Seedorf81

I only want the mules if they are in a schwimmwagen!

The bigger issue I'm having in the 'Breaking the Bank' battle is getting destroyed by forces on the other side of the street once I cross into the 1st building.  I wish there was a way to keep them back from the windows once they enter the building.  There's so many buildings in this one, and you don't have any AFV support unless you go around the outside edges, which I always assume is a death trap. 
Another thing I've run into a few times now is infantry entering the side and front of a building instead of the rear door, which is a much safer option obviously.  I've had a few squads chopped up by fire because of this (happens even when I split the squads).  I do give shorter orders outside the rear entrance, but they still spread out and go in three different ways.  I'm assuming this is a 'feature' of 4.0?  I do like that they spread out better now, but it causes some dumb behaviour if that's what's going on.  I have also had a few squads run away at the first hint of fire coming their way even though they aren't panicked or routed.  
Anyone have tips for these issues?

The souls of the departed.

A CMFB meeting engagement between Big Joe of the FGM and myself.
 
Part One;
 
Part Two;
 

An oldie.....
 

I do not understand the excitement - I am disappointed, I hoped that it would bring a new quality, and we got some new models and lots of white color (it is not a texture snow)

Nice one!!!!! Be excellent to each other. And... Party On Dudes!

Oh, and here's what the guys at the top is looking at, courtesy of Sergei's Esper machine:




GaJ

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..

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..

This is simply untrue. LOS is reciprocal, yes: as soon as you might see the enemy, they might see you. If they're both the same number of high quality troops in poor concealment, then there's a high chance that the two elements will see each other at the same time. But there are many occasions when one side or the other has a spotting advantage and will succeed their "roll to acquire" sooner (on average) than their reciprocate. An obvious example is a two man Elite sniper team with binos in a church tower at 600m from a green rifle team with no binos in an open field: the poor grunts will get picked off one by one without ever seeing the sniper. In the last campaign turn I played, an element of mine stumbled upon a lone straggler and it was a good quarter minute before they were spotted back, and they were Quicking across an open field (it's KG Engel, and the player Germans are quality troops, against piss poor Amis).
 
If the AI always spots you at the same moment you spot them, then you need to work on your cover exploitation. If it's not "always" then what's the problem? It's plain to see that "sometimes" two units will spot each other simultaneously.
 
 
Then you need to work on your movement drills and understanding of how concealment works. It is entirely possible to generate lopsided spotting situations where you can see and spot the enemy well before they see and spot you. The AI sometimes even manages to reverse the tables. But you have to generate them, they won't just happen. Both sides use exactly the same LOS and spotting algorithms; there's no "AI spot you when you spot them" rule (I know that for sure, because I constantly get situations where my troops shoot first, against the AI).
 
So, some advice to help you get on the right side of the spotting algorithms (in no particular order): 
Small teams are harder to spot (because there's less of them to spot, and they fit more easily behind concealing terrain features What's between the target and the spotter (every metre of it) matters more than what terrain the target is in. Example: Light Woods tiles give a concealment advantage; if you are in the "last" tile before open ground, your element has an average of 4m (anywhere from 0-8m, depending on where the individual troopers position themselves in their AS) of "Light Woods tile level concealment", whereas if you're in the next row back into the Light Woods patch, you'll still be able to see out, but you will have, on average 12m  (a guaranteed 8m, for the complete AS, plus the 0-8 for the AS the unit is in) worth of Light Woods between you and the observer, or three times the concealment advantage. Often, you'll be able to be even further back and still see out. Tree models do not give a good indication of the concealment they provide. The tree trunks block LOS, but if they're planted in "short grass", the concealment offered versus eyes on the same level by being underneath them will be minimal; if the canopy is high enough, so that the foliage doesn't preclude spotting, fire can completely ignore a "well-kept orchard" if it's aimed down the rows. Shooting teams are much easier to spot than teams which hold their fire. If your intention is "looking, not reaching out to touch", give your unit a short Target Arc, either circular or oriented the way you want them to bias their cover and shooting opportunity seeking. That way, they won't open fire the instant they see an enemy inside their effective range, giving away their position and attracting attention, causing an instant recipro-spot and return fire. If you're coming up to the "last piece of cover" between you and potential eyes (a bocage line, or clump of bushes at a crest, say) use Slow to move the last AS or two into the cover. This will minimise the chance of your arriving team being spotted by the observing enemy on the other side, because you're moving slowly and keeping low. If you want to spot without being spotted, give the moving unit a short covered arc as above so your scout team doesn't instantly engage the platoon they spot forming up in the field they just got eyes onto. Barns are poor concealment (and negligible cover, but that's a different issue). If you're moving about inside a building the enemy can see, you'll be spotted unless you Slow (or maybe Hunt). If you take this advice in consideration, you might find that you can ambush the enemy a little bit* more than 2-5% of the time.
 
