HerrTom

I support a toggle for transparent buildings! Would make AARs easier and seems like it could potentially be easy to implement. I'd also like tree leaves to be included in the depth buffer like bushes and grass, but I assume they are not because of some transparency thing compared to grass? I'm not sure here but it should fix things like fire and explosions (and post process SSAO and other depth effects) from showing through trees!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Things are about to get bloody. But, for now... Not much happened this minute. As such, not too many pictures. A tank shell hits 5. Platoon's rightmost tank. The ERA does its job, but the explosion knocks out the unbuttoned commander. The ATGM teams on the right flank are deployed and spotting IFVs on the far bank. Unfortunately, one of 1. Platoon, 2. Company's BTRs attracts the attention of a BMP-2 through the smoke. The shells pound into the vehicle, killing the gunner and panicking the squad in back. More artillery rains on the far bank. Only time will tell how effective the bombardment was.

Not to mention doing this once or twice is going to use up all your ammo!

As far as I know, it's not possible to mod the core gameplay of Combat Mission. I think there's some "research" into changing models around, but nothing so far as AI or other gameplay changing mods. Balance-wise, it's up to you, the player! Shameless self-plug, but if you like explosions you might like mine: Graphics-wise I run with a lot of Kieme's work, and in some places I use Aris' textures.

1st platoon of 2nd company is making a run for the cover of the trees by the dachas. The ATGM team seemed to make it OK, so hopefully we can begin to stage the crossing. The ATGM teams on the eastern side have gotten into position and are setting up their weapons, while the one attached to the scouts is still trudging its way through mud. A shot flies through the air and strikes the remaining tank by the dachas. The ERA on its turret does its job, and the tank fires smoke and retreats to the path, covered by trees. ATGM teams make their way through the dachas and get their glimpse at the carnage unfolding across the river. They can already see a pair of BMPs sitting on the eastern side of the crossing zone. The Forward Air Controller hears the echos of explosions coming from across the bridge. He prays that he is safe here, out of sight (and hopefully out of mind from the Ukrainian artillery planners). 5. Platoon, 1 Company inches forward to the bridge, careful not to expose themselves too much to potential enemy fire. Meanwhile, 1. Platoon, 2. Company makes its dash to the copse by the dachas. 5. Platoon's lead tank spots a T-64 hiding by the bridge's escarpment. The gunner fires a well-aimed shell that smashes through the enemy tank's armour, throwing sparks and fire into the air. An artillery observer moves behind the ATGM teams by the bridge. An aerial view of the carnage. ATGMs have been streaking over my troops and causing some damage to the Ukrainians, but I'm not sure what they're hitting. There are definitely some more burning vehicles that will need to be identified!

Pegged some footage together. Still not satisfied and am experimenting around with some software and ideas in the meantime.

The ATGM group moving to the dachas made a slight detour to get better line of sight on the opposite bank. 2/5 has been essentially wiped out. More details on that in the following report. Overall, the plan has not changed significantly. The ATGM teams of 2/4 dismount and move into position to cover the crossing. The battalion's support tank fires on the newly spotted enemy tank. The shot slams into a tree, annihilating it. The enemy tank crew, however, fails to notice the close call. Another shot is fired, and streaks past the battalion tank. The shot slams into steel as another tank of 5. Platoon, 2. Company explodes in a gigantic fireball. The battalion's tank returns fire again, this time landing a shot right in the turret ring, disabling the lucky enemy. The last tank in 5. platoon explodes from yet another unseen threat. 5. Platoon, 1. Company spots the threat and fires, exploding another Ukrainian tank. 5. Platoon, 1. Company observes the destruction across the river. Reconnaissance troops move to the edge of the woods to identify any enemy forces on the bank opposite of the Razvedka team. Artillery fire continues to rain down upon the opposite bank. A couple of ATGMs have screamed overhead and impacted things on the other bank. No positive ID on the targets yet.

