masses eventually turn on them (Libya) or something external kills off the slave-driver elites (ISIS).
Wagner has effective c&c, a cadre that is tech-savvy, adaptable and utterly ruthless. Yet its numbers, the ratio of command elite to driven herd, are its weakness. Not only are they relatively few in number but their current tactics work against a proper and continuous influx of new blood. They have created an elite within an elite, that has a very high threshold of competence and brutality and a harsh filter on who gets to join. This creates a core that is capable and willing to do anything to succeed, but relatively limited in number. That reduced number is the  unavoidable downside, as well as the forced slow replenishment.
I mentioned previously that a campaign against WG as a force would hit its C&C nodes and networks. No point focussing on the attacking groups, hit the directing commanders.
Kill off the upper echelons of command and the control will slip, precipitously. Like the regime that spawns them, slave-driver elites are powerful, strong, very dangerous - and brittle. Once you find the flaws that run through all of them, stick some knives in and twist hard, then they crack like eggshells.
By contrast, democratic and Western-styled forces have a far deeper reservoir of talent to draw on, a far more open, broad-based and equal promotion ladder and consequently greater resilience to combat shocks and losses. 
I hope the anti-Wagner Campaign picks up speed, HIMARS those ****ers into oblivion, then lets see them bounce back. Gotta move fast and hard, they will adapt.

Has anyone been able to start this scenario as a PBEM and not getting a corrupted file before the actual scenario starts? Me and my PBEM partner has tried two times now and I did a start of the scenario as a PBEM without sharing the first file and there is something off.
If I'm correct - the order of files/actions is as follows in a PBEM:
Person A starts PBEM and generate 001 as his password turn Person B gets 001 and does his password turn and generete 002 Person A gets 002 and does his setup and generate 003 Person B gets 003 and does his setup and generate 004 Person A views the action of the first turn (004), makes his moves, and generate 005 Person B views the action of the first turn (004), makes his moves, and generate 006 and so on.... To me it seems like this scenario for some weird reson messes up the first step so that some kind of corruption occurs. The password stage doesn't occur immediately in step 1+2 but only generates save files.
Never encountered anything like this before and can't understand what is specific about this scenario.
Both me and my playing partner use CM Helper (but have other games ongoing without other people without a hitch) and we have the latest patch and we both have the battle pass and Fire & Rubble. Both on PC.
Paging @George MC as I understand you are the scenario maker.
Are ema-files worth sending for analysis?
 

 

