Brille

I cannot confirm this by any means. Yeah sometimes my crew seems braindead and not getting a solid spot for ages but that goes for both nations. My hints would be scouting ahead with infantry, as you did. But verify that the tank crews really got the info. Some people even let individual infantrytroopers ride a tank for the sole purpose of better spotting. Sometimes on rare instances I disembark my tankcrews and let them be their own spotters, if the map and situation allows it. Are your tank commanders always observing out of their cupola ? (open up) In my experience tanks will spot targets very quickly this way, especially for experienced troops. Rule number 1 however should be: Never let a tank be on his own. Let them work in small teams (2 to 3), so if one of yours is taken out, another one may see the shooter and take him out in turn. Don´t go for tank duels, if you can avoid it. By the way: The most underestimated soft factor would be the "leadership" factor I guess. I cannot confirm it yet but I often read that this factor has an influence on the target acquisition and the time to engage a target. Trees and bushes are a thing but they are not represented 1 to 1. So if a treebranch seemingly blocks your field of view it can still be that you can target or be targeted right through it. Treetrunks are more reliable to conceal a tank in these games...and they are the best armor you can get.

Haven´t used flamethrowers that much but maybe the deploy time wasn´t over ? By the way what has a flamethrower-guy to deploy anyways ? Aren´t they "ready for battle" from the get go ? I mean sure they would have to flip a switch or seal for safety measures before firing but what is this guy doing for 17 seconds ? Do they have to wait for a pressure build up ? Yeah this is "normal" in combat mission terms. The pin is always shown in these pine apple grenades. But since it´s only a minor detail...well... Probably would lead to some giggles if some conscript soldiers really would forget to pull the pin from time to time. With a german laughing at the receiving end yelling "Hahaha you Dummkopf !"

I haven't tested it in depth yet but it seems that only one Fuchs of each 3rd platoon of an infantry company has some spare rounds for the launcher. I don't know if that's true with the real formation counterpart. It seems a little odd though.

@Vencini: I played the scenario/training mission and I found it not that big of a problem. If I remember correctly the ATR are positioned behind a hedge right? You don't have to area fire directly on their position, just slightly in front of them. The rounds will fly in a straight line and will have an effect on them too. At least this much that you can get closer with your grenadiers and finish them of. The half tracks have plenty of ammo, so give it to the soviets. And better mass your halftracks, so the possibility of spotting a target rises. I wouldn't bother that mutch about hull down positions in this instance. They don't offer that much of an advantage than you might think. Get to know where the ATR are, rush into fire positions with your HT and area fire slightly before them. Or maybe you can even target a building behind them, that is almost at their height level. Passing rounds will affect them too.

Saw this great video from Ian a while ago but wasn't aware that it was this rare of a gun. Surely it was not as common as the M2 but I would have thought that it was a bit more wide spread. This however is FG42 kind of rare... (at least in ww2) If you now consider that it was mainly meant for aa duty it may be understandable that it was patched out (if it was intentional). But since it is fully modeled in the game it would be a shame to just leave it unused, historical accuracy aside.

Well if bfc published CMBS today with the premise to depict a historical representation of the Ukraine war, then you would be rightly disappointed maybe. But as it stands now you can be disappointed all you want but that's somewhat on you. You bought the game based on the facts bfc has given you: An alternate, fictional war in Ukraine (that wasn't even happening at that time). If you haven't informed yourself beforehand, you are the one to blame. Its like going into a fish restaurant and being disappointed about getting a fish for your meal while you would have liked a steak instead. Don't get me wrong your points itself surely make sense and probably would be great to see but this game is a finished product with maybe some tweaks, modules and battlepacks in the unclear future. Maybe bfc will give it a credit in one of those but probably not. This game is several years old now. Other companies would have already dumped it and be getting to their next game. And though I would myself like to include some of these ideas for historical accuracy, I doubt that it would make that much fun in a quick battle. Getting hammered by roaming drones half of the time is hardly anything tactical challenging. I somewhere read that bfc isn't all that fond of air assets getting involved in the ground combat at all. So thats maybe partially why Syrians don't getting hammered by Nato airforce in CMSF2 most of the time, rather being attacked by normal ground forces. So I doubt that bfc will adjust drones to be more common. But they should be at least available for Ukraine too, I give you that. CMBS may be the weakest game in the series for me too but that's mostly about the lethality of things. Tanks and infantry can be wiped out in an instant if one is not careful enough. Often you split your infantry to small spread out teams to reduce casualties by one artillery barrage or a tank round. Artillery is more common and deadlier than in any other game in the series. So comparing to real events I think bfc nailed the feel of a modern battlefield, while not depicting the historical war entirely.

