Centurian52

The ISW paper that Hapless linked yesterday was a long read (76 pages), but well worth it. I think it's essential reading for anyone who wishes to continue discussing the state of maneuver on the modern battlefield in general, and in Ukraine specifically.
https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Ukraine and the Problem of Restoring Maneuver in Contemporary War_final.pdf
Yes, it's a lot of reading. But it can't be more reading than is involved in keeping up on this thread.

Meanwhile the Russians continue to demonstrate excellent offensive technique. Literally a meat delivery. 

Mental to see this.

🤐

It's not something Battlefront can fix, and AMD isn't particularly motivated to fix it. The only solution is to roll back your AMD drivers to the last known working version. Based on earlier pages in this thread 22.5.1 should work fine (that's probably what I have my drivers set on, though I'm not at my home computer to check right now).
The root of the problem is that CM2, despite all the updates, is still a mid-2000s game engine. With each passing year it's just going to have more and more problems running on a modern system. You can still play nearly any 90s or 2000s game on a modern system, but they usually run with the assistance of compatibility tools that emulate an earlier environment. And I think CM2 is getting closer and closer to needing the same treatment.

Ugh that is exactly what happened...was getting ready to send that minute's "save" as requested and watched again with pauses...and wasn't the T72 that hit it...was the Shilka...DAMN those 23mm quads throw up a wall of lead in the 2 seconds it was in sight...

Agreed! 😉 A pain to draw! How many times have I erased the adjacent road while drawing a hedgerow? ☠️
 
That's also the way I've drawn my own maps for the Baupte and Merderet areas.
I also perform a systematical check for each and every field: it should be accessible by some mean (either a gap or a gate or a wider opening). And I add small gaps here and there. In nearly all hedgerows. Except for specific purposes, obviously...😉
 
That's where I disagree with your bocage conception.
Hedgerows are NOT intended to stop trespassers. At least not in first intent. Bocage hedgerows are part of a complex ecological system with several purposes (among which: wind sheltering, water buffering, big farm animals confinement, etc.). They're clearly NOT exotical walls intended to forbid trespassers entering into fields.
From my experience and from my readings, hedgerows are NOT similar to hard, high walls. Most of them shall be crossable by foot soldiers, even though some are certainly formidable and intimidating enough (think of all the vegetation spines by example...) as to be as impassable as a wall. But not all of them. That's why I believe that small gaps shall be used more liberally than usually done by scenario designers.
 
IMHO it's a mistake is to consider bocage fighting like a gigantic urban combat. Of course there are similarities; but many differences as well.
First of all, as already mentioned above, the maze aspect of hedgerows (very little high points, unlike in urban areas), certainly one of the most typical aspects of the combats in the Normandy bocage, and is impossible to render in Combat Mission.
Important roads aside, the roads between hedgerows are very narrow (much more than allowed by CMBN map systems) and unlike in urban areas long-ranged LOF are uncommon. The very geometrical map system of CMBN make the hedgerows look like a dystopic North American urban areas, with impenetrable, windowless and doorless hedgerow-lined streets beaten by long ranged MG LOF. We obviously have to live with that, but it makes realistic hedgerow combat rendering more difficult.
Also hedgerows are very different from a wall, you can cross it without doors or windows, you can hide INSIDE it or aginast it.
Etc. Etc.
All the readings I've done regarding bocage suggest combats based on ambushes, short-duration, short-ranged fightings, booby traps, sniper in trees, HMG hidden in hedges, coup-de-mains against MG positions using grenades, tanks blasted at short ranges. All very similar to urban combat indeed; but with a very limited vertical dimension (which is completely lost in CMBN by the way) and much more porous walls - I mean hedgerows. And that's my point.
Many CMBN scenarios are just impossible to win as the US side without blasting its way through hedgerows (like through hard walls in urban combat). This not at all the way I understand the bocage war. I've never seen any account of infantrymen blasting their way through hedgerows except to open ways for tanks; I certainly may have missed it, but I don't believe this was as common as shown in CMBN, and I'm pretty sure it was not done by the 82nd Airborne in Normandy (I don't know for 101st but there is no reason to believe they behaved differently).
Against the AI it makes obviously no difference (except that I find it personnally more funny to sneak through existing gaps, exactly like in the first 3 scenarios of your "We Start Here" campaign, which are pretty nice and realistic bocage maps IMHO). Against a human opponent blasting its way through hedges is like waving a big, red flag and hurling "Hi I'm here!." Which is the very opposite to the sneaking essence of bocage combat warfare.
 
