Chibot Mk IX

I guess this problem is much more troublesome to a 2022 Russian military compare to a 1982 Soviet military. BTG solved the personal shortage issue, but at the cost of cut off logistic units. Whole armor recovery/repair units are gone, so a damaged tank could be a permanently lose. in 1980's the fuel truck , ammo truck accompany division's movement under the protection of a Co or a Bn. nowadays supply convoy need to be organized at Army level , but where to find those BTG, who is responsible to protect the supply convoy. Guess there are alot of question a staff officer have to ask.

Bridge like that could take couple hours to setup demolish charges. Unless Ukr engineer groups have something very large, the best they can do is to knock a portion of bridge into the river. I doubt they can destroy the piers. Then the demolish team got to wait for approval to an demolish important bridge like this one. At the opening of the war , with Jamming, confusion and chaos everywhere. The guy sit in the command center could easily be cut off from a effective communication with the demolish team. And then a platoon size Russian Combat Recce Patrol roll in....

China has already got a similar one, HJ-12 - Wikipedia

hope both of them have good insurance coverage btw, I think the spotting in CM is too good to be realistic . It is broken!

I complaint this long time ago, hopefully battlefront can distinguish Thermal Imager working at Long-wavelength infrared with regular IR optics working at Near-infrared wavelength. on the other hand, many CMBS AFV has CITV (Commander's Independent Thermal Viewer ) on the info panel. That's an indication on if this AFV can see through smoke (and better to leave Tank Commander buttoned)

That's pretty cool, everyday learn something new. Do you have a screenshot for those events?

I won this as Russian in a PBEM. Talking from my memory, some details could be wrong. My original plan is to take the left route. I sneak the ATGM teams, RPG teams into a building on the left flank, also put two BTR-82A as a reverse. Everyone hold fire or hiding behind the buildings. Trying to use a Zergling rush to deal with UKR’s BMP-2, unhide and fire or move into a clear LOF simultaneously. But I accidentally found a different route, next to the left flank main road there is slope leads to the apartment buildings and the tower, infantry can climb it. I send out sappers to breach the wall first, then breach the building, move one room to another. I occupied all three apartment buildings. That cut the distance to the BMP-2 into half. Then a RPG-7 shot from the apartment kills the BMP-2 (or maybe it is the ATGM fired from a two store building in left flank, I can’t remember). Anyway kill the BMP-2 makes a clear breakthrough. I advance from building to building under careful over-watch. Then I occupied all the VP in the center, hit ceasefire , won the battle as Tactical victory.

In FCRS (Flashpoint Campaigns: Red Storm) a wargame that feature Brigade/Division level operations in 1989, Soviets player can still triumph NATO player with carefully planned artillery bombardment, keep well spaced, rested echelons in high combat readiness, determined to send out 2nd echelons to explore any breakthrough. But that’s an operational wargame. The game itself is balanced with devastating artillery effects and exaggerate numbers of Sov Tanks that can fire tube launch ATGM. I agree in Combat Mission scope, a 1989 timeline will bring a tremendous challenge to Sov player. Soviet’s land force looks formidable in 1982 On the other hand, Soviets air power and sea power in 1982 have the largest technology gap with NATO.

Yes, +1. Not an expert but I think modern day Russian Army adapt to a totally different operational doctrine. It’s no longer an Army look for deep battle, but focus on border conflicts/ skirmish.

I have question on how this was handled ? I have concern this brings some variations into your testing and project their own unique influence on the result. Drifter Man’s “Some tank duel tests (CMBN)” found out that the stationary side has a huge spotting advantage compared to the moving side (Table #3)

Thank you for testing this. For a long time I suspects the ERA blocks create a magic force shield around AFVs, but never bother to do a testing on this theory That explains how come a Bradley IFV can survive two 122mm direct hits (from scenario "Galloping Horse Downfall")

Sorry my friend, I am not downplaying Putin's ambition. I just feel a smart guy, an evil smart guy like him will not make a bold move at this moment. An engineered crisis to sow the seeds of chaos, distrust among NATO members, and later trying reap some fruit from negotiate table is one thing. A bold attack while at least some of the NATO members have commit into UKR defense is another thing. He is going to wait, wait for Xi and Biden make their first move in Pacific. Or maybe Modi make some unwise decision in Himalayas before election. With US's resource be fully committed into indo-pacific theater, Putin should have enough room to make a maneuver on UKR front, that's include the a full scale invasion option.

a better translation would be 3 Mr. Nobody

Yes, good to hear things are cooling down. No one wants war, but the tension in the air, sometime can be beneficial to countries that face the threat of internal struggle. Sometime it can even be even profitable. Maybe the leaders from both side were conspiracy together to use this crisis to short selling global stock market Here is another reason why I think at this moment the war will not break out , quote from Putin back in 2019 Putin is a smart guy.

