BletchleyGeek

Pretty sure their last release was on a Friday heading into a weekend....

March to Glorious Victory Post #8 - Riddles in the Dark (Turn 18)
Well only a single turn to report, again apologies but we are kinda busy.  I am new to the whole game development thing but I believe it is call "the crunch", so named I believe for the sound our bones make when Steve swings his bat if we fail to meet deadlines.  Regardless, the war continues:

So my push up the center continues, I am just getting my infantry forward to sweep those woods, particularly on the right because I am starting to see movement.  I  couple M113s and at least one M150 are shuffling around up there, I expect Bil has caught on to the fact that the bulk of my combat power is at his midriff.    I am also going to push those recon assets on my far right forward to start seeing if I can't bag a few of his scout teams.  I am worried about armor on that ridge, as I still see a couple ? icons but if I know Bil he will hold them back.  My bet is that Bil is going to try and bottle my forces up coming out of that treeline.  In other news, my fire mission is finally starting to fall on that treeline which may provide some cover.  I have to admit that I have not used arty well in this game.  Part of the problem is I agreed to EW for the Blue side...never do this, as it means really long spotter-wait times. 
On the upside I still have good Eyes, so I know Bil can't get too aggressive up there.  Things were moving apace when suddenly:

Well looky here!  That frisky old mule looks like he has decided to try to change the shape of the battle.  So that is the lead tank of an M60 platoon that Bil [aside:  I have known the guy for almost 20 years and I still have no idea why he uses only one "l" in his first name...the human heart is truly a mystery] is pushing on my far left.  Bold move.  If he can get armor up into that far treeline on my left he could theoretically make life difficult for the center push...but he has to get there first:

Here the Eyes on my right are kicking in.  Both T64s and that lone BMP (the one who has killed at least one M150) have got clear eyes on Bil's route:

Ouch, that was the BMP btw:

So here you can see the situation better.  At the end of the turn there is a 125mm sabot round coming at that second M60, the other T64 and BMP are reloading.  In the town I am moving 2 x T62s around the village to get them covering that approach, the third is covering the village on the other side.  I am going to keep pushing the center but now have a BMP and a T-62 taking positions to reinforce the cover on that far right flank.  I am also continuing to push dismounted infantry into the objective, going to spread them out and cover any approaches from the wood line.  Next 120 seconds are going to be very interesting, stay tuned.

I've pre-ordered F&R and cannot wait  CM:BB was my first CM game (at 15 years old) and served as my introduction to combat sims and/or war-games.  I haven't played in years and kinda forgot about the games, but Covid gave me time to dig through all old favorites and I remembered CM.  Glad to see it's still in such active development.
Sorry, this is a bit off topic, but I feel like folks here need a bit of an update on Steam.
Steam is the largest PC game distribution platform and marketplace.  Steam was released in 2004 as part of Valve's Half Life 2 release.  I have had it since then and I have over 400 games on Steam.  I also use GOG Galaxy which has better support for classic games, including CM1 games BO, BB, and AK.  
Steam manages updates.  Everyday I have 3-5 game updates that download in the background.  You have controls to tell it when you want updates to download/be applied etc.
Steam provides cloud saves (mutli-platform support for saves too) so I can pick up right where I left off on my laptop from my desktop while I'm traveling.
Steam provides a social networking and multiplayer frameworks so developers can tap into that for multiplayer matchmaking.  It could make it easier to find CM online opponents and I can only imagine how using cloud saves with PBEM it could make the experience SO MUCH BETTER!  Any friends that I have that game we pretty much all meet up and organize stuff on Steam, however for voice chat we tend to prefer Discord (Does CM have a Discord server yet?)
Steam provides rich community mod frameworks and modding warehouse.  Instead of having to manage Z folders, I can find a mod on Steam and immediately "install" it and use it in a game -with one click, and with a fancy UI to manage which mods I want on or off when I start a game.  No filesystem management required.  No need to worry about mod websites going down. It's all hosted by Steam / Valve.  If a modder updates the mod it will auto-update just like game updates, so mod updates are managed seamlessly in the background.
Steam makes it easy to backup games and to migrate games between hard drives. A personal favorite of mine, since I like upgrading my NVME SSDs and I dislike having to uninstall CM and reinstall it and going through support for activation.
Steam is cross-platform.  I'm using it on my MacBook Pro right now.  From what I can tell, CM and Slitherine are only enabling Windows on Steam currently.
All of this is to say, from the end user/customer experience of Steam is amazing.  I do not know about the Developer/backend Steam experience.  I don't know if those Frameworks have good API and code samples to build from.  I don't know what Steam's sales cut is.  I don't know how the Steam approval process works or if they'd want German military insignias modified.  For a small developer like Battlefront Steam may not make sense.  I have no insight into the cons.
If Battlefront does decide to adopt Steam, I recommend really taking the time to utilize the modding, matchmaking, cloud saving, Multiplatform, and updating experiences, because they are pretty awesome for your users.

