Sgt Schultz

GaJ... ALL casualties count towards casualty POINTs, whether they get buddy aid or not. A WIA is an MIA is a KIA as far as the referee scoring the exercise. Buddy aid only affects the 25% chance that a 'red base' will go from WIA to KIA. That means NOTHING to the points totals. It is just a bragging rights number at the the lower part of the AAR. Everything I state here is working within the statements made here in this thread, and the manual. I would like a little BFC input in here to completely clarify, in case I have it wrong.

To recap what I have gathered from the discussion so far... and please correct me if I am wrong. 1. WIA, MIA, KIA all count towards any and all casualty POINT totals. 2. "Brown-Base" KIA buddy aid is for ammo and weapons collection only. 3. "Red-Base" WIA buddy aid collects weapons and ammo... and removes a soldier from the 25% calculations for KIA from all WIA. This means that buddy aid affects only the AAR WIA/KIA casualty numbers(and only through the 25% KIA calc) ... not points. The player gets to feel better and has bragging rights. He also leaves a cleaner battlefield. So... in my opinion, and taking all these statements as correct... we are forcing ruthlessness on H2H players that may want to be more merciful/immersive. Unless you need the weapon a downed truppen was carrying, there is no other in-game incentive to conduct buddy aid. On the contrary, if your battefield intel is not all that it should be, it places the aid-givers themselves in considerable danger due to non-prone aid. ------------ My question to BFC is ... Can "red-base" troops that receive buddy aid(disappear) be coded to NOT count towards casualty points? This means destroy as well as the parameter casualty points. They still count on the AAR screen at the bottom where it is just bragging rights territory. In other words, stand what we have on its head. We currently either gain nothing from, or are punished for, behaving in a humane manner on the battlefield. Every truppen that cannnot answer roll call at battle's end is considered lost forever in a points context. Arguably realistic, but many wounds could be dressed and soldiers returned to duty from a forward aid station. Buddy aid abstracts getting wounded to an aid station. Let's reward taking the risk, even though it may only be a few points here and there. Otherwise ... the gamey folk who slap on kilts and paint their faces blue will over-run us while we care for our kamareden, and their wounded lie writhing in the dirt. -----

Always nice to share your first serious artillery experience. Love it when a plan comes together. Share pics in the screenshot thread .. or here. Try a 107mm mortar smoke screen , or maybe an emergency 155mm small area mission for that 'shock and awe' effect.

Look at the action text for the team. Packing Up or Deploying should be there somewhere.

------------ Therin lies the difference in "pop smoke" use and indirect fire smoke. Recon/screening troops/vehicles can pop a small screen to allow freedom of maneuver for just their small force. Not always used for attack. Sometimes a displacement to the side or falling back is in order. Main gun direct fire smoke, as has been stated, works for penetrating into wooded areas and blinding fortifications. Indirect smoke works for the purpose you stated... getting the main force into position to blow a hole in the main line of reisistance. It is also good for an undisturbed approach march to your jump off points. If you have the assets, no need to take any casualties until you are good and ready to return the favor. --------- All this works in the woods as well as anywhere else. The main difference/challenge is keeping HQs/FOs alive in the close-range wooded environment.

hehe.. funny you should say that sly. stay tuned to the maps and scenario forum in the next few days. "The Hurtin' Forest" (groan) working title Trenches, bunkers, pillboxes... all in a nice thick wrapper of forest.

Yes, most American infantry units have at least one squad that has the "pop smoke" icon illuminated. Not so much Germans, and their smoke seems to be wimpier. Scout Teams always have it. It's one of the reasons they are scout teams. When you split your platoon up, make sure anyone that still has a lit-up smoke icon is upwind. ----------- vehicles... M8 Greyhounds and Shermans lay down excellent pop smoke. The Sherman cannon smoke is a tad wimpy though. Pumas have pop, vanilla PSW does not. -------------------- I know you have no arty this go 'round, but in the future consider the American 107mm mortar battery. Best Smoke-to-HE ratio I have found yet. On Limited ammo it is almost 50/50.

Check conditions for wind strength and direction. Lead from upwind side with all units that can pop smoke. Upon contact, pop smoke. Allow screen to spread. Move your force into screen. When the curtain goes up, you have fire superiority. -

They snap back on a map reload GaJ. I have had crossroads and angled single trenches stay for hours while I tweak... then be singleton straights when I reload. Trenches ae not designed to be used in singleton units. You need two or more to make shapes and angles.

I like the suggestion of giving shrek/zook/faust-equipped units a "deploy" timer and button for inside use. This could abstract the clearing of minor debris and checking backblast areas for safety. Since rooftops and rubbled upper stories are not available, tanks have unlimited elevation, and use from these points would be ahistorical... then it seems some sort of structure tweak may be in order. I don't mind using the editor to work-around and fortify, but it would be a nice option to have. - Buying fortified buildings that can be placed and have ATGs or tanks placed in them would be cool, but seems unwieldy to code and balance.

Foxholes will fit one team-sized unit per group of four foxholes. It is possible you are crowding the action spot. Break squads into teams for foxhole use and you should have better results.

A Red Cross Jeep/Kubel with two Medics in the purchase screen as specialist teams would be fun. These medics could perform point-saving casualty exits for every trip to a friendly map edge with casualties on board. -- Back on track ... I agree that certain aid should be performed prone. I believe the manual states that aid will not be rendered or will be interrupted if a healthy enemy unit is spotted within 100 meters. To keep from getting killed while performing aid, make sure you have good situational awareness.

