wolfgang500

Comparing the German 7,5 cm recoilles gun LG 40 with the post-war US 10,6 cm recoilless AT gun leeds me to believe that the effective range (meaning a range where there is a reasonable probability for hitting the target) was not much more than 400 m. We used the American 10,6 cm gun in our army up until the late seventies and our manuals said that "Einsatzschussweite" was up to 600 m, but not more. This weapon had a 12,7 mm ranging gun attached, which the German one lacked. I always told my boys to roll over it with our tanks

This is true, but the concrete was NEVER poured over the mantlet, Saukopf or standard. CM seems to have a problem with frontal Assault Guns armor, as also Jagdpanthers are very prone to gun damage from hits that otherwise do not penetrate. This could have happened here and then, of course, but I never read anywhere about occuring that issue in reality so frequently. And I believe, for that matter, that the US 3,7 cm ATgun is overrated in the damage algorithms. I often encountered Pz IVs being knocked out frontally at rather larger distances. Again, with some "lucky shot" this might be posssible, but not always.

I did not test it, but over the years I noticed that by the game the turret fronts or mantlets int StuG´s and Pz IV are considered the weakest points. In reality this was not true of course (only talking about weapon mantlets, not front plates). Seems to be a in-game bug. Maybe the game engine does not make any difference between front plate and mantlet.

Thank you very much, Sir! I already suspected something like a mod conflict, but did not have the time yet to sort it out by try and error.

I recently went back to visit CMBN after acquiring the "All in One" package. I don´t know if this was discussed before, but there seems to be a bug in some scenarios with the trucks. Crew and passengers appear "flying" behind the vehicle. Did anybody notice that and is there a solution? Maybe I missed something, I don´t know

I started with CMBO back in the day and got hooked immideatly because this game was very close to reality for its time and still offered tactical insight (in contrary to the shooter games which I hate). I acqired all CM games and played them frequently as time and work allowed, transitioning to CM2 right through until today. Of course I too had to accomodate myself with the new features as CM2 came up and my thoughts were similar to these expressed above in this thread. But I think, while legitimatly discussing it, we should not overlook one thing: Most people here in the forums are seasoned players, often with profound military background out of their (former) profession - including myself. But we are only a minority within the target group these games are aiming at. The average player, let´s say mid thirties men (sorry girls), playful with a hobbylike sense to military, but no military training whatsoever, has to find the game he just bought playabel, meaning not too difficult in a military professional way. I think that is what CM2 offered. What we ex-army people want is fairly well incorporated, as excellently explained above, although in somewhat "automatic" mode. Units take on a formation roughly suited to the orders they have and the terrain they encounter, both infantery and armor. Subtleties and refined things have to be brought in by hand; but remember this is what we had to do in real life, too! And as for low visibility: I never got out without a map, so I was aware what kind of terrain features were to be expected, even when there was still no LOS. That is what the game represents. But don´t get me wrong - I am glady open for improvements which hopefully will arrive in future!

I noticed the same iisue with the TOW jeeps. However, when I filled up their ammo store from the command vehicle (it has 3 TOWs), they had five and started fighting again. Re-embarkation is possible here. I explained the three missile personal outfit for myself that they already acquired them from the vehicle in case they need them disembarked. Bug or foresight - I don´t know Let us live with it

I used to work with tanks through the seventies and eighties. We were trained to basically unbotton from M47 all the way through M60A3, for situational awareness. We only had residual light amplifiers in the latter, though. It changed with Leo 2 of course. Especially in the american tanks visibility from the buttoned-up cupola was very bad. So far the real live expierence.

Thank you Frank! And John pinned it, so what? Die Stellung wird gehalten!

Isn´t that nice! These are the efforts that make the whole thing more enjoyable! You eat eith your eyes, too, right? Thank you, Damian!

"Ordnung im Chaos" by Gen. d. PzTr Hermann Balck, who was commanding the whole thing, is also worth reading, as it gives some background information on the circumstances prevailing in German High Command at the time. The English translation is ISBN 978-0813161266.

Talking about Hungary: Operation "Frühlingserwachen" (the Balaton offensive) would form a nice environment for a campaign, including the fighting back into Austria, in and around Vienna. There is a lot of competent books covering these events (I can provide titles if wished). And Red Army partially used Shermans.

First of all I´d like to express my thanks to you for reworking the campaign. The original version was really hard because whatever I did I ended up with much to high infantery losses in spite of being very cautious. The enemy is tough - too tough in Mission 4 to gain a clear victory with what infantery I had retained (I suffered a minor victory, but again at too much cost) I played through Mission 4 in the improved campaign now and again achieved a minor victory only, but his was due to the temptation to use Arty and Air to flatten the Islamic school. No regrets! A win is a win! Cheers! P.S. I am playing "iron" and save every fife minutes. But I usually do not go back except for some fundamental error due to me being distracted by outside CM events like the milk boiling over or so.

I cannot give any information in terms of MOA. But having been trained on the MG 42 as a young soldier I strongly remember that this weapon was fairly accurate. We used to fire various practices, one of which was at a MG nest in 250 m distance. Requirement was a hit with the third burst, but we usually hit with the first.

I am late here, too, sorry. My experience with Scottish Corridor is twofold. (I am playing iron). The first thing is that it is a very hard campaign indeed, and as a player you have to be top motivated to play to the end. Yes, it is frustating to run into counteratttacks all the time, and your Infantery being whittled away. But I like this sort of thing as compared to sniffing a platoon of infantry through a dense forrest searching for Cinderella or Schneewittchen or through a village. Here comes into play my second point : I always try to stick to reality as much as possible (that´s my hobby). And in reality Operation Epsom wasn´t a children´s party, right? In the end, after gaining some useless bocage country it proved a costly failure. And this is what this campaign is mirrowing - quite correctly, as I believe. However, we all are here to have fun playing and there is some advice I can give according to my experience. (I learned it the hard way and quit mid-campaign twice before finishing my third attempt). The main thing is to preserve your infantry even in the first couple of missions. I would rather accept a less than total victory, even a small defeat, if that victory would come with heavy casualties. The Churchills are not so much a problem, but take care of them, too. You will need the infantry badly later on. As the Arty is concerned it is wise to use it extensively but also economically: more than in some other campaigns/scenarios you should judge beforehand where it would probably pay to lay a barrage - never fire "out of the cuffs" because that might be a lonely MG or a sniper and the MLR might be further back. And yes, it pays to lay a barrage on stationary tanks if you have identified them positively. In reality the SS commander would move them out of course, but AI often fails to do that. Ok, I apologise to everybody who knew this wisdom before (most of you, I suppose) and wish much fun. I will try Scottish Corridor again very soon, this thread created some appetite ... P.S.: To answer the original question: It is quite realistic to hope that accurate artillery fire affects tanks - even in WWII environment. There are many reports from German participants that sights were rendered useless, tracks being shed off or even heavy damage done to the tank by penetrating turret tops or engine covers which were only lighty armored even on Panthers or Tigers. For details read Helmut Ritgen: The History of Panzerlehrdivision. I think it´s available in English, too