Vehicle-mounted flamethrowers VS AFVs

[Guest Scott Clinton]

I have limited experience using vehicle-mounted flame-throwers in CM against other tanks. I have only tried to use them to target enemy armor twice. Both times it was in an on going PBEM game set in heavy fog at night (visibility ~30m).

Well, I got my Sherman Crocodile within sight of a roaming Hetzer and I thought "Great! He is toast now...literally ". I mean if I miss with the 75mm or it bounces surely the flame-thrower, at this range, will at least hit and panic if not disable/KO the Hetzer.

Well, the shootout between the Sherman Crocodile and the Hetzer lasted for two turns with the Sherman firing about a half dozen shots and with its second hit finally KO'ing the Hetzer...the flame-thrower was never fired at the Hetzer...but he did fire it at the bailed crew right after the Hetzer was KO'ed...

What gives? Why wouldn't the Crocodile fire the flame-thrower at the Hetzer? At that range, in a knife fight in the fog at nigh, I would have cut loose with everything I had.

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Please note: The above is solely the opinion of 'The Grumbling Grognard' and reflects no one else's views but his own.

[pucker]

I had a similar situation, but with a Churchill Croc against a Hetzer. The Churchill fired everthing at the Hetzer, mg, gun and Flamethrower. I think the gun took out the Hetzer though.

BTW my PBEM opponent is getting rather annoyed with this Croc as it has knocked out 2 PZiv's a Hetzer and numerous infantry units.

Pucker

[Guest Scott Clinton]

Hmmm...so if I read that right, you had no problems getting your Churchill Crocodile to fire his flame-thrower at that Hetzer.

I wonder...I think that the Churchill Crocodile had its flame-thrower mounted along side the main gun in the turret whereas the Sherman Crocodile had its flame-thrower mounted in the bow.

I wonder if the location of the flame-thrower in the bow of the Sherman would cause it to not fire at the Hetzer.

This is a major bummer for me as I was counting on my Sherman Crocodiles pretty heavily in this PBEM game..

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Please note: The above is solely the opinion of 'The Grumbling Grognard' and reflects no one else's views but his own.

[This message has been edited by Scott Clinton (edited 09-26-2000).]

[Juardis]

Scott, was your croc buttoned or unbuttoned and does that make a difference? I'm playing my first game with a croc. So far, he has not flambayed anything yet, but neither has he been in range, so I have little experience in this.

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Jeff Abbott

[Guest Scott Clinton]

Unbuttoned, and he did end up flameing...a crew...

I guess right now I will assume that it will not ever fire at enemy AFV because it is a bow mounted weapon, at least until someone tells me otherwise. Come to think of it, AFAIK it is the only bow mounted weapon in the game you would ever really want to fire at an enemy AFV so perhaps the functionality is just not in CM.

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Please note: The above is solely the opinion of 'The Grumbling Grognard' and reflects no one else's views but his own.

[This message has been edited by Scott Clinton (edited 09-26-2000).]

[RudeLover]

Just tried a test of a Sherman Croc vs. 15 Lynx. Sherm suffered a gun hit, then an immobilizing track hit pretty quickly. As the little guys swarmed, he fired three flame shots at Lynx (vehicles and not crews) before succumbing to 20mm flank shots. Poor Croc was nibbled to death...

[Guest Scott Clinton]

Hmmm...back to the drawing board then.

At first I thought perhaps the Hetzer in my game was too close to fire the flamer-thrower at (i.e. fear of self-immolation). But I don't think the crew my Crocodile fired at was much further away than that tank...

Thanks for the information, perhaps I need to run a few hotseat "tests" myself just to 'get the hang of it'.

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Please note: The above is solely the opinion of 'The Grumbling Grognard' and reflects no one else's views but his own.

[IntelWeenie]

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Scott Clinton:

I wonder...I think that the Churchill Crocodile had its flame-thrower mounted along side the main gun in the turret whereas the Sherman Crocodile had its flame-thrower mounted in the bow.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

IIRC, the Sherman flamer came in two varieties. One had the flamer replacing the BMG and was originally tried out in the Stuart. The other (used only by the Marines?) had it in place of the main gun. (It had a pipe that looked like the normal 75mm to fool the Japanese into thinking it was it's less harmful brother) Edit: Look at combat footage taken on Iwo Jima or Okinawa to see this puppy in action.

The Churchill Croc was only produced with the FT replacing the BMG.

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Canada: Where men were men, unless they were horses.

-Dudley Do-right

[This message has been edited by IntelWeenie (edited 09-26-2000).]

[Kestrl]

When you target a AFV or infantry with your Sherman Crocodile just order your sherman not to fire its main weapon 75mm and the crew will fire the MG and flamethrower. The crew will probably decide what is the best weapon to use on targets.

[gaffertape]

Scott, I can't resolve your issue but I can tell you that the Churchill Crocodile actually has a bow mounted Flame projector. It replaces the bow MG.

My best flame experience so far was killing a Panther with a Wasp from behind.

GAFF