AlexUK

Steve
 
One feature I would love to see and one which I think would particularly increase the accuracy of the game in the Normandy context is an additional 'weather' condition, a background battlefield smoke / haze, which would go a bit way beyond thick haze in terms of limiting spotting etc but not obscuring completely like laid smoke. It might ideally be patchy. 
 
Many of the accounts I have read of Normandy engagements comment on how smoke quickly built up during heavy engagements, and it would increase survivability

Don't spend lots of time scouting. Don't bother to fix and flank, except with tank forces, who can do it at speed. But also don't just run infantry at the enemy or ignore casualties. That isn't Russian doctrine or how it actually worked, it is just a cartoon slander of their methods spread by the Germans, whomthought it made them defending against it sound all clever and also heroic for braving it etc. (A rather incoherent set of spin objectives, incidentally, but that is an aside).

The first idea is that any definite plan pushed will be faster than slow recon pull. The next is that the process of destroying the enemy really isn't that complicated - it is a matter of laying your ship alongside the enemy, as Nelson put it before Trafalgar. Meaning close aggressively with the enemy, brave what he can dish out to dish out as much as you can yourself, and trust in your strength to destroy him before he destroys you.

But that isn't a headlong charge. Above all, it isn't about movement in the first place, it is about firepower and punishment dealt.

The first infantry wave is fixing, but doesn't have to do it everywhere, or care too much about finding the enemy. Walking over your chosen route of advance will either penetrate the enemy and break up his defense, or he'll find you, and reveal himself stopping that. Let him. Then blow the living crap out of everything that reveals itself, with all your firepower arms. Tanks, mortars, artillery support - call down the wrath of God to avenge the first wave. All the first wave itself needs to do in the meantime is hit the dirt, take what cover they can, and rally as best they can. They did their part drawing the enemy's fire. Don't press. It isn't a race. Save as many of them as possible, by blasting the guys shooting at them and skulking them out of sight.

Then send the second wave. Not a new idea. Not a fancy razzle dazzle end around head fake double reverse. Send them at the spots your artillery and other fire support just blasted into the lower atmosphere, while the dust is still moving upward. They may occupy the places so blasted. Or they may draw fire from a new set of shooters, and repeat the experience of the first wave. You don't really care which. There is no rushing. You have all week. Everyone will get a turn before you are done, every bit of fire support you have will chew on something, and the enemy will need to shoot you all down and still have something left. If they don't, it may be in the bottom half of the clock that they start crumbling. Waves that have been out of the leading role are rallying the while, shooting back. You don't care how long it takes, but not because any of it is tentative or any part of the clock is quiet. Reuse the rallied early waves as fourth and fifth attacks. The whole point is to outlast them, to have the last rallied wave standing. Inexorable is the watchword.

Each wave doesn't bunch up. It isn't trying to run the enemy off his feet in one go. You only expose what it takes to make a serious threat to enemy position if he doesn't open up with a major line of battle. The ideal size of one wave is a numerical match for the defenders on the same frontage. You don't want to give them denser targets that make all their weapons more effective. Instead you want them to face trying to hold off the third wave with empty magazines and surrounded by blasted friends, worked over repeatedly by all your fire support.

They won't stand. Lean hard enough into them, back off for nothing, make no mistakes, and use every weapon in your force for its proper target - and they will go down. Trust your combined strength, believe it, press home and make it so.

No captain can go far wrong who lays his ship alongside one of the enemy.

What's needed is punitive VCs. Negative points for losses. It's no good that the enemy gets points for killing your troops; you can usually balance that out by killing them right back, only more. but if 30% casualties hit a -10000 point penalty, out of a 1000 point game, people would pay more attention. Putting scenarios in a campaign context helps too.

Agree Carl. Here is a visual of a possible way. The text "Open, passenger, or floor# " would appear under the portrait only when the condition applies similar to how "pinned", bogged," ect.. appears over the suppression meter only when the condition applies. I think this would make the portrait and area of UI actually useful rather than just an ornament of humanity. Shown also, is some red text for better ammo situational awareness when carrying a weapon out of main ammo.
 

 
I wonder how hard it would be to incorporate as the game is already using similar coding with the suppression meter condition text, and red text showing destroyed vehicle parts?

