MOS:96B2P

Another nice screenshot. The comment in the screenshot that the flamethrower operator almost barbequed his NCO leads to an interesting question. What is the effect when a friendly flamethrower hits friendly troops? Friendly tank fire, bullets (.50 caliber and larger), rifle grenades and bazookas will kill and suppress your own men. Friendly fire smaller than .50 caliber will suppress your own men, but not kill them. So what if a friendly flamethrower hits your own troops? Just suppressed or KIA? Is there a difference in effect between a man portable flamethrower and a vehicle flamethrower that hits friendly troops? I guess it is time for some testing. Unless our resident flamethrower expert Torch, I mean Heinrich505, already knows ……………

I did some looking around and noticed that if the Fireflys are part of the TOE of a unit purchased for a quick battle they have the tank commander. However if the firefly is purchased as a single vehicle no tank commander. I attempted a forum search for missing tank commanders but could not locate anything useful. Also, just curious, are you finding this in a scenario? I noticed your tank crew was assigned to an AI group. I am not very familiar with commonwealth TOE and at this point can't think of a good explanation for this especially since it seems to contradict the manual. Okay I finally searched the correct words. Seems maybe it is a bug. http://community.battlefront.com/topic/116946-sherman-firefly-crew-bug/?hl=firefly

This would be the best and most useful way to have the claymores in the game. However if this was to much coding etc maybe deploy them during the set up phase similar to a traditional minefield. The triggerman could be the squad that has the claymore in the special equipment area. (Maybe the team leader). Then unlike a traditional minefield the player could allow the two man OpFor scout team to pass by the location of the claymore but set it off when the main force enters the kill zone. Maybe engineers would have a certain ability to spot and disable them? Okay now I am just getting carried away..........

Thanks for taking the time to complete and post the AAR. Especially Lessons Learned. The Lessons Learned are generally my favorite and most useful part of an AAR. Did your opponent share any insights with you about the attack by your 1st Platoon Panzers? It would be kind of interesting to know from his perspective what he would do different reference that local attack that seems to have sealed his fate. I cut and pasted the following sentence from higher up in the AAR. When the railway station proves to be blocking the LOS into the designated kill zones, the panzers demolish it quickly with HE rounds from their 75mm guns. This was a very nice example of shaping the battlefield. I am looking forward to trying this out when I get the opportunity. Thanks again. Now that you got some experience in AARs you can crank out the next one in no time.

Units in Combat Mission Shock Force drop out of radio C2 while moving on foot.

Yes. I was also surprised. However, remember I was using a custom made map. The 480 meters I did the test on was daylight, completely flat, no trees, no bushes, no fences, no tall grass, no smoke, nothing at all to obstruct vision. Both units had no suppression, were not moving and were facing each other. I made this unrealistic environment to see how far "distant visual" could go. When I got to 40 action spots I decided that it was a long ways and stopped testing. As I think back on all the missions I played I don't think this circumstance happens very often for infantry who are usually moving quick, hunting or prone on the ground. Then add in all the cool chaos provided by a Combat Mission. So while it is possible for the very long "distant visual" C2 it probably does not happen very often.

The icons are: Johnsy's Floating Icons from GAJ's site. The Marder was originally a sound contact but the scouts also got a direct view of it from inside the west building. I don't think there is a difference in the look of the icons, I am using, between sound and what was once spotted. Below are screenshots between an actual sighting and sound / what was once spotted. Ian, Speaking of icons. I noticed the icons you are using in http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119230-allies-cmbn-buying-the-farm-crowd-sourced-dar/ The icons look kind of cool. Which mod is that?

I am happy to see you found the same results with the information sharing. Makes me feel more confident in my own findings. Speaking of radio C2, while moving on foot, I had the below screenshots from an older test. Units in Combat Mission's World War II titles drop out of radio C2 while moving on foot. But not in vehicles as Kuderian pointed out. Units in CMBS maintain radio C2 while moving.

