Ryujin

In addition to bear cavalry and caves now obviously being needed in CMSF, pudding supplies should have an effect on UNCON moral...

He didn't say better, but that they can take out an MBT (generally a big complaint against the warrior). Compared to an ATGM the 30mm is a spitball, but if you can get a rear or sometimes a side shot you can do damage. Usually best done with 2 or so warriors so you can concentrate fire. Far from ideal, but it can be done.

Syrian Hind with ATGMs, maybe AT-6Cs (9K114) or empty AT-2 rails, hard to tell: http://www.servimg.com/image_preview.php?i=1681&u=11939012 generally hinds carry lots of rockets though, so a cobra with all rockets could work too. Turning down the skill should probably enough to get same tactical effects as a probably not too experienced Syrian crew with an older hind.

I'd say a Cobra would be a better substitute, the kiowa has way too little ordinance on it. The Hind has 6 pylons, 2 wingtip for ATGMs and the 4 inner pylons, usually for rockets, gunpods, occasionally more ATGMs, or even bombs. ATGMs usually are 2 to a pylon on older hinds. So the closest match would be a Cobra with TOWs and rockets, as it has 4 ATGMs to a pylon, which would match up with a hind having 4 2x ATGM pylons and 2 1x rocket pod pylons. Hind loadout http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/10/Mi-24_4.jpg

Probably not going to get enough sand back in the chamber to cause a stoppage (G36s are pretty tough to start with), but yeah, it's better to avoid that. I'm not exactly sure how sand fickle the G36 is. If he just shakes it off before raising it to any position that sand could fall back down the barrel, he'd be fine.

A combination of move and face usually works. Your not going to get super accuracy on placement, but it should be close enough. What are you trying to do that requires that much precision? (they wont use corners or anything as far as I know).

It certainly is like the PPSh, but not a submachinegun either. I think we're sort of agreeing. Here's what I'm trying to say as clearly as possible: The AK-47 is designed to be used on fully automatic. This means that soviet conscripts were expected to suppress until they were within effective range of automatic fire vs point targets. My point is that the AK wielding conscripts are expected to suppress a lot (unless there is something better, like an IFV, same basically applies to US troops too). The suppression may not be utalized in the same way as US infantry, but the AK has a lot more reach vs area targets than a PPSh. So while it is intended to be used in a similar manner, it is effected by the fact it is a rifle. Soviet AK sop as far as I know is that every one would be putting down bursts of fire as they advance to rely on the massive weight of fire from that many AKs laying down fire to supplement the RPKs/PKs/AFVs. You need plenty of troops for this to work, but as the soviets/syrians that's usually one thing you do have.

I'm not so sure about that, while the AK is certainly made for "up close and personal", I believe the soviet concept of the AK was for a cheap, easy, and reliable gun that could put down a large quantity of fire. I think the conscripts the AK-47 was designed for were supposed to use large quantities of suppressive fire and close with the enemy. It's not exactly designed for anything other than slinging lots of lead. Not all that accurately at a distance, but if you have enough people it works to keep their heads down. With the syrians in CMSF sometimes the best tactic is just to put down loads of area targets in the general area of the enemy and let a couple platoons let loose a torrent of lead and RPGs. Seems to work better than having them try to aim, especially with low quality troops. If you have enough of them and you fire first, it can actually have some effect vs BLUFOR.

Yes, accuracy is lowered a bunch to abstract a lot of factors. So it's unusual means to get a to more statistically accurate lethality, that's what I think they are doing (and so not perfect in every situation). Still seems a bit low to me, but that's only from my experience with Steel Beasts Professional.

