MOS:96B2P

1st Platoon HQ is selected but shows no contact icon for the German Armor. No C2 with the scout team means there is no way for the scout team to report the Armor contact. If the scout team is KIA the information about the Tiger tanks will be lost with the scouts. The scouts move to report to 1st Platoon HQ which still has no contact icon for the Tiger. The contact has changed back to tentative because it is now the last known location for the Armor. As the scouts approach 1st Platoon HQ they come within close visual C2 range (12 Action Spots). The scouts report the tentative armor contacts to 1st Platoon HQ at about 10 Action Spots.

The scouts move out to locate the German Armor. The scout team obtained tentative armor contacts, however they are out of C2 and unable to make a SPOT report back to their platoon HQ. The scouts obtain a confirmed armor contact for German Tigers however they are still out of C2 and unable to make a SPOT report.

The screenshots in the original C2 and Information Sharing topic were destroyed by Photobucket. As a result a REDUX C2 and Information Sharing topic was created with new screenshots. Some mods that will show up most often in the screenshots are, user interface (UI) and floating icons: Floating Icons – Cat Tactical Icons CMFI User Interface – Juju’s TweakedUI CMFI V5 Some interesting topics have been started about how information moves through the C2 chain both vertically (up & down the chain of command) and horizontally (directly from one team to another team). As a result I did some experimenting with C2 & information sharing. Below are the results with screenshots from the experiment. If anyone can offer a correction or additional information please do. Additional useful information and supplemental C2 rules: 4.0 Engine Manual page 66 Command & Control. @Bil Hardenberger Command Friction 2.0 - http://community.battlefront.com/topic/125172-command-friction-20/ @Peregrine Command Layers - http://community.battlefront.com/topic/110861-command-layer-in-ai-battles/ The distance information can be shared vertically (chain of command). Voice C2: Up to six action spots, approximately 48 meters. If either unit is on Hide then the distance is reduced to approximately 16 meters. Close Visual C2: Up to 12 action spots, approximately 96 meters. This is also the maximum distance a higher HQ can fill in for a lower HQ. Example: Company or battalion HQ fills in for a platoon HQ and provides C2 to the platoon's fire teams. Distant Visual C2: As far as the unit’s line of sight. (In the experiment I had units in distant visual C2 at 40 action spots, approximately 480 meters before I stopped.) Radio C2: Entire map. In the WWII titles, CMSF & CMA - C2 via backpack radio is lost during foot movement. C2 is maintained during foot movement in CMBS. The distance information can be shared horizontally (directly between teams). Up to four action spots, approximately 32 meters. (Sometimes a team had to move to within 3 action spots) Can information be shared horizontally between teams from different battalions? Yes Can information be shared between two different HQs that do not have a common higher HQ? Vertically: No (With no common higher HQ there is no bridge for the information to pass over) Horizontally: Yes The experiment was conducted on skill level Iron in CMFI v2.0 Engine 4. I used two different US battalions on a custom made map for the experiment. The 4th US Tank Battalion on the west (left) side of the map and the 1st US Infantry Battalion on the east (right) side. A high ridgeline divided the two battalions. HQ units are blocked from C2 Voice, Close Visual and Distant Visual with other HQ units. At the beginning of the experiment no units of the 4thBattalion were in C2 with units of the 1st Battalion. An immobilized German Tiger and a destroyed Tiger were used as the OpFor unit to be spotted and reported. The Area of Operations (A/O) for the experiment. Note the highlighted scout team with no C2.

+1 Good job!!!

Wow, just a lot of good information and ideas in this post. I'm really looking forward to CMSF2. +1

This sounds like it could really be something interesting. I hope your able to make it work the way you want.

+1. Thanks for testing that @Mord. Interesting stuff. But now @Combatintman may use this against us in a future scenario .

No buddy Aid can't change a WIA (red base) to a walking wounded (yellow base). Buddy Aid will keep a WIA from becoming a KIA. However both KIA and WIA are counted as casualties so the score does not change. The AAR screen will count KIA and WIA separately but they are both counted as casualties for scoring purposes.