There is an outstanding suggestion I made a year or so ago for the ability to save variable set-ups that would cover things like this (and for not knowing what will be faced against the AI).
Not sure if it will ever get picked up, but it would be another good tool to have.

The M60A1 & M60A2 had a stereoscopic rangefinder which uses two eyepieces and relies on the tank commander to spin a range wheel until the two images merge into a single picture.  When you had a sharp single image, it gave you the range to the target in meters and mechanically adjusted the gunner's sights to that range.  The TC then gave the fire command (in this case 1,500 meters) as, "Range one five hundred meters.  Fire!".
To save time and insure first round fired, veteran tank commanders and their gunners would pre-set the rangefinder to a "battlesight" range; either 1200 or 1600 meters depending on SOP.  As soon as the gunner "Identified" the target in his sights, the TC fire command would be an immediate, "Battlesight, fire!".  The gunner would check for "Burst on Target", re-aim to the point of impact and fire again until TC declared, "Target destroyed."

That scenario does sound like something interesting and out of the ordinary.
Also, we're at 6 weeks, so right in the heart of the typical 4-8 weeks from pre-order's being open to release, so keep up the positive waves and we'll be downloading it before we know it.

It's the same in East Germany. After WWII the farms where collectivised and the small aggricultural fields of the seperate farmers where jointed to big "LPG" fields.
-> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landwirtschaftliche_Produktionsgenossenschaft

It's real
 
 

Well I like to think "knowing my opponent" and audacity had a lot to do with it but lets not discount simple dumb luck.

March to Glorious Victory Post #7 - "Take Me Out to Decadent Capitalist Balls Game" (16-17)
Short update/follow up:

So at the end of turn 17, that is 10 T62s, 7 BMPs, 2 x dismounted inf pls, 1 x mounted inf pl and some scouts on the other side of the valley...I think we can call this a horde.  Total casualties were 4 infantrymen.
So plan now is pretty simple.  I am going to shore up the town with the dismounted infantry and a tank platoon.  A counter-attack for them is a certainty.  I will also leave the covering force in place for now.
The rest of the force, 7xT62s, the BMPs and an infantry platoon are going to push up Slot 2 and execute the "Kill Bil" portion of the plan.  I can see an armor icon up there so my guess is Bil has a tank platoon with M150s on that ridge and two tank platoons on the left.  I am going to get all up into Bil's business up top and then work my way to the left.  Bil can either get in the game or just keep hiding out in that wood line.  Not sure how this will end but I am getting the value of Soviet doctrine, they were not interested in playing "hidy-peeky-blamo", more "blamo-charge-more blamo"

Wow the game is going to get pretty interesting soon with Bil's plans, looks like his arty has not hit the mark according to the Capt?
The loss of another Tow system is painful but maybe not an issue as he is aiming to get into a knife fight up close...
As ever cracking reports from both players. 

The Fourteenth Minute - Spoiling Attack Plan
“Be like water making its way through cracks.
Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.”
Bruce Lee
Bruce said it… “…adjust to the object…”, that is how I play… remaining flexible and adjusting my planning according to the enemy position and movements.  For several turns now I have been building to something… and the moment is close to when I put it all into action.
The 14th Minute
This one changed the battlefield calculus some.  Warren has moved a BMP-1 platoon and the surviving, undamaged T-64A to the tree-line overlooking the approach I wanted to move my M-60s down.  This complicates the approach, but doesn’t change my mind.  I may have to delay my move for a few turns so I can drop a mix of cluster munitions and standard artillery on this position.  But then again... I may start a movement through some masked terrain, or under a smoke screen to keep him busy and interested.

