MOS:96B2P

@George MC Very nice. +1

And BFC posted the below: New Zealand Defense Forces training aid - pretty much that's all there is to say about it And no, this will not be released for sale to the public. Sorry, but that's just the way it works sometimes. At the below link: http://community.battlefront.com/topic/125797-another-reason-for-a-centralized-forum/

Yep, they sure can. I tested it in CMFI with a US Sherman tank platoon and a US M5A1 tank platoon. The highest rank NCO (SSG E-6 instead of a SFC E-7) in both platoons were able to call in artillery/mortars.

I don't know if it's intended behavior or not and it does seem kind of suspicious . However, it is true for all three WWII titles with US Armored Infantry, CMFI, CMBN and CMFB. So if it is something that is not intended it was able to make its way into three titles. Which is possible I guess ............

+1 This would be very cool.

I don't think unit type matters. Below is a method you can use to encourage your troops to administer Buddy Aid. I think I learned this from @IanL For buddy aid if the casualty is not in or near the center of the action spot I give the unit I want to perform buddy aid a Slow order to an action square that takes them directly over the casualty. Then I give them a pause of 20s, 30s or 45s depending on how far away the casualty is. Push the BRB. In the next command phase they will be directly over the casualty. Then cancel the remaining Slow order and issue a Face command.

I mostly do PBEMs and scenarios now however when I did play QBs the below advice from @womble was useful. You can, if you're picking AI forces yourself, mitigate the "putting units in inappropriate groups" problem by making sure there are enough formations in the force to have "some of everything" in each group. Rather than picking one Battalion "head", then chopping out everything but the AT platoon (4 guns) and a company (3 rifle platoons and a heavy platoon) of infantry, pick four Battalion headers and chop out everything but one AT gun, some Rifle squads and an MG or two from the Heavy Platoon for each Battalion. AFAICT, the AI assigns alternating Formations to the default 2 groups, and will leave one group empty if you just pick the one Formation. Or if you pick a Formation for infantry and another for Armour, you'll have all the Infantry in one setup zone, following one set of orders, and all the Armour elsewhere, operating according to a different timetable which probably won't support your infantry's route.

+1 @Combatintman. Very cool looking forward to getting back into Kandahar. RIP Mic.

It's the field telephone abstraction. As long as the individual troop has call authority he can always make the call. In the WWII titles many XOs don't have call authority so this surprised me.

I was generally using US infantry in the WWII titles but recently have started to use Armored Infantry. I like the idea of having the tracks with additional ammo for resupply. It kind of adds a logistics element to battles. However I was accustom to the platoon HQ as a separate team in the straight leg infantry platoons. In CMFI the 44A Armored Infantry platoon HQ is part of 1st Squad. Same for Armored Infantry in CMBN & CMFB. I have been experimenting around with the best way to administratively split the HQ teams in a US Armored Infantry Platoon. I found a way, using the administrative commands that ends up with the Platoon Leader (the Lt.) in one team and the platoon sergeant (SFC) in a different team. There is also C team with three riflemen. The interesting thing is both the Lt. and the SFC have arty/mortar calling ability. It is easiest to make all these administrative splits during the Setup phase. So with the below administrative split there are two separate teams in an Armored Infantry platoon that can call for fire. Split Assault Team from base and then Scout Team from base. (If you stop here this scout team has the radio which might prove useful. Or disastrous.) Place Assault Team and the Scout Team in the same action square and allow them to recombine. Then take the now combined Assault Team and Scout Team and use Split Teams. You will end up with three teams two of which can call for fire support. Following the above administrative splits you end up with the following. And C Team Any other suggestions /ideas for administratively splitting teams? Please share any tips you may have.

