HUSKER2142

I don't think I would want to see this coming down the street

I was looking through my old screenshots folder and couldn't remember if I had posted these anywhere.
An advancing Soviet rifleman stopped to take a shot with his Mosin at a German AT gun across the street.

 
The view from the gun:

 
The gun fired and the shell flew through the wooden fence, between the guy's legs, then through the front door of the house behind him, and then finally exploded against the opposite wall. The shell was flying mere inches from the ground.



 
That was one lucky bastard! The gun crew was not so lucky considering what happened to them a few moments later. I thought that was one of the more unusual shots I've seen in these games.

BTR-82A (BTR-82AM), got a thermal sight, after 7 years.
https://btvtinfo.blogspot.com/2018/07/82.html

While researching for the above kit, I discovered this:
That's one seriously rugged tractor! 

I dunno, but I can do the red one already:

Sweet (but not inexpensive) kit.....Gonna build mine towing something heavy out of the Rasputitsa. 

I think it will be interesting to know. A brief retelling of significant changes in the military charter of RF army (analogue of Field Manuals US army). You will not find the updated combat statutes on the net.
https://pereklichka.livejournal.com/1421025.html

We really need these:
Presumbly they can be ported over from CM:SF2?  How about Uragan & Smerch while we're at it? 

It can take some time to acquire ammo and equipment from a vehicle.  One of the things that I found can help is the use of a two man scout team or AT team.  I split a two man team (scout or AT) off from the squad.  Now this two man team can be used to acquire ammo for the rest of the squad while the squad can remain on line fighting.  Also the two man team is small enough it can get in most vehicles to acquire the needed ammo.  After acquiring the ammo the two man team then returns to the same action spot as the rest of the squad.  The game automatically recombines the teams into one squad and distributes the ammo among all the teams.  Next turn you can split the squad back into fire teams.  The teams / squad will distribute ammo and continue to shoot while recombining however there will be some danger while all the teams are bunched together.  
 
Below are some screenshots taken from CMBN reference acquiring supplies from an ammo dump. While the time period is different and does not involve a vehicle the concept is the same with a two man team getting supplies for the rest of the squad.  (Just ignore the C2 reference. That was for a different topic.)
 

 
 

 
This method still takes the same amount of time but it keeps most of the squad in the fight and the two man team will almost always be able to get in the vehicle to acquire the needed ammo.  Getting that two man team sent off in a timely manner to acquire the ammo is also important.  Hope this helped and gave you some ideas.
 

American 82nd Airborne Division again received armored vehicles
https://www.snafu-solomon.com/2018/10/68th-armor-regiment-airborne-lives-again.html

I dont think itd be syrians with cooler tanks. BS is hard because the quality of weapons and advances in tech but also because its near peer enemies. Yes you lose some sensor lethality but thats drastically outweighed by the MASSIVE numbers and "total war from the gate" mentality a WW3 vs the SU would have entailed - nevermind the SU was in an infinitely stronger position than Russia ever could be even after a win in BS. Soviet tactics varied amongst higher quality units especially and arent as cut and dried as popular opinion or indeed you depict.  CM:A shows low quality Russian troops and its hardly just human wave attacks.  Also the diff WarPac countries fought differently with the East Germans being considered especially fanatical.
In fact you give me several hind Ds, arty support, a couple plts mized of T72s and T80s along with a guards motor rifle regiment battalion group and give someone else some AH1s, Tows, XM1s, Bradleys, etc along with an equivalent US sized group..and we got very heavily contested fixed air etc, I bet Id give any Western player a run for their money. In the 80s air to air was pretty close together the west pulling ahead, but especially on the ground the parity wasnt as marked at all. It took about 10 years for the abrams to really mature and until.mid to late 80s before the US helo fleet even had enough apaches and blackhawks for those to outnumber Ah1s and Uh1s..
Same really goes I feel for an attack on West Germans or British units. The smaller battles CM covers would be very interesting and really could go either way. Of course strategically after a few days the West probably would have been overrun and itd have gone nuclear. But you could easily make a CM game with modules initially only covering that few weeks in hypothetical.time.
The nuke thing is another reason why I like the mid or late 40s (47 or 48 Airlift crisis) idea too. Of course for WW3 tac nukes could be used like insanely heavy bomber attacks (i.e. McNairs demise on day 1 of Op Cobra 1944) are figured tobhave just happened with the appropriate moonscape. Maybe add in some nbc models and penalties to troops fatigue etc etc. Add some effects to make a more desolate nuke scape for eaxh type of map i suppose. 
Or simply the game could cover WW3 until nukes occurred. In the 80s besides the immediate start in 45 the Cold War had the best chance not to immediately go nuclear and perhaps at least last until one side or another began really losing, or a couple days or weeks. Just as likely not, tbh one of my earliest memories of my life was my dad explaining if the bad guys come I shouldnt worry about it because it.d end very very soon. I thought he meant we.d kick their ass didnt realize he meant we.d be vaporized probably by a spetnaz nuke or something. ( lived in West Germany, USAF officer dependent 85 to 91)