I don’t know if Warren has spotted my tanks starting to assemble, or if this is in reaction to my 1st platoon tanks, which up to this point have been pretty effective.  From that position though, Warren cannot spot my 1st Platoon tanks, so he is probably attempting to close his left flank.   
In this turn I had moved my 2nd Platoon Tank Hunters forward into Hull Down positions to cover the center-right of Warren’s force.  Immediately the M150 highlighted below spotted and fired one TOW at the BMP-1P indicated.  It missed long but is reloading for another shot next turn.

 
Spoiling Attack Plan
My initial goal in this fight was to clear Warren’s left flank (my right) and open it up for a tank heavy spoiling attack into his center. 
I am not interested in the Dolbach objective... my objective is the Soviet force.  My intent is to kill as much of his long range firepower as possible, then his infantry won’t matter.    

All of my positioning up to now was in support of this move.  The 2nd and 3rd Platoon’s tanks have joined the 1st Platoon’s tanks on my right and are currently in their assembly area, or entering it.  What I wanted to do was, using my 1st Platoon tanks as over-watch, drive all eight of the 2nd and 3rd Platoon tanks deep into Warren’s left flank and then drive toward the center, disrupting his assault on Dolbach and hopefully attrit him to the point where his combat power is significantly reduced.
The way I see it I have two Courses of Action (COAs):
COA 1 – Deep Attack.  This was what I had hoped to do, but with Warren’s flank security position this one comes with increased danger for my tanks. COA 2 – Short Attack.  I actually like this one as well, it will unhinge Warren’s flank security and force him to react to my move, plus it will provide some pressure on the center and Dolbach. Follow on Force.  Regardless of which COA I decide on, I do intend to follow the 2nd and 3rd Platoon tanks with 1st Platoon’s tanks as indicated in the planning map below.
I have moved two platoons worth of scouts to my left flank for a dual role:
As a decoy force The scouts, armed with Dragons as flank security and a reserve I have called in my attack helicopter support on the main enemy assembly area, but that is still several minutes away. 

March to Glorious Victory - Post #6  "The Devil's Red Right Hand" (12-15)
First off I apologize for the long return on this one, beyond Bil's glacial return pace, the main reason is that nothing really happened on the Soviet side of this thing.  I am sure Bil is doing a frame-by-frame Warren Commission-esque analysis (because that is what int nerds do) but frankly he has already missed his early victory boat.
When I left you we were discussing options and landed on the least suicidal of the bunch given the somewhat less-than-optimal starting position.
The only question left is "what will Bil do?".  I have thoughts on this but let's leave them til the end (someone remind me if I forget).
So the only interesting thing to happen before the big push was the loss of another T64

This little fella bought in on my left, which was unfortunate but I also observed something interesting before the kill.  

These two T64s soaked up over a dozen hits between them from those M60s on the ridge.  Clearly not bullet proof but from the front these beast are very hard to kill.  This also speaks well for the Plan, as I would rather Bils tanks pinging off my T64s rather than killing my BMPs and T-62s. 
So here was ol Bil's shot to end this thing about 13-14 mins in:

You can see here we are all bunched up moving into position for the slot.  If Bil had DPICM'd this traffic jam, that pretty much would  have been it.  The bridge may have saved a couple but it would have been a bloody massacre.
But he missed that boat.

Turn 14 and I can start to breathe, the troops moving up the slot saw no direct fire.  Bil is lobbing shells into the area but frankly the steel soldiers of mother Russia give exactly zero F's about artillery.

All that arty has about 2-3 casualties on me so far but I am sure it makes the old man - sitting in a faded bathrobe, the one from the 70s, his old-lady slippers, old man underwear with the torn waistband - feel better.   By end of Turn 15, we are about 1/3 through.

So on the far side of the slot we have pretty much a tank pl and 3 x BMP.  In turn 16 I should be at 50%.  The dismounted pl on my left is looking good and pretty much unmolested.  They are going to link up with that scout pl and be my hands.  You can see on my left I have a screen in place of 2 x T64s and about 4 BMPs, that is a very good position in case Bil gets frisky on my left, which based on that smoke I am guessing is a possibility.  The biggest threat now is a DPICM strike but I am less worried about it now as my Tank Coy and BMPS are spread out and moving fast, so at worst I may take a few casualties.  Main concern now is getting that inf platoon on my right into those buildings.  The HQ and squad did get pinned so I need them to get going.
And let's not forget the Eyes on my Right.

