Ivanov

Hmmm, I'm thinking of a PBEM quick battle.

Where should I place the map file to be able to use it for a quick battle? I placed the map in Game files --> Quick Battle Maps, but I can't see the map when I want to select it for a quick battle.

Great, thank you. 4x4.5 km map sounds perfect to me!

Where can I find it exactly?

I think cluttered battlefield is more acceptable in case of a WW2 game, where for example the Soviets are battering German positions in a frontal attack. But in modern warfare, with less troops and more potent weapons, the sides should be able to use more loose formations.

I'm a newbie, so I don't know if this has been discussed previously ( for sure it was ) but I'd like to put in my two cents anyway. While in general I'm very pleased with the game, my main complaint would be about the map size. As for my taste they are just too small. They are OK if two small ( company size ) forces face each other. But when two battalions clash, the maps are just too small. There's no room for the maneuver, the units quickly get stuck in the traffic jams because the initial deployment areas are to limited. In most of the cases, it's also possible to engage your opponent forces while they are moving out from the deployment zones. As I said, the maps work fine with less units but with battalion size forces the battles feel a little artificial. I realize that making really huge maps would be a challenge but it would be great to have few of them for some big battles.

Since 2014 NATO actually made some significant steps to boost it's capability of reacting to the unexpected threats on it's eastern flank. The Very High Readiness Force ( so called "spearhead" ) has been formed. It's a combined arms, brigade size force, that can be deployed anywhere within 72 hours. Right now, it's made of two mechanized battalions ( German and Dutch ) and a tank battalion ( Polish ), plus a component of special forces with support units. Also, the equipment of US heavy brigade is going to be deployed PERMANENTLY through the region. This may seem like little, if you think in terms of the Cold War, but Russia is not Soviet Union and those steps are a significant deterrent IMO.

I think that so far, only some elements of Ratnik have been tested in the selected units. It's still pretty far away from the 80,000 kits being used operationally. But since this game is kind of "what if", near future story, so why not Ratnik then...

IMO CAS is too abstract in the game to get it right. If the Apache is firing the Hellfires, in most of the cases it would probably mean that it's firing from beyond the map. Due to that it's impossible to assume that the helo is using terrain to it's advantage, because we cannot know what type terrain is out there. By the way, Ukraine is a pretty flat country. As to the AD and helicopters, here's an interesting story. In the year 2000, the American 11th Aviation Regiment equipped with Longbow Apaches and Kiowas came to Poland for the Victory Strike exercise. Apaches were practicing the "deep strike" missions and were supported by the MLRS and Polish BM-21 Grad systems. Their task was to destroy a mechanized battalion protected by the non upgraded SA-8 Gecko systems ( currently the Polish SA-8's are domestically upgraded to the Osa-P variant ) . During the simulation, the Apaches were unable to complete their task - 30 helicopters were "shot down" for the loss of 2 SA-8s, destroyed by... the MLRS. The key to the success of Polish AD crews, was a skillful use of the terrain and rapid change of the firing positions. Keep in mind that the first versions of the SA-8 were much less advanced system than the Tunguskas. I mention this case to highlight the fact, of an inherent vulnerability of the helicopters to the AD assets and their inability of hitting back, even in case of the modern hunter-killer teams comprised of AH-64s and OH-58s. Interestingly, the same 11th Regiment was trying to perform a "deep strike" mission against the Medina Division in a real war in 2003. The result was pretty disastrous and you may say that the Americans were lucky to have only 1 AH-64 destroyed. It took a month until the 11th Regiment was combat ready again. In general the use of attack helicopters in modern, conventional conflicts is pretty problematic. Note that post Gulf War the Apaches have never been used against a competent enemy equipped with the advanced AD systems. All in all, I think that the air defence is very dangerous to the helicopters and with the level of abstraction present in the game, the balance AD vs helicopters is just about right. My take on the helicopter use in CMBS when the AD is present, is trying to suppress the AD by firing the area barrage with the artillery and forcing the AD to move. At the same time I order short, preferably point target missions for the helicopters. It's still dangerous and less effective, but this is war and there's no silver bullet as someone above has already mentioned.

Note, that the Hellfires don't outrange Tungskas missiles. Also, 2K22 has been specifically designed to engage low flying aircraft and helicopters using pop-up tactics. In the real life, none would risk playing hide and seek using the expensive Apache Longbow against SA-19.

That worked, thanks you!

A quick question - how to install this mod? Thanks.

Even the Baltic States would be interesting. The Estonians have recently recived first CV-90's from Norway and the Lithuanians are going to acquire Boxers and PzH 2000's from Germany. Both nations use Javelin ATGM while the Latvans use Spike ATGM. All of those would look great in the game.

Looking good:

I worked! Thank you very much for all your help. The mod looks absolutely FANTASTIC

Still no luck with unzipping. But I've downloaded the first version from your dropbox.

I could swear that I've read somewhere not to unzip the files I got an error message unzipping the Mega Pack: But the game has now the desired look which is FANTASTIC!

Thanks for quick reply. I already got them both in the Z folder:

I've installed the advanced Mega Pack and now after pressing Alt-M this is what I get: imagen Everything just got grayer. Is it supposed to look like this? I hasn't got much to do with the screenshots above. I was especially hoping to get some shaders on the vehicles.

I'd like to see new nations: Poles, Brits, Germans, French and Belarusians on the other side. Also I'd like to see reworked the campaign aspects of the game. So far the campaigns are just a collections of few skirmishes. I would be great if players could decide, which units should be deployed to the particular battle and which should rest and refit. It would increase the replayability greatly.

I can't imagine US soldiers without the sun glasses and not chewing a gum. I just can't...

If you're playing against the Ukrainians, it should be useful because their infantry is not equipped with any thermal imaging systems ( I guess ). I have reservations about using the smoke because I'm worried, that it may equally blind my guys as the enemy. Anybody has any thoughts about that?

Can the thermal imaging devices not see through the smoke?

OK, thanks for the info.

If the effectiveness of the APS systems close to 100% or there's some margin that they won't intercept the incoming missiles?