So I did a stupid little research on the most interesting NATO Cold War vehicles, their production and service years:
M60:   1960-1962
M60A1: 1962-1980     
M60A2: 1969-1975 ... 1981
M60A3: 1978-1983 ... 1997 (phased out by US Army)
M1 Abrams:   1981
M1A1 Abrams: 1985
M2 Bradley IFV: 1981 ...
M113: 1961 ...
M163 Vulcan:  1968 ... 1994
M551 Sheridan: 1966 ... 1996
Leopard:     1965-1970
Leopard A1:  1975-1977
Leopard A2:  1972-1973
Leopard A3:  ....-1973 ... "End of the Cold War"
Leopard A4:  1974-1976 ... 1989
Leopard 1A5: 1986-1992 ... 2003
Leopard 1A6: 1986-1987 ... Prototype only, .
Leopard 2:   1979 ...
Flakpanzer Gepard: 1973 ... 2012
Marder: 1971 ...
It seems that the most interesting time period would be shortly after 1981, with the M1 Abrams, the M2 Bradley and the Leopard 2 becoming available.
I guess this is common knowledge for wargamers, but I had to find it out for myself.
Best regards,
Thomm

In the war on Donbas about 30 % of all AT-4 launches failed because of lost of control over the missile or because missile even didn't get out from container. Expired term of using... So such game modelling has a sense.

In response to my discourse on CoC anbout Panzer Grenadier tactics, one of my gaming colleagues informed me Bren carriers were used similarly. After expressing confoundment, I asked for a link. Back came highly refined grog gold! This Australian training film may well fundamentally alter your understanding of the combat capabilities of a UC. Sure did for me, to the point where I was practically gasping aloud. This is my new gold standard in WW II period training films. The wee beastie shown has a Boys in the firing port, as well as a mortar and a Bren above and behind that part of the AFV. Prepare to fundamentally revise your understanding of the UC's method of operation.
 
Regards,
John Kettler

For 10 years of military service, I felt the transition period of the army and all the delights of reforms.
I understand people who are in favor of a professional army. Those whose standard of living is high enough do not want to "lose" time. Those who are timid, afraid of army difficulties. Those who want to find a job more profitable. But I also understand that it is necessary to change something in the soldier's training system. Restoring the initial military training in schools and DOSAAF is a necessary step, but just a step. The state should stimulate young people with a large number of benefits after military service. I don `t know what to offer for soldiers on conscript, I am against conscription, I know that there is money for a fully professional army. But I definitely know what to offer for those who served in the army for 3 years or more.
1) A decent salary for those who are now serving.
2) Such people can be offered a fully paid education in any university in the country.
3) Tax benefits in accordance with the years of service.
4) Free travel in public transport after 5 years of service.
5) Social benefits for the family.

I read here that you discussed the minuses of military service under the contract. Yes, there are many of them.
1) The most obvious minus of military service under the contract is the need to risk both your health and your life.
 Many of my acquaintances in the civilian liberal views of the fact that our army nowhere should be at war. The army must fight only when an external enemy attacks our country. I came across some servicemen who do not want on business trips, they say - "I DO NOT WANT, I WILL NOT". At the same time, they do not understand that the contract for military service says nothing about the fact that they have the right to choose their place of service and with whom and when to fight. The state decides where and when to use the army, do not want to fight in Syria, do not sign a contract. Or go to politics and restrict the use of the army abroad.
2) Limitation of personal space and freedom. Not every person is ready to obey orders and unconditionally fulfill the requirements of the command. There is no democracy in the army. For this reason, 20% of people who signed a contract for military service, it is torn in 2-4 months.
3) Not standardized working day.
4) Family. 50% of marriages fell apart due to the fact that the wives did not like the new place of service of her husband. Imagine you are a year where next to a major city in an hour's drive, and then you are told that you are sent to a place where there is not even a mobile Internet.
Luckily, I did not marry for the entire service time.

A little humor....😎

@BTR
Other military vehicles for military schools.
When I myself studied at a military school, my teacher told me that in  92's. he studied BMP-3, but he was told that they could be seen only 20 years later. It's ironic that it happened, they began to enter mass army after 2010.

As a static object must be required.

