BlackMoria

It depends on who the observer is making the CAS request. Basically, when you hear the CAS reporting as on station ("in the pod"), it time to get the hell out of Dodge because it is about 30-60 secs for the "Ingress to Target" call.

Absolutely! As in real life, if you intrude into a weapons free zone and you can't be clearly identified as friendly forces, you can expect a friendly fire incident in CMSF. In CMSF, just sitting immediately outside the CAS zone is no guarantee of not being hit as well, as I found out the hard way. As in real life, keep your forces at a distance from CAS doing their grim business.

My preferred engagement when I was a artillery observer was to fire one gun section (3 tubes) on fuse delay and one gun section with fuse VT. The VT fuses would rain splinters down on open trench lines and firing pits. Delay fuses would penetrate into the ground and near hits will collapse even reinforced revetted trenches and penetrate overhead cover on personnel defensive enclosures. Direct hits on bunkers and hardpoints will penetrate even 6 inches of overhead cover (sandbags), particularly if the shell is 155mm or higher. As a added bonus, the delay fused rounds will also tear up wire obstacles and seriously degrade AP minefields in the immediate vicinity of the trench works. What can a 155mm round do on fuse delay. Consider this - I drove my jeep into a brand new 155 shell crater and covered it with a camo net and from 20 feet away, you couldn't there was a hole or anything because the net was flush with the ground and creative adding of nearby bushes and grasses by my driver make it nearly invisible. Short of a fortification type defensive position, any hasty type defensive position is going to take a beating, even from a moderate bombardment of 3-5rounds per gun onto the position.

The demonstration wasn't meant to be scientific, it was a dog and pony show for visiting VIPs. I quite agree. Figure 11 targets don't 'harden' up like real soldiers. That said, the Soviets derive their data from similar methodologies and apply some math to the issue to come up with their 'metrics'. The British do the same as I have seen Brit 'weight of scales' charts for artillery engagements as well. The point is, the Brit and Russian tables differ. Differ methodologies, differ math. Meaning the numbers are subjective and the Russians (at least during the era before the end of the Cold War) tend to throw ammunition and weapon systems at a problem in more generous doses than western armies. So, are western army 'weight of scale' calculations too conservative and the Soviet numbers are closer to reality? Or are western numbers just right and the Soviets are 'heavy handed'? Another big consideration about those table - they are more meant for logistical planning for moving and positioning ammunition rather than a hard formula that states that enemy size A + number of tubes B = number of rounds that must be fired C to met desired outcome D. It doesn't mean that if you are a company postition, you can expect exactly 111 rounds on your position. Ammunition type, weight of fire and other factors are decided by the observer at battery level and by higher artillery headquarters for battalion/regiment or higher artillery concentrations and 'weight of scales' tables rarely come into the equation anymore.

I played 'Streets of Hamas' several times and have never experienced what you are seeing. The fact you have stated that the original scenario doesn't have the 'beaming' issue implies that modifying the scenario somehow 'broke' something and we then have a start point as to what might be the problem. Have you been changing 'Red' OOBs to Blue or vice versa, because it almost seems like at some point in the game, the 'blue' M1s suddenly become 'red' M1s and the game whisks them off to the Red deployment areas, yet the TacAI still distinguishs them as 'blue' forces and fires on them. The developers do check the forums on a regular basis so you are not being snubbed or being overlooked. If you want more immediate help, contact the Battlefront helpdesk and put in a help ticket.