Yep, another team member will likely take over. Snipers are extremely valuable for picking off pesky heavy weapons/AT teams as well as just recon or harassing the enemy. I keep them on the flanks or just behind the main force. I use the brit snipers more aggressively as you get more of them and no organic MGs to your rifle platoons (you have to hope you get the fire support group or such). I use US snipers further away from the main group and in more dangerous areas, as they tend to have larger teams, so decent security if something pops up close. Overall they're great if you just put them in place and let the "work over" an area. A good sniper is an excellent force multiplier for when you don't have mortars to hit that ATGM team or a couple of MGs to cover that approach. Used carefully, they can wipe out or pin entire teams at some pretty good ranges. But be careful that they don't get overwhelmed, so keep them supported and/or far enough away to not be wiped out, especially the brits who have 2 or even 1 man teams, the bigger US teams can handle a small firefight in a pinch. Also note the rifle in use, I haven't done any testing, but here's what I noticed/know: The US Army gets the M110, a suppressed 7.62mm semi automatic rifle, I don't know how much of an effect the suppressor has in game, but it's a good rifle for your work under 1000m, probably best at even shorter ranges being semi automatic and suppressed. They Army and the Marines also have the M107(army)/M82A3(USMC) .50 caliber rifles, which have an effective range of out to around 2km (I wouldn't bet on great results). The .50 is heavy, not as precise as some other rifles, and you don't get much ammo, but you get shear firepower in semi auto form. Excellent suppression, lethality, and penetration through light armor and cover. I use them when I need reach over 1 km or I need that firepower. The Marines also have the M82A3, bolt action and 7.62mm. Very precise, I've noticed its a good all around rifle for picking off guys under 1 km, probably a bit better results than the M110. The Brits have the 7.62mm L96, similar to the M40A3 in performance (seems to be used mostly by sniper platoon leaders) and the suppressed .338 L115. The L115 is a great rifle, it doesn't have the penetration and raw power of the .50, but for just picking off guys, it gives you a bit more reach and performance at longer ranges over the 7.62, while also being more precise than the .50. These teams are great for general sniping at 600 to 1500 or so meters. Syrian snipers only get the semi-auto 7.62x54mm SVD, a sort of DMR/sniper hybrid. Not the best rifle out there, often coupled with mediocre shooters. Short of SF, I use syrian snipers almost exclusively under 600m to harass and cover open areas, especially the lowest quality guys. Often they're just an annoyance or speed bump for BLUFOR, but if you can inflict a few causalities here and there. Unless they are very good, use them to pick off guys in the open at shorter ranges, as say part of an urban battle or an ambush. They're still better than the average spray and pray AK wielding guy. You'll also often find marksmen with SVDs in platoon HQs, they're not to great, but they do help provide covering fire.

If you playing a live player, you can often get a response with just the sound of aircraft, just like how you can get players to move with a couple spotting rounds. Even if I don't have any good targets, a pass from a jet or chopper can get a similar evasive response and then I cancel the CAS call.

I would have approached those SF differently, I would have pressed the advantage you had against those SF when they came driving in the open. The mortars aren't that dangerous, just button up if they started coming down. But that was the only good opportunity to slaughter the SF with little resistance. Those UAZs are deathtraps and on top of that they were in the open. The supply guys with their M2s should have been enough to wipe out most of them right from the start (they inflicted quite a few causalities on those they engaged from what I saw). It's only going to be harder to fight them later when they're dismounted in cover. So I would have at least delayed the escape. I however only had the time to watch the first 10 minutes or so, I don't know how it worked out for you. It wasn't a bad call from what I saw (you didn't get pixeltruppen killed), but it seemed like more aggression while they were weak would have payed off in the long run. I'm looking forward to seeing how it worked out tomorrow when I have time (interesting series of videos btw). It's always interesting to see how different people react to a scenario.

Don't do more than you can manage. Launching a 3 pronged attack may be a lot more than you can manage. Also take advantage of your ability to micromanage a squad. In turn based, 60 seconds is waaay to long, too much can happen. You can now react very quickly. But mostly it just takes some getting used to, since you can't pause you have to give orders very quickly and constantly be watching your units. So it just takes practice to be able to react at a real time pace. A lot of people find that difficult, especially if your used to turn based where you had tons of time to think and review your status. You can also use this against your opponent, by keeping a higher tempo than they can manage (as long as you can handle it). If your working faster and in more areas than they are, you may be able to overwhelm them.

On a related note, you can also split off the two man "AT team" from the squad and send them back to grab more ammo and run back, while keeping most of the squad in place. When you merge them back it's obviously all redistributed. I use this method if a unit starts running low while in a large fight, so that I can top up the ammo without ever taking them "off the line". I also generally load up the guys with an extra 1000 rounds of 5.56 and light AT at the start, unless I expect to do a lot running. Generally its a good idea to be able to expend a lot of ammo, especially to suppress while on the attack. AT4s/LAWs are also great for attacking structures. If you have vehicles, make use of all that ammo they carry.

