danfrodo

Funny I just learned ziggy stardust and, more interestingly, Starman -- classic Bowie w clever & unique chord progression. And I did not order a Les Paul (I have a guitar that sounds very les paul-sh) but I did just order this beauty below (delivery tomorrow), i do love me some Vox. This did unfortunately cause serious delays for KG Peiper as I spent way too much time researching between this and Gretsch electromatics. der Fuhrer was positively frothing w fury at this, but hey, war's lost anyway, right? I gotta start thinking about my next gig after hostilities end. Hopefully the Brits will capture me, they seem nice.

Thanks Erwin, interesting stat, though it still sounds very suspicious.

There's lots of good assessments of T34s out there, but for all the negative features it did something that none of the british tanks were doing in 1941 -- causing serious trouble for the germans (despite all the things wrong with it) -- note that the panther was not designed based on matilda, it was based on T34. It was the best thing (w KV1) the russians had and as it improved over time it was more and more a factor on the battlefield. Those of us here, I think, mostly already know the T34 negatives. But some of the claims, as Erwin notes above, are ludicrous. They all break down after 50km?? Then how did they drive the Germans back over 100km at a time, over & over & over? I bet a lot of them broke down in 1941, but I also bet that number decreased significantly over time. So this might be cherry picking the data from 1941 and extrapolating that forward in time. Heck, in 1941 there was a serious shortage of soviet 76mm ammo which very significantly reduced T34/KV1 effectiveness, probably as much as anything else. We know the poor crew ergonomics & lack of commander were an issue -- this reduced efficiency but it didn't render the crew catatonic. And top speed is often less important than mobility, and the wide tracks did have better mobility than the germans. And it was waaaaaay faster than the matildas. The steel quality was often poor -- yet we know this same armor was very resilient against the main german gun of 1941 -- the 37mm. And pretty good against the 50mm. Yeah, hit it with a high velocity 75mm and it's in trouble, but those were non-existent in 1941 and still a minority in 1942. And 2 rounds per minute?? Does that sound correct to anyone? That sounds more like SU122 or SU152 firing rate. Anyway, whether the video is over-hyped or not it's always fun to see tank discussions

I put off getting the modern games for a while, since I am a WW2 guy -- though I am also a cold war guy from back in the day. All I can say is that you are missing out on a ton of fun. The modern stuff is so different from WW2, such a different kind of challenge. Just get one of the three modern games and you'll see.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukah and Happy New Year and anything else going on for y'all! I have been delayed in my progress in RollBahnD campaign due to the evil real world, but finally have finished second mission. What an excellent infantry fight. And the visuals look just like pictures from the era, rolling terrain, woods, fields, fences. Here, paratroopers advancing into the unknown in the dull, overcast afternoon light, wondering what awaits them in the village/ridge beyond. I take the buildings in the village area, get some eyes on the ridge. I spot enemy assets and begin hitting with mortars and MG fire. As the battle develops, I have a three pronged attack forming using ~safe areas of approach. Left via dead ground below ridge, right through the woods, and the least safe route up the center, which will wait until the wings engage. Enemy MGs appear to be knocked out and so once in position I use mortars for smoke left & right then attack. One tough bunker falling at a time, via small arms suppression then panzershreks. Right and left flanks, respectively shown below. Now the middle moves up and engages while the flank attackers knock out bunkers one by one.... But the toughest Ami of the war just won't flee or surrender -- he won't even stop firing when there's hundreds of bullets hitting all around him! Alas, he is finally wounded and the panzershrecks move in to finish off the bunker. Total german victory, low casualties. I did have one cheat point in the spirit of full disclosure. An enemy MG that I was flanking was shooting through a bunker that I expected would provide cover/concealment for my movement -- I thought this was un-physical so went back to previous save and didn't assume that. All in all, great fun. Currently reading The Devil's Adjutant, about Peiper's advance, and this really felt right. On to battle #3, the PanzerSpitze mine incident well known from this and other books on the subject. I don't know where the mines are and maybe I can somehow miss them? I am expecting not so, but we'll see.

PAK43 & panthers, definitely a tough row to hoe. But you seem like you've got it well in hand. Good luck, Old Chap!

I'm midway thru first mission. good example of how a few tenacious defenders in those stout stone/brick buildings can be hard for infantry alone to overcome without taking some casualties. Not a lot of casualties, but not zero either.

Good heavens, I am rather remiss in this. Thanks @theforger!

Thanks Mr Coal-Thief! I have 3 weeks of vacation starting end of Friday and now I know what I will do with it.

Thanks for this exciting thread Rinaldi, it looks like a lot of effort but much appreciated. Now get crackin'!

close TheCapt, many of the same fellas involved in both movies. I was thinking Time Bandits. But you are quite correct, there was shrubbery in the Grail also.

Roger..... I don't think so, TheCapt. There's Wally, Strutter, and of course Vermin, et al. What movie are you thinking of?

I notice in CMBN that lots of hedgerows tend to make a difference in graphical performance. That does NOT make it too laggy to play, especially given the 10 million hours of play that we've collectively put into BN. That doesn't mean we need to 'wake up'. We're not f-ing stupid, and that kinda acts like we all are. Maybe it's your PC/graphics settings? Maybe simplify the shrubbery? I actually know some guys that work in the Shrubbery Dept; all very nice other than stealing that map of time back in the day (will only be understood by true aficionados of the motion picture arts)

Lesson #2: if there's tunguska, immediately abort air strikes. I just lost 4 aircraft. Disaster. Got the tunguska w a TOW, but too late. The briefing said there'd be AA mobile w the passing russian columns. I should've taken more heed of that.

