HerrTom

Well, it's damn near unanimous! If given the choice between Afrika Korps and Early War Europe,  Fulda Gap would win!
 
Mord.

Thank you! First step to this is not to have forgotten about this for a year... Crunch time at work always ruin good things!

Actually Fulda Gap is just a generic term.  What is the first campaign I'd like to see done in CM... errrr….. Group of Soviet Forces Germany - would be First Clash on the Canadian 4th Mech Bde Grp. 
Love that book

LMAO! You guys are so predictable. We made it to one answer before it devolved into off topic wars.
 
Mord: What's your favorite color?
Poster 1: Green
Poster 2: Fulda Gap!
 
Mord: What's your favorite food?
Poster 1: Pizza
Poster 2: Fulda Gap!
 
Mord: Who's your favorite porn star?
Poster 1: Fulda Gap!
Poster 2: Michael Emrys!
Mord: Steve, Emrys' made a sock puppet...
 
Mord.
 
P.S. Come to think of it, Fulda Gap does sound like a German porn actress.

I wouldn't complain haha!  I think @TheForwardObserver would deserve one too, for without him I wouldn't have even thought to do this.
 
Thanks for the kind words, though.  I haven't forgotten about this!  Just got a bit busy what with work and dogs and a different personal project in translating portions of a Soviet textbook.
A little teaser of the next module I'm working on to better present the data I've assembled:

And, perhaps the best way to compile all of this thread in an easy-to-read way (still very WIP)

I admit my nomenclature here was confusing.  What the plots say is that if you take the largest fragment present in that space at 0.1 per square meter, you'll need 30mm RHAe to protect against it.  Increasing that desired density will bring the contours closer to the shell impact, and lowering it will bring the contours further out.  It's really a cross section of a 4 dimensional surface
Perhaps a better way of explaining it is that with the 0.1 fragments per square meter density, a 10 square meter, 30 mm thick, RHA target at that location will see (on average) 1 perforation per shell.
This is one of the weak points of my presentation.  I'm scratching my brain trying to figure out how best to present the data I have, and haven't been able to come up with a better way.
Edit:
Perhaps this will be a bit more enlightening, John:

This plot shows the actual density of fragments greater than 1 gram as they fly away from the impact site.  If it lands directly on you, every square meter will see 1,000 fragments hit it.  Then, by around 10 meters, there's only 1 fragment greater than 1 gram per square meter, and so on.  So to reiterate the above, I specifically looked at what fragment mass can I look at such that the density is always .1 fragments per square meter greater than a certain mass.  I hope that makes sense  
Pretty much.  I calculated the plot by taking the maximum penetration calculated at any point at that radius from the shell.  If you look at the contour plots and look for the highest value at any vertical section, you'll get that plot.
Damn! You're correct.  Bah, proofreading is for technical writers!
You'd definitely have passed if I had been clearer! Thanks for asking for clarifications, I know my mind can get a little crazy. 
---
In other news, I did a quick calculation to compare the results of the 155mm shell from the Protection Provided by Steel and Aluminum Armor Against Fragments from High Explosive Ammunition on the first page of this thread.
From 36x 155mm rounds, their 144 square foot, 3/8" (9.5mm) targets saw 585 hits and 55 perforations at 90 feet (27 meters). My model predicts 101 hits and 48 perforations. I'm not sure how they count hits here, and may be counting impacts from fragments smaller than what my model predicts. Regardless, I think the interesting part is the perforation comparison:
Experiment: 55
Model: 48
Definitely good looking in support!
That's all for tonight!

Still plugging away at this.  Found an interesting tidbit while researching tinkering around with war simulations in MATLAB.
http://www.dupuyinstitute.org/pdf/v1n6.pdf
Pages 26-29 talk about tank loss rates from artillery fire in WWII.  Through 7 cases studied, they found that an average of 12.8 percent (!) of tank losses were due to artillery fire.  It's an interesting and short read.

