SSG Grymm

I don't disagree that the up-armored trucks have limitations, but its better than riding around in the plastic coverings we used to use, LOL. All current US Army vehicles seem to have that enclosed feel. I've never ridden in a MRAP, but the video I've seen has that feel also. Theres that trade off I was talking about. How do you protect the crew but allow them easy access to the outside? I'm sure if we can figure that out, we could make alot of $$$$, LOL. I can't and won't disagree that the idea of feeling safe is dangerous also. But I think we can both agree that body armor we would want body armor on a battlefield. I know I'd wear mine. If we can find a more lightwieght body armor that can take a AK round to the chest and let a soldier get up and walk away, the Army or someone would be willing to listen. But once again we get back to that trade off, of protection vs mobility/stealth, which as a former soldier and NCO can tell you, is really mission dictated.

I can only speak from my experiences and I felt a heck of alot safer wearing my full body armor than the spalling protection I wore in the early 90's. Which makes a great pillow when sleeping on a Bradley turret floor, by the way. When I hear people talk about how its safer to have less body armor and take a few cases as examples, I think of the seat belt opponents. I won't lie and say it doesn't suck wearing and humping it, but ask the soldier who took a close range AK round to the chest and got up if it was worth it. Everything in the military, even more so in combat missions, is a trade off. Do we cross the field quickly and make the commanders time line or do we skirt it with a heavy over watch? Do we clear every room or make a hasty sweep? Do we take extra ammo or move quicker? (A recon one) Do we wear kevlars or go in boonies? All have pros and cons. If the current body armor was so very bad I think you'd see a out cry from the active soldiers, just like back when they were in Iraq and wearing the old kevlar vests, on how poor it is and how they were buying thier own. Just my 2 cents worth.

I found the z file, C:\Program Files\Battlefront\Combat Mission Shock Force\Data\z But I can't find a "mods" file anywhere. The scenarios and campaigns were no problem. I knew right where they were. I appreciate the help. This makes me feel pretty old and I'm pretty sure my son could fix me right up but he won't be home from AIT till March.

I guess, but we never used any flash supression on ours and never had any issues, and that includes the old PVS-5's, which were old by the time I entered the service. Maybe its better with the more current thermal sights I've heard they are mounting on them? The muzzle flash was never a issue for us, as a recon unit, if it made that much of a difference we would have used it or atleast had enough of them to use on all the guns, I'd like to think.

I've begun trying to play with the mods and am struggling. I think this would make it 100% easier to do, so I downloaded and installed it. Now comes where I show my computer ignorance. I need to set up my "paths". I can find the Z folder easier enough, but what about the other 2 paths? I'm sure I have other questions, but I can't get far enough along to figure out what they are, LOL.

500 rounds would be very nice. I've been out for a few years, but I'm sure alot more people are screaming for a bigger ready box now, than were back a couple of years. The M2 being a primary support weapon now. As I said earlier, the turrets are motorized now, so weight can't really be the factor. And they just needed to make a box the size of a Mk-19's drum. I think it just finally just became a true factor of need vs want. I am trying hard to recall seeing any of the flash suppressors mounted. Maybe once for a dog and pony show. They were kind of a PITA to mount(there maybe a newer version out there now, like the barrel change). It had 4 bolts that had to be tightened with equal pressure, not difficult, just time consuming and something else we had to clean. In all honesty, how much flash suppression are you going to get out of a .50? It's not like you are position isn't going to be known once you start letting some rounds go. And like all HMG, it's going to draw alot of attention, good and bad.

Would have loved to have one of those. Guess someone finally listened to my years of bitching about how the barrels get changed, LOL. Edit Note: I just looked it up to see what it looked like. That is a excellent change to a nice weapon, still not sure I want to get out of a turret and change a barrel, but if needed its a heck of a lot easier. Looks like I missed it by just a few years though.

Yes we carried spare barrels for the M2, but who wants to climb out in front of the MG unscrew the red hot barrel, then screw in a new one, then try to count the clicks as you unscrew it for head space and timing purposes. I know I'd rather take it slow and steady and just keep the same barrel in. It's not like the button release on the M-60's, M-240's, ect. Like all the MG's, after time a gunner gets used to it and can walk rounds in at longer ranges. I don't doubt that 1500m is doable but thats probably with a decent spotter helping. Hardest thing at that range is seeing round impacts to adjust to.

