General Jack Ripper Posted August 9, 2017 Share Posted August 9, 2017 I'm finally getting down to making more TTP videos, but I wanted to ask the denizens of GDF for some ideas. The next several parts will be focused on characteristics, performance, and use of supporting weapons. Primarily Machineguns, Mortars, Anti-Tank Guns, and On-Map Artillery. I have a couple ideas as far as video format goes, but I wanted to ask the potential audience. Idea #1 - Purely informative lecture for each sub-category of weapon, with limited demonstration of it's use, and general characteristics. Sort of like these: Idea #2 - The creation of some type of 'Assault Course' that would require target engagement, show the effects of fire, require re-deployment, and show comparative performance between competing weapon systems. For example, a machinegun begins in an emplaced position deployed. It engages targets at various ranges, once destroyed it then un-deploys, moves down a path through various obstacles and terrain, enters an ambush scenario requiring the use of crew small-arms, then must immediately deploy to engage targets advancing on it. Notes would be taken of how long it takes to set up or take down the gun, how heavy the gun is, and how easy it is to move, how effective the crew can be with their typical small arms, and how capable the weapon is at stopping a determined advance by a few squads. My question to you folks is, which approach would prove more valuable to the Combat Mission player? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Canadian Cat Posted August 10, 2017 Share Posted August 10, 2017 Idea #2 by a long shot... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger73 Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 On 8/10/2017 at 1:51 PM, IanL said: Idea #2 by a long shot... +1. Absolutely! #2 gets my vote. Thank you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 12, 2017 Share Posted August 12, 2017 SLIM, Absolutely concur with IanL and Badger73. Features and characteristics are great, but showing how to employ the weapon in a tactical context is, to my mind, pure gold or even latinum! Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted August 13, 2017 Author Share Posted August 13, 2017 Sounds good to me. Now I just have to bury myself in the map editor for a couple days. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted August 13, 2017 Share Posted August 13, 2017 Looking forward to seeing how you implement this. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted August 18, 2017 Author Share Posted August 18, 2017 I found a machine gun range layout diagram, now I'm just trying to plan the rest of the course. Can anyone point me towards information about how assault courses are laid out? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Combatintman Posted August 20, 2017 Share Posted August 20, 2017 On 19/08/2017 at 3:28 AM, SLIM said: I found a machine gun range layout diagram, now I'm just trying to plan the rest of the course. Can anyone point me towards information about how assault courses are laid out? I'm not sure you will get much value out of building an assault course in CM to add any value to your excellent tutorials. However FWIW the ones I have had inflicted on me generally involve ... a set of under over bars of 2 (ish) and 4 (ish) feet high which predictably involve going under the first lot and over the second lot a 10 foot (ish) wall a 6 foot (ish) sand pit which must be jumped an 8 foot (ish) high confidence thing which you run up and then along, leap over a gap and then run down the other side. a 6 foot (ish) wall a rope swing thing over a gap a climbing net of about 20-30 foot (ish) a barbed wire obstacle or concrete pipe to crawl under/through lots of shouty people telling you to try harder All laid out over about 3-400 yards 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted August 20, 2017 Author Share Posted August 20, 2017 5 hours ago, Combatintman said: I'm not sure you will get much value out of building an assault course in CM to add any value to your excellent tutorials. Well, the idea is to have the team engage targets, run through various terrain until they're tired, then setup, and engage targets again. This performance would be calculated against a clock, with points scored for accuracy. Basically, the idea is for a high-energy comparison test between different types of weapons. I.E. M1917HMG vs Vickers MG. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted August 24, 2017 Author Share Posted August 24, 2017 Alright, after an abortive attempt to build this thing in the scenario editor, I quickly realized I'd bit off more than I could chew, and also having two firing ranges back to back didn't add anything significant to the exercise. I already have another plan, however. Now I just need some more free time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 SLIM, I have lots of time. Will gladly swap you some in exchange for some higher cognitive functioning, which you seem to have lots of. Deal? Also, this time I remembered something I wanted to share with you and the guys. It's a quote by your counterpart, of sorts, regarding the true responsibilities of an officer to his men."I tell you, as officers, that you will not eat, sleep, smoke, sit down, or lie down until your soldiers have had a chance to do these things. If you hold to this, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. If you do not, I will break you in front of your regiments!" — Field Marshal Sir William Slim Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted August 24, 2017 Share Posted August 24, 2017 Perhaps you could heavily sculpt one half of a map creating some seriously challenging terrain, leave the other half level and flat, then route identical teams to a firing range at the far end via each of the two halves to see how their performance compares? