LukeFF

Yes, it's 12.7mm fire, from DShKM machine guns. The thing is that it's such light fire from so far away, and no damage is being done to any of the vehicle's systems. Makes me wonder if indeed the AI thinks it's heavier fire than it actually is.

It seems that Strykers pop smoke at the smallest amount of incoming machine gun fire, which doesn't seem right at all. I'm playing the first TF Thunder campaign mission right now, and any time one of my Strykers takes even a minimum of fire from a MG some 500-600 meters away, the vehicle pops smoke and reverses out of the area. Possibly this needs to be tweaked?

This is one area where I don't have a lot of expertise. In what types of situations should I be splitting up my squads?

Mr. Wilbeck's book on Tigers (here) is definitely a very good read on just how many challenges Tiger crews faced.

I'm still up in the air about this one. I'm playing through the USMC campaign in real time right now, and although I like the "flow" better than WeGo, the danger is that the player ends up focusing on one area of the map, and then when it's too late they realize forces on another part of the map are being decimated by previously un-spotted enemy forces. That or my tactics still just suck.

Got it. While I understand why they did this for CMSF, I hope the same isn't true for Normandy. It would look really odd seeing an MG42 gunner firing his bipod-equipped weapon from the shoulder the entire time.

Hence one of my beefs with both the stock USMC and Army campaigns. There are far, far, too many conscript-level Syrian forces (WRT to the conventional military units), especially early in the USMC campaign.

Ah, but that brings up an issue, then, with the gunner's animation. With the M240 "undeployed" the gunner will fire it from the shoulder like it's an assault rifle. Bug?

Thanks. I'll be sure to watch for this next time.

Noticed an odd thing last night in the USMC campaign mission "Milk Run" : one of my M240 teams would not deploy the M240's tripod when ordered. Thinking that there was not enough space for the MG to set up (it was inside a building and on a floor with other units) I moved it to another floor and tried again; again, the team would not deploy the weapon as ordered. The team was at full strength, not suppressed, and within site of its command unit. Bug, or something I wasn't doing right? My other M240 teams on the map were deploying their M240 tripods just fine.

Will soldiers finally be able to wash windows in the new module? http://www.kontraband.co.uk/videos/16746/Bagdad-Windscreen-Clean/#show

It was never meant to be taken seriously.

Gotta love that Finland bit.

You're probably right. The big thing I was wondering about was the time to acquire a target which, as you mention, probably would only be noticeable in FPS games like Armed Assault.

Other than factors like maximum range, does the game model any other differences inherent in the two weapons, such as time needed to aim the weapon at a target?

Pretty much each state has a place where its troops drill each month. I highly doubt NG units across the country fly in to Ft. Irwin each month for training, unless it's in preparation for deployment to Iraq. Also note: California NG troops are more than just the 40th Infantry Division. The 81st Brigade, even though it is based out of Washington, has an entire battalion stationed here in California and is part of the California NG (1st Battalion, 185th Armor, which was my unit).

Yes, Fort Irwin is also known as the National Training Center (NTC). My unit, an armor battalion, trained there just about every month, to include maneuvers with our Bradleys and Abrams, plus regular firing time for our mortar crews (my particular unit was the HQ company, so we had everything from snipers with M24s and 50cal sniper rifles to heavy mortars and Bradleys ). Like I said, gone are the days when the Army NG just laid around all weekend at the armory doing nothing. Units train as much as they can with the limited time allowed each month. Translated into CMSF, I think it would be fair to make formations representing NG units be about 75% Regular, 25% Veteran. Note as well that, to date, only one NG brigade has been equipped with the Stryker, the 56th Brigade of the 28th Infantry Division (according to Wikipedia).

As far as National Guard units go, with the amount of "usage" they seeing these days on the front lines, I would rate them as most often "Regular" in the game. As I found out soon after reporting to my NG unit, gone are the days where the troops just sit around on drill weekends doing nothing much. At least in my unit (an armor battalion) we were out in the field (Fort Irwin) nearly every month training, and almost always our drill weekends started on Thursday evening, not Saturday morning, thus allowing for more training time. Our battalion commander was big on making sure we were a combat-ready unit. As far as age and physical fitness goes, on average most of our front-line troops (especially our armor and infantry companies) were not all that much older that regular Army formations.

When I was in Iraq I played the heck out of CMBB. It's really one of those ideal games for a laptop.

Update: with the new Catalyst 8.11 drivers, the problem goes away.

Same problem here. ATI HD 4870.

Mord, Congratulations on your enlistment, and I wish you the best. I just completed 6 years in the Army (4 years active, two years National Guard) and don't regret my decision at all.

I'll just add one to the list: -Currently, a player ordering an infantry unit to disembark from a vehicle cannot give that unit a Face or Deploy Weapon command until the unit has disembarked from the vehicle.

Not much, to be honest. All of my medic training in the Army (91W originally before changing over to 68W) focused on (1) returning fire against the enemy and (2) getting to the casualty and moving them out of harm's way. Once that's done, then the task of stabilizing the casualty in preparation for transport to the rear begins. We weren't trained to stick IVs or render CPR under fire! Not to mention in all of this, that the "buddy aid" action currently in CMSF pretty well simulates the role of the Combat Lifesaver present within Army line formations. It's a great idea by the Army and frees up the medic to tend to the most serious casualties.