 So I have 2 x T64s on the right with good LOS (I just noticed one got immobilized, which is a pain but it is in a solid position).  That little BMP in the little clump of woods nails another M150.  These guys on my right can actually cover the ridgeline and the left, so pretty happy with that for now.  I am very happy at nailing the M150s.  It may seem odd to a bunch of tank nerds but these thing are actually more dangerous right now.  They have TI, so can see through smoke and those TOW are not going to take 6 hits to kill me.
So now what?  Well finish moving through the Slot and then we spread out and start the knife fight in the woods.  So what is Bil going to do?  Well my bet is he is looking longingly at my left flank, two or three columns of smoke are singing sweetly to him do doubt...I welcome him to try.
Next he could focus on the village and do a center push but in about 120 seconds I am going to have 2 x Inf platoons at near 100% with options for tank and BMP support.  Bil has ACR scout teams, M113 which are basically halftracks and a bunch of M60s who will not do well in an urban fight. 
So that leaves the woods on my right.  Here he has better approaches but if thing go even half decently I will have a another Soviet infantry pl back up by a lot of armor for this little dance against Scout teams, who are not really designed for this sort of thing.  So all in all, I am liking my odds...but...and there is always a but....the next 120-180 second have to go well.  That and I know that Bil has Cobras...so this thing is not over yet.
 

To me at least, the question isn't about what are typical ranges, that is well settled. Rather, I just have a valid curiosity about whether the games underlying simulation is as robust as it is on "average" engagement ranges. A wise thing is to test the extremes, as well as the "typical" baseline.
This matters gameplay-wise because specific tactics are enabled and weapons platforms become useful at very long ranges.
I am not personally expecting to be able obliterate tank and mech battalions from 2,000 metres+ with superior tech. What I am expecting is that engaging the enemy just outside their optimal fire envelope will allow to disrupt their maneuver with little losses. Nothing like the lead tank of a column blowing up all of a sudden to stall a move, delaying them long enough to call in murderous artillery on them. 
FWIW maps like the one for the scenario Bridgehead at Khalaryk (sp) in CMBS allow pretty much to fight it out from 2000 meters plus (with state of the art M1s). That, and the scenario by George MC where you run Tigers versus JS-2, can't remember the name right now, are my only in game experiences with engagements happening at extreme ranges. Bigger maps than the average 1000x1000 usually do not have the kind of elevation differences that enable such long range LOS. For instance, CMBN CW maps like Colossal Crack are very large, but buildings, walled orchards and subtle elevation changes preclude that. There is a majority of scenarios that cater for knife fights, but there is a substantial number of large scale maps that allow to explore the limits of the sim in interesting ways.

Well, for those of you that like your long range duels, I will say, I have played at least 5 scenarios in the package, where long range engagements are a thing. But a few of them are not representing Germany land shape. 
So for sure, you will fill some of that need you all have for that type of fun.
I wish I had the time to test all the stuff in these games, but as long as I have to work somewhere else to get a paycheck, it will never happen.
But agree, verifying what the units in the game are actually doing is always a good thing. And yes once in awhile , one is found doing improper results
 

Actually after checking I think that might not be one of George's...
It's great anyway 😉.

Thanks for the picture @sawomi, if not catering for "ideal" tank duels, those line of sights are pretty good for artillery spotting.

This has to be one of the weirdest debates I've seen on this forum.

This is not an appropriate question...the type that makes the commissar unbuckle his pistol holster.  Of course there will be endless follow-on echelons of brave sons of mother-Russia!!  They may just have to slow down slightly as they drive over our corpses.
Seriously, I am waiting for a turn from Bil and then should be able to get another update.  For BletchleyGeek, yep column right down that slot, then we spread out.  Yep, dangerous, it is all danger at this point.  Not a question of good and bad, but bad and worse.

Thuringia. Right beyond Fulda Gab. Same landscape. It always depends if you are in the valley or on a hill. But there are many hills with just agricultural fields, not all have forests on top. And there you can have wide and far views.
The point is there IS open space for 3000m tank duels. Not everywhere, everytime, maybe even more often not - but certainly not just in "rare" cases.

wargamer.com has become just another of the 5 or 6 N network outlets for search engine optimisation (or "creating online communities" if you want). Generic articles are written on anything vaguely resembling a wargame, which look and read like product placement.
Computer wargame reviews are dead but for Tim Stone's Tally-ho Corner, and a few blogs (Max Chee, chelco, etc.).