That's an intereting point. I'm surprised by the explosives US paratroopers all get in CMBN. AFAIK they only got Gammon bombs, which were not suited for blowing holes inside thick hedgerows.

If I never have to look at another hedgerow in the editor again I'll be a happy man.  
Generally the process that I follow when it comes to creating hedgerows:
- Source your reference map, 1:25000 scale or better, which will pick up the hedgerows. Add that as your overlay in the editor.
- Make your map and plot out all the hedgerows on a consistent basis.
- Go over the hedgerows adding some variety, adding trees (usually there are a line of trees running up against them) and suitable bushy or long grass ground cover. More concealment for pixeltruppen.
- Go back over it again once the rest of the map is drawn up and and replace the hedgerows with wire fences, wooden gates and similar. Usually these can't be identified on maps but aerial photos and AAR can help. Some artistic license is warranted to make things accessible for the player and the TacAI.
- Test. You've bound to miss some fields etc.
As for little natural gaps these can be added as well during the last steps but I wouldn't go overboard if it's part of a populated farmed area. Got to stop those trespassers. When adding these gaps, or man made gaps, I like to add in a red dirt tile to show wear and tear where people and vehicles have moved over the area multiple times. It also provides a visual cue to the player where the gaps are so there are no surprises.
Remember around the Utah Beach area virtually everything was being used as farmland which dictate field use. If things were a bit more wild and fields were left fallow for multiple years things would be a bit different.
All the readings I've done suggest the boccage effectively made the whole thing like a giant urban combat with battlefields being carved up into blocks and restricted LOS/LOF. Demo charges were the name of the game and progress was painfully slow. Things got better as innovations like the Rhino tanks became a thing in July but that was well out of scope of the pack. The first mission of the Purple Heart Lane has you in some what I would say light boccage country but you have Glider Infantry and very limited demo charges. Really highlights the differences in kit between them and the parachutists. Some testers found out the hard way.  Facing the tactical problems they did in June 1944 is part of the game. That means not all scenarios need to give the player the right tools for the job - particularly if there is a historical reason to do so.

That does look good! I'll have to carve out some time to read it. ISW has consistently done a good job both in their daily reports on this war and in their special reports.
I've already taken a look at the first paragraph, and I have to say that I've made the comparison between this war and the Spanish Civil War as well. I noted that the Spanish Civil War was also a largely static war, that may have confirmed to some people the lesson from WW1 that maneuver was dead. In fact I've noticed that quite a lot of wars before, since, and during WW2 were largely static wars (the Winter War and Korea come to mind). I no longer think there was an age of static warfare following WW1, which gave way to an age of maneuver warfare following WW2 (which many people seem to think is now giving way to a new age of static warfare). I think the pattern since WW1 has been a mix of static and maneuver warfare.
Edit: I should add that I think that static warfare may be the default, with maneuver only prevailing where the conditions are just right 

There probably are far more impassable hedgerows in the game than there should be. There definitely are hedgerows that are either completely impassible to humans, or at least so difficult to pass as to deter most people from trying. But probably not to the extent as in most CMBN scenarios. I'm guessing that scenario designers should probably make greater use of narrow gaps to represent the somewhat more porous nature of real hedgerows. There was a great deal of discussion during the testing for BP2 about where wide gaps should be (the gaps left intentionally by the farmers so that they could access their fields), with a lot of valuable insight provided by @Andrew Kulin (don't suppose you've seen enough French hedgerows in person to have any input here?). But perhaps we should have had a bit more discussion about how common narrow gaps should be to represent a realistically porous hedgerow.

Don't have to read this right now, but looks promising.
https://www.understandingwar.org/sites/default/files/Ukraine and the Problem of Restoring Maneuver in Contemporary War_final.pdf
 

There probably are far more impassable hedgerows in the game than there should be. There definitely are hedgerows that are either completely impassible to humans, or at least so difficult to pass as to deter most people from trying. But probably not to the extent as in most CMBN scenarios. I'm guessing that scenario designers should probably make greater use of narrow gaps to represent the somewhat more porous nature of real hedgerows. There was a great deal of discussion during the testing for BP2 about where wide gaps should be (the gaps left intentionally by the farmers so that they could access their fields), with a lot of valuable insight provided by @Andrew Kulin (don't suppose you've seen enough French hedgerows in person to have any input here?). But perhaps we should have had a bit more discussion about how common narrow gaps should be to represent a realistically porous hedgerow.