Zeiss Optics ... accept no substitutes ... Yes ... 1,421 meters.

Looks like it could be a low Motivation/-1 coupled with losing LOS when buttoning up. --

Neat little feature I found in a battle. Scout Team crawling on 'slow' through field, away from battle. Covered Arc during movement back towards enemy. Enemy Team encroaches on covered arc... while boys are face-down in the dirt and crawling in opposite direction. My Team spins around in a FLASH and sprays MP40 fire. Enemy goes down. Team immediately spins back around and continues crawling. Granted... this was in a Crop 4 field with short(40m) LOS, so sound may have helped. It was still almost 180 degrees from their 3-spike facing. --------- Compared to the slow-motion movie of watching a stationary unit change facing ... it was a jaw-dropping experience. I may have to adjust tactics to get the most from this.

Aww... come on in and join us. The WW2 generation really knew how to throw a war. Lots of cool toys, and no uber weapons and laser targeting. Grab the demo and blow some stuff up.

My bad, I was under the impression that only KIA and MIA counted towards points totals. With no incentive to provide buddy aid(besides weapon scavenging), what's the point of all that coding? This seems to promote leaving them behind, unless you are snatching their weapons from their cold dead hands. I think treated(disappeared) soldiers should not count towards casualty lists in the points department. --------- Which begs the question ... are "yellow base" wounded in the AAR WIA totals? Never thought to check that. ------ Found something else in the manual that may be related ... It is on the section Force Wide Objectives - the casualties less than/greater than points... Pg49. Note: dead(KIA) and severely wounded soldiers(NOT eligible for buddy aid) are counting as "casualties", while lightly wounded and incapacitated soldiers(eligible for buddy aid) are counting against "condition". --- More edits - Thinking about it more, it seems that the only incentives for buddy aid on the game side are weapons/ammo, and the "casualties" Victory Condition. So, if you don't need the weapons and there are no points awarded in the 'casualties'(25% chance of wounded dying and tripping the switch) area of that battle ... you just leave 'em lie??? Cold-hearted game mechanic if so. I would like a BFC comment on this area please. It seems just a tad murky and not well documented.

Pg66. Seriously-wounded(red-base) soldiers who have NOT received buddy aid(i.e. disappeared) by the end of the game have a 25% chance of becoming KIA in the final tally. --- With our new penchant for 'destroy' points... every man may count for something. With the other 'casualties less than X%' system ... the man you don't treat could be the one that gives a wad of points to the enemy, and/or denies points to you. ---- In other words ... you can leave the "brown base" dead soldiers for Graves Registration(if you don't need their weapons) and not incur possible points penalties. Red-base wounded should be attended to if at all possible. I will keep tweaking destroy points until you folks take care of your men d@mnit.

I use XOs as medics/sweepers when attacking. The parent unit is most likely busy moving on, but I don't want to just leave the wounded(and their weapons) laying about needlessly. I think specialised medic units would be nice, but where do you draw the line? Company level 2-3 man team? Platoon has one medic if any? Jeeps with Red crosses? -- Neat but not high priority imho. -

Sand or mud work.

Got to love the large craters. Perma-foxoles. The four medium choice makes the same position as a set of foxholes I believe. Set craters on reverse slope for ATG fun. Dry creek beds locked one tile lower make nice gun positions as well. Bed is rocky and line the banks with light forest, bushes and D trees. ------- The more people that play with the editor, the better the experience. Take that map you like and tweak it, save it and play it. -

From a design standpoint, placing decent gun positions is straightforward and easy to conceal, even with grid mods. 'Dimple" - tile locked one lower than all adjacent tiles. 1. Large number of dimples placed in a veriety of terrain types. 2. Gated low bocage and hedge in treelines. 3. Foxholes for each gun crew. 4. Light and Heavy Forest tiles in front of possible positions, with or without bushes. 5. Design in fallback positions. Making the guns hard to see is just part of it. Keeping the crews alive during the inevitable mortar attack is also important. -

Grew up with terms like throw weight amd nuclear winter myself. Childhood home(1960s-80s) was 40 miles West of Washington D.C. and about 20 miles SouthEast of Mt. Weather... and I was aware at an early age what that meant. With the inaccuracies of Soviet-era weapons, one was just as likely to land on my porch as its target. Wierd to think of a generation growing up not understanding that feeling hanging over you.

I like doing this. Sending the arty in a bit at a time with limited and/or scarce keeps thing moving, without smothering the map. This also allows multiple simultaneous targeting of off-map assets without, again, covering the map with HE rounds.

The German SMG platoon - Ah, the fond memories of setting them to 'puree' and ambushing. Plt HQ, strip everything else. Add either 3 Scout Teams, or 2 Scout Teams and 1 LMG team for each SMG squad. These little bundles of joy are best in MOUT, trench or wooded battles. They are coming soon anyway(they better be). This way you get a jump on the other designers. ---------------------------------- I agree with and copy everything Bletchly stated above. Scout vehicles reporting directly to Btn is nice, but seems gamey to me(i know, me ... talkin bout gamey). I like the closest officer in charge. Makes it easier to rally when bad things happen.