Flanker15

Today they still have some really great planes but the problem is: They don't have enough money to build enough of them, keep them maintained properly and train pilots to fly them. So you end up with a Air-force that isn't as good as it could be. However the reforms that Putin started (and is propably continuing to run) are correcting these problems. Back in the early 80s they had perhapse the best airforce in the world, their planes were friggin awsome, Mig-29s and then the Su-27s more than a match for NATO's planes. Then the government collapsed and the money dried up, all aspects of the Russian military suffered. If I remember corectlly in Georgia the planes that were shot down were a recon plane and several Su-25s, they were all shot down by SAMs. The reason appeared to be that they attempted the strikes without properly removing air defenses first and the older Su-25s need to attack in close range since they lack modern ATG weapons making them vulnerable to MANPADS. As for the last time the Russian airforce was used before then, I guess Vietnam comes to mind. Both sides had times of sucess with better planes before the other side deployed something better. Anyone know: did the Soviets deploy something better than the Phantom during Vietnam?

Or maybe a "Use ATGM" yes/no pop up for target? Like in CMx1.

Was that in one burst or several? For me, a M2 has barely 1m horizontal deviation for a burst at 2000m, the MGs do shift their fire between each burst though.

That does make sense. Will the mighty battlefront add its wisdom to this?

Had the squad been seen by anyone up to that point? This is something I need to test, since I have a hunch that once a unit is seen once it loses the ability to get invisible in buildings.

Yes if you area fire the gunner will target spots all over the action spot. However they still fire bursts in straight lines so it's not very good at hitting still. Here's my nice little diagram based on what I've picked up here, showing three bursts and the units they can hit. (distance not modeled):

Buy the battalion, then delete the white units from bottom to top, then delete the blue groups from bottom to top (without deleting the mortors).

Well senarios are always played on one map which is built with the senario. If you want to play one map in QB, go to your CMSF directory and find the QB map folder. Copy all the maps out (don't lose them obviously!) then drop just the map you want to use in and run the QB. This metod worked for me. Then when you're done just put the maps back.

Ok just to make sure I switched the side posistions and the Syrians have no better luck spotting the US on the roofs. So it's not just a Syrian bug, I gave them a T90 aswell to make it even. This and experience with the game in general give me the conclusion: There is a extremly high chance that a unit in a building will remain undetected unless: it shoots it's gun (grenades are ok) or it leaves the building. An enemy unit is able to move right up to the unit (tricky to make them not attack) and won't detect it even if it is standing on the unit (touching distance). Skill and equipment seem to be ineffective here. Basically a unit in a building is invisible until it shoots, you can even move around the building. The result is: it is impossible to avoid ambushes, the guy in the building will always get the first shot. Even when he is standing on a roof in plain sight or running around in the building. What I haven't tested is whether this ability requires the unit to start in a building or if they can be invisble after entering a building from outside. Edit: ok I tested that and aslong as the unit isn't spotted going into the building it will be invisible once inside.

I did that: Clear day with no civilians, same layout as above. Syrian Rep G normal settings troops on a one story building with no wall and the HQ unit on a 2 story building with a wall. Both in normal stance with a target arc so they don't shoot. US has a M1A2SEP, a recon squad and HQ all normal settings. No order just pointing at the building 100m. 30min game, building guys spot enemy in seconds, ground guys spot nothing in 30min. Gave the rifle squad a move fast order to the ground flaw and back repeatedly one turn, didn't get spotted. Gave them a move order out the door, they got spotted a few seconds after leaving the building. Aslong as I didn't shoot and stayed in the building I was invisible (I could move around on the open roof quite alot). I also ran one of the US squads up and they got pelted with nades but that didn't reveal the enemy (no ? or anything just nades from god!). They got spotted when they started shooting after running out of nades. I've got some screens and the mission in a zip file, link 7Mb: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9Q7CZ9NI

Thanks guys that helped! So support MGs still work like they did in WW2, I guess that's something I can hope for in later CMx2 games. I guess it was allot easier in CMx1 where you just hit a point and then a "hit" area was drawn around it, then any squads in the area were checked for casualties. Maybe the MGs will get an upgrade in the Brit mod or WW2? That sounds strangly familiar.

