A Canadian Cat

I think this is the key: It is nice that *you* know all those guys running around had no AT assets but put your self in the crew's seat. They are a single tank all alone with enemy infantry really close. It would be really hard to decide what was the biggest threat. Even if you did just wreck a bunch of BTRs - those things contain crunchies that actually *do* have some pretty nasty AT capabilities. There is no real way for the tank crew to figure out who is who. Close in infantry are very dangerous. So, I have two overall comments When you see stuff like that try to think about it from the crew's perspective. They will still likely make some choices you "think" you would not - get over that cause imperfection is a feature of the game and expecting perfect behaviour is just a recipe for you to get frustrated. We have a god like view of the battlefield a real tank crew does not. The in game Tac AI tank crew does not and it has the memory of a gold fish (meaning short). Use better tactics. Not meaning to offend just trying to be helpful. In a combined arms attack your infantry's job is to deal with all the scrambling enemy crunchies running around and your main battle tank's job to blow up anything that can harm your infantry.Expanding on #2 a bit. Your question was about targeting priorities but you should be looking at this a different way. Why was there not some units around specifically there with the tank to deal with that enemy infantry? When the battles gets into close quarters like that any time my MBT is hunting for enemy vehicles it has friendly infantry, usually in front, there with it specifically to deal with both the enemy infantry that is bound to be there as well and the crews that bail. Let the infantry deal with the enemy infantry so you tank can be free to deal with the enemy tanks or other fighting vehicles. At this point it is a good time to bring up the cover armour command. Given that you have in place a nicely coordinated combined arms assault going on it makes sense to give your MBTs a covered armour arc. You can hold down the shift key so it covers a full 360 deg and make it big enough to cover the entire map. Yes, I said the entire map - you do not want a tight arc or a small circle because if you do that some enemy tank will appear outside your arc and you will have a bad day. In fact my usual way of working is to not give tanks cover armour arcs when things get close like that. I actually want them to fire the MGs at infantry targets while the main gun is being loaded with the next AP round. If you have your tanks supported by infantry the enemy infantry will not get to close to your tank and your tank crew will naturally target the bigger nastier threats leaving the enemy infantry to your infantry.

LOL yeah @ASL Veteran is one that scored a big win with the round avatars, also @Bulletpoint. My new cat had its ear chopped off. One thing you can do is extend the canvas size for your image so that what you want appears in the centre and with a little experimentation you an get the look you want.

I think there are plenty of possibilities for scenarios going forward in time from Bagration that they have no need to go back. In fact they have been pretty explicit that the next module will go forward in time. The next Game for the East will cover the year previous to CMRT.

For starters I agree with @womble - very cool screen shot. Yeah, there have been a few changes here that I am not 100% sure of yet. It does seem like a better WYSIWYG though so perhaps preview is not needed.

Fewer posts sum things up better! I see it quite often on the forums - even from people who are very comfortable with the game - the old tables and modifiers and die rolling is is so ingrained in them that the even express the new behaviour in those terms. Very true. The important part to remember though is that while the basic terrain tile at that location is important what features are actually on the ground between any single solider and where the bullets are coming from are also important. Actually I would argue that ^^^ this is not quite true. You simply cannot say terrain tile X has Y effect. Sure we can make generalizations but there is no chart, there is no "throw the dice and add modifier from some other table over there". There is no way to create meaningful look up tables like that. Sure, we all know that this is a simulation and a computer is crunching the numbers but the *way* those numbers are crunched are fundamentally different from those table lookup games. When an enemy solider fires at your troops the characteristics of their weapon, their skill and a few other soft factors (morale, motivation near by leadership etc not sure in what combination), they aim and the fire. That's right they aim (some interesting simulation of aiming at least). The ballistics of that bullet are then tracked using basic Newtonian physics. The computer figures out what that bullet intersects with (tree, wall, ground, your soldier) and that is what happens. This is done with the 3D models you see in the game - just like in real life. Some have speculated that there are modifiers and "saving throws" and it is possible but they would be secondary to the basic change in how the action in the game is calculated now. I believe you should discard those thoughts and focus on the simulation of "reality" that is packaged into such a game. So, as you can see there is plenty of number crunching going on behind the scenes but it is *not* based on lookup table and dice rolling. Hey, there is plenty of randomness baked in there but at multiple places in the calculations not in some simple die roll. All that means that given the above and the fact that any single terrain tile can actually have features from any other terrain type (look carefully there are no hard edges in the maps where the tall grass stops and the forest floor covering starts) combined with the fact that other adornments can be present in the terrain your soldiers are in or any other place along a bullet's path coupled with the fact that the actual location of your soldier really matters: there is no table being used, there is no table that can be created by us. There is no die roll either.

