Newbie Questions

[Macisle]

Yep, if you're playing as the Germans or Brits, you really need to recover any "downed" LMGs.

[WindyCityZeke]

Now, take a Tiger in CM and put it 800 meters out and run the same number of Shermans at it. How many shots does the Tiger get? How many Shermans does it kill?

This, FOW and artillery (WAY weak in ASL) are some of the biggest advantages CM has over ASL IMO.

Hey, I had a Panther take out 9 T-34s in one turn in ASL once, was a total fist pump feast.

OBA in ASL is a pain in the butt and a scenario killer. Here it's very easy to use and seems realistic to boot. Onboard MTRs in ASL are for the most part useless unless your opponent let's you shoot his guys in the woods.

Today I finished the crossroads scenario and killed a Panther (who was a pain in the keister) with a Sherman's 75mm Gun. Hit the thing in the front on the first two shots. Now in ASL at long range, I'd sit there all day and let Shermans shoot at me, and they would die too. As long as they can't get a side shot, I'm good. In this game it could have been a lucky shot, but I saw a few things that made me think. mmmmmmm. I'd love to see some stats for how they calculate armor and such, would be great info to have to plan. I'm still thinking in ASL armor factor numbers so today I was real hesitant to take on that Panther. At the end when the scenario was firmly in U.S. hands I said the heck with it and tried the front shots and they worked. Not sure Panthers should be that easy though.

Started a new large scenario tonight... loving it.

[agusto]

I'd love to see some stats for how they calculate armor and such, would be great info to have to plan.

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=98847

[MikeyD]

It would be cool if one could view the whole battle also so that ALL units of both sides would be visible.

At the very bottom of the difficulty list is 'Scenario Author Test'. The pixeltruppen retain their FOW but the player gets to watch both side go at it. Some restrictions apply I think, you can only play single against the AI. The purpose was to allow scenario designers to watch their AI orders in action to be sure they were behaving the way they ought. But there's no law that says you can't play that way. It works particularly good if you're taking screenshots too.

[Doug Williams]

Hey, I had a Panther take out 9 T-34s in one turn in ASL once, was a total fist pump feast.

Were you using your "special" dice?

OBA in ASL is a pain in the butt and a scenario killer. Here it's very easy to use and seems realistic to boot. Onboard MTRs in ASL are for the most part useless unless your opponent let's you shoot his guys in the woods.

In CM1, onboard mortars weren't that much of a threat. In CM2, onboard mortars are quite deadly, especially when the mortar team has LoS to the target.

Today I finished the crossroads scenario and killed a Panther (who was a pain in the keister) with a Sherman's 75mm Gun. Hit the thing in the front on the first two shots. Now in ASL at long range, I'd sit there all day and let Shermans shoot at me, and they would die too. As long as they can't get a side shot, I'm good. In this game it could have been a lucky shot, but I saw a few things that made me think. mmmmmmm. I'd love to see some stats for how they calculate armor and such, would be great info to have to plan. I'm still thinking in ASL armor factor numbers so today I was real hesitant to take on that Panther. At the end when the scenario was firmly in U.S. hands I said the heck with it and tried the front shots and they worked. Not sure Panthers should be that easy though.

I think you meant Tigers in that last sentence. Sherman VS Tiger duels, at least from the front, usually go poorly for the Sherman. Best thing to do is try to flank the Tiger. Frontal shots from a 75mm Sherman are very unlikely to penetrate. BUT, if you get three or four 75mm Shermans pounding a Tiger, sometimes you can cause enough damage to cripple it or cause the crew to bail. No tank is invincible in WW2 CM2, but some are more vincible than others. ;-)

Sounds like you are having fun and are a quick learner. Took me a long time to get the hang of offboard arty. Still causes me problems occasionally.

[A Canadian Cat]

I'm still thinking in ASL armor factor numbers so today I was real hesitant to take on that Panther. At the end when the scenario was firmly in U.S. hands I said the heck with it and tried the front shots and they worked. Not sure Panthers should be that easy though.

Started a new large scenario tonight... loving it.

Oh don't worry Panthers from the front with 75mm Sherman's are not easy. I have lost lots of Shermans to Panthers that way. And had lots of Panthers just happily shrug off round after round. Sometimes the Sherman tank will get lucky but most of the time it will just get brewed up.

[WindyCityZeke]

No special dice, just one of those things. After playing 1500 scenarios over 12 years of ASL you'll something like that I guess.

No, I meant Panthers. And trust me, I know how deadly Tigers and Panthers are and how foolish it is to take them on one-on-one from the front facing.

Do you guys think buildings fall down and rubble to easy?

Thanks for the link....

[Macisle]

Don't get me wrong, I love ASL. As great as CMx1 was, I moved to ASL from it and prefer the boardgame over it. However, with CMx2, ASL just doesn't satisfy like it did. I still think it's the best boardgame ever made, and an incredible achievement. But the CM series is now ahead of it (in depth, not breadth yet).

I can't imagine taking out 9 T-34s in one turn. Was that a Game Turn or Player Turn? For those who don't know ASL, a Panther would get one shot per player turn (2 player turns per game turn), unless it rolls "rate." The player would roll two six-sided dice and rolling a one on the darker-colored die would allow the player to fire again (it assumes the tank gunner is really zoning in on the target quickly). So, if it was one player turn, you would have had to roll 8 ones on the darker die--on each sequential attack roll. And if a game turn, a lesser, but still statistically fantastic feat of ones on the darker die.

On the Tiger/Panther vs. Sherman issue, ASL does have the critical hit mechanism. So, if your Sherman rolled snake eyes, you'd stand a decent chance of knocking out said big cats from the front. IIRC, ASL also models the shot traps on the early Panther, so there's that, too. CMx2 to my knowledge, models shot traps. As for ballistics info, armor penetrations, thickness/quality, etc., I believe CM uses the most accurate info available (correct me if I'm wrong, guys).

One area where CMx2 fudges it is will moving tank fire. It allows unrealistic moving fire on tanks without gyro-stabilizers in order to give the AI a better chance. It was determined that being technically accurate on this would castrate AI armor.

[Macisle]

Do you guys think buildings fall down and rubble to easy?

I'm not sure on buildings, but fortifications like bunkers and trenches are currently undermodelled. I believe (IIRC) BF said that they are meant to be much more hasty affairs than what the graphics currently make them look like. That may change at some point in the future.

[womble]

Do you guys think buildings fall down and rubble to easy?

There are buildings and then there are buildings. Learning to find the bullet-resistant ones that take a pounding before falling down is all part of the learning experience

[WindyCityZeke]

I can't imagine taking out 9 T-34s in one turn. Was that a Game Turn or Player Turn? For those who don't know ASL, a Panther would get one shot per player turn (2 player turns per game turn), unless it rolls "rate." The player would roll two six-sided dice and rolling a one on the darker-colored die would allow the player to fire again (it assumes the tank gunner is really zoning in on the target quickly). So, if it was one player turn, you would have had to roll 8 ones on the darker die--on each sequential attack roll. And if a game turn, a lesser, but still statistically fantastic feat of ones on the darker die.

Well, not just 8 ones on the colored die. There was his movement phase and then my Prep fire. Don't forget intensive fire too. I used to remember the whole thing but it's been years since I had to remember it so it's a little foggy. But my friend and I never have forgotten it.