Yes, Range could be a factor. Most of my case are long range engagement , >500m. Some are greater than 1300m.

Below is position # 4, waypoint + area fire points to German's left flank # 5, here you have a LOF to German's center and right flank

Lower front is definitely a week spot. In CMRT, 100mm and 122mm can easily penetrate this part <1000m. A little OT. I know there were some discussion before. People says TacAI is aiming at the center part of the AFV. I have noticed that in dozen cases a fully exposed KT or Panther received first hit through a penetration on lower front hull. This cannot be explained by lucky shots. My feeling is TacAI intentionally aiming at the weak point. Of course this is just my impression from dozen cases, it needs some more testing to confirm this is true.

Thank you all. Sorry, I should press 1 , go down to a ground view level. I will do an unprofessional terrain analysis later in this post. I played five more turns. Things changed. First, my inf plt ambushed by German inf, I brought up a plt of T-34 to support the inf but that drag me into an unwanted tank gun duel with part of German right wing and the forward defense Panzers. In the end I was lucky to pull this off. Trade one T-34 with one Pz IV, I was really really lucky. Then, another reinforcement show up , that’s unexpected , I blame the vague mission briefing. German has their reinforcement too but overall, I have better reinforcement. Now I have 2 IS-2 (late) + 2 IS-2 (mid) + 34 T-34/85 + 5 SU-85 + 5 SU-122 + 98 smoke rounds + 96 152mm artillery rounds. vs 23 Pz IV + 5 Nashorn + 3 (possible 4) Jagdpanzer IV 75mm/L48 version. The increased tank number makes me favor option 2 more. Because option 1 gives a very narrow funnel route to get into fire position. I have 48 AFV here. It’s over crowded. Any small mistake could cause a terrible traffic jam which leads to my tank forces be sent into firefight in piecemeal. Anyway, domfluff thanks for your thought, the map is flat like a frying pan. There is a crest on the map. I marked in orange. Pass this crest and you will have visual contact with German. With CM’s black magic that makes MK1 eyeballs to see targets behind trees , 30+ German AFV firepower can be a remarkable welcome party. Here is the view from position 1, forward Pz IVs are in a prefect reverse slope defense position. You will have to deal with both forward elements and main defense line here. Position 2 , it appears to be concealed by trees , but you know this game can generate some unpleasant surprise . Anyway , part of German force have a clear LOF on this position. 2.1, turn left from position 2. Here you have good flank shots on German forward elements. If you can accept a hail of fire from the main defense line. 2.2, this is the planned river crossing point. Behind that the flood plain/mud terrain is the narrowest part on the map. That's good because I can’t afford a whole tank co. bogged in mud. 3, an excellent place to flank shot forward elements. But the avenue of approach is to narrow, I will assign only one tank plt here. (I will upload the ground view from 4 and 5 later, can’t find the screenshot. They must be on another laptop.) So, here is the updated plan, I will delay the final attack for 20 more min. The 152mm and 76mm needs FO team, and there is only one FO team on the map. It takes 19min for 152mm to target Nashorns. As soon as the fire mission confirmed I will let FO team start the 76mm smoke mission. Hopefully 152mm barrage will kill some if not all the Nashorns. IS-2 will lead the attack. Hopefully they will absorb enough 75mm APC rounds before some lucky shots find IS-2's weak points on the armor plate. With gentle wind, 76mm and 82mm smoke should last 5-6 min. It is highly unlikely that I can make two T-34/85 tank co. cross the river in less than 5 min. I have to accept a long-range duel. Must win the first fire fight fast, then wait for the smoke disperse, win the round 2 fire fight.