They sell this in Denmark?

Last built! Note : I'll upload this PzIV, Hetzer, Nashorn (1 only it's my trial error/beta) and some Tigers tonight! hope my internet not dead or slow !

Hi Doug,
I am divorced!
 
**************************************
 
This again is just some test case work to develop the idea. 
 

 

Forget it. Judging by what i have read from you in other threads, i think that your intent is most likely to look up the hardware i bought and then tell me that i either bought it for a bad price or that it' s not good or whatever. And even if you wouldnt find anything, you would probably just make something up. I wont support you trying to piss me off.
 
And even if the next thing you tell me is that i misjudge you, that' s your problem, i neither trust you nor do i like you, bad luck.

Thats correct but BFC has shown no interest in actually improving the engine or fixing fundamental flaws.
They were the ones who started the whole "DLC after DLC" thing.
They could have gone the other way which most likely would mean less sales/income for a year or two.
But maybe the CMx2 engine can not be "fixed" anyway and BFC knows that, thats why they choose to release texture/scenario packs.

I see no initiative from them like a kickstarter campaign for a new engine "CMx3". Then they could make money while still in development through early access.

We're six days shy of two months on "soon". Just skip the bone and give us a anniversary present.
 
 
Mord.

I don't think sburke's sentiment is out of place either and I can certainly see how he could arrive at his question.

Take me for example, I have been playing CM since the spring of 2001, however I seldom post to the forum. On the rare occasion I do, it's almost always the simple task of thanking a modder/BFC, reporting a bug or asking a technical question, but man I am infatuated with this game.

My first video wargame experience was Combat for the Atari 2600 and yes, my friends and I would gob at the colored rectangles and muse aloud, "wouldn't it be cool if they really looked like Shermans!"  It's also safe to say we were the only seven year olds in our small town that could tell you the diameter of a WWII era bazooka rocket. Merciful god - what glorious little freaks we were.

Bookend the joystick and button mashing sessions in those formative years with endless firefights among 1/72 scale Screaming Eagles and the injection moulded Wehrmacht and it isn't too hard to project how I ended up with BFC's baby on my present day hardrive. Every so often when playing CM the spell gently lifts and I snicker at the realization -  I am well into adulthood and still playing with little army men.
 
To sburke's point, here is a moment from this last weekend that made me stop and marvel at the depth of experience CM delivers.  The two Strykers in this image are on the 'splody end of a RUS fire mission. After a nearby shellburst decomissioned the M1126's RWS, an onboard sniper took up position and began scanning for targets.  How cool is that?
 

 
Take heed all of you with a hand in the game's development, your efforts are noticed, no matter how small.  Your work not only gratifies us as adult wargamers, but also invites our boyhood whimsy to step right up each time CM lays out the welcome mat.

The violence of modern warfare:
 

It seems like a simple solution to this whole mess is to give a new valid "non-Mac Store" serial number to all owners of the Mac Store version. A simple proof of purchase would be required but that should be possible through the Mac Store or with an old email showing the purchase. It would be good PR for Battlefront plus the obvious possibility of selling more CMBN modules and the vehicle pack.
 
Have you contacted BF through a support ticket?

If BFC can develop the AI 'auto-driver' algorithms and demonstrate it in game then there might be chance of a contract with Russia!   Imagine Armatas testing in Vermont driven by a virtual brain in a jar
 

BLSTK,
 
Thank you for this from the bottom of my heart! Now I know what I've really put myself out there to convey was "heard," felt and understood by a fellow human being. I hear you and relate on that father and emotion stuff. My dad knew one real emotion--rage. Sure, he cared about his wife and kids, but he couldn't express it. Ironically, he was a very tactile person. Figure out that one. It took Mom's pancreatic cancer late in the game (40 years wed) to open him up emotionally, for it was then he had to man up and take her for a change, ride herd on the doctors, be attentive to her needs--until her death. What a concept! I find it shocking and sad there seems to be so little care for our fellows here, though I have seen condolences to one guy whose dad died recently. Also, I'm not the only one here dealing with a brain injury. All it takes is one good smack to do it. This is why schools are suddenly all over concussions, for it's now known that all it takes is one concussion to set up a player for outright death from the next head blow, even with a helmet on. Thank you, too, for your very kind final thought.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler
 
P.S.