This also happens with walls. So at the moment it is more effective to split engineers to get the most out of them. I will test the same for the other titles in the following days. But I guess it could be a problem overall.

I tested this now in CMBN and there is in fact a problem here. A split of engineer team (with 4 charges available) will take one charge, while a full squad (8 charges available) will take 3 charges at the same building. I could have sworn it was somewhat different back then but the last time I used those demo charges extensively is some time ago. That´s really weird...

Only way to do it is with a target arc (either normal or armor arc). For this I always use a 180°arc that goes over the map (so infinite distance), just to be sure. The turret will face the center of the arc so you have to estimate a bit. Pro tip: If you later in the turn need the tank to face in another/normal position you can either place a "face" command at the following way point (sets the turret in normal position) or set another arc. But be careful with arcs because any enemy unit that is outside of it is often completely ignored with fatal consequences. Regarding smoke: yes you can set the direction but it is sometimes a bit cumbersome but not much. Just place a face command in the direction you want to place the smoke, then order the "pop smoke" directly after. You will see that the blue "face" line will be taken over by the violet "pop smoke" line. But here comes the catch: if you now give the unit a move order afterwards, the facing of the smoke order will reset itself. You can reset it again, nor problem but one should keep this in mind if used. The best way however is to place move orders first and then go to the procedure as described. You can order this on every way point you pass through while moving along. This comes specially in handy with tanks that have a smoke mortar or (on late german tanks) the "Nahverteidigungswaffe". I sometimes give them many short wayoints, like 30 to 50m apart and on each way point they get a "pop smoke" order. They have many smoke bombs with them so they can practically lay out a smoke trail for following vehicles. You can see this in this short video of mine:

Thank you for getting the stone rolling. But could you please also attent to the problem that @Kevin2k stated ? I noticed it now myself that the DP lmg is missing in the soviet army and guards formations if you want to buy them as specialist teams. They are neither to find in the editor, nor in the quick battle generator. The partisans however have them: My CMRT is the latest version 2.13.

I think it depends on the structure you want to destroy. For example wooden or clay buildings take 1 or 2 charges, while heavy brick buildings use more. (up to 4) Would be nice if the game somehow tells you roughly how many charges they would need. If the remaining charges are not enough, the breaching party just runs to the main entrance and often is then shot up.

I haven´t played the campaign yet, only glanced into the first mission. To detect an ATG you mostly have no other option than to lure them out. Give them something to shoot and then answer with guns or better with mortars or artillery. If they are this far away I would think of avoiding them all together if that is possible. Look for obstacles that will deny them a line of sight. Forests, buildings, dents and bumps in the terrain, use everything. Quickly jump from one cover to the next. The aiming process at this range will take some seconds, so short sprints could work. When there is no cover and you have artillery with you, use a large scale smoke mission do deny the view on your troops maybe at least just from one direction, while you have the breath to fight in the other direction or get in closer. Note also that german tanks come with smoke rounds themselves. So maybe it is sometimes wiser to only blind the ATG rather than trying to destroy it. Note 2: If you have german tanks, that can take a punch (Tiger, King Tiger, Panther) remember that they have a so called "Nahverteidigungswaffe" (at least the later variants). Simply put a built in mortar that fires HE and smoke bombs. They can drive up front and at each waypoint you can order them to "pop smoke", while they keep on moving, probably taking punches. On each waypoint they will pop 2 to 3 smoke rounds. So you can practically lay down a smoke trail other (weaker) vehicles can follow through. I haven´t counted the ammount of smoke bombs they have but they have plenty. Probably no strategy by the book but it is quite useful to at least get further down the line.

