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ctcharger

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  1. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Michael Emrys in A question about cover   
    Really makes a difference. I had to remind myself to do this a few months back. I had originally plotted movement paths for some units that viewed from #3 height looked quite reasonable, but when I got down in the weeds with my soldiers I discovered other paths where they would have better cover due to irregularities in the ground that were not visible from above.
    Michael
  2. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Bozowans in A question about cover   
    Yeah that's what makes this scenario hilarious to play. The AI will suicidally charge every last one of their units ahead toward the objective zones, eventually feeding even their HQ units into the meat grinder. Broken squads will retreat a short distance, then recover, turn around, and charge back in again until every last man is wiped out. It always bugged me that units can't rout off the map in this game (yet they could in CMx1 IIRC). In the end it's still a lot of fun to play though. One of my favorite parts:

     
    That was a spot where the Russian infantry would turn the corner and then immediately get mowed down by a bunch of my guys a few houses down. Eventually there got to be a nice pile of bodies there. The Russian company commander is lying in there somewhere. 
    I definitely agree with buildings being death traps a lot of the time. Especially in Black Sea where the weapons are so lethal and accurate. The WW2 games are more forgiving. Buildings can be great cover in a straight-up infantry firefight where you're only taking small arms fire at long range, but in Black Sea every infantry squad usually comes with their own vehicle with a big gun. One tank shell or missile or APC autocannon hitting the side of a building from a mile away can shred a whole squad in seconds. So I'll put guys in buildings that have a good keyhole view of the enemy or are otherwise protected from view (like the ground floor of a walled compound). Or I'll put them in there strictly as observers and tell them to hold fire. Otherwise that building will be their tomb.
  3. Like
    ctcharger reacted to MikeyD in A question about cover   
    One issue with comparing this game to real world is that often the game's virtual general (or human general) is as profligate with the lives of his men as any French WWI general. Under real world circumstances losing 15 APC would effectively end the assault. But both the AI and the human player insist of pushing forward. That kind'a skews the behavior. Maybe its appropriate for battling through WWII Berlin or Stalingrad but its unusual behavior in modern conflicts.
    An old joke of my is the best way to deploy troops in buildings is to put them BEHIND buildings. Buildings are a death trap more often than not. If I've got troops in an upper story I often need to 'face' them away from the lethal side of the building and give a 'hide' command in the hope that the incoming fire will abate. Then I revive them and send them back into the fight. If they stay in place they die.
  4. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Combatintman in A question about cover   
    By the sounds of it @Bozowansexample has benefitted from the way targeting works in Combat Mission. In essence buildings can't be targeted unless the spotting unit can see a good proportion of the facing of the building. I believe, but haven't tested it to any degree, that units in buildings can get targeted in these instances by the Tac AI if they are seen but there are vagaries in the whole process.
  5. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Bozowans in A question about cover   
    You mean having infantry hug a wall so they look around the corner? That can be tricky to make work sometimes (though I did have an RPG guy take out two APCs by doing that). I meant more like having guys waiting far back down the street, so the enemy gets blasted one at a time as they turn the corner onto the street. Or something like that.
    Like for example, one of the most successful positions I had on the map was this one down the street by the bridge:

     
    That's the view from the window that one of my RPG guys was shooting out of. He could sit there and fire at each APC as they crossed the bridge one by one and none of them could fire back before they were hit.
  6. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Bozowans in A question about cover   
    I finally got around to playing that scenario and it went surprisingly well! It was pretty nerve-racking seeing the huge Russian force bearing down on me but I ended up with a total victory and forced a Russian surrender with 5 minutes left on the clock. That was a really intense battle. It took me days to play it though. One thing I can say for sure is that the positions that most of your troops start out in are really, really bad. I could tell right away that they start out way too exposed. I ended up spending a crazy long time just in the setup phase, reorganizing the entire defense and moving most of my troops around including the foxholes.
    Probably the most important thing IMO is to find keyhole positions or positions around corners, so that you can engage their units one at a time as they come into view. Keyhole positions are such a pain for an attacking force to deal with. I had several good spots where my RPG teams could fire until they ran out of ammo and had to run back to get more. I had one platoon covering the western bridge, another covering the southern approach, and the other farther back inside the town.
    The first wave of Russians headed toward the western bridge, and I had a few RPGs plus an ATGM all set to open fire the moment the first vehicle got to the other side. Within a few minutes the bridge was covered with burning wreckage, with the Russian infantry pinned down behind their vehicles. With the vehicles down, I sent up a few of the BTRs and some more infantry and counterattacked them, sending the Russian infantry streaming back across the bridge in disarray, right into an artillery barrage. I took surprisingly few casualties. A handful of Russians managed to get across the bridge and into the outlying buildings and gunned down three of my men, but they were dealt with quickly. 
    The second and much larger Russian attack came a few minutes later from the south. With the Russians around the bridge destroyed, I was able to shift my entire force over to the south to deal with the new threat. This force was much harder to deal with and they managed to penetrate into the town somewhat. I took most of my casualties here. Still, I was able to whittle them down piece by piece, and as more of their vehicles were destroyed, they became more and more open to counterattacks.
    I found the BTRs to be surprisingly useful. I had them zipping back and forth all throughout the battle, resupplying and shuffling men around, and using them to counterattack exposed Russian infantry. The BTRs are also capable of destroying the Russian MT-LBMs if they get the jump on them. My BTRs caused about 27 enemy casualties between them and I lost two of them, one to a stray artillery shell and one to a tank shell. Toward the end of the battle I had three of the BTRs circle around together and attack a bunch of Russian infantry in the flanks, wiping out a couple of squads. The Russians managed to get a toehold in one of the objective zones, but as the clock ran out I started counterattacking them much more aggressively, throwing them back out of the objective again and forcing their surrender. At the end, they only had one MT-LBM left and one badly damaged tank with a busted targeting system and broken crew.
    The end result:

