New Scenario - "Hammertime"

[George MC]

Originally posted by kawaiku:

Curious question George. Are you gonna update your blowtorch website with your new CMSF work? Or create a new site? Because it would be great to have all of your fantastic work in one place. The way you present your scenarios there is great and as it seems that you made quite the scenario here, I was wondering if you had any plans in that respect?

PS. I haven't played the scenario much less play the game...hell I don't even own it lol.

I have thought about :)Nice of you to say how much you enjoy all the stuff. Charlie and I would need to redesign the home page, but that's not a problem. At the moment the problem is time or lack of it! Busy with CMSF and the CMBB scenarios. I'll be around sometime during the XMas holidays - so I'll get onto it then I think.

We are just putting the finishing touches to the last few Strachwitz scenarios and currently debating what our next series for CMBB will be...

Cheers fur noo

George

ps CMSF is worth getting I reckon

[M1A1TC]

This is the best scenario ever! I love it

[JohnO]

If you think that "Hammertime" is great. Wait until you try his other scenario "Rescue" which I'm testing right now.

JohnO

[DaveDash]

Well this mission looks extremely well designed, I give up in frustration every time before finishing it.

Possible Spoiler:

There is some extremely annoying bug or something in CM:SF that prevents my vehicles from firing upon enemy units in trenches, even when -ORDERED- a target command.

Unfortunately this means in this mission my units sit with their thumbs up their butts while RPG and anti-tank teams demolish my entire company. This is on WEGO of course. It turns what could be an extremely fun mission into an effort of futility.

[DaveDash]

SPOILER:

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The ATGM at Farm 6 is the cause of extreme frustration in WEGO. I can handle it getting off one shot, but it can literally take out 3-4 Bradleys assaulting various parts of the map and due to its "Reverse slope" position not a SINGLE unit returns fire in WEGO. Not a mission design fault, but really something needs to be done about reverse slope ATGMS/RPGS. I believe vehicles don't shoot because they believe it to be a 'wasted shot'. They should area surpress automatically.

[DaveDash]

Well I finally did it. I lost more men than I should have and reloaded a couple of times when idiotic pathfinding or AI screwed me over in WEGO. It seems units have issues firing at many of the guys on the roof as well depiste the guys on the roof being able to shoot at them. I've noticed this in a few campaign games.

SPOILERS:

I completed the mission with 19 minutes to spare when the Syrian AI surrended. What an Epic battle, I feel mentally drained after that one.

I had a bit of forewarning from reading some of the posts here that this mission was 'nasty' so I didn't underestimate the Syrians one bit.

My plan was to send my main effort up the very western side of the map as that side had a closer entrance to the city objectives. The eastern side, while it looked easier, meant I'd have to fight my way through that side of the city to gain the objectives.

I sent my Recon team to capture the closest farm on the west - luckily the smoke from my Bradleys confused the enemy and my recon team managed to wipe out the Syrians on the reverse slope.

I moved 1st Platoon along the Western side of the map to clear the buildings there - using the cover of the fields, and halted at the first group of buildings.

When my artillery arrived, I pounded the three western farms that remained ahead of me almost to dust, and used second platoon to capture the farm buildings and clear resistance from trenches.

Third Platoon stayed as a reserve until I knew the extent of enemy resistance.

My tanks unfortunately played a minimal role, both getting bogged in the mud in my west

advance.

Once all the Western farms were clear I moved up 3rd Platoon, who was still fresh through the clear western fields and began prepping the city for assault. I used my remaining 155mm artillery to obliterate the buildings to either side of the bridge to allow entry into the city.

I tried to move 1st Platoon up to take the Hamlet to the east but they met stiff resistance from tanks dug into the city, losing almost all Bradleys but with little troop loss. I kept them there and planned ferry them to the battlefield later.

3rd Platoons assault on the city gained footholds, but due to some crazy pathfinding into buildings and Bradley TacAI doing a very poor job of covering fire they got cut up pretty bad.

The fighting was extremely intense and I moved a still relatively intact 2nd Platoon through 3rd's positions and managed to elimate most resistance. 1st Platoon wasn't needed in the end and I gained all objectives.

Some key points that helped me succeed:

1. Using cover wisely. This is for both troops and vehicles. Once you start gaining a foothold you can use all those trench networks and buildings to your own advantage.

2. You have limited artillery, but tons of Bradleys. You can use them to destroy all buildings that seem like they are a threat and still have plenty of ammo left over. If you see a building that looks too hard to assault, too many enemy units, just blow it up.

3. Putting infantry on the rooftops of buildings allowed me to spot a lot of the tanks quite early and use Javelins to destroy them.

4. When moving vehicles I used quick bursts of erratic movement, and made sure they were never stationary before the turn ended. This mean a lot of RPG/ATGM and tank shots missed and I was able to surpress them (eventually).

5. Staggered East/West movement across the edges of the map to clear threats. I noticed there was a lot of 'ambushes' set on either side of the map that my clearing forces approached from behind.

All in all a fantastic scenario. Unlike other people however I was frustrated with LOS annoyances, perhaps it's a 1.04 thing?

[JohnO]

DaveDash,

Interesting, now that you have tried Hammertime, try out the scenario Rescue v4. Let me know what you did and how you did it. I posted what I did and it didn't work out right in the Tactics thread.

JohnO

[DaveDash]

I've already downloaded it and will try it out soon.

The main thing I learned from Hammertime is that I'd HATE to play George MC in a PBEM game.

[handihoc]

George, just in case you weren't aware, I gave you a well-deserved 5 stars on CMMODS, but it's under my old handle, Philwil, not Handihoc.

