Juardis Posted September 14, 2000 Share Posted September 14, 2000 Perhaps this has been covered already, but it's 1:00 am and I'm tired, so I'm not gonna search. I'm playing Carentan as the Germans. I halted the allied advance pretty well. They did not get past my front lines. However, in the debrief, it says I'm to also hold the bridges North and East of Carentan and the road junction therein. Well, I'm not really sure which road junction they're talking about, and I'm not really sure that I'm actually in Carentan. I see no bridges to the N and E but the allies do come from that direction. So first battle I break up their attack. However, at the start of the next battle I'm pushed back 500m or so. Now I have bridge (which I suppose I'm supposed to defend), but my troops are scattered all hither and yon and the bridge is to the S of the road junction I'm guessing I was supposed to hold (and now no longer do). So WTH am I supposed to do now? I suppose I got pushed back because the Allies managed to get some units by my roadblock by cutting through the bocage? So if I want to move forward, I need to simultaneously protect against a broad front and push forward? Yet I cannot get all the way across the board due to where my starting position is, or is that the intent? Being as this is my first op, am I doing something wrong here? I haven't been attacking or trying to stop ANY penetration by the allies because I'm not entirely sure what my objective is. Any spoilers you wish to impart is fine by me. Particularly as it relates to the first battle since I just finished that. The second battle has me in the dark and nowhere near the right edge of the map. It would be real easy for the allies to drive up the road and exit my side of the map on my right flank because I cannot get any forces over there to stop them. And if that's the case then I'm gonna be pushed back yet again . So if that's what's going to happen, let me know now please. Thanks ------------------ Jeff Abbott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted September 14, 2000 Share Posted September 14, 2000 A few things. First as you experienced, with OPs on large maps, (and Carentan is the biggest there is,) you usualy don't see the whole map on each given battle, (Frame rates would drop dramatically) so the bridges ware far behind the actually battle area. Those spots come into play later on. Second The actual town of Carentan you most likely don't even see yet. The road leading to the bottom of the map (South IIRC) from Ste Come Du Mont leads to Carentan eventualy. It would have been nice if a full map in jpg form or something could be shown on the breifing screen but it can't. I would recommend that you go into scenario editor, call up Cnrentan op and have a look around the map to see where everything is, that might help. Just make sure you do not go to the unit screen to see what's coming and when, this way you will still be able to maintain your surprise. Third, however well you do at Ste Come Du Mont (It's not to hard to stop the first allied attack) it is very likely that the AI will move other large forces around to get by you on other parts of the map. It is impoerative on every battle that you retain some ability to keep OPs or launch reconnasaince patrols into sectors you are not defending heaviily in order to ensure you know what the enemy is doing. ON a large campaign like this a recon/counetrrecon plan is essential, since you will never have sufficient forces to be everywhere at once. But if you have that recon plan in place, you can ID where the AI si slipping their forces (they can be pretty sneaky) and then rush some meager reserves via those vehilces I know you are carefully husbanding) to delay them. It is a fact of the defenders like and an actual experience on te Normandy fromnt by the Germans that no matter how well you did in one spot, something occuring a few klicks away would necessitate having to pull back the line to avoid untennable sailents and envelopment. This is frustrations you can share with your actual counterparts. But OTOH this having to really worry about more operational concerns, over a multiday battle and a huge map really shows off some of the bright spots of where CM is heading! NO more of this let me make that final sacrifice at the end of the scenario to grab a few more VLs or points. NOw you really have to worry about tomorrow. And as the German regardless of the day you will always be relentlessly outnumbered and on the short side of the firepower stick so you must really think through you're pre-battle deployments. For example, carelessly losing a critical assett like an FO on day one will provide you with sorely needed fire support when it becmes critical like later on in day three. AT the beginning of each day's battle during the setup phase but before you press start for the first turn, you should be able to reorganize and place your forces where ever you want within your territory. This is part of tne inter-battle phase of operations. Finally there are some short coming s with how Front lines are figured in CM ops as of right now. You normally get more or less a staright line (usually in favor of the attacke!r) as opposed to a really jagged set up with units isolated and whatnot (We have pushed for this we'll see how it turns out in subsequent build versions.) But two can play at that game. You can always push a few units forward on a covered front and help push the line back in your favor. Just watch out risking valuable troops. ALso different play throughs of this op will yield different results from the AI. I'm actuially getting to uplaod a new version of the OP based on some tweaks. Good luck! Los Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juardis Posted September 15, 2000 Author Share Posted September 15, 2000 OK, thanks Los. Couple of questions. I cannot move my troops during the setup phase of the first battle. I just checked to see if I could at the beginning of the second battle. I can, so that's good. Are all ops that way (i.e., cannot move during the setup phase of the 1st battle)? I loaded the map as you suggested and checked it out. It appears that I start in the Northernmost sector of the big map. So I'm assuming that Carentan proper is down by the big marsh? That right? Can victory locations and/or signs not be used in operations? A sign telling me what town I'm in would be EXTREMELY helpful! Thanks again for your input. ------------------ Jeff Abbott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Holman Posted September 15, 2000 Share Posted September 15, 2000 As for signs, it seems that the game's label feature would do the trick. In fact, one solution to the "how big is this map really?" question would be for designers to use landmarks and list them in the briefing. Knowing that the town of X is halfway to the objective would give you a sense of where the current map lies in the whole scheme of the operation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Los Posted September 15, 2000 Share Posted September 15, 2000 Juardis, regarding being able to move your units in the first battle. I set it up that way, no an op designer doesn't have to do it that way, but for the first battle I chose to do it that way to ensure that the AI (regardless of what side you are playing) will perform historically at least for the beginning of the fight. And aslo that the deployment you are faced with as the commander is that of your counterpart who was there dealing with this for real. But like I said that can be set (It's called padlocking setup) in the scenario editor. RE: Victory Locations and operations the answer is as of this release they can't. Though I am a big proponent of including them since they will come in very handy when you have large maps and scenarios such as Carentan and you want to keep the AI focused on historical objectives. As far as labelling the towns, the key main towns should have labels on them, if you don't see them I will look again, I did notice some hinky things happening to some of the operations after 1.05. Cheers... Los Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Juardis Posted September 16, 2000 Author Share Posted September 16, 2000 <BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Los: As far as labelling the towns, the key main towns should have labels on them, if you don't see them I will look again, I did notice some hinky things happening to some of the operations after 1.05. Cheers... Los<HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Whoa, you're right. I must have inadvertently turned off labels (or maybe advertently, I've played so much I've lost track). Anyway, it now makes much more sense. I didn't realize you did that operation. I tip my hat to you. Just looking at the map I'd say it must've taken a long time to do. Thanks for your efforts. ------------------ Jeff Abbott Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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