You´re welcome. I almost doubted myself if it really was a Dshk or if I just misidentified it with the SG43 as it was one of my first CMRT PvP games. But I remembered that I specifically looked for it to try it out. And while I´m not using it that often it would be sad to have it not in the game. That MG belongs to the soviets as the Ma Deuce belongs to the US americans.

@domfluff Thank you for the clarification. I did a test now and limbering clearly give them a speedboost. Really glad to see that as ATG are more dynamic this way, not the "one shot then die" units. Surely they don´t move at light speed, so artillery is still threatening but with the fast redeployment via vehicle new approaches open up. I missed those fast redeployment tactics of the old CMx1 games honestly.

Ok, seems like I am late to the party then. Considering that I rarely play in defence and even more rarely try or have the option to switch the position of an ATG, speaks for itself. However I like it...it gives the ATG a more dynamic feel like in the old games. But why did BFC left the pack up time in the game I wonder ? Limbering the gun doesn´t seem to make it (that much) faster on the move.

I was always under the impression that ATG had to be packed up to change their position, at least for longer move orders. I tested it on accident as I was trying to tow some guns with trucks. I gave a few guns a 50, 200 and 500m order, later even 900m, and they directly started to move, without them packing up beforehand. Even as they reached their new position they were instantly ready to fire without delay. So it seems to work like in the old CMx1 games now. I´ve only tested it so far with CMRT and CMBN. Does anyone know when this was patched this way ? Anyways you can still manually pack up by clicking on the "deploy" button. But who should do that ? Was this maybe not intentional ?

Luckily the file horder that I am, I still had an old save file including the Dshk: This file was from january 2021, so something happened here. Your turn. Edit: I tried to recreate the same date and region of the file in the editor but the MG doesn´t appear. But the fact that the game still loaded the correct model means that it is still in the game, though not available via quick battle nor editor.

Good find. I was about to deny it because I had one with me in a battle once. But that was maybe almost 2 years ago. I checked it ingame and I can't find it. Neither in the Guards nor Army formations (specialist teams). Even setting different years and months but nada. So maybe it was patched out either by accident or intention. @BFCElvis Do you have more insight on that or can check why that is?

Welcome to the club @bigbluss and have a seat! I feel the same as you. I played several WW2 RTS and turn based games back then. And while I had much fun none the less I felt the rts ones as to hectical at times to perform a proper strategy and the bigger, more tactical ones (mostly turn based) games lacking in presentation. Combat mission sits in a perfect sweetspot for me. I played this games for over 18 years now and so it is my most played game series ever. Even if I get turned off of these games for a while I always come back. A little hint on the pbem side: Don't wait to long for that. After you got maybe the basics and played a few scenarios, you can dive right in. This way you learn better and faster, even though you may loose a lot of games in the beginning. The ai plans in several scenarios and campaigns may be really good but nothing beats a human opponent. I could not count the matches where it went back and forth. At one point you thought you had the upper hand, only for your opponent to turn the tides around again. Then you have to rethink and try to overthrow him again. That's something you rarely see with ai controlled troops. In addition to that the after action or during action discussions with some players are just priceless. (if you are into that)

I believe I had a similar experience in a very snowy map. My truck got stuck and all passengers and the driver bailed as soon as the vehicle was declared "immobile". So I guess it is maybe intended to work like this?! I mean it is understandable... somewhat... "Better bail out before an enemy MG starts shredding the passengers." But it would be nice if you could at least aquire the ammo that is loaded in mass. Will have to test this one if this is applied to all unarmored vehicles.