ATGM teams move ahead of the main companies, which stay put for the meantime to minimise exposure to enemy fire while the opposite bank is worked by artillery. I've filled out the map as best as I can tell where the main Ukrainian positions are. There are definitely tanks by the church, and what appears to be at least a platoon of BMPs on each of the clusters of buildings. The enemy is deployed very forward. My hope is to force a wedge through their defensive positions. Once the Ukrainians are on the move, they lose any advantage they had over me. One of 2/5 platoon's tanks moves into position to fire on the opposite bank. A tank round screams through the air and impacts its ERA, shaking the crew but not much else. A tank shot quickly follows and detonates the tank's ammo stores in an earth-shattering explosion. So far, we're not off to a good start. A battalion's worth of artillery is landing on Prydinprovs'ke. Clouds of smoke and dirt reach for the sky as a hail of steel lands on the Ukrainian positions. An aerial view brings the first salvo's destruction to light. 1. Company sits in column formation, ready to rush to staging positions to cross the river. --- I'm going to try to edit together some video from the first few turns to make something with a bit cleaner presentation than I've done in the past. This will take a while, but you can wait knowing that you'll get to see the terrifying artillery barrage!

I want to avoid confusion from the start of the original thread to this one, since it's technically a different scenario. Much is the same, but I'm doing it anyway! SITUATION Thanks to the successful battle and crossing of the canals near Pryvitnoe by 2nd Battalion, we have been tasked with exploiting the gap in the Ukrainian lines. We have one final barrier to cross before the total colapse of the Ukrainian defenses occurs on the southern flank: the river Dniepr. Ukrainian forces are dug in deep alon the major crossings near Kherson and 1st Battalion has encountered stiff resistance further north of us. Intelligence has identified a weak spot by the town of Prydinprovs'ke. This will be a tough one, since there is only one bridge in the area. We'll have to force a river crossing. Thankfully, the Ukrainian units have only just arrived and not had time to dig in properly. MISSION Our job is to cross the Dniepr and move troops further north to further stress the fragile Ukrainian defense. Thus, we have two main objectives for this engagement: 1. Cross the river and penetrate the enemy lines and continue to Kherson 2. Eliminate the defenders on the river crossing for follow on forces to continue at speed 3. Minimize casualties. It should go without saying that sacrificing too many of our boys will reduce the effectiveness of our crossing, and no one wants to write those letters. 4. Destroy SAM battery. Elements of the 208. SAM Brigade are in the area of operations. Take the site and destroy any equipment you can find. FRIENDLY FORCES Our 2nd Battalion, 18 Motor Rifle Regiment has the following assets in the area: - Reconnaisance platoon - ATGM platoon - Grenade launcher platoon - 2 combined arms companies - 3 platoons of BTR-82 mounted infantry (amphibious) - 1 platoon of T-72B3 tanks Support assets are as follows: - 3 platoons of 2S3M2 152mm howitzers, a total of 18 guns on call for this crossing - 1 platoon of 2S7M2 203mm howitzers, a total of 4 guns on call from the divisional resources. We're lucky to have these, so use them wisely. - 1 flight of Mi-24PN gunships from frontal aviation ENEMY FORCES Enemy forces consist of elements of the 28 Mechanised Brigade that our sister battalion previously faced at Pryvitnoe. These guys are tough, so be careful! PLAN There are three crossing points that we have identified. The first, and most dangerous is the bridge leading into Prydinprovs'ke. This is a long and wide open approach so should be considered only a last resort until the overlooking areas are cleared. The second and primary crossing point is Landing Zone Boris, across from the Dachas at point Elena. The dachas provide decent cover for the approach to the river and point Boris is a fairly flat area also covered by trees. The final crossing point is to Landing Zone Vasiliy. There is a narrow path up through the area, but it may be an unexpected direction. Tactical map to show the locations in the briefing. The objectives have morphed somewhat. Russian forces gain points for sending troops off-map on objective G, for destroying Ukrainian units, minimising own casualties and finally destroying the forces that are at the SAM site before they can evacuate. My plan is much the same as before. EXECUTION 1. Company (1-я pота) will approach the dachas along the western path through the woods in column. Upon reaching the buildings, they will deploy in line formation and prepare to cross the river. 5. Platoon (1/5-й взвод) will take position along the axis of the bridge to provide fire support. 1. Company will clear the riverbank and advance into the town proper to provide cover for the tanks to cross the bridge. 2. Company (2-я pота) will also approach the dachas along the eastern path through the woods in column. Upon reaching the buildings, they will also deploy in line formation and prepare to cross the river. 5. Platoon (2/5-й взвод) will advance alongside 1. Company and take positions near the dachas to provide fire support to the crossings. 2. Company will then advance past the buildings and threaten the SAM complex before continuing to Kherson. The reconnaissance platoon (Разведка) will advance through the dried creek to the west and prepare for their own crossing to the west of the bridge. They will form a distraction for the enemy, to disrupt the enemy defence as 1. and 2. Companies cross the Dniepr. They will then continue to cut off any Ukrainian movement to retreat to Kherson. The weapons company will deploy among the manoeuvre elements and provide a base of fire for each crossing. Once the main body is across the river, fire support elements will mount and make their own crossings. Once the area is cleared of heavy weapons, the tank platoons will storm across the bridge. FIRE SUPPORT Fire phases will be divided into three phases: DYNYA (melon) will initiate fire plans, with all batteries firing at designated targets with the objective of destruction. When the order to cross is given, fire missions will shift to phase YABLOKO (apple). Fire missions during this phase will be aimed at suppressing enemy ability to fire or manoeuvre to protect our assets as they cross the river. As our forces make landfall, fire missions will shift to phase GRUSHA (pear). Fire missions during this phase will be designed to cut off the defenders from reinforcements as they are run out of their positions. The organic 120mm mortars will be on call to strike targets of opportunity, and will be providing smoke for the crossing at fire phase YABLOKO. Upon fire phase GRUSHA, the mortars will fire on zones 112 and 113 to suppress defenders attempting to contain the landing of the recce platoon. 2 of the 3 2S3 batteries will be tasked with striking target zones 211 and 212 respectively, until fire phase GRUSHA corresponding with the crossing attempt, after which they will shift their fire to focus on zone 213 as forces approach the shore. The final 2S3 battery will be firing on zone 111 until fire phase GRUSHA, after which it will shift fire to zone 112. The 2S7 battery will be firing in support of the main crossing effort and will hit zones 211 and 212 until fire phase YABLOKO. The heavy guns will then shift to suppressing forces in zones 112 and 213 to prevent further reinforcements from engaging the landing. The pair of Mi-24s will be given free reign of the opposite bank, hitting any targets of opportunity the pilots can find. ---- And in a twist of fate that I'm sure will make @Haiduk happy - the bridge is actually a railroad bridge now! And for those interested in a play-along, I've attached the scenario to this post! There is no AI at the moment - H2H only, and I haven't a clue if it's balanced! An der Schoenen Blauen Dnjepr.btt

