JMcGuire Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 Yes, yes, more wallowing in my rediscovered newbieness. Ok, even my mother probably knows what a King Tiger is, but I must admit more than a few of the units in CM mystify me. I can look at their details and get a pretty good idea of how to use them, but I'm wondering if there is a good online reference that gives a quick one-liner description of the various unit types' intended roles. This would also help me get a couple of non-WWII-geek friends interested in CM a little more quickly. (It's slow-going when you're faced with trying to decide whether to buy the mysteriously-named Fallshirmjäger for the first time in your life...) I do know about the page below, which certainly helps, but it doesn't really say anything about the intended roles. http://members.tripod.com/johnnocmdow/unit1.htm I dunno, maybe my question is too vague? (Or just stupid?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aka_tom_w Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 WOW that is one helluva alot of work to make that web site: http://members.tripod.com/johnnocmdow/u_spot/u_spot009.htm Who designed this site and why is it not more well known? Nice work! -tom w Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lcm1947 Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 No such thing as a stupid question. I however am not the one to help you out about your question. Hopefully some individual will come by to enlighten you. Oh, and thanks for the site. I had forgotten about it and thanks to you I now know where it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Philippe Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 If you can wallow in non-Uebergroginess, so can I. I've found that that old chestnut, Steel Panthers, is a goldmine of information about really basic bits of minutiae that I just don't seem to have room in my head for. I'm sure it isn't perfectly accurate, but it beats spending several hundred dollars on reference books. Steel Panthers World at War is a very large free download that you can get from the Matrix games website. It's very hard to want to play something like this when you've played Combat Mission. But the Orders of Battle and the Encylopaedia of vehicles are really nice to have handy. At some point I plan to figure out how to separate them from the game and save myself some disk space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMcGuire Posted July 3, 2002 Author Share Posted July 3, 2002 Originally posted by aka_tom_w: Who designed this site and why is it not more well known?<smacking my gums, staring off into space> Well back in the Old Days it WAS well-known. Seriously, I think the first version of the board software would automatically reply with that URL if the subject line contained the word "newbie". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mchlstrt Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 I,ve been here a while & I never saw that site either. Worth Having around & visible, for sure. Now that you mention it, a primer on WWII tactics, with a few notes on their application to CM, seems like it would be a Good Thing. Maybe even right in the Manual. Sort of a one or two page condensed version of the 'Anthology of Useful Posts" over on the 'Tips & Tricks' board. Like anything else, once you know something it seems like it's so obvious everyone knows it. & this game has so many layers it's hard to know where to start. Basics like 'keep Tanks away from Enemy Infantry' & 'close in with SMGs, stand off with Rifles' could quickly get a newbie 'in the game' to the point where it's interesting, not just bewildering & frustrating. One of you guys should do that. Strt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Panzer Leader Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 That site was part of the "Dogs of War" ladder group, which strangely sort of disintegrated a year or so ago. Too bad. Most of the players from there helped to form the then-new Band of Brothers ladder group. Johnno was the web-master and host-extraordinaire, but has since sadly left us. He went to a lot of work for that site. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 J, rather than try to rattle off a list of units and what they did in real life (I would probably forget most of them), why don't you ask about specific units that you are interested in? That will probably get you the information you seek fastest. Michael Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redwolf Posted July 3, 2002 Share Posted July 3, 2002 We have a tactics site at http://thforums.com/CMBO/ I don't understand why this thread implies the questions are centered around Germans. Is there anything German-specific you want to know? