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Liveload

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Posts posted by Liveload

  1. 2 hours ago, JulianJ said:

    I have been critical of BF  a few times in the past but my most recent battle - still continuing - gave me a vivid insight into fighting with non-NATO forces, i.e. The Syrian Army.

    Mission Blunderable - We are having a big bite of the sh*t sandwich and the Uncons/Terrorists are kicking our butt.

    to Battlefront: Well done!   Explains a lot of things - the game is robust enough to replicate what I have seen in Youtube videos etc, and explains a lot of the behaviour of the ill-equipped and not well motivated Syrian army.

    Basically, I've been fighting in CMBS and SF2 with well equipped, ammo'd up and professional soldiers.  I have developed a method, which involves plenty of support fire. Even if my men get in trouble, they should be able to hang on long enough for me to plaster the enemy with direct fire, mortars, arty or airstrikes.

    When I have watched vids etc of Syrian (or Afghan, etc) soldiers, with their mismatched uniforms - or T shirts and jeans,  lack of protection - even old fashioned steel helmets, and desultory support fires: I wondered why they did this.  Soldiers bimbling along in group, with no-one watching the rear would get an almighty rollicking from the nearest NCO in the British Army.

    Find, Fix and Destroy

    is the motto of the British infantry.  My Syrian version is Find, Freak and Flee.

    I am doing a QB SYrians v. Uncons.  I took nearly everything as "Typical" which was a horrible mistake as nearly everyone is Green or Conscript...they cannot hit anything! Various old junky tanks.

    My tanks have been blown away by ATGMs. Which they should have spotted.  I set up my mortars on overwatch for direct fire (I have taken to heart @DougPhresh's professional advice that a little fire support immediately is better than heavier stuff much later or may not arrive) but we have so little ammo that I can only muster a desultory fire by using Ctrl+J.

    I have a massive 107mm rocket stonk coming down on where I think the enemy is. May arrive the week after next.

    I am going to have to rethink my tactics with these troops. The one clever move - I sent a recon vehicle across a river to a huge mesa on the right of the battlefield, with a sniper team and an observer team (who got unfortunately whacked on the way). The snipers are in position to look for the enemy.  But they don't have a radio!  I never thought to check.

    I am going to have to adopt different approaches if I am to succeed. Shows how much I have been relying on the quality of troops and equipment. It's pleasing, in a masochistic sort of way.

     

    If you are modeling anything but an invasion of Syria in 2008, don't pick anything under Veteran for the SAA. Most of their surviving air and armor units can be considered crack units at this point. They don't break like the regulars and below under fire.

    As to why they fight...if another country(s) invaded your neighborhood tonight, what would you do? Who would you be fighting for? From their perspective, if you want to hear a Syrian's point of view check out the interview with Grand Mufti Hassoun. He is speaking very deliberately in easy to understand and translate Arabic, so the subtitles are accurate. He'll get excited from time to time and his Syrian dialect will show through for a moment, but then he composes himself and continues. Point is, if you want to see from their perspective, his is one that is common enough to be taken as a hard indicator of the societal zeitgeist.

  2. Hi All,

    Sorry about the radio silence. We have been busy working on our next phase of the project, which is a campaign covering the Spring/Summer offensive of 2019 from early May thru current. Right now we are testing new scenario concepts and creating maps. All of your favorite characters will be making a return. Abu Bob, Abu Steve, Abu Allmani, the GoPro Units...and a few new ones that you'll hopefully enjoy even more. I know you're asking, "but how are they making a return if I killed them in the last scenario?!?!". Ask yourself how many times a terrorist has been declared dead only to turn up at a later date alive and well...🤣

    We'll post some screens as we get closer to completion.

  3. Nice work man. I used to build models and dioramas decades ago. There's a lot of talented modellers our there. Some of the stuff by MiG Jimenez is freaking amazing. I think he has his own product line now out of Spain. However, nowadays for the price of one decent kit, I purchased CM:BS. A much better value, imo. I used to have a stack of Fruilmodel tracks for tons of tanks from a 38(t) on up. Those things cost as much as a kit now. I was surprised at how much costs have increased for modellers.

