CMBS and Combat Engineers

[ScoutPL]

CMSF did a great job of simulating modern combined arms warfare with one significant exception, engineering.

I am wondering if CMBS will be able to incorporate more of this vitally important aspect of the modern battlefield. I know there are issues with creating "manipulative" terrain tiles but if we can create shell holes, destructible environments etc, perhaps there are ways to replicate some engineering aspects. Specifically:

1. Mineplows

2. Mic-Lic

3. AVLB

[hellfish]

Engineering is a hugely specific task that involves a lot of programming for relatively limited payoff. I worked on an infantry sim years ago and we were asked by an engineering schoolhouse (can't remember if it was Leonard Wood or the Marines) to do engineering tasks - placing and removing minefields, breaching obstacles, combat earthmoving, etc. Some of it we could do with little effort (engineer recon, emplacing some obstacles) but doing many of the tasks in a realistic way would have been exceedingly difficult to do and extremely expensive. So it'd be all that work for a group of features that would be very specific and often so mind-numbingly dull and/or complex that - in a game - might very well not be worth the effort. You can expect people to play with tanks and ATGMs and infantry nearly 100% of the time. Engineers doing engineery things - especially if you do semi-realistic timelines? Not so much.

I think the Russian automatic trenching machines would be pretty cool, though.

[Sequoia]

Can you elaborate on what Engineer Recon is please?

[hellfish]

Basically getting ground truth in engineerese (as opposed to cavalryspeak). Doing stuff like identifying the kinds of vehicles the river ford's bed will support, identify local sources of raw materiel, do an actual eyes-on recon of enemy obstacles, etc. It's about as wide and varied as you can imagine. Cavalry and infantry can (and do) do it too, but engineers have the kind of expertise that's sometimes required.

The Army/Marine manual:

http://www.fas.org/irp/doddir/army/fm3-34-170.pdf