fivefivesix

My most recent attempt at the US airborne Market Garden campaign, second mission Grafwegen. Machine gun in the 3rd floor has a good angle down a narrow street, so I managed to get overlapping smoke to obscure LOS and safely move : https://imgur.com/UCUv3hO https://imgur.com/fIwXyMj Yet the MG still managed to hit 2 guys moving across. Is smoke modeled as wimpy as it appears in game? Admittedly ground conditions are given as "medium" wind, so the smoke is dispersing quickly, but I was hoping overlapping smoke columns would do *something* while they were there. If that is the case, how do people suggest to use individual smoke grenades in game? Or just not use them with any wind at all ... ?

Either it's an optical illusion or those railroad tracks appear to be gently curving as they head over the hill? I was under the impression this wasn't possible in the editor, is this a new editor feature or did I miss something?

I know that I would much rather face a mk4 than a stug, especially if my opponent knows how to manoeuvre it effectively.

Thats the nice thing about German, you can just mash together existing words until you have a new one that fits your intended meaning.

I have had reasonable success with the following: suppress building with heavy area fire from any available overwatching teams. If you actually need the structure to be standing (for future observation or base of fire points, etc), use light area fire from available AFVs. Otherwise, let the infantry teams send their HE at it. Do this for at least full 60 second turn (I play WEGO, this could be even further refined and the timing could be even better in real time). Then, for the following turn, change all area fire to "target light". Put a 10-15 second pause on assaulting team, then send them into the ground floor. OR, use a brief target for 15 seconds into the turn, with the assaulters going in with a 15-20 second pause, depending on how far they have to travel to get there. This should prevent your teams from being pinned / suppressed by friendly fire before assaulting. Any OPFOR that put up a fight inside the building are either fanatically motivated or have elite balls of steel, in which case you are probably better off just leveling the building and moving on.

Just to clarify, my experiences are purely from a recreational hobby that attempts to simulate (with varying levels of accuracy / success) military tactics. Someone with true hands on experience of the real deal will have a much deeper insight than I ever could. I agree, the game has some difficulty simulating combat within the type of environments you are describing. I know it has been brought up many times before, and it is something I would love to see improved. MOUT simulation in general is difficult because of the layers upon layers of variability that go in to any particular situation. There are hundreds of pages of manuals that dictate SOPs for real-life operations. I think what you are describing is the best work-around for what is available in game - heavy suppression of the building, then send assault team right up the front door, pause x 15-20 seconds while area-firing into building with assault team (to get grenades in), then quick move into building. It isn't perfect, and you still have to expect to take casualties (as you would IRL even with perfect execution). If you can, the best way into a building is by breaching a wall with no windows or doors - OPFOR can't spot you, and the breach will kill / incapacitate / suppress anybody inside as you move in.

I recently attending a force-on-force military simulation event, and had the opportunity to use simulation grenade pyrotechnics. While I had used them in previous events, this was the first time using them in a MOUT type environment, and it quickly became evident how difficult it was to lob them into buildings. The number of times I watched guys try to pitch them up into a second story window, only to have it bounce down the outer wall - I would not be surprised if it were strictly against military SOPs to try such a stunt with live munitions. Even getting them into a first floor window from any distance is a challenge. They can't quite be thrown like a baseball, they are not perfectly balanced, and accuracy really lacks when you can't get your hand "on top" of the object being thrown. Also, there really is no good way to throw a grenade from within a structure. You need clear overhead space for the arcing trajectory, which means exposing yourself to occupants of said building - probably more of a risk than is worth taking, given the low chance of actually getting the grenade into the building. That being said - when you have a position on the outer wall of a building (within the neighboring action square in game), pitching grenades through ground-floor windows is easy and brutally effective for clearing them out. So, anecdotally, it makes sense to me how it is currently represented in game. It also highlights the importance of organic HE such as rifle grenades and bazookas, which can much more effectively be aimed at specific weak points, such as a window.

Loaded up "A December Morning" - the off-map 81mm mortars don't have any UI icon when pulled up in my arty selection box. To clarify - the mortars can be selected, but the silhouette icon is absent. Is this normal? I remember other titles having icons for each gun / mortar available. Otherwise - this map looks amazing!

From an ongoing PBEM: my sharpshooter spots a prime target from his perch, beyond the American Sherman (that is wreaking havoc). As I take a closer look at his target ... it's an American sniper, aiming right back at him. Of course the turn ends with these two squared off in an ultimate long-range dual. Who will shoot first? Whose aim will be true? We'll have to wait for the next 60 seconds. One of those moments that makes the game incredible.

This comment truly stands the test of time ... carried forward 16 years to provide amusement for a second time. I'll mark my calendar, see you in 2032, when CMFB finally releases!

The primary advantage for having your mortars on map is for direct-lay fire. Probably more useful for the WWII titles, because you're probably correct that they wont last long once spotted by modern AFVs.

Thanks @gnarly ... I used a basic title screen in iMovie. It took some trial and error to get all of the text somewhat in line. As far as the text, I copied from one of the first google image results of "UAV feed". With a little more work it could be even more detailed, with all the various scales and targeting info added in. Its a bit of a pain because the title overlay is basically a text editor, so I don't think it is as easy as placing an image directly over the footage.

I'm starting up a new PBEM and was messing around with some short footage (I'm just now learning how to capture video from my screen). You can tell I learned how to get audio to go with it half way through. Anyway, put together a short clip (not very well) with some UAV action. Looks like something that could give some cool visuals for folks doing video AARs or even comic / screenshot AARs.

To be clear, I've also had a short membership over there and have yet to have anything but a good experience. Friendly and civil discussion for the most part. I'll also reserve judgment until the point I see such rhetoric, if/when it ever occurs. Now clearly the forumites are getting restless! As sburke said, back to CMFB.

Seriously? Its one thing to have the opinion that "Obama is a commie bastard". When people start glorifying Custer for killing native americans or post content that encourages or advocates for racist ideologies, there is a line that has been crossed. Doesn't sound like umlaut forced any opinions, and once being told to "not interfere" he effectively did ignore the forum, by leaving. But that doesn't mean it is wrong to point out that BS when you see it. In my opinion it is soft-skinned to observe those type of hateful messages, and continue to ignore it. Presumably that forum has some value as a wargaming site, so it is unfortunate that more people haven't been more vocal about it. So IMO, kudos to umlaut for not putting up with it.