SGT_P

I noticed in a recent industry news article (http://www.defensetech.org/archives/005080.html) that Strykers now have what looks like a field expedient anti-IED device mounted on the front of the hull. I would guess that this is designed to prematurely explode magnetically triggered IEDs, but I don't know. Any ideas? Battlefront this might be something to add to the next update. Thanks-

Thanks. Any geysers of blood mods?

At least since 2004 when I was in Iraq. The SF guys had minguns on their Humvees.

The "Little Bird" is the OH-6. In attack configuration it typically carries 2 x miniguns and 2 x rocket pods. Re: dismemberment you are right. On the other hand, sometimes small arms fire can dismember. I would just like to see the casualties be more realistic. Wounded should scream etc. I understand that this is a particular design choice on BattleFront's part but I think it is an important part of the experience on the battlefield and would like to see it included. Just my 2 cents.

Speak for yourself, but seeing bad guys blown to pieces always put a smile on my face.

Depends on who it is.

Dear Battlefront: I really have enjoyed CMSF as well as the modules, and the game has steadily improved with each patch. Keep up the good work, I am looking forward to Normandy, NATO, et al. Could you please add the following to the next CMSF module? -MRAPs (with all variants) -M1117s -Miniguns (on Humvees and MRAPs) -M14 rifles for designated marksmen -American special forces infantry formations (Rangers, SF, SEALS) -"Little Bird" air support -Support formations (MPs etc) -Active protection systems for vehicles -Casualties caused by explosives are dismembered -UAVs (these assets are now organic at the BN level) Thank you for your consideration

I haven't really tested IEDs extensively in the game. I lost a Stryker to one in the campaign air strip scenario. It seemed pretty effective to me.

My experience in Iraq is that a "normal size" (1 x 155 HE shell) IED needs to go off directly next to or underneath a Humvee in order to penetrate the crew compartment and inflict casualties. (Assuming the Humvee is buttoned up). The M1114 with uparmor kit is well protected against shrapnel and blast damage at anything greater than point blank range. Now, "tank busters" can kill a Bradley or even an Abrams with a point blank hit. The shaped charge IEDs will kill vehicles by hitting their side armor. Another scary attack is the AT mine or double stack AT mine. But in general IEDs do not direct the blast effect effectively - so anything greater than point blank range is much less effective. Also keep in mind that some IEDs are super lame. Either buried too deep, surface laid (easy to see) or even made out of a flare artillery shell (some insurgents can't read I guess). Timing is a big issue as well. Many of the bad guys are scared ****less of US combat forces and just want to clack off their IED and run for it. Battlefront - American units should be able to shoot at and destroy surface laid IEDs with machinegun fire. This was SOP for us in Iraq.

Hello Battlefront: Thanks for the v1.02 patch and all of the hard work. I am still enjoying the game and it will only get better I am sure. Could you please add these items: 1) When an ATGM is fired at an armored vehicle at a longer range (ie missle flight time is several seconds), and the firing unit is spotted (most ATGMs have a considerable launch signature), vehicles should automatically attempt to reverse, pop smoke and use suppressive fire against the ATGM crew. Obviously this will not affect a "fire and forget" ATGM, but wire guided ATGMs can be caused to miss by suppressing the crewmen. This is standard doctrine and should be included in the AI. 2) We need a command to "force fire" a particular weapons system. Eg we want to use a TOW missle from a Bradley against a building. 3) M1114 Humvees seem almost totally blind, even unbuttoned. I realize that they have no thermals etc but still they seem completely unable to see enemy infantry even when they are in the open at close range. Also the M1114s should carry far more than 250 rds of .50 4) An option to set the time of the "movie" phase when playing WEGO. 60 seconds is too long for a modern combat game. 30 or 45 seconds would be nice. 5) A unit SOP panel ala "Tac Ops". Players can select what actions their unit will take. I think you know what feature I am referring to. 6) Lastly and very minor, on my computer the dust kicked up from vehicles is gray, even on dry sand. It should be sand colored. Thanks very much for your time and consideration.

