Sgt.Squarehead

LOL! My interest is purely scientific I assure you, I just wondered how the unique construction you have used to model the building would direct the blast.....Honest!

I'm not convinced it makes all that much difference TBH.....Hiding helps, but the rest of it seems to be in the lap of the gods (I've watched these mortar barrages very closely since Erwin's unfortunate incident). Version 1.4 is done bar the shouting, want to play it through a couple of times before I move on to 1.5.....I have discovered an issue in the AI that means 1.3 is a bit easier than it should be though.

BTW John, regarding construction these kites are either ram-air (the power-kites) so with no rigid structure at all, just fancy bridling (depower kites change configuration to increase/decease speed/lift) or in the case of the Revolution, five carbon-fibre tubes and a sheet of nylon. My other two depower kites are both Arcs (these are ram-air kites, but they need to be pre-inflated as they have minimal bridling): Peter Lynn Phantoms - Stacking them like that is definitely not normal practice (that's around 60m2 of kite in the picture)! These are my favourites as they are big gentle giants, they waft you up into the air then gently place you back down again.....If you let go of the control-bar they automatically head for the zenith where they will sit placidly overhead soaking up gusts (that would normally loft you) allowing you to just sit-back in your harness and let the kite support you.

Meh.....I've been wanting to put a JDAM through the roof of that structure ever since I first laid eyes on it, just to see what it would do, but I fear I might be struck down for my blasphemy (the water tower on the other hand went down a treat)!

My use of the word campaign was definitely inappropriate there, was thinking of something along these lines as a Mosul option.....Locate all the mines, under sniper fire and don't mind the mortaring! Come to think of it, some nasty scenarios for CM:A in the Salang Pass area spring to mind too!

I'm a member of Armorama but I don't post there, I'm mostly on Britmodeller these days.....Roy Chow I know of vaguely through Missing Lynx (very useful forum, Steve Zaloga's a member). I don't play WOT at all.

How's the jet-lag going? Glad to see you back safe and sound.....Let me know if you need a tester.

Video of Mine Team using 'Blast' finally uploaded, here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fq2hkjdetckaexd/CM Afghanistan - AI Controlled Mine Team Blasts A Wall.avi?dl=0

Looks like it may be possible to assign them as the target for a 'Spot' objective, so locating them for points could be doable.....Anyone tried?

Just messing with ya!

Pretty sure the M4A2(76) went mostly to the Soviets (2nd Guards Tank Army IIRC), we used the Sherman IIa M4A1(76), but I don't recall ever seeing a diesel 76 in British & Commonwealth markings (happy to be proven wrong though). http://www.o5m6.de/M4A2_76(W).html BTW.....Would I know you from any modelling forums at all?

Had another AI controlled Mine Team use Blast independently (in the same building or possibly another one from that cluster of four identical buildings) and this time they even exited through the hole they made.....Quite why they didn't just use the door in same wall escapes me though! If anyone is interested I caught it on video this time (1.1Gb file.....Still uploading! ) saved the turn too if anyone wants to pick it over. It's not an Assault command that's triggering it as far as I can tell, I'm pretty sure the AI Group they are in is on an Advance/Active/Mixed/Dismount order at the time. Anyone have any ideas.....If I could get this working reliably it would be great!

I thought you didn't like 'gamey' moves!

What exactly are we to do? Once the artillery fires the scenario designer is no longer in control of it. As far as I can see these steps just represents your troops taking cover, sure it's a slightly gamey sequence of actions, but the outcome is still fairly reasonable.....Their combat efficiency and spotting power is temporarily reduced while they avoid the incoming fire. It really is a piffling little barrage too, 60mm tubes.....You'll see what proper artillery barrages can look like when the Relief Force turns up! BTW - 1-4 is running in author test as I type, the new AI plan is going OK. I probably won't post 1-4 (but you can bet your life I'll test it repeatedly myself), but will move on to 1.5 with three whole AI plans as a final version (hopefully for the Repository or Proving Grounds). This version will no doubt itself be tweaked before inclusion in the eventual campaign. PS - On my machine (I7 Quad, 16Gb RAM, GeForce660GTX) I'm getting 18-21FPS mid-battle with the whole map in view, no discernible lag at all.

I was thinking the ECM might represent a broader electronic counter-IED suite (as it was an Engineer vehicle).....A demining campaign could make an interesting scenario concept, but the vagaries of detection and inability to actually clear mines kind of mitigate against it.

I believe the turrets were those that came with the tanks chosen for conversion and they were modified in the UK, see post above.

Dude the WWI era .50cal is still going strong.....If it ain't broke!

I wonder if that explains an incident I had, where a platoon of British Engineers in a buttoned Bulldog (Enforcer) spotted a minefield by driving past it, without setting off a mine?

Couldn't listen to the awful voiceover!

Thanks for the feedback, hope you are enjoying it.....Great screenshots! The Sukhois and the Spetsnaz teams to direct them are indeed your critical asset early in the battle, use them wisely but don't be even slightly sparing!

Might be of interest to you that a kite developed (IIRC) as a braking system for the Gemini capsule is very popular with buggyists.....The NPW (NASA Power Wing): http://straightchuter.com/powered-up-build-your-own-nasa-wing-kite/ Me with my Rev: & being dragged about by my old 10m Speed: Scarily powerful old kite that one is (& you are harnessed to it)!

It was your post on Vanta that made me think to post it, me and some of my Kite-Monkey buddies joked about getting a kite Vanta-Blacked, and having one of our electronics nutter friends wire it with LEDs so it could 'Cloak & De-Cloak' against a night sky. I managed to get hold of some old fashioned missile guidance cable with the idea of supplying power via the lines rather than trying to lift batteries, but that was about as far as we went with it. Getting it wrong on land usually hurts more......Here's how not to jump with a fixed-bridle kite: https://www.youtube.com/embed/oveLq6j4JUw Hint.....Once you're up there, letting go of those handles is a really bad idea!

Nice site. Just remembered I have 'Sherman Ic Firefly' by Wojciech J. Gawrych.....The composite hulls (Sherman Hybrids to us Brits) were delivered assembled and converted to Fireflies in the UK in the same fashon as the Sherman Vc. If I'm reading things correctly, he gives a total of 795 composite hulls manufactured, (446 from Chrysler at Evansville, 289 from International Harvester at Quad Cities and 60 from the Chester & Lima Tank Depots). Haven't found a total for the number of Ic Hybrid conversions yet. The Osprey title on the Sherman Firefly is more illuminating as to the reasons that only the M4 & M4A4 hulls were chosen as the basis for the Firefly conversion:

Nor me.....I was genuinely shocked when it happened, hence my post with the pictures.

Well said sir.