Chibot Mk IX

The remaining PzG Infantry put up a fierce resistance but it is fruitless.
 
 
 
and after another 15min of fight, German AI surrender
This mission has a bug on VP , hey I am not tactical defeat here 😀
 

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

This seems to be an appropriate thread to post the following musings. Obviously things didn't pan out the way I expected them to and work on both Hasrabit and Retribution has stalled.
Hasrabit is getting there but I have to admit I haven't enjoyed these missions nearly as much as I thought I would. They're just too damned hard and that's not fun for me any more. One hard mission in a chapter is fine but not all of them and that's been my problem, there are too many hard missions.
The new opener is a cakewalk if you do it right but if you don't, it's a nightmare. I'm not going to change that as it should be obvious what the commander in charge is supposed to do. However, the new 'Ambush' mission is proving really tough to win. I've added air support to the mission but it takes absolutely ages for it to come in and that's not fun. I'm losing this mission quite badly and often during play-testing so the difficulty has to come down. By how much though?
Strong Stand is finished and it's reasonably difficult but you get a LOT of fun toys to play with so I'm going to ease up the mid-game difficulty a bit and that's a day. The initial entry to the map will be challenging but that's fine by me.
The new Guards Counterattack is a beast. I've redone the AI attack plan and it's much more challenging now, so much so that I've removed a whole mech company from the AI OB but it's still very hard to get a win so I'm going to have to ease up the difficulty here.
Hill 142 is in a very strange place. The original was in a very bad condition so I've reworked it and now it's really tough to win. The trouble is that I'm struggling to find the hook for this mission, the feature that sets it apart from the others. It just feels meh to play.
The Barrier is another weird one but I have found the hook. I just need to get the AI working properly.
Now, Buying the Farm is my current favourite of the new missions but boy is it TOUGH. I really need to scale back the difficulty here but I want this one to be a bit of a stinker. But not frustratingly so. This is my chapter stinker and it's at the end of phase 1.
Silence the Guns is probably fine as is and so done but I will need to add more time as it's a bit too tight.
Heavy Metal is kind of stuck - I made an all-new map for this but that means that the original AI plans are lost so I've reverted to the old map and improved it so that I have at least the rudiments of an AI to work with.
Sadara is in a similar condition to Heavy Metal - I've improved the map considerably, especially the town outskirts which look really good now but haven't done any real testing yet. I expect it will take a while to rebalance but the original AI still works and just needs to be improved. This is the Guards finale so it can be a stinker.
Finally, we come to the finale, Hasrabit. I've greatly expanded the original map and reworked the town so that it resembles its real world counterpart. Like the previous two mission, no real testing has been done.
So there's till quite a bit of work to do on this but I'll get through it after I finish the Montebourg rework or at least while I'm doing it but Montebourg is the priority for now.
As for Retribution, we'll see. I'm finding Red v Red a bit too slow when using artillery and air strikes and I've grown to love them both in Gung Ho! and Montebourg. It's a nice idea and I've got some really good maps for this short-ish campaign and I haven't done anything with the Syrian Airborne formations so I'd really like to do this eventually.
Now, let's touch on Dinas. I'd really like to revise both my earliest campaigns to take advantage of the changes to the game engine and if I real the community correctly, Dinas is a very popular one so I really should revisit it.  That will be a massive amount of work to do so it's later next year at best. But having just finished making up an new core unit file for the Scottish Corridor and importing and placing all the units, I know how much work will be involved. Dinas has a nearly a regiment of core units and some of the actions are huge so placing is going to take a lot of time.
And that brings me to artwork - both Hasrabit and Dinas are completely fictional, as in the maps are all made out of my head (except Strong Stand and Hasrabit which are real places in Syria). I will have to redo the artwork for these campaigns completely as the original is definitely a bit naff now. Working with GIMP is okay now but it's certainly not fun for me so this is one of the things that deters me from working on this.
So that's where I am with this. It's not forgotten. I just don't enjoy playing and testing really hard campaigns any more and just want to have fun while facing a reasonable challenge. After all, the REAL difficulty comes from the accrued losses in each mission over the span of the campaign.

@The_Capt
This is video of Feb 2023. Kherson oblast

Yeah I don’t understand how the US hasn’t basically said ok, we’ll supply 1m small drones a year to Ukraine. Buy up all FLIR Lepton production, etc, make it happen. It’s not like we cannot manufacture things, right? The problem is in Shenzen, all the manufacturers are right there, in the same area. We have nothing like that for electronics anymore.
EDIT: And Jetson SBCs, obviously.

Russian Su-24M, which tried to strike Odesa oblast likely with gliding bombs was shot down by UKR AD near Zmiinyi island. The bomber was covered by Su-30M. Destiny of pilots is unknown, Russian resque An-26 is flying in crash zone, but in cold winter sea chances is almost zero, if pilots wasn't captured by Zmiiny garrison.  
Fighterbomber TG already confirmed. 