MMGs SHOULD be able to deploy in buildings or rooftops. Depending on the unit's SOP, most gun teams carry their tripod & TO&E with them when on foot. Whether or not they can deploy indoors or on a roof depends on the height of the window/parapet. We still need a command to force fire a particular weapons system. (Eg AT4 vs a BMP or another infantry unit). As mentioned earlier, infantry should fire their weapons individually as they enter and clear a room. Also they should move through "the fatal funnel" faster. Those who are outside waiting to enter should be taking cover against the building wall. Keep up the hard work Battlefront, it's an awesome game and I am enjoying it. Thanks for your time

MMGs SHOULD be able to deploy in buildings or rooftops. Depending on the unit's SOP, most gun teams carry their tripod & TO&E with them when on foot. Whether or not they can deploy indoors or on a roof depends on the height of the window/parapet. We still need a command to force fire a particular weapons system. (Eg AT4 vs a BMP or another infantry unit). As mentioned earlier, infantry should fire their weapons individually as they enter and clear a room. Also they should move through "the fatal funnel" faster. Those who are outside waiting to enter should be taking cover against the building wall. Keep up the hard work Battlefront, it's an awesome game and I am enjoying it. Thanks for your time

MMGs SHOULD be able to deploy in buildings or rooftops. Depending on the unit's SOP, most gun teams carry their tripod & TO&E with them when on foot. Whether or not they can deploy indoors or on a roof depends on the height of the window/parapet. We still need a command to force fire a particular weapons system. (Eg AT4 vs a BMP or another infantry unit). As mentioned earlier, infantry should fire their weapons individually as they enter and clear a room. Also they should move through "the fatal funnel" faster. Those who are outside waiting to enter should be taking cover against the building wall. Keep up the hard work Battlefront, it's an awesome game and I am enjoying it. Thanks for your time

Turning off V-Sync made all the difference in FPS for me. I have an Nvidia 8600 and the E6320 processor.

WOW. Were you in that??? It's incredible how much damage some of these vehicles could take and everyone still be relatively uninjured. I was RTD after two weeks. With that particular IED, it was 2 x 155 but they just buried it too deep I think. Any idea what hit you? The funny thing is that we had a beat up old M1025 which we had dubbed "the Punisher". Had the skull logo painted on it and everything. It had bullet holes, shrapnel holes, barely ran etc. It kept getting hit or breaking down and going to the motor pool every week it seemed. The mechanics would be funny and write nasty things about our truck in chalk on it everytime. Well we finally get this nice new M1114. With A/C and the extra armor package. Sure enough, it got blown up a week later. Saved all of our lives although everyone inside was wounded. No limbs lost. Best use of tax payer money ever IMO!

Can't remember his name. He was either an E-3 or E-4. White guy with dark hair, still on crutches. He was a Cav Scout, M3 driver. Very pleasant upbeat guy. Like that narrows it down! Here's my M1114: http://www.flickr.com/photos/82886048@N00/317051996/

Bradley Dick- Never been north of Baghdad. The only places I "visited" in Iraq were Ramadi and Fallujah. So I spent my entire tour within a 30 miles radius. 90% of it on the 15 klicks of MSR Michigan from the Ramadi arches to TQ airbase. That is also where we made 90% of our contact. Pretty much towns on both sides of the MSR for the whole strech, so all of our engagements were within 400m. Most within 150m. Like you said 90% of the time our engagements were <60 seconds. We had 1 week of pitched battles during Phantom Fury when several truckloads of very determined Muj who came down from Fallujah to try to draw off the main assault. My company had 2 KIA and 17 WIA including our CO in that one week, mostly to VBIEDs. We had a handful of other firefights that lasted maybe 10 minutes but for the rest of the year but mostly it was just cat and mouse. The 3rd ACR memorial was right behind our BN HQ at Carson. I heard some about your tour in Tal Afar while I was still at Carson, as some of the 3rd ACR wounded that had been sent back used the same gym as I did. The one guy I used to work out a lot with told me that he had to patrol a lot of elevated berm roads and he got wounded when his Brad got hit with an IED made out of an old 500lb bomb!!! It was amazing that he still was in one piece, although obviously he was ****ed up. I always felt pretty safe when I was in the back of a Bradley. My asshole was puckered shut when I was in a Humvee. I miss Colorado. Plan on visiting next spring when 2 BCT gets back.

