BletchleyGeek

My thoughts precisely

Thank you Wodin

For the Weapons platoon, things cannot be so tidy and I order everyone to dismount and setup a perimeter around the vehicles (and the road). Once 2nd Plt reaches its line, I'll detach one of its squads to secure the route of advance, as well as setting up the mortars fire base.

41:00 to 40:00 Five minutes have elapsed and yet there's to be a shot fired on anger. Greer links up with Garvey's men without problems and I sighed relieved. I was really expecting to find some opposition along the road. Seems that I forgot to issue the proper orders to the team on the west edge of Lumbres... one minute wasted for these guys. On the other hand, the bazooka team I sent to the forests to the south are about to get to the trees I'm really looking forward to get a hold on Fred's plans. The first elemens of Easy Company arrive to the battlefield, consisting of the 2nd Plt and the Weapons Plt - mounted with trucks and all. I'm not amused at seeing that the infantry and the support elements arrive in this disjointed manner but well, at least I'm not so light on the ground any more. First priority is to secure a good start line for E Coy and Garvey's cavalry platoon the goal is to secure a perimeter so that I am sure there isn't any German infantry on my flanks or rear. I really need troops on the right flank. I might sound a bit paranoid, but I'm expecting that in any moment German afv hunting teams locate and attack Garvey's position. I'll use the Jeep Crew and the BAR team that was covering Greer to get some flank (and front) security. This is the plan for 2nd Plt I have split the flank squads into three elements: Assault, Support and Recon. The Recon element will provide flank security, advancing along the bocage walls in short hops interleaved with brief pauses of 15s (which I think will be enough to get wind of anything on the other side of the bocage). Meanwhile, the assault element will advance in 24m (3 action spots) hops, interleaved with 10 secs pauses, and the support element will advance in 16m (2 action spots) hops, interleaved with 10 secs pauses. Since visibility is so limited, in this fashion I more or less guarantee that if I come across something, sooner or later the assault element will get supported by the support element. The center squad is split into Assault and Support, and advances also in short hops but no flank security, since this is provided by the squads on the wings.

42:00 to 41:00 Seems that Greer is going to make good his escape he's now more or less in sight of Garvey's Greyhounds, and there are no signs of any German activity. The “?” contact marker that the BAR team is monitoring, hasn't moved nor any other new markers have appeared in the vicinity. While Fred continues shelling Lumbres, the team I sent to the west edge of the town has arrived without nothing to report at all I'll send these guys to recon the enclosure to the north, to check what's going on there. I have far too little info about Fred's dispositions. I finally make my mind up, since I'm seeing the Mortar team isn't sucking away any ammo from the AB team, and pick a two-man bazooka team to go and recon the forests to the south of Lumbres let's see what do I learn (perhaps I learn not to send out scouts at night like this, heh). I finally send the Jeep Crew to fetch Capt. Greer while the Greyhounds sit still in their current positions. I don't want to them advance more without having some more infantry to guide them in the dark.

Greer readout shows “Tiring”, so I need to keep it easy I don't want to find myself forced to issue a Fast order and see that Greer is too tired and the order becomes a Move instead. The BAR team keeps in position, vectoring towards the “?” marker next to the tree on the other side of the road. Meanwhile Garvey guys will carry on advancing cautiously the jeep crew stays put for 30 secs and the moves forward just 8m. This should give them LOS on the vicinity of Greer's intended destination. Meanwhile, Garvey's M8s will move to either side of the house in what I think is a good position to intervene with area fire if required.

43:00 to 42:00 Greer and the BAR team continue advancing towards Garvey position, without stumbling on some Germans but I finally get a glimpse of German positions here. Taking a closer look it seems to me that Fred's unit is nearby the tree, overlooking the road to Lumbres I think I've been very lucky he didn't place anyone on the orchard to the left. The jeep crew has also reached its intended observation position without problems and on the left it can be seen Greer running to its final destination (it's about 10'' to the end of the replay). The shelling of Lumbres continues without causing any casualties, but if I run out of luck, this will change quite soon now I think these aren't 105mm but actually 120mm mortars. Has anybody figured this out? As the replay ends, I see one new contact to appear to the west of Lumbres, in a position which would have overlooked the path Greer just followed I detach a team whose positioning, now I realize, left a lot to be desired, and put him overlooking the southern entrance to the town.