The Soviet artillery tables are based on data from WW2. The Soviet are not innovators, they stay with what they found worked for them. Even up until the time I took early retirement out of the military in the early 90s, their doctrine still called for placing some of their artillery literally wheel to wheel, like they did typically in WW2. I was an artillery officer and FO/FAC in the Canadian military for 12 years. The results of your test is close to a fire power demonstration my battery did during RV85, a div level exercise. A typical soviet company defensive position was dug out by the engineers and figure 11 cardboard targets (3/4 human silhouette, from the knees to the top of the head) were placed in the trenches and bunkers. My battery shelled the position with 6 x 105mm guns with either 10 or 12 rounds per gun(can't remember) at FFE, representing either 60 or 72 total rounds of impact fuse HE. When we examined the site afterwards, about 1/3 of the figure 11 targets had one or more fragmentation splinters through the target's head or torso areas, representing either a serious or potentially lethal hit. So, based on my experience from that demonstration and comparing them to your result in the CMSF test, I would say the results are extremely close. As I said, the Soviet figures are derived from WW2 data and represent 'overkill'. Why the difference in data? Simple, really. After one or two complete salvos of FFE, a target 'hardens' as troops tuck themselves away in the bottom of trenches, etc. Therefore, the bulk of the casualties occur in that first couple of initial salvos and then only marginal casualties after the target 'hardens'. Therefore, 60 rounds may result in about 30% casualties and 111 rounds in 35%, so nearly twice the rounds only give you 5% more casualties, an outcome expected by continuing to fire on a hardened target. Once the target goes 'hard', you are clearly in a case of diminishing returns on casualties. Then why go 10 rounds each gun on FFE if the fire is less effective after the initial few salvos? Simple. As the rounds rain down, the combat team is rolling to the dismount line with the tanks and ICV. Get the choreography of artillery / armour / infantry right and the ramps are dropping as the last artillery rounds have just impacted, giving the infantry time to shake out and get a toehold into the enemy position before the enemy reallizes the shelling is over.

Is your original version a Battlefront or a Paradox sold version? I seen other threads in which some update or patch issues arise because of who the seller of the original software is. That could be what is at play here. This from another thread: "if you have Paradox version you need install 1.10 patch before installing 1.11. Paradox 1.11 patch is only incemental patch, 1.10 is all-inclusive." I am not sure the accuracy of the above but I pass it along it the event is is helpful. Put in your issue into the Battlefront helpdesk. After all, that is what they are there for -to assist people.

Because of the time frame of 2008, there is no operational deployment of such systems so it most likely will not be in the NATO module. We haven't been told the timeframe the CMSF 2 will encompass, so it is a possibility but that question is best put to the developers and I would guess that those sort of decisions haven't been made or are not for discussion at this time. They still have the British module, NATO module, a rumoured 'Red' module and CM:N on their plate so CMSF 2 is ways down the road. Edit: As it stands now, Blue has as a fist full of trump cards and the only real edge that Syrian forces have is the advance ATGMs and tons of RPGs. Assuming even a pessimistic success rate for anti AT weapons of 50%, that means Syrians have their own real advantage reduced by 50%. That means that game is more like kicking puppies at that point for Blue.

It could be that the scenario had other victory conditions besides casualties that your trumphiant opponent has not met yet. He may need to completely clear you from certain objectives. Some objectives are touch (pass over them and they are met) and some objectives are occupy (you must have forces occupying the objective area). If he has moved forces out of the latter, he has failed to meet that objective until he reoccupied it. Of course, whether you tell him that is another thing altogether...

I second this. The whole issue is a byproduct of the player as god and having knowledge of the battlefield that their pixeltruppen can't possibly know. Don't act on that knowledge and there is no issue in regards to area fire. A gentlemen's agreement among players is a solution and if someone breaks their bond on this, treat them like you would anyone else 'cheating' at the game and don't play them again. Besides, the next update (1.20) will apply FOW to muzzle flashes and smoke, making it even less likely for people to area fire locations based on those indicators and I expect this will hold true in CM:N.

For a future video, could we get a near ground level fly over of the terrain? In the current video, the obvious valley and dam height differential is apparent. However, the road 'switchbacks' at the height of the camera give no impression of how complex the terrain is. I assume the switchbacks are are some relative steep slope (else why would the road switch back and forth) but it isn't apparent in the video. Damn fine map by the way. I look forward for more information about the campaign.

Are you throwing the gauntlet down on that last statement? Because there would be a long line of other forum members who would be willing to challenge your assertion and hand you your blue ass in a online game. Blue does not win everytime....

You are missing the [/ on the end quote tag.

I just completed Pooh for the first time. All and all, rather pleased with my Total Victory as it leaves me in good shape for the next scenario (Milk Run) as I had only 21 KIA, 25 WIA and the loss of two Humvees for my losses. Spent a hour wriggling my recon guys and snipers deep in and that payed off as I was able to knock out his major stuff with my arty and CAS. Some tough fights in the Eyeore area but I prevailed. Successfully occupied Objectives Eeyore, Pooh, and Piglette and Phase Line. My Base Plan was go deep with my recon elements and get eyes on. Fox Plt with support of the CAAT platoon went left and swept the area from LOD to Piglette. The rest of my force went up the middle with one Plt splitting left into Pooh and the last Plt and the engineers splitting right and tackling Eeyore. I look forward to trying it again. But for now, onto Milk Run...

