Chibot Mk IX

Despite having played CMSF extensively, I haven't spent much time with CMSF2 yet. Based on my experience in CMCW though, particularly in 1979 scenarios in which some, but not all, of a US infantry squad may be equipped with NVGs (something like 1/3rd to 1/2 of the squad members have NVGs), I'd say that having some members of a squad equipped with NVGs gets you most of the benefit of having the entire squad equipped with NVGs. The squad members with NVGs can spot the enemy and open the firefight on favorable terms, with the rest of the squad soon joining the firefight as they spot the muzzle flashes from the enemy.

I'll post my progress on this campaign in this thread from now on. For those who don't know anything about this campaign, it was my second Red v Red campaign made for CMSF way, way back in the days of the release of the USMC module and its setting is a Syrian civil war scenario where some Syrian generals attempt a coup. The premise is that the coup is launched with thunderclap surprise and so rebel forces are put into action as soon as they mobilise. While a good number of divisions will 'wait and see', the regime has a number of divisions that are 100% loyal so the rebels are on the clock as the more time they take to accomplish missions, the more time the regime has to assemble its own forces to oppose them.
This means that time limits will be reasonably strict to reflect that pressure and so casualties are to be expected to accomplish your goals. However, the campaign gives you quite a large core force of which one company and support (usually tanks) is drawn to perform the mission.
One point is that some of these maps are very large and so it would seem like it's a bit of a stretch just to have a single company when a battalion would be better. For example,

A single company? To take THAT?! Are you HIGH?" And this...


In both these situations, the friendly forces arrive in small packages and so the action unfolds over time. My plan is not to change the nature of the campaign too much and keep the player's forces small and have lots of artillery support as well as as many 'cool' toys as I can find in the Syrian OB to play around with.

check this
 

check this
 

Not dedication, just automation. It's about 200 lines of code.

It seems that at least some Russians have come to similar conclusions about war as this forum:
https://www.armystandard.ru/news/2024129114-TnO1s.html
No comment really, except that we should not stereotype the Russian general staff as a bunch of drunks and incompetents stuck in the soviet past. They are learning, even if implementation is the hard part, not theory. 

I added a few Pz IV vs Pz IV duels using the same rules as described at the start of this thread. This time in CMRT, to enable tank riders.
 
Table 10. Effect of assisting infantry. Both AFVs are stationary on Grass. The infantry is a 3-man German Scout Team with binoculars. CMRT v2.11
Attacker
Defender
Opened up, no infantry [R7]
50%
49%
[R7] Opened up, no infantry
Opened up, tank riders
56%
43%
Opened up, no infantry
Opened up, infantry nearby
56%
42%
Opened up, no infantry
Buttoned up, no infantry [R8]
47%
49%
[R8] Buttoned up, no infantry
Buttoned up, tank riders
74%
24%
Buttoned up, no infantry
Buttoned up, infantry nearby
74%
24%
Buttoned up, no infantry
Buttoned up, infantry nearby
48%
51%
Opened up, no infantry
The assistance of infantry improves the chance of the attacker. The advantage provided by infantry is greater when both opponents are buttoned up. At this range (600 m), help of infantry makes the chances of a buttoned up vehicle approximately even against a vehicle with hatches open. It makes no difference if the infantry is on the tank as tank riders or on the ground nearby.

It was a thing in CM at one point, too
(It was a bit ... odd though, so better off gone)

Just saw a pic of the abandoned T-90M
In CM's language, it is:
Optics: X
CITV: X
Weapon control: X
Main Gun : X
 
 
the two bright flash in the video are the smoke grenades discharged from the launcher. So all the smoke grenades are gone too. And from the pic the smoke launchers seem to be taken a badly damages.
 

The 3D17 grenades are burning in the launchers then detonate inside them. That is not normal deployment for 3D17, which should be launched 50m up and away from tank before detonating.

Just saw a pic of the abandoned T-90M
In CM's language, it is:
Optics: X
CITV: X
Weapon control: X
Main Gun : X
 
 
the two bright flash in the video are the smoke grenades discharged from the launcher. So all the smoke grenades are gone too. And from the pic the smoke launchers seem to be taken a badly damages.
 

“Shrinking the map”.  It is one of the largest issues we have at this scale of wargaming.  One cannot employ the same map scales for WW2 in a modern title.  We will continue to work the artillery issue but the hallmark of CM games is tactical realism, maps will have to adapt.  In CMCW we pretty much pushed out to the outer limit of what the game engine can handle with respect to map sizes.  It wasn’t artillery that was the forcing function, it was ATGMs.  A system that can reach out 3kms with very high Pk forces a much larger map.  That, and Soviet formations needed room to manoeuvre.  As we move into more modern era, say CMBS, the maps will need to get even larger.  This reflects what we are seeing on the battlefield - dispersion and increased range and lethality per combat element.  I suspect that after seeing the Ukraine war unfold that CM artillery will be readdressed.  There is too much evidence of its effectiveness to ignore.  CMx3 will need to take into account much larger map sizes as a result.