I really miss my brain. If you come across it, please have it come home!

@ John Kettler
 
Having a father who never gained access to his own emotions, I can appreciate your efforts to enlighten us about your personal challenges. I dare say it is something we, as males, rarely summon the courage to do. And writing about it in the Forum is both cathartic and empowering for you. Consider this a form of communal therapy. 
 
Those who are quick to criticize you would do well to channel that negative energy into something resembling empathy rather than scorn. Because a post describing one man's plight is really the story of the human condition. What has happened to you could happen to any one of us at any moment.
 
Remember this: John Kettler at 50% is still better than most of us at 100%.

Nidan1,
 
I'm afraid you greatly misunderstand the brain circuits involved when I post vs when I play. Online research consists of two primary tasks. The first is artful selection of keywords. The second is of digging through the resulting haul, sometimes as much as 20 pages deep in a single search and extracting the desired items of information. I then take that and present it as part of whatever case I'm seeking to make. When I do research, I have total control of how much I do, how fast and to what level of detail. While I certainly do get affected by brain glitches and sheer exhaustion, as you've likely seen many times in my posts, and at times am too fried to even post at all, the simple truth is that those sorts of posts are, unless very long and complex, relatively undemanding of my brain. Contrast that with setup and play of the game. For a QB, I pick my forces automatically after choosing a category and let the computer do likewise. I've played with the force selection screens and found the display practically unreadable and the selection process far from easy. Consequently, it's either a QB or the smallest battle type available, where I have forces assigned already. So far, so good. There have been many times in which I opened up the map, took a look at what I was dealing with, went into overwhelm and got out of the game altogether. Too much to deal with! Other times, I get further in the process and position some of my forces, then can't cope. Or I might somehow have a series of miracles occur, get through setup and even play a few turns--before it again overloads my head. And when the stars all align, and I can somehow see them to be so in broad daylight, then I'm finally able to play a complete game. To my profound relief and joy. Unfortunately, that may be the last such occurrence for months!  You can figure out how long that's been by reading about my last QB over on the CMBS Forum. 

Any kind of CMx2 game demands not merely vastly more of my brain, but it requires a whole additional set of processing areas. These are the ones which handle temporospatial, sequencing, geometric and other issues, many of which are soft, fuzzy or both. I'm pretty sure this all goes on in the other brain hemisphere, in fact. Research and posting are relatively static neural activities. Wargaming is something altogether different. Now, my brain has to figure out what goes were to begin with, how to organize my force, assess the situation, plan my moves, then commit and see what has or hasn't happened. I have to then review the turn, often, several times, grok what has happened, figure everything out from scratch, taking into account a host of complex interactions, timing, force status, troop status, effects of damage, casualties or morale hits, then do it again. For me, this usually, not always, involves 30 turns of pushing my brain somewhere between hard to breaking point, as the situation becomes ever more chaotic, with more and more moving parts in play. The last QB I fought, it went to a "kill me now" utterly draining 40 turns. I play when I can, as long as I can. For I never know when I'll be able to summon the necessary specialized brain function to play again.
 
The above challenges (what a fabulous euphemism) would doubtless be enough to test or break your sanity, but that's not the whole story. There's also the learning curve. Since I can't play very often, such expertise as I acquire is subject to rapid decay over time. This means I practically have to keep relearning the game, or at least the skills beyond the bare basics. Very frustrating!  I'd love to be able to get into PBEM, and SLIM and I have been doing the Audie Murphy autobiography title so far in trying to get there for a CMBN game (figuring out, in the face of maddening, even unexplainable problems, with lots of coaching from him and Tech Support, how to get the setup into the right part of the game, getting the setup, not the alias, into the Inbox folder, learning CMH, etc.). SLIM and I haven't even begun to get into CMH, which I have downloaded.
 
Now, throw into the mix an ever changing set of cyber issues, most having to do with a maddeningly random, in all sorts of ways, internet connection. Despite doing everything I could think of (reset browser, restart browser, flush system and run virus test, turn of, turn and reboot the computer), I went through nearly 24 hours of cyber torture in Safari, tried Firefox, found it worked marginally, then tried Chrome. that worked okay but not great. that's how I was able to do what I did on the CMBS Forum, until Chrome, too, packed it in while being down, many times to zero data rate. At that point, I gave up. I picked up Bill Mauldin's excellent Up Front, read it cover to cover, then went to bed. 
 
