FogForever

Yes, I noticed the channeled movement and choke points as well. Bauerdorf looks like a pretty good defensive position except it is in a bowl. But I think the bowl favors the US far more than the Soviets. And yes, I think you are going to find my M-113s tucked away behind and between houses, dips in the ground and trees ready to pounce with their little slivers of LOS ... everywhere but in the open.

The Bauerdorf map is around 1600x1100. However it is night time and maybe with shorter sighting distances I can do some maneuver which I couldn't do in daytime. The enemy force is a reserve unit. So I am guessing T-62s or T-55s. Unfortunately nothing mentioned in the manual about the night vision capabilities of either. I guess time will tell.

Ok, there is the manual description. Do they provide protection against .50 cal type MGs? When it comes to vehicles, do they protect against tank guns? I am guessing not but maybe low velocity 73mm BMP gun and maybe autocannon fire? I am guessing good protection against RPGs and LAWs for vehicles? If placed across a road, will they interfere with vehicle movement? Will they increase protection in a wooden building against small arms and heavier MG fire? I have some sandbag walls in Brauerdorf and wondering how best to use them.

The .50 MG is nice but the gunner is a bit exposed and the vehicle itself is so easily knocked out. The approaching task force has at least 2 tank companies plus attached infantry. In a day battle, I would assume the attack leads with tanks and I have TOWs and Dragons to confront the tank threat. However it is a night battle. I don't know Soviet night doctrine but I wouldn't be surprised to see them leading with infantry. Either way, as soon as 20+ tanks show up, the .50 cal M-113s become nothing but targets. So my thoughts are the M-113s need to be safely tucked away as soon as the tank threat is identified. Once the tank threat is neutralized, then the .50 M-113s can re-emerge.

Thanks. I am about to play Bauersdorf. So I am trying to figure out what to do with a bunch of .50 cal M-113s APCs when according to the briefing, I about to be attacked by a mass armor formation. I suspect keeping them out of the way is their best use.

Anyone know a good source for company operations with the M-113 as APC?

This is the sort of esoteric details which really can up the frustration level when planning and playing. CW and Black Sea both need this information easily available. Perhaps a table listing weapons info by unit covering in a complete manner pertinent information needed for playing the game. Some of the information is in the manual and some isn't. There are some weapons in Black Sea which are mentioned as carried by a vehicle but absolutely no information in the manual on the weapon. A single location with all the information collected would really be helpful vs having to start googling and searching for a possible answer. For example in Black Sea, I still don't know if the AT-14 with laser guidance and thermal detection can fire through smoke. From googling it appears lasers cannot penetrate obscurants. So smoke should prevent guidance regardless of whether by using thermals, the AT-14 can see a target. I posted the question and I didn't get a response. I assume nobody knows. I guess I could try setting up a test but haven't done it yet. Only limited number of hours available to devote to the game. I shouldn't have to set up tests for information necessary for playing the game properly. I should be able to find it in the manual and even better yet, a single table with all the necessary info for all the weapons presented in a condensed manner. One spot to find the answers for using these weapons properly.

That is a fun one. I thought I was winning until the last 15 minutes or so and then I lost. As you say, something on the wrong side of the road. ----no specific spoilers but may not want to read----- I used bounding movement to retreat. Two layers of defense with the forward layer leap frogging behind the rear layer of defense. Worked very well most of the game. I was having problems with ammo shortages fairly quickly. Very few casualties until the end. And yes, if those Russians get an RPG into a clump of troops, suddenly a team is down. I didn't have the troops or the ammo to win at the end. I will say time is important. I also suspect if you make a particular wrong decision early in the game, you may not be able to win the scenario and not realize it until the end of the game. ----The minor niggle was trying to learn how to use the camera in amongst the buildings to see the action--- Same here. Basically I think using all methods of map view control, both keys and mouse, is the best approach. Learning control of the map view has probably been my biggest frustration with CM. LOS second.

I need to finish off Fleeing Altdorf, which is another good one, and then go back and replay this one as the Russians. The 901s have thermals but not the M60a2. Maybe some smoke and some shoot and scoot and close the range and see what happens.

Interesting. My shillelagh missiles won the battle.

The M901 and M60a3 have thermals. I don't know who else. And high moisture conditions should degrade thermals but I don't know if modeled or not. Also I don't know if the M60a3 or M901 need to be buttoned to take advantage of their thermal capability.

I deployed 2 tanks on the highest ground on each flank and the platoon leader slightly left of center on high ground. I was looking for the longest possible ranges to maximize the Shillelagh missiles. The missiles are much more accurate and more deadly than the M60 main gun regular ammo and the Russians have difficulty hitting at those longer ranges. So I was hitting and the Russians weren't. Some Russian tanks managed to close the range but by the end of the battle, I still had one fully functional tank left while the Russians had nothing left. And nothing Red came close to threatening the autobahn. After several Cold War battles, I have the general impression that ATGM missiles are more accurate in CW than Black Sea. Both games have some of the same ATGM missiles but the Black Sea missiles just don't seem as reliable when it comes to accuracy when compared to CW.

Ummm...so any scenarios or quick battles with Oplots are screwed up?

I had some SPG-9s available in one of the Soviet Doctrine scenarios. I happened to unload them in front of a previously unseen and clearly dazed US ATGM team. Combined, the 2 SPG-9's were able to put 12-14 rounds of ammo into the ATGM position in 60 seconds. The explosions were large enough to be satisfying. I was actually happy with them. The only problem is they used up half their ammo in that one turn. Checking out their BTR carrier, there is 9 rounds of resupply for the two SPG teams. So each team will only get 4.5 rounds of ammo resupply which is probably good for maybe 20-30 seconds of fire. Time to send them back to base. They have had their 2 minutes of fame. ---Just double checked. Each still has 17 rounds on hand. Probably enough for another 3 minutes of fire before running out. Although the rounds are heat rather than HE and I am not sure if they are good against infantry which are the available targets at the moment.

Speaking of excellent new content...4 Soviet Doctrine scenarios. Now that looks interesting.

Actually I just downloaded winzip and it appears to be working. So hopefully, I am good to go!

Mikey, I just completed the second download and still can't extract files. I tried using WinRar and Rar Opener and neither works. What extractor are you using?

My rar extractor refused to open the rar file. Tested on another rar file and it worked fine. So I guess my download was corrupted. Trying again.

Will regular artillery smoke block laser designators? I am thinking of the At-14 Kornet in particular. The guidance is SACLOS laser beam riding. From some quick googling, it appears lasers require clear air to function properly. So I am assuming smoke would be an obscurant which would interfere with laser guidance. I don't know if the Kornet also has thermals but even if so, the guidance is dependent on the laser. Thus even if the Kornet could see through the smoke with thermals, they would be unable to use the laser guidance to put the missile on target. Am I correct in my reasoning and thus artillery smoke would shut down the Kornet or degrade it significantly?