von Lucke Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 Interesting oddity concerning Inf / AT guns and the TacAI: Whenever a gun comes under artillery fire, said field piece will immediately switch from firing HE / AP at whatever target is currently visible, to firing smoke at said targets. Obviously, this is part of the AI Panic Reflex we've seen before with regards to smoke usage, but in this instance not only is it useless, it's usually fatal. Ie; a 75mm AT gun has just acquired an approaching M4 and is about to light it up when mortar rounds start landing near it. So the AT gun becomes Alerted, switches from AP to smoke (which it then launches at the Sherman), as the now alert Sherman calmly blows the AT gun away. Have repeated this phenomena several times with various field pieces vs various attackers --- it's always the same. Happens even when the targeted unit is not returning fire or outside it's effective range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fionn Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 I've not seen this. I've had plenty of AT guns continuing to bre up Shermans while arty smoke is coming down around them. Hell, I don't think I've EVER seen an AT gun fire smoke come to think of it. What version of CM are you playing? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Michael emrys Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fionn: Hell, I don't think I've EVER seen an AT gun fire smoke come to think of it.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Me neither. In fact, last night for the first time I saw a pair of 81mm mortars fire smoke at a Sherman that was attacking one of them. Didn't save them either. Can't recall an AT gun ever firing smoke at anything. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von Lucke Posted August 2, 2000 Author Share Posted August 2, 2000 v1.03. Matter of fact, it did it again in a QB I ran against the AI last night: Crack Fallschirmjaeger Hvy Wpns Coy (which includes two 75mm SiG), and an extra pair of 75mm Pak40's, vs a Brit Airborne Batt. And it's not the AI dropping smoke on my units, it's my field guns deciding to fire smoke at the AI attackers in response to indirect arty fire dropped on them, when there's no obvious target. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Shaw Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 Just a dumb questions VL, but is this happening while the guns still have appropriate ammo loads? I've seen guns and tanks fire smoke when they ran out of everything else. It's about the only thing I can think of. Other than that I haven't seen your issue. Joe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingfish Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 I've seen this happen, but with a 150mm IG gun. It was plinking infantry units at least 800 meters away when it suddenly switched to smoke, thereby blocking its own LOS and allowing the infantry to escape. I clicked on the gun and re-ran the movie to see if he was threaten in any way, but nothing came his way. The smoke started on the second turn of it's fire mission, so it had plenty of HE ammo. Another strange thing that happened in that same turn. I had a MG team hiding in an upper floor with LOS to the same infantry units. During the plot phase i gave it an un-hide command and targetted those infantry. well, when the movie started the MG un-hid and swung his weapon 180 degree away from the infantry and began blasting away at the opposite corner of the floor he was on! After the movie i cancelled both smoke and area fire missions to the 150mm IG and the MG, gave them new targets, and they acted fine from that point on. Strange. BTW, the game is version 1.03 ------------------ The dead know only one thing - it is better to be alive Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 I've been attacking the AI when all of a sudden I start getting hit with a lot of smoke rounds. It tends to blind everyone and doesn't appear to be tactically sound because the AI isn't following up with an attack. Perhaps they are trying to disrupt my attack? It looks pretty, though.. -------Chris ------------------ Land Soft--Kill Quiet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThomasZ Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 I have seen the behavior Airbone is speaking of. You should be able to replicate it by setting up a QB win an AI controled 88Flak, some allied infantry and an allied FO to call in the smoke. Get the infantry in view of the gun about a turn ahead of the incoming rounds. After the rounds start to fall on the 88 watch the area of your now battered infantry. You should see a few smoke rounds start to appear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juardis Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Michael emrys: Me neither. In fact, last night for the first time I saw a pair of 81mm mortars fire smoke at a Sherman that was attacking one of them. Didn't save them either. Can't recall an AT gun ever firing smoke at anything. Michael<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Play Nijmegen as the Americans. The Germans have plenty of 75mm AT guns. One of them peppered one of my positions with smoke when I fired upon that gun from that position. So AT guns do indeed fire smoke. ------------------ Jeff Abbott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullethead Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 I have seen this problem many times with my mortars but never anything else. Usual scenario is I have a grunt advance going and run into some dug-in enemy grunts and MGs. I am usually prepared for such problems by having MGs and mortars ready. So I set up my base of fire with some of the grunts and add the MGs and mortar HE fire for good measure while I try to get a maneuver element in position to assault. But the damn mortars often start firing smoke on their own initiative, obscuring the target and thus stopping all my suppressive fire. Even other mortars with HIDE orders, but with an LOS to the enemy, sometimes join in the smokefest without any orders at all. Net result is a delay in my attack while I wait for the smoke to clear so I can suppress the enemy before the assault. Rather annoying. From seeing this, it appears to me that the mortar AI is of the opinion that no assault is complete without a smokescreen. I disagree. Smoke is for special situations. Common situations like the above are why troops are issued rifles, MGs, and HE ammo. But anyway, if mortars have this opinion, perhaps ATGs and IGs think the same way? ------------------ -Bullethead It was a common custom at that time, in the more romantic females, to see their soldier husbands and sweethearts as Greek heroes, instead of the whoremongering, drunken clowns most of them were. However, the Greek heroes were probably no better, so it was not so far off the mark--Flashman Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dNorwood Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Fionn: Hell, I don't think I've EVER seen an AT gun fire smoke come to think of it. What version of CM are you playing?<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> which brings up a question I've been meaning to ask. Is there a secret to getting a tnk to fire smoke? I've never been able (they always switch to another target and fire HE). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Airborne Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 "which brings up a question I've been meaning to ask. Is there a secret to getting a tnk to fire smoke? I've never been able (they always switch to another target and fire HE)." I just recently played a hotseat QB game with my brother--he's still waiting for the full game. He had a couple of panthers and I had some various types of shermans. I was able to use smoke from the shermans to blind him while I maneuvered against him. I've not had any trouble getting tanks to fire smoke. Chris ------------------ Land Soft--Kill Quiet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dNorwood Posted August 2, 2000 Share Posted August 2, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Airborne: I was able to use smoke from the shermans to blind him while I maneuvered against him. I've not had any trouble getting tanks to fire smoke. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> I'll keep working on it, but my situation was similar - trying to get smoke cover for an infantry advance. Thye just wouldn't cooperate. but I'll keep trying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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