This is the plan for Lt. Garvey section which should give me overwatch – more or less because visibility is something like 25 meters here, so there's little to watch – on Greer escape route. Meanwhile, Greer and the BAR team will do this so in two or three minutes, I should see Greer meeting Garvey. After inspecting the mortar team I see that with rush of the falling shells, the mortar guys left behind its ammo – was listing nine HE rounds while packing and none at the end of the replay. So this actually solves my recon problem I will send the ammo bearers to link up with the mortar team, and I hope the mortar team will suck those other 9 rounds out if I leave them enough time side by side. After that, the three remaining guys in the AB team will be moving out to get some unvaluable information about Approach #3.

44:00 to 43:00 Greer reaches the orchard without any problem. I'm by now really surprised I haven't get yet a glimpse of German forces I need to think a bit how to proceed next. Why I haven't find any german troops keeping an eye on the direct route of approach to Lumbres? There can be two reasons. One, that he's setup his troops farther from the town. Two, that he's right now moving some troops to interdict this route. This thing of getting Greer to scurry out of Lumbres is actually serving two purposes. That of securing – or trying to secure, actually – some VP's and also that of doing some recon of this vital road. The jeep crew reaches the road without having got the slightest glimpse of any guy wearing feldgrau note that these guys don't really have that good visibility on what lies ahead. I want to get to the reverse slope just next to the farm. However, I'll have these guys waiting for 30 seconds and looking around for a little while. The discussion about the Mortar usage is about to become moot as one 105mm shell falls something like 20 meters away from the team and a fragment kills just one of the soldiers in the Ammo Bearer team. I say “just one” because here I've been very lucky. Just 5 meters or so nearer, and then probably there will be no mortar (nor ammo bearers). The replay ends with the teams getting into buildings and putting some thick walls between them and those damned fragments. Something is moving to the south of the town, near the building that looks like a pub of sorts I would love to send out a couple guys to take a look on things in that forest, now that the mortar idea has been scrubbed. This is further reinforced by the contacts cropping up north and east of the town, probably scouts The problem is that G Coy is practically destroyed, I don't think there's left more than 10 or 20% of its estab. I really hate sitting on my hands while on the defense: makes me feel as a sitting duck. But can I spare a couple guys – out of a force numbering perhaps twelve or fourteen – to go and take a good look?

I send the Jeep crew towards the road, to get eyes where I really need them this is a very good position to observe the road and check whether there are Germans or not along Greer's route. I make them move in this fashion That's one Fast, Pause for 20s and the Fast again. I don't believe in the Hunt command as a good order for recon. I'm more about dashing from concealed position to concealed position – making “jumps” - and staying at each position for a little while. I change orders for Greer to move like this the two stops are to have them “use” the cover provided by the bushes, more or less. Action spots didn't smile on me this time. The BAR team will stay put for a whole minute, just in case.

45:00 to 44:00 The jeep crew gets to the vicinity of the house near the road towards Lumbres without bumping on top of some ambushing germans they're right now in very good cover, but in this position, they're not seeing anything. As the Greyhounds get a bit closer, I'll make these guys to advance to the house and check it out as a forward observation post. The Greyhounds get out of the road and move amongst the trees without problems either. I'm reluctant to set Move orders, since I think vehicles get noisier as they move faster. I don't want to give any “?” contact markers for Fredrocker for free. The BAR team covering Cpt. Greer gets to its overwatch position without being fired upon, which makes me sight with relief I realize that I should have eyeballed up close this field, since now I find it's offering far better cover than I expected – note the brushes and tall grass. I've got the BAR team keeping an eye on the forest and I think I'll have Greer to rush to the fence as well. Let's have him use that cover. Seems I'll have to scrub my plans for the mortar team in Lumbres two shells land on top a couple Lumbres houses. I'm not sure what these are, but they sound and look like 105mm shells. If Fred is going to pummel the town so soon means that he'll try to assault as soon as possible. Time to get the guys on the streets inside buildings. Besides that, the mortar is firing MUCH faster than I expected. Those guys have lobbed 8 shells in one minute. Not a bad ROF, but faster than I expected.

