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Atago

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Posts posted by Atago

  1. The really infuriating thing is that when my one stinger managed to finally shoot down the Hind, the missile was fired to the SOUTH EAST - not the north. I presume all my dudes were facing the wrong direction, but the missiles were still coming from the north.

    In my experience playing that mission the same thing happened. I think the facing of the stinger team does not matter - I had 2 teams firing off in different directions during different turns.  I don't think I have seen a stinger fire and have the helo hit something in the same turn.  It seems like the helo usually aborts and attacks next turn (if not downed). It was interesting to see where the enemy air controller was (won't give it away) after the mission was over.  They are always a prime target!  I much prefer being on the side with the air power!!!

  2. Thanks Louch - good to know, though in retrospect I did reasonably well with the FO only.  It's that dilemma where you have a valuable asset that you don't want to loose, but if you don't use it, you may as well have already lost it!  The leader to the scout squad calling an Artillery would be good enough to make the precision rounds more flexible.

     

    Two things come to mind with regards to the scout squads having laser designators.  Either they do have a use in game, and we just don't know what it is yet OR BF put them there for completeness as the actual squads have them, but there is no in-game use at this time.

  3. Playing Russian campaign scenario 2.  I have scouts that carry laser designators, but I can't figure out what they are good for.  Only the FO can actually lase a target for precision fire.  I move him in and I get the precision strike option.  Without him no precision rounds, even when the scout could clearly designate the target.

    Not griping about that - just wondering what the designator is good for in the hands of anyone other than the FO.

  4. Playing Russia campaign 2 if found that the FO has to have line of sight to the target to get the precision mortar rounds to show up on the artillery pull-down.  What had me going was that all my scouts have laser designation and I figured one of them could lase the target, but not so.  

    What I did was use the drone to find things, then VERY carefully sneak the FO in.  The tension can be pretty high as if my FO gets splattered all my artillery let alone the UAV are gone.

    Do a target line from the FO to the target, you can tell if it's the UAV that sees it or the FO himself.  If the FO sees it you can laser it and call in the rain of fire.  If not, sneak the FO some more and hope.

  5. Yes, except why wikipedia when there are DEFINITELY people on this board who know the types of ammo used and their effects, instead of compiling a list of the at least 10+ warhead types from in game, bc as far as I can tell the warhead types are not in the manual

     

    example - APFSDS?

    Armor Piercing Fin ** discarding sabot?

     

    quick side question - If all US forces can call in Air support, whats the use of the JTAC specifically?  Because I noticed a Bradley B-FIST calling in an airstrike can call it in a minute earlier than a JTAC team.  Obviously a JTAC can call it in sooner than say, a regular HQ unit... but.. are JTACs in just because theyre part of the OOB in real life?

    JTAC teams call faster.  Check the call-in time for a 'regular' spotter/leader/squad then call in the same mission from a JTAC.  I've seen quite a spread time - wise.

     

    The group can now return to their throwing wooden shoes around. ;)

  6. I was playing the graduation exercise of the training campaign - using the UAV to spot.  120mm mortar barrage on the objective buildings went way back behind the church and out side of town.  Cancelled that one, ran another one, this time linear smoke hoping to see if I could cover the street between the objective buildings and the front row.  I know that was probably too fine a line regardless of spotter or UAV, but I was testing what was possible.  Smoke line was within 50 yards or so of my target line.  Next UAV spotted bombardment was again on the objective buildings - this one spot on.

     

    Not a scientific test but that first mission - hearing a fire for effect when the spotting rounds were WAY off - surprised me.

  7. Both for me.  I find that in larger battles I get lost in real time - forget to move units and get overwhelmed with too much happening at once.  When I first started playing CM I was getting my butt kicked far more often in RT than WEGO.  In RT it's more fun at times, micromanaging a tank formation as you can stop them or react quickly to threats.  WEGO you can't do that.  To be sure though, while you are micromanaging your tanks what else is being unwatched?

     

    The bigger the mission the harder RT is to use.  If you use it, pause often - treat it like WEGO without the replay.  Still hard though to manage everything.

