John_d
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Posts posted by John_d
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Check this out...
The most amazing move I've ever pulled off in CM. Soviet force attacking a German held village. The attack is going pretty well. I have a force on the left flank of the village heading through some forest, some Valentine tank destoyers in the centre pounding away at key buildings, and a smaller infanrty force moving up the right flank. Suddenly, the right flank force comes under heavy fire from MGs on the left and a battery of field guns on the right. Getting cut to pieces and I figure that they only have a couple of minutes left before they all die. Unfortunately, the only way to the guns is thourhg the middle of a the German held villge, so I can't afford to send my tank destroyers thorugh the middle and it will take too long to push the forece on the right flank throught to the guns. So I have to think quickly. Suddenly, I notice that they force on the right flank has a couple of jeeps at its disposal. So I load them up with a tank hunter unit each. And send them at full pelt throught the middle of the German lines. I seriously don't expect any of them to make it, but both jeeps speed through the lines (under very heavy enemy fire and indirect fire from my own guns- one stray round landed literally meters from one of the jeeps) and arrive at their destination just behind the field guns. Unfortunately a lucky couple of shots killed the driver of one of the jeep and one of the soldiers on board. But the remaining three charged through the forest behind the guns and managed to capture all 4 of them! 2 of the 3 were taken as casualities during the episode and all of the German prisoners escaped (as my troops didn't have enough time to escort them to a Soviet held area or enough ammo to execute them), but his allowed me to take the town and win a toal victory.
Hero of the Soviet Union stuff I feel
Any story that can beat that? I'd love to hear them
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Its a difficult question to address given that forest types vary massively around Europe. Certainly in the South of England I would say that there should be a bigger difference between wooded areas and pine forest, but I would be hard pressed to how this would be translated into Russian or German forests.
Darkmath- I don't think that oak trees are really that common in Europe anymore. Most areas have undergone substantial clearance and simply aren't old enough to have decent sized oak trees.
Actually, I've just remembered. Apparently most Russian forests are birch forests. Which are small, soft trees that tend to pack quite densely and have lots of undergrowth.
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Stoat, there are very few oak trees in my immediate area. I see your point. Most of the deciduous trees around where I live are birch trees and suchlike. Also, alot of the land is owned by the forestry commission and so is not old enough to have large trees. Therefore most of the deciduous forest is composed of densely packed smaller plants.
Perhaps my area is atypical b/c of the high numbers of 'alien' species. Rhodedrenron and even American redwoods grow freely after being imported for ornamental gardens in the 19th Century.
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Never been in any type of combat situation, but I do happen to live in the middle of a forest and having grown up there know a fair amount about trees.
In my experience there is a huge difference between coniferous and deciduous cover. The pines modelled in CM tend not to provide much cover at all. The branches at the bottom of the tree fall off when the light becomes restricted. Also, due to the huge amount of water that these trees require, pine forests tend to be quite sparse. At ground level there isn't really very much in the way of cover, just large trunks spaced fairly far apart. Its pretty hard to hide yourself in, but one of those trunks could probably quite easily stop a round.
Deciduous trees (woods in CM) on the other hand, have leaves all the waydown their trunks. The trees tend to be smaller and more tightly packed, with more undergrowth. However, there probably is less in the way of solid wood to stop flying rounds. I'd reckon that the concealment is better, but the cover softer and offering less protection.
Fir forest, which aren't modelled in CM, are a whole different kettle of fish though. Virtually no visibilty, little in the way of 'hard' cover and extremely difficult to move through. These would be awesome in CM. Maybe something to consider for CM2?
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Is there a way of doing this without getting mauled? The only ways that I have come across so far are:
- Surround the building and charge, spreading the defender's firepower over as wide an area as possible.
- Blow a hole in the side of the building and use the rubble and the dust to cover the advance
- Land a huge artillery strike in the middle of the building, knocking down a section through the middle. This cuts LOS within the building and hopefully means that you will face half the number of troops in the mad dash in
Unfortunately, although these tactics work, they require rather specific conditions to put into action. Are there any more general ways of doing this?