??? Not sure what you mean. I admit it has been a long time since I played the CM1x games but I do not recall a way to add more troops or increase the experience for the AI in a *scenario* dynamically at scenario start. The scenario designer can certainly *create* his scenario from the get go with additional troops and more experience to make it more challenging. The problem of course is scenarios like that are then often not much fun played H2H. Striking that balance is tricky for sure. Please correct me if I am wrong but I do not believe they were left out because they were not in the original. In Quick battles you can (in CM2x) handy cap your self against the AI when you set up the game. Could you be thinking of this feature?

It seems to work as it did before by clicking on the little circle or star to the left of the thread title. Oh wait I have a feeling that there used to be another way to do it too - perhaps that was the way you always did it and that way is now gone. Anyway click on the circle or star to the left of the thread title and it will take you to the latest post that you have not yet read.

Yay, the new site recognises my mobile browser automatically now. No more manually setting the style back and forth.

Yeah I like that one. Except for the cement shoes :). It took a lot of fiddling to get that shot just right. I could not get muzzle flash though - there did not seem to be any.

Yeah, change is hard Some of my bookmarks are broken - that is going to be tough. But look if you type the '@' symbol and then start with someones name you can mention them in a post - pretty cool eh @grunt_GI. I tried it with @L0ckAndL0ad but it didn't work - must not work with numbers in the user name.

No, they do. I have seen them on some of the casualties. The only place I got close enough to even think about using one was by the church but the volume of fire I kept pouring in there was pretty large.

Agreed. I have not had a lot of luck finding MANPADs some Anti Air weapons seem to find you but most are so far behind the main line of defense finding them before sending in the CAS just means you are never going to send in the CAS. My strategy right now on the offense is to pick some locations that are likely to have defenders but are not likely to be the first ones I encounter. I call the CAS on those locations right from the start. If I have a lot I might also call some on an important rear objective. My thinking is that a) you are not calling CAS danger close and after you break through the screen you will meet less opposition. That is my theory anyway. It seems to be not a bad strategy. On defense I have been picking likely avenues of approach and calling 5 or 10 minutes delays. If nothing is coming along that avenue I can cancel it. If something does it lets the first units through and then causes problems for any following units thereby letting you deal with less attackers at one time. This is very much a theory without much practice yet so I'm not sure how well it will work.

Finally, but I fear most of them have already left. A case of closed the barn door after the horses have left

So, I am all caught up now. There are 4 minutes left. There are still a few houses in the town to check and the Church is not clear. I do not think many enemy troops are left in the town. I have a section heading to check on the final known AT gun's location. If I can get that intel on the AT gun I also have a section positioned near the village. They can do a lot of building checking if they have tank support but time is running out on actually taking the village.

Minute 06: Orders Fire on known locations of retreating enemy and clear more houses at both ends of town. Figure 166 More retreating Figure 167 Advance Minute 06-05: The AT gun behind the church is confirmed abandoned the crew has managed to escape. Wait what? There is an exit zone for the enemy right there behind the church. Oh that is disappointing. No wonder they are hanging around this end of town longer cause they can slip away without crossing a distance of open ground. Figure 168 Confirmed AT gun dealt with Figure 169 Retreating Minute 05: Orders More clearing buildings on the right side of town plus firing on the enemy in the woods. Also the church assault will begin and the tank and more of 5 platoon are heading to positions to get eyes on that exit zone. I want to stop as many enemy from leaving as possible. Figure 170 Work down the row Figure 171 Assault the church Minute 05-04: That worked. Several more enemy casualties plus three surrendering but a few did get away. Figure 172 Enemy surrendering In the church the Bren Gunner fired up the stair and eliminated the MG42 gunner that had been keeping 5 Platoon back for all these turns. Figure 173 Got the MG42 gunner Minute 04: Orders One section will make a dash to the woods covered by the tanks. I want to get eyes on the location where the last AT gun was located to find out if it is, still there or not. At the same time the church tower is getting cleared. Figure 174 Head for the woods Figure 175 Clear the church

