quakerparrot67

That paragraph could totally be in a book by Julian Barnes Nicely written, Ben.

"Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?"    

Craters help gun survivability considerably, but given the terrain, guns need sangars, which were used quite effectively in North Africa.

http://www.lexic.us/definition-of/sangars

Pics, of what appear to be badly abused ones, here.

http://www.sidirezegh.co.nz/Menus/Platoon-Diary.php

Intact specimen, Radicosa, Italy, 1944. Note what it is especially good for surviving.

http://asl-battleschool.blogspot.com/2012/07/special-delivery-fssf-at-70.html

Finally! 88s and other guns in sangars

http://www.lonesentry.com/battleoftheomars/appendixb.html

Regards,

John Kettler

Their influence on Spanish music is significant and welcome.



Michael

Fetchez la vache!

Falaise,
Yours is one of, if not the, most astounding post string I've seen on the CM Forums since I joined in January 2000. What most of us have read about and some studied, you have walked and (with your wife) unearthed. To live in a house outside of which unimaginable carnage occurred recently enough that there are those who could tell the tale; to grow up hearing from the direct experiencers what it was like puts a face on history the likes of which few here or in general will ever see for themselves. Seven kinds of cool you are a museum guide. I know there are huge areas in which UXO keeps turning up, and I have a favorite story (not fun for the person involved) in which a Belgian farmer cut down an old tree for some reason and, after sweating up a storm to do so,  sat on the stump to rest. Next thing he knows, his rear is on fire and blistered. The place was the heavily fought over Ypres, Beligium of WW I fame/notoriety, and his sweat had released mustard gas which had soaked into the wood back then as a result of one or more such attacks in which the tree was a participant of sorts! Am PMing you some info on a Falaise pub you may not have seen. Or you might have severa of it alreadyl!  Thanks much for sharing your amazing story with us. In closing, I think that's a CW 2" mortar bomb. Here's one just like yours recovered in England.

http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/9132523.Unexploded_WW2_bomb_discovered_in_Dorchester/

But the slam dunk is here, which shows all of the 2" mortar projectiles.

http://visualcollector.com/VisualCollectorLinks/MortarsMines.htm

 Regards,
John Kettler

He probably meant: CLOSE THIS THREAD, DAM# IT! I JUST WON'T PROVIDE SCREENIES FOR ANOTHER SIX MONTHS.

@RockinHarry

I know it's possible to approximate some of what I described, but I think that to model appropriate and logical behaviors, those actions would need distinct commands.
The time-based shoot and scoot method is not reliable. When the time reaches 0,  the team will evade (which is no good and potentially dangerous if your target did not cross the target arc in time). In a similar fashion, they can shoot an infinite number of times during that time window, but you could want for them to evade as soon as the first shot is fired (the most evident case would be for a team equipped with disposable AT launchers).
About grenades, the problem is that it's often not possible to find a spot where your target is liable to be engaged in the currently available manner. A separate command would give you the expected result every time as long as you're in range.

I'll say it again like I do every time I have the chance.
Combat Mission as it is right now could massively benefit from 3 commands.
Shoot and Scoot : Cover arc order that lets you select an arc and a number of shots (much like Target Briefly) and then executes a Fallback Point order (see below). This would increase the surivability and unpredictability of fragile high-impact weapon teams.
Fallback Point : Movement waypoint that is only executed when the TAC-AI decides the unit should retreat. Essentially, this lets you decide where a unit retreats when it breaks or decides to scamper, solving one of the biggest problems players have with the TAC-AI. With vehicles, the movement would be in reverse.
Target Grenade : Attack order that uses grenades and demolition charges only. It would increase the usefulness of grenades especially in urban settings. You can do something similar in the games as they are, provided the terrain is right (target in the same Action Square, but beyond an obstacle), but such a thing is quite rare.
 

The opportunity to support a small, independent game company, that produces some of the best WWII & Modern wargames in the world, maybe? 

When this is finally sorted I can "Get Happy!!"