I've always been critical of the way the machine guns work in CM:SF but I thought that it might be wise to check that I'm not being dumb since I have not much knowledge of modern MG usage. Ok as you know the MGs in CM:SF fire in a rising vertical line which will always miss targets unless the line is perfectly aligned with the enemy. I thought that MGs (atleast medium and heavy ones) fire their shots in a spread (manually or just through shot deviation) so that they cover an area of ground to maximise hitting chance? Is this right for modern MGs? Also the other thing is: are those shots I see when a MG fires in CM:SF the actually shots that need to hit a target to work or are their invisible shots that spread out more? Basically: How do SAW fire their shots in real-life and is it like CM:SF? How do bigger MGs fire their shots in real-life and is it like CM:SF? Do the tracers that I see represent the actual bullets being shot? Bonus question! Is their a deviation model for bullets in CM:SF, all the auto weapons seem to be able to fire in perfect vertical lines with no horizontal drift?

I think the prob is that GSX is(was) unaware of the need to setup the movement path then unselect the unit and select the individual waypoints. Then give target orders from them instead of from the origonal unit selection.

Simplist way to do it would be: Click tank, click move, set move point, right click, select the move point, click target, click building, right click and then start the turn.

Here's a couple of vids from Table 8 training with chatter tracks. http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=15637243 http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=15154044 The important line I left out was the gunner says "Identified" when he spots the target in his sights. A couple more http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=LFuMPaByIbk http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ChEbUe9kEw0&feature=related

All hail the list! Also what's it called when you have a battery aimed at a point but don't want them to fire until you're ready, is that on the list.

How close do you think they'd allow a helicopter to insert infantry to known enemy posistion today? 100m? 500m?

Loader "SABOT UP!" (the loader has loaded a SABOT shell into the gun) TC "Gunner SABOT TANK!" (I see a tank! shoot a SABOT at it! Slews gun to the target area) TC "FIRE!" (shoot the gun numbnuts!) Gunner "ON THE WAY!" (I shot the gun yay!) TC "SHORT!" (the shell landed in front of the target) TC "RE ENGAGE!" (you suck, shoot again!) Loader "UP!" (loaded the same shell type) Etc, etc...

The events that BHD are based on are probably the main reason helicopters aren't used to drop infantry in hostile areas anymore. A Blackhawk hovering at low altitude just needs someone with a rocket launcher or machine gun to be destroyed (any weapon really, they're a sitting duck when they stop moving). Then there's the wonderful problem that if the infantry somehow survive the drop, they're standing in plain sight away from any cover. That sounds fun! In Vietnam the helicopter insertion was still some what novel so the US spammed it, they probably lost 1 or more helicopters in evey insertion. Those losses were probably considered "acceptable" in those days though. As for things in CMSF: You won't see transport helicopters for the above reasons, attack helicopters can fire their weapons several map lengths away so the work to model them is un-called for. Area SAMs are considered to be destroyed already in the senario so the aircraft won't be shot down, Shilkas and other AA might show up if we're lucky but probably just for anti-ground (the aircraft weapons out range them anyway except the chopper guns).

With the LOS checks having a little delay in between, I had the issue where a unit will leave the LOS before a LOS check happens a number of times. The main prob I have which has cost me a match a couple of times is: I put a tank covering a road junction, parked just 10m or so down the road. I know the enemy tank will move across the junction and I cover the juction with the target arc. However the enemy tank is always able to drive across the junction before I spot it, or I do spot it but it leaves the LOS before the turret aligns (theres still a prob here that tank will turn its hull to the enemy unecessarlly as the turret turns which mis-aligns to the gun costing vital seconds. It's been mostly fixed in then newer versions though.) I'm sure BFC will think of a fix for this someday, untill then I'll just keep chasing after the enemy tanks.

Looks fun! Bust out a Prince of Persia on that trails ass! Would be pretty fun to be the guy who used go up and open the flow gate every day (although it probably wasn't all broken then).

Oh and there's a new shadow optimisation where if the frame-rate drops too much the shadows become much less detailed. The 3D object detail option controlls the amount of shadows rendered but not the visible range. However I wouldn't put it above improved since the upper 2 levels will kill the frame-rate on bigger levels, and this is on a comp that can play Crysis on V.High (that game does take advantage of my other cores though).

It's graphical optimisation so the game doesn't run horrible. All those things: the sadows, the tree damage not looking the same further away (there are more complex stages for the tree breaking apart if you're closer, so leaves that aren't there furthure away are if you zoom in.), more complex models, higher res textures etc... It does look weird, you have a nice little sphere that extends out from the camera where the shadows will be shown. I fly up into the air and look down so I get a little circle of shadowed area which I can move around (I'm the lord of shadows!). They just fixed one of the LOD wierd texture changes with gravel roads in 1.11.

Better you open the door (they'd probably open the door a little and fire out or shoot out of view port) and fire at the snipers than they open it and chuck a nade in.

I'm pretty sure the 25 pounder is artillary, since they have on map arty this time. The cruiser tanks are vital too, it doesn't have the Matilda either. Also there's no Italians!?