The 82mm isn't quite the armor-shredder it may have appeared.  If you land VERY close it can do some damage.

This is an airburst at 5 meters, 30 degrees in to aim the frags more or less directly at the BTR.  247 fragments hit the BTR, and 16 penetrated in this case.  One of those may have jammed the turret, and a couple may have wounded passengers, though most missed vital areas of the vehicle.  This is the best case scenario you can get for this shell, too.  Spray is aimed right at the side armor, and the side armor is normal to the burst, making it very vulnerable.

Compare that to the ground burst, shell coming in at 30 degrees still, just hitting the ground.  Here we have 8 penetrations from 330 hits!  The armor is sloped from this angle and prevents many penetrations from occurring.  Of those 8 penetrations, a number were also on the wheels, which likely would be relatively fine.

Where the 82 mm shell really shines is if it scores a direct hit on the BTR.  Then it receives 1,500 hits with over 200 penetrations.
 
Good to know my 10mm estimate was not far from the truth here!  I've been choosing the BTR as my target for this whole thread since it's relatively easy to analyse because of its relative homogeneity.  Thanks for the info John!

we had down votes for the forum it didnt work. 
for one JK woulda been gonenyears ago and though I mock him he does find good stuff sometimes and has just as mich right here as anyone. 
me also. theres an unnamed person close to the development team thats notoriously short with people.i dont know why but this guy has always seemed to dislike me insomich as u can a person u dont know on a msg board.
no matter what i posted- one time i got 17 likes. the unlike? him. he got to the point he.d literally downvote anything i posted whether or not he was ij the discussion or the content.
Sorry but ya it gets abused.
 
 
pls sulomon i like u. i still owe u a pbem i had to bail on. yes i made some jokes about your bakruptcy comment but youve been around and i respect you. 
do you realize the absolute torrent of downvotes you would have gotten with that bankruptcy post and especially when CARLWAW (and all the naysayers) got completely showed up by 3 part mega bone?
we.re better off about it. plus its too 'dumb' if someone wants to trash me lets hear their academic or witty reasons why im strong evidence that abortion should be legal ( jk jk my views i will not state ) not just a down thumb.

Honestly @CarlWAW I'd insult you, but I'm not quite sure you're worth the effort. You're basically self-defeating at this point.

Turns 6-9
Surplice continues to wage an aggressive defense - divining what I have in mind, he begins to piss some mortars down near my ATGM teams, critically wounding a team member before I am able to displace the rest to safety.

This is the story all over the front; with mortars landing dangerously near any infantry maneuvering - a different German mortar fire mission interdicts the surviving infantry from the first failed armoured thrust, causing several casualties and forcing them to ground. However, before that, they have a couple of notable successes: working closely with their remaining BMP they are able to knock out in quick succession a 20mm Wiesel and a MILAN team - both of which have demonstrated themselves to be threats. 

Knocking a hole in a wall with its 30mm, a BMP-2 exposes a Wiesel 20mm, which is knocked out by infantry RPG fire

The BMP in turn knocks out a MILAN team
The surviving armour also has success; it takes a couple of minutes to be made aware of the location (relayed through the accompanying company commander) of the Wiesels in the wooded copse but once appraised of the situation a section of T-72s sends some HE down range. As you recall from the last update I put quite a bit of stock in this little stunt and am quite relieved it works. As the dust settles on the target area, one of the tanks is able to see a German crewman scurrying away from a destroyed Wiesel. A second is seen beating a speedy retreat from the area.

A T-72, inset, opens up on the known position of a Wiesel, which it is aware of but cannot identify presently.

It works. A Wiesel, thinly armoured, is destroyed by the HE fire. A surviving crewman is seen bailing. 