* If there's such a thing as hypobole, this is an example of it...

Would I be banned if I said (imagine little child having a huge tantrum)"I hate you, I hate you, I hate you"?

Yeah man,
 
by now we've seen nearly every German WW2 vehicle, even some of the rarest, but a much produced schwimmwagen   didn't appear and there's still no mention of it coming soon.
 
Adding injury to insult is the fact that, IMHO, it is relatively easy to model it, just adapt a kubelwagen.
 
I do not need a schwimmwagen to be amphibious, in real life the majority of 'm didn't ever see any water except rain, I just want it in the game.
 
If BF doesn't have the financial resources to produce it, I hereby declare my willingness to start a crowd funding!
 
Please BF, I beg you to give us the type 166.
 
 
Some Kettlerian info:
 
http://www.lonesentry.com/articles/schwimmwagen/index.html

I'd pay $20 just for a Schwimmwagen single vehicle pack.   Doesn't even need to schwim.  ;-)
 
It was pretty ubiquitous late war, extensively used by the motorized Aufklarungs companies (during the Bulge the 3rd co./1 SS Aufklarungs had 40 schwimmagen) . 

No swimmywaggon....

What kind of person could refuse a kitten that cute her swimmwagon?
 

Hear, hear!

There ain't to many nice stock campaigns (I still believe the MG campaigns are unpleasantly tough) and now this one is broken!

That ain't good.

Found it and got it, installed and played it (partially).
 
Explosions are very impressive and backgroundsound is a whole lot better than the original.
 
Thanks again.

Being over fifty years of age I seem to get less capable by the day. Eyesight, hearing, physical coordination; all going down the drain it seems.
 
And, of course, the ability to type a reply to forum-reactions without deleting it when having written the most of a brilliant answer.
 
BUT THE BATTLEFRONTBOYS HAVE DONE AN AMAZING THING! I was already cursing and swearing about the disappearance of my text, when I saw that this forum has an auto-save and I could retrieve my message! 
 
Thanks BF, brilliant work!
 
   

Well, if you would have been able to avoid that Tungushka in your back, it would have been a near perfect battle for you so far. 
 
I admire the way you used 1MRC to cover 2MRC. Very nice and highly organised (organized?) move.
 
Question: How do you feel about getting as much of your troops as possible in built-up area's, even if that means getting them back? (Oh boy, I can already hear c3k's indignation!) No modern day combat knowledge here, but I suspect that fighting the US army in the open would spell disaster for your troops.  
 
Many thanks for many days of fun. Just as during your earlier battle-reports the first thing I do when I get home from work is checking this site for new turns.
 
Good luck with the oncoming slaughter..  

On the north side of the hill, the remnants of 3rd Platoon were still being ground down by the advancing Russian BMP-3s and infantry.  The Platoon leader came staggering back through the forest and collapsed by a tree, falling next to the last two surviving dismounted infantrymen from his small command, both bleeding from multiple shrapnel wounds to their faces and upper torsos. 
“Sir, are you okay?”  one asked.  The Lieutenant’s haggard face told the story as he just stared at the man in obvious shock.  In that instant, another burst of lethal 30mm cannon fire struck, directed by the thermal sights on an unseen enemy vehicle, and the officer fell forward on his face and was still.  The two infantrymen cried out in panic, then both began crawling away from the source of the fire, one whimpering in fear and the other snarling in impotent rage.
 

 
Note:  BMP in background is destroyed Ukrainian 3d Platoon vehicle.  
 
