Cobetco

while we are talking about hull machine guns, the early jadgpanzer 4 in all titles has a stg44 for its second machine gun, I don't know if that was intentional or not.

Haha i knew that, but i could not (quickly at least) find a mortar team thats loadout contained only WP, where as I knew that the m4a3 had WP exclusively. i have no idea if i'm responding so sarcasm or not, if i am i apologies. Edit: and to Micheal, you are correct, by wounded i meant that "yellow" state pixeltruppen have where they continue to fight at a what i assume is reduced effectivess, i don't actually know what to call that state? but of course i can see a 75mm shell causing a survivable wound, it was indeed naive of me to assume it would be 100% fatal, but to get up and continue to walk? i am still skeptical

the manuals (its a PDF) actually has pretty good descriptions of all the equipment and vehicles, but they won't really tell you when to use them and when not to, thats kinda the fun of playing combat mission (for myself at least) is I have NO idea what i doing 90% of the time hehe. i think most of the challenge of the game comes from learning how to use the controls the game gives you, should i use a walk or hunt command? do i want to target arc or let the AI be free? those types of things, and I will agree with MikeyD google is your friend, particularly with finding out infantry tactics each nation used, since each nation has a different infantry platoon set up that kinda revolves around how they planned on deploying them. using US infantry like German ones will most of the time not give the results you desire. as far as mods just google combat mission mods and you should be able to find the third party site (i think its actually linked in a forum header around here somewhere too) i recommend the ez terrain mod, but the Aris one is great too. oh and lastly grab a sound mod, makes a huge difference (a side note, most mods are updated for the latest game or module that came out, so i think the UI mod i have is labeled as CMFB but it still works in Italy and Normandy) .

I thought i had better do a test, and i set up one in the editor. using a M4A3w(mid) sherman (they have 6 wp shells) and a M1A1 sherman (normal smoke shells) i set up some german platoons, the WP did cause casualties in all tests i did (3 of em) but the casualties were kinda minimal (around the level of a 37mm he round hitting the platoon) the normal smoke rounds did cause 1 wound in 1 test, i assume the shell grazed him or something. (weird i would think any contact with any 75mm shell would be fatal) furthermore the WP deployed smoke within the turn it was fired, it took a turn or two for the normal smoke round to produce a nice puffy cloud of cover. I also saw no difference in the behavior or units being fired at, they did not seem to think the WP smoke was dangerous, only the shell. HOWEVER, this was with cannon fired WP, i did not test it in mortars because i didn't know how to get only wp shells, but i doubt there is a difference, but who knows i could be very wrong

WP will also inflict casualties similar to a lower power HE round, (i think normal smoke rounds can too in game but its really rare, shell has to basically hit a guy) and i seem to recall the WP smoke will deploy quicker.

while i can't say much about finding opponents, i can say that the tactics involved are splendidly different between BN and BS. infantry has a much greater importance in BN, in BN each side (Germany, US and Commonwealth) all have their own tactics and tricks that need to be employed to use their forces effectively, the Germans revolve around their machine guns at longer ranges, the Brits have their light mortars and the spiffy bren that is pretty much good in all circumstances, while the US has semiautomatic rifles but a lackluster LMG. in BS the difference between the sides is less pronounced, its more of a sliding scale of tech advantage with the US being at the top and the Ukrainians at the bottom, but each side more or less plays the same. i would personally recommend BN over BS at the moment, but that might change when the first module hits, bringing with it the VDV.

i will have to experiment with that thought DeutschRitter, i can't remember ever seeing that before if so that would be very handy for those airborn platoons that have organic mortars. i'll have to load up a QB with some fallschirmjagers.

yeah i too have noticed this, in all the titles really. the QB ai selector likes taking SPGs for some reason. i kinda have to admit i never let the AI pick their own troops anymore i buy them a balanced force depending on the engagement i'm thinking off in my head (so a grenadier company and some ATGS say if i imagine an engagement with a sector held by a infantry division)

I will second that Fortress Italy recommendation, particularly with with the Gustav line module, the commonwealth really adds a lot of crunchy flavor.

(first off my advice is terrible, i am terrible at these games but love them so much still) Gah thats a complex question there... soooo CW and MG have commonwealth units, so if your after some Canadian/British action i would go with them even if its a bit more expensive, on the other hand I personally have found the scenarios (and QB maps) in FB to be of a higher quality, so it depends what your after. personally I'm a huge Fan of Fortress Italy/Gustave Line which seems to have no love =( but then again i'm a weirdo

I disappear for 2 days and Bam! more information, very neat. the only thing on my list of things that i'd like to see in CM games that hasn't been checked off over the years is illumination shells for night fighting, but i have to admit i don't know how often these where used in the theaters portrayed in any of the CM titles.

A follow Command.... yay! getting tanks and half tracks across a bridge won't be a circus preformance anymore!

i too wonder what the news is, i keep checking back every week (and lurking about in the forums reading what all you pros post) and perhaps i missed some news

good to know, i only just started playing on iron and will have to keep this in mind now... may have to adjust how i go about clearing woods now too... hmmmm that might actually become a problem

Great find. i will admit i had a bit of a chuckle when they brought out the slack adjustment wrench, looked like something out of a cartoon.

so with Module 2 on its way, any chance BF can add some low detail models, or even just sprites for the grape vines? they kinda pop in suddenly and i may have lost an entire platoon recently beause they went around a grape patch into machine gun fire because i forgot/didn't realize the vines where there

what season? and ground condition? because although CM doesn't really show it, its probably easier to see through the trees when they are sans leaves. also don't overestimate the concealment of trees, there is a nice mod for Normandy out there that thins the trees foliage to a more understandable level

Good job ! and thank goodness i finished all my paid work today, time to enter a combat mission coma again (also did they sneak in the marder 1, or was i not paying attention before?)

THIS. also does it ever bug anybody else that the guy actually "pushing" the ATGs always does spins and various funky dance moves, further slowing him down. or how the rest of the team is sometimes miles ahead of him?

i have to admit. that AT guns (and more importantly infantry support guns like the lieg 18) do move a bit slow for their size. but its never been that much of an issue on meeting engagements where i have a truck or 2.

I'm on Win 7 and i too have the shader issue... although i never noticed it until now

yes I've been reading about this, (and may or maynot have ordered the Panzertracks book on the 251) and apparently their was a (late)? or alternative version of the 251/9 that along with a 250 version went into production in the summer of 44 that used the same mount as the 234/2 which included an MG, which would be interesting. maybe BFC can add it to the list of things that may show up one day like the STUG IV

are you sure? it doesn't appear to have the gun elevation for indirect fire? and on the PnzIV the stubby 75 was meant for close support, it was also the gun on the original production models of stug. maybe i am wrong? and after some experimentation I (personally) have concluded that i was thinking about them wrong and everyone else was right, i assumed they would be defensive in nature like a marder, but they do seem to be able to used offensively quite well, i think i've just had bad experiences with the mg gunner on the 251/1 and assumed the same would happen, but nope they are not exposed.

what about halftrack mortars not firing when they have their HQ team in them? or the lack of halftracks for the mortar teams of Panzergrenadier (panzer brigade)'s weapon platoons? or the creepy pink clowns that keep popping up in the forest and ambushing my dudes? also ""Scoped M1 Garand rifle removed, replaced with scoped Springfield M1903A4"" never even noticed it was not a m1904