On offense with only two teams in the squad TOE I generally use Assault Team for recon. The lead assault team of the platoon takes recon (point). They have the SMGs, most grenades and smoke grenades. The B team follows behind providing overwatch. The Assault Team moves to a terrain feature. After the Assault Team arrives at the terrain feature then B team moves to the same (or very close) terrain feature. The Assault Team moves to the next terrain feature. Then B team moves to the same (or very close) terrain feature. etc. The remainder of the platoon follows behind with the Platoon HQ attempting to keep at least B team (of the point squad) in C2 since they are going to (hopefully) observe first contact. I generally only use Split Team with Germans when defending. Then I can usually get two MG42 MG positions with this split.

That's a good point. I never thought of that.

Any radio vehicle that is in the same battalion. Also, in the video the mortar team was the mortar section HQ. To get the same quicker call times with a US 81mm mortar team you have to also use the mortar section HQ which is a separate 2 man HQ team (no mortar). You can still by-pass the US mortar platoon HQ however. So the video is still accurate just some small adjustments for different TOEs. Excellent video. Valkatox said he was going to make more. I'm looking forward to them.

Thanks, you're correct about the building. I just did some more tests and updated my notes. When a building was targeted with a Point Target, Maximum Duration fire mission the fire mission automatically stopped when the building was destroyed. When a vehicle was the targeted with a Point Target, Maximum Duration fire mission the fire mission continued to fire after the vehicle was destroyed. It fired until it ran out of ammo. With a wall I could never really target the wall. The target line always snapped back to an action spot. So it seems it always targets the ground next to the wall. For practical purposes it's still close enough to destroy the wall of course. A Point Target on a vehicle will not cease fire if the vehicle is destroyed.

Good point. IMO the emergency fire is a waste of rounds. +1 Something along this is what I generally attempt. This is interesting................... I've not heard that the accuracy continues after adjusted.

