Seedorf81

To me it looks like there are two discussions mixed up here. One: Was it common practise to get close to the enemy in a halftrack and is the killing of the gunner to be blamed by the unwise use of the halftrack by the player. Two: Those Sdkfz251 gunners get killed anytime, anyhow and anywhere and that doesn't look right. Even considered the stupidity of the player (me, for instance) who doesn't exactly know how far off the halftrack should be kept from enemy fire. (In my case off the map?!). It is not the fact that Sdkfz gunners get killed, it is the near impossibility to get them NOT killed. It is a problem that in my experience ONLY occurs with the Sdkfz251. I never complained about the US or Commonwealth halftrack gunners, though their job is risky. But their dying rate doesn't compare to that of the Sdkfz's.

Maybe the fact that practically EVERY sdkfz251 gunner gets shot immediately (even by stengun's more than 100 meters distance while they (the stengun shooters) are seriously supressed, and EVERY replacement gunner gets shot immediately, gives some players - like myself - the serious impression that something is wrong here. Statistically SOME Sdkfz gunners should be able to survive, but it seems that in the game they have a 99,9% chance to get hit. Instantly. That isn't believable to me.

No Schwimmwagen yet, and that is very bitter!

Yeah, I'll do that, too.. VP and BP. Now I'm flabbergasted, because I was just about to buy Black Sea. And to add injury to insult, a few weeks ago I removed CMBN from Pc, and I am not thrilled to have to repeat that reinstall/reactivate annoyance. And so I'll buy nothing yet, wanna see some CMFB first, I think it will be available shortly..

I share your frustrations. Just playing the BS (Eh, so there can be no misunderstanding, I mean Black Sea, not Bull S#*T) DEMO and even my US troops get slaughtered while not seeing anything! My drones get shot down, as do my Apaches (and if not, they seem to miss tanks and BMP3's with an uncanny accuracy!) while the HIND helo's decimate my troops. EVEN IN THE IMMEDIATE SURROUNDING OF DEPLOYED STINGERTEAMS! "Keyboard through screen", indeed. I probably need to get a little more experience.. (Did I mention the fact that my artillery seemingly misses more than the CMBN arty?) I probably must be a little masochistic, since I still love the game..

Oh yeah, glad to have you back, man!!!

Could it be that fear has a bigger survival-effect than anticipated? Troops in a "main force" probably feel confident and supported; fear is less available and/or easier suppressed. When things go bad, fear levels will rise and as a consequence behaviour changes. "The fight or flight" response increases, which can result in: - troops trying to hide quicker and shoot less, so they're more difficult to spot/find. - more fanaticism when troops HAVE TO fight. Some men will surrender, but others will literally fight till their death. They wouldn't do that when they were still part of the coherent confident "main force". At least, my two cents..

Yeah, well, some people seem to pay for sex, (talk about having no conscience!), but I honestly would pay money (not too much, of course, we Dutch are as scroungy as the Scottish) for a good AAR/DAR. I bloody well would.

Am I the only one that immediately thought of... Schwimmwagen!? And something between "MOVE" and "QUICK" that could replace "FAST". (The latter I never use because of the hardly noticeable difference with "QUICK" except that the fatigue sets in much sooner.) Soldiers that "MOVE" seem to behave as they are miles away from the front. AFAIK in real life soldiers that are near, or nearing, the front tend to change their attitude from say "almost carefree" to "bloody serious and very alert", while their pace slows just a little. Not to be compared with the current "HUNT" command, because that is only usable when the enemy is really close, and it wears the men down very quickly. IMHO the tempo of "MOVE" could be sped up a bit and then called "March" (Didn't CM1 used to call this "MOVE TO CONTACT"?). It would get your pixeltroops a little faster from one place to another, which would be very useful with the ever growing size of the maps. So you would get: MARCH:No enemy in sight, not very alert, moving along in a pretty pace without getting tired soon. MOVE: Alert, still moving with a reasonable pace, but expecting trouble.. QUICK: The way it is now. HUNT: The way it is now.

Nice bold move on the right. Your orange arrow shows an advance by using the long road, but it seems to me that your opponent would have that approach well covered. Did you consider sneaking your tanks through those sparsely wooded rough area's that are running parallel to the road?