Bradley Dick- I was an 11B light infantry and was never the crewman in a Brad or M1 so you are right I have a different attitude towards small arms fire And you are right that generally our armored vehicles were moving TOWARDS the fight in order to engage, not away from the fire. However there were times that I saw Brads pop smoke and M1s driving in reverse and this happened due to the intensity of the fire (volley fire RPGs from multiple directions usually). We spent our entire year mostly on one 15km strech of MSR Michigan so my experiences were different from yours for sure. Our assumption was always that if we were taking small arms fire, then RPGs were a possiblity. Just a guess since you were in Tal Afar - are you 3rd ACR? I was in 2 BCT 2 ID at Ft. Carson. We got there right before you all left. If you were with 3rd ACR in Iraq 03-04 then you may have been over some of the same ground FOB Manhattan / TQ airbase on Michigan B/W Fallujah and Ramadi. Some called it Habaniyah, some called it Kaladiyah. One idea for Battlefront - in TacOps you can set global SOPs for your units in a control panel. Perhaps a similar idea for CMSF? As far as the game is concerned I just don't want my tracks/Strykers to sit there when they start taking fire, especially flanks and/or rooftops. It's a great game, I appreciate your time and attention to our commetnt. Thanks

List of Bugs/Improvements needed for Combat Mission: Shock Force CMSF is a great game and I am enjoying it a lot. However there are several major items that need to be fixed in order to make it the game it should be. I fought in Iraq 2004-2005 just outside of Fallujah and Ramadi as part of a combined arms task force. My comments are based on my personal experiences. -Infantry behavior: Infantry needs to go prone and seek cover immediately once they come under fire. When you are getting shot at, you do not continue to run mindlessly across the kill zone. Currently the infantry does not have a good sense of self preservation in the game, which is very unrealistic. Especially troublesome is having infantry enter buildings. In the game the infantry will run around the building to the door, even if it means exposing themselves to heavy fire. In real life, you would just go through the window or use a breaching charge (this feature does not seem to work properly). If you can't get into a building without running through heavy fire you will use smoke first. But generally people have the good sense to not run across open areas in direct view of automatic weapons fire. -Armored vehicle behavior: Under fire a vehicle will not stand still. Even the mighty M1 will attempt to make itself a harder target and will pop smoke. In general, in real life people do not sit there and say "well this is an RPG7 so it does not have a reasonable chance of hurting me so I will not move". All incoming fire, be it small arms or 125mm is taken seriously. -Returning fire: All units should return fire when being shot at, even if there is no clear target. The unit should just pick the most likely source of fire and starting suppressing it while taking cover/ evasive action. No one sits there just because there is no clear target, you try to generate a volume of fire. -Force firing a certain weapon system: There should be a command to force a unit to fire a certain weapon it has available. For example, a TOW missle is a great way to shoot snipers in buildings. -Add "hide" to the end of a movement command. THis ties into realistic infantry behavior. Infantry stays alive on the battlefield by remaining unseen and/or behind cover. No one stands upright on a roof when they are "in Indian country". -Pathfinding needs some work. You tell a Stryker to go 10 meters and it drives half a klick away and then turns around. Overall I really like the game and it is the best one so far in terms of presenting modern combat realistically. With some changing to the unit AI's sense of self preservation, it will be much better.