+1 Nice screenshot @Jorge MC

Very big topic with many sub-topics and circumstantial situations. Probably why you found so many related posts. I will try to give some general answers to encourage discussion in this topic because I do think this is interesting. My answers are far from conclusive but here they are: Command & Control: To fire indirect on map mortars must be within close visual C2 (12A/S) of their COC or within voice C2 (6A/S) of any authorized HQ, XO, FO team or within 2A/S of a radio equipped vehicle. (Off map mortars always have their COC & C2) A requesting HQ, FO, & some XO teams do not need a radio, COC or C2 to make a request for arty (field telephone abstraction). Rank determines ability (authority) to access arty (that doesn’t require an FO). As long as the CO is alive a HQ can always request and adjust artillery even without a radio or C2. Some XOs can call in artillery and mortars. This includes tank platoon XOs. The tank platoon XO is normally in Tank #1. If I have on map mortars that I am going to use in the indirect fire role I typically try to deploy them in the Setup phase and check that the HQs can access them before I start the game. How to decrease delay: Only off map artillery/mortars have delay option & have it the entire mission. On map never has it (including during pre-planned setup). When an arty/mortar mission is delayed the UI continues to display the delay time even after fire is adjusted making it seem the adjusted fire will take longer than it actually will. There are some threads that discuss adjusting a fire mission constantly to keep it in a delayed state until you want it to fall. I have never gotten this tactic to work properly. I just mention it in case you come across it. Maybe somebody else is able to make this work and will comment. Also related to Time: FFE times, in the support panel, are rounded to the nearest minute. This can make elite, crack & vet. appear to fire at the same time. In WWII titles there is no difference in the artillery call times between a backpack radio, a command vehicle radio, a Bn. and a Plt. HQ. Command vehicles only improve arty support response time in CMBS. (Maybe in CMSF2?) Experience is the only soft factor of arty & mortar assets (on & off map) that effect FFE times. How to improve accuracy? To paraphrase something @womble said that helped me: The accuracy is determined during the "Spotting" phase. Your observer needs to be able to see the fall of shot. He can be hiding during the "receiving" and "preparing" phases of the mission but should be heads-up and eyes-on during the "spotting" phase. If your observer has a bad line of sight to the target area (and the splashes of the ranging shots), you'll get a less accurate mission. Trying to hit an area or line where you can only see the two opposite points you clicked to define the line risks shells falling where they can't be seen. The Spotter also needs to be spotting (head up eyes on) when adjusting fire. Limitations and considerations of the "Cancel' and "Adjust" order. Most of what I can think of was said above about "Adjusting" Cancel just ends a fire mission. This can stop rounds from being wasted and allows friendly troops to advance into the area. I found this most useful to keep from losing control of off map artillery when a spotter comes under fire. I have had several incidents where a spotter directing fire was KIA. After that happened I was never able to adjust or have a different spotter take over that off map arty. Essentially losing the arty for the rest of the mission. So my SOP is if I'm foolish enough to get my spotter in a jam I try to be quick enough to cancel the mission he is calling for so I don't lose both spotter and tubes. I like to use a off map arty fire mission shooting at a low tube count and a low rate of fire and adjust it around the map as needed. Other helpful hints. Off map arty/mortar ammo count shows total available rounds & of that total x amount may be fired as smoke or precision. Pre-planned fires can be plotted anywhere on the map and do not require TRPs. In WWII titles personnel airburst rounds must be requested during preplanned bombardment or in range of a TRP to work. In CMFB a (VT) equipped asset can fire personnel airburst rounds anytime without a TRP. Personnel airburst will destroy transports & light armor. Personnel airburst will damage tracks on armor but not other subsystems. Artillery/Mortar status: Receiving, Preparing, Spotting, Firing, Adjusting, Firing. Additional artillery/mortar status: Not positioned=Not Deployed, Denied=No authority, Out of Contact=Tubes Need C2, Empty=Empty If an on map mortar’s indirect LOF is blocked the target cursor will read “No Line of Fire”. A direct fire block will read “No Line of Sight” Light mortars (US 60mm) can be very useful in the direct fire role using Target Light. A Point Target will follow a moving target as long as the spotter has LOS. A Point Target will not cease fire if the target is destroyed. Artillery smoke is NOT IR blocking. The below was a bug that I think is still out there but I did not test it again before posting this (It may also be in CMFI since 4.0): Arty/Mortar adjust bug in CMBN, CMRT, CMBS & CMFB: If one observer has two or more fire missions all firing at separate targets and adjusts any one of those missions to a new target ALL the fire missions adjust to the new target not just the one fire mission. If anybody notices anything I screwed up please mention it so I can update my information.

Below is an example of a Company HQ filling in for a Platoon HQ when the Platoon HQ was not available. A battalion or company HQ may provide voice and close visual contact, but not radio or distant-visual contact. 4.0 Engine Manual page 67.

That's a pretty slick test map you have there. I like the trigger houses. I would make the east to west crossover on the south end of the map. A few times I was sloppy with my timing and 2 Section heard the truck move while 2 section was making its east/west relay moves (of course I could just be more careful). Nice way to isolate and test. I think you have a talent for scenario design!! Thanks for sharing the test map.

Which of the CM games is the scenario for?

Glad you were able to find it.

Okay. I took the Save folder out of the Virtual Store chain. When I saved another turn a new Save folder was created in the Virtual Store chain with the one new save inside. I accomplished my goal of deleting a ton of saves that I couldn't get rid of. I had several pages on the Save screen when loading a Save. I now know how to find the folder when I want to delete some Saves. With CMSF2 on the way I may just leave well enough alone........... @mjkerner what sburke said should help you locate your saves. I'd be interested to know if they are in the same location as mine. After you locate them, then you will have to decide what, if anything, to do about it. Thanks for all the help everybody!!!

Yep, I think this is what I will try. Then I will start and save a scenario and see where it ends up at.

Hmmm, I don't have Mod Tools in this Virtual location. I may try to remove the Save file and see what happens. I'm afraid to delete it all together.

And actually CMSF is not in this Virtual location. It is just a duplicate Save Folder and duplicate scenario folder. The scenario folder only had one scenario in it that I created (a test map) which I drug over to the "real" scenario folder.