Hey Lt., I forgot to mention earlier that the experiment was done on Iron skill level. Which is almost identical to Elite skill level. The below link has an entire thread with screenshots on the topic. http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119218-skill-level-iron/ There is no C2 indicator used for horizontal information sharing. Those indicators (the eyeball etc.) are only for vertical C2. The 1st Bn. XO moved to within horizontal information sharing distance (Up to four action spots) of the 4th Battalion unit. Soon after, the icon for the Marder was visible to the 4th Bn. unit when the 4th Battalion unit was clicked on demonstrating the 4th Battalion received the information.

This is a great idea and I think is the solution when you are commanding different units that don't share a common higher HQ. I was surprised how quickly the HQ teams used the radios to transmit the spot report. Cool game.

I finally got around to doing some experimenting with C2 and information sharing. The results are posted in the below link and include lots of screen shots. http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119474-c2-information-sharing/

1st Battalion HQ is not yet aware of the Marder II. Bravo Co. radios 1st Battalion with the report of the Marder. 1st Battalion HQ shows an icon 6 seconds after Bravo Co. received the report. (Again, fast) 4th Battalion HQ is not yet aware of the Marder II. Nine minutes later 4th Battalion received no reports of the Marder. With no common higher HQ between 1st Inf. and 4th Tank Battalion the 4th never did receive any chain of command (Vertical) reports about the Marder. Bravo Co. / 1st Inf. sent their XO Team over to 4th Battalion’s A/O to report. Bravo Co. / 1st Inf. XO came to within close visual C2 range (12 action spots) and reported the Marder & some friendly unit dispositions to the 4th Battalion team (Horizontal information sharing). The 4th Bn. team is selected and displays the new contact icons. Also note that the 4th Bn. team is in distant visual contact with HQ. In a minute or two the 4th Bn. team would have reported the Marder up the 4th Bn. chain (vertical) using distant visual C2. However the contact icon for the Marder was fading badly due to age of the Marder contact information. So I moved a radio jeep up. The 4th Bn. Team shared the information about the Marder with the radio jeep. The radio jeep passed the information to the recon HQ and then from there to the 4th Bn. HQ.

The scouts move to report to 1st Platoon HQ which still has no contact icon for the Marder II. The scouts emerged from the woods in close visual (the eyeball) C2 range of 1st Platoon HQ and reported the Marder II location. When selected 1st Plt. HQ now shows a contact icon for the Marder. Bravo HQ is not yet aware of the Marder II. 1st Platoon radios Bravo Company with the report of the Marder. Bravo Co. HQ shows an icon 7 seconds after 1st Plt. received the report. (That was fast) Additional to follow.

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 and several chronological screen shots from the experiment. If anyone can offer a correction or additional information please do. Additional useful information on the topic: Game manual 3.01 page 62 Command & Control. http://community.battlefront.com/topic/113787-can-somebody-answer-some-questions-on-information-sharing/ The distance information can be shared vertically (chain of command). Voice C2: Up to six action spots, approximately 48 meters. Close Visual (eyeball) C2: Up to 12 action spots, approximately 96 meters. Distant Visual C2: As far as the unit’s line of sight. (In the experiment I had units sharing information vertically with Distant Visual at 40 action spots, approximately 480 meters before I stopped.) Radio C2: Entire map. (In the WWII titles If a unit is moving on foot they will drop out of radio C2 during the movement) 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 to 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 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. At the beginning of the experiment no units of the 4th Battalion were in C2 with units of the 1st Battalion. An immobilized German Marder II was used as the OpFor unit to be spotted and reported. The scouts move out to locate the German Marder II. At 03:58:43 the scouts obtain a sound contact for the Marder II but they are out of C2. 1st Platoon is selected but shows no icon for the Marder II. Additional to follow.