No, you probably just had to be American from the great plains or from New York...
(Or a Frenchman from southern France...)

Sure, but from the GI descriptions of the hedgerows it certainly seems like there were plenty of hedges deemed impassable because of both the thick intertwining branches of vegetation and the height of the earthen berms they rested upon.
One of the other problems was the sheer confusion generated by the maze of hedgerows. Soldiers seldom had any land references they could use to orient themselves. There are numerous accounts of platoons and even an entire company getting lost in the maze. From a game perspective, we have a bird's eye view of the map and getting lost isn't an issue.
 
 

Funny thing, sometimes it is just the opposite. I served in the German army as signals sergeant being responsible for my battalion HQ and being very interested in observing the tactical development on the operational map there. Did not learn very much though.
Years later I was an engineer and with one of the major German defence companies at the simulation branch. Tactical knowledge was very rare there, so after some convincing one or the other ex-officer, I was able to apply my knowledge from reading and some years experience with Combat Mission and other wargames.
Very useful when you help train officers abroad at our tactical simulator (up to division per side) or when the company starts to develop an operational simulation. For that I tried to bring Battlefront to the attention of the management, but they had already decided for another sim kernel. That was total crap and I told them, but nobody listened. Very much later they regretted that, but that is not my problem anymore - I am retired happily.

Back to the Bulge but this time with British in the snow with
 "Bloody Bure"

About the map and the project.
The battle of Bure, Belgium is a little known engagement that lasted from January 3rd to January 5th, 1945. It involved the British 13th (Lancashire) Parachute Battalion, the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and the armor of the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry as well as the 23 Hussars.
The Belgium SAS were also involved early on. 
Their opponent are elements of the Panzer Grenadier Regiment 902 supported by armor of the 130 PanzerLehr Regiment Abt. And the 559 Schwere Panzerjager Abt. It was a brutal fight in terrible winter conditions with heavy casualties.

Thank you very much to the excellent detailed and talented job from @dragonwynn with the creation of the map, scenarios and the final campaign.
Each battle uses the same master map but damage has been added to each mission for the immersion factor.
Historically the town was nearly completely destroyed in the 3 day fight.
Jumping from his excellent job from his last new campaign in Afghanistan to the cold little Belgian town in the Bulge, he has helped me create this 4 battles mini campaign. I took the part of modding uniforms, textures, and creation of new berets and helmets. Almost all were reworked, and 3d effects and gear were created to be included in the final download. 
Each unit has their own markings and uniforms for both sides as well as correct vehicle markings. There are mods taken from other excellent modders as well who will be noted in the final package. 
Thank you to @dragonwynn, but also thank you to our friend Phill @kohlenklau, gone from the forum a little too early, who we had the idea to create this scenario or mini campaign almost one year before. 
Now that I found another good talented designer, we are proud to present you these mini campaign, showcasing the British contribution in the Ardennes Offensive, where they suffered heavy casualties.
This is for me an honor, and my way to express my deep respect for the many fallen.
Thank you for all the modders present of the forum that give always the best of themselves, without their contributions these projects would never see the light, thank you to them and many others.
About the mods 
You will have:
 
The British:
13th Para (Red Devils)
Belguim SAS
Ox and Bucks in white uniforms
Modded armor and uniforms with correct markings from the Fife and Forfar Yeomanry and the 23 Hussars
New favour objects such as hospital tents for immersion
Scout car ambulance to bring your men far away from the battlefield.
The Germans:
 
Elements of the PzGr Lehr Regiment 902 with modded uniforms and 3d gear.
Armor from Abt. 130 Pz Lehr Regiment and 559 Schwere Panzerjager Abt with correct markings
You will be able to drive Opel Blitz ambulance to bring your wounded on safe place.
Also some favour objects that I did already for CMRT and some added from Mike (@dragonwynn)
Mods include:
Helmets and berets mixed
Snow effects on uniforms
Reworked cold faces
3d effect of weapons and gear
Actual names for most officers, that took part in the battle, thanks to Mike's deep research.
Reworking the SAS jeep and tanks with emblems of units
Milestones
Snowy vehicles and tanks
plus several other things that are still running through our heads...