So you are suggesting pulling the US more directly involved in this war so we can basically ping away at strategic targets within Russia “just a little bit more”?  The risk to opportunity costs are pretty upside down on this.  As I said before Ukraine has every right to strike legitimate military targets within Russia and obviously has a level of domestic ISR to do so. However, this is harassment fires that create uncertainty and doubt, which is not small, but Ukraine is already capable of this on its own.
Supplying longer range HIMARs without ISR support will limit their employment to what Ukraine can already prosecute or risks Ukraine leaning in and taking risks we are not comfortable with.  I have no doubt if the US supplies ATACMS today there will be people on this board screaming for “more ISR support so Ukraine can widen its target set” in another month or so.
A strategic offensive is not something one “nibbles away at” in ones or twosies - you claim to want a quick end to this war (strategic end) and that Ukraine needs long range precision fires to target in-Russia targets (Means) but they are going to do it incrementally (Ways)? - this is a flawed strategy with all the risks of escalation and none of the payoff?  You have under prescribed the risks to fit your narrative but it does not fix a fundamentally flawed strategy.
Your limited Russian airfield is a classic example of amateur military planning - ok, we execute a “limited campaign” against a single Russian airfield with strategic bombers, “1-4” was the number you quoted.  Let’s unpack this one:
We give Ukraine a few dozen ATACMS and they go ahead and do this campaign on their own - no western ISR.  Ukraine now has to validate the target and do BDA all on its own.  We have definitely escalated things by providing the weapons but can keep our hands clean from direct targeting.
Ukraine goes ahead and hits the target - you will all feel better I am sure.  They hit some infrastructure, damage the airfield and take out 4 Russian strategic bombers - huzzah!
Well this will definitely create some uncertainty for Russia which is not small, they will react and likely pull assets back lengthening flight times.  This will definitely be an escalation as it is now targeting their ability to defend themselves from NATO but it might make life harder for pounding Ukrainian cities.
Ok, now what?  Russia has over 500 TU-95s:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-95 . So the actual damage to the fleet is minimal.  Airfields also take a lot to knock out so the actual damage to that airfield is going to be temporary.  Finally, we have done nothing to actually affect the Russian strategic bomber system.  It’s production, maintenance, fuelling, arming and C4ISR.  We have damaged an airfield and knocked a few platforms.  The Russians will pull back, take a little longer and burn a little more fuel (which we also did nothing about) and still hammer Ukrainian cities with abandon.
What we did do is escalate this war.  Likely reinforced Putin’s narrative that this is an existential war for Russia against NATO pretty significantly, and Russia will likely continue to escalate strikes against Ukrainian cities.
So in a month or so, you and others will be demanding a broader campaign to hit “all Russia’s airfields in ATACMS range!!”  There will be all sorts of upside down risk calculations because - once again - no one has offers any educated assessment of where the Russian escalation threshold actually is.  A larger counter AirPower campaign will require western ISR support and pull the US further into direct involvement in this war while steadily marching towards a plausible Russian escalation threshold we cannot fully define.
More bluntly put - we are breaking our opponents hands and arms right now.  It is slow and painful but working.  If you want a fast end to the war you are going to have to hit the body and head, hard and fast - no sidestepping or weasel-ing out of that reality.  Russia has nuclear strategic deterrence and a doctrine behind it:https://sgp.fas.org/crs/nuke/R45861.pdf. That is a pretty grey and broad doctrine btw.  So if we start striking it’s head and body we are on a slippery slope to someone pulling out a gun in this bar fight. 
The end to this war is not about making you feel better.  It is about negotiating with a reality nobody wants but can live with. Russia is already on the ropes within Ukraine, the operational campaigns have been brilliant and are working.  If we are going to do anything more double down on that because any “quick and easy” magic new platform/weapon solutions aren’t quick or easy.
 

Well beyond the hard left turn at pro-proliferation, for which I can think of about a dozen arguments against with respect to Ukraine or any other small power nation for that matter - back to my question: “so what is the Russian redline?”  The pro-“give them everything” crowd has either undersubscribed this factor or simply sidestepped the question.  
“We should do everything from no-fly zones to providing Ukraine with ATACMS to F22s and M1 Abrams.  We should feed them targeting data on Russian targets everywhere and hope they stick to them.”  Ok, so again, people in this camp have highlighted what they are pretty sure are not Russia escalation tolerance lines but have offered no insight as to what those lines may actually be.  What would it take for Russia to be forced into a corner enough to escalate to WMDs?  If the answer is “they will never escalate” then prove it - post some studies that support this.
I have no idea what those Russian red lines are, or are not.  75k dead clearly is not, how about 150k?  A few strategic hits, how about 20 or 30, or 300?  Try and kill Putin and hit the Kremlin?  Really hit their nuclear arsenal and not a single airbase?  I don’t know and I am betting neither NATO, nor the US knows either.  This is not a schoolyard fight, it is a really dangerous war.  If we are going to get serious about hitting Russia fast and hard, we are talking about doing it to the point where the entire Russian war machine collapses.  Widening the war to hitting their entire military strategic system - not some amateur hour lobbing of a few ATACMS.  So is that going to trip the trigger?
I am glad some of you are very confident in your positions - but these levels of confidence in warfare make me very nervous.  War is all about uncertainty and we are in the middle of a high consequence big uncertainty right now.  I applaud the US and the west for playing this one so carefully and still ensuring Ukraine is coming out on top. This has been a masterclass in smart incremental warfare.

Serviceman of 93rd mech.brigade says, their 4-months campaign in Bakhmut is over. They inflicted alot of losses to the enemy, but their losses also enough big. They are going to rotation for R&R (or likely already left the sector) and wish good luck to those, who will come to substitute them.
 