Minute 09-08: The Germans attempt to flee. They don’t get away. Figure 156 Caught On the other end of town the tanks support the clearing of more buildings. No resistance is found in the town. Figure 157 Tanks move up to support assault Minute 08: Orders The orders are basically the same at both ends of town – clear additional buildings. On the right side of town 6 Platoon is clearing buildings on the other side of the street so the tanks can enter the town and everyone get eyes on the area behind the town. Near the church they are trying to organize to defeat the remaining resistance. Figure 158 Clearing Figure 159 Move up on the church Minute 08-07: The last of the enemy team that took out Sgt. Jeremy is dealt with. Figure 160 Around the corner Disaster strikes. One of my tanks parks just in the right spot to be seen by that AT gun behind the church and is taken out. This one is totally my fault because I knew it was there and did not do the scouting to notice that the location could be seen from there. Figure 161 Scratch another Sherman Minute 07: Orders Get the tanks into the cleared edge of town. That will keep them away from this AT gun and allow them to fire on any retreating enemy they can. At the other end of town continue to move into a position to take the church. Figure 162 Move the tanks up into cover Figure 163 Closing in on the church Minute 07-06: Finally tanks get a chance to fire on the retreating enemy. Sadly they seem to have mostly made it to the woods. Over near the church they are filtering away but I am still taking fire from the church so not everyone has left. Figure 164 Firing on retreating enemy Figure 165 Got away

Wow, that is a cool look.

I actually nearly always use maximum duration. The number of times my shells stopped before I wanted them to made me rethink things. Now my SOP is to choose maximum and then cease fire when I am happy with the amount of HE delivered. I am much happier now.

Not quite there yet. I am a few turns behind in my write up but it looks like the right side of the town is abandoned and the church side resistance is greatly reduced. That at gun behind the church is toast. Stand by it will be over soon.

Wait, what. I want an AARs with screen shots. No one said they wanted one? Well I do!

That was a fist post? Excellent! I can not tell easily on my phone. Great concept,

Yeah, no kidding. Out from left field there.

Yes, I totally second that. Just spend a bit of time learning it and it will pay off I use the keyboard to move the camera the majority of the time. A lesser amount I use the click and drag method. What I like about those is that you control the speed and can slow down as you get closer to your destination. I find the camera edge movement less useful because it is constant speed I have never been happy with controlling it. What upsets me is when I accidentally trigger if by moving the mouse out if the way. Drives me nuts.

And in this context it is Bradley splodey stuff we are looking for.

Oh we love this kind of thing. New lists are constantly popping loads of fun. Devs definitely see this kind of information. Mind you they see lots of repeats too. Yeah, there is one really big problem though: no matter what the AI will never be viewed as perfect. People have varying expectations several people think their pixel troops should perfect we get to hear about it often (whenever something goes wrong for one of the perfect pixel troop believers). While you might want some more flexibility and improvements in the AI it sill will not do what you expect / want every time. Also do not forget that often it does pretty damn well. I just had an instance of two teams doing a great job in CMRT. I was trying to flank an enemy HT in the woods. I failed to give enough distance as my platoon moved around the HT's known location. One team actually took casualties and the nearby team did not - they both did just what I would have wanted them to - cancel my orders and run away from the HT to get deeper into the woods. Yep, often requested and I agree it would be nice. You already had one suggestion for making your life better here is another one. Use several shorter way points instead of one long one. If you give a squad a quick order 100m away across a field before your squad got there you will probably have a single conga line. But if you made that quick order into 10 or 12 way points at each one the squad would form up and spread out and you would never get a single big conga line. Yes, I know it is not the same - just offering a suggestion that can help improve things now, while we wait for formations to show up as a feature. Yeah, not so sure about that. Right now you can place a way point in front of a building's door with a 10s pause and a target or target briefly into the building and your guys will most likely throw grenades if they have them. Maybe for the wall thing it would be nice. I guess I just see my guys doing a pretty good job throwing grenades. You already got one answer. Here is a link to a larger discussion: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/96403-demo-charge-and-bocage-glitch-other-questionscomments/and here is a much older one with some good pictures: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/83075-blast-command/ Indeed also asked for a few times. Area fire does spread around a bit but you are correct nothing like a fire along a hedge row command would be. My top three: Head to Head Campaigns via PBEM Command line support Add "Custom" Quick Battle size so users can specify points