SDG

Thanks for the quick reply Erwin! My question still stands though. I know, that the Americans should have easier in '82, but as this was meant to be *the original* campaign, I assume the scenarios are designed in a way that the Soviets are not complete pushovers. If someone played through the 1982 campaign, please do let me know how "easy" did you find it. I would really want to avoid sinking into too much time into a "tutorial difficulty" campaign (as you yourself mentioned that it is suitable "to learn the systems").

Dear Gents, As the name of the topic entails, I'd like to give the American campaign a go, but unsure whether I should start with the one set in '79 or '82. The campaign description says that the campaign was designed with the 1982 start date in mind, and the earlier version was added later as an "interesting extra alternative". In 1982 the Americans have access to a much more high tech gear, and the balance of power has clearly shifted towards NATO (Abrams and the like), but I would presume - based on the fact that this should be "the original" campaign - the missions are balanced in a manner to accomodate the aformentioned circumstance. Thanks in advance for your kind feedback.

+1 This is especially funny if you consider the fact that the Soviet infantry has as their "'unit pic" a dude looking through his binoculars.

Must have been bad luck then. The IS-2s decimated my Panthers in an open engagement, with the Panthers pinging off left and right from these beasts. I hate restarting missions but my tanks being useless in frontal engagements caught me completely off guard, as I was somewhat accustomed to the fact that as the Germans, if I win the spotting lottery, the enemy armor is good as dead. Not this time though. Learned my lesson. (Btw. the Broken Shield campaign is amazing! I highly recommend it to everyone.)

This is seriously some good advice, thanks for that. I sometimes do neglect to wait for the information to go through the chain of command and reach my tanks. Spotting apart, is this realistic that the long 75 mil of the Panther should struggle against an IS-2 even at close distance (<350 m)? (the flak 88 bouncing 3 times from 68 m is also ridiculous..)

Oh wait, they can bounce 88 flak guns from 68 meters! Must have been a coincidence, right? Nope. Maybe third time the charm? Nope!

I mean.. Just encountered the IS-2s in the campaign and I am genuinly surprised how useless the Panther G-s are against them. Lined up 4 Panthers along the road (engagement distance at around 350m-s), and waited for the IS-s to drive in front of my tanks one by one. Big mistake. The first tank rolled in (buttoned up), the 4 panthers cannot see it (of course they cant, visual impairment is a common illness among the rank of the Waffen SS), the IS started to engage some infantry, finally one of my tanks spots it, takes a shot but bounces, then gets a partial pen, then all the other IS-s start to roll in and OHK 3 of my Panthers and I finally decide the retreat the last one.. OK, big gun, panther gets one-shotted 100% of the time, everytime. This was to be expected. What wasnt expected is that IS-2s can bounce shots left and right within 350 (!!!) meters and even if they get penetrated, it takes 2-4 (!!!) shots to actually destroy them.

Dear Benpark, Thx for the super-quick response, was able to find them (didnt check the "leader names" thats why i missed them). SDG

The mission says that I should preserve the film team of the Propaganda Ministry and the repair crew that has been pressed into frontline service, else I will suffer penalties during the campaign. I would love adhere to the above advice, the only problem is that I am unable to find these buggers. Clicked through all my units.. If anyone knows what troops does the briefing refer to, please let me know. Thanks in advance.

Thanks for the reply/advice benpark! I cannot comment on replayability, as I dont like restarting missions (nor "savescumming"). The best thing for me is to dive into the unknown, not being sure whether I can just zip through parts of the map or I have to fight through it etc. I have one question though. How does the AI artillery work? I presume it is not cheating but man it feels like that it has the all seeing eye of Sauron.. Enemy mortars (?) have been following my troops ever since I left the cover of the forest. Always using short barrages and decimating my infantry. I presume there is an arty spotter somewhere that keeps refocusing the fire mission? (Oh and one other thing. The houses.. It is possibly confirmation bias, but all the windows seem to be looking "my direction", while having just walls on the other side. This means that it very difficult to establish a good base of fire as I cannot use the captured building as "jump off points" to support further advance as there are no windos overlooking the "other side".) I guess

Dunno if others are also having trouble with this one, but it gives me flashbacks to the last missions of KG Peiper, where I am slogging through heavy urban/forested terrain in the darkness, while getting smg-d and artied to death. I have just captured Kistarján and already taken like 20%+ casualties (it also doesnt help that the HE of the German 75 mm tank/spg guns is pretty anemic..). Let me know how are you faring..

If the BMP 1 is buttoned, then neither of them can see anyhting. The minute i pop up with the gunner the mount the AT 4, the BMP 1 can spot the other IFV in 20 seconds, while the BMP 2 is only able to spot the other vehicle if the engagement is still underway (muzzle flashes etc.)

Struggling through the (otherwise lovely) Hasrabit campaign and noticed a weird thing. During mission 3, I was supposed to conduct a defense and fight against BMP 1s in a night battle. My troops are mostly crack and equipped with BMP 2s. Should be easy, right? WRONG.. My BMP 2s got obliterated by their last gen predecessors because they were unable to get any spots. After that, I did some very basic research and was shocked that a buttoned up BMP 1 can almost immediately spot a BMP 2, while the BMP 2 could not see the other IFV even if i left it there for 10 turns. Bug? WAD? Am I doing something wrong? I presume its becuase of the gunner being able to man the AT4, which has some kind of a night vision? (On the other hand, the BMP 2 should have IR optics which - seemingly - does jack sh*t). https://ibb.co/mJTzJb0 https://ibb.co/4YK9qvh

Thanks for the replies guys. I'am anything but a CM expert but I did put in a few hundreds hours into the game and never before have I encountered this "problem". I presume earlier heavy small arms fire forced infantry to vacate the buildings and now they just adopted a "honey badger doesn't care attitude". All I'am asking is whether this is working as intended i.e. : I either storm the building as you pointed out by using supressing fire; or I use heavy weapons (grenade launchers, 20 mm autocannons etc.) to clear out the "residents". I HATED the previous retreat mechanics (especially when my guys were fleeing towards the enemy), but to me it is still silly that from 175m, twenty veteran/crack marines with scoped rifles cannot dispatch some Syrians shooting from the windows of a stone building. The dude's not even on the ground floor (which should supposedly grant you the best possible cover). Below is the screen taken from the FI shootout: ALL of my forces present on the screen are trying to take out that single guy on the right corner.. Range 150-225m.

I have noticed that since the latest patch (?) infantry can survive small arms fire in buildings for a ridiculous amount of time. My first weird experience was in Shock Force 2, when a tiny Syrian section kept on living for 9 (!) turns against the hailstorm of fire from 20 of my guys (veteran/crack, distance about 175 m) and the only thing that was doing damage to them and eventually cut them down one by one was the weapon mounted grenade launchers. They popped up, received fire, got pinned, recovered, popped up, got fired upon - rince and repeat. The same is happening in my current Fortress Italy game, when a solitary Amicerican heavy machine gunner at the bottom floor of a building just straight up refuses to die against 2*10 riflemen, 2 HQ elements (with 1+1 breda machine guns), and a deployable heavy machine gun section. The only difference is that I don't have any kinds of explosives to do actual damage, so I am playing the above whack a mole and frankly, it's getting rather silly. I don't know whether buildings got "stronger" or the phenomenon is due to the fact that units are now very reluctant to leave good cover. Nevertheless it is extremely annoying. So, is it me or this really an issue now? Thanks,