Maybe toughest brigade of AFU. Heavy fights since May under endless Russian arty rains southern from Izium and after this heaviest fights since autumn near Bakhmut. Thanks, guys, you are titans and no one Marvel superhero can't stand nearby
 

Melitpol airbase area last night
Other yesterday strike on Melitopol at recreation complex "Hunter's halt" was conducted with Turkish-made missiles TRLG-230 (and now we know that UKR forces could lase trgets with UAVs). On the video - result of hits and remains of this missile. On the night video with bodies recovering Caucasians accent was heard. By unconfirmed information Murad Saidov - Kadyrov's approximate could be killed there. This complex was lovely place for local collaborationis administration and Russian top-officers. 
Also one more yesterday strike aftermath - during strike on Dmytrivka village vicinity in 15 km NW from Berdiansk (105 km from frontline) there was hit a recharging and maintenance site of S-300 battalion. This place was revealed by recons as far as month ago and all this time the strike has been prepared. Russians came there not each day and not always in full composition, so additional recon has been conducted constatly and two days ago whole AD battalion was spotted, being apperard for recharging and tech.works again. Total about 25 vehicles were spotted. After the strike huge detonation took place and at least seven vehicles were destroyed. Just still unclear what weapon was used to reach this site. 
One more AD supressing work - some "western weapon" destroyed newest Russian Buk-M3 near Vesele village
  

I'm not sure about the exact details, but the S300 is very inaccurate vs ground targets, not that the ruzzians care if it hits a residential building or a playground
 

It is not in the least.
There is one very big caveat to this that everyone is glossing over- who is developing the targeting packages, and with what?
The risk of escalation is not so much weak-kneed western resolve it is trying to avoid direct acts of war between the US and Russia. Of course Ukraine can hit legitimate military targets in Russia, particularly if they are part of this “special military operation”.  And the nuclear escalation equation is also part of all this but the spin here is that the US is avoiding direct involvement in this war because then it turns the war into something else.
For the same reason the US is not conducting airstrikes, they are pretty cautious with their ISR data. So Ukraine get ATACMS or whatever - whose data are they using to hit the right targets in Russia?  If the UA fires blind they could wind up hitting a civilian neighbourhood, which is going to harm their cause - and I get the unfairness as Russia pound civilians in Ukraine but as we discussed before one warcrime does not justify retaliation warcrimes.  And there is the risk that a Google Earth long range fire hits something Russia does take seriously enough to escalate over.  
For those in the “Russia is full of crap on escalation, always” camp - ok Tex, what is the Russian red line then?  Would a NATO ground invasion of Russia set them off?  If you answer is “yes” - ok, let’s walk it back from that and in your professional opinion tell me when to stop. A direct strike on Russian political leadership?  A strike on Russias nuclear arsenal?
 If your answer is “no” - please leave for a bit because you are no longer part of a rational conversation.
Regardless, we are back to “where is the ISR coming from?”  If the US or any other western nation is developing targeting data or packages for direct strikes on another nation it is an act of war.  Imagine if Russia or China was a third party in a conflict and was providing targeting data into a western nation…ya, that. I am pretty sure the US ISR architecture is tying itself in knots to avoid being pulled into Russia right now.  If the UA can use their own ISR - and I suspect HUMINT is being employed - good on them and please don’t do something dumb. However, Ukraine is a free independent nation defending itself with its own resources.  The US developing data and packages on Russian targets, in Russia, is an escalation on our end - a pretty serious one. It definitely shift to strategic offence which is a pretty severe line to cross just because we will feel better.  Further, it may not shorten this war, it may lengthen it.
The single biggest fear in the west is that Russia will widen the conflict and directly strike out at a NATO nation.  Why? Because we would have to respond, NATO is too big to fail.  If Russia calls our bluff and we do directly respond the whole thing gets crazy fast. Now Putin has justification for broader escalation and that is a train we might not be able to get off.  Further it may split resolve in the western world - I am not sure how keen the rest of Europe is on dying for Ukraine. The evil truth is that Ukraine may be more important to Russia than it is to the West when we get into that sort of calculus…maybe.
The US president was pretty clear and I agree with him - the second this conflict widens into the western sphere, pulling NATO in, we are talking about WW3. And that will involve strategic nuclear escalation because it is all Russia really has left in the bag for a conflict of that scale.  We might get lucky and Russia blinks and someone shoots Putin in the head before it comes to it - but that is a hope, not a plan.