Hope that it fits this thread, since it is no foto: My video AAR for the "Operation Konrad" Tournament at "the Few good Men" forums :

I usually buddy aid with those unit of the same platoon. Otherwise I let those buddy aid that need the extra ammo or a special weapon/equipment that has been lost. Buddy aid is usually not the job of a squad. (at least if there are only single woinded/dead troopers in one square) If possible I split a scout team off, they gather the equipment and later rejoin the squad again. This way I have my main firepower up front without sending to many men back. Sometimes I let the casualties be for a while and use them once some units ran out of ammo. Much like little ammo depots. Once I kept a fight running with my syrian airborne troops this way. Most forces were low on ammunition and some even depleted. I ran back and forth, buddy aiding with those in need to have something to fight back with.

In general I don't think that the ai gets a "buff" in survivability of certain troopers. However the information provided is far to little to jump to conclusions. What fired on the ai infantry exactly? How intense was the fire? 10 minutes of artillery fire can mean anything between 20 or 100 rounds, depending on the mission and sort of artillery. So the time provided is rather vague. How close were the impacts to the infantry ? In which positions were each particular soldiers? (prone, kneeling, standing) If I reconsider my last 2 CMRT games (Head to head) one might come to the conclusion that I lost considerably more squad leaders in them than usual. Often they were the first or second in line to die. But I wouldn't complain about it, at least not before I did some testing myself (which I haven't, yet) . Maybe it is some fault of mine or just coincidence. If the first don't apply and the second is far to often to be coincidence anymore then we should look at the game mechanics itself. But yeah that includes several test sessions. Finding that something happens/seems to be wrong is the first step of the research, finding out why it happens should be the second and so on...

Well I am quite split in my opinion regarding the pick up of smg. At one hand it would be cool to add the extra firepower to the squad again. On the other hand however I guess it would not be done that much in real life. (don't nail me on that) The mp is more of a self protection weapon for the squad leader so in ideal situations he shouldn't be using it that much to begin with because he should be doing more leading stuff. But ideal situations are non existant in the battle I know. However I guess in most cases I would deny to pick up the smg if bfc would make it a choosable. Most of the time you are in short supply with the ammo anyway (if no trucks or halftracks are available) and you cannot use the ammo for other small arms of the squad. Plus the soldier will throw away it's weapon and ammo if he equips another weapon with another caliber, reducing your ammo pool for the squad even further. But in general I agree that the weapons and ammo pick up needs a bit of tweaking. I had a situation where a combatant threw away his AKM with 200 rounds for a Dragunov with 10(!!!) shots left. And if he is not Vassili Saitzev kind of skill than I'd rather had my Kalaschnikov back. By the way: The only way to get an Smg back at the moment is to buddy aid the soldier with a guy that is only armed with a pistol. So mainly vehicle/tank crews. Otherwise Sniper rifles and machine guns are on high priority to recover.

I guess you cannot see the British 2inch mortars like every other mortar other nations have. Those are not for continious fire support. Don't know about the use in doctrine but I see them as more versatile and extended sort of rifle grenades. So they are more of an addition to the firepower of a platoon than their own unit in itself if that makes sense. Plus they can deliver smokerounds of which they have plenty. In the right windconditions they can be very effective in hiding your troops from the enemy very quickly. Overall light mortars are very efficient indeed but in my opinion far from overpowered. If they get zeroed in on a squad in open ground he surely will be obliterated. But that's what I expect from a half trained crew to do. If you are on the receiving end though it is your job to take this into account and don't walk in such conditions or at least know how to step out of it again. Same is with MG. And though the lines between lmg, mmg and hmg are sometimes a bit blurry at certain distances, I would rather have an mmg/hmg over an lmg. At least if the map has some more open terrain to it. While they have somewhat similar suppressive effects at close range (up to 300m) I have the feeling those mounted MG have a higher chance to actually hit a thing. Plus because of their mount, most of these MG are built up a bit higher in elevation and work better when shooting over high grass, walls and such. Not to mention that specialized mmg/HMG teams have, as far as I know, longer belts so they can keep the machine going for a longer time.