 
In Krichek, KPT Kovtun knew that the Russians were up to something.  The artillery  continued to hammer down, but there was simply not enough fire or probing coming from the far side of the river, especially given the destruction of one of an enemy BMP over there by his ATGM team several minutes ago.  Someone or something should have been hunting, searching, trying to pin down the missile team or flush out its comrades.  He called the BMP2 section which had moved up and taken position along the row of houses on the west, facing the river. 
“Borsuk 11, have you seen anything?  Any activity from the far side?”
“Nothing Viktor, hang on, I’ll move up and take a quick look.”
“Borsuk 11, this is Vovk, Hang on 11, don’t do anything stupid.”
“Trust me Viktor – we are good on this.”
An instant later a Kovtun heard the unmistakable hammering of outgoing 30mm fire, over the shriek of another incoming artillery shell.  As his ears were still ringing from the tremendous detonation, he gradually heard the voice calling again on his radio.
“Vovk, this is Borsuk 21…  Vovk this is Borsuk 21…”  with a heavy heart, already knowing Kovtun took a deep breath and replied.
“Go ahead 21.” 
“11 is destroyed.  We never saw what did it.  His track is burning.  No one got out.” 
“21 this is Vovk, do me a favor and don’t DIE in the next five minutes.  Keep scanning but keep YOUR heads down.  We need your track, your cannon, and your missiles!  Stay under cover and respect the enemy’s abilities.  Vovk out.”  He passed the handset back to his RTO, making a deliberate effort not to throw it against the wall, and carefully peeling his white-clenched fingers from the black plastic.  An instant later, he took it back and spoke again.
“Brytva 22, this is Vovk.  Move to checkpoint 2 and observe.”
“This is Brytva 22, understood.  Moving.  I have permission to shoot?”
Podpulkovnyk Tymoshenko stepped into the room.
“You are committing the Tunguska?”
“Brytva 22, destroy anything you see.  Out”  Kovtun gave his Air Defense Commander a hard look. 
“Yes Sir.  It is needed.  We have lost too many combat vehicles, and now 11 has stupidly gotten himself and his crew obliterated.  I need a check on the south, and it must be fast, and lethal if anything is there.  Brytva 21 on the other side has done quite well, although he said he saw nothing from his new position.”
“Absolutely.  Good, I approve.  I trust you Viktor.  Keep the fight going.  Levchenko will get here with the Americans.” 
 
http://youtu.be/cKvN6JINyaw
 
Outside, Major Harris drew the same conclusion from both the sounds of cooking off ammo from the recently destroyed BMP up the street, as well as the radio traffic which he and Beach were monitoring.  He too drew out his handset:
“Guiness, this is five, over.”  As a small team, the SFAT had adopted informal call signs.  SPC O’Brian was well known for his heritage, and his favorite beverage.
“Five this is Guiness.”
“Need you to get over to TRP 2 like we discussed.  Seen anything? Figure you can make it?”
“Roger.  We can make it.  The green boyos over here saw a couple dismounts earlier, but they laid into them with their AGS and we haven’t seen any movement since.  I think our move is still masked.  Same mission?”
“Roger, just like we rehearsed, over.”
“Guiness moving.  We’ll be back in a bit with notches on our CLU.  Out.”
One hundred meters away, the SPC O’Brian picked up the Javelin launcher, tapped PVT Metcalf on the shoulder, and headed quickly down towards the river bridge, carefully skirting the anti-tank mines laid on either side of the road.
 

 
At the Ukepor Power Plant, LT Lysenko grinned as he spoke into his mike. 
“Yes, that is in there.  Fire for effect.”
The infantry in the field had dropped from view, discouraged by a few bursts from his squad in the entry building, and the mortar spotting rounds had bracketed the position where he had last seen the Russian truck and troops.  He hoped the mortar boys would fire fast so he could shift them closer into the field.  He doubted his few men could hold off a platoon of determined Russians. 
 
Starshiy Kostenko knew he was a dead man.  The 2nd Platoon private was on the ground, crawling past the body of one of his comrades, trying to follow his section leader back down the hill to the west, away from the murderous fire from inside the trees.  It was like a horrible story to tell little children.  From dark shadows beyond sight inside the trees, the forest had suddenly belched fire and flame, and all around him men had fallen.  His own thighs and cheek burned with shrapnel, and he felt the warm sticky wetness of his own blood on his pant legs as he crawled.  Suddenly, right behind him, he heard a crashing roaring clatter of sound.  He turned his head and saw the Russian beast, a BMP-3, a mere stones throw behind him.  He swung his rocket launcher around, and thought to himself how sad his mother would be…