Yes, please - a bone or two. I'm particularly interested in hearing more about performance improvements on the current engine that was hinted at by Steve a while back.

And the time this Video was released is very suspicous. Just after Putin stating that the ukrainian army is executing their  men for desertion.
This Video needs to be georeferenced, to see where it was taken.

Look at the top choices: Immigration for Red and Climate Change (global warming) for Blue. Most intriguing as they will be joined at the hip as drought and increasing water and food scarcity force increasingly large populations to move or perish. Conflict is inevitable.

An article (in Ukrainian) how Ukrainian volunteers-engineers from Respeechers and i3 Engineering companies and programmers, serving in 125th TD Brigade, created AI warning system ZVOOK (from UKR. "zvuk" -  "sound"). This system allows to complement possibilities of Air Defense radars to detect approaching missiles and kamikadze drones - it's sound sensors listen the air, select suspicious sound, AI analyzes it and if the signal is matches to threat sound, it transmits alarm via cell phones towers to Air Defense datacenters. By the placement of activated sensor,  AD can decide to react on that direction. 
This system had been developing four months and was set up immediately after AI could detect true signal at 50/50 level - because we had a lack of radar covering - on the meeting develppers with Lviv oblast administration, representatives of cell phone operators and militaries they got permission to launch the first trial systems. Gradually engineers enchanced sound mirrors, electronics and could learn AI to work almost without mistakes. Interesting, that most problematic was to learn AI to differ a sound of cruise missile from cows mooing.
In present time 40 ZVOOK sensors already installed on more critical directions, but developers say there are need 600 sensors throughout all country in several echelones to be effective complement of radars. In plans of developers - to make the system capable to determine a coordinates, speed and course of target. Now it can determinate approximately a bearing and elevation angle. Also developers want to scale the project and turn it in future to commercial product.
 https://www.epravda.com.ua/publications/2022/11/28/694314/
 ZVOOK sensor on cell phone tower

And "prototype" of ZVOOK - Dutch soldier of 30th years with acoustic system. But now human ears and brain substituted with electronic and AI
 

Sadly, the Rat Czar will not yield.  This war has continued for 9 months for only one reason -- Putin's survival (save face, etc).  He is completely tied to this war and cannot back out.  Putin's propaganda presents this war as existential for RU -- which is actually true but in the opposite way these clowns mean.  RU survival depends on getting out, not staying in.  The effect on this insanity on 144M russians (and 44M UKR) is irrelevant.  Putin must die.  He will never leave UKR territory unless forced out, like w Kiev, Kharkiv, and Kherson.  My hope for the attacks on RU is that it finally causes some faction in RU to kill Putin.  

Technical rate of fire of 2A28 gun is up to 8 shots per minute. I, think future CM should have opportunity to set desirable RoF for any weapon system, not only for artillery  

Just wait until they find out that the Russian government has to notify the US of any strategic bomber losses there, as stipulated by the New START treaty. 😄

The new Perun video, about winter war requirements, makes it very clear that the most vital item going forward is to add winter battle packs for CMCW & CMBS. 

not a single fact in there, just your usual characterizations with that broad brush.

i think your bias is showing again.  Folks from Belarus are fighting in UKr army, Belarus citizens have been arrested for sabotaging rail network and there is a significant Belarus opposition movement.  You'll need to back up your statements with some facts to counter that.

With the tanks used for indirect fire; with the awesome stabilization ability for shooting on the move, could that be translated to shoot indirect fires accurately on the move? That would render the enemy's contemporary counter battery completely ineffective.
Earlier in the thread a couple references were made to how naval forces had to totally rethink their operations due to the change in the nature of the battlespace on water with long range strike ability. Would there be any theories from our blue water friends that would translate over so there is limited re-inventing of the wheel?