+1 I'm with ya brother!!!

I wish I knew how BFC would introduce a CM3. I assume someday they will have to. But what would be the setting of the first CM3 game? I really would not be to excited about starting over in the hedgerows and working through all the CM2 game settings again. Maybe if they continued to work back in time with CM3 and the early war games were released as CM3. Maybe a CM3 Africa Corps or CM3 Kursk. I would be more interested in covering new time periods with CM3.

Hmmm, okay. Maybe it didn't work out then. I would just test it myself but I'm trying to re-do the "C2 and information sharing" thread that Photobucket destroyed. He will eventually come along and comment........................

I think there was a work around for placing an IED in a building during scenario creation. Was it @Sgt.Squarehead who discovered it? If you placed the IED first and then placed a building on top of it. Only worked for the first floor. This is only possible when creating a scenario and is not something a player could do however. If I am remembering correctly. I tagged Sgt.Squarehead. Maybe he will stop by and tell us more about it.

I had the same reaction when I saw tank riders shooting from the back of a tank. Very cool. I made it part of my screensaver slideshow.

+1 Wow, what a cool video and winter mod. Thanks for sharing that.

In a Quick Battle you purchase IEDs and VBIEDs just like any other team. Then use them how you see fit including activating them. With a scenario if the scenario author gave you IEDs in your TOE then again you use them as you see fit within the normal game mechanics of course.

+1 Yep. I'm subscribed to both @PanzerPajamas and @Josey Wales. Both excellent videos. I was just re-watching the Palermo video yesterday.

This might work but the problem I found (I originally used Quick) is that you don't know where along the route the vehicle may be stopped by OpFor fire causing your troops to dismount. You have to place the troop movement waypoint somewhere and give it a movement speed. I generally place the troop movement waypoint on the destination. If the vehicle stops due to OpFor fire and the troops have Fast they are going to try to run the remaining distance. This may work if the vehicle stopped close enough etc. With Slow If they dismount, stay low and crawl away I think they are more likely to survive until the WEGO turn ends and I can decide if I want them to Fast, Quick Hide in place continue to Slow or whatever I think will work best. Trying to get them to survive until the end of the WEGO turn in good enough condition to still take orders is the challenge.

Very interesting. I've seen watermelons used but not balloons. Same idea though. Thanks for sharing. If you don't mind my asking what units were you in? I was 313 MI Bn. / 82nd Airborne 1983 -1987. Thanks again

If I understand the situation you are describing I think the reason the passengers can't dismount is because the truck is still moving. If you stop the vehicle the troops can then dismount. If you are playing in WEGO, as I do, you will have to wait for the turn to end before you can intervene and stop the truck. If the truck is panicked the best you may be able to do is relocate its movement waypoint to a safer area. If I think a vehicle with passengers may come under fire (or a tank with passengers) I will give the passengers a Slow movement order while they are still in the vehicle. So if the vehicle is stopped by OpFor fire in the middle of the turn the passengers will dismount, get low and move away from the targeted vehicle. Then at turns end I can intervene and give whatever the appropriate orders are.