Not quite.  I opine that the 332nd Fighter Group ranks as the best WW2 fighter unit anywhere because they trained as a squadron for three (count 'em, 3) whole years on four (4) different fighter aircraft before being committed to combat.  With that much individual flight experience and unit training they'd better be good, and they were.  Compare their performance against the under-trained late war Luftwaffe and Japanese pilots and its easy to see why training profoundly matters.  Racism kept the Tuskegee Airmen out of battle until Air Corps leadership concluded, "Needs must when the Devil drives."  The movie "Red Tails" is over the top Hollywood pap.  The reality is that early 20th Century America was institutionally racist despite which the Red Tails were very good indeed.

Stop. Mord. Will you. Stop. Mord. I'm a-fraid. I'm a-fraid.
Daiiiisy, Daiiiisy..... 

A command movement:
"Follow it or follow" going with and follow in the same slow speed vehicles and  tanks give mutualy fire support.
A command order:
"Cleaning" buildings.

Having the graphics show what the actual conditions are. How dark is it? How foggy is it?
Right now, we have to guess, because nights are always a sort of twilight, and even heavy fog only shows as a kind of mist at long distances, but these things have huge consequences for the battle.
Also, I would love to see an update that fixed the graphical glitches such as shadows popping on and off, houses flickering between shaded and full-bright depending on the angle of the camera, etc.

The more I learned about the realities of combat in WWII the more I wondered how on earth men withstood it. I found, however, that sometimes they didn’t. 
Below is a link to an overview of battle fatigue in US forces in WWII. I found some rather astounding numbers, and also that the army studied the issue of men’s breaking points very meticulously. Given the numbers involved, they had to. 
The morale model in Combat Mission’s WWII titles are remarkable in their reflection of reality. There have been studies that found that the “soft factors” that determine when and why men will break are not as abstract as one would think. 
Battle fatigue in WWII is a fascinating - even if heartbreaking - topic that I thought deserved some study. Figured you guys might be interested as well 
 
https://battlelines.blog/2019/01/09/the-spirit-of-the-infantry-battle-fatigue-in-the-second-world-war/
 

how what has always started?  Fascism??  starts w political correctness?  Totalitarianism?  what is it that starts with 'political correctness'?  My definition of political correctness is "if it offends me, it's offensive!  if it offends you, it's political correctness".  Yes, there's folks that uber sensitive and don't like this or that, and they whine a lot.  But they aren't the ones that take over governments and start jailing, beating, and killing people they don't like.

Yeah I have a real problem with this. The acts in question were unacceptable in the world at the time. Yes, I am aware that dogmatic leaders used mass murder regularly then but the vast majority of actual citizens were well aware that mass murder was not an acceptable practice.
LOL the power of political correctness? That is hilarious. It has very little power - next to none. It is the very people butt hurt over having to perhaps consider other people in their day to day life that have elevated the idea that some how political correctness is some big bad evil thing. Good lord.

+1. The "fetal curl" has always turned me off esthetically. And calling it something else, like "taking cover" would be an improvement too. Save the curl for units that are broken.
Michael
 

Wrong, "all the cools kids" are listening to Lester Young. 

Mods matter

...And as Mike said, giving Goering and the Luftwaffe some fun/glory would also be a third reason why Dunkirk wasn't crushed immediately.  Taken altogether it looks like an xnt decision to halt the German attack - just that with the benefit of hindsight H underestimated the first of many Churchill's "Nuts" moments ...
PS:  To my amazement the spousal unit LOVED the movie!  Said it's cos it's not yer typical "warbore" movie, but done in a very innovative style.  She liked the relationships of the desperate men and their struggle to survive.
So, take your sigothers...  Maybe if "Dunkirk" does well enuff we'll see a resurgence of quality movies on WW2.

You should take up a career as a Film Reviewer. Your input has been so helpful.

As we were talking in another thread, if squads or Cie could be represented with different colors...this will be really helpful.