    Both Iran and Iraq together operated just about everything that would have been used had the "cold war" gone hot just short of Nuclear Armageddon. There's a lot that's been written about that war in the years since. Iran's ill fated offensive with Chieftain tanks vs T-62 in the mud would be a great example of just the kind of cold war engagements I've seen the demand for from time to time on the forums. There is a market for hard hitting war games steeped in reality that cover that conflict for sure, especially the CM series. There's a Ukrainian developer that's touched on some of that stuff, but it's not in the same league as CM...not even close, imo. Apples to oranges really, but it's all that's there so far that covers that conflict. Iranian Frogmen in  Basra 86 and T-62 vs M-60, etc. I forget the name of the games. Operation Star or some such...regardless, my point it that there's a market for it for sure and the way CM covers conflicts is uniquely superior to anything else out there that I know of.

  4. Nic pic. When it comes to a new game in the modern era, I'd like to see the Iran - Iraq war modeled. All of the "cold war" toys and then some. The operations around Basra alone would make for a complete game. What I was hinting at would be just allowing people who own both games to combine the assets of each game into one common pool that can be used to create scenarios, QB's etc, not necessarily a whole new game.

  5. Hello All!

    Hope you're having a great weekend thus far. Today we are adding Al Hamamiyat to the key battles of the Spring/Summer Offensive of 2019 that we've covered thus far. A huge heap of praise goes to Aurelius for helping make this one happen!

    Here's the dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ynsfkys3cvupgfb/Al Hamamiyat.btt?dl=0

    The map is 3km x 2km. It is a Blue Attack Scenario that is best played as Blue. There is a simple Blue AI plan for those that wish to create a QB map from it. The scenario has the player taking over command of local SAA forces at close to dusk on July 11, 2019.

    Hope everyone's weekend just got a tiny bit sweeter.

    Respectfully,

    LL

  6. On 8/3/2019 at 1:57 AM, Erwin said:

    (One has to accept their cookies to see anything re "we value your privacy" as in "we monetarize your privacy so that you lose it while we get valuable $".)

    My wife regularly reminds me that Huxley and Orwell are spinning in the grave and then she begins muttering about science and information nazis and wanders away...🤐

  7. 4 hours ago, Erwin said:

    Exactly... and if one doesn't like their cookies, one cannot see the pics that Liveload linked to.  That's what I was alluding to. 

    I understand that these days, it seems like most (younger at least) folks don't care about privacy and are happy to broadcast their lives on social media and accept cookies etc.  You do understand that one has a choice whether to agree to accept cookies (I hope)?   :rolleyes:

    It would actually have been a still from a youtube video, although from your perspective I'm not sure that matters. 😁

    A few more tweaks and test runs and Al Hamamiyat will be ready to go very soon.

    Here's some screenshots of one of today's test runs (timer has been extended since then 😋).

    https://imgur.com/kfQko3x

    https://imgur.com/6uxgKkv

    https://imgur.com/iPYxjEI

    Thanks for all the support guys!

    Respectfully,

    LL

  8. Hello all,

    Just some random thoughts after downloading 2.02. I wonder if it would be possible to add 7.62x54r to the ammo supply in Syrian Zil and Ural trucks. It would also be very helpful if 5.45x39 was available in BMP 1 & 2 and/or night vision available to 7.62x39 wielding troops, e.g. Tiger Force. Mounted troops with PKM still start with about 100 rounds of 7.62x54r, the rest is in their mounts. I wonder if it would be possible to use the acquire command during scenario design. That would help a lot. Thank you all very much for such a powerful game/tool/hobby...

    Respectfully,

    LL

  9. 19 hours ago, Sgt.Squarehead said:

    You've done a great job of sculpting those mountains.....I'm messing with elevations right now on a map of similar size, so I know how much effort that part alone took.  B)

    Much appreciated! Indeed, the elevations are quite a challenge. One thing that helped a bit was lighting. Changing the time of day can dramatically affect what is visible and reveal terrain elements that need attention. In the real mountains, daylight is short, while twilight is long and some places go almost all day without sun.