Discuss
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I was at the Bovington Tank Museum the other day and I noticed that they had a Finnish T-26. I coldn't help but notice that the swastika markings on the hull were the same way around as the Nazi swastika (i.e. arms pointing clockwise). However, in CMBB, the swastikas on the Finnish tanks are the mirror image, much like the ancient Sanskrit symbol (incidently I think the word 'swastika' is also Sanskrit). Is this a deliberate feature? Wondered if it was due to distribution issues in Europe.
On an unrelated note, Sanskrit is a beautiful language and everyone should learn at least a few words.
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You're not seriously suggesting that Jordan and Syria might effectively be the same place because they share a border are you? That is tantamount to saying that United States and Mexico should be the same, or France and Germany.
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Jason, I'm currently playing your partisan operation against the AI and I think I may have encountered a bug.
Spoiler.....
I am currently playing as the Russians and there is a fairly straightforward way of capturing the two flags, even after the first couple of battles. If the Russians split their force into three parts and use the platoon west of the village to cut in between the two flags, a second force to cut through north of the northerly flag (to form a defensive perimeter) and the remaining force to directly assault the northern flag, then both flags will be captured by the end of the first battle. This is due to the fact that the southern end of the map is friendly to the Russians, thus meaning that the capture of the northern flag will guarantee control of the southern flag. Also, this gives away the German approach when re-enforcements arrive in the next battle. After the remainder of the German forces in the village have been hunted down and destroyed, it is simply a matter of moving your men quickly north to set up defences north of the village. This defensive line need only be held for a few minutes of game time to ensure vistory.
Of course, it would be different against a human opponent, who would be much harder to route out of the village in the first place. But the theory still stands to a degree- the friendly sountern map edge means that the capture of the northern flag implies the capture of the southern flag. In addition, it would be hard to see how a human player would lose Vasili, as the terrain is almost ideally suited for hiding people in and there is no compulsion to actually take him into battle at all.
Maybe the map could use a couple of hills or something? But maybe not, given that its a marsh
But, when all's said and done, the operation is great fun. Very cool idea and the stealth aspect makes a great change from the usual open battles. Much respect for going to the trouble of creating a partisan operation!
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Does anyone know of any good partisan scenarios?
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No. I think this topic has been covered in the past. It usually gets into a messy 'what if' discussion about how women soldiers in CM would be modelled vs. male soldiers. Very un-PC. Besides, from what I gather, women didn't actually do that much front line fighting. I've heard stories of armed women during the early days of Barbarossa and Stalingrad, but nothing more.
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I think this is an example of a model:
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Thanks for that! So when they say that they are the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, the regimental number is not directly linked to the division (i.e. its not 506th regiment OF the 101st division, its the 506th regiment of the army) and the divisional number also just means that its the 101st division of the army? How many regiments were there in the 101st? Its only 506th that seem to get any media coverage
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Thanks for that! So when they say that they are the 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne, the regimental number is not directly linked to the division (i.e. its not 506th regiment OF the 101st division, its the 506th regiment of the army) and the divisional number also just means that its the 101st division of the army? How many regiments were there in the 101st? Its only 506th that seem to get any media coverage
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Are there any scenarios out there about the infamous 'traitor' divisions of the Wermacht- i.e. the divisions of Cossacks and anti-Communist Russians who fought alongside the German army? I believe there was some kind of last stand by them in Prague in 1945 when they first joined forces with the Czech resistance against the SS units stationed there, then switched sides and joined with the SS against Red Army. Would have the makings of a good scenario I feel. Or maybe even a series of scenarios.
Also, does anyone know what kind of equipment these divisions used? Did they use captured Russian equipment or were they trained to use German equipment? A scenario pitching German T-34s against Russian ones would be cool
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I was just watching Band of Brothers today and I was wondering about how the organisation works. Apparently, the company in question is 'E' Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The first bit is fine- I understand how the organisation works up to regimental level. But presumeably there aren't at least 505 other regiments in the 101st, or another 100 divisions of airborne troops. This would be a HUGE number of troops and given that this kind of warfare was in its infancy back in the 40s, I seriously doubt that there would be this number of paratroopers in the American army. But maybe I'm wrong. Can anyone shed some light on the issue for me please?
