whizbang Posted October 16, 2002 Share Posted October 16, 2002 I confess to be an absolute novice to wargaming but so far in every scenario that I have played in CMBB I have always managed to win as a defender and never against a defence. In Katukov Strikes Back I tried five times as a Ruski to capture that bridge always with a ceasefire and hence a Major Defeat. So I changed sides and just clicked away on the GO button with not a thought for my men and this time we got a ceasefire but a Minor Victory. Clearly war is a dirty business and especially if you have to storm a hill or take a bridge where the opposition is dug in. I guess that is why they invented Apaches. :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolloff Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 Well, I think the Katukov scenario is probably a bad example because from my own experience it´s indeed possible to do nothing but leave the Germans to the TACAI, press "Go" and still do fairly good if not win it. Of course it´s possible to win when you´re attacking. You probably just need some more experience and understanding of what to and what not to do. I´d suggest you try "Jaegermeister". There is a) a tutorial based on it in the manual (in the *.pdf on the CD if you have the CDV version of the game) and some AARs in this forum. Just try it on your own, get blown to pieces, get some advise on how it´s possible to win, analyse your mistakes and learn, learn, learn. Never forget about smoke, cover etc. and don´t get frustrated. Advancing across open terrain against 88s is probably one of the more masochistic things you can do in CMBB. Cheers Nolloff [ October 17, 2002, 09:33 AM: Message edited by: Nolloff ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whizbang Posted October 17, 2002 Author Share Posted October 17, 2002 I'll have another go at that bridge and also the Jaegermeister (I do have the CD). Excuse my ignorance but what is an AAR and where do I find one? Thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolloff Posted October 17, 2002 Share Posted October 17, 2002 AAR means After Action Report - a synopsis of what happened during a scenario, most likely containig spoilers which will reveal some of the "secrets". I´ve posted a question about how to deal with "Jaegermeister" here some days ago and some others and later myself posted about how they did approach it. No ignorance on your behalf just another abbreviation. Good luck with another attempt at taking the bridge. Have a look at the terrain and stay in cover as much as possible. Cover = ridges, gullies, trees, smoke, buildings etc. As I said, don´t get frustrated with this one. There might be easier, less painful or better documented methods to learn. It´d be a shame if you´d stop to enjoy the game because of this. Cheers Nolloff [ October 17, 2002, 12:46 PM: Message edited by: Nolloff ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whizbang Posted October 18, 2002 Author Share Posted October 18, 2002 If at first.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolloff Posted October 18, 2002 Share Posted October 18, 2002 Congrats! Rock on ... Nolloff Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 21, 2002 Share Posted October 21, 2002 I think that playing as a defender against the AI is a pretty certain win for you, barring a massive imbalance in forces. I seem to find that the AI just doesn't "think" as well in attack as it does in defence. It will habitually funnel units into an obvious zone that you have covered, run troops across open ground when a more complicated route would have been safer and so on. That's why it's called AI. And it may explain why, if you're a novice, you find more success at defending. I have the same issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whizbang Posted October 21, 2002 Author Share Posted October 21, 2002 I don't want to labour the point here but I have posted a plea for more tutorials for us tyros in the Tips and Hints section under the title "Tutorials....more of them" in the fond hope that in your spare time you experts will design some basic scenarios and post them at the depot. Scenarios only take seconds to download and install and instead of the usual stuff about the historical background you could tackle some basic issues. Having fun... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WWB Posted October 21, 2002 Share Posted October 21, 2002 It might take seconds for you to download and install, but putting together a quality battle requires a good 20+ hours of work for something small. Not to mention testing time by others which is absolutely vital, especially for making tutorial type battles. I also should add that my Green Hell battle. avaliable from Boots & Tracks below, is a very good infantry training battle from what I hear. If anyone wants to write a tutorial based on it, be my guest. WWB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nolloff Posted October 21, 2002 Share Posted October 21, 2002 I´d like to recommend the two CMBO conversions "Chance Encounter" and "Riesberg", which can be found at Toms Combat Mission HQ, http://www.militarygameronline.com/TCMHQ/ in the Scenarios/1945 section. Especially Riesberg is very well suited to try and finetune your tactics as the Soviet Attacker. Imho the most important things Riesberg is perfect to understand are - how to move into jump-off positions before your infantry can charge forward (too much open ground = death) - how important it is to coordinate your attacks (e.g. wait until everybody is in place) - the usage of surpression fire - how you can try to flank the enemy - you can also experiment with splitting infantry squads to scout terrain without running the risk of getting the whole squad eliminated plus offer more targets for the enemy) I think some of the scenario designers have a lot more nasty tricks in store than what was the norm in the early CMBO days. That certainly makes it tougher for someone who´s new to the game. Riesberg might be what you´re looking for. Cheers Nolloff [ October 21, 2002, 05:41 PM: Message edited by: Nolloff ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whizbang Posted October 22, 2002 Author Share Posted October 22, 2002 To WWB: I certainly did not want to give the impression that developing a scenario was either easy nor time consuming - obviously if it was to be based on historical facts then it is even more time consuming to verify and model the facts. I seriously doubt that the originators of this fascinating game really have the resources to produce an expansion pack but I thought that either existing scenarios could be accompanied by some hints (as Nolloff has suggested - thank you for that info by the way), but the alternative would be some less than tiny scenarios with, for example) a platoon of tanks pitted in an engagement against a solitary antitank gun and a squad of infantry in a small village. This would give practice in placement of the antitank gun (because you cannot move it later under fire) and the sneaking up of the infantry to hurl a couple of grenades at the remaining tanks. Changing sides would give practise in using cover, shoot and scoot and knowing when to button up. Please don't take me too literally about this example but as I progress I'll perhaps try my own hand at a couple of novice scenarios because I think the game deserves a much wider audience especially because it has no end. Thanks for your patience. PS As an historical novelist I appreciate how much effort is involved in researching past battles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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