Fade2Gray

I've started using the Target command for figuring out LOS, and its helping me. I asked someone about figuring out LOS before, and targeting arcs was suggested to me. It seemed like the perfect way to do things at first, as it'd show exactly where dead zones would be that a tank or whatever can't see, but it always seems horribly... off.

Alright, as a Combat Mission noob I feel this is probably the most frustrating thing for me to figure out. It seems pretty cut and dry, but its been anything but that for me. When I think I have my tanks set up just right, they get killed before they have a chance to do anything. On the other side, I'll have a BMP-3 spend 10 minutes popping away at all sorts of targets and survive the entire battle in what seems to be the most magical piece of cover ever. Never mind 3 or 4 M1s staring at it while it blazes away with its auto cannon, it can't be spotted at all. It was hilarious to behold. So, for all you veterans who know better than I do, how can I figure out how to use cover and concealment better in this game?

Ummm, doesn't the USA use DU sabot rounds instead of tungsten like the Germans do? From what I've read they did amazing work getting tungsten to have the "self sharpening" ability that DU has, plus they use the L55, but otherwise I doubt they use the same rounds.

Are TOW-2 basics or As in game? The TOW-2B isn't exactly ideal for firing into a building.

I've noticed Bradleys opening fire on tanks with just their Bushmaster and not their TOW a lot as well. It's really hard to guess when they will use their TOW. Sometimes they cut loose immediately with the TOW, sometimes they fire a burst then a missile, sometimes they just rock the Bushmaster and never use a TOW, even if firing on the tank's frontal armor.

Whenever the tanks fire on each other, generally its a one hit kill. Doesn't matter if its the Oplot firing on a T-90A, or vice versa, when they fire their target dies. My issue is why how the Oplot seems vastly inferior when it comes to actually spotting a Russian unit and firing before getting shot in turn. Dueling Shashkas(sp?) frustrates me greatly when I play as Ukraine, because the tank fighting is always pretty one sided in favor of the Russians. When I play as the Russian side, its like I'm playing easy mode, yeah I'll lose some tanks, but T-90s pretty much clean house against the Oplot. Combine with how BMP-3s are vastly superior to BTR-4s, the mission feels like a cake walk when I'm playing as the Russians. I just tried playing twice as Ukraine with the "author mode" today and being using targetting arcs to try to help the Oplots out, and I often still lose tanks before getting any shots off in return.

If you are assuming this is a single case from one single play through of a mission, you are horribly mistaken. As a fan of T-80s, I like playing as Ukraine. However, several play throughs of that mission have shown that the Oplot M usually gets spotted and shot at before it even has a clue it is under attack. When I tried playing through as the Russians instead, the mission is much much easier. Even without targetting cones, the T-90s get shots off first the vast majority of the time. As the T-90A doesn't have a CITV and the Oplot-M does, I'm baffled by this and wondering why this is the case.

I've already noticed how there seems to be 3 "tech levels" for armies when it comes to Black Sea. The USA is on top, then Russia, and Ukraine is on the bottom. All fine and dandy, but is the Oplot M really so bad? I've noticed when I play Dueling... whatever its called (Ukraine vs Russia in a scenario battle) that Ukraine has a helluva time spotting Russian tanks first. The Russians always seem to spot and fire first. I pegged it to the T-90AM being a lot better, but its not even AMs you face off in that mission, just T-90A MBTs. So is the Oplot M, with its modern FCS, thermals, and CITV, really that much worse compared to the T-90A? I know its armor isn't anything special, but I seem to have assumed wrong that its FCS is at least on par if not better than the Russians, and its a bit frustrating. I can deal with IFVs and APCs being worse, but having worse tanks is a bit painful to say the least.

If I remember right from my brief stay with a PATRIOT unit at Bliss before I got out, Avenger units are now tied directly to them. They are like AA point defenses for PATRIOT units nowadays, and not attached to the front line units anymore.