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 On 8/24/2017 at 7:43 PM, John Kettler said: "I tell you, as officers, that you will not eat, sleep, smoke, sit down, or lie down until your soldiers have had a chance to do these things. If you hold to this, they will follow you to the ends of the earth. If you do not, I will break you in front of your regiments!" — Field Marshal Sir William Slim He's a good man. I first found out about him on an idle google search of my own username. I certainly hadn't heard of him before choosing it. Also: I didn't expect such a good page on tvtropes. You find the most interesting things, John. On 8/24/2017 at 7:50 PM, Sgt.Squarehead said: Perhaps you could heavily sculpt one half of a map creating some seriously challenging terrain, leave the other half level and flat, then route identical teams to a firing range at the far end via each of the two halves to see how their performance compares? Trouble is, the very first thing I noticed during my test series was the fact team exhaustion has no appreciable effect on performance. Exhausted soldiers can still aim and fire their weapons nearly as well as fully rested soldiers, especially bipod and tripod mounted weapons. Setup and takedown times for deployable weapons are similarly unaffected. So, you see, we are learning things already, but the idea of doing comparative testing using a terrain course is basically null. I think the new focus will be more of a straight up firing range, with comparison of say, kneeling versus prone, with emphasis on bipod versus tripod use. Basically, I'm going to re-make my old "Machine Guns" video. It was a grand idea, but the game simply doesn't allow for it's use. Oh well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger73 Posted August 26, 2017 Share Posted August 26, 2017 1 hour ago, SLIM said: <snipped> Trouble is, the very first thing I noticed during my test series was the fact team exhaustion has no appreciable effect on performance. Exhausted soldiers can still aim and fire their weapons nearly as well as fully rested soldiers, especially bipod and tripod mounted weapons. Setup and takedown times for deployable weapons are similarly unaffected. <snipped> @SLIM Doesn't Exhaustion/Fatigue affect morale under fire? Specifically, when taking fire or being suppressed, don't "Tired" troops bug out sooner and faster than "Rested/Ready" ones might? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted August 26, 2017 Author Share Posted August 26, 2017 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Badger73 said: @SLIM Doesn't Exhaustion/Fatigue affect morale under fire? Specifically, when taking fire or being suppressed, don't "Tired" troops bug out sooner and faster than "Rested/Ready" ones might? Yes it does. But the "Deploying", "Aiming", and "Firing" actions, so far as I can tell, are completely unaffected. EDIT: I just checked my recorded video, and reloading times are also unaffected to any noticeable degree. Edited August 26, 2017 by SLIM 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger73 Posted August 27, 2017 Share Posted August 27, 2017 Good to know. Thanks for checking. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted August 28, 2017 Share Posted August 28, 2017 SLIM, During the 1980s the Army ran a platoon level study of the effects of sleep deprivation on unit performance for a platoon defending. The results were good and horrible. They were good in that the grunts performed at 80% effectiveness in their assigned combat tasks. They were horrible in that the Platoon Commander was operating at a shocking 20% efficiency when it came to making good decisions. This kind of gave the Army religion on the need for officers to sleep. Given the complexity of modern warfare vs Marshal Slim's time, I think sleep for officers wasn't anywhere nearly as critical then as it is these days. Thus, while I think the clearly troop centric Marshal made a truly memorable point which has resounded through the halls of the military ever since, I do not believe, however good from a morale standpoint, that it is wise for officers in combat or supervising it to go without sleep. In some WW II movies I've seen senior noncoms pretty much enforce sleep on the Company CO, while freely acknowledging his concerns regarding doing so. The noncom points out the men will understand and that they know they depend for their lives on the boss to have a clear head when the bullets fly. He can't be effective without sleep. As for TV tropes, in this case, it was simply what popped when I searched, but I've crossed paths with similar pages before and find them intriguing. One of my current TV trope pet peeves is the keeping the bad person on the phone while a trace is run, for the times involved, especially on a landline, are ridiculously long. You may find this of interest on the matter. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MOS:96B2P Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 On 8/26/2017 at 3:21 PM, SLIM said: <Snip> team exhaustion has no appreciable effect on performance. Exhausted soldiers can still aim and fire their weapons nearly as well as fully rested soldiers, Setup and takedown times for deployable weapons are similarly unaffected. <Snip> On 8/26/2017 at 4:53 PM, Badger73 said: <Snip> Exhaustion/Fatigue affect morale under fire. "Tired" troops bug out sooner and faster than "Rested/Ready" ones. <Snip> Good info. Even when you're throwing in the towel you manage to get some interesting information out on the forum boards. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted September 11, 2017 Author Share Posted September 11, 2017 On 9/4/2017 at 10:06 AM, MOS:96B2P said: Good info. Even when you're throwing in the towel you manage to get some interesting information out on the forum boards. I haven't thrown in the towel, I've merely hung it up to dry. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ivan Zaitzev Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 What I would like to see is the guns used in different situations in real engagements in CM. I like to see how you would adapt to the terrain in contrast to adapting the terrain to have a perfect situation where to use said gun. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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