A new map for a bigger battle! I'm working on writing up the new briefing and plan. Took longer than expected to update the map here so that's all I have for tonight!

Sorry for the big long wait - my buddy is anything but reliable. 3 turns into the new, larger game now and I'll try to post an introduction tomorrow and start going through the backlog of turns to keep you guys updated!

Maybe I should package up my tool so we can all play artillery shell designer... It's all very interesting stuff! Good summary! Fragment velocity tends to be around 1/4 the detonation velocity, 1-3 km/s for Octol's 8 km/s detonation velocity. Fragments remain much more dangerous than the blast itself also due to being denser and hence retaining their energy better and concentrating it more than a detonation wave that will attenuate it's energy much faster! Man, I forgot about that white paper I was writing...

Maybe I should package up my tool so we can all play artillery shell designer... It's all very interesting stuff! Good summary! Fragment velocity tends to be around 1/4 the detonation velocity, 1-3 km/s for Octol's 8 km/s detonation velocity. Fragments remain much more dangerous than the blast itself also due to being denser and hence retaining their energy better and concentrating it more than a detonation wave that will attenuate it's energy much faster! Man, I forgot about that white paper I was writing...

Hey! Well... Probably...

I run on "better" settings at around 30 FPS (Nvidia settings helped a lot!) depending on the mission. I have i7 @ 3.6 ghz Nvidia 970M 16 GB RAM Game installed on an SSD. I haven't played CM on a different computer in a looong time so I can't really give you a good comparison. Good luck!

1. I see what you mean... I can see what I can do to play around with the fire and how it attenuates. 2. Not sure about the opacity - looks like it has a bit more area that's fully opaque compared to other smoke mods/game textures, but nothing significantly so as far as I can tell. Cartoonish up close? Definitely. I'm playing around with more subdivisions in the smoke simulation to add more small scale detail. We'll see! Should add more noise and variation, particularly around the edges. Wicked! I'm still trying to get the look back. I'll be sure to ping you when/if I get it in glorious high resolution!

Oleksander- but I think your green colour may be a wee bit too saturated. Might I suggest desaturating the vests by around 50% and slightly lightening it? Might end up looking more like this? The green just looks a little... cartoonish? I dunno. Looks like an overlay put in in post. Unaware of anything that would do that in-game.