A second Wiesel is seen beating the retreat, an HE fired at it by an observant T-72 unfortunately misses.
The steady erosion of Surplice's anti-armor assets is something that I will need to number crunch on. He has by my estimation lost 6 or 7 TOW wiesels; with at least 5 destroyed to the direct front of the T-72s. I'm not too familiar with Bundeswehr TO&E, but I would hazard a guess that he has between 3-4 TOW wiesels remaining. A few more knock outs may allow me freedom to maneuver again. 
For now, despite the constant pounding from mortars, its time to launch the bulk of the Mech Group forward with support of the surviving two Shilkas. With the only spotted hard threat being a single 20mm Wiesel, I'm confident I can get this attack back on track.

I've noticed that much of what gets posted on YT shares that characteristic. The self-descriptions of the items consists almost entirely of superlatives; the item is the "most" this or the "fantastic" that. And then when you open it, it falls completely flat. It has gotten so that I simply avoid anything with "amazing" or "top ten" in the title.
Michael

That's kind of the direction I took it too.   If you looked at my old Company at a few weeks into a gunnery/training exercise, we'd only be slightly better shaved (because the US Army is still pretty serious about that, although tanker mustaches wouldn't be uncommon), a lot of our gear would look pretty trashed (well worn, but also knocked around/we'd wear our most torn up stuff to the field).

Simply a lot of dirt, lowered hygiene, some unbuttoned pouches doesn't make for a non-functional unit.  The German solider has a highly inflated opinion of his own capabilities from my experience, but it's in the way they're within the realm of being "very capable" just they look around the room and believe themselves to be a few dozen steps above their peers because Deutsche! * but I'd still put good money on them in a fight if it came down to it.

*Take his all with a grain of salt, but working with other countries:

French: The most frustrating mix of very component and very relaxed you will encounter.  Like I imagine a French pilot in a crashing plane would do everything reasonable to keep it from crashing, once that had happened mutter "merde" to themselves, shrug and have a smoke waiting for the plane to explode while the American would die trying to fashion a new engine from the gum wrappers in his pocket and some duct tape up to the point of impact.

British: They're very tired.  Like they're professional but they're really quite sick of whatever nonsense you colonials/continentals are rousted up about.  It doesn't matter if the field itself was invented last week, somehow they'll act as if Wellington himself had an Electronic Warfare Company at Waterloo, and the British have been doing it forever.  In the event they are incorrect this will rarely be acknowledged.  Whatever kit you have is also entirely too much for the job.  You have two radio nets available in your tanks?  We get by with one.  You have only one radio?  Our tanks are connected by no 4 wire and a Lance Corporal or something.  

Poles:  Less exposure, but they seem constantly a little amused.  Americans have tanks?  Who knew?  These computers you have, they turn on when you want them on?  Magic!  Your food, has it caused anyone to explode.  No, I don't mean in the bathrooms I mean literally, do not ask.  Fascinating!  May I have?  You're never sure if they're taking the piss or actually impressed.  Generally good dudes though, if absolute murder to get their names right.

German: Thinks they're the legacy of the Prussian military machine that made Europe quake, is the legacy of social welfare state that has money for post kindergarten's omni-sex bathroom and masseuse for teachers, not for fuel for tanks.

Japanese: Everyone is in total agreement with this plan we made two weeks ago for the operation we are committing to in two hours.  The movements of the enemy are inconsequential to this fact, we are all in agreement, this is where we are going to go because we are in agreement (this is where I had to add in one caveat.  The Japanese are aware of this, and getting a lot better at working on the fly, it's just when they're not a "good" unit they default a lot to "this is the plan we follow because it's the plan we agreed on" vs "this best meets the intention")

Russian: I'm a spy.  You know I'm a spy, I know I'm a spy, I'm going to pretend to be sneaky about this because we are playing a game about it, but we all know why I'm here.  Yep, I just took out my camera and took some shots.  Oh bother the Chinese guy is in the way again.

