Probus

Cold War has become my new favorite. It is balanced (at least pre-Abrams) and more forgiving than Black Sea. I really like all the Combat Mission games but I would put CMRT at my second favorite.

Do Gun Barrel Hits Always Disable the Main Gun? Not necessarily penetrations but just hits? Would you consider their guns knocked out and make them secondary targets?

So... Get my M60A1 RISE+ tanks on the move as soon as his T-64As start moving. Then stop the M60s in a valley shooting up at the T-64s without the T-64s being hull down. A tall order! Or just flank 'em. BTW, I did get a track hit from the front that disabled the T-64A and the crew bailed. \o/

@Zveroboy1& @dbsapp, I like your arguments but you seem to have not considered my third 'Liberator' hypothetical. That point would have a major impact on logistics and replacements (both green and veteran troops), possibly even reduced casualties. Vernichtungskrieg would therefore, have not been implemented. Also, Halder wanted Moscow (from his experience in France), Hitler wanted oil. They both wanted to destroy the Soviet army. I was taught that Barbarossa was delayed so that these forces could be utilized in the campaign. Bypassing the Balkans may have pushed the schedule forward by a month. If this would have let the Germans surround Moscow, then the Russian winter would have hampered Soviet counter attacks and exasperated the situation inside the besieged Moscow. I don't remember this scenario being mentioned. Do you think the Japanese had a large enough army to start a second front? Were there any resources Japan wanted in Eastern Russia? No doubt that if Japan had done this, no matter what the outcome, it would have delayed or kept the USA out of the war. Might need to add Japanese DLC to RT.

Operation Barbarossa was a longshot at best. I learned in a WWII college class (in the 80s) that if Germany had done a few things different, they may have been able to get the Soviets to sue for peace. Here are the top arguments. Do you agree? If Barbarossa had started earlier (bypassing Yugoslavia for one), the Soviets may not have had the time to move the control of their forces out of Moscow. The Germans could have surrounded Moscow before mud and winter stopped them. Then turned South. When Barbarossa started, German forces were actually treated like liberators in many areas. If they had maintained the image that they were liberating the country they would have had many less logistical problems and a pool of new recruits to pull from, possibly mass defections. (Note, this is 180° against the political goal of Barbarossa, but this is all hypothetical) Switched encoding methods before each new campaign (not relying on Enigma being completely secure). Much easier to win a war if the enemy doesn't know your every move. Not sure if Stalin actually used the information the Allies fed him, so who knows. Or if Barbarossa's primary objective was to secure the Southern oil fields first before concentrating on Moscow (this is actually what Hitler wanted before he was 'betrayed by his generals', believe it or not). This would have significantly reduced logistical problems. So, what do y'all think? This would be sweet if this scenario was playable in a future Red Thunder DLC campaign.

If the tank I was firing at was abandoned with open hatches, is CM smart enough to know that so a flamethrower would be more effective against it @MikeyD?

Wait a sec.... TITLES!!! \o/ Sorry, my stupidity was showing

Sorry buddy. I'm brain dead right now. It was a legit (and probably really, really stupid) question. I guess I'll puzzle over it some more until my brain decides to kick back in gear. If I have to depend on natural selection by forum to develop a sense of humor, that boat has already sailed.

@dbsapp Is "totlies" a typo or just a word I'm not familiar with? @MikeyD One thing that threw me in the CMCW manual was the mention of the B variant instead of the T-64A. See below: "M735 Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot (APFSDS) round. With up to 410 mm RHAe of armor penetration, the M735 was a major improvement over the earlier M728, but the round was still underpowered against the frontal armor of advanced Soviet tanks such as the T-64B, T-72A, and T-80B, sometimes significantly so." For some reason I thought that meant the B variant was an up-armored version of the A. But that's not right. It has better fire control.

Yes, I have stopped the attackers from crossing the river. We've both taken up overwatch positions in the tree lines. I've rushed in and taken the towns in the center early in the game, but dunno if I can hold it. I haven't really employed my TOW missiles yet, but it sounds like they may not be as effective as we first thought?

Well BFC has got it modelled pretty good then!

How can you tell if an M150 needs it's crew exposed for optimal firing? I'm pretty sure an M901 doesn't, and a TOW Jeep doesn't really have a choice.

Wow! That's good to know. Thanks! I thought the 105mm APFSDS rounds could penetrate 400mm+ of armor. I wonder why I got that impression. I guess I'm gonna have to think of some new tactics then.

In a tank fight of T-64As vs M60A1 RISE+ at a range of ~750-1000m, I have scored at least 15 frontal arc hits on 8 T-64As with my Patton M60A1 RISE+ tanks and Dragon teams. The result, as far as I can tell, is 1 immobilized T-64A. Granted, the T-64s may have suffered damage, but not one of them has been destroyed. Luckily for me, his T-64As can't hit the broad side of a barn. I believe I've lost only one M60A1 RISE+, but that was to an ATGM. I was able to take one out with a direct hit from a 105mm Arty to the top of the engine compartment, but that's pretty much it. Is Cold War broken or is this result to be expected? I'm playing "The Grieshof Meet and Greet" scenario on Veteran.

That is a version of the M6 American heavy tank. Or at least it was based on an M6. Not many were made and it was so heavy that Eisenhower said No Thank You. We don't want it. The original tank had guns and machine guns sticking out everywhere. Someone who knows a little more about it might elaborate.

Ugly, ugly, ugly!

It was 5Mb/s internet or indoor plumbing. You can see which one I picked. Come on Starlink!

I don't think Schörner couldn't hold a candle to Oskar Dirlewanger. Even the SS hated him.

I'll take that as I'm not supposed to use the word "Nazi". I apologize most profusely for insulting you and the murdered millions. I shall take myself out behind the woodshed right now.

That takes the Cake for a sexy tank! Maybe not too scary, but definitely sexy!

Curses! Y'all be correct! Dang grammer Nazis. Oh! Am I allowed to say that @BFCElvis?

I know that all of @Warts 'n' all post's are clear as mud, but what are you guys talking about?

The vision slits were the other place you were supposed to shoot as a matter of fact. If you happened to have a machine gun, you could shoot the engine grill on the side OR walk up to it, lift the engine grill, and drop in a couple grenades. Sounds easy, no?

I agree with much of what you said except for maybe the last sentence. I think it's a bit earlier than the '80s. At least the Arab-Israeli Wars. Massed tank attacks were stopped on both sides. As for placebos. I just watched a video on how the US Army said you could take a Japanese tank out with just a rifle. One way was to shoot the rim off the forward tank wheel. That's one good shot.

Yeah, that one fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down. May be an early inspiration for a Darlek also. I guess the tires must pivot up when not on a road? That looks like a mobile bunker. Never seen it before.