Holy %$@# Moments in CM:SF

[Kozure]

I'm sure you old hands have had a bunch of them... moments where you just look at the screen and say "holy cow, did that just happen?!"

Short Range RPG Miss

The other night I was clearing out a town as blue. I thought I had cleared a block and I advanced a .50cal Stryker to put some fire on a building further down the block. To be safe, I even had a squad in a building above and slightly in front of the Stryker as a screen.

Suddenly I heard the telltale whhssssk of a RPG round. The Stryker was taking RPG fire from a RPG team hidden behind a low wall less than 10m directly behind it. I don't know if the RPG missed or it just didn't arm at the minimum range, but miraculously the Stryker survived - not only that, it pivoted the RWS to face rear and shot up the team. Somehow I had missed the team hiding behind the wall (I guess the low wall screened their crawling advance from the rifle squad). I think the Stryker crew must have welded a couple of horseshoes onto the rear end of that thing.

Volley Fire Javelins

Last night I tried a completely random scenario. The only thing I specified was size (small) and that I was blue. It came up with a meeting engagement where I had to take three objectives in a town.

Strangely, I was given a team of four LAV-ATs and a bunch of Javelin teams (something like 6 or 8) and HMMWVs to carry them. Distressed at the possibility of trying to do MOUT with Javelin teams, I had four of them advance dismounted more or less line abreast to the crest of a hill overlooking the town, while I had the HMMWVs and two of the teams race into the town.

It was a night scenario. I had the Javelin teams set up near the crest and I made sure they had a line of sight to a likely route of advance for whatever armoured units he was likely to send. I had the LAV-ATs cover another route of advance in roughly hull-down positions.

A couple of minutes later, the Javelin teams fired nearly in unison. Three BMP-2s had come into view of the Javelin teams at almost the same time. The Javelins streaked across the battlefield and pegged all three at a range of about 1.5km or so (I think). Three missiles, three kills, almost in volley fire. Pretty darn cool.

The rest of the scenario was pretty interesting as I had to try to use HMMWV dismounts and Javelin teams to hold ground in the town, but I was the one who had specified random, right?

What are your favourite "Holy %$@!" moments in CM:SF thus far?

[Field Marshal Blücher]

I had a fun one playtesting Paper Tiger's original Perdition mini-campaign when I hit one T-72 literally five or six times and failed to kill it. I advanced to point-blank range with one of my tanks (it was Red vs Red, no Abrams here), literally 50 m out, kept shooting and still could not penetrate the armor. The T-72 just sort of rode it out and then killed my tanks.

Great mission though!

[BlackMoria]

It was one of the Marine campaign scenarios.

I had a scout LAV-25 near the map edge beside a group of three buildings with a scout team on a roof observing a road going into a town. They should have been watching the road beside them....

After being in position some 20 minutes, suddenly three BMP-1 appeared from off the map edge and appeared in a triangle around the LAV-25.

It was all over in about 30 seconds. The BMPs tried to push past the LAV-25 and fired, either hitting each other with the misses from their cannon or failing to get any penetration on the LAV. The LAV swung it's turret madly firing away and killed all 3 BMP. A enemy squad bailed out and seemingly chased (that what it looked like) the LAV-25 as it backed away into some trees across the road (it most likely was the squad was heading for the nearest cover, which was where the reversing LAV was going for as well).

The LAV fired madly at the advancing squad which ran to it doom as the cannon made short work of them.

The comedy of the moment beside the infantry seemly chasing the LAV was that the TacAI fired the smoke discharges on all vehicles. Given the facing of the BMPs and the LAV, the result was a 'smoke ring' surrounding the combatants fighting at 'knife range'.

LAV-25 for the win! Three BMP and mounted infantry squads toasted in under 30 seconds.

[ShaneO]

My housemate was playing a Blue-on-Blue quick battle this evening against the computer, him as Marines and computer as Army. The computer had a number of Bradleys knocking around and his force was mostly Hummers. Toward the end of the game, when I was watching for a few minutes, he had two guys in a building able to see a Bradley that had taken out a number of Hummers nearby. He decided to Hunt forward with a TOW-armed Hummer and hope it managed to snap off its shot before being spotted. It advanced, the Bradley saw it and started firing, but every round went into an abandoned Hummer on the street in front of the TOW one. It fired like crazy, but the gunner aims... fires... the TOW streaks over the rapidly perforating destroyed Hummer and nails the Bradley. Turns out those unarmed Humvees are useful after all.

[BFCElvis]

The first time I saw "cook offs" in a night battle.

[theFightingSeabee]

This has happened several times:

With headphones on, I'll start a mission and start moving forward. All of a sudden there's a loud CRACK (usually a atgm hitting one of my vehicles) and I jump about a foot out of my chair!

[f-bomb]

turning the game on and (still) being dissapointed in the quick battle's, and then fearing the same in the normandy game!