Chinese: YOU STUPID AMERICANS DO NOT KNOW I AM SPY.  I AM CLEARLY NOT AN INTELLIGENCE AGENT I AM JUST A CHINESE PERSON MYSTERIOUSLY APPEARING IN A PLACE WITH NO CHINESE PEOPLE.  I AM SNEAKILY TAKING A MILLION PICTURES OF EVERYTHING YOU HAVE BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO ME.  I AM SO SNEAKY.  I AM THE ONLY PERSON IN THIS ****TY AFRICAN VILLAGE IN PERFECTLY CLEAN KHAKIS, MY SHOES ARE NOT DUSTY, AND HAVE THREE THOUSAND DIFFERENT SENSORS HANGING OUT OF MY BACKPACK BUT YOU ARE TOO STUPID TO SEE ME BECAUSE I AM A SPY.  HAHA DUMB AMERICANS WHY ARE THEY ALL LOOKING AT ME SO MUCH?
Thai: WE ARE ALL GENERALS PLEASE DIRECT US TO THE ONE PRIVATE IN THE THAI ARMY SO HE CAN CARRY OUR BAGS.

Korean: It's a lot of solid, squared away soldiers with a generous helping of weird people hiding out in weird corners (the ROKA captain showing up with a Gucci tote and an umbrella to a field exercise was a major wtf) and a dose of semi-subversive conscripts ("Hai, Mr American Captain Man, please allow me to tell you how terrible my chain of Command is and are you in needing of a KATUSA by chance?")

Americans: WE ARE HERE TO HELP BY IGNORING WHATEVER WISDOM YOU MAY HAVE AND ATTEMPTING TO AMERICAN OUR WAY OUT OF ALL PROBLEMS WITH MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, EXPLOSIVES, OR BOTH WHICH WE WILL FLAGRANTLY LORD OVER YOU WITHOUT REALIZING IT ON ALL OCCASIONS.  

Seriously - wow. Steve is working hard on the products, as are other people. Another of his concerns is maintaining the relatively good atmosphere on these forums. In fact it is a necessary business strategy IMHO. If people here would refrain from trolling and other bad behaviour Steve could spend more time working on product. As is stands keeping poor behaviour in check *is* part of his job. Personally I find Steve to be *very* forgiving. If it was up to me there would be more banned people bad mouthing me on other forums

"Perhaps he meant the Camargggggggggue region in France?" 

Brother Ed is happily making craters on a 3-D printer, and I unearthed this to help him. Turns out this is a blast from my past, in the form of a runway cratering study I used when doing a report on US rapid runway repair capability in my early days at Hughes. This is, in part, quite the tutorial on crater configuration from aerial bombs and addresses dimensions  for a range of bomb sizes against both a range of runway types and against bare soil. It's called BOMB CRATER DAMAGE TO RUNWAYS and was authored by Peter Westine of the Southwest Research Institute. 
http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/907456.pdf

P.S.

I give up! This post won't delete. Tried doing that after realizing I put it in the wrong place. Should be in CM GDF, not CMFB. Mods, please move it. Thanks! 
Regards,
John Kettler

More screenshots from the scenario Tactical Operations Center (TOC).  Tracking down a shooter in the town of Belz.

The more relevant issue is that the barrel change system on MG34 is much better for use in a ball mount than the system MG42 used.
With a 34 you just rotate the receiver out of the way and pull the barrel out straight backwards, like so:


In an MG42, you pull barrels out like this:

There isn't really room to do this were the gun to be mounted into a Kugelblende.

IMHO,
As someone who used to deal with ballistic missile stuff, that's MRVed (Multiple Reentry Vehicles), as opposed to MIRVed (Multiple Independently (Targetable) Reentry Vehicles). Yes, I know. Ballistic missile grog! Fascinating field expedient, though.
 

I have taken the plunge into trying CMBS mods. I decided that I want to try something that nobody is really doing. Using the tools provided with the game, and the plugin for Blender created by sbobovyc my intent is to try and upgrade some of the models that you see in the game. To start this off, I decided to upgrade the pouches and gear that are found on US troops. I'm still learning, so forgive the rather amateur models. I didn't want to put a ton of detail into them, but maintain the same level that Battlefront as set forth to us.