The action per se may not be all that exciting, but as a look at the nits and grits of operating and maintaining tanks, it's quite educational, with late model Abrams, the LeClerc, Challenger II and Leopard A5s(?) on show. There are great opportunities to hear engine sounds and cannon fire unhindered. One thing I particularly noticed is that the Abrams tanks are green, but the CROWS are in Desert CARC, making for a somewhat odd appearance. There's also some coverage of the tankers doing retrievals and MOPP IV ops.
Regards,
John Kettler

A little humor....😎

Hello,
I had pretty much given up on CM back in 2016 for various reasons and mostly lost interest in anything CM related as well. The announcment of CMSF2 has brought me back somewhat and, coincidentally, I am currently learning a new programming language. So I decided to write a little application I had wanted to write even way back then, which can extract scenarios from campaign files so you can look at them in the editor or edit them. Mad Mike's ScAnCaDe is a great tool for parsing scenario files, extracting campaigns and visualizing scenario and campaign metadata. However, it does not work with the 'legacy' CM games Shock Force 1 and Afghanistan. Also, who knows if Mad Mike is still around to update it anymore for future versions. He did a great job deciphering the various campaign file formats that have existed throughout CM's lifetime and much of what I did is based on his groundwork (which involves a lot of staring at hundreds of rows of bytecode and figuring out which bytes stand for which variables), so credit where credit is due. And while according to the devs you should be able to play any old campaign in CMSF2 out of the box, now you can also extract the scenario files from these campaigns and update them to the new engine standards, even if the original creators are now longer around.
I decided to focus on the extraction part and didn't bother with any of the metadata listing and visualizing. The tool should be able to extract any campaign file from any CM game so far and should also work with CMSF2 once it's released. I originally wanted to extract every bit of information required to also recompile the campaign from the extracted data without any further input, but that proved to be more difficult than I anticipated because some of that information is compressed or decrypted within the campaign files and I have not found a way yet how to extract that. This includes the campaign victory/loss texts and the complete core units and campaign briefing data. Maybe I will manage to add this at a later point. For now the scenario extraction works really well however, but I need some feedback from others. I don't have any CM games installed currently besides Shock Force and thus have only been able to  thorougly test the CMSF stock campaign as well as many campaigns downloaded from the Scenario Depot. So if anyone finds a campaign that does not work, make sure to post or send me the error log file that should be created. Usage of the application is as simple as it can be, just put the .exe file in a directory that contains any number of campaign files and start the executable.
 
uncam-0.9.zip

A little humor....😎

A little humor....😎

@AtheistDane
For such a short period of time it is impossible to create a tank, T-54 in the series went after 5 years, T-64 in 15 years. At the same time first tank was created in the years of WWII and after the war time, and the second tank during the Cold War, which could grow at any time during the hot phase. I can conclude that nowadays it takes more time for the future serial tank. And secondly, as it was already said, modernization better justifies the combined environment, while the modernization potential will not be exhausted.
I myself spent a great time on BMP-2 as a gunner, and then platoon and company commander. The combat vehicle needs to replace ammunition and sights that meet modern requirements and it will get a second wind. Battle module "Berezhok" as an example of possible modernization.
 

@AtheistDane
For such a short period of time it is impossible to create a tank, T-54 in the series went after 5 years, T-64 in 15 years. At the same time first tank was created in the years of WWII and after the war time, and the second tank during the Cold War, which could grow at any time during the hot phase. I can conclude that nowadays it takes more time for the future serial tank. And secondly, as it was already said, modernization better justifies the combined environment, while the modernization potential will not be exhausted.
I myself spent a great time on BMP-2 as a gunner, and then platoon and company commander. The combat vehicle needs to replace ammunition and sights that meet modern requirements and it will get a second wind. Battle module "Berezhok" as an example of possible modernization.
 

Western tanks were designed to hold the Fulda. They're heavier, bigger and designed with ergonomics in mind. They were to hold out as long as they could, focusing on the anti-vehicle role. Disable as many Eastern vehicles as possible, in order to slow them down.
The Eastern tanks were designed to be dropped off at the front lines by rail and race through Europe, taking as much land as they could. Dug-in infantry and fortifications would have to be quickly defeated. They needed a lighter, smaller and more disposable tank with an HE focus.
What's the Armata designed for? Parades, mostly. The greatest success stories in weapons' history took years of improvements. Armata needs to get tested, prior to serial production and, even more so, prior to adoption. It's not being tested. What are they going to test it on? What is the pressing scenario that requires the deployment of the Armata?
Since the reveal of the Armata, the requirements have changed. Their military has becoming smaller, and more focused on fast, decisive, intervention. It seems that for "colonial" duties, the last century's tanks are doing the job and getting constant experience and improvement.
Armata saw little else than being on parade for a few years. Meanwhile, T-72s are still rolling around at tank competitions. They're easily shipped to allies, which have the logistics and training for them. They are rolling around in horrible environments, supporting infantry and smashing buildings.
When the geographic and socio-economic factors change, they'll need to come up with a new tank. I doubt that it'll be the Armata.