  8. A hurt engineer team is well worth not getting your tanks blowed up by the AT mines. As said before "Mark Mines" does nothing whatsoever to reduce the chances of a tank hitting mines (as well as only really making a difference if you Slow or Move your infantry across the anti-personnel field, which you haven't got time to do and taking up more darkness than you really have), so you're right not to bother with it, but getting rid of the wire and the AT mine in front of the bridge is well worth a couple of casualties in your engineers (do split the squad so only one team is anywhere near when the boom goes up).

    How do you get rid of the other AT mines?  This was the first time I had a tank hit a mine in a marked field - it was an eye opener.  I can blow the mine and wire on the lead AT mine - there are others that I can't destroy with explosives.  Can someone get into the campaign and add a Sherman flail for me :) ?

     

    I watch the armchair general attack and it's not clear how his tanks avoided the mines - then again maybe it's just luck (good for him, bad for me!).  I assume that a tank using slow movement through mines may have an advantage over a tank using any faster move?  I'm not proficient enough to get that hill without ALL my tanks (yet).

  9. I look forward to some day playing the German commander and having to figure out how to handle the counter-attacking KV-1, 2 and T-34's with my PZIII's and short barrel 75mm armed Pz IV's.  I think the real hold up is BFC needing to figure out horses.  As you go earlier in the war they become much more 'on map' both in moving guns around and old fashioned cavalry.  Motorcycles too were much more common earlier.  Both would be a pain in the tush to get right graphically and in game mechanics, I would think.

  10. I recently saw the movie Fury, where a handful of Shermans attack an ATG battery and IIRC correctly the ATGs manage to miss 3 or 4 rounds of fire only to get obliterated when the Shermans return fire.  I remember thinking if this were CM, the ATGs would have taken out the tanks within 30 seconds, with the tanks maybe spotting 1 of the ATGs, and the artillery barrage that followed would likely wound a couple of loaders on the ATGs. 

     

    My major pet peeve with ATGs at the moment is how - and I appreciate this is anecdotal - it seems like there's always one guy who manages to survive the hellish onslaught of HE and services the gun just fine by himself a few minutes later. 

    ATG guns are a B!+ch.  I find them much harder to handle than an enemy tank (Wittman said something along those lines, I beieve). With a tank you can see when you've K.O.d it.  With an ATG you can pound the area with HE and think nothing can survive it - but unless you see the K.O.d ATG you never really know.  As said, one poor survivor can man that gun to amazing effect, and the ROF doesn't seem to be negatively impacted very much.

    I have to pull back and remind myself that this is a game/simulation.  A few rough edges where things seem 'off' don't matter much.  I use more HE now than perhaps a real-life battle would take.  That ATG gun will be knocked out, scattered to scrap and there will be nothing resembling a human form left of the crew before I get done with it.  I keep suppressing fire on the position unless or until I see that dead gun!

  11. I did better last night, though learned the hard way that marked mines don't always make the path safe.  I lost one tank and had the tracks blown off a second one in a marked field.  I don't blow that wire on the bridge, several replays now I find that the AT mine there blows too - my engineer team is usually really badly hurt.  I now know it's there so mark the mine and let the tank run over the wire when I bring one through.

    This time I tried running my iniital forces over the bridge then spread out along the enemy side river bank.  Got stymied though - seems I can't suppress the enemy trenches quite enough (yet).  I did kill both ATG's though, and not because I know where they are. I am resisting using fore-knowledge and bombarding them before someone spots them.  

     

    So at least I got across the bridge this time.  Got the %*$! shot out of my guys once the daylight improved and the enemy spotter(s) could see them.  If I knew how to do you tube videos I'd post my attempts - you guys could both get a good laugh and maybe slap me up side the head for doing things wrong.

    Hanging out on that bridge once the light improves is a very bad thing.  I'm learning when that happens now, so get as much movement as I can done under cover of darkness.  Now I just need to figure out how to put that time to good use!

    Sherman tanks have smoke shells - didn't think about the smoke dispensers.  That could prove useful!

     

    Thanks for the help all.

  12. Thanks for the replies. I've gotten reasonably proficient at quick battles and many of the battles.   I've gone through the armchair general series and watched a lot of youtube.  This particular battle still has me stymied.  I thought I was getting fairly good - boy did my confidence drop!  At least I now know that I can clear mines in the early part fairly safely and have gotten some forces over that #&@! bridge.  Getting enough fire superiority is difficult as it takes time to set up my MG's  - enough time for the enemy to set up mortar barrages.  Grrr.  Some day I will beat this thing!