Now, come on, please. Stop taking holidays and get down to more battle designs, or I'll have to send the boys in.

[George MC]

Hi Handihoc

Thanks for that

He! He! I'm getting onto a new scenario - more of a large mech action. All going well, and if the weather stays crap so climbing is poor I'll have it out for around Christmas

Cheers fur noo

George

[whaco]

George this scen is a real keeper but as of version 1.05, I can no longer play it. Units are doing some crazy ****.

[George MC]

Originally posted by whaco:

George this scen is a real keeper but as of version 1.05, I can no longer play it. Units are doing some crazy ****.

Like what?

[whaco]

Before version 1.05, all maps were working fine. For some reason my units in Hammertime are doing the exact same movement as my Bradleys. If I order a quick move with a unit that has just disembarked from a Bradley that same Bradley will duplicate the quick move. I doubt it is your map but I had to replay it with the 1.05 version and your map just happened to be the first map I tried with 1.05.

[George MC]

Originally posted by whaco:

Before version 1.05, all maps were working fine. For some reason my units in Hammertime are doing the exact same movement as my Bradleys. If I order a quick move with a unit that has just disembarked from a Bradley that same Bradley will duplicate the quick move. I doubt it is your map but I had to replay it with the 1.05 version and your map just happened to be the first map I tried with 1.05.

Hhmmm... Odd - any chance you could email me a save game either when this happens or just before. Is it in RT or WEGO? Many thanks

Cheers fur noo

George

ps edited to add: just tried it out and the scout bradley and scouts mount/dismount OK for me. Have you tried oepning the game in the editor in 1.05 then resaving it? Not that I've done this with the version of the scenario I tried.

[ December 28, 2007, 03:03 AM: Message edited by: George Mc ]

[CommC]

Great scenaio.

I'm seeing some funny LOS effects in v1.05, possibly due to the low wall bug. There are a lot of low walls on the map. I'm seeing things like troops in a building not seeing a BMP sitting right next to the building, Bradleys not seeing BMPs behind low walls, etc. (Maybe this in normal)

[George MC]

Hi CommC

Glad you like it

Not too sure about LOS and units such as BMPs hiding. From what I've heard in other threads the issues surrounding LOS in some situations is being looked into. I must admit in-game it ain't a big deal for me, but it would be nice to have those niggly issues fixed.

Cheers fur noo

George

[Darkmage]

Originally posted by DaveDash:

Well this mission looks extremely well designed, I give up in frustration every time before finishing it.

Possible Spoiler:

There is some extremely annoying bug or something in CM:SF that prevents my vehicles from firing upon enemy units in trenches, even when -ORDERED- a target command.

Unfortunately this means in this mission my units sit with their thumbs up their butts while RPG and anti-tank teams demolish my entire company. This is on WEGO of course. It turns what could be an extremely fun mission into an effort of futility.

I'm getting the same problem Dave in RT mode. is it a bug or bradleys not being able to depress turret etc? I guess if that was the case it would say no LOS as opposed to clear. Is anyone else experiencing this and can shed some light?

[George MC]

Anyone played this using v1.07? Just wondering if it still plays out OK or whether I need to re-jig it.

Cheers fur noo

George

[bwgulley]

Seemed easier as the US side. I played wego elite and had a total victory. The difference seems to be the spotting ability of the US infantry. I spotted and killed the hidden vehicles before they had a chance to fire. Even killed the tanks at very long range with javelins. With the units firing on their own also makes things easier since you don't have to want for the next turn to target. Still one of the best scenarios, I think is good to go as is.

[George MC]

Well done, and thanks for the feedback I'll leave it as is.

Cheers fur noo

George

[CommC]

I've played this in 1.06 and 1.07 and it does seem easier from the US side. Its still tough, but it seems the defenders in trenches don't fire on (or spot?) attackers until it is too late. May be a problem here.

US infantry and vehicles do spot better and react to fire more quickly when an enemy unit is spotted.

[Combatintman]

George - just played this on V1.07 on basic training level in WEGO mode as the US - had a minor defeat.

SPOILERS

Did pretty much the same as many other players. Armed up my dismounted scouts with Javelin and plonked them on the roofs to give overwatch and then went right flanking with everything I had. Getting to the town was a doddle although I was aware of time ticking away. Once in the town my troubles began and lost both tanks and 4 Bradleys.

In retrospect I was overly mindful of the ammunition requirement and didn't use one of my 120mm mortar units at all although to be fair given that all of my vehicle losses bar one were due to two of the T-72s in the town I'm not convinced that it would have made much difference to be honest.

SPOILERS END

My only quibble was that I never got the points for the second phase line even though I clearly crossed it and secured all of the objectives in the town bar one. Not sure if this is a bug or not.

Otherwise - to go back to your post about real life briefings - I have seen many exercise Op Orders in the British Army which have combat effectiveness stated as a constraint along the lines of '1 Loamshire BG is not to fall below 70% CE'. That said I haven't seen it relating to CSUP expenditure.

Overall a well balanced scenario, a good map, some potential surprises and a lot of tension as the clock ticks away. I enjoyed it very much and thankyou for creating it.

[George MC]

I've just uploaded a slightly tweaked version. I checked it out and it does look like like some of the Syrian set-ups although they worked pre 1.07 do not work now that the LOS/LOF issues were addressed in 1.07.

Basically the scenario is the same, just I re-positioned some Syrian. Not always where you might think they would be

I've run it through quickly so it seems to be working again. Note: the new scenario does better achieve what I was after in that your recce units will have to do a better job of uncovering the Syrian assets. So if anything this version better achieves what I was after in this scenario. Still be keen to hear your feedback.

Thanks to all how posted about this.

Cheers fur noo

George