Credit and thanks go to:
@dragonwynn >for his excellent job and coordination all around.
the modders that I was taking a copy from theirs mods 
@Egger>for the sas jeep
@WimO (kandu) >For the Pz Lehr uniforms
@Ithikial_AU>for the usa snowing uniforms that I took model for the British
@laurent 22 and @Aristoteles >for winterized vehicles
@Vein>for files I took some beautiful textures
@umlaut>for his destroyed buildings
@kohlenklau >to the kind way always ready to help
@benpark >for the help to reworking on m43 cap and helmet with trick and tip
@Bootie >for his kind way to accept the mods to share with all of you.
And all the others that I could forgot.
Soon some screenshots
We hope that you will enjoy it ! 
Mike and JM
 

The Relationship between Soft Factors, Morale & Fatigue 
 
Preface
Hi all, I'm pretty new to the BFC forums but I've been milling about over at the FGM for a little over a year. I recently created the below post and it received a lot of positive feedback to the point that it has now become one of the sitcky threads over there.
I have been prompted to post the thread here and after a conversation I had in another thread on this forum, I thought that by placing it here, then non-FGM members can have a read through without me having to copy and paste snippets from the original post at the FGM.

Introduction

Whether selecting unit attributes in a quick battle or whether in game wondering if you should use your +1 Leadership squad or +2 Motivation squad to assault a farmhouse. it can be difficult to make an informed decision due to the fact that there is not a lot of information in the manual which explains how the attributes of Experience, Leadership, Motivation and Fitness (hereby collectively known as the 'Soft Factors') affect certain game concepts such as Morale, Suppression, Firepower and Fatigue.

The forums can be slightly misleading as some posts describe exactly how something works whilst others are more how people feel something is working and it can be difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.

The information below is based on a painstaking process using the editor to separate out the impact of different factors by isolating them and testing them under different conditions. By isolating and testing these factors, the mechanics behind the concepts of Morale, Suppression, Accuracy, C2 and Fatigue start to reveal themselves and after several red herrings, dead ends and lots of repetition the information below has been teased out from the game.
2 videos accompany this post to explain some of the findings, however all of the findings can be backed up by video evidence.

The editor used was the one for Fortress Italy v2.00 Engine 4.0.

SPOILER ALERT - if you prefer the murkiness of not knowing how the Soft Factors affect gameplay then please stop reading.

Having said that the following information does not quantify the game concepts affected by the soft factors but instead generalises as what is likely to happen within a certain concept under certain conditions to units with high and low values for the soft factors.


Morale

Before being able to explain the characteristics of the 'Soft Factors', it is imperative to understand how Morale works in the game.

Morale reflects the psychological state of a unit and determines its ability to respond to orders and fight.

Morale states from highest to lowest are;
 
Ok > Cautious > Nervous > Rattled > (Shaken) > (Panic) > Broken
States shown in brackets () are temporary states.

The states Ok through to Nervous are simple gradations and a Nervous unit will not behave differently from an Ok one.

Rattled troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) will dash for safety, even if they are stationary when they become Pinned (or highly suppressed).

Shaken troops will cower in their current position in the hope that the pressure will ease. They will not respond to orders or fire their weapons.

Note: Shaken troops observed running for cover have been Pinned (or highly suppressed) in the Rattled state prior to becoming Shaken.

Panicked troops will try and run away from the perceived threat to save their own hides. They will not respond to orders or fire their weapons.

Shaken and Panicked states are temporary and will eventually revert back to one of the other persistent states depending on the situation and the Experience, Leadership and Motivation of the unit.

Broken troops will respond to orders but are 'Brittle' and will quickly become Shaken or Panicked if fired upon. Broken troops will remain Brittle for the remainder of the battle irrespective of their Experience, Leadership, Motivation and Fitness.

Morale is affected by 2 conditions of the battlefield and each of these conditions impact on Morale in different ways.
 
1. Combat Stress

Combat Stress has a persistent impact on Morale and is caused by casualty build up.

Casualties sustained reduce the Morale of the unit for the remainder of the game and is therefore known as a persistent effect.

Morale affected in this way cannot be regained (except under one specific condition - see Leadership). The impact of Combat Stress depends on the number of casualties sustained over time and the Experience, Leadership and Motivation of the unit.

Not only does taking casualties effect the Morale of the unit directly impacted, other units organisationally closely connected are also affected in the same way but to a lesser extent. The persistent Morale effect of casualty build up only effects other units via organisational connection regardless of geographical proximity.

Example 1 - 1st and 2nd Sqd of 1st Plt are separated by 500m. As 1st squad sustains casualties and suffers a persistent Morale impact, 2nd Sqd will also suffer a persistent Morale impact even though it is 500m away and has no LOS to 1st Sqd.