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I was just watching Band of Brothers today and I was wondering about how the organisation works. Apparently, the company in question is 'E' Company of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment, 101st Airborne Division. The first bit is fine- I understand how the organisation works up to regimental level. But presumeably there aren't at least 505 other regiments in the 101st, or another 100 divisions of airborne troops. This would be a HUGE number of troops and given that this kind of warfare was in its infancy back in the 40s, I seriously doubt that there would be this number of paratroopers in the American army. But maybe I'm wrong. Can anyone shed some light on the issue for me please?
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Has anyone ever done a mod of the unpainted T-34s used in Stalingrad? I've seen pictures and models of them, but never any mods.
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There is (to a degree) a certain realism to the PanicAI. Firstly, troops don't always know where the best place to run is. They may run into an enemy position that they could not see whilst trying to get away. Or possibly just don't think about it rationally and do something stupid. Secondly, a vehicle crew is a smaller and less inviting target than a tank. Plenty of times in CMx1 you see tank crews wiped out b/c they can't get out fast enough. But, by the same token, vehicle crews don't often get directly targeted unless there is nothing better to shoot at. How many times have you seen a tank crew wander for miles throught a fire-fight unharmed, or sit out a battle under a tree? Happens alot.
Having said that, its not perfect and stupid AI flaws (like automatically crawling towards the nearest piece of cover which happens to be where the fire is coming from) are annoying. It would be good if the AI had a few 'tricks' built into it, like feint attacks and stuff. And also knew how to counter some common tricks itself
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Thanks for the responses. I'm playing the AI, btw. In the end I went for options 3 and 4. It also turned out that I had a battalion of re-enforcements, which evened things out a bit. I deployed my troops in an arc several metres deep across the village, with one platoon positioned behind the enemy lines at a rail depot.
Within the first minutes the infiltrating platoon got shot to pieces (as predicted by Kingfish) and the survivors jumped into halftracks and beat a hasty retreat. On the way back (they were about 800 metres from my front line and consequently right in the middle of no mans land) they drove right through the middle of an enormous column of Russian troops heading for my right (undefended) flank. A good bit of gangsta style drive by shooting polished off an couple of Russian SMG squads and the platoon went off to defend the point that the column was heading for, by driving through the middle of it guns blazing. Suprisingly I only lost a couple of gunners from the halftracks doing this. At about the same time, I'd sent a company HQ out from my command post in a halftrack to rally the infiltration platoon, but he had run into a Russian armoured column on the way in the middle of no mans land. He bailed out and took shelter in a nearby house, where he spent the rest of the battle holding off repeated attacks by Russian infantry. He eventually racked up a cool 43 kills before I was able to send a rescue party.
The main part of the attack came through the middle of the village, hitting the company that had been doing all of the previous days fighting. One of the bloodiest CM battle I have ever seen. Bodies and burnt out tanks everywhere. The Russians eventually broke through the line and the battle descended into a swirling mass of soldiers fighting from house to house. Couple of jaw dropping moments cropped up- a group of my troops scoring 35 kills and 3 T-34s destroyed. And a lone Russian (as in an SMG squad reduced to one man) singlehandedly clearing out a building containing around a dozen Panzergrenadiers. My troops were eventually forced to withdraw, but only after decimating the Russian attacking force (and suffering about 60% casualities in the process).
On the far right flank there was another attack, but my defending force only consisted of the remains of the infiltrating platoon and 3 StuGs. On this side, all of my defenders (except 8 infantry men, a StuG and the HTs) were wiped out. I take my hat off the to soldiers that destroyed one of the StuGs- one molotov thrown at 30m by ski troops moving at full pelt went straight down the hatch and killed the tank commander. Had to watch it on replay a few times to get my head around it.
