Webs Posted November 4, 1999 Share Posted November 4, 1999 I've seen infantry men explode into a big ball of flame twice. First time, I assaulted an enemy unit of unknown affiliation. I never got a chance to identify them, as they exploded, leaving behind only oddly cubic flames. Second time, it was my unit that bought it, a 61mm mortar. This time, the survivors were IDed as "crew". So, were both these cases of 61mm mortar ammo exploding (both fireballs used to be Yanks)? If so, would the fire keep burning or would it just be an explosion? What fuel would keep the fire going? Cigarettes? Secondly, you need to fix the shape of that fire. It's really ugly compared with the other graphics. And so oddly squared. Lastly, why are the survivors known as "crew" and why are they so useless? Shouldn't they just be regular infantry without the mortar? ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest L Tankersley Posted November 4, 1999 Share Posted November 4, 1999 It sounds to me like the units were hit by some kind of ordnance (main gun or 88 shell, 81mm or 105mm artillery, or possibly a Panzerfaust used in an antipersonnel role) and the blast happened to light the terrain on fire. I've seen this happen occasionally, but not often. The fuel would be the building, trees, brush, or what-have-you in the area. The flames are squarish because I think CM only tracks the fire on a per-terrain-tile basis (pardon the syntax). The survivors are a crew because they came from a crew-served weapon (mortar, MG, bazooka, AT gun). They're useless because the weapon they are on the battlefield to operate is no longer functional. See the thread called "crew-served weapon crews w/o small arms" for a bit more info on how these troops were armed and how they're represented in CM. Leland J. Tankersley Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webs Posted November 4, 1999 Author Share Posted November 4, 1999 In the first case, probably a grenade. Nothing more powerful than that for sure. In the second, definitely an 88. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doug Beman Posted November 5, 1999 Share Posted November 5, 1999 Webs, the guys who man mortars and 88s are not just standard infantry who happen to know how to use artillery. They are specifically trained for the task of using artillery, and are not trained (or not as thoroughly) in standard infantry tactics. Plus which, when a crew abandons its gun, it's usually only after taking heavy casualties, which in itself would pretty much ruin the combat effectiveness of those troops, even if they were standard infantry. It's like expecting a tank crew, after losing their tank, to be able to hop out and fight just as effectively as any other 4 or 5 standard infantry. Tankers, artillerists, and infantry all do different jobs and are all trained accordingly. The level of interchangeability is very low. DjB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOS was 71331 Posted November 5, 1999 Share Posted November 5, 1999 Wasn't there a National Enquirer article a few years ago about individuals spontaneously exploding? Perhaps one of the CM designers remembered the article and decided to incorporate the concept into the game! Wow, this is cutting edge stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supertanker Posted November 6, 1999 Share Posted November 6, 1999 Actually, both situations probably involved a unit employing a little-known piece of German equipment called the "Dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe." First deployed in the summer of 1944, it was intended as a last-ditch defensive device if troops were being overrun. Essentially, it was a set of boxer shorts impregnated with an incendiary explosive that lacked only one ingredient: urea. Casualty analysis by the Germans showed that troops in the midst of being overrun would, obviously, have their hands full doing other things (shooting, reloading, etc.). Because of that, they were unable to draw a weapon at the last second in order to at least take their attacker with them and, the high command would hope, blunt the attack. Therefore, the Germans began to develop weapons that did not require the use of the hands. Some were immediate failures, such as the panzeroffnung (a.k.a. mouthzooka), while others (including the dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe) showed promise and saw limited deployment. The dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe was at first beloved by the troops, especially on the east front. This is because the other ingredients of the explosive made the dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe take the form of a pair of warm, quilted boxer shorts. In order to facilitate the transmission of urea into the dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe, the interior was even lined with some of the depleting stocks of flannel! The love affair soon ended, as in a shocking oversight, the Germans had apparently forgotten that there were many, many things on the battlefield which could cause the user to initiate an accidental deployment of the dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe. Some historians suggest that the oversight was known, but simply ignored because of the increasing desperation of the strategic situation. The lucky users experienced a form of misfire that merely made them seem extremely flatulent. Soon after deployment, several counteroffensives stalled in a frenzy of exploding pants, and the dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe was quickly withdrawn from service. That was not the end of the dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe, as the Allied forces found abandoned crates of the devices as they moved deeper into German territory. The "liberation" and deployment of the cozy, but deadly, undergarments is an understandable mistake, and likely explains the end of your mortar crew. It sounds to me like some incoming fire came uncomfortably close to your crew (wearing captured dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe), and that obviously triggered an accidental deployment. Kudos to Big Time for the incredible level of detail and obscure historical research that led to the inclusion of this hated but innovative device! Brad "Supertanker" Wohlenberg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted November 6, 1999 Share Posted November 6, 1999 HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA....BOOM! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Webs Posted November 7, 1999 Author Share Posted November 7, 1999 Ahhhh, crates. I was perplexed - it's virtually impossible to capture a deployed dratipizzedmishortzenwaffe intact. ------------------ Laurie Nyveen a.k.a. Webs, member of the WarBirds training staff ___________________ Editor, Netsurfer Digest - http://www.netsurf.com/nsd/index.html 101 Sqn opus-in-progress - http://101.warbirds.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sage Posted November 7, 1999 Share Posted November 7, 1999 It's good to know that we have people around who can pull historical trivia like that out of the uhhh out of the air. There was a lesser known "Gaseous Fuel" version, which was even more unstable. It's usage often had catostrophic results, as the gaseous fuel initiator version exerted a much higher foot/pounds pressure than the liquid fuel verion. Sage [This message has been edited by sage (edited 11-06-99).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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