  13. I've been playing CM for a while now and finally got back to trying (again) the 2nd campaign mission for the US.

     

    My forces initially are infantry, several 60 and 80mm mortars for back-up and a couple machine guns.  I also have 3 engineer squads.  I get 5 tanks, a lot of machine guns and two more infantry groups later in the mission.

     

    My problem - get across a mined bridge, and clear a hill on the back of the map.  The field is open, with virtually no cover in the middle.   I don't want to spoil anything so I will be vague in my questions - but my problems so far as this

     

    Can't suppress enemy entrenchments sufficiently to move forward without tanks (can get some with mortars, but not enough).

    Can't locate enemy ATG's without exposing tanks and loosing at least 2.

    I run out of HE on my remaining tanks before gaining the enemy side of the bridge, and so have none left for supporting the attack on the objective hill.

    When I attempt to gain fire superiority with small arms and MG's the enemy spotter calls down a rain of death (I have not gotten more than a few relatively intact squads over the bridge). 

     

    I can cheat - knowing where the enemy ATG's are I can bombard the %&@! out of them.  With them neutralized I can safely bring tanks forward and better reduce the enemy entrenchments.  At least I (finally) realized that the game starts with it dark enough for my engineers to mark the mines.  One problem I had has been figured out.

     

    Any advice, aar, walk through link, something?

     

     

  14. I think there is a pre-planned mission at the start, that varies with different AI plans. Otherwise, he is spotting your tanks and calling in a mission. Unlikely that there will be TRPs that far back, so you should have some warning before it comes down. Shouldn't damage the tanks too much though, and may be taking some of the pressure off your infantry;)

    With the map design, he can also see much of your area - as a general rule I tend to keep my armour out of sight until I know what I am up against....

    'Having your clock cleaned' - that's a new one on me - sounds a lot less unpleasant than having your ass handed to you!

    The AI has had really good luck (or I have had bad, or both) with dropping rounds on my tanks. I've started and re-started this mission quite a few times and now I know that unless I move them, at least one typically gets KO'd or has the tracks blown off - making it KO'd for mission purposes.

    I really wonder who can see back under that line of trees.. grr, I want to drop some mortars on HIM!

  15. Here are a few pointers if you want some help:

    Firstly, I am a believer (perhaps wrongly) that some scenarios are designed to be won first time through as long as good tactics are used. Others are more a puzzle that can only be solved through repeated playthroughs, i.e. they are not designed to be won first time through. In my opinion, this Scenario in Courage and Fortitude falls well and truly into the latter. I would struggle to believe that many people could win this one first play through, so don't feel too hard on yourself. I had to play through several times before getting there. You will learn as much (if not more) from failing as you will succeeding. Don't be afraid to experiment.

    What are your advantages in this battle? Have a think about your strengths vs the enemy's.

    For me, one of your biggest strengths is time - the amount of time you have. Don't rush into this battle, there is no need to.

    Another big advantage is that you can see pretty much all of the enemy's territory. There are very few hidden areas - his entire defensive scheme is laid out for you....

    ...but you may not be able to see all of this at the outset - consider time of day at the start, and how this will evolve over time....

    ....and could also be used to your advantage.

    I really like battles where I can get through without a re-do. I do cheat when I loose one - look at what the AI has and where, then re-play it. The satisfaction I get for winning a game though - first time through using 'real' tactics is what keeps me coming back.

    In this particular mission - the AI has eyes apparently way back on my starting map. He clobbers my tanks on their starting location for example. I tend not to move tanks without some forethought - boy did I learn my lesson in this case (KO two of them with Uncle Arty!). AI also pounds a tree line and behind where I was staging.

    Does the AI have pre-planned bombardment set up by the mission designer?

    I assume I'm doing the right thing now - send out small teams to various locations to scope out enemy positions. Once I feel I have a good idea what the AI has where then I move out teams (and tanks) with objectives in mind.

    I would love to have a list of easier battles - it's much more fun to learn if I can get a draw or better than learn by having my clock cleaned.

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