Well, one thing is for sure, BF is teaching us how to be patient, so another mind-draining wait won't worry me no more . (Which is a huge and bitter lie, off course ) Baneman is allright again? He reported to be "under the weather" in his AARthread. But jokes aside, I really enjoy your AAR's and appreciate the hours of work that you both put in to it. Not too long ago I had a horrible day, came miserably back home, ended up in the beginnings of your latest AAR, and within seconds I laughed my head off. So, I'm looking forward to the next episode..

"Shortly" as in "Battlefront will release Final Blitzkrieg shortly"? That can't be good...

No worries, we ain't goin' away. (As long as you do not make us wait as long as BF does with that FB release!) Hopefully the weather will be under you again soon..

Ehm.. C3K, In stead of leading your troops in unrelenting attacks (and keeping the "no good at AAR making" forum members entertained with your vigour and humour), you wouldn't be wandering off to other forum chapters, would you now? You do know the penalty for being AWOL under fire, I suppose?

Very well spoken (written), John. I do totally agree; most of the AAR's are pieces of art. About that silence: some people want to comment on art, while others just take it in. Silently, amazed or bewildered, and sometimes in awe. When checking the battlefront forum, the first thing I look for is for (an update of) an AAR. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, it's a bit like going to the movies. Anticipation, excitement, humour and surprises and the occasional disappointment (when Bill cease-fired the first Blitzkrieg AAR!) and what not. Appreciation for these AARs? I love 'm!!

New manual is a big improvement for new players, I think. Well done! (If only that lovely little thing were here already, then I would be totally happy. That thing with the name that starts with the letter S and rhymes with " wimmwagen" .)

Am I the only one that is stunned that the sdkfz251 gunner is still alive after popping his head up and firing? Must be a Christmas miracle.. But I seem to recall from the c3k-Hardenberger MG game that Bill got a tiny bit uncomfortable when things didn't go as he had anticipated. And as a result he momentarily didn't perform as flawlessly as usual. He, like the rest of us, must surely must be baffled by this abhorrent absence of enemy armor. His opponent might benefit from Bill's confusion. (If he's fast, and lucky.)

Advantage in cold environment: much easier to keep a cool head.

Well, being a linguistical purist( "Sprache Nazi"?), I have to state that in Germany you cannot, and should not, address anyone with the title "Herr" as "Du". That is totally not done, so it has to be "Herr Bulge, Wo sind Sie?" But other than that I agree, where the bloody .... stays the Bulge??? (I didn't mention Schwimmwagens this time, did I?)

Mmm, schwimmwagens..

Ehm, if a headquarter team loses it's head, what icon should they get?

Womble, thanks for your explanation. I see that my comment wasn't justified. Mainly because of a lack of really understanding the way spotting works and partly because of my never ending impatience. (Splitting platoons? Yeah, sure, no time for that. Going "SLOW" for the last AS or two? Come on, slow is for girlies! Moving "SLOW" inside buildings?? Can't do that, I've got to run. Target arcs? No way, Jose!) If I use your splendid advice, I might get more out of the game. I do appreciate the relaxed and friendly tone of your reaction. How nice would this forum be if all posters would be this civil..

Wow man, I'm not playing the game at the moment, a little disappointed with the game lately, but you're incredible fine work makes it very tempting to go at it again! Beautiful!!!

Ambush through inattention. One of the things that kind a made me wonder about, or slightly annoy me with, the game is the instant spotting ability of the AI. As soon as one of my units spots an AI unit, that same unit spots me. Therefore it is virtually impossible to ambush/surprise the forces of the AI. Which is, though I understand the programmers/ developers standpoint, not as it happens in real life. Anyone who has had guard-duty in an army knows how hard it is to stay a one hundred per cent alert when you're totally tired, stressed out and/or scared. And/or distracted by hunger, thoughts off home, the weather and what not.. But even a person that is fit, well fed and focused, will have difficulties with continuously spotting for trouble at a designated sector for a longer period of time. (Two hours guard duty for instance isn't uncommon.) In Combat Mission I've never had the chance to totally surprise the AI, because it is always alert and always sees me when I see it, but I really would like to see an enemy that isn't 100 % awake 100% of the time. Even if it would be once in say twenty or fifty or hundred times. Could it be programmed into the game? I like to think so, and believe it adds an even more "reality-feel" to the game.

Well, considering your marechal Foch-quote I assume you immediately attacked?