Unsurprisingly, I find suggestions/cracks/veritable demands from you, jointly and severally, that I should play more and post less, play and not post, stop posting, since I don't know the game and such both galling and insulting. Also, I've explained several times what happened to me that made an already tough situation for me vastly worse. Several years ago, I learned I had a lifelong condition, one in which I and others who have it tend to go deer in the headlights when in high stress situations, information overload or both. This condition has been in no way improved by hyper stress, multiple assaults on my person, four car wrecks, none my fault, the last two of which each put me out of commission for a year. This sort of damage is cumulative and doesn't get better with age. There are many other negative die roll modifiers I could name, but let's keep it simple, okay? Horrendous crash move, conducted under murderous heat and humidity with a crazy roommate. Who through his idiocy, manages to pesticide poison me. That was Night One. Night Two found me in the head around 5 AM, with the hall light on. I come out of the head at a good clip, fully expecting the light to be on. It wasn't, since he turned it off in his energy saving mania. I was dazzled, the spill light from the bathroom didn't hit the wall corner between the bathroom and my bedroom. Not good! I hit the wall corner at a 45 degree angle, immediately in front of my right ear. So tremendous was the blow that in the instant of impact, I thought I'd both ruptured that eardrum and cracked my skull. Instead, I broke my brain in a contre coup injury (brain hit right, then bounced left, hitting inside of left skull), triggering a brain bleed so extensive that I became so decoupled from reality that I wasn't even sure whether I was alive or dead. Try calling for help when in that state! I finally did get through to someone, had to wait four hours for a doctor (never get injured after 10 PM, for hardly anyone's in the ER), and when they finally did image my brain, they found a huge brain bleed. It was so bad I narrowly escaped neurosurgery. That is what you so ignorantly referred to as my "claimed neuorological" condition. That single blow wrought havoc on both cognitive function and memory, both quite useful generally and in the game! Remember, this was on top of everything else I was dealing with. That Traumatic Brain Injury occurred early July, 2011, and though I'm much better, it affects me to this day. In terms of effects, imagine a game show in which there is a group of wheels. One covers memory, another cognitive function, another faculties. "Step right up, sir. Learn what your day will be like today!" Except I don't know until I start experiencing said day.
 
One day, I might have pretty good memory, enough cognitive function to post, but might be having problems understanding what someone says to me. Another day might find me with so little short term memory it takes three trips downstairs in order to get what I went there for to begin with, read only cognitive function and audio cortex processing issues. The next day might find me with halfway decent memory, the ability to get various mental tasks, maybe even gaming, done, but no real sense of smell. Or it might be major difficulty talking clearly.  There are more wheels and nuances I didn't cover, but this should give you some sense of what I'm up against. And let's not forget the people who grotesquely abuse me while flouting the Forum Rules, people so callous they won't stop even when I tell them they are compromising my health because of the terrible stress they cause me. People whose attacks have been so vicious that on occasion they've even caused me to lose ground in my recovery! 
 
Given all of the above, I would dearly love to know it it is even remotely rational for anyone here to expect, still less demand, I play more CMx2 wargames? I would if I could, not just because I enjoy doing so, but because playing them is a great way to help alleviate stress. Unsurprisingly, given what I've said to you, the more stress is applied to me here, the less able I am to play the games at all. Yet, despite everything I have to deal with, I welcome newcomers, help where I can, actively participate in a range of open threads, do the OP thing, make suggestions and more. I do these things while ever having to remain anally retentive about what I say, how I say it and how strongly. I can't afford to let my tormentors bait me into saying or doing something prohibited, things they do with impunity. I can't so much as mention certain topics or personal activities. And no matter how horrific the attacks on me, no matter how outright damaging, I'm the one who, despite all his debilities, has to keep his cool and remain ever the gentleman. So bad have things become that several other Members have called out the hellish trio, for Admin (not Steve) is doing nothing to stop them. Not so much as a syllable of reproof. They dance flamenco on my supine battered head, but all that ever happens to them is that the thread gets locked. No worries, though, for there's always another thread in which they can do the exact same evil things to me! Which I'm sure includes downvoting every post I make. One of them, recall, was caught upvoting his own posts after Members downvoted them.
 