  7. Like
    ctcharger got a reaction from NeoOhm in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    Didn't think about letting the dust settle, that makes sense.  I also need to read up on what the dots mean for artillery.  
  8. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Howler in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    Less than optimum rate of fire. Letting the tubes cool will turn them back to green.
  9. Like
    ctcharger reacted to NeoOhm in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    I tested this alot now, and what i see is that 1 round is less accurate than 3 rounds of precision arty.
    When firing 1 at the time it can take up to 5-6-7 rounds before you get a direct hit - i wait for the dust to settle before every shoot, and the arty has all green dots full.
    When using a 3 shoot precision, at-least 2 rounds hits spot on and not often all 3 on the first fire mission.
  10. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Michael Emrys in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    That has been my experience. But it has also been my experience firing one round at a time that most of the time—65%-75%—the first round hits. So it's a bit of a toss up whether it is more important to get that one kill immediately or to conserve ammunition.
    Michael
  11. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Michael Emrys in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    Postscript to the above: I was addressing the American 155mm; the 120mm mortar is a different story. Its rounds hit on target less than 50% of the time, so those I always fire two at a time, and often still run through their ammo very quickly. I have not played as the Russians, so cannot address their performance.
    Michael
  12. Like
    ctcharger got a reaction from NeoOhm in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    How much precision can I expect?  I am using the Forward Observer that is controlling the drone and so far not good or at least not very reliable.  I am playing Blue in the scenario BSBP 01 Honor.  Should I just use a regular point mission instead because the time it takes me to get it done, leaves me exposed to artillery.
  13. Like
    ctcharger reacted to A Canadian Cat - was IanL in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    Well needed implies tuned down below real life. At least to me.
    I used tweaked because it was an adjustment. The US munitions were to accurate in game and the Russian ones were not accurate enough. So, this was fixed by a tweak
  14. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Sgt.Squarehead in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    That is correct AFAIK. 
  15. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Michael Emrys in What unit is best for spoting for arty, using Drones etc   
    I have found that to be the case. If you run out of precision rounds, or you wish to conserve them, you can use this and set it to have several minutes of duration and you'll have a pretty good chance of hitting your target. I've used this for attacking enemy-ooccupied buildings, for instance.
    Michael
  16. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Michael Emrys in A question about cover   
    I bet your buildings weren't designed to resist high intensity armed conflict.

    Michael
  17. Like
    ctcharger reacted to sburke in A question about cover   
    Aren't and were not meant to be.  LAVs are.
  18. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Michael Emrys in A question about cover   
    You just stirred a memory. Back in the '80s I met a guy who had recently been part of the Berlin Brigade, and who informed me that post war buildings in strategic locations of West Berlin often had walls for the first floor that were ten feet of solid reinforced concrete. I've never heard this from any other source, but so far have not heard any source contradict it either, so take it for what it's worth.
    Michael
  19. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Sgt.Squarehead in A question about cover   
    Images from testing:
    Setup

    Button clicked causing 'The Jump' (tanks redeployed according to chosen AI Plan):

    So it's still as I observed, but assuming @IanL didn't keep rolling double ones, it seems the choice of plan will always be the same, the plan is predetermined at loadup.....Will run a few multiples to confirm. 
    Many restarts later.....
    Yup, looks like he's right.....Apologies to @ctcharger for the bum steer. 
  20. Like
    ctcharger reacted to A Canadian Cat - was IanL in A question about cover   
    You will notice something that has confused me in the past. I deployed the red tanks in the middle - as you can see in your first screen shot - but each AI orders had a unique setup area. During setup the red forces appear in their deployed positions even though the plan choice is locked in. As soon as you press the BRB they jump to the stop zone.
    So, remember when you are testing your new AI plan, with the unique setup that should always be chosen because you turned off the other plans, that they don't assume their start position until you press the BRB. Loading the scenario over and over and checking the plans in the editor is just wasting your time
  21. Like
    ctcharger reacted to A Canadian Cat - was IanL in A question about cover   
    Ah I didn't get that reference. Anyway I was more trying to make the jump wider known. I spent a whole afternoon's editor time discovering that one day
  22. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Mord in A question about cover   
    Just wait until you use AT guns. They suck until they are pointed at you!
     
    Mord.
  23. Upvote
    ctcharger got a reaction from HerrTom in A question about cover   
    I am calling this a win.  Made some dumb mistakes but clearly better this time.  Clear win if I am writing the history of the battle.... 
    They'll never get to Kiev at this rate....
     
     
     

  24. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Michael Emrys in A question about cover   
    I do something similar; I label the first save "[battle name] 000". I give the first turn's save after giving commands as "[battle name] 001. I generally save every turn that way so that if I want to go back and look at any turn I can.
    The only downside to that system is that after that battle is finished and I want to clear all those saves out, it takes a hell of a lot of mouse clicks.
    Michael
  25. Like
    ctcharger reacted to Sgt.Squarehead in A question about cover   
    I save on a 5 or 10 minute basis as a rule.
    FWIW
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