[Battlefront.com]

Hehe... there's one in every crowd! As I've said since last year, we're not going to waste time trying to tweak the existing QB system and instead are gutting and redoing the whole thing. But that takes time and that time is what's set aside for Normandy.

I remember a lot of moments, but the one I really remember best was when I was testing a scenario I made for the Marines Campaign. I had done a pretty good job sweeping the main line of resistance of enemy forces (which, of course, I knew were there since I put them there ) and suffered almost no casualties. Just lost one Stryker to an AT-4 IIRC. Anyway...

I started doing a close assault with Stryker Infantry while Marines did overwatch with LAVs and Abrams. The objective was a big factory packed with Syrian infantry. I had knocked out a couple of T-64s that were hidden in the facility and knew the big stuff was gone (it was my scenario, remember ). I advanced and stacked my infantry along a wall to get ready for an assault into the compound.

Then the T-64's ammo exploded on the opposite side of the wall, less than 5m away.

The force of the explosion shredded the wall and took out about half my platoon in KIA and WIA. Needless to say that threw a monkey wrench in my assault. I had to consolidate forces and try again, this time clearing all the buildings with hardly any problems. I don't remember if I won that battle or not, but I suspect I didn't because of the casualties.

Steve

[MikeyD]

My latest holy %$#@ moment was something that didn't happen. I roll my T72 TURMS to the edge of a forbidding 1.6km expanse of tall grass. At the far end a (unidentified allied ) tank pops into view, rotates his turret and BLAM! "I'm a gonner" I think but all I get is a 'clank' sound. I rewind and replay, and see the incoming 120mm KE scrape the top of the tank, just enough to remove the top layer of paint! Whew! :eek:

[Homo ferricus]

One fully-loaded AAV.

One PG-7 grenade.

Catastrophic kill.

This is why I use AAVs mainly as rear-line resupply depots. Virtually NEVER engage with them. In fact, my heart rate rises everytime I hear a boom when I know I got a loaded one sitting around somewheres...

[TheVulture]

Steve: sounds like afternoon delight, which also provided my #&%! moment. A t-62 sitting at the edge of some trees, watching a break in the wall. I roll an Abrams up on the other side of the wall, covered arc in the right direction. It spots the enemy tank first, and gets a shot off. No reaction from the t-62 - I wonder if it is dead. Second shot for good measure also a direct hit to the front. Then the t-62's turret starts to turn - it isn't dead and has finally spotted me. It fires - kills the Abrams dead first hit.

Arse.

So I send a second Abrams in to do the job, and this one gets to use the bow of the first one as extra cover. It duly rolls up, fires its first shot. Direct hit. No result - the t-62 is still there and returns fire, hitting the first tank again. Another M1 round, another hit, another case of no visible damage. Finally, on the fifth hit the t-62 explodes.

Damn thing survived 4 rounds at 50 meters from an M1 - not a bad showing for a very old tank.

The Abrams then moseys on to another gap in the wall and kills another t-62 with one shot to the side. No great surprise there. And on through the wall, to engage the last t-62 from behind. I also send an LAV around the front with a 30 second pause (this is WeGo), figuring the t-62 will be dead by then, so the LAV can nip out and give some distressed infantry a bit of covering fire.

Turn starts. M1 rolls fowards, sees its target, takes aim, fires. Direct hit at 40 m range on the rear armour of a t-62 (I am directly behind this tank). It starts to move forwards. Second shot, giving a hit on the rear turret armour, fairly central also fails to do anything. The t-62 moves in to the open, just as the LAV innocently comes to a halt almost directly in front of it. Oh crap. The turret starts to turn, and BANG, the Abrams barely gets off its third shot in time and finally kills the t-62.

So one t-62 took 5 hits from the front to kill, and another took 3 from directly behind to kill. That's two pretty freakish results right there. Is the Abrams APFSDS round much less effective at very short ranges for some reason (sabot casing not detatched?)

The mission is still bugged in 1.11 BTW - I killed every red unit on the map, and the game wouldn't end. When I ceased-fire there were indeed absolutely no living red forces anywhere. I got a total defeat - others have reported getting total defeats with the same situation and a whole 3 or 4 blue WIA. It has no effect on the campaign, since you go on the next scenario regardless, but it looks like the only way to avoid a Total Defeat as blue is to have exactly no casualties at all...

[Flanker15]

Ya gotta watch out for those shell proof bushes!

[Battlefront.com]

Sky rockets in flight... afternoon delight I don't remember how I came up with that scenario title, but more than a few testers gave me crap for putting that song back into their heads

Well... not to ruin your moments there... but those T-62s (dang, I said T-64... doh!) should have been greased first or at most second shot. I've not heard of similar close range failures like that, so I'll have it tested out.

Not sure what to make of the ending problem with that scenario. You should be able to get through with a few casualties. At least that was my intention.