(moves on)
 
Coming full circle, I've always found the Bulge fascinating. I used to play some SPI game in which the attacking Germans got a 3 x multiplier in the first turn, representing effects of artillery and surprise. As the Germans, the glory days tended to go away all too soon, and I couldn't believe how difficult a nut Bastogne was. In game terms, I think we now need the ability to blow up bridges during the game. The historical accounts on this are quite clear. Time and again one of Peiper's columns would finally be about to take a bridge and cross it, only to have the seemingly omnipresent US combat engineers  demo it in his face. Such demolitions shouldn't be certainties, either, for what inn battle is? We also need the 90mm AAG and, I believe, 105s (?) and 155s on the map, for they were there were there and in action. Additionally, we need the ability to deploy hasty minefields, as was also done historically. Am sure I remember reading about US AT mines being set on the roads and covered with bazookas as hasty roadblocks. Working Schwimmwagens and Weasels would be most helpful, with the latter very useful for mud slogs, not just in the Bulge, but for later games in Huertgen Forest. US will definitely need 57 mm and 3-inch ATGs, for both were there. TDs may or may not have field expedient or kit roof armor. But to keep our priorities straight, what must be handled correctly are sheets. Good Belgian sheets! Whether draping OD AFVs or freezing GIs, these things are important and deserve lots of BFC love. Who's with me?  And, yes, this post took a lot of time and thought.
 
Regards,
 
John Kettler

I don't like taking a lot of casualties so I tend to be cautious and sometimes run into problems with the clock.
 
As a result I will sometimes use backwards planning from the final objective back to the friendly set up area and use phase lines.  If I have 60 minutes to get to the final objective I will place a phase line roughly half way to the objective, along my chosen route of advance.  This then becomes the 30 minute phase line.  I will further divide the map into 45 minute (3/4 distance) and 15 minute (1/4 distance) phase lines along my chosen avenues of advance. Then I go back and look closer at the terrain and adjust the phase lines based on terrain, expected resistance etc....  
 
I then make the final adjustments/plans by backwards planning: If I need to be at this location in 60 minutes with dismounted infantry then 1st Platoon needs to cross the small wood area no later than (NLT) than 50 minutes.  To cross the woods at 50 minutes the Plt needs to clear this farmstead NLT 45 minutes etc..... back to the set up zone/line of departure. I try to be reasonable with the time based on what I know of the terrain, OpFor etc...  Now I have a rough running estimate to judge the progress of the mission and my literal boots on the ground progress.
 
I try to remember to preserve my force and use it in a realistic way.  This means I am not always going to beat the clock.  So be it.  There is always another mission.           

I think Little Big Horn might be one where it was mostly KIA...generalizations are usually easy to counter, generally.

Then stop commenting on development needs for a game you know almost nothing about.

There are a few other late war vehicles coming from northern Italy industries, such as the semovente 75/46

Even the 105mm version.
 
Or the AB43

In different versions of late war.
Late war armored cars:
S37 protetto

665 scudato

 
 
Moreover, there's a Whole bounch of new Fascist formations, most of them with German equipment and training, made from the Social Republic of Salo, such as the Republic National Guard.
Some of those units had a good level of "motivation" and training, in terms of combat mission games.
 
There were a lot of fights involving partisan units in northern Italy, in 1944/45. These kind of small unit fights, with old and low-quality vehicles, mixed formations etc. could be very well modeled with this game capabilities.

I would simply point out that at this point in the battle all you actually know is that someone tripped a mine on the road. If you had no other knowledge option 1 could be a mistake because for all you know the enemy is getting ready assault cross the field and the road action is just a distraction.
 
Also, your reserve is for shoring up a weak spot or taking advantage of an opportunity.  At this point in the battle you have neither: therefore it is to early to start sending them into be fray.

You've got a fair bit of reading to do to catch up but I hope you enjoy it. This CAAR is wrapping up soon, but I expect that I will do another.

Are there any of these existing or planned?