I can understand that bit, for sure. I would not envy the person who hypothetically would set out to do that! What I'm really wondering is why that wasn't the case first - I guess hindsight is 20/20. Hope CM3 ends up that way!

I'm curious why BF goes for so many base games instead of putting everything in modules with a single base game or engine? I'm sure there is a good reason, but I agree, there are a ton of CM2 games now!

Kriegsschauplatz Deutschland is a fantastic (dry) read about Warsaw Pact planning. I can only find it in German though. This is my favourite one I've read - Soviet AirLand Battle Tactics by William Baxter has a good look at Soviet tactics all the way through the political element at the very top. He wrote it specifically to try to translate the Soviet way of thinking to Western military minds - I find it a very handy reference. The Bear Went Over the Mountain and The Soviet-Afghan War by Les Grau/Russian General Staff provide a lot of insights in how the USSR and DRA fought in Afghanistan as well as how they learned and adapted to fighting there. Red Thrust by Steven Zaloga has an interesting take on the Soviet Army through vignettes in a fictional war in Europe. He focuses on the weaknesses that Baxter also touches upon with the future of high-tech warfare that the General Staff started to worry about in the early 80s. I can hardly recommend only one of them, eh? Yup - I definitely get you. A focus on interdiction, disruption, and getting within the enemy C3I (at the time - isn't it C4ISTAR now or something?). Coincidentally, this coincides with a shift in Soviet thinking to an almost entirely nuclear-based deterrence - kinda like Nato had in the 50s! Brutal! Ukrainians only get a couple of BTRs though. I believe exactly that is one of the major criticisms of the MGS. The 105mm gun makes it too big to be air transportable like previously mentioned, so its strategic manoeuvrability is severely limited. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it also has been considered as somewhat a failure in its role, right? Hence the same argument being levied against the 30mm dragoon variant. I'm not convinced that the argument is a correct one, but it definitely has its strong points.

I admit, I'm faaaar more versed in Soviet doctrine than Western doctrines. Just read five books on it haha! Is that a new development? I understand the focus on counterattacking to maintain the initiative - but does this really make sense when your brigade is facing a division? On the attack, you lose practically all the factors that enhance your relative firepower. The Soviets focused on meeting engagements because they expected the war to be so mobile that units will be engaged before they reach their defensive positions, but that's conjecture on their part. I understand not all of Nato subscribed to Forward Defense by the letter, but the focus was definitely on delaying and spoiling. I'm vaguely familiar with AirLand battle - it focused on strikes throughout the enemy operational depth, right? The new doctrine for the new high-tech battlefield - and the one which disturbed Soviet planners greatly as it got implemented in the 80s.

Clearly going back a number of posts here - but most of the US arsenal was designed in order to maximise defensive firepower - mobility in the local area to be able to fire-brigade breakthroughs the Soviets made - but crossing natural obstacles tends to be a primarily offensive task. The Soviets put a large focus on it due to their experience in the GPW on the importance of water obstacles and associated engineering support on large offensive operations. I'm not super familiar with Iraq 2: Baghdad-ier - but were the Iraqis able to cause significant infrastructure damage on their retreat? I have a feeling the Army units were able to push so fast because the Iraqis weren't able to coordinate defense of bridges or destroy them before they were reached? Not really a direct response to you, but more ambling musings.

I don't speak Ukrainian - but I think it's Black Zhaporzhets (from Zhaporzhye) - Ukarine or Death. Edit: Bah! He beat me!

I think the most convincing argument against it is primarily that by continuing to tack on features you'll eventually get something that can't really do anything that the vehicle was originally meant to do. "A troop transport that can't carry troops. A reconnaissance vehicle that's too conspicuous to do reconnaissance. And a quasi-tank that has less armour than a snowblower, but has enough ammo to take out half of DC." Everything is a trade, right? The Stryker was designed with strategic mobility in mind. You can strap it into a C130 and bring it wherever you want, unlike a Bradley or a BMP. Does adding the 30mm cannon compromise that? Take the M1128 - isn't that too big and heavy to carry on a plane anymore? Maybe a 30mm cannon is a good middle ground. I don't know - but what does the trade study look like?

I'm pretty sure it is. Trust me, I'm a rocket surgeon! I think there are some fairly major technical hurdles to vertically launched ATGMs with the networking aspect. You think your WiFi at home is bad? I think while we're at it we should place TLAMs or Pershing 2s on them! Or that German tank destroyer with the TOW lifted on a boom... What was that called?