Most, like myself, catch on quick. Even a cursory read thru the forums mention the repository and the cmmods site, so I knew about them and visited them within hours of starting on the forums. It is not like the repository and cmmods are state secrets. I found them easy enough.

I am gearing up for Pooh. I took the other path and got a fantastic Total Victory outcome so I am trying the Pooh path now. I look forward to the challenge. In Debouch to Disaster, my lead M1 platoon was combat ineffective by the end of the scenario. They took so many hits that I had big red crosses on optics, MGs, etc....including two M1s who had main gun damage, one in which the gun was completely out of commission. First time that I have seen that amount of damage without being KOed completely. I expect Pooh will be equally harsh to my armor.

It seems similar to a Vista issue which another person reported. I'm not sure how or why but if you allow CMSF to be default installed by Vista, certain issues with reading files occurs. If you choose to install CMSF in another location like off the root directory of the hard drive, the reading files issue disappears. It seems the underlying security has a preference for certain folders to 'preserve' (like the Windows folder and Program Files) compared to other folder that a user sets up off the root directory. When the person who experienced the issue (it was certain campaign elements of CMSF not working) reinstalled going off the root directory, the problems disappeared.

You do have the option to use the 'Cease Fire' function if you think you have met all your mission objectives and you don't want to sit twiddling your thumbs waiting for the clock to run out. Of course, that has to be balanced by waiting to see if 'something' does happen during the remaining time. My experience is there is rarely any last minute push by the AI unless the designer puts that in and I have yet to see happen. Personally, if I think I have met my mission parameters and nothing is happening, I go for the Cease Fire option.

+1 on that. Strange that a BMP can get killed with a short burst from a 25mm gun from a LAV but I have not seen a cannon kill on an armored vehicle yet from an Apache despite playing dozens of scenarios. During the current scenario, I saw an Apache do three passes on a BMP and spray scores of rounds on each pass and seemly zero effect, despite watching richochets in all directions, implying the vehicle was hit. Unimpressed with the 30 mm on the Apache.