Example 2 - 1st Sqd of 1st Plt is within 10m of 3rdSqd of 2nd Plt. 3rd Sqd of 2nd Plt receives incoming fire and half of the unit is wiped out and the Sqd is instantly Shaken. 1st Sqd of 1st Plt receives no impact to their persistent Morale state due to the fact that they are in a different Platoon. 2nd Plt would have to take far more casualties before any of 1st Plt become affected.

The way that Combat Stress is distributed to other units is vertical between different platoons and companies although it is horizontal between units of the same platoon.


2. Combat Shock

Combat Shock has a temporary impact on Morale and is caused by suppression.          Suppression has a temporary impact on Morale and the affect is removed once the suppression is lifted.

         The duration the unit remains suppressed for depends on the amount of incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained, Experience & Leadership of the unit.

         The temporary impact on Morale of being suppressed depends on the amount of incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained and the Experience, Leadership & Motivation of the unit.


Suppression Indicator

The Suppression Indicator is not merely a measure of incoming fire, more accurately it represents the units perception as to how much danger it is in based on the incoming Firepower, the immediate casualties sustained, and the Experience, Leadership & Motivation of the unit.

Inexperienced, poorly led and unmotivated units suffer the greatest Morale impact from being suppressed whilst inexperienced and poorly led units can remain suppressed for sometime after the last shot was fired in their direction.
 
Pinned

If the Suppression Indicator becomes full the unit becomes Pinned. Stationary Pinned (or highly suppressed) troops will return fire but will not respond to movement orders until the suppression has reduced.

Troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) whilst moving to a waypoint will attempt to dash for cover. If no cover is nearby, they will hit the deck.

Rattled troops which become Pinned (or highly suppressed) will dash for safety, even if they are stationary when they become Pinned.

Experienced and well led troops recover from being Pinned quicker than inexperienced or poorly led troops.
  C2 - Command & Control

C2, or Command and Control, reflects the effect of having a unit being able to receive orders from and deliver information to its HQ team.

Being within a C2 link does not provide resistance to the persistent impact on Morale caused by Combat Stress.

Being within a close C2 link (Close Visual/Voice) does provide resistance to the impact on Morale caused by Combat Shock - troops within C2 range of their HQ unit are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale as they are less stressed by being shot at and the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded is reduced.

More experienced units pass on information to their buddies and superiors quicker than less experienced units. This includes verbal, visual and radio communications.

The range of visual and audio C2 is fixed for all Soft Factors, Morale and Fatigue states but will vary by terrain. In open ground;
: Voice range < 50m (unless the HQ is hiding in which case voice range drops to <25m)
: Close visual range <100m

  Experience

Experience reflects the amount of training and combat experience the unit has.

Experience levels from least experience/training to most experience are;
 
Conscript > Green > Regular > Veteran > Crack > Elite
Experience has 6 characteristics which impact on the unit;
 
1. Spotting - troops with higher experience are able to spot enemy contacts sooner than less experienced troops.

2. Firepower - higher experienced troops will engage at longer ranges and have greater accuracy than less experienced troops. They therefore tend to cause more casualties to the enemy than their less experienced counterparts during a firefight.

3. Resistance to Combat Stress - more experienced troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership and Motivation. 

4. Resistance to Combat Shock - experienced troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. They are more used to being shot at and better desensitised to the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded than less experienced troops.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership and Motivation. 

5. Suppression Recovery - experienced troops recover quicker from being suppressed (including being Pinned), they realise when the incoming fire has shifted away from them sooner than less experienced troops do.

This characteristic is cumulative with Leadership.

6. More experienced units pass on information to their buddies and superiors quicker than less experienced units. This includes verbal, visual and radio communications.

Leadership

Leadership reflects the quality of NCO's or other team leaders in the team or squad to organise and support the troops. Leaders can be of varying quality.

Leadership is shown as a simple modifier ranging from;
 
-2 > -1 > 0 > +1 > +2 Note: A Leadership modifier only applies to the unit with the Modifier (like all other modifiers). In other words it does not filter down to sub-ordinate units (see HQ Leadership Modifier Example).

Leadership has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under duress;
 
1. Resistance to Combat Stress - better led troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Motivation.

2. Resistance to Combat Shock - well led troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. The NCO's are better at encouraging the troops under fire and getting them to remember their training when faced with the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Motivation.