They are targeting T-80BVM's Ammo rack, 
This trick probably doesn't work on T-72s
 

They are targeting T-80BVM's Ammo rack, 
This trick probably doesn't work on T-72s
 

They are targeting T-80BVM's Ammo rack, 
This trick probably doesn't work on T-72s
 

They are targeting T-80BVM's Ammo rack, 
This trick probably doesn't work on T-72s
 

They are targeting T-80BVM's Ammo rack, 
This trick probably doesn't work on T-72s
 

I didn't even read that link before trying it myself.
Yeah, you're 100% correct. Even the simple test I ran was... yeah... CMBS, midnight, Abrams tank one end of the map, a company of T-72s 500m further away, all tanks looking off to the left. The Abrams didn't spot a thing for half an hour. The moment I unbuttoned the Abrams though... the TC hadn't even raised himself to get his eyes outside the hatch before he'd spotted the first T-72 and had the whole tank oriented onto it. That was extreme, really hoping there'll be some improvement on that.
That's completely changed my outlook at least, I'll unbutton even the most modern Western AFVs unless I know for certain that the enemy will only be right ahead from now on.

Thermal sights provides benefits to the gunner but not to the commander. So I usually will also keep M60A3 TTS and M1's commander unbuttoned. For CMSF2 and CMBS, there are alot of AFV that have CITV and commander video , I will keep the hatch closed for those.
 
as for Soviets in CMCW, I would prefer to have T-64, 72, 80 buttoned, not only they fight buttoned-up but also the tree-men crew team will lose a lot of combat efficiency after loosing the tank commander.

Youtube video on normal speed of two Bradleys and T-90M engagement with English comment 
Just on 2:01 author mistakingly says "T-90M is detonating", but in comments other people write this were smoke screen charges, shot by tank.
 
After Russian tank has stopped on obstacle it was finished with FPV - Russian crew abandoned the tank (at the second half of video)
 

Often both sides have on position too few infantry (Russians, especially Z-stormers often havn't ATGMs and even enough number of RPGs) to supress it with artillery and mortar fire, wasting the valuable ammo, so better to move small armor group in flank of trench and supress the enemy with point blank fire. Combining with FPV strikes is possible if they avaiable. And then unleash infantry from "combat taxi". I bet Russian had on this position 3-4 men. 

Thermal sights provides benefits to the gunner but not to the commander. So I usually will also keep M60A3 TTS and M1's commander unbuttoned. For CMSF2 and CMBS, there are alot of AFV that have CITV and commander video , I will keep the hatch closed for those.
 
as for Soviets in CMCW, I would prefer to have T-64, 72, 80 buttoned, not only they fight buttoned-up but also the tree-men crew team will lose a lot of combat efficiency after loosing the tank commander.

Scenario depot:
https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/tsd3/cm-black-sea/cm-black-sea-add-ons/cmbs-ua-with-will-and-iron/
Situation
27th June 2023
Time 10.30 hrs
Mission time 30 minutes.
Weather Clear
Wind Light, From North
Ground Condition Dry
The Ukrainian army began offensive operations along the entire front. The 28th mechanized brigade covers the right flank of the 3rd assault brigade and must support it with its auxiliary attack across the canal near Kurdyumivka.
Mission
A mechanized platoon on BMP-2 must capture the enemy's first line of defense as quickly as possible. After that, the platoon must cross the canal occupy the enemy's defensive positions, and gain a foothold on them.
 

Michał Senajko summed him up well: The 8th of January strikes were aimed at Kryvyi Rih, Khmelnytskyi, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv. They used more ballistic missiles in the mix. Ballistic missiles can only be intercepted by Patriots and none of those locations is protected by them. There're only two Patriot batteries in the whole country. Your supposition that they got damaged or destroyed is based on nothing and amounts to disinformation.
That being said, I seriously doubt muscovites mounted this sophisticated attack only to hit blocks full of civilians. There were no credible  reports of AFU military targets in recent attacks excepts rumours about airports, but we may know about them long afterwards.

Roger that.
I opened the mission 3 yesterday. Yes, it is very open, I am thinking to advance in a column formation to the right then make a 90 degree turn change into the line formation, just like the good old Frederick era.  I will need a lot of smokes to ensure the safety of this maneuver.