Erwin Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 "My recollection of trying that was that the adjusted mission reset the delay clock to 15min again each time you adjusted" I am sure that I have seen the clock initially reset to 15 mins or whatever, but then in subsequent turns it resets to a very short delay. I recall that using the method I outlined above I was surprised to find arty bombarding within 2-4 minutes when I was expecting a long wait. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 JK, did you receive a printed manual? Mord. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreenAsJade Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 It sounds like Erwin has mastered the CMBN equivalent of the Wiki Strike, which I have really been missing! It's even more gamey now (since you start calling it in at T0). Do you find that from time to time you get spotters during the adjust? This is what put me off in the past from exploring down this line: adjust seemed to be accompanied by spotting rounds... GaJ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erwin Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Unfortunately, I didn't take notes at the time and can't recall if this method has spot rounds, but I think they do. But, accuracy and speed of TOT seemed faster. I often don't realize something strange is going on until a while afterwards when one swaps notes on these forums. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 1, 2012 Author Share Posted August 1, 2012 Mord, No. Just the PDF with no sepia background and the very hard to read one that came with the Demo. From what I can tell, there is no printed manual for CMBN. A pity, in my view. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mord Posted August 1, 2012 Share Posted August 1, 2012 Mord, No. Just the PDF with no sepia background and the very hard to read one that came with the Demo. From what I can tell, there is no printed manual for CMBN. A pity, in my view. Regards, John Kettler Ahh...Ok. I thought you got one. They had them for the preorders but must've ran out. Mord. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Ahh...Ok. I thought you got one. They had them for the preorders but must've ran out. Eventually they did run out, but not right away. I think a few manuals and steel boxes were still available for the first few post-release orders. I don't recall if that was and extra cost option. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 Mord and Michael Emrys, I am rather late arriving at the CMBN party. In fact, most of the guests are acting antsy, talking loudly and nervously about dashing off to some imminent Italian-themed soiree. Evidently Calvados and Camembert no longer sit well with them. Me? I'm glad I actually got to this one! I do wish, though, I'd gotten here in time for the party favor hard copy manuals. They have the splendid advantage of not requiring worship at the LCD altar, where I'm found at all hours, seemingly doing everything except gaming! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Have another look in your install folder. There is a print-friendly black-on-white version of the manual. Even if you don't print it, you may find it easier to read onscreen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 JonS, I have something similar there, but not quite. Mine has that same brown virtual ink as the other one, but has a plain white background. It's easier to read, but the ink color is still not the best for me. For some reason, maybe contrast ratio, readability is still an issue for me. Appreciate the suggestion, though. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 Infantry Maneuver Worse than herding cats! Hate it! So much to keep track of! I find it overwhelming to simply route march, let alone attack. Infantry don't go much out of their way to grief you. You've been herding some particularly compliant cats if CMx2 infantry are worse. Don't use anything but Quick and Slow to start with, and I still haven't found a use for "Move". Quick is not a "slow Fast", it's your default movement mode. Fast is for when you've got to get a team there ASAP, and you don't want them to think about anything else. and "There" has to be pretty close. Running a long distance at "Fast" just runs a short distance at Fast, the rest at Quick and leaves your troops too knackered to Fast when they need to. Where they do have minds of their own: they're lazy little feckers. If you want them to stay in a ditch's muddy bottom, you have to give them a waypoint pretty much every Action Spot, or they'll think "It'd be much easier to climb out the ditch and scurry along next to it, then jump back in where the looie said to regroup. I'm sure that HMG over there whose rounds are currently passing harmlessly across the top of the ditch above our heads is undermodelled, so it'll be perfectly safe." Splitting Squads Into Teams I keep doing it, but it seldom bears any fruit. Believe I have one bazooka kill. The teams seem to have no fire discipline... First: split your squads all the way, not just AT teams. Peel off AT teams and assault/fire or two even teams (if your squads are big enough). Having more maneuver elements is a large advantage, your LOS judgements will be more precise (since LOS is only being judged for 3-4 individuals, not 9-12), and having one team pinned/rattled etc