  10. Thank you all so very much for the positive feedback. It really encourages me. I am currently working on a 3km x 2km map of Al Hamamiyat that is about 50% done. It's like Tal Malah on steroids. The town itself is right near Qasabiyeh, so I'm making another pass at that map to correct some of the elevations to be closer to the real area. It doesn't seem to affect the way the map plays, but it's a point of accuracy for me.

  11. Hello All,

    Hope everyone is having a great day. Without further adieu, here is the Blue Attack scenario and my newest map, Attera: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wb4y9c0cupkssip/attera - blue attack.btt?dl=0

    There are many elevation changes on order of several hundred meters, a main highway meandering through, lots of dirt roads, and a couple hiking trails. Pack light, dress in layers, and bring plenty of water. Once the sun is up, the men will need it.

    Major credit on this scenario and design goes to Aurelius. He has been invaluable during the process of creating and tuning this scenario. There are three Red AI plans that are equally weighted. The map itself can be made available by itself if anyone wants it, let me know.

    Respectfully,

    LL

  12.  

    3 hours ago, danfrodo said:

    Thanks everybody.  SF2 big bundle w everything, is now mine :)   

    Good Choice. I had my doubts at first as to which one to get. I watched some reports from Syria  as I usually do one day and then it hit me just what a powerful game this is. I still want to get the UK expansion (especially if BFC adds Syrian toys to the pack 🙂) and Black Sea eventually. If there isn't one already, I think a Volgograd scenario would be fun to consider.

  13. Hello all,

    Here's the Meeting Engagement scenario based upon my newest map.

    The town is Kabani, located on the border of Latakia and Hama Provinces. It's a small agricultural community that's recently been the site of some fighting between HTS et al, and the SAA. The Salafists stalled the SAA drive into Latakia province at the beginning of the month in this town. The map is 1760 x 1520. It should be playable from both sides, but Blue seems to be the greater challenge.

    Here's the dropbox link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/k1j80k7qsy3iadi/Kabani - Meeting Engagement.btt?dl=0

    If Aurelius finds a way to break it; I'll update the file, and this thread, so the dropbox link will stay the same.

    *Note: The Tal Malah map at the very top of the thread is the old 1.0 version. The file, because of how it was posted, cannot be updated and I can't edit the post. The most updated version of Tal Malah is in this thread as a dropbox link and also here.

    Respectfully,

    LL

  14. Thank you, sir! I appreciate the ditch-lock tip. I work on building facades and connectivity once the terrain elements are fully laid down, so that part hasn't been done yet. I agree with the 100% accuracy part. There's some areas which simple cannot be replicated easily, such as large boulders sitting in middle of nowhere and other ice age remnant type terrain.

     

    Respectfully,

    LL

  15. 5 hours ago, Aurelius said:

    I am testing the scenarios and I can barely keep up with his tempo! 😄

     

    On 7/4/2019 at 7:08 AM, Sgt.Squarehead said:

    You are keeping very busy.....Respect!  B)

     

     

    Many thanks gentlemen. I really appreciate you guys. Here's a few shots from my current project, Kabani, which is approaching terrain completion. It's a tiny town in the hills on the border of Latakia and Hama provinces. It's 1760 x 1520. It should be ready to test in the coming days.

    https://imgur.com/PimMtiy

    https://imgur.com/BrPUla2

    https://imgur.com/UGNKc2y

    https://imgur.com/E2eCCs1

    https://imgur.com/pozNkJX

     

    Respectfully,

    LL

  16. That's very high praise gentlemen. Thank you. I really appreciate the support.

    I made another pass at the Tal Malah map that's seemed to improve things a bit:

    I added a lot of micro-elevations and raised the hill a bit compared to the surrounding landscape.

    I worked on the Red AI plan a bit to have some of the techs hang back and just lob stuff into town like they tend to do.

    I swapped out the Specs Ops guys for Republican Guard mech, but I left the T-90 (I think it kinda helps) and changed the deploy zones a little

     

    The dropbox link for Tal Malah (Tal Meleh in google maps) in this thread points to the new file, but here's the link again to save you time:

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/uw24je08om7c2dj/Tal Malah.btt?dl=0

    Respectfully,

    LL

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