Aftermath of R18 night bomber raid from Russian point of view (there was a video of "Magyar Birds" with this strike). Near Krynky two newest ATVs were detsroyed. Russia ordered in China 1590 "Desertcross 1000-3" ATVs. Many of them likely got new formed 104th air-assault division as well as other VDV and Spetsnaz units. 500 already in service and other 1090 will come in first quarter of 2024. "Magyar" told these ATVs are enough maneuverable and very suitable for forward positions logistic 
Desertcross 1000-3. It can carry up to 550 kg of cargo or 9 men (can be placed in front of cabine, in cabine and in the body. ). 87 h.p. engine, maximum speed 80 km/h, range up to 250 km. it can overcome fords 0,4 m deep

I am cleaning my hard drive to free up space, and find the turn that this good wee Stummel was in action.
I captured the village and began the river crossing immediately. The Stummel hiding on the high ground made me pay dearly for my impetuousness.
One T-34/85 and two squads of tank riders destroyed.  One damaged T34 is abandoned. 
He killed another T-34/85 (with damaged weapon control) in a close range gun fight a couple turns later.
 

Drones and EW still evolving...

https://armyinform.com.ua/2023/12/01/zahyst-vid-bpla-u-minoborony-dopustyly-do-ekspluatacziyi-novi-zrazky-okopnoyi-reb/
(per NoelReports)

In the conditions of modern war, the high intensity of use of enemy UAVs, aviation, missile weapons, the role of EW specialists is difficult to overestimate. Our soldiers in advanced positions desperately need reliable protection from swarms of Russian drones. We are talking about modern developments of the so-called trench EW complexes.
As the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant-General Ivan Havrylyuk, informed ArmiyaInform, the Ministry of Defense, together with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, completed the testing of tactical means of radio interference to barrage ammunition and FPV drones, developed by domestic enterprises, which confirmed their tactical and technical characteristics in conditions of use close to to combat Currently, these tools are recommended for codification and registration as standard items of supply for the purpose of further supply to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At the same time, it is planned to test a number of tactical means of radio-electronic combat against UAVs and UAV detection means in the near future.
Among the systems that were recently put into operation by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine is a radio-electronic warfare complex, which is used to combat all types of enemy UAVs, capable of suppressing control signals, GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and Beidou satellite navigation data transmissions, as well as creating a variety of false signals The complex has a passive system of detection and direction finding of drones.
Currently, two more samples of domestic "trench EW" systems are undergoing codification in the Ministry of Defense. We are talking about a complex that will counter Russian Lancets and a complex that will protect against enemy FPV drones.
 

There seems to be a series of strikes going on targeting Russian air defence assets in and above Crimea, possibly following on the damage done by the freak storm.
I've observed before here (and I am far from the only one) that retaking both banks of the Dnpr river mouth, preferably as far in as Oleshki Sands prior to a ceasefire seems quite strategically important to Ukraine, as it not only puts Kherson out of tube artillery range but somewhat lessens Russian ability to interdict shipping out of Odessa and Nikolaiv.

This terrain is infantry country; marshy (is it true the Ukes can also reflood a lot of this area if they want to?) and road poor. It also lies at the exposed far left end of the Russian front, and is hideously difficult to resupply and support.  As we see....

Any RU defence would need to rely heavily on air power. Sytematically degrading their AD network seems like a nice first step, especially if Ukraine fields F16s this coming spring.

He is single-handadely going against all wise guys on this board already for third page, let's respect that at least.
 
Meanwile, let's prepare the ceremonial peace pipe as real Indians do...by communally watching dirty movies:
 

You got a point, just like I said , I would recommend not to peek into that scenario to avoid spoilers.   And yes, to have a fair play is important, sorry to hear your story.
 
This 3rd round scenario has been sit in my hard drive since 2017. I opened it several times , purposed a deployment plan but never hit the red GO button. But I am pretty sure some of the tournament players have played this scenario before.  

IMHO, in most of CMCW scenario it is not worthy to have a riflemen to open fire for target >400m. In that particular scenario, you will receive a warm welcome from a hail of 14.5mm + 7.62mm x 54R. Let your .50cal on the M113 , ATGM and ICM do the dirt work. Let the infantry focus on the recon and observation. 
 
That is the philosophy of assault rifle, to adapt to the Mechanized warfare.     In mechanized warfare age the IFV/APC is the backbone of the mech. infantry squad.       A 30mm autocannon's firepower equal to 2-3 infantry squads' FP. 
 
And that also goes to the question if L1A1 is a better rifle compare to M16 > 400m? The answer is No, >400m it is the work of Grenade launcher, HMG and Mortar, etc
 
In an ideal situation, after the duel between Artillery, mortar, tank gun, autocannon, HMG,  dismount infantry just needs to mop up the remaining enemy hiding in difficulty terrain, engagement range is <200m.
 
