Rumour has it...

[panzersaurkrautwerfer]

One of my pet peeves with alternate history/World War II 1946 is that whatever the piece of fictional hardware is, it performs more or less as intended, usually without regard to the assorted technical issues, or operational-strategic issues.  Also invariably it turns into "German army 1946 with super science!" vs Allied Army 1944, or the very real (and thus, with very real limitation) 1946-1950's stuff tossed in.  

I mean the E series is cool and all,  but a Western Front 1946 is going to have Americans whipping around Pershings (and some super-Pershings) like they were Shermans, British armor is going to be Comets if not Centurions, a sky full of P-80s and Meteors (with B-29s bombing anything worth strategically bombing), and functional nuclear weapons.  And that's where things start to slip away more than a little.

A Fall 1945 throw down between West and East seems a bit more reasonable simply because we know where the starting forces were at around then, and about where the R&D for real equipment and production numbers were at.  But the wunderwaffe in a vacuum remains one of my pet peeves.  

[Sequoia]

I'm not a fan of including E-100s or the Maus either as in reality they weren't practical. I'd rather see rare stuff that was actually used historically or perhaps at the most a vehicle like the Ram. 

[Panzerpanic]

Operation Unthinkable could be a good last module for las blitzkrieg! still waiting for a fulda gap (85-89) one!)

[panzersaurkrautwerfer]

I'm not a fan of including E-100s or the Maus either as in reality they weren't practical. I'd rather see rare stuff that was actually used historically or perhaps at the most a vehicle like the Ram. 

I like the "near miss" stuff, like having the ability to have a "US Tank Company, 1945" outfitted with T26E3s would be cool, or early run Centurions, and night vision equipped Panthers, because again it was practical stuff that was simply a boat ride away from being part of the war, or even in use, just in numbers in the high single digit low double digit range.  There's no mystery, we don't have to handwave insurmountable engineering issues, it's just gear that missed the big show.

I think that's a lot more compelling than the E100s or Mauses because again, those were never going to be really practical, and a short hop out of reality is merely taking the next few steps from May 1945, rather than inventing a whole year of world events.  

[MikeyD]

One of my pet peeves with alternate history/World War II 1946 is that whatever the piece of fictional hardware is, it performs more or less as intended...

Heh heh, by coincidence, just yesterday I was perusing Jentz  Panzer Tracts N.20-1 "Paper Panzers". One section is the Germans' own evaluation of their prototype designs. Item after item, they were judged too heavy for the suspension, too little internal room, too front-heavy, too low reload rates, too little ammo, too slow, etc etc. Armor enthusiasts just see the 'exotic' designs. The people who would have had to fight in them saw nightmares. One surprising line in the text is "...It would have about the same characteristics as Panzer IV lang A, which is a failure based on reports from the front." A failure? My beloved Jagdpanzer IV L/70 A? NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!  

Edited February 20, 2016 by MikeyD

[sburke]

I think that comes down to CM having only very specific concerns when it comes to kit.  Can it kill, can it move, can it survive.  Issues that would impact it's ability to actually get to the battlefield are simply not relevant.  Surviving and functioning past a 1 to 2 hour time frame- not relevant.  It is in those areas that a piece of kit can prove to be really good or really bad.  Fuel, ammo reloads, icy roads etc are never a problem in CM.   The Sherman while it may not measure up one on one to a Panther could be produced in numbers and be expected to make it to the battle no problem.  I'd much rather have 5 tanks that I could count on to be there that might be just average tanks versus 1 tank that might not show up that is a killer.

Edited February 20, 2016 by sburke

[Wicky]

Bring back the Maus

[Vergeltungswaffe]

For every RT pbem I've played since it came out that had uberpanzers, I've played half a dozen with PZ IVs, StGs, T-34s, and Su-76s.  Realism is great and I love it, but I really enjoy something different from time to time.  I loved AK because of all the wonderful early war AFV's.  So, I'll keep clamoring for E series Panzers, Pershings, T-29/32 types, Comets, Centurions, IS-3/4/7s, and so on because variety is the spice of life.

[panzersaurkrautwerfer]

I think that comes down to CM having only very specific concerns when it comes to kit.  Can it kill, can it move, can it survive.  Issues that would impact it's ability to actually get to the battlefield are simply not relevant.  Surviving and functioning past a 1 to 2 hour time frame- not relevant.  It is in those areas that a piece of kit can prove to be really good or really bad.  Fuel, ammo reloads, icy roads etc are never a problem in CM.   The Sherman while it may not measure up one on one to a Panther could be produced in numbers and be expected to make it to the battle no problem.  I'd much rather have 5 tanks that I could count on to be there that might be just average tanks versus 1 tank that might not show up that is a killer.

Pretty much this.  A lot of unsexy boring things are what makes certain pieces of equipment "good" while others "bad."  Which is why some paperpanzers annoy me because they've basically totally and utterly failed at the unsexy things that are pretty much mandatory for functional military hardware, but can handle being shot and shooting back okay so they become totally reasonable choices in-game.

 

For every RT pbem I've played since it came out that had uberpanzers, I've played half a dozen with PZ IVs, StGs, T-34s, and Su-76s.  Realism is great and I love it, but I really enjoy something different from time to time.  I loved AK because of all the wonderful early war AFV's.  So, I'll keep clamoring for E series Panzers, Pershings, T-29/32 types, Comets, Centurions, IS-3/4/7s, and so on because variety is the spice of life.

See, most of those (Pershings, Comets, Centurions, IS-3s specifically) I support rather heartily because they're real vehicles with known performance.  The E series Panzers might as well be complete works of fiction, and the T-29/32s are cool, at least we have pretty solid numbers one what they could do, but it's not even like they were sort of on track to deploy to Europe.  T28/T95 are different, but still pretty silly.  

I like some of the earlier war stuff too, for the variety especially...but every game I've seen that includes prototype sorts of vehicles always winds up being ABOUT the prototype vehicles instead of being a good representation of the historical conditions.