Quick and Dirty AAR. First off, excellent scenario. Very intense combats, and uncertainty about where and when the enemy would attempt to break out. Only criticism is the #$@%^! minefields. Keep them but scale back on the number. They seemed everywhere and about half my casualties were to mines. It was hard trying to push in on the objective when my marines hit minefield after minefield. I got a Total Victory. My losses: 44 KIA, 56 WIA, 1 Hummer. Syrian losses: 258 KIA, 176 WIA, 1 MIA, 15 Armored Vehicles, 1 Other. Base Plan - started to push in with Kilo Coy and hit minefields as I started to worked west (right flanking) with one Plt. Spotted a few BMP and engaged and destroyed with Arty. Other Plt mounted up and went left (heading south) in the AAVs and made good progress. Used a side road which headed west as a phase line and dismounted the Plt and started to work my way west. Two AAVs went south to join Lima Coy for fire support and two AAVs remained with Kilo Coy. Lima Coy when it arrived spread out along the south, west and east to establish the anvil. Kilo Coy (the hammer) continued to try to push in to the objective and the northern most plt had to orient west due to mines and try to find a clear way in. Spotted bunkers and dug-in MGs on the high ground called Baldy and first CAS mission was called, along with mortars. Baldy was hit hard and two bunkers destroyed but some MGs were dug in deeper than an tick and continued to fire for most of the battle. Second plt of Kilo worked its way towards the middle and got contact and got involved with a platoon size enemy force in ditches in the treeline. First plt of Kilo continued to hit mines and opted to move west on the north side of the treeline and head towards the building near the stalled tank. Got engaged by small squad ambush points and slowly worked it way west. Big surge of enemy cut across the unnamed high ground south of the objective and the western elements of Lima Coy and the two AAVs cut loose on them. The enemy kept surging out of the objective area and Lima keep pounding on them and other enemy coming out of the southernmost forest to escape. Lima ground them relentlessly in the anvil while Kilo struggled to keep pressure up with the hammer. CAS and mortars pounded positions on Baldy, Turkey Knob and the high ground south of the objective. BMPs where hit with Apaches or Mortars when discovered. I made the assessment that it was too dangerous for Kilo's 2 AAVs to try to push in due to the RPG fire and numerous BMPs so I dispatched them to help reinforce Lima. Soon enough, reinforcements of the other plt of Kilo arrived with Hummer support and proceded to secure the buildings immediately south of the highway and work toward the disabled tank, and to assist the first plt of Kilo who suffered moderate casualties due to enemy fire and mines. Kilo's second plt had worked it way toward the middle of the map but got held up due to heavy resistance from dug-in infantry on west side of Baldy and from several buildings. The second plt found itself in a intense firefight as a BMP and several BTRs showed in the area. A hasty 'broken arrow' situation developed which had me send all Apaches and mortars to support Kilo's second plt as it was apparent that the poor plt was faced off with about a coy worth of infantry and vehicles. The fire power set the Syrians back and the situation stablized. Meanwhile Kilo's first platoon started to work in towards the south and ran into scattered infantry and three BMPs. An intense fight developed that went on for some time and the plt couldn't make headway. By this time, the plt had nearly 50% casualties, so the Marines hunkered down to await the LAV armed Taskforce that was expected to arrive shortly. Third plt moved to marry up with first plt and assist. Second plt remained engaged with sporatic elements and made little headway towards the objective, which was so close I could taste it. Lima in the meantime, held the line with the help of the four AAVs and no enemy made it more than dozen feet from the tree line towards the Lima troopers before being cut down by 40mm grenade fire and a steel curtain of 5.56 and 7.62 fire. Support element joined Lima on the line and then all hell broke loose and a coy strong enemy force rushed out of the forest towards the more thinly held Lima line. One hell of a fireworks display occurred and CAS, AAVs, Mk 19s and a storm of small arms cut into the closing enemy as other enemy forces erupted out of the tree line. The most intense battle yet raged for nearly 5 minutes as more and more forces streamed out of the trees. Lima held firm and the enemy dies within 10 meters of the trees they left. The Syrian version of Pickett's charge was defeated and dead littered the edge of the treeline. Reinforced with the LAV25s and third plt, the first plt of Kilo resumed the advance and fought their way in from almost due north of the objective. With nearly 20 minutes left in the scenario, the Marines fought across Baldy and took the high ground over the objective. Then they pushed hard in the objective and an intense fight developed as there was still 3 BMPs in the objective area. As the marines took the two northernmost building of the objective, I got the Total Victory screen with 12 minutes on the clock. Mission accomplished. It was on hell of a fight and there were alot of intense moments with two 'broken arrow' situations where one plt of Kilo got in over their heads and the main enemy push on Lima's line. Good map and great fun. I look forward to playing it again. Great job and a big thank you.

One rocket at at time? Are you sure it isn't hellfires then? I've only played the game since just before Xmas but my experience is that rockets are fired in salvos. I could be wrong on that but a single rocket seems like a hellfire attack to me.

I was playing one of the Marine campaign scenarios and didn't realize my LAV near a map edge was at the entry point of a platoon of BMP reinforcements. The three BMPs came on map and the LAV found himself in the middle of a triangle of BMPs. The firing started fast and furious and shortly, the LAV moved away after only taking a non crippling hit from a BMP cannon. It was hard to tell with the action being so furious, but I believe the BMPs missed the LAV and shot each other up because it was all over in seconds and I can't see the LAV being able to swivel turret that quickly.

No, I think is more a case of 'range exercise' verses a scenario. It appears you setup for optimal conditions for positioning the tanks, most likely flat terrain and you got the result you did (you made it sound like this was a test, not a scenario, but if it was a scenario, let me know the circumstances). I was playing Operation Clean Sweep last night. Numerous BMPs dispersed and trying to avail themselves of cover by hugging treelines and between buildings. Apaches were not using Hellfires (not sure why) and either did gun or rocket attacks. Even on Point Target, the Apaches' rockets would hammer a large area and miss the target, needing to 'go around' once or twice more to take out the target. The beaten zone of the rockets are huge on 'point attack' even and my pixeltruppen were not impressed with the rocket that nearly hit them, despite being some 175 meters from the BMP being attacked. That is not sniper accuracy. That is a shotgun. Stagger and disperse your tanks in the test and try again. Let me know your results.

That is not my experience based on the current game I am playing. It is taking an average of 2 rocket attacks to kill one BMP for the Apaches. Sniper....hardly. Still shotgun IMO.

Interesting that. I thought the Saddam look for the main characters was political posturing of sorts. Kinda the 'make the hero look like our beloved leader' sort of thing.