NOTES FROM THEATRES OF WAR - Russia, Jan 1942

[Grisha]

Michael,

I now remember one story in the document about an attack into a fortified town in Prussia, I think. It was an extremely tough nut to crack, so the Soviets planned a night attack. Since there were tank traps and mines engineers were first needed to clear a pass. They did this at night, and once a path was cleared, the engineers merely stood up, faced back at their own lines and pointed their flashlight back at them. This kept the Germans from seeing the light, and gave the tankers a clear line to follow through the defenses. Most Soviet tankers typically attacked at night with headlights on, because it caused a lot of confusion. Since the Soviets were also heavily practicing maskirovka by this time, I doubt the fortified town even knew of the impending attack.

[Andreas]

Originally posted by Michael Dorosh:

A simple morale adjustment could probably do what you seek, all other things being equal, but I wonder if we won't have to wait for the rewrite to see a truly detailed night combat system (and more willingness to create night scenarios?)

I know it is not really the same, but for a fully illuminated battlefield you could always choose the dusk/dawn setting.

[Kallimakhos]

Originally posted by patolino:

Snow grogs? Someone of those should explain what are the conditions when snow makes that crunching sound under your feet vs. the conditions when it stays silent. And then ponder on the tactical implications during night attacks

Something tells me you know the answer allready , but let's make a guess that it's got something to do with your feet crunching millions of them unique, beautifull snowflakes...

[Tero]

Originally posted by patolino:

But anyway, your body gives off heat for one. And even in the winter dark materials will absorb heat from the sunlight. You can actually feel pretty comfortable in moderate cold like -15 to -20 cent if you stay in a spot where the air stays still and keep soaking those bright day rays with dark clothing.

And once you have worked up a sweat you will propably freeze to death during the night.

Layered clothing (preferably made out of natural materiels like wool) is pretty much the only the proper way to keep warm.

[Battlefront.com]

Brian:

Mmmm, I seem to remember from high school physics that curiously, water doesn't actually freeze at zero degrees centigrade. Something about latent heat or something...

True, however like everything else it has a lot to do with a bunch of factors. Time exposed to freezing temp, properties of materials in contact, exposure to sun, depth of water, wind conditions, etc. I see wet roads below freezing, but no wet conditions anywhere else because road surface absorbs energy from sun, tires create heat from friction, asphault has insulation qualities, etc.

Oh... and I am still amazed at how it can RAIN when it is only 8 deg F like it was last week. Amazing to think that an upper layer of air is actually above freezing when the lower air is 20 degrees colder!

Michael... you know, I haven't thought about the whole steam and pants thing for probably 15 years. Too funny

IIRC we will have at least 2 night settings which simulate full or no moonlight.

We also are unwilling to give penalties/bonuses for night time fighting as it is a slippery slope. If we do something for night, then perhaps we should do something for battles in forests, swampy ground, etc.

I can tell you why the Germans didn't like to fight at night and the Soviets did. The advantages of the Germans were largely neutralized during the night becaues maneuver, communications, and coordinated fire become VERY difficult to acheive. In fact, early war German vehicle optics were noted to be very poor in low light conditions. Soviets were also noted to be poor, but that didn't matter as much in the tactical sense.

I also think it is a bad idea to do across the board generalizations like this, since the evidence is rather annecdotal and probably unit/situation specific.

So the way I look at it, the Soviets already have a realistic "advantage" when fighting at night or in forests without tinkering with national modifiers. The "advantage" is that they more or less fight on equal terms in such situations because the German's inherent advantages are reduced or neutralized. Meaning that if I took CMBB as it is right now, and compared a night scenario's results to the SAME scenario done during the day... I bet you anything the Soviets would come off better at night.

Steve

[Grisha]

Originally posted by Big Time Software:

We also are unwilling to give penalties/bonuses for night time fighting as it is a slippery slope. If we do something for night, then perhaps we should do something for battles in forests, swampy ground, etc.

I can tell you why the Germans didn't like to fight at night and the Soviets did. The advantages of the Germans were largely neutralized during the night becaues maneuver, communications, and coordinated fire become VERY difficult to acheive. In fact, early war German vehicle optics were noted to be very poor in low light conditions. Soviets were also noted to be poor, but that didn't matter as much in the tactical sense.

I also think it is a bad idea to do across the board generalizations like this, since the evidence is rather annecdotal and probably unit/situation specific.

So the way I look at it, the Soviets already have a realistic "advantage" when fighting at night or in forests without tinkering with national modifiers. The "advantage" is that they more or less fight on equal terms in such situations because the German's inherent advantages are reduced or neutralized. Meaning that if I took CMBB as it is right now, and compared a night scenario's results to the SAME scenario done during the day... I bet you anything the Soviets would come off better at night.

Steve

So, I can understand this to mean that you read that paper, Steve?