won't be as much of a strain for the other teams of the squad. Your movement orders will be more precise, too. That ditch example above was true for one team. If you have a squad of three teams, you'll have the non-leader teams wandering along on the lips of the ditch however many waypoints you plot. Fire discipline should be set at battle setup. Draw a big selection box over all your troops and set a 50m circular arc on everyone. Then find your FOs and draw a 2m arc for them (having deselected the rest of the rabble). When you split your AT teams and ATGs, give them a 10-30m arc. From that default, you can start to adjust according to task and deployment. Restoring Morale My men just seem to disintegrate and are useless the rest of the game. Have no idea how to rally them. You can't, once they're disintegrated. Once they've been Shaken (I think; might vary according to troop characteristics), they're "brittle", and even if they recover (in a very long scenario) to "OK", even very light incoming of any kind will quickly "Shake" them again. You can recover morale if it's not been utterly destroyed. Say most of your lead platoon has got beaten down to Rattled (there will probably be elements worse hit than that, but perhaps 5 of your 9 teams are salvageable), they'll recover to Nervous/Cautious eventually, if you keep them out of the line of fire, faster if they're better led and have solid C2. The art is in not breaking your troops in that first use. Tell me how you manage it, when you can; I haven't yet (the HQ is usually leaderless and only 2-3 of 9 teams are in a state to rally). You won't manage it without splitting your squads into their component teams, since all the squads will have been "embrittled" unless you're very fortunate. Command & Control Even in relatively static defense, it's all but impossible to keep critical systems, such as 60mm mortars, in command. If you're using the mortars as called fire support, it's dead easy. Put them all near one another and their Company or Platoon HQ within 30m or so and in good LOS. They'll share their ammo (so you can always use your best team if you only have one mission at a time) and be in radio contact. You're overthinking something if Company Mortars are hard to keep in C&C, or you're trying to be clever and have them available both for direct fire and radio calls, which is more involved, as eating your cake and keeping it too ought to be. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Childress Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 I am rather late arriving at the CMBN party. In fact, most of the guests are acting antsy, talking loudly and nervously about dashing off to some imminent Italian-themed soiree. Evidently Calvados and Camembert no longer sit well with them. Me? I'm glad I actually got to this one! I do wish, though, I'd gotten here in time for the party favor hard copy manuals. They have the splendid advantage of not requiring worship at the LCD altar, where I'm found at all hours, seemingly doing everything except gaming! Sir, in complete sincerity, you are a wordsmith. My screenwriter partner and I are quarreling. There may be an opening. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 JonS, I have something similar there, but not quite. Mine has that same brown virtual ink as the other one, but has a plain white background. It's easier to read, but the ink color is still not the best for me. For some reason, maybe contrast ratio, readability is still an issue for me. Appreciate the suggestion, though. Regards, John Kettler Look for CMBN Game Manual print bw.pdf If it's not in the download, you've been gipped! It's in the root folder of the install for me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 womble, Thank you for the excellent and well-explained suggestions! Childress, Thanks! I was hoping someone would enjoy and respond to my sally. I am indeed a wordsmith, and have the publications to prove it, with more all the time! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 2, 2012 Author Share Posted August 2, 2012 womble, I think I got a different file. The one that's not the sepia on sepia nightmare is called CMBN Game Manual.pdf or some such. I checked Applications, Downloads and even ran a Finder search for CMBN Game Manual print bw.pdf. Nothing in all cases. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanir Ausf B Posted August 2, 2012 Share Posted August 2, 2012 The one that's not the sepia on sepia nightmare is called CMBN Game Manual.pdf or some such. That is the sepia on sepia nightmare. I have 3 pdf versions in my CMBN root directory: CMBN Game Manual, CMBN Game Manual print and CMBN Game Manual print bw. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 Vanir Ausf B, It turns out I got confused and wrote the wrong one. I should've written CMBN Game Manual Print.pdf I have only two versions of the manual in what I installed. Here's where things get strange. The CW Mod has its own sepia on sepia horror, but the CMBN Commonwealth Forces Manual print.pdf is, wait for it, black and white with the exception being the cover and screenshots. Go figure! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 3, 2012 Author Share Posted August 3, 2012 How I hate Murphy and his cursed Law! Decided to start the game, only it wouldn't. Clicked icon, and it disappeared. Twice. So now Technical Support has a new tale of woe. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dieseltaylor Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Infantry don't go much out of their way to grief you. You've been herding some particularly compliant cats if CMx2 infantry are worse. Don't use anything but Quick and Slow to start with, and I still haven't found a use for "Move". Quick is not a "slow Fast", it's your default movement mode. Fast is for when you've got to get a team there ASAP, and you don't want them to think about anything else. and "There" has to be pretty close. Running a long distance at "Fast" just runs a short distance at Fast, the rest at Quick and leaves your troops too knackered to Fast when they need to. Where they do have minds of their own: they're lazy little feckers. If you want them to stay in a ditch's muddy bottom, you have to give them a waypoint pretty much every Action Spot, or they'll think "It'd be much easier to climb out the ditch and scurry along next to it, then jump back in where the looie said to regroup. I'm sure that HMG over there whose rounds are currently passing harmlessly across the top of the ditch above our heads is undermodelled, so it'll be perfectly safe." First: split your squads all the way, not just AT teams. Peel off AT teams and assault/fire or two even teams (if your squads are big enough). Having more maneuver elements is a large advantage, your LOS judgements will be more precise (since LOS is only being judged for 3-4 individuals, not 9-12), and having one team pinned/rattled etc won't be as much of a strain for the other teams of the squad. Your movement orders will be more precise, too. That ditch example above was true for one team. If you have a squad of three teams, you'll have the non-leader teams wandering along on the lips of the ditch however many waypoints you plot. Fire discipline should be set at battle setup. Draw a big selection box over all your troops and set a 50m circular arc on everyone. Then find your FOs and draw a 2m arc for them (having deselected the rest of the rabble). When you split your AT teams and ATGs, give them a 10-30m arc. From that default, you can start to adjust according to task and deployment. You can't, once they're disintegrated. Once they've been Shaken (I think; might vary according to troop characteristics), they're "brittle", and even if they recover (in a very long scenario) to "OK", even very light incoming of any kind will quickly "Shake" them again. You can recover morale if it's not been utterly destroyed. Say most of your lead platoon has got beaten down to Rattled (there will probably be elements worse hit than that, but perhaps 5 of your 9 teams are salvageable), they'll recover to Nervous/Cautious eventually, if you keep them out of the line of fire, faster if they're better led and have solid C2. The art is in not breaking your troops in that first use. Tell me how you manage it, when you can; I haven't yet (the HQ is usually leaderless and only 2-3 of 9 teams are in a state to rally). You won't manage it without splitting your squads into their component teams, since all the squads will have been "embrittled" unless you're very fortunate. If you're using the mortars as called fire support, it's dead easy. Put them all near one another and their Company or Platoon HQ within 30m or so and in good LOS. They'll share their ammo (so you can always use your best team if you only have one mission at a time) and be in radio contact. You're overthinking something if Company Mortars are hard to keep in C&C, or you're trying to be clever and have them available both for direct fire and radio calls, which is more involved, as eating your cake and keeping it too ought to be. Excellent stuff. This would have been so much better if this sort of savvy sarge advice had accompanied the FM and F does not mean field. It would make the game hugely more understandable. Perhaps it is not to late ...? Thanks Womble. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted August 3, 2012 Share Posted August 3, 2012 Excellent stuff. This would have been so much better if this sort of savvy sarge advice had accompanied the FM and F does not mean field. It would make the game hugely more understandable. Perhaps it is not to late ...? Thanks Womble. Having a Tactics subforum, even, would go a long way towards collecting all the sage advice in a place where people can and will find it. And I forgot the important caveat: YMMV. My observations seem to be valid for my micromanagey WeGo playstyle against the AI and the single HvH game I've played. They may not work for you, or in RT or against different opponents. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 4, 2012 Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 After some drama on the technical side, things finally came together. Am not only fully operational, but have already successfully executed the first two training missions. Am no longer herding cats when moving infantry! Destroyed the entire target array on the firing range. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted August 4, 2012 Share Posted August 4, 2012 Destroyed the entire target array on the firing range. You mean the ones that don't shoot back? Yeah, that's kinda fun, in a slightly sick and perverted way. Here's a tip: watch out about getting one of your tanks too close to that patch of woods on the right side of the map though. That's where the bailed out crews go. After I've shot up a few of the tanks, I start area targeting that patch with my MGs and call in mortar and arty fire on it. Show them no mercy. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 4, 2012 Author Share Posted August 4, 2012 Michael Emrys, I found something else to watch out for. Am not sure whether it was a shell hole, mud or both, but after executing a textbook base of fire engagement on the leftmost rear nasty tank, Sherman and mortar fire pounding, I smoked it, then came pelting in with the Platoon HQ tank in a sweeping inward J with about two minutes on the game clock, whereupon my tank nose dived and stopped. Luckily, I still had LOS to the rear quarter of the target. Took about five rounds, but I killed it the next turn before I ran out of regular battle clock. Nasty suggestion! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 13, 2012 Author Share Posted August 13, 2012 Have been very busy and seriously short on game playing neurons! Managed to clear some time last night. Pulled up one engagement, gagged when it saw I had to run a battalion, then exited and found something more manageable. Would you believe the CMBN version of the first scenario I ever played on the Demo? No, NOT "Closing the Gap," the one with the infantry platoon and the Shermans. This is the one where I tried "herding cats" before. Knew what to do, but simply couldn't muster the energy and focus to even get that one going. Heresy, to be sure, but without a brain working halfway decently and the energy to power it, I simply couldn't manage even the much smaller effort. Pretty sad, but that's how it is. How I hate the side effects of this anti seizure med! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 18, 2012 Author Share Posted August 18, 2012 John Kettler, Wargaming neurons finally arrived, but Acme's shipping department sucks. Nor was I happy that activating them required Calvados, instead of water! Since It's taken me forever and a day to finally get some, I went into the herding cats scenario. SPOILER ALERT!!! SPOILER ALERT!!! It's actually something to do with cracking a roadblock position covering Le Forget. The good news? Am no longer herding cats! The bad news? Even though I carried St. Martin's farm after a disastrous footbridge crossing attempt failed (another squad got across by fording so deep in places snorkels should've been issued), the assault went around the front of the building intended as cover for the move. Got away with it, though. My Shermans haven't fared fell, with one nailed by what I think was a Panzerschreck (playing at Veteran level) while advancing up the main road. Brought up another Sherman and proceeded to pulverize the whole area around the firing position. Smoked the intersection (all smoke shells hit to the right of the aimpoint, leaving a gap in the process). I pushed a squad through the smoke, which came under fire from somewhere and bolted, right as a fiendishly sited estimated PaK 40 proceeded to first ring my Sherman like a bell, then clobber it with two penetrating hits. That crew was fortunate. the first tank struck down had everyone a casualty. The hedgerow gap on the approaches to St. Martin farm proved a happy hunting ground earlier for that same deadly ATG. It not only nailed a Sherman repeatedly in the gap, but ammo cookoff traumatized my infantry nearby. Another one got into the copse to the left of the gap, whereupon things went Tilt! for that tank. Whang! Boom! I honestly don't remember whether I still have a Sherman partially screened by its burning sibling, but I believe so. It's dished out some HE pain to whatever it can see, but it can't see that confounded ATG. Of course, if that Sherman's still alive, that's why! BFC seems to have left out the Embark command, as I discovered when I tried to move an MG team by clambering aboard a Sherman. No go! I find it odd since there's lots of footage of infantry and their gear on Shermans. Why the prohibiltion? It was fun watching my infantry light up the farm buildings, until I realized the rifle grenades that were being so casually expended might be sorely needed later, so I switched to Target Light. Speaking of fun. A Sherman blazing away with the .50, the 75mm and the bow MG is a sight to see. I have 19 minutes left to seize the objective, and I seem to be the only American unit in Normandy with no real fire support. Even 81s would be a big help. The Germans simply won't stay down, even though I've demolished whole stretches of their wall, but I've got the Kompanie HQ in an exposed position and am putting everything I can on it. Unfortunately, everything isn't much. One mortar's shot through its ammo, and if it had bearers, I can't find them. The other one didn't handle the Sherman's exploding well at all, completely disrupting an important shoot. Speaking of shoots, I do not like the way the game moves my aimpoint from where I put it. I guess it's an AS thing, but I don't like it. I don't know whether I'm getting my sea legs or whether it's better brain function or both, but the game is no longer a maddening bafflement. It's still maddening, but I now have some notion of what I'm doing, whereas before, I had none. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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