derbius

I played a QB against the computer on a billiard-ball-flatness map - one of the 76s killed four Pz IVs at nearly a Km range. The other killed 24 (!) light armoured vehicles at a similar range (everything the Germans had left). Moreover they seemed able to do it with amazing efficiency, hardly missing at all. Does this sound familiar?

surely I can't be the only one who was curious to know what firing off 12 inch guns would work like? Well, briefly, as far as I can tell the only way to get at them is to turn off rarity (even the largest American force doesn't have enough rarity points to afford this). My next discovery was that even though you have to buy a forward observer to use battleship guns the observer is still rated “red X"–i.e. they have a tough time in getting the attention of the battleship. As a result there appears to be a minimum 20 min (!) Time delay. On the upside, you get a little more than 80 rounds of HE. Basically, the only way to use this is during the setup–pretty much flatten the entire map then roll in and mop up.

It's more than a little frustrating that while you can get ordnance out of a halftrack using "acquire" I haven't been able to see how inf wandering around the battlefield can be encouraged to pick up and use abandoned LMGs, bazookas and panzerfausts. Do they do this automatically if they are in the right location without being told to? I have no evidence of this yet. On similar grounds although I can see that there might be gamey-ness in allowing gun crews to bail out then recrew, would it not be reasonable (if not yet technically possible) for mortar ammo bearers to crew abandoned mortars or AT gun ammo bearers to crew ATGs?

I've got the opposite problem - I can do 1280x1024 and even 1600x1280 or something ridiculous like that on my screens but CMBN won't allow resolutions that high. Any idea why?

This seems consistent with my findings as well - inf that "hide" behind a wall don't seem ever to look out. Tanks rolled right up to them then instead of firing at them they were so scared by their sudden appearance that they surrendered to them!

I had two tubes of 81mm arty (why this shows as 6 green circles I don't know). I told them to fire "long" expecting them to fire 20-28 rounds then stop. Two minutes later they seem to have shot until empty (and we were told they had 100 HE and some WP to start with). I can't even get them to fire the WP now! Is "heavy" 20-28 rounds per minute per tube? Do you always need to tell arty to cease fire? I thought that was the point of setting a duration?

I like to play through my battle report from level 7 (ie 'god view') first, then zoom in to see how certain key fights played out. Unfortunately, at the moment it is easy to miss when your own or other people's inf or armour gets killed and it is often very difficult to tell what killed it. Of course one might not actually know who killed a specific unit, but it's still frustrating. You don't really know how a battle went until the end - and often not even then. Any chance of restoring (for example) as an option the lines showing you who is firing at you if you are selected as it happens (where you know)?

On the L flank my guys hid behind a wall so effectively nobody spotted the shermans crossing the field until they were on top of the squads. Then instead of 'shrecking the Shermans to death, my guys surrendered! (I guess if there's a Sherman 5m away from you and facing you tend to panic). Barkmann turned his turret away from a Sherman nearby to attack some inf behind him and got a shell through the back of the turret. *sigh.

In one of the Wittman-esque battles in the full game, a column of tanks advances down the road towards my Panther. One crests and is blown up and within a few seconds another does the same. But within a minute or so the remaining two follow the same path up the road into certain death. I know that people can be stupid, but just how stupid?

I would like to talk to others about how to succeed in Aufklaren. It's such a headache for what should be a simple scenario!

I agree with LemoN - it's too hard to see gaps in the bocage for infantry using the camera which would be fairly obvious for real troops on the ground so you end up having to send them to the other side and let the AI figure out how only for the AI to make a dumb decision. One problem I have run across - inf automatically sticking to cover isn't always a good idea - sometimes you really do want them to follow the path you give them diagonally across a field. Is there a 'force this path' option? Could there be?

Oh, exit them! Duh! I'll start again... Gotta read the fine print ;-)

I didn't see many American units but I occupied all the places I was supposed to search. Why at the end did the Americans appear to get close to 1000 points for my units and therefore get given a major victory? I did lose a few units - the dismounted infantry - and therefore could understand losing 225 points - but what about the rest? Was that a bug?

Spring '45? A strange choice - are tankers really that obsessed with getting the sexiest toys? Hm... I guess I already know the answer...

One of the disadvantages of WEGO and of CM's excellent realism is that when units do something weird it really sticks out. Sometimes you can pretend to yourself that there is a sound reason but sometimes... This thread is for those other moments. * My HMG came under arty fire and the gunner was killed. The other people in the squad continued to fire at the enemy... with their rifles. Well done lads. * A veteran scout squad told to hide in the trees seems to have panicked under arty fire and decided to open up on the overwhelming American forces c 100m away and in cover. Any other favourite AI failures?

OK now I understand. Thanks!

I "moved" some units to the edge of the setup area but when I decided that it was the wrong place to put them and tried to "move" them back, they seemed to be registered as being outside the setup area and thus I could only plot them to move in the first turn. Anyone else found this?

The HQ unit it is nearby is definitely the mortar platoon HQ, and that HQ is fine - this is the setup phase so no time for it to get panicked. On the 'plus' side, when the HQ orders up indirect fire, it does register the nearby mortar as usable.

Thank you Yankeedog - your justification to get around the "magic" problem lets me play without too much guilt!

Can anyone explain why this mortar crew adjacent to its HQ seems to be out of C2?

The manual says, "Artillery strikes targeted near a TRP (within 50m) do not require LOS from the spotter" - so if I understand correctly, I can have a guy looking out for units near the TRP who is connected to nobody (so only omniscient me can see that troops are approaching the TRP) then I can click on the highest-ranking HQ I have anywhere on the map and tell him to order up some arty onto the TRP? Isn't that just an excuse for magic targeting? I think any unit should be able to call in arty to a TRP without delay but there should be some way for the message to get from the unit which sees the TRP to a unit with authority to call in the arty. Or have I misread how TRPs work?

Yes +1 from me for that. To be honest the AI should automatically default to "armour only" behaviour for AT guns - you should only fire at infantry if you force it.

Remind me what's the problem you guys have with PBEM? It can progress as fast as people play - it can take only a few seconds for an email to travel and for people to be notified...

The title says it all. A place for players to volunteer their email addresses and other useful parameters (eg preferred side, scenario and time zone). I'll start! Busting the Bocage Prefer allies but will play either GMT (London) Would like to play someone who has not yet played either side so we both come to the scenario with no knowledge of the opposing forces. Can do at least a turn a day but will try to turn them around ASAP particularly in the early turns where nothing much happens. Elite skill level, please. davidbrake <at> gmail.com Just drop me an email and introduce yourself...

Yes all multiplayer modes are available (but limited to the three starting scenarios). The Battle for Normandy Steam group is at: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/CMBfN See you online!