The new vidoes

[Mord]

Just watched them and they look pretty good, only one problem, really hard to see the action spots in the dark, I missed them teh first time I watched...And I would've liked to have seen a pan of the Marines on the ridge...get an idea of what they looked like from the other side. Still it sure seemed like they were hugging that line tight.

I noticed most of the videos showing the Marines in action were highlighting smaller squads, 4 man. At least that's all I could see in the vids. How well is the new code handling the 13 man teams?

Mord.

[Paper Tiger]

I'm greedily poring over everything that they're releasing in anticipation of this module and I've watched them all a few times already. As a devoted Red player, I was slightly disappointed to see what looked like four T-90s slaughtered by five javelin launches without doing anything in the game. While the T-90 might be able to present a greater challenge to US armour, it looks like the Javelin is still the KING.

I'll still give the Marines a run through to check out the cool new equipment but I can't see it lasting long. I want to be managing one of those T-90s in a mission very soon.

[Moon]

T-90s slaughtered? In which video? TownAssault was facing T-72s if I recall correctly.

Mord - the action spot highlights are per team. If you have a 13 Marines squad (which usually consists of 3 teams), then you get 3 action spot highlights (one per team), even if the squad is not split!

Sorry for the generally dark videos Out of habit I am recording stuff always when I test/play (sometimes the best stuff happens when you least expect it, and "live" gameplay always looks better than staged stuff) and I happen to get a couple of nighttime QBs when I recorded these. Having said that - the highlights are much better visible in the game than in a compressed video in general, even at night.

[Flanker15]

Just wondering, did you give those javelin launchers separate target orders? Or did I just see infantry fire at different tanks by themselves instead of shooting all their missiles at the closest target?

[Moon]

This was a turn-based action playback. The only orders the squads had were movement orders (QUICK in most cases). They stopped and engaged the various targets on their own.

Moving units will do that for targets in front of them, less so for targets to the sides, and even less (or almost never) so for targets to the rear. The speed/type of movement also plays a role (FAST will stop less than QUICK, QUICK than MOVE etc.).

Martin

[Flanker15]

Thanks, that's one of the new features right? I run into the problem where all of my ATGMs will target the closest tank when confronted with several tanks, does that happens less now?

Also the tanks were indeed the T-72M1V (2001).

[Paper Tiger]

Also the tanks were indeed the T-72M1V (2001).

oh well, my bad. But it was very dark...

Anyways, it wasn't a criticism. The AT-14 Kornet is pretty much a guaranteed tank killer when it hits a Red tank and the AT-13 is pretty spiffy too. I'm looking forward to trying out some tests on my Firing Range scenario to see just how good the T-90 really is compared to the 'old' stuff.:cool:

[Field Marshal Blücher]

Also the tanks were indeed the T-72M1V (2001).

oh well, my bad. But it was very dark...

Anyways, it wasn't a criticism. The AT-14 Kornet is pretty much a guaranteed tank killer when it hits a Red tank and the AT-13 is pretty spiffy too. I'm looking forward to trying out some tests on my Firing Range scenario to see just how good the T-90 really is compared to the 'old' stuff.:cool:

I'm still guessing that Javs are going to kill T-90s pretty easily. They're [T-90s] probably going to better vs. Abrams tanks and other U.S. AFVs though.

[The_Red_Rage]

I'm still wondering how the Arena system works on T-90 in gameplay terms - does the tank shoot out explosive charges similar to current smoke canisters? How often does it actually work and how many ATGMs can a tank defeat?

[Roter Stern]

I'm still wondering how the Arena system works on T-90 in gameplay terms - does the tank shoot out explosive charges similar to current smoke canisters? How often does it actually work and how many ATGMs can a tank defeat?

I cant actually find any evidence that the Arena system is being installed on the T90s. Apparently the Shtora-1 system is being installed, but that's really not much more than an over glorified smokescreen launcher.

[Moon]

I'm still wondering how the Arena system works on T-90 in gameplay terms - does the tank shoot out explosive charges similar to current smoke canisters? How often does it actually work and how many ATGMs can a tank defeat?

Basically, when a T-90 "detects" that it's being "lased" (targetted with a laser range finder), it stops, fires smoke and "goes defensive". As usual with CM, it's not black-white: there is a lot of fuzzy logic built in. The actual outcome depends on the movement type, enemy unit and simple randomness.

[Roter Stern]

Basically, when a T-90 "detects" that it's being "lased" (targetted with a laser range finder), it stops, fires smoke and "goes defensive". As usual with CM, it's not black-white: there is a lot of fuzzy logic built in. The actual outcome depends on the movement type, enemy unit and simple randomness.

So do the T90s in the Marine module have the Arena or the Shtora system?

[dan/california]

Can it do all of this fast enough to disrupt the M1's targeting system? My understanding is that it only takes a very short laser pulse in the couple of seconds before the trigger is pulled for the Abrams' targeting system to do it thing, and the smoke won't matter once the round is on the way.

TOW and Javelin don't use lasers so it shouldn't matter at all for them. It seems it would actually be far more effective against late model Russian missiles like AT-13 and AT-14 that depend on laser guidance, since even the fastest missiles take lot longer to get down range than a main gun round.

Most Hellfire missiles use laser guidance but my success with them would indicate that every tank back to T55s has effective countermeasures.

[Roter Stern]

Well neither Arena nor Shtora are designed to defeat a conventional main-gun round - I'm guessing the doctrine relies on the ERA to take care of those.

Shtora is designed to defeat Laser and IR guided munitions:

The Shtora-1 system comprises four key components, the electro-optical interface station, which includes a jammer, modulator, and control panel, a bank of forward-firing grenade dischargers mounted on either side of the turret, which are capable of firing grenades dispensing an aerosol screen, a laser warning system with precision and coarse heads, and a control system comprising control panel, microprocessor, and manual screen-laying panel. This processes the information from the sensors and activates the aerosol screen-laying system. Two infrared lights, one on each side of the main gun, continuously emit coded pulsed-infrared jamming when an incoming ATGM has been detected. Shtora-1 has a field of view of 360 degrees horizontally and –5 to +25 degrees in elevation. It contains twelve aerosol screen launchers and weighs 400 kg. The screening aerosol takes less than three seconds to form and lasts about twenty seconds. The screen-laying range is from 50 to 70 meters. It is also believed that the Shtora system can also locate the point where the threat originated from and plot a firing solution for the main gun, so that the tank crew can return fire.

So in theory, the IR Jammer could defeat the IR Seeker on the Javelin missile ... however, and correct me if I'm wrong, it doesn't sound like the system has the capability to detect a Javelin in flight, since it doesn't rely on an active Laser designator.

Where as by contrast the Arena should be capable of defeating any incoming projectile ... within certain limitations to maximum velocity, hence most likely ruling out conventional main gun rounds:

It uses a millimeter-wavelength doppler radar to detect incoming warheads. It then fires a defensive projectile which is timed to detonate immediately above the target and spray it with a submunitions--thereby defeating the threat. The system protects the vehicle in a 220-270 degree arc in front of the turret, which traverses depending on where the turret is pointing. It should be noted that this system is prone to creating large amounts of shrapnel.

Unfortunately it doesn't sound like Arena is actually being installed on much of anything, and so it's appearance on the T-90s of CMSF is also unlikely.