In that Dollbach Heights scenario (I was playing the 1979 campaign), the only time I wish my scout team would have a battle rifle is that I have identified an RCL and an ATGM team in the treeline. Fear the loss of the M113 I don’t want to bring them forward, and ICM is busy with the bombardment of the targets on the road. The distance is about 700m , I wish I have a M60 MMG team in a deploy mode but I don't. Guess what, I let the scout team share the information with the commander of ATGM plt. Bring my M150 forward, area fire a TOW on the contact icon , reverse back to the woods and,  job done.
 
That is also the theme of most of the CMCW scenario. Engagement between infantry weapon is a side show. I am in my US 79 campaign mission 6 right now, engagement between infantry only happens in Mission 2. The other missions my infantry never got a chance to fire their M16….

Or convert into drone's air dropped bomb.
Feel like this is from the same batch reported back in Sept 2022. It says that batch of 60mm was donated by Albania, captured by Russia in May then recaptured by AFU during counteroffensive.
 

Or convert into drone's air dropped bomb.
Feel like this is from the same batch reported back in Sept 2022. It says that batch of 60mm was donated by Albania, captured by Russia in May then recaptured by AFU during counteroffensive.
 

Or convert into drone's air dropped bomb.
Feel like this is from the same batch reported back in Sept 2022. It says that batch of 60mm was donated by Albania, captured by Russia in May then recaptured by AFU during counteroffensive.
 

Pity I don’t have the money to start a toy company that sells an autonomous drone swarm as a toy or something with a poverty version of the nano hornet or something similar. Maybe DJI will do that in a few years.

Post translation:
 
The Ukrainian Armed Forces use tactics with master UAVs for FPV. FPV with a heavier charge refers to the mother drone at maximum distance and height. After which the FPV “disappears” and flies towards the target. The mother drone also acts as a repeater. This way the drone saves battery and flies over a longer distance + the weight of the warhead increases.
 

UKR using Drone mothership to drop off a group of FPV drones closer to  AO. 
How long before thus used against the BSF, or at large scale for next UKR offensive.. 

FYI a direct hit from 81mm/82mm mortar can kill thin skin IFV/APC like BMP, BTR and Stryker.  I just had a Marine spotter kill a BMP-1 with 81mm mortar. 
155mm general rounds' close miss will degrade the tanks' tracks and later immobilize it. On the other hand a direct hit will not degrade the tracks, but can kill most of the T-series tanks. Just some time the ERA blocks will absorb the impact of 155mm (I know that's absurd, but this is CM) 

I am using the CMSF 2 as a showcase here as I just noticed this trick during my USMC campaign.
 
As you know, CMx2 only allow one arty spotter to request one fire mission. Unless it is the deployment phase, a fire mission request during the game will block other arty assets. For example, the spotter team #1 request the 155mm arty mission, and you cannot select the 120mm mortar. 

 
However, if we select the spotter team #2 , click the requested arty assets (showing busy) and click "go to the spotter" that brings the unit panel information back to spotter #1.
 

 
 
And here is the trick, although other assets says, "Spotter busy", nothing stops you to select these arty assets to issue a new arty mission. The spotter will do the spotting at two different locations and later these two missions are successfully fire for effect. 

 

 

 

 
 
This is a bug , I guess?

In the game I would prefer to use General for targets in a forest. The tree branches and foliage provide too good cover in CM.  In CMBS I called a laser guide 120mm mortar shell air burst mission on Russian squad hides under a tree. The result? only 3 light injured. 
 

If no precision munitions are available, a shell with a "Quick" or "Point Detonating" fuze would be fired. The other choices would be "Time" or "VT" (Variable Time). Those two are airbursts and wouldn't have much effect on tanks unless they were all unbuttoned (unlikely for Soviet and Soviet client armor formations). 
When an FO makes a call for fire, he identifies the target - "Tank platoon in line"  "BMPs in road column"  "Infantry company in the open"  The Fire Direction Center uses that description to decide what and how many to fire for Fire for Effect. The adjusting rounds, if any, are always Quick, never airbursts, unless the adjusting rounds are lost in heavy woods and an airburst is needed just to see the adjusting round (rarely but it's possible to do). 
An FO can request a specific FFE, but it's the FDC decision. They are the ones that know how many of what type rounds are on hand, and have a better handle on the overall situation - priorities, what's happening to adjacent units, etc.
In game, I think what you see is no air burst, just ground bursts, which is "Quick" fuzed rounds. If you select General, or Personnel, you I think get a mix of both, although I'm not much of a SF2 player. The munitions in each case are the same. Just the fuze is different. 
Precision rounds are a whole 'nuther story. 😀

Dave

Smoke + TTS = happy hour! Would that be a valid real life tactic to hide yourself behind smoke and snipe advancing tanks? Works for attack so... feels a bit wrong/gamey! 

3,000 thanks to everyone for all the great discussion, debate and invaluable experience and knowledge shared over the past 18 months.  God bless the Ukrainians.