Well we fired short bursts, but 100 rounds still goes, really, REALLY fast when in contact. And like I said, trying to stuff a full ammo can up the gunners hole, between his legs, made for some interesting conversation afterwards. So it wasn't the matter of being able to let a 50 round burst go, but to just not have to reload as often. Whe I was a private we were on M-113's as recon vehicles, and we'd lay rounds out across the intake grill when on our qualification ranges. Just cause reloading took so much of our target exposure time(and we knew we wouldn't have to spin the gun around much). Even a skilled gunner would take 60-90 seconds to get a empty gun putting rounds down range. This doesn't really pertain to CM:SF, but just obervations on a weapons system.

I was a private back in those days. I think they told us our life expectency(sp) in the Fulda Gap was 7 seconds. I never looked forward to the days of M-113 with a M2 vs a BMP's 73mm. But maybe game wise it would be different, LOL.

The M2 is a awesome weapon. If I recall correctly we regularly practiced on vehicle targets out to 1000m, personel targets 600m for steel on target hits, suppression fires were expected to go out farther. Those were with the iron sights or night vision. I never actually played with any of the newer optics on the M2's. My biggest complaint with it was the 100 round ready box. We'd jerry rig something usually to hold 200, but it really needs a larger ready box. With motorized turrets on the gun trucks now, you'd think that would be coming. Nothing like trying to stuff a ammo box between a gunners legs so he can reload as rounds are impacting the side of the vehicle. I think in all my years I only saw a handful of the flash suppressors and they were laying in the back of vehicles or in arms rooms, never mounted.

Its possible that it happened and I just missed it. I had a squad in a great spot and they were pouring out covering fire for 2 other squads moves. So they were going through the rounds quickly and I just might have missed the fact they got more. I never read any instructions and just found out that I could resupply units a week or so ago, though this forum, so been playing with it alot lately, LOL. But inter-platoon ammo redistribution would be awesome and very realistic.

I've been playing alot of the player made scenerios lately(since I was taught how to download them). I am not sure why but I'm finding them quite alot of fun. My question to all of you, which is your favorite scenerio? I don't care if its player created or came with the game. I just want to play the most fun ones. I'd admit I'm having a tough time picking any single as my favorite right now, but have loved playing the entire Task Force Panther and El Derjine campaigns. But also enjoyed the 3:10 to Yuma scenerio, even if it kicks my ass repeatedly(anything that has the cavalry saving the day has to be good, LOL).

I'd like to agree with some of the other posters. Realistically, soldiers when mounted up to move would grab more ammo, most likely without having to be told. The M-4/M16 magazines might not get completely re-loaded, but the MG's would grab fresh boxes easily, the M-203's could get more easily. Grabbing another AT-4 would not be difficult. I'd assume the Javelins would just be strapped in, so fairly easy to get another missle ready. The trick would be to have the re-supply be based on the amount of time they spend in the vehicle. Hope in a Bradley and move 50m across a street, is not enough time to get really re-supplied. Move 1000m, with 2 pauses waiting for other elements to catch-up, or overwatch a move and you could possibly get it done. On a seperate note, I'd also like to be able to split a squad and send half back to get ammo for the entire squad. This is just a "in game" dream. But even with that being realistic truth, we have to bring in the factor that someone has to come up with computer code for this to happen. All great ideas, to make a fun game, better.

I just want to add to this(posting at work so I get distracted), but its been awhile so I lost the edit button. We made it a point at the urban warfare school for leaders to plan on this when conducting MOUT operations and to up the vehicle loads in grenades and breaching charges. So if you knew and could plan ahead, it is possible for more grenades to be on board. Also understand this was a few years ago, so not sure how they plan ammo consumption currently.

We always carried extra in our Bradleys, but not so much in the trucks. They were still in the cardboard tubes and never a complete resupply(5 scouts-4 each, and carried 10-12 extras), but they were there. But on that note, we always carried more ammo(12 TOW, upwards of 3000 25mm rounds, but less AT-4's and small arms) on the scout vehicles as we expected longer times between resupply.

It sounds like everyone has it covered but just for realisms sake. Every crew member on a M3 CFV would know how to call for fire from AIT onwards. While its normally handled by an NCO scouts are taught that a scout with a map, radio and fire support is a invaluable asset. I can remember spending many, many hours practicing calling for fires in the simulator as a private.

