Sound contact.

[semmes]

I have a squad taking cover in some trees, there is a fire team/group to its left (15m), another group is advancing on its right.

Two guys with rifles, what is left of an enemy HMG and who "decided" to stay "there", not in their position, not with the rest of their unit, are further away (35m) to the left. They start shooting, crack!, crack!, crack!, crack!, they hit one guy in the squad.

Now, after 4 shots the squad fails its morale and is cowering but with every previous shot they did nothing. The left group, in hand-grenade range, did nothing, 4 shots, no area fire, not shooting in the the direction of the sound contact, you hear the crack and the whizz, nothing.

The right group, now 10m in advance, run backwards!, towards the squad!, that is, towards the fire, towards the crack and the whizz.

Maybe there were some distant mortar rounds, a MG firing somewhere but I am sure we have all read about experienced soldiers knowing, by the sound, if the artillery was "over" or "on" you. Well. this is a crack and a whizz on you and you do nothing.

 

In some games there is that "action area" around everybody -which is absolutely ridiculous because that's all they have- where if there is something inside that area you attack or shoot, and I have seen two "units" both shooting through a house because... well, they were in "range". One metre further away and you do nothing.

 

Question:

Is it so incredibly difficult to combine the "recon cycles" with this "close awareness"? Close, hand-grenade range? 50 m. maybe? If you lower the camera and you get closer, the sounds change, so the Engine knows -I would say- how "close" is close.

 

 

[semmes]

 The company attacks an enemy platoon position. Typically, a few enemy are killed or wounded; the rest surrender or withdraw. The company has fired several thousand rounds, of which a dozen or so have hit the enemy.

 "The Real Role of Small Arms in Combat"

 The ranges at which the rifle is used most frequently in battle and the ranges within which the greater fraction of man targets can be seen on the battlefield do not exceed 300 yd.

 Within these important battle ranges, the marksmanship of even expert riflemen is satisfactory in meeting actual battle requirements only up to 100 yd; beyond 100 yd, marksmanship declines sharply, reaching a low order at 300 yd.

 Automatic weapons don't provide hit effectiveness beyond that range.

(I guess we could say that aimed fire is not accurate fire).

 "Operational requirements for an Infantry Hand Weapon"

 At 300m, the attacking infantry unmask, and defenders can commence aimed fire at individual targets. The attackers, with less idea of the whereabouts of the defenders, will still be conducting mostly area fire, with the intention of suppressing the defenders' fire.

 The accuracy of small-arms fire decreases with proximity (30-50m.) to the target.

 "Small arms shooting accuracy and the small data problem"

 

My point being...

A) We are actually playing Candy Crush.

If this had anything to do with a wargame, WWII or a "simulation"...

 -Your priority is not to kill the enemy, is not to get kill. That should be the AI priority too.

 -When somebody fires at you -or close enough- you take cover. Then, maybe, you do something else.

 -Pinned means pinned -like Brexit means Brexit. One guy in a house, under fire from 2 MGs for five minutes, is not going to raise his head, aim, fire and then, suddenly, realize that he is under fire and hide. If it's too hot you move out, and you don't start running like a headless chicken. One guy could panic but that doesn't mean that the whole squad is going to.

 -In general broad terms:

 An attack will stop after sustaining 30% casualties. So, the "orders group" will not move forward, no a single one of them; or the squad will "disagree" with your movements orders to advance. Permanent morale, no instant morale test only.

 The defenders will withdraw -or break- after sustaining 50% casualties. So, as soon as there is a "deployment area" the Engine should "paint" a second, smaller, deployment area 100, 200 or 400m. in the rear, there to redeploy; to fall back, no to start running like headless chicken. Once the unit is there, we -brittle few- start all over again.

 -The two remaining guys from a squad, three from another an one in the command group are no three units to give orders to, they will join another squad or they will "get lost". They are not going to start a battle all by themselves. Or how many heroes do you want to put in the game?, dysentery too?

 -Almost every fire -so every fire- is area fire, it doesn't matter if the icon is clearly defined or blurred. The AI should be using it all the time. How good is B. Mauldin aim?

 -Lorries will follow roads.

C)We are playing Candy Crush. What is great, we are sitting comfortably at home, drinking tea. Actually I heard that some people love Candy Crush... it makes sounds and the colours are bright.

 

The three quotations... I found and read them on the web, I do this for fun but the people making games... they do it for a living, right?, it is their business, right?