This is awesome Japanzer Many, many, many thanks for doing this. PS: I just hope Steve & Charles take note of this and provide a simple button for loading those CSV's (or something similar)

And I'm not that familiar with the peculiarities of every weapon in the Allied arsenal, either :-) Don't worry, stoex, I'm more than happy to have people making comments. If anything, you get entertainment - as Frankster said - and I get comments and observations from which I learn something valuable. So, speak your minds freely guys. I think we're going to regulate the updates in batches of a few minutes. This allows me to offer a recapitulation and time to check the grammar and spelling (more so since I can't edit posts after a few hours have passed). Turns are being uploaded to Fred's site live, though. So if anybody is interesting in looking ahead, they certainly can

Hmmm, the forums don't allow me to edit old posts... so I can't replace the links to the images. In any case, here are the direct links to the processed images (brightness and contrast tweaked). Let me know if now you can see things better. http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com/screenies/BG/Setup-Overview.png http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com/screenies/BG/Setup-Approach-3.png http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com/screenies/BG/Setup-Approach-3-Overwatch.png http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com/screenies/BG/Setup-G-Coy-Plan.png http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com/screenies/BG/Setup-Greer-Escape.png http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com/screenies/BG/Setup-Preplanned-Barrage.png http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com/screenies/BG/Setup-Garvey-Advance.png

Hey, thanks for reading & commenting guys Re: images, sure, I'm already working on fixing that. Re: mortars. The purpose is to interdict rather than to kill, the latter is a bonus, and I see that JonS shares my view on how to use mortars But both stoex and JonS are right that those little things are spitting out mortar grenades too fast. I've taken measures to stop that (because of the ammo concerns and also other stuff).

Hi everyone, the DAR by FredRock and me, which has just been started in several venues is special, and not only because of that we consider it to be special. It has some "bonus" for you all. During certain discussion on certain CM forums which shall remain nameless, one of the many criticisms made by someone who will also remain nameless was "looking over someone else shoulder while he's playing the game isn't that fun or interesting". An statement which is quite true. Then I realized that we can do better than just offering a "closed" account of the game. If the Internet is going to kill the TV or the movies isn't because rampart piracy, but rather because you can offer something better than one-directional, canned content. So it occured to me "Why not make a DAR making the game files available so people can see things by themselves and try out or discuss variants in a 'hotseat' manner?". This, which was at first a random thought, turned out to be not only to be appreciated as a good idea by some people, but also as a novelty. So here it is. The first - I think - open DAR ever made for Combat Mission. Game files can be found on this site - courtesy of Fredrocker. We have set blank passwords. http://cityoflights-dar.fredrock-racing.com So guys, you'll eventually get out of this as much as us - and perhaps more. Neither me or Fredrocker will be checking this thread, so anything you say or comment is hidden by FOW to us. Enjoy!

Last but not least, is to decide what to do with the mortar. I think will be best to make sure I get those mortar grenades to do something useful before they get killed, and then use them as a “mobile” reserve of sorts. I set up for them this fire mission this should keep them firing for some time. Since there's only one tube and 37 shells, the mortar should be firing for some good ten minutes or so (if they are able to put one shell through every 20 seconds). This fire should interdict a bit Fred movement in those forests, which I consider the best bet for the Germans. Now, what to do with valiant Lt. Garvey? Certainly, Garvey surname starts with the same letter as that of late Hauptmannsführer Gräbner. I have a hunch that if Garvey rushes forward, he'll find himself as brewed up inside his Greyhound as Gräbner was inside his Skdfz 223 on that bridge that was a little too far. I decide to do something a bit unorthodox and I hope not too gamey the Jeep crew parks the Jeep and goes on foot, scouting the way ahead. Meanwhile the Greyhounds will sit still for a little while and the move quickly into the trees and advance slowly – they will literally crawling – while the Jeep crew has plenty of time of discovering any threats ahead. I press the red button. I'm afraid that I will see these Greyhounds getting bogged down, or worse, bogged down in plain sight for some Germans with PzFausts, or Cpt. Greer being hunted down like a rabbit on that field.