I understand all movies are going to have to be slightly different than the actual events. Blackhawk Down is a good movie that didn't take away too much from the actual events to make a movie more exciting for 2 hours'ish. Its major change was making things that happened to multiple people happen to a single person. I watched the DVD version of GK. One of the special features was a discussion with the writer and 5 of the marines. None of the marines disputed the show. Not one of them stepped up and said that anything was mis-represented. If that had been me, I would have been screaming it was wrong and distorted. Thats why I lost respect for them, either they are lying about it happening and making themselves and other vets look like crap, or it really happened and nothing was done about it, which is actually worse, in my opinion. I am trying to not get sucked into this kind of discussion, but things like this upset me quite a bit, since I spent the better part of my adult life wearing a uniform. The scenerio/campaign game wise would be fun to play.

I thought GK did a great job of showing the way soldiers/marines interact between each other when in the base camp, the first episode. I was thrilled that someone had really captured the way soldiers talk to each other in the motorpool and or ready line. But after that it went down hill really fast. I was not a Marine, nor part of that unit, but I can tell you that most of the actions I saw in GK would have resulted in court-martials, without a doubt. No one in any command I ever served in was so eager to get into combat that they acted like they did in this show. If the stories are true the group of Marines that were part of the script writing needed to be court-martialed for not reporting some of the actions in the show, if they were true. All in all my opinion of marines took a step backwards, either they made crap up to show the Corps in a bad light or they let criminal actions go without doing something about it, either way they were wrong. Edit Note: I really like these forums and would hate to see them become what other ones are. I think this is best a topic left alone.

One of the things that have made me enjoy playing CM:SF so much was its current feel. It feels like I never left the Army and am at some new computer simulator. I'd hate to see it move backwards in time or too far forwards. I'd like to think the Battlefront dev team can watch the news and see current hot spots. With a bit of creative thinking, come up with possible conflicts. The Balkans always has a chance to explode, another Russian excursion into Georgia(this time there is a US unit there training and gets sucked in), expanded middle east conflicts(a NATO vs Iran conflict), there is always Africa to toy with. The possiblities are out there. I keep going back to the ideas of a 1980's Fulda Gap battle. I am not sure I'd like this one, as when I did my first border rotation I was told the we were expected to make 1 radio trasmission before we overrun, 7-10 seconds after the intial breach, if I recall correctly. Even if you survived that, riding around in the M-113's just waiting to stumble into a BMP-1 does not excite me. Anyways, great discussion and game. I'm sure whatever it is it'll be fun.

Excellent. Thanks gentlemen. I must say in the limited time I've read stuff the CM:SF community has posted, its always been very friendly and civil. Which seems to be a rare thing amoung certain gaming communities. Thank You Again.

I've been reading about all these cool player designed battles and even campaigns. I've registered at the Repository and even downloaded a few battles. But now my question, how do I get them to work? I put them into the scenrios file, they didn't work. Then I noticed that the file type was different. I think the ones I downloaded were .ara files of which I couldn't find any. I guess I'm just looking for some sort of simple(I'm not that computer savvy) instructions. I tried search and looked all over the Repository and can't seem to find any. Thank you in advance.

I'm pretty new to CMSF(never finished a campaign yet) and am still learning all the in's and out's. But I saw that you say you resuppied your units? How do you do this? Just guessing, with the game being as realistic as it is, I'd say moving a unit back to its vehicle, but I'd sure like to know if this is correct. Thank You

I don't disagree and its my own fault for getting sucked into small unit actions as thats what I was focused on for so long. And CMSF is a great game, as realistic as I've seen. I used to think Close Combat was a awesome game with they bought in air support. CC:BotB and CC:Normandy were a blast but don't compare to CMSF. But as all career soldiers I spent some time "riding a desk". I was forutnate enough to do mine in the S-3(Ops) shop of a cavalry squadron. Even the SQDN commander would get focused on a individual troop or even platoon if they were in heavy contact untill he heard that another was engaged or had a substantial spot report. I understand this is a computer game, thank god for that, I couldn't imagine writing the amount of letters I would need to learning to play this game, LOL. I was just offering a suggestion for those that have the ability to make future changes.

My son bought this game a while ago and I tried it then, but just recently started really playing it and enjoying it enough to buy the 2 expansions(just more time on my hands now, LOL). But as a retired active duty cavalry scout, with a handful of combat tours, it does take some getting used to, to play and win. I found myself trying to relying on the units to use too much common sense at first. They need to really be babysat. The USMC campaign can get difficult as there just seems to be alot of units to control. You get sucked into a small unit action and suddenly you've lost 2 trucks, a squad and a machine gun team on the other side of the map. I'd love if they gave you some sort of contact report or SITREP so you could know they needed some looking at. The basic concepts of fire and manuver, covering fires seem fine, ect. I'm a bit disappointed with some aspects, but overall a very fun and well done game.