Ts4EVER

I remember playing this on 2.0 and it was already a bit wonky then. In some cases the terrain was modified to additionally hide the foxholes.

Yes, note that the Germans collaborated with the Soviet Union to destroy the one nation that had actually checked the advance of communism in the twenties... People say that "history is written by the victors", but in this case it was written by former fascists who were now fighting "the good fight" for NATO, in many cases, justifying their genocidals war as something noble. Wish the commies had put them all up against the wall to give them something to cry about.

Completely missed this... anyway, for what it's worth: Combat Mission : Pax Stalina

Yes, in my experience you need to really mass at guns together and open fire at the same time to make them worthwile.

From what I can tell Mius has an improved UI, but it is still not very intuitive. GTOS is supposed to be abysmal though. Steel Division is a good game but not a simulation like CM or GT, think of it more like a less gamey Company of Heroes. Very nice in terms of historical detail though.

The strategic campaigns and graphics are better in Graviteam. CM is more suited to small scale skirmishes and intricate battles in cities / bocage. Personally I like playing historical scenarios, so CM wins that for me. Generally in CM you have more control over your troops, you "are" your troops, whereas GT makes you feel more like a commander who just happens to have drone vision... personal preference I would say, I can do both. Graviteam is a lot cheaper, releases stuff for free that BF sells as "engine updates" and generally puts out content quicker. On the other hand, that content is not a traditional "expansion pack", but usually 1 new operation with maybe 2 or 3 new tanks each. It is on Steam, so way more comfortable to buy and maintain.

The way I understood it those 29 weapons were still on the eastern front with some Kampfgruppe.

The 30k is the Panzerfaust kurz, the older version. Also called a Faustpatrone.

According to Handrich the LSSAH Division still had 108 MP43/1 in early 1944. Granted, that was on the eastern front, so I guess it is possible that they turned all those in? 2nd SS Das Reich had 41 in the same time frame, and they were already in France. (Plus one Kampgruppe in the east that had a further 29). Anyway, regarding use of the MP44 in Normandy: OrgAbt issued an order in March 1944, which said that the MP43 was NOT to replace the MP40, but instead be issued and used in bulk, in so called "MP-Gruppen". From the order (translated from German by me): To me this means that those units who used the MP.43 in Normandy, rare as it may have been, likely formed MP-Gruppen to use them. Basically like a Volksgrenadier-Kompanie in FB, but more rare and probably only one in each Kompanie. These early MP-Gruppen were to be organised like this: Groupleader (MP43) Rifleman 1 (K98k + Riflegrenade equipment) Rifleman 2 (Scoped rifle) Riflemen 3 - 8 (MP43) Note that this early version had no "heavy" group with two lmgs yet, as the Germans still hoped to also replace the lmg with the new weapon! This of course was idiotic and the Volksgrenadier units you get in FB are the more developed version of this concept. This organization is dated to February 1944.

I have the Sturmgewehr book by Dieter Handrich and if I remember correctly there was an "early" version of the Sturmzug that was supposed to be formed in divisions that tested the MKB42 or MP43. So I'd imagine that would apply to Normandy. That being said, the list of divisions in Normandy with MP44s was very short, probably fewer of those in use than Berettas in late war... the 2nd Panzer Division had a few, the 1st SS as well, but other very well equipped units like the Panzer Lehr Division didn't use them at all.

Really? Never noticed. What is the difference to Grenadiers right now? Do they use the older infantry organization?

True, but that is not what I am suggesting. Picture this: Let's say I am a scenario maker and want to make what I would consider a fairly standard and realistic scenario for the exploitation phase of Operation Bagration in Red Thunder: A Soviet forward detachment runs into a German Sperrverband that was hastily cobbled together from Sicherungs troops, Ordnungspolizei etc. Maybe with a Marder in support. Wouldn't it be cool if you could just buy a Grenadier or straggler company and set the equipment to "Poor", replacing the MG34s with captured DPs or MG26(t), as well as the MP40 with PPsh41s or MP28s? Or in Final Blitzkrieg: You want to have a Volksgrenadier unit that has no received enough StGs to equip their Sturmzüge, so you set them to "poor" and now they are equipped with a mix of G43s and Beretta MPs. Berettas, btw, were not only captured, but actually produced by the Germans starting in 1944, and in larger numbers than MP40s. That would be the 38/42 model though, not the one ingame in Italy. Same in Normandy: If I remember correctly in the tutorial mission of that game you fight a bunch of Osttruppen, who for some reason often come with MP44s. Would be cool if they instead used captured Russian gear, as was apparently often the case. Standard troops or Panzergrenadiers would of course not be affected.

Sure thing but note that not all of them list small arms, possibly due to the amount of buerocratic work involved: https://www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de/index.php?thread/14672-zustandsberichte-gepanzerter-verbände-1943-1945-teil-ii/ https://www.forum-der-wehrmacht.de/index.php?thread/17343-zustandsberichte-ungepanzerte-verbände-1943-1945/ Also they are in German, obviously.

I think what he is trying to say is that he rather would like to learn something about captured weapons in German use.

Just because they call it an "engine upgrade" doesn't mean it's more than a patch. Bug fixes and quality of life improvements behind a paywall are on the same level as those silly loot boxes they have in "triple A" games. Also nice from warts and all to apparently completely leave behind the point of "plugging new games", instead looping back to the start, ensuring that the conversation will go nowhere. But I guess at least you displayed what you mistake for wit, so congrats. Anyway, to actually return to the way more interesting discussion of this thread: Well, let's look at the monthly reports of different divisions. This time around the late 1944 era, since we are in the Ardennes game forum. Lastly, for the Red Thunder game; In conclusion, I think it would be cool to have this kind of obsolete or foreign equipment ingame, maybe when setting equipment levels to low. Some of these weapons actually already exist ingame and the Beretta MP is already used by Germans in Fortress Italy.

No, that was regarding your first point. I didn't think I had to address the second, considering that on my own youtube channel I can plug whatever game I want. This here is not my Youtube channel, but a forum paid for by the company making the game, so the situation is quite different. That being said, I find it weird that you consider our completely free BF2 mod a "competitor" to Combat Mission.

Well what can I say, if I see my troops getting mowed down on a bugged bridge with tanks glitching through it repeatedly, I turn into General Patton. Especially in a game where you have to buy your patches... I mean I will still play and film the new modules because all in all the game is fun, but let's not pretend that there aren't deep seated and basic issues with this game series that the team is either unwilling or unable to fix.

Yes that would be nice. I mean I dont want to advertise a competitor here, but one thing I like about the Steel Division games is that you have access to substandard troops with weird equipment, like the MG26(t), captured russian weapons etc. Considering the amount of different tank variants, imo Combat Mission could use some more granularity here.

Nice that everyone is having fun, but all that mildly amusing banter might actually make the AAR a lot harder to read.

Works like that in Graviteam tactics.

I am a bit disappointed, I don't play quick battles at all, so campaigns and scenarios are where it's at for me. BTW, any infos as to the the themes of the campaigns?

Used them until the end of the war. Another question: I never bought these patches. When the new modules come out, are they included?

You mean like the US Sicily campaign? Or the Polish Campaign?

This is how I did it.

I have a playthrough of that campaign on my channel. It is not terrible, but feels rather generic and uninspired, with lots of samey missions. The final mission is a slap in the face, since the briefing misleads you into thinking that you are supposed to solve the scenario in the historical manner by rushing your forces through it, when in fact that is basically impossible.