3. Suppression Recovery - well led troops recover quicker from being suppressed (including being Pinned), they realise when the incoming fire has shifted away from them sooner than poorly led troops do.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience.  Unlike the characteristics denoted by Experience, if the Leader of a team or squad is incapacitated, the Leadership value of the unit will change to that of the next most senior member who steps up as the Leader. This value can go up as well as down, for example, a unit with a +1 Leader incapacitated and replaced by a -1 Leader will suffer a hit on Morale which may be enough to cause a persistent drop in the unit's Morale state. Similarly however, if a -2 Leader is incapacitated and replaced with a 0 Leader, the unit will receive a boost in Morale which may be enough to cause a persistent increase in the unit's Morale state.

Note: In Engine v4.0 manual page 68 it states that a Leadership bonus will help "direct fire to be more effective". However, this has not been possible to reproduce using various tests. Whereas the difference in accuracy between Crack units and Green units is repeatable and obvious, the effect of Leadership on accuracy is not apparent.

  HQ Leadership Modifier Example

Reading some posts, there is a lot of confusion over how this Modifier works with HQ units. So I will clarify it here.

The Leadership (Ldrshp) modifier for all units (from Btn Hqs through to Plt Hqs down to squads and teams) only effects the unit that the modifier is for, in the same way that a -2 Fitness modifier only effects the fitness of the unit that the modifier is for.

In fact, it helps to think of the Leadership modifier in the same was as the Fitness modifier. An unfit Plt HQ does not make all of the squads in that platoon unfit aswell.

So a squad with a -1 Ldrshp modifier is not offset by the +1 Ldrshp modifier of its Plt HQ. The squad will still suffer the penalties of having -1 Ldrshp.

So how does having a Plt HQ with a poor leader affect the performance of the Platoon?

This is best illustrated with an example;
  Lt Bike is the Plt Leader of 1st Plt. He has a Leadership modifier of -2. All 3 of the squads in 1st Plt are Regulars with average ability NCO's so no Ldrshp modifiers for the squads. For reference 1st Plt HQ is also Regular.

1st Plt are on a patrol and 1st Squad makes contact with an enemy force. After a couple of minutes, the casualties from 1st Sqd begin to mount. Not only does this have a persistent Morale affect on 1st Sqd, it also has a persistent Morale affect on the other 2 Squads and the Plt HQ because of their close organisational link.

However, because the Plt HQ has Lt Bike with his -2 Ldrshp modifier, it suffers a greater impact on Morale than 2nd or 3rd Sqd does from the build up of 1st Sqds casualties.

After another minute of combat, the persistent morale states of the Platoon are;
  Plt HQ - Rattled
1st Squad - Rattled
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous As the combatants manoeuvre for position, the Plt HQ comes under fire. As the HQ team is already Rattled, it doesn't take much suppression to drop their Morale state temporarily into Shaken.

Now that the HQ unit is Shaken, the C2 link between the HQ and the 3 squads is cut. This makes the squads more vulnerable to the Morale effects of suppression (see C2 - Command & Control).

As 1st Squad is already under suppressive fire, its Morale state instanteously drops from Rattled to Shaken because of the loss of the C2 link (see C2 - Command & Control).

The HQ will take longer to recover from the supression than it normally would for a Regular unit because of its -2 Ldrshp modifier, meaning that as a consequence, the C2 link is broken for longer.

So we now have the following situation after 5 minutes;
  Plt HQ - Shaken
1st Squad - Shaken
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous If we rewind the clock and give Lt Bike +2 Ldrshp modifier, then re-run under exactly the same circumstances the situation would have been after 5 minutes;
  Plt HQ - Nervous
1st Squad - Rattled
2nd Squad - Nervous
3rd Squad - Nervous This is because the Plt HQ would not have been so affected by the casualty build up of 1st Sqd so that when the HQ came under some suppressive fire, it was still in a high enough Morale state not to become Shaken by it and therefore the C2 link between the HQ and the Squads and the benefits it brings (see C2 - Command & Control) would still be intact.



Motivation

Motivation reflects the units dedication to the cause and their willingness to sacrifice themselves for their squad mates and commanders.

Motivation from best to worst ranges as;
 
Poor > Low > Normal > High > Extreme > Fanatic Motivation has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under duress;
 
1. Resistance to Combat Stress - better motivated troops are less affected by the psychological impact of losing team/squadmates.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Leadership.

2. Resistance to Combat Shock - highly motivated troops are less affected by the temporary impact of suppression upon Morale. They are less psychologically affected by being shot at and better desensitised to the immediate impact of seeing team/squadmates killed & wounded than their less motivated counterparts.