A TRP is a precalculated and registered target for artillery. So you can call up the big guns and they have everything ready to go, no spotting or calculating necessary. You get very fast and hopefully accurate artillery. It doesn't have to be a visual landmark, but it may be key terrain or such.

I think scouts and snipers can do in a pinch. Any unit that has a guy with a binoculars icon is great, as that's the FO. As mentioned the US Army platoon HQs can have em which is very very useful. The BEST FO unit is a FISTV (Fire Support Team Vehicle, M7A3 BFIST or Stryker FSV)

THAT would explain a few things lol. I bought a "SF team" for a scenario and then some choppers. And damn did those choppers kill stuff. I though they were just having a good day... Aside for going after dead vehicles, they generally have been pretty effective for me all the time. Sometimes a JDAM gets wasted on two guys hiding in the grass (Nice shot btw ), but usually they kill a decent amount of stuff. Especially the choppers cutting up infantry with their guns (or the A-10s which just rain death on anything that moves). The target prioritization can be odd, when they ignore an APC to shoot up troops, but I can't really complain as on average they do pretty well. I don't think I've ever seen that, but it could be possible. It would make sense as long a as it wasn't too frequent.

There were trucks on the roofs ? Anyway, I think chopper spotting vs buildings is a bit fuzzy, but I think I've seen them attack roofs. I don't think chopper will fire if it doesn't have a target, so that random fire sounds strange. I guess we'd need more info on the situation to see if it was a bug.

Assualting an occupied building with infantry should be a last resort. You can't simply pound defenders out? And do you need to use that building? With all the ATGMs I might just advance on foot if you can suppress and clean out the enemy positions. It might get a bit hairy, but I think you could work your way up if you have enough 5.56 and support from your vehicles. Or you could address the ATGM threat first if possible. But before you do anything on foot make sure you've "prepared" the approach route by finding and killing every threat you can. Then just bound your way up and pour fire on any threats that pop up. That pooh mission is a bad situation all around, so it depends on what you want to take and what your situation is.

Trying having your tank pop up for a second, maybe fire, and then reverse into cover. If done quickly you should be in cover before an ATGM can hit your tank and have some infantry near by observing for any launches. It's not ideal but probably the safest "bait method", especially at long range. Otherwise good recon and preemptive fire on likely spots is the best method. Personally I like the tank method if recon doesn't work, it's my SOP for engaging with armor until I can confirm it's safe. So a tank version of "I'm up, he sees me, I'm down".

I think the T-72 uses propellant bags and combine that with pyrophoric DU KE rounds and you get flying turrets.

They can find their own, but generally not well hidden targets. Also target identification is limited, they will often engage knocked out vehicles that are not on fire and there is a risk of friendly fire. The area target is basically a free fire zone so keep your distance. I don't know if having the unit calling CAS able to see the area matters. They might be able to try to avoid blue and blue and point out targets, but I haven't tested that.

I think that it's certainly possible for all the ammo to be detonated from the initial hit or other such conditions to occur. Without more visual damage indicators we don't know if the T-72 is burning with a little hole in the hull or if it's turret was blown several hundred feet in the air and the hull is a melted pile of scrap. We just see it on fire. I also think that PCs tend to cook off more due to the ammo being more scattered (ATMs and such aren't in the same area as main weapon ammo, so everything cooking off at once is less likely).

The AI FOs seem to immediately jump at any opportunity call in fire, they don't seem to wait for the situation to develop or for high value targets, but this does mean the fire mission is called much earlier than a player might commit artillery. In some cases it's a good idea to copy that mentality and call down a "best guess" fire right away on contact. You can always cancel it if you end up not needing it. Generally speaking, it seems you should either call it right from the start or use it on static positions or other targets that you can take your time on. Defensively the only tactics I have found to work for me is either call on contact or by somehow getting the enemy to stay in the area long enough to be hit. Either call it down on yourself when they try to over run you or concentrate enough fire so that they have trouble maneuvering out of the kill zone. But you need a good local advantage in troops/cover/firepower to hold them down so the arty can finish them. Usually I end up using arty more as a scare tactic, players will generally maneuver out of areas where they think they'll be hit, in this way you can flush out a unit to get a quick opportunity to strike or do whatever while they're moving.

The thermal camera on the CLU works great for spotting tanks and really anything, but I had no idea it was modeled in CMSF. If that's the case I'll start giving CLUs to recon/overwatch units when I can spare them.