TheForwardObserver

I could have sworn dismounted TOW teams used to be available as specialist units in the scenario editor, but I just checked and you're correct, they aren't there (still are in QB as you mentioned). Makes me wonder whether they were never in the editor, or perhaps were removed with this most recent patch. I've noticed a few changes that happened but didn't make the update list. EDIT: Just checked on an unpatched version of Black Sea and dismounted TOW teams were purchasable as individual units (specialist teams), in the Scenario Editor, prior to the most recent patch.

Forward!

If you don't hear back I'll sort one out and ping you when it's ready.

Task Force Saber is oscar mike, departing phase line Minnetonka, en route to phase line Alexandria, buckle up. EOM B1B, target suppressed. Fire target group A1C, AMC, over.

Approaching 5 minutes; On my mark, release hell.

My outmoded criteria! Listen here, I'll not be lectured on battlefield metrics by the son of a nation brought to its knees by potatoes!

I think the historians'll insist that I'd won long before either of us took the field, but presently I haven't even seen the first minute of play.

That's just one minute of foreplay darlin'

Set-up completed, turn sent. All vics this net, this is TFO radio check in sequence, over... Green to green, we are REDCON 1, SP Operation Potato Famine, time now, over... Be advised, we have a Blue Bongo Truck and Black Opal heading west along MSR DULUTH IVO OBJ Vicksburg over... Rgr, continue to observe and report, over... Fire Target Group B1B, AMC, over ...Fire.

For those aware of the Kino vs TFO battle a brewin, I've received his set-up turn, and will be sending mine back this weekend. I will be conducting my mocking and de-humanization of the enemy as well as disinformation dissemination here, in this safe space.

And in today's Artillery news; http://breakingdefense.com/2016/10/army-atacms-missile-will-kill-ships-secdef-carter/

@TJT Just above 40,000 $USD per unit.

Another video on Forward Observer equipment, this one features the TRIGR, with some of its predecessors making a brief appearance.

Nice close up of Admiral Kuznetsov transiting the English Channel:

+1 for Robert Frost flavored language

My personal thoughts on Assassinations: Once is an incident, twice is a coincidence, thrice is an enemy action. If Givi or whichever guy that makes all the youtube videos goes next I'd be willing to begin entertaining the idea that Ukraine is moving to set the enemy landscape ablaze and mercin' commanders. Otherwise Russia does seem to have a history of pulling 'commanders' and I use the term loosely from the field. Motorola seems like the type to not come in from the cold as easily as a guy like Strelkov, and not towing the line at that level is more than a good enough reason to pull him from the battlefield in a way that re-establishes authority over other potential mavericks. That being said the conflict in Ukraine has more than a passing resemblance to gang warfare and the idea that he got his comeuppance from someone closer to him is more than plausible. There is the down went alice option to for the gunslingers to consider in the back of your mind as well; there was one US Global Hawk mission above the area that day and Americans do love mischief. Though the presence of a Global Hawk can mean a thousand things amirite? Re Iraq; I've spent 5 years abroad since 2003, 3 in the middle east, and 2 in Europe, and a couple people on this forum were literally right there with me, but you'll never hear me argue a point about either region as being the unassailable positions of an expert--(I do have nearly three times that many years with Fire Support, so on that, stand down yeomen, yes, I am an expert). My opinions on the Iraq War diverge greatly from Panzersaur and I think both of us have opinions that diverge (probably immensely) from those of General Flynn's. Who is right? Most people will pick the "expert" whose analyses confirms their own bias. In order to properly motivate unbiased analyses there needs to be an incentive to not get it wrong, and as far as I've seen, Steve is the only one here that properly takes people to task later for being wrong. There is a big difference between absorbing an analyses you believe to be incorrect and questioning it in real time, and reflexively countering every point because of cognitive dissonance. Truth be told the most valuable insights I glean from the abundance of time that I spend on this forum is from people whose opinions haven't been shaped by service or military group-think, but rather several decades of commitment to daily study of an issue on their own, for their own unique reasons, and putting those people in a position that others may perceive as weakness because they didn't serve in Iraq is a direction we should steer clear of, much like the rolling out of Generals and soldiers at political rallies to give the illusion that anyone with that experience must feel a certain way.

As we've touched on anti-access and area denial here's the October Rand Study commissioned by the Army on the subject; I'm familiar with Gompert but not the other two authors. For those unable to digest the full document, chapters 1,3,4,8 and 9 are the most relevant. http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR1300/RR1359/RAND_RR1359.pdf

Jamms is this the screen you see in the editor?

Interestingly, regarding displaying points in the editor, the manual says this; "Note: Purchase and Rarity points are shown in the Editor to provide guidance on balanced force compositions for Scenario Authors, but play no other role. A “+” after the purchase point value indicates a “lowest case” value for certain formations." So did the editor display points at some time in the past I wonder?

Before we re-enter the realm of Fires, a personal list of things I'd love to see in CM for those arrectis auribus-- just because I've never done this before and I don't reckon a list like this deserves its own thread or attention. This is but a brief de-tour on our journey. Some if not all of these have been mentioned before and should therefore be considered me voicing my support and interest in these features. 1. Quick Battle Force Adjusment Percentages for Both Teams. Currently as far as I've found you can only plus up the team on the left in the QB setup screen, labeled attacker-- do tell me if this isn't the case. I think many people play meeting engagement battles less for the tactical circumstances and more for the situational/points parity-- being able to increase the points available to both sides would be a welcome feature. 2. Unit soft factor drop downs are more limited in QB than they are in the Scenario Editor. Supply, Headcount, and Vehicle status aren't present. This means staples of scenarios like vehicles that've been converted to ammo dumps aren't available for QBs. It'd be awesome to have access to those options in QB. 3. The Supply soft factor drop down allows a scenario creator to reduce by various amounts the total ammo units carry into battle-- It'd be outstanding if this dropdown worked the other way too-- allowing units to carry greater amounts of ammo. 4. Final change-- It'd be great if QB Force Selection points and rarity values were displayed in the Scenario Editor. I recognize the available troops in Scenario Editor and QBs are different, but nevertheless.

I had that exact same problem for ages. Never figured it out on Corel but eventually got photoshop and now I'm golden. How about I upload it to dropbox and ping you when I've done so?

So after conducting a thorough investigation of both the author's background and his arguments, the only question I've got left unanswered is what process brought this guy's blog to your attention @kinophile(?)

Something I've done to make my games against the AI a wee bit more challenging and enjoyable is I've made a mod that completely removes FOW icons for both friendly and enemy units. Icons for units that are currently spotted are the only units that appear. Also de-clutters the screen quite a bit.

Surely it is these shared traditions which form the bed-rock of our ever enduring alliance.

Yer twisted Kino mate. Probably would have made a good Irish Guard.