All in all, a good result. Its the next mornings battle now and my troops have been forced back about 500m into the village itself. I've set up my defences around the village church- the only tall building on the map so a useful spotting position for my mortars. This is an awesome operation and I would recommend it to anyone without hesitation
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#3 might work just b/c I already have a platoon in place from the ealier fighting. But ur probably right- no point blundering around in the dark with a battalion's worth of SMG squads out there!
Its Peipers Chariots of Fire
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Hi all, just playing an operation at the moment and I've come across a situation where I'm unsure of what to do. Basically, I have a company of Panzergrenadiers (with 3 MG42s and an 81mm mortar, enough halftracks to carry said Panzergrenadiers, a 81mm mortar carrier and 3 StuGs. My orders are to defend a large village (about 1.5km x 1.5km) against a rather large Russian assault (intelligence suggests 2 infantry battalions plus armoured support). So I'm outnumbered about 6 to 1. The first battle went swimmingly- textbook reverse slope defense stopping the main assault and then swung round the flanks to create a kill-sack. My losses were light, but lost a platoon HQ which might be a problem.
The second battle is about to start and I'm unsure of what to do. Night has fallen and it is snowing hard, reducing visability to something terrible. I still have to hold the village against attack, but b/c of the poor LOS, I am worried about the enemy infiltrating my lines of cutting my troops off. I also know from the previous battle that alot of the Russians are carrying SMGs, so I am wary of engaging them at close range. These two factors, combined with the fact that I am so heavily outnumbered, make me think that I will need to modify my tactics if any of my troops are to make it through the night. I have had four ideas so far:
1) Select one block of the village to hold and hope the Russians don't get too close. If the Russians turn up, I fight. If they don't, I stay put. Maybe keep a couple of half squads out as spotters. This would ensure that I still held strategic points for a counter attack in the morning.
2) Hide and wait for re-enforcements the following morning. Then counter-attack when they arrive
3)Use the cover of darkness to infiltrate the enemy lines in order to trap and encircle them once re-enforcements arrive. I already have troops well forward of the village who could do this.
4) Set up a series of small ambushes within the town. Create kill zones with halftracks parked just out of sight (with the engines running!). Wait for the Russians to turn up, shoot for a minute or two, then jump in the halftracks and ride off. Repeat.
With any of these, I intend to keep my ranged weapons well out of harms way b/c they won't be any use at all at night
Any ideas or comments would be appreciated
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Whilst we're on the subject- why is it that almost all Alled vehicles only come in shades of brown and green, whereas alot of Axis vehicles look like an explosion in a paint factory? I can't imagine how alot of the German camo patterns (especially the navy blue '41 colour scheme) actually provide any kind of camoflage
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There is always the option that the human player is 'noble' towards the AI and just doesn't exploit weaknesses (as far as possible). This could include routing but not killing forces and retreating before a banzai charge.
The only way around this would really be to reduce the scale of each battle from 2km x 2km to 1km x 1km. The original design for the CMCTACT battles was that 4 tiles could be fought over at once, which makes sense, given that you could capture one objective and then move on, but I think that a reduction of battle size would be a small price to pay for solving the AI bugs. Alternatively, the flags are placed by CMCTACT at the start of each battle, rather than by CMCOP or the editor so that the victory flag only appears in the middle of the defender's positions when the game starts up (and only have one flag for each 2km x 2km battle). If the flag is captured by the attacking force, then the defenders are moved back 1km. If the attackers fail to capture the flag, then they are moved back to where they started from (i.e. 1km back)
Maybe the upshot of CMC will be that it will just be a game that is only really worth playing against humans. But even then, its gonna take a long, long time to finish a game.
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I don't have CMAK I'm afriad, but thanks for the offer. You brought up a good point though- the AI does have a slight advantage that it 'knows' the terrain better. Also, the AI does stuff that is absolutely crazy and no human would do, but its so gutsy that it kinda works
How will fuel be displayed tactically?
in Combat Mission Campaigns
Posted
I think they all start dug in, but I don't know where I heard that