noxnoctum

Last game, I managed to flank my opponent's positions with a platoon of t-34s and a couple IS-2s. He had taken every flag on the map but one (this was a town map) and was shelling my infantry closest to the flags with keyholed stuhs. The IS-2s took care of an overwatching tiger and the T-34s killed one PZIV and forced the other 4 into hiding behind buildings (not being able to shell my infantry). The map was basically all the objectives in buildings in between two huge hills, so whoever commanded the hills commanded the map. I sent in my other platoon of T-34s to try to take advantage of the cowering PZIVs but two got taken out quickly by the same PZIV (some very unlucky shots from the T-34s despite one being a veteran). Luckily for me, I'd purchased some TH! I loaded up one in a M3 scout car, and rushed it at the offending tank. The other sprinted for it on foot (about 100 meters) The M3 came under heavy fire about 50 meters away from the tank, so the brave souls in the 2 man TH team hopped out, dashed 10 meters and flung their RPG, direct HIT! (he had an infantry screen but I rushed 2 companies of SMGs into the breach and they were mauling his fallschirmjägers badly) My other 3 TH literally surrouned the other PZIV which was behind a building and forced it into the welcoming arms of a SMG squad which ended up taking it out with a grenade... Meanwhile, my 2 remaining t-34s on the hill with the IS-2s (one got killed by the tiger) were shelling the remaining german infantry on the two flags I was going for (the biggest ones)... they, WITHOUT orders (and I might add both had covered arcs AWAY from the last PZIV) turned to face the last enemy tank which came out of hiding but couldn't quite get a shot off before the game ended (another 3 seconds and it would've been over for that last crew ) That's what's so brilliant about this game. The TacAI... I've yet to see a mainstream big budgeted game have as good as AI as this. Sure, the vehicle pathfinding is pretty quirky (which you can definitely still get around with very specific orders) but other than that, the initiative shown by individual units is bloody awesome!

I'm playing an operation right now (against a human opponent) where I have a large mass of infantry to cross an open area against prepared positions with no arty support (just a couple 82mm mortars) and a few t-70s. What's the best way to do it? Split into half squads spread everyone out and just hope for the best?

Man you're just a wealth of information... are you a military history professor by any chance?

Ah that explains it. Pretty cool, saved my panther's ass a few times

I'm interested in playing through with someone the first operation of the Bake's Winter Storm series over at blowtorchscenarios: http://www.blowtorchscenarios.com/Baeke%20Battles_Der%20Mensch%20on%20the%20Ost%20Front/Baeke%20Prelude%20at%20Pokhlebin/Bake_Prelude_at_Pokhlebin_Scenario_Details.htm Mirror match preferred. Would like to set up via pbem and then play the game over tcp-ip in untimed, leisurely turns---within reason of course . Obviously we would spread it out over multiple tcp-ip sessions as it's a 100+ turn operation in total. I played another operation from that site and it was very high quality and very fun (even against the AI!)

Joined. Hoping for some TCP-IP action! Found quite a few over at WAW but always looking for more.

I've noticed this several times and it seems to be exclusive to panthers. When enemy infantry are close by something flies out of the panther and lands and suppressed the enemy squad... what is it? At first I thought it was something the infantry squad was throwing that was ricocheting off but it always lands dead center on the infantry squad. Wish I had a screenie... I'll take one next time it happens.

What an awesome sound mod... getting it right now. Massive battle you've got going there... keep us updated .

^^^Yes that system would be fun (both the star system and the specific "achiements" system). Though I don't much care for them in shooters (can't be bothered) I think it would play out very well in a strategy game. I can't imagine it being too hard to implement either since it's basic if/then logic, basically just modifying victory conditions and assigning pretty images to them . The "assigning" medals idea is VERY cool too (maybe you get a certain number of "medal" points depending on how well you did... IIRC M1 Tank Platoon 2 allowed you to give out awards based on performance, very cool feature)... Even if it has no actual effect on the battle (perhaps it could add to a unit's morale and fanaticism? Would seem realistic to me too) it would be still be fun to see that veteran infantry platoon that's been through it all.

Is that from a youtube vid or something? Looks hilarious.

Awww that's a shame, purchasing units is one of the most fun parts of QBs.

^^^For real. I play a ton of Left 4 Dead which is about a twitchy as it gets (don't really understand why that has to be a bad thing... it is with wargames but not necessarily for games in general) but have been playing wargames of some type since I was 14 or so (21 now)... though admittedly I'm not as advanced as some on here mostly because I never had the money to go all out into the hobby. Don't assume that all people who play shooters and RTS games (of which COH is one of the best for its style) are too brain-dead for Combat Mission. Just look at the reviews Gamespot and IGN for example gave CMBB back in the day, 9.1 and 9.0 respectively, from mainstream gaming sites.

I know this has been discussed but couldn't find the threads where it had been discussed... what was the final consensus? Will we get randomly generated maps for the QB system in Normandy? Will we get to purchase units again?

The biggest problem is that it doesn't work for deployable or extremely slow units (HMGs, AT guns, etc.)

I'd LOVE to see an option to target a "circle area" as an option to the standard area attack. What I mean is you click once to area attack and then move your mouse outwards or inwards to create a bigger circle. That way you could have a tank or mg or what have you rake an entire area (say a treeline) with mg fire and not have to use a different unit for each individual target (which you have to do if they're not right next to each other). Ideally, there would also be a seperate area attack that used a rectangle for the target area.

How is it that a 57 mm AT gun will penetrate where a 75 mm gun on a tank won't? Is there another factor I'm overlooking? Is it simply length of the barrel that gives it more velocity or something else?

Ok that makes sense now... What about advance/assault commands?

This looks like a fun map, a lot of room to maneuver! Aren't you worried Mike will read this? It'd be great if you could both post DARs on here and agree not to read each others' . What are "textbook Soviet tactics"?

Meaning out of view of say, a given house's occupants, but still able to torch the building? I find it difficult to find that sweet spot (where I can see the building but not be seen by those inside), any suggestions? Other than that, several of my FT's supported by some engis ambushed infantry moving into a house across the street. They (the enemy) broke and ran almost instantly! Is it dangerous to use them within a building (if an enemy assaults the building the FT is in)? Will it hurt my own guys? I'm still wandering though: What is satchel throw range?

Yes this is very sorely needed.

Any of you interested in TCP-IP? Add me on ICQ: 418287681

After reading Biduke's post I'm REALLY liking the sound of that. Good/veteran units should not be pausing at every waypoint, at all, unless you want them to. Ideally, we'd be able to set some sort of "formation mode" where you can choose close formation to make the unit stop and stay together if it gets too spread out or "loose formation" whereby they will run nonstop to the next waypoint (good for assaults obviously). I'm guessing that's too much work though, so please at least make infantry units not have to pause at every waypoint! I can't say how many times it's irritated me when I'm trying to raid a house and my guys stop right outside the building and sit there for 3 seconds getting gunned down before rushing inside. BFC please look into this!

I'm fine with command delays, but a better system is needed, so that plotting a tank's path down a curvy road doesn't make it stop repeatedly and take forever to even start.

Thanks a lot JonS, using that milsketch now, very nice!

What's a good, freeware tool that I can use to edit images (i.e. add text and symbols, arrows etc.) for an AAR I'm writing? I'd rather not go with paint... it's quite ugly.