No problem, my friend. Insightful questions and meaningful discussions are one of the ways that we learn. I would expect you, of all people, to keep people in a G2 briefing on their toes . Now, lets see how well I can tap dance around your question and run out the clock ........ . Mission / Parameter / Casualty: This counts casualties which are both KIA (brown base) and WIA (red base) also referred to as incapacitated. (And this is probably one of the reasons buddy aid makes no difference. KIA and WIA are separated on the AAR screen but counted the same as casualties for scoring) Mission / Parameter / Condition: This counts units that are walking wounded (yellow base), panicked (high level of suppression) and tired. The manual also says routed but that only applies to CMSF1 I believe (and has nothing to do with buddy aid). Casualties and Conditions are also described in the 4.0 Engine Manual page 86. Of course these conditions only kick in after a certain percentage (set by the designer) is reached. I did the experiments with a very low number of troops and no vehicles. I started with 10 troops and 100 points. At one point when I was using unit objectives I increased to 17 troops total with 10 of those as unit objectives and 1000 points. I set the parameters percentages so they would be reached easily. Parameter / Casualty is different from Parameter / Condition because they count different things. When I had all KIA I would get a Parameter / Casualty score on the AAR screen but no Parameter / Condition Score. When I had all WIA or a combination of KIA and WIA I would get a Parameter / Casualty score on the AAR screen but no Parameter Condition score. When I had only walking wounded (yellow base) then I would get a Parameter / Condition score on the AAR screen but no parameter / Casualty score. (Heavily Suppressed units would also show on Parameters / Conditions.) I also did something similar with Unit Objectives. Ten troops, no vehicles and 100 points. Unit objective only counted casualties. Didn't matter if the casualty was KIA or WIA. A casualty is a casualty and buddy aid did not change that fact. Buddy aid did recover some grenades and ammo though.

As a result of a thread over at The Few Good Men (FGM) gaming club I did some experiments with "Buddy Aid". Below is some of the information that was learned and shared at The Few Good Men. I did some experiments in CMBS v2.1 Engine 4 where I saved a game after taking casualties and then ceased fire and recorded the AAR results. I then loaded the save, completed buddy aid, ceased fire again and recorded the AAR results. The score did not change. 3 WIA, (out of 10 total troops) then cease fire. No buddy aid - 1 KIA, 2 WIA = OpFor Minor Victory 25 points. With buddy aid - 0 KIA, 3 WIA = OpFor Minor Victory 25 points. 2 KIA, 3 WIA, (out of 17 total troops) then cease fire. No buddy aid - 4 KIA, 1 WIA = OpFor Tactical Victory 45 points. With buddy aid - 2 KIA, 3 WIA = OpFor Tactical Victory 45 points. WIA (red base) can turn to KIA (brown base) from additional hits. Buddy Aid is one on one however a team can treat multiple casualties in the same A/S concurrently. A team administering Buddy Aid will recover ammo including ammo for weapons they do not have in the team. Buddy aid on KIA (brown base) was about 15 - 35 seconds. On WIA (red base) about 1 minute – 2 minutes 30 seconds. Casualties only disappear if they receive Buddy Aid. I tested 2 KIA & 2 WIA for 1½ hours game time. They never disappeared. Experience of the teams administering buddy aid did not affect the length of buddy aid or the amount of equipment recovered. Lightly wounded (yellow base) are not counted as casualties on the AAR screen. To share ammo recovered in buddy aid the medic team must be part of the unit (“highlighted” unit) needing the ammo. During testing on average about 2 grenades and 170 rounds of ammo were recovered per casualty. I know from playing the game other equipment (radios, binoculars, some weapons etc.) can also be recovered but I did not try for that in the experiments. WIA (red base) incapacitated wounded are not counted in Parameter/Condition but are counted in Parameter/Casualties. Buddy aid does not make a difference to the score in Quick Battles or in Scenarios. Buddy aid does not make a difference to the score in a Campaign. Buddy aid may only make a difference as a tie breaker in a CM tournament . If I got anything wrong let me know but as best as I can tell that's the way it works. A little disappointed that Buddy Aid has no affect on the score but I will continue to order my teams to administer aid. Seems like the realistic, correct thing to do.

One of the videos by Colonel Paulding at Armchair General. Hearing a retired Colonel talk favorably about Combat Mission and use the game to demonstrate real world tactics should impress him.

Yes, Stay alive. After the tank crew bails and draw their pistols (some also have an SMG I think) it will be like the OK Corral.............

They will under the right circumstances. Below is how I generally use engineers against tanks. I always split the engineers into teams. Make sure the team you use has a demo charge. Give the engineer/pioneer team a 360o Target Arc (not an Armored Target Arc or the engineers may not fire on the bailed out tank crew). Fast engineer team to within two Action Spots (16 meters) of the flank or rear of the tank. On their own the team will throw the demo charges at the tank. Prepare for the tank crew to bail out shooting.