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMcGuire Posted July 3, 2002 Author Share Posted July 3, 2002 Originally posted by redwolf: I don't understand why this thread implies the questions are centered around Germans. Is there anything German-specific you want to know?Partly because my original question was slightly different. Partly because I personally happen to be familiar with American units, but comparatively vague about German units (particularly when you consider the vast array of unit types CM supports). But you're right, I suppose the most useful site would simply provide that kind of info for all units. Michael - To be honest, I was hoping somebody would say, "Sure, go to this handy URL..." redwolf - Looks like the form you linked to is down at the moment... the page returns a MySQL/PHP login error... [ July 03, 2002, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: JMcGuire ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John D Salt Posted July 4, 2002 Share Posted July 4, 2002 Originally posted by JMcGuire: Yes, yes, more wallowing in my rediscovered newbieness. Ok, even my mother probably knows what a King Tiger is, but I must admit more than a few of the units in CM mystify me. I can look at their details and get a pretty good idea of how to use them, but I'm wondering if there is a good online reference that gives a quick one-liner description of the various unit types' intended roles. [snips]Here, have a hastily-typed guidelet to as many of the vehicular units as I can recall right now. The vehicles are grouped into categories with the same intended function. Note that the weapon a vehicle carries may not necessarily be an adequate guide to its role; for example, tank-hunting vehicles have an ammunition load including a smaller fraction of HE than assault guns do. Within each category or sub-category, as far as possible, I have listed vehicles in preference order, worst first and best last. I have also tried to order the categories roughly in order of specialization, most generally useful types first. The category names are often, but not always, direct translations from German terms. Battle tanks. Their role is direct fire combat against all comers. Mediums carry long or overlong 7.5cm guns, heavies 8.8cm or long 8.8cm guns, in rotating turrets. Medium: Panzer IV, Panther. Heavy: Tiger, King Tiger. Hunting tanks. Their role is tank hunting. They are heavily armoured and carry powerful weapons. long 7.5cm gun: Hetzer, Jagdpanzer IV. overlong 7.5cm gun: Panzer IV/70. long 8.8cm gun: Jagdpanther. 12.8cm gun: Jadgtiger. Tank hunters. Their role is also tank hunting, and they are also powerfully armed, but have only light armour protection. long 7.5cm gun: Marder III, Marder II. long 8.8cm gun: Nashorn/Hornisse. Assault guns. Their role is fire support against all kinds of target, and as an ersatz for battle tanks. Better armoured than Panzerjagers, but not as well as Jagdpanzers. They carry long 7.5cm guns. StuG III, StuG IV. Assault howitzers and direct fire support vehicles. Mainly anti-infantry, but with some ability to attack tanks with hollow-charge projectiles. Half-tracked, short 7.5cm: SPW250/8, SPW 251/9. Tracked, 10.5cm: StuH 42. Recce vehicles. Their role is to find the enemy. They are lightly protected, but equipped to fight, with 2cm cannon, or 5cm (Puma) or short 7.5cm (PSW 234/3) guns. Half-tracked: SPW 250/9. Wheeled: PSW 234/1, 2, /3. Tracked: Luchs. Captured tanks. Tinny French rubbish you use when you can't afford a real tank. Hotchkiss H-39. Personnel carriers. They carry or tow things. Armoured, half-tracked: SPW 250/1, SPW 251/1. Softskin, half-tracked: Sd Kfz 7. Softskin, wheeled: Kubelwagen, truck. Indirect fire support vehicles. SP howitzers or half-tracked mortar carriers whose main role is to attack area targets with HE fire in the upper register. In CM:BO, they will use direct observation, but this is not their intended use. Half-tracked, 8cm mortar: SPW 250/7, SPW 251/2. Tracked, 10.5cm how: Wespe. Tracked, 15cm how: Hummel. Anti-aircraft vehicles. Their main role is air defence, but they are also useful against ground targets. A bug in CM:BO means that the softskin variants are not used. Armoured: Wirbelwind (4 x 2cm), Ostwind (3.7cm). Softskin: Sd Kfz 7/1 (4 x 2cm), Sd Kfz 7/2 (3.7cm). Flamethrowers. Set things on fire. Tracked: Flammpanzer Hetzer. Half-tracked: SPW 251/16. Hope that helps somewhat. All the best, John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMcGuire Posted July 4, 2002 Author Share Posted July 4, 2002 Thanks John! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patgod Posted July 4, 2002 Share Posted July 4, 2002 for the brits: 95mm churchills: piss me off and blow up my men wasps: piss me off and light my men on fire sherman VC fireflys: piss me off and kill my pretty kitties just about everything else: cat food Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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