Steve

[BlackMoria]

Steve, I can confirm what TheVulture experienced for the end game. Despite a total 100% wipe of the Syrians, taking and occupying all objective buildings and taking only 3 WIA for casualties, I still got a total defeat. Also, the game didn't end and I opted for the ceasefire to end the scenario.

I think the issue is that the syrians got 5000 points for blue casualties, which blue can never surpass, even if blue gets max points. I suspect the 5000 pts was supposed to be 500 pts. Also, the casualty threshold seems unduly harsh - the Syrians get max points for casualties for just 3 WIA.

Otherwise a fine scenario.

[Battlefront.com]

OK, thanks! I'll take a looksie at that one.

Steve

[Meach]

Just had a battle and a US infantry marksman with a scoped M4 stood up, totally ignored incoming AK and SVD rounds, aimed for about 5 seconds and put a round right thru the throat of the enemy sniper. The rest of his squad were in the fetal position praying and wishing they joined the admin section.

This guy must have had ice-water in his veins. I honestly thought 'he's so gonna get lead poisoning any second now" but no. I hasten to add the shot was at 319m. After he took the shot he calmly took a knee and reloaded. His comment to his buddies would probably been along the lines of "Fk'n, pussies" I was totally immersed and was watching zoomed in. I swear I was holding my breath as he squeezed off his shot.

I know it's only pixeltruppen but somewhere in some combat zone what we see in CMSF has had to have happened or been a similar event.

[MikeyD]

"I know it's only pixeltruppen"

Sometimes when you zoom in real real close to a soldier's face you almost think he's looking back at you. This is one of the few games that doesn't have that doll's-eye stare most computer game characters have.

[Wengart]

I was recently playing Battle for the Tennis Court. And about 50 minutes into the game I was holding onto Hospital Ridge with a Company CO, 2nd Platoon Co, and some random guy with no ammo. Somehow they held on long enough for two Apaches and what was left of my mortars to paste the ridge, knocking out possibly two platoons of infantry.

[Battlefront.com]

IMHO there is nothing better in CM than having what seems to be a fruitless "last stand" turn into a successful one. Better still to do it without any additional ground reinforcements, though of course I never complain if I get them

The first campaign scenario for the Marines Module got messed up at one point during testing. The Syrians were accidentally upgraded to Crack instead of Green. Let me tell you what... my little recon force did VERY well considering, but I found out first hand what happens when you assume the experience level of your enemy to be two or three notches lower than they in fact are. Let's just say that creative use of the English language doesn't do much to improve the situation

Steve

[handihoc]

One of my most magic moments (although there are many) was in one of Webwing's campaign battles - can't remember which. A Syrian sniper team was giving my troops a lot of grief, and pretty much preventing me advancing. I brought up a sniper team of my own to take them out, as they'd already killed one of my mg teams and caused multiple casualties in a couple of squads and command squads.

My hidden sniper team was on a ridge on the opposite side of a valley where the enemy was situated. It took a few shots, but then my marksman killed the enemy counterpart. But at the end of the turn, when I checked my team, my marksman was dead. I replayed, from both sides, and found that the two marksmen had targeted each other at virtually precisely the same moment. The enemy died less than a second before his bullet killed my guy.

Steve, that Afternoon Delight problem is something I brought up here some months ago, and others have done since. Surprised you hadn't seen it. Great, tough scenario, but I eventually killed every enemy unit on the map, and took the victory locations, and still got a defeat. It didn't seem to have a negative effect on subsequent battles, though.

Absolutely right about the costs of assuming your enemy is less competent than you. I guess we, or at least I, assume an AI controlled enemy is a dumb one. I've paid the price for my arrogance many times, and still do! Never seem to learn. The AI may not be up to a good human opponent, but in a well-crafted scenario it punishes hard any player who doesn't take show it respect. It has surprised me and caught me out more times than I can recall.

[Wengart]

I think Steve meant troop skill level, although both can be surprising.

[Battlefront.com]

Yeah, I meant Experience Level. But true as well for presuming that the AI isn't going to give a good fight. That's certainly led to a few burnt out vehicles and decimated teams on my side!

I remember something being brought up about the victory conditions. I don't remember it being tied to that scenario specifically. I'll look into it.

Steve

[Apocal]

Playing either Ali-Baba or Berto's Battle of the Soccer Stadium. I had two AT-3C teams posted on rooftops, hitting an M1 in volley. As I recall it took six missiles total before the tank was knocked out.

[FAI]

When I KO'd my first M1 in the demo, I think, with early T-72s no less. A lone M1 charged the Red infantry line, right into plain view of at least a company of hiding T-72s. Everybody opened up with everything they got. The M1 must have taken more than a dozen hits before the crew bailed out.

[theFightingSeabee]

OK, I already added an "Oh *#&@" moment, but a major one came the first time I heard the new sound effects from 1.1, especially when the choppers came rolling in!

Also, the scenario Anderson Ridge is really one of those harrowing last stand type scenarios. I've played it several times hoping to save a few of my boys from death, but never really am able to. It always comes down to the last few guys.