I will attempt to make a slightly more modernized chestrig, featuring a couple more pouches than what is found on current infantry. It will be based off the default chestrig simply to get the correct curvature of the soldier.

Here I have decided to try and create a PRC-117G to replace the default RTO bag. The smaller size of that version is a little lighter than the one that is featured. In addition you won't normally find the sat antenna, but typically a whip.

Any suggestions or input are welcome. I'm absolutely terrible at texturing, so if anyone wants to help in that regards it would be greatly appreciated.

Proof of concept:

I swapped all the hydration carriers for assault packs. This was a test to make sure I understood how to get the mod to correctly work with CM. Everything worked great. WIll update in the future.

I’ve been working on a new scenario for CMBS 4.0 called “Tactical Operations Center”.  It is in Beta testing now and is intended as player vs AI.  Below is part of the Designer Notes that gives an overview.  Followed by a few screen shots.
This is a fictional scenario that may take a while to load depending on your computer. The player takes charge of a Tactical Operations Center (TOC) located in a Forward Operating Base (FOB) for a four-hour shift. The player is responsible for the successful execution of the mission during his shift. The scenario was created with the idea of being a static campaign in a counter insurgency environment.  It is a multi-battle scenario set on a large map (approximately 7.5 square kilometers) that, unlike a traditional combat mission campaign, shows persistent map damage. So, as the player maneuvers a Quick Reaction Force (QRF) down a roadway in response to actionable intelligence he can drive past the burning wrecks of a mistake he made earlier or the scattered bodies of a Separatist unit he destroyed. The scenario also provides three types of intelligence to help guide the decision-making process. The three types of intelligence are Human Intelligence (HUMINT), Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) and Tactical Site Exploitation (TSE). HUMINT is collected from Separatist who defect under an amnesty program administered by the Ukrainian government. The HUMINT intelligence is in the name field of defectors and includes an intelligence code, grid coordinates and time. A quick glance at the intelligence code sheet (included in the briefing) allows the player to know what, where and when something will occur or where something is located. Some of this HUMINT is time sensitive. The TSE and SIGINT are provided by touch objective notifications at the top of the screen. This intelligence will be useful in bringing The Butcher of Belz (enemy commander) to justice and for disrupting Separatist operations. The grid coordinates are created by a pattern of grid lines placed on the map using a blue occupy objective. The grid numbers are displayed on the map edges using landmarks. A brief explanation of this modified military grid system and how to use it is provided in the briefing. The player can, if he decides to, launch an air assault during the setup phase. There are four different landing zones to choose from. Forward Operating Base (FOB) Apache has a Helicopter Landing Zone (HLZ) where reinforcements will arrive, and other units will exit from. The FOB also has a mortar pit that will be resupplied with ammo both by air and by convoy if the roads and HLZ remain open. Another feature included in the scenario is the ability to destroy base camps thereby preventing the Separatists from receiving their scheduled reinforcements.
 
A Quick Reaction Force (QRF) mount their Strykers as 120mm mortars fire in the background as the FOB responds to assist an ambushed patrol.
 
Separatists scouting for vulnerable infrastructure to attack.  Separatist mod created by @pquumm.

Street fight in the town of Belz.   
  

I have to agree.  It's so... cute?
I'm also partial to the Leopard 1.  Comes from an age of transition so they made a fast tank with a great gun and sensors (for the time).  All in a beautiful profile.

LOL. I KNOW exactly which site that is. Pretty damn funny, actually. THAT takes dedication to some serious bitterness and misanthropy. It's almost metaphysical in its delusion.
And for the record I NEVER whine...I b****. It's like the difference between a finger painting and Picasso. One is a mess made by little kids, the other is a master of high art! Feel free to call me Master.
Mord.