Fred is without doubt amongst the scenario designers which I admire (which is admittedly quite a long list already, I'm tempted to start a new list, its heading being MOST admired scenario designers). Some might wonder what's the point of playing out an scenario against its designer. Well, first, Fred hasn't ever played the Germans in this one. Second, I don't consider either that he has any kind of “unfair” advantage. Fred's scenarios can be played out in quite different ways, so I expect to surprise him. If anything, this means I'll have to work hard to snatch victory for this one. And, last but not least, I've taken a look with the editor (actually Fred invited me to do so). Setup phase Scenario briefing is pretty detailed – objectives are clearly explained, though no VP listing is given - and is also a good read. One of the reasons for picking this one is because of the drama in the backstory. Time to stop talking and start doing. This is the suggested deployment by Fred The scenario poses several challenges for the US, the first of them keeping the town of Lumbres in friendly hands, the second, having to babysit a couple officers that allegedly carry important papers on them. The last part certainly sounds to me like having to save not one, but two fricking Pvt Ryans. While the scenario briefing seems to suggest that I should rush Lt Garvey into Lumbres, I'm wondering whether this is a good idea at all. I'm 110% positive Fred will have some Tank Hunter or PzSchrek teams placed in clever positions. These are incredibly dangerous for AFV's moving in bocage country, and being this a night battle, the threat they pose is multiplied by ten. Then there is the thing of the impending German assault on Lumbres. I see three obvious approaches, but the only one that looks to me as a sound one for a combined arms attack is the one on the right flank The small forests here provide excellent concealment for the German approach march, and the terrain is not as constrained as in the left flank, so the AFV's can coordinate well with the infantry. Besides that, it's the most direct path that would allow Fred to block E Coy advance towards Lumbres so he can put overwatch – and apply a lot of firepower – on the route for E Coy. Taking a close look at G Coy positions, this is also perhaps the hardest to defend sector. This is the plan for G Coy Seniority matters, and Capt. Greer will be the one trying to escape from Lumbres towards the west. He'll be accompanied by a BAR team, that will be leading the escape (and to deal with anything along the road). This is the plan they will be moving in bounds, trying using the cover of the night and the lack of nearby fires in this zone. This is perhaps the hardest part of the escape, to cross the field between Lumbres and the little forest. The rest of G Coy has been toroughly reorganized. First, I remove all the Hide orders they had, and set up circular target arcs of about 50 meters radius. Buildings might not provide cover, but they do provide concealment. So the idea is to take a few pot shots at approaching Germans and fall back towards west Lumbres. With luck, I'll be able to delay Fred enough as to E Coy will find some GI's still controlling a – tenous – foothold in the city. I also change the orders for the two Bazooka teams. I will try to use them in a “scoot & shoot” fashion, rather than “camping”. So I put them well out of sight, and wait for further developments.

Yankee, software = code. Whatever isn't in the code, is data, and therefore, "fair game". I would be surprised that a claim to the contrary has EVER been upheld in a court, in the US or Europe or the Republic of Saturn (if it ever exists in 500 years time). So, "patching" the binary to get over the 2Gb boundary is against EULA. Replacing MkIV texture by Aris' reskinning, is not. Getting CMA models into CM:BN... probably infringing on Snowball's IP, as Mord pointed out. As for the point of it... well, it's a bit pointless to be honest. But I would dare anyone to tell the difference in the game between US troops with Thompsons and that of reskinned US troops to look as Sovs with PPsh (modding sounds as well, of course). On a superficial look, such a mod would really look as "good enough".

We Want the Gory Details - Enhanced death animations, depicting accurately the effect of higher caliber rounds (.50, 20mm) on our pixeltruppen. Since the game tracks shell fragments, why not body fragments?

Wonderful post, Sgt.

Note that the apparent difference in height is more or less proportionate with the distance of the unit from the camera along the z-axis. Actually, they're actually about the same distance - just checked measuring the distance with my fingers on the screen. The problem is that the distance of the unit icon billboard to the 3d model is not being affected by the camera projection. Lt Bull posted some screenshots of Operation Star, which is a good solution to the problem of providing people with an icon you can interact with and has a clear presentation (doesn't get confused with the image itself). Graviteam took the HUD metaphor for their game, in CMx2 we have the "miniatures with flagpoles" metaphor.

Now this became officially a Cap'n America thread:

This was hilarious He's got quite a few points, but fails to see the actual point. Who would like to play a COD with a "realistic" storyline rather than a rehash to the nth power of Schwarzenneger's "Commando"? Say, inspired by Generation Kill or Jarhead. I'd dare to say: "nobody".

The combination of cover and concealment that hedgerows provide is what makes them premium terrain for the infantry. More in the defense, but also in the attack. Provided the map is not a "rat in a maze" challenge thing.