I have seen things... like these in games, a game doing that. So... wondering... we copy & paste Candy Crush's code and change the graphics?

 

 Dig a hole in your backyard while it is raining. Sit in there while the water climbs up your ankles. Pour cold mud down your shirt. Sit there for 48 hours, and, so there is no danger of you dozing off, imagine that a guy is sneaking around waiting for a chance to club you on the head or to set your house on fire. Get out of the hole, fill a suitcase of rocks, pick it up, put a shotgun in your other hand and walk on the muddiest road you can find. Fall flat on your face every few minutes, as you imagine big meteors streaking down to sock you. Snoop around until you find a bull. Try to figure out a way to sneak around him without letting him see you. When he does see you, run like hell all the way back to your hole in the backyard, drop your suitcase and gun and get in. If you repeat this performance every three days for several months you may begin to understand why an infantryman gets out of breath. But still you won’t understand how he feels when things get tough.

B. Mauldin.

[semmes]

My apologies.

B). I have no idea where that emoji came from.

[Warts 'n' all]

Never mind the emoji. I can't read the writing. Too small for my old eyes.

[Vacillator]

3 hours ago, semmes said:

like Brexit means Brexit.

Please, let's not bring that fiasco up again

[semmes]

I guess everybody is using his inner voice to ask why we got a new game, again and again -and again- instead of a better game.

 

Well, I mean, they had time to paint new toy soldiers but never enough time to paint hand-grenade boxes.

By the way, any idea how many ammo boxes can you put in a lorry?

How difficult is a Sub-Formation tab?

Did they have time to "teach" the AI that lorries are not combat units and shouldn't be in the front line?

Does the AI know that squads should deploy in its platoon area, even if the company has an one km front?

Ammo bearers should they be by their weapon?

Do you have to pack the HMG and put every single guy in a lorry to get ammo?

If the gun/MG is a squad, you can "split (ammo) squad" and send them for ammo, nobody watched that in a film? If the crew suffered casualties they can rejoin to help man the weapon.

 

They corrected the Nagant rifle -graphics- and the "AI Proactively Avoids High-Explosive Fire" -a genius that one- so it is possible.

 

I have a great idea, let's make a new game. Mountain Warfare: Narvik, conquer the Elbrus. You can paint new uniforms, draw beautiful mountain roads, cliffs, big rocks, heavy snow... but please do nothing of the above.

Now you can sell a new game, that's the point right? Customers fidelization, right? So that as soon as -if ever- there is a wargame doing that you can merrily burn all the CM games.

 

Or... maybe everybody else is quite happy with how things are.

 

De l’audace, encore de l’audace et toujours de l’audace. Danton.

Audacity, still more audacity and always audacity.

[Vacillator]

@semmes  I'm probably a bit behind you on this, but I'm liking CM a lot (or if I'm honest, loving it ), coming from a long history of things which weren't as good.  So while I get longer term players' frustrations, for me as a new-ish one it's not a problem and I am indeed quite happy.

[semmes]

On 9/30/2020 at 11:20 PM, Vacilllator said:

@semmes  I'm probably a bit behind you on this, but I'm liking CM a lot (or if I'm honest, loving it ), coming from a long history of things which weren't as good.  So while I get longer term players' frustrations, for me as a new-ish one it's not a problem and I am indeed quite happy.

I am glad.

I think the nuance is "a lot worse than" instead of "which weren't as good as" .  The game is not taking full advantage of the possibilities it already has, a kind of uncompleted code. I still play at 3 PC games but not that happily.

 

 

My centre is giving way, my right is falling back. Situation excellent, I 'm attacking.

[Vacillator]

4 hours ago, semmes said:

I think the nuance is "a lot worse than" instead of "which weren't as good as"

I see your point, but for me it boils down to CMBN (or CMRT) is a lot better than what I used to play.  I suppose I'm still in (or just coming out of) the exploration stage but so far I've been impressed.

As I think I said elsewhere, I agree it's not perfect, but how many things in life are?  But if your intention is to help make it better, then good luck and I hope you succeed.  Bring on CM3 .

[BornGinger]

I wonder if the semmes maybe had a few pints before writing the first post. It sure reminds me of how a friend of mine talks when he's a bit tipsy.

[semmes]

Thank you.

I feel honoured by your kindness.

 

If you know a better hole, go to it. Bruce Bairnsfeather.