Old Chinese proverb says : “three Stooges top one Zhuge Liang” OK, guys, looking for some advice on this scenario. This is the third mission of campaign Regaining The Initiative. I achieved a tactical victory in mission 2 , so that brings me to mission 3A Romistrov's Onslaught. Well, how to say this mission 3A…. If this battle happens in real life I will curse General Rokossovsky for the rest of my life (and probably I will be shot by NKVD in two hours ) . All I want to do is to finish this scenario asap, go back to mission 2 , suffer a defeat and goes to infantry focused mission 3B. Bunker cleaning mission might be easier compare to a head-on clash with elite German panzer force. Here is the map. After 40min recon and skirmish battle with German screening force I have a clear pic of battlefield now. I am facing 24 Pz IVs plus 5 Nashorn. There could be more panzers just arrived battlefield as a reinforcement, my IL-2 is shooting something at the map edge. ATG is a concern. German Panzer’s main battle line is about 1300m away from Soviets planned jumping out position, their forward defense position is about 500m away In next 1 hour I have to defeat German Panzers, cross two rivers, reach the mission objective at the far end of the map. Oh, yes, forgot to mention that there is a huge flood plain between two rivers. There is no way around. To achieve a breakthrough. I have a IL-2, the pilot randomly shoot things on the map , I am disappointing to see the cannon rounds fail to penetrate anything but the same time I am glad he has not mistaken my T-34/85 for Panthers so far. I have total 31 T-34/85s (lost one during skirmishing battle) , 5 SU-85 and 5 SU-122 (short barrel one, not ISU-122 with long guns). I also have one recon infantry co. one rifle co. and one SMG co. Fire support side I have 3 section of 76mm guns/82mm Mortar. Their HE are low, I spent a lot of ammo on suspected ATG position, later try to use mortar to kill Nashorn but didn’t achieve any hits. They have total 98 rounds of smoke rounds left. One thing for sure, I cannot move my infantry units any further, they will be slaughtered in the open field by 75mm cannon fire. I must use tank force to lead the attack. I don’t have enough smoke to cover the whole front. So I must use smoke to block part of German Panzers LOF, jump out of my position defeat the other part of Panzers. Then next step can be flexible, I can either wait for smoke to disperse, winning a long range shoot out game in round 2. Or cross the river, mud, engage the Germans at close range. Question is: Where I should drop smoke ? Wind is gentle , from west. That means it is upside down blow smoke from German position to Soviets. Option 1 Use smoke to block the German’s right wing. Smoke barrage marked in RED. My tank force concentrate on the left wing, defeat the German forward defense and part of the German left wing defense (circled in BLUE)? The smoke should hide my force from 5 Nashorn’s LOF Or Option 2 Drop smoke on center right, block German left wing plus Nashorn’s LOF. Soviets jump out through three different directions and trying to defeat German right wing plus the forward defense first? Which one is better? Thx

in theory, laser guided should be more accurate than GPS. CEP less than 1m to couple m vs CEP >10m. But as you have already mentioned , LGB needs a prefect condition to achieve its high accuracy. Costwise GPS is more favorable

Yes! Russian side lost two T-72 to AT-5 in the same turn. it looks like the ERA tiles are still there

when reviewing my game replay, I found this : My BMP-2 aim its 9M113 at T-72B3's front, but the missile hit the rear turret (guess it's top rear part) . I understand this could happen with certain ATGM's flight profile . Still want to share because this is so rarely happened in modern CM titles. CM Black Sea AT-5 ATGM hit T-72B3 rear turret part 1 CM Black Sea AT-5 ATGM hit T-72B3 rear turret part 2 The weird thing is , I cannot find the hit decals (I have Mord's hit decals mod installed)

upload a save file should be helpful. If my memory is correct, I experienced a weird laser guided ammunition issue before, it was very similar to the one you have just experienced. It is possible caused by a hull down target.

I hope a "target med" button can be added in future update So to a modern IFV, "target" means ATGM has a higher priority, "target medium" means use the auto cannon or grenade launcher. "target light" only fire coaxial mg.

Thank you Kohlenklau Just finished BARB The Double Zug Hug. What a fight ! I achieved a total victory in the end but to be honest I just come out as the lucky one on the battlefield. However the cost is still very high. 2 Panzers lost (one unrecoverable lost, ammo cook off, all hands lost. One lost gun and 3 crewmembers), 1 Panzer heavily damaged.