gnarly

That's it for tonight ladies.. tomorrow I will complete my analysis posts and then get into my tentative plan for this action.  Sleep tight!
Bil

Back around April 2019 I got first wind of the still-unnamed cold war title. I quickly threw together new rural Germany mountains horizons, hastily reskinned CMSF2 T62, then brought it into CMBS as a 'proof of concept' test. The response was 'Dang, this could actually work!' These are the very first screenshots from the very first test of what would eventually turn into CM Cold War.
 

Falklands War...

The expansion & modding options for this game will be enormous, with just a couple of modules it could almost certainly handle the USSR's adventures in Afghanistan and all the way back to to America's involvement in Vietnam, and almost everything in between, including the Arab/Israeli wars.
PS - Suffice it to say CM:H&E will almost certainly be getting a rebuild.

Flares will date it to the 1970s then 😏

modelers take this camo science always way to far:
http://www.ak-masters.com/app/tut/MERDC.pdf

google:


don't worry. 0% change it is s-korea...
 

This is a great way to start the day! Modern warfare with near equal forces and no javelins. 

Oh My Gawd!  Is that 1980s CM??  So like Red Lightning, or as someone said Fulda Gap?  What was that game I played in the mid 80s?  -- Reforger 88, that's was it!  Early Gary Grigsby work.  Loved that, and Norm Koger's Red Lightning.  I am calling if CMFY for F-k Yes!!!!
I am ready to pre-order

 
 

Do I spy an M60/M48 In the far treeline? Is that DPICM I see raining down on the red hordes?
 

Change out 'AI' for another 'hoo-man'....   ;D

Below is a link to a similar thread you might find interesting.  
 
 
Below are some general notes on artillery:
To fire indirect on map mortars must be within close visual C2 (12A/S) of their COC or within voice C2 (6A/S) of any authorized HQ,
     XO, FO team or within 2A/S of a radio equipped vehicle. (Off map mortars always have their COC & C2) 
A requesting HQ, FO, & some XO teams do not need a radio, COC or C2 to make a request for arty (field telephone abstraction).
Rank determines ability (authority) to access arty (that doesn’t require an FO).          
As long as the CO is alive a HQ can always request and adjust artillery even without a radio or C2. 
Some XOs can call in artillery and mortars.  This includes tank platoon XOs.  The tank platoon XO is normally in Tank #1.   
Only off map artillery/mortars have delay option & have it the entire mission.  On map never has it (including during pre-planned setup). 
When an arty/mortar mission is delayed the UI continues to display the delay time even after fire is adjusted making it seem the
    adjusted fire will take longer than it actually will. 
Off map arty/mortar ammo count shows total available rounds & of that total x amount may be fired as smoke or precision.  
Preplanned fires can be plotted anywhere on the map and do not require TRPs.   
FFE times, in the support panel, are rounded to the nearest minute. This can make elite, crack & vet. appear to fire at the same time.   
In WWII titles there is no difference in the artillery call times between a backpack radio, a command vehicle radio, a Bn. and a Plt. HQ.  
Command vehicles only improve arty support response time in CMBS.  (Did not test this for CMSF2)
Experience is the only soft factor of arty/mortars (on&off map) that effect FFE times & accuracy.    
In WWII titles personnel airburst rounds must be requested during preplanned bombardment or in range of a TRP to work.
In CMFB a (VT) equipped asset can fire personnel airburst rounds anytime without a TRP.  
A vehicle radio with a mortar team Section HQ gets quicker FFE times than relaying messages through the Mortar Platoon HQ. 
If an on map mortar is stuck in spotting (never fires) it probably only has WP rounds left which can only be fired as a Smoke mission. 
Generally the closer the arty/mortar is to the target the more accurate it is.      

From scenario "The Road to Wiltz".
My troops arrived on the West Hill just seconds before the americans arrived. When they American troops showed up just behind the icy hedgerow at top of the hill they were greeted with a blast of Xmas bullets and Xmas shells. In minutes the three US assaults squads, their leader, the support machine gun team and the flamethrower team were images of the past whilst my 81mm mortar artillery barrage was torning apart the defending team on the East Hill as my other assault team on this side was cautiously progressing under the cover of the dark woods. Meanwhile my paratroops had met with the americans tentative to out flank my West Hill assault. The US tentative surprise counter attack was brutally stopped by their unpleasant encounter of my paratroopers and a support 105mm howitzer tank. The three US tanks also met rapidly their fate when the bravely showed up in front of my ambushed tanks. In less than 25 minutes all was packed with a minimum of casualtiesand 30 US survivors surrendering.
A great scenario and a very pleasant stroll to town. This night we will sleep in town.

Just seems to be some extra ammo on the A team of the Scout/Sniper platoon's squads regardless of weapon selection in the editor.  This isn't always apparent, as several options give the squad a mix of 7.62mm and .50cal rifles, and when you split those the appropriate ammo goes with the appropriate team.  However, if the squad has only 7.62mm rifles or only .50cal rifles, then the A team has some extra ammo of the opposite type.  I will log it.

20 years of CMx1 and CMx2 WWII (and other WWII) games also.
Of course, the UI looks completely identical which is a comfort, but I am sure that I have been thrown int the deep end of the pool.  (Despite that the same US voice actors are used, "Take a look at that!")
However does one get up to speed on modern combat tactics?
Any resources anyone would recommend?
Yes, I did play Steel Beasts back in the day, but it was a different animal.
Thank you!