The below is some of the information on IEDs from the CMSF game manual. CMSF also has car bombs (VBIEDs) IEDs: Improvised Explosive Devices (i.e. bombs). Three different types, in various sizes, are simulated in the game. The size determines the strength of the explosion and therefore ability to cause damage and casualties. The different types determine reliability as well as the distance at which the triggerman can be positioned. Wire – shortest distance (about 100m), 10% failure chance Radio – medium distance (about 300m), requires line of sight, 20% failure rate Cell phone – long distance (about 600m), 10% failure chance IEDs typically consist of the bomb itself and the triggerman. The bomb is placed during the setup phase like any other unit. Once placed, it cannot be moved again. The triggerman, however, can be relocated.

Combat Mission Shock Force has IEDs that can be command detonated and that is in the oldest game engine. So, claymores might actually be possible. Similar to a CMSF IED but instead of a 360 degree blast a directional blast.

I like this. This should be considered for the game manual.

The below link is to a similar conversation about direct fire mortars and contains a lot of good information. In fact posts both before and after the linked post talk about direct fire mortars and will probably give you useful ideas. http://community.battlefront.com/topic/119230-allies-cmbn-buying-the-farm-crowd-sourced-dar/?p=1605319

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.

Thanks for pointing this out. I did have some understanding of this concept from reading the Game Manual 3.01 page 73, which states in part: Spotters for indirect support weapons (as well as on-map mortars) are able to target areas slightly outside of direct LOS under certain circumstances. I thought this was only with a spotter/indirect fire and did not know it would work with direct fire mortars. I tried it out (not a proper test) and it worked. I had a fire team, a mortar team and a spotter all in the same action spot facing a ridge. The fire team could target about up to the crest at 112 meters. The spotter, spotting for the mortar team, could target 135 meters (approximately 23 meters past the crest of the ridge). This could be expanded further with the circular area target. The mortar, in direct fire, could target 161 meters (approximately 49 meters past the crest of the ridge). This might be very useful when defending or attacking a reverse slope position. I think I will do some more experimenting around with this but it will probably find a place in my mortar SOP. Thanks again.

Very good. This will make a nice starting point to develop my own SOP for using mortars (successfully) in the direct fire role. I'm sure I have been missing out on some tactical opportunities by my reluctance to use (and in my case lose) mortars in the direct fire role. Do you have any general guidelines (rules of thumb) for deciding when to use mortars in the direct fire role instead of with a spotter? Also are there any additional advantages to using direct fired mortars over indirect besides not tying up a HQ with spotting and (I think) the direct fire will FFE sooner since the middle man (HQ spotter) is not in the mix?

I have always struggled when attempting to use mortars in the direct fire role. As a result I mostly use them in the indirect role with a spotter. If I understand the above screenshot correctly you Quick the mortars through the woods and at the last waypoint gave them a Target command. Now with my luck the mortars would have trouble firing due to the woods the mortar team is still in. But those tree trunks look kind of lined up ... maybe the woods are more of an orchard? (I played this scenario but it was over two years ago and I don't remember all the details) So anyways I would be interested to hear any tips on using mortars in the direct fire role and also to see how Ian uses them in this situation.

LOL. Yes it looks that way and that was what I thought also. The destroyed bunker is actually selected in the screenshot and the "blood" is the modified red X marking the bunker as destroyed. The mod is Veins Base Markers that is available in the Repository. Looks like a blood spot for troops. For knocked out vehicles I just imagine it is the red transmission fluid that leaked out.

I think an On-Off toggle for topographic contour lines would be very useful. (Just like in my sig. line below) It would be very cool to be able to print out one of the master maps at a low zoom level (maybe 3?) and put all the sheets together (matching up the contour lines) to form one big 4x3 foot map (or whatever size that would come out to). It would be something like a military 1:50000 scale map. Grid lines could be superimposed with a piece of acetate. If desired other overlays could be used for, Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield (IPB), Modified Combined Obstacle Overlay, Operational overlay, Pre-planned fires overlay, situation maps etc. Then the various missions of a campaign could be viewed and tracked on this big printed out, contoured lined map. When it came time to take a screen shot, toggle the contour lines off. So yes, I like the idea of topographic maps. How much time effort and coding this would require I don't know. But one can dream.

Bunker Busting.