A big learning for me in this one is that intel from drones can be used by others, not just the observer who's controlling the drone. That's mighty handy! I stumbled on this accidently in this mission. Black Sea is full of surprises. Best of all might be the precision arty rounds, those are second only to javelins -- powerful dark magic for sure

and the winner is ..... the reserve platoon farther down the road that hit with a javelin. This tank looked like a lion inside a pack of hyenas, w MGS & AT4 & small arms blasting away, then came the kill shot. DUDE! BEHIND YOU! Totally did not see this one coming! takes an AT4 on the left flank, then MGS penetrates & destroys. This was a very very close call, I could've had serious losses in this. Meanwhile, on a battlefield filled with BMPs and tanks, F16 pilot decides to risk his life to take out two recon jeeps?? The jet fuel alone costs more than those two vehicles. So, I'll admit to something that would never ever happen to me in WW2. What is this russian tank? T90? T80? T64? I have a hard time telling them all apart, especially w the extra armor.

on to battle #3 in US campaign. It's a complex assignment that requires good knowledge of the tools & assets available. Definitely req'd some learning for me, as I started and ran for just a couple minutes a few times, not so much to cheat but because I wasn't understanding the gear/terrain situation well enough. Learned a few things then haven't restarted again. Brilliant battle design that really highlights what makes CMBS special. Quite a fight, lots of russian assets are junked. My losses are low except for one helo & one F16 despite my having knocked out ~5 tunguskas before launching any air strikes. A couple russian tanks break off to attack the pesky americans that are hitting their left flank. They come on quickly and penetrate my TOW/javelin screens. Now are right in my forward infantry. Javelin team was hit a minute ago and survivor is fumbling for the weapon, giving the tanks time to move in. I've got infantry and an MGS stryker. Most of the infantry has AT4s. The MGS gets a kill shot on one tank! I've got hope! this greatly angers his buddy, who goes full on berserk down the street, shrugging off AT4 & MGS hits! for some reason he rotates to his left, and MGS send round through his wheels. Turn ends with both guns on target at point blank range! Who's gonna fire first? (I actually don't know, I am posting this before finding out)

meanwhile, US infantry advances in a right hook, only one casualty so far for this platoon. Infantry & combat engineers advance in the center, past a lot of very expensive scrap metal. Two done in by javelins, the BMP by precision mortar round direct hit. Bradleys have been very successful supporting the infantry via shoot & scoot w short (usually 5 second) pause. That 30mm gun is perfect for urban fighting. and then I decide to use a 10 second delay instead of 5..... First bradley lost, dangit, though only one casualty. I thought sure that guy on the left was dead, but he shot me while I was shredding his friends next door. I've got a bradley, an abrams and a stryker disabled near start line w thrown tracks, and another bradley hit a mine but only immobilized no casualties. Unless there's a russian counterattack, I might get through this with minimal losses. Famous last words? Perhaps.

Well, Bufo, you must be livin' right. Sometimes my javelin team fires & is thereby spotted by some nasty BMP and shredded.

and just like that, this cat runs out of lives. Javelin strikes again. Gawd that does feel good.

To those on the fence about modern stuff, the post above shows how much fun it can be. In similar vein here, From TaskForce 3-70 campaign. US troops move forward on right flank in short spurts, screened on left flank trees. Most of the action so far is in the urban area just to the left of here. Holy F--! a 125mm tank shell comes flying right past the MG team! Javelin team spots & prepares to fire, better hurry! Tank again fires at MG team, again just barely high, and at same instant detects javelin & pops smoke It's a race.... and the javelin team wins! Dang good shootin', fellas! Meanwhile, world's luckiest tanguska AA vehicle has survived 6 precision rounds, and an AT4 just hit it's skirt. But he's already knocked out my only drone, so has done a lot of damage to me. Hopefully he's damaged, because if not he's gonna shred the AT team that just fired.

ahhh, that special feeling when the javelin hits and your team survives, so very satisfying

This game is about the military-tactical challenges of warfare in various eras and areas. We all put up w the outdated graphics because we want the challenge that we can't seem to find elsewhere. If someone came up w CM's challenge w modern graphics & such, yeah, we'd all want that. but where is that game? Men of War has better graphics (I played it for a while long ago). It also has fighting all happening within ~ 100 meters, which is nice playground fun but utterly ridiculous. If one wants a realistic military challenge, CM is the place. Most games sacrifice realism to gain bigger market, that's cool for them, but then again all those games kinda play the same. Make base, base makes stuff, get better stuff, make better base, get more better stuff......

Oh yeah, Mote in gods eye. I read that 100 years ago, I still remember the main bits. Hopefully Weiss & Benioff won't ruin 3-body. They were really good in GOT until they ran out of book material and then seemed to have tired of the whole thing. I read there's a new level added in hell just for them, empty & waiting, based on what they did to the best show ever -- God very angry, as we all are. I suppose they still have a chance for some level of redemption w 3body. But even if they ace it all I would do was reduce the temperature a little.

what Zeb II???? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO By the way, Dan/Cali, I did audiobooks so maybe that made it all flow more than in print?