Some brief, unstructured thoughts:
 
Broadly speaking, ATGMs are like better versions of AT Guns. They're similarly hard to see, and they're countered by many of the same things (mortars and HE fire). They're a lot faster to set up and remove, so you can shoot and scoot with them, and probably should.

The increased lethality means that you do need to relocate more often. A revealed position can often come under effective mortar fire within 5 minutes (regardless of which side you're talking about). Some US formations with crack FOs and the right equipment can reduce that to more like 2.

With modern stuff in general, it's a lot more important to read the manual. The difference between no night vision, night vision, and thermal optics are huge, and it's not easy to see from the interface - you have to do some research to really understand it. The manual is a good place to start, and wikipedia is your friend.

C2 is significantly improved. Drones take this to a whole different level, especially in black sea, but information sharing is a lot more efficient. The empty battlefield will fill up with spotting contacts fast. This is the primary strength of the US Strykers.

Basic infantry and tank tactics remain the same across periods. Everyone's got better equipment, and increased firepower, but the fundamentals are identical. There's less margin for error in the modern titles, because a single chap with an AK can give a squad a bad day.

IFVs are a mixed bag. The broad concept of the BMP is that it's shifting a large proportion of the squad's firepower into the vehicle. That makes the squad's firepower and headcount fairly anaemic by itself, and coordinating well with an IFV is tough. The same applies to blue IFVs, but to a lesser extent. Pretty much everyone has transport of some kind.

I too am looking forward to that - I've always felt that this forum has been severely lacking threads discussing the merits of whether a T-34 should have shed its track on such a such piece of ground at such and such rate of movement with such and such experience levels in such and such weather conditions.

Since COVID quarantines began, I've gotten interested in wargames again, remembering my dad playing them on the dining room table on weekends (he and his friends played Tobruk, for example). Saw lots of interesting stuff, but not much for a Mac.
Then I rediscovered Combat Mission after reading reviews on sites like wargamer.com. I had one of their games years ago, called Beyond Overlord, I think? I recognize the visual style and turn-based format.
While playing the demo, I felt like this was the best kind of wargame for me, a lot like the old bookcase wargames. I'm having a lot of fun trying to learn my way through it. I was never good at wargames, but I like 'em anyway. So I'm glad for eye candy and cool sounds, and I really, really like being able to play back the turn again and again, looking at it from different angles. I wish I could save the whole battle, when it's over, and get one huge replay file of the whole thing.
That's probably my favorite part, the ability to rewind time and see what happened from almost any viewpoint... so I dug out a USB controller that's made for video editing (mostly), a Contour Shuttle Pro, and set it up for CMSF2. Now that I can turn, pan and zoom the view more easily, I am enjoying the game even more. I'm liking the real-time based option, too, but mostly turn-based. I am enjoying YouTubes by Usually Hapless. Amazed at the details and the activities of all my hapless pixeltruppen.

This is what I found compiled:
BUTTONED SPOTS BETTER:
Here is a possibly incomplete list of vehicles that spot better while buttoned all the time (but only to the front of the vehicle).
M1A2 Abrams
T-90AM
BM Oplot
M2A3 Bradley
M3A3 Bradley
M7A3 B-FIST
Khrizantema
Tunguska
I don't know for certain, but I think it very unlikely that vehicle crews have night vision goggles, so nearly all vehicles should stay buttoned in low light conditions.
 
UNBUTTONED SPOTS BETTER:
Recon-specific M1127 Stryker with LRAS3
 
Regarding spotting problems:
This is what I found recently in CMSF2 (not sure if same issues in CMBS):
 
 

No, Javelins were missing constantly when fired in particular compass directions.

I have no issue with AP rounds producing casualties among infantry, but they should be less effective, not more effective, than HE - otherwise there would be no point in having HE in the first place. In addition, the effect should be consistent across all guns. There is no reason for the U.S. 57mm AP to be this effective, while the British 6pdr AP, fired by essentially the same weapon, has little effect against infantry.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/urhq87zg150h03v/atg%20test.bts
Under the link above you can find a (hopefully) more convincing test setup with the following guns:
U.S. 57mm ATG firing HE - for reference U.S. 57mm ATG firing AP British 6pdr firing AP British 17pdr firing AP U.S. 76mm ATG firing AP U.S. M10 GMC firing AP German 5cm PaK38 firing AP German 7.5cm PaK40 firing AP German 7.62cm PaK36(r) firing AP You can select any of the guns and give it a target order to open fire.
The test shows all U.S. and German guns in this setup can produce numerous casualties in the 50-100 m radius from impact with AP rounds. In contrast, the British guns have hardly any effect, and the effect is local to where round has hit. So it's not just the 57mm ATG - it appears to be common all U.S. and German guns, but not British guns, in CMBN.
One doesn't get to see this often because AP don't get used against soft targets often.

That's a possible explanation for the difference. I don't have great references for ammunition but apparently U.S. 57mm guns had both solid shot and APHE, whereas British had only solid shot. The game isn't clear about what is what, calling both just AP.
I would just recommend that BFC check if the numbers for the AP effect and blast radius against soft targets if it is what they intended. Even without extensive testing - and I can do some serious testing when it comes to it 🙂 - I can see they are of the same order as HE.
And for the players, keep this in mind for next time when your opponent's AT guns run out of HE. You may get an unpleasant surprise.

Not a cartoon character then? 😉

Textures and sounds are all you can edit.

As I mentioned on A Few Good Men, CMSF2 will teach you very quickly "Only Fools Rush In".  You get schooled pretty quickly in these games.