This characteristic is cumulative with Experience and Leadership.

3. Resistance to Panic and Breaking - highly motivated troops can be Shaken but are less likely to Panic and try to run from the fight to save themselves. They are also more likely to recover to a positive morale state after being Shaken than less motivated troops and are less likely to become Broken and Brittle.

Fanatic units will not surrender.
Fatigue

Fatigue is the physical effect of running around and using up energy.

Fatigue states best to worst are;
 
Rested > Ready > Tiring > Tired > Fatigued > Exhausted
Tired troops cannot Fast Move.

Fatigued troops cannot Fast, Assault or Hunt Move.

Exhausted troops cannot Fast, Assault, Hunt or Quick Move.

More tired troops do not move slower than less tired troops moving at the same movement command, ie Unfit troops moving at Fast Move, cover distance at the same rate as Fit troops moving at Fast Move, they just won't be able to keep up that pace for as long.

Keeping troops stationary recovers their fatigue relatively quickly. Hiding troops has no additional benefit.

Troops will recover fatigue whilst at the Move but it is at a slower rate.

Experience, Leadership and Motivation do not effect Fatigue states or recovery times.

Fatigue has no effect on Morale either from Combat Stress or Combat Shock.

Fatigue has no effect on accuracy nor the range at which targets are engaged at.


Fitness

Fitness represents a units physical resistance to Fatigue.

Fitness states from best to worst are;
 
Fit > Weakened > Unfit  
Fitness has 3 characteristics which effect unit behaviour under physical exertion;

1. Fitter troops tire less quickly from Fast Move (sprinting), Slow Move (crawling) and Quick Move (jogging).

2. Fitter troops recover from tired states sooner than less fit troops.

3. Weakened and Unfit troops recover fatigue on the Move extremely slowly.  
Closing

All of the conclusions made above have been arrived at through thorough isolation and testing procedures which can be backed up by video evidence.

There is more stuff in the CMx2 engine to dig up than what has been uncovered here but for now I'm unable to go further into this rabbit hole.

Hopefully the information presented here clears up some of the historical confusions that have been around on the various forums. It may also affect the way in which unit purchases are thought about, and hopefully it allows players to make better informed tactical decisions and enhance the way their game is played.

Josey Wales updated 24/09/17

The entire purpose of Operation Mercury was to secure airfields on Crete that allowed German airpower to contest the Eastern Med with the Royal Navy, which they did rather well -- ask the unquiet ghost of Earl Mountbatten (also, in 1941 Hitler still had delusions of luring Turkey into the Axis). So of course they'd fly in Lufwaffe crews quite early, but not for ground combat duty (unless you have data to show to the contrary).
AIUI, the Luftwaffe Felddivisions were strictly a 1943+ phenomenon. Their independent existence/chain of command was an artifact of Nazi feudal politics (i.e., a fig leaf to the dwindling influence at court of Hermann Goering following the abject failure of his ballyhooed Stalingrad airlift, viz. Morosovskaya, plus his daily and undeniable incapacity to blunt Allied bombing of the Reich: you can call me Meyer, etc.).
....Ergo, the Lufwaffe divisions had nothing to do with the Fallschirmjaeger (yes, also Luftwaffe controlled, together with the amoured division named for the lord and master) until after mid-1944 (Cassino/Normandy), when the former (pathetically underperforming) formations became replacement cadre for the (capable and integrated, but now bled white) latter. A 'rebranding effort', and Fat Hermann was all about his brand (any resemblance to overconfident blustering politicians living or dead is purely coincidental 🤪)
Placing superannuated Luftwaffe colonels in command of green infantry regiments in Ukraine during the crises of 1943-1944 was never going to end well, to start with. And while 88mm FlaK (the backbone of these units) did indeed have its moments on the steppe (as it did in the desert), it seems you need much more than that to hold a division frontage for an extended period.
....In hindsight, the German war effort overall would have been far better off retraining those surplus Luftwaffe personnel to fill comparable skilled trades within the late war Wehrmacht, or else as experienced NCO cadre within existing formations, but Hermann wouldn't have things that way cuz of course he wouldn't.
Anyhoo, no doubt someone groggier than we will be along to fill the gaps we have left. Cheers.

Hi. I had problems with this scenario as well. Issuing movement orders was painstakingly slow (it would take a solid 10+ minutes after each click for the waypoint to appear). And when I did finally get around to clicking the red button I got a crash to desktop. On my second attempt I reloaded from one save further back (the last save of the previous mission), and didn't bother issuing any movement orders on the first turn (I only gave my bombardment orders). After that everything was (comparatively) butter smooth from the second turn onwards. This was when I was beta testing the scenario, and I believe the advice to not bother with movement orders on the first turn made it into the notes of the release version of this scenario based on this experience. But in retrospect reloading from one save further back was probably the key in avoiding further crashes.
IIRC a crash to desktop may indicate that the save file itself is corrupted. I've only had this issue a handful of times over the years. But after the first time (and learning that the solution was to reload an earlier save) reloading an earlier save became an automatic response when I encountered the issue again later on. So I probably neglected to make a bigger deal of the "reload an earlier save" part of what I did differently on my second attempt than I should have, so I'll take the blame on that advice not making it into the release version.
Unfortunately it sounds like you don't have an earlier save. There's a chance you may yet be able to recover it. If you're running Windows then the earlier save files likely went to your recycle bin when you deleted them (if you're running Mac then you'll need to see if someone else knows whether the files can still be recovered). If you haven't emptied your recycle bin then it should still be possible to restore those save files. If for whatever reason you can't restore the save files then, unfortunately, this issue may have ruined this run of the campaign for you. If that's the case then I sincerely hope you enjoyed the campaign up to this point and are willing to give it another go at some point, though it's understandable if your too demoralized to start over again right now.

For urban combat I have a few general principles I like to follow.
1. Use steel, not flesh. Make the infantry do as little of the heavy lifting as possible. If you have tanks and artillery, use them. Obviously it will always come down to the infantry eventually, but that's no excuse to make them do more work than necessary. Ammunition and lines of fire permitting, I like to hit each floor of every building with at least a couple of tank rounds before sending my infantry in to clear it (and I mean every building, not just the one's I know have enemies in them). And don't have any scruples about leveling entire city blocks with artillery. 
2. Stay out of the streets. Move from building to building while avoiding stepping out into any streets that are watched by enemy fire. Enter buildings from the side that is facing away from the enemy. If there are no entrances on the side where you need them, create new entrances with demo charges or tanks.
3. The more infantry you use, the fewer you lose. Single fireteams are likely to be wiped out without accomplishing much if they encounter multiple full enemy squads. Send multiple squads or fireteams into a building (or multiple adjacent buildings) simultaneously in order to maximize the firepower that they can bring to bear at once against any enemy that they encounter.
4. Be prepared to accept losses. Urban combat is a nasty business. Even if you do everything right you are likely to take significant losses, especially when fighting a peer or near-peer opponent such as in CMBS.

I went digging on this and as far as I could find the chieftain did not have thermals till later on mark 13 this cia report on tank fire control system (https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/document/cia-rdp84m00044r000200890001-1) only mentions the mark 5 and 12 having the bar and stroud tank laser sight system and active ir periscopes. chieftain starts on page 45 to 47 lots of stuff on how it works report is from November 1983.
Regards ,
Pugstorm
Note on mobile for this one so formatting may get wack.

It's the terrain. I'm guessing most of those battles are on pretty open maps in the Syrian desert? Same size map in CMBN Hedgerow country will take a lot more.
As an extreme test and if you have the Fire and Rubble Module for CMRT, go into the editor and then from there load up one of the Berlin Master Maps from the Master Maps folder. Hit 3D preview... wait... go make a cup of tea... wait... pour yourself a fermented drink of your choice... wait... and then enjoy the detail. If the Berlin maps open up in 10 - 30 seconds I want your PC.  

yes. I believe the red side is just as important. ill absolutely go back in time eventually

I have, a lot of the sounds weren't very accurate. not to call the person useless. But I've been using M4's for some time now and those other sound packs don't really capture the right sound. Ill post the Dropbox link to my M4 sound. It'll also have the m203/320 sound
 
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/9gdkf1rssafhd3sof5c8p/ADUemdAab8eruuI84oYd1AY?rlkey=3htdtqhz7bktawla4m3kssonn&st=sjjcuhcm&dl=0

Hello everyone. 
So, recently I finished a sound design for games class. Which deals with the details involved when it comes to video games. and i figured out the same techniques work with the combat series. So, what I've decided to do is put together a sound pack for SF2 & CMBS. these will be more accurate sounds like for the M4, M249, M240B, AT4 etc. I'll also do ambience as well. Let me know your thoughts.