Operations question

[noxnoctum]

Which one is best as human vs. AI so that it's a challenge?

[Sergei]

I've made some operations that come with separate vs. AI versions where the AI gets a steady stream of reinforcements to fill its losses, you might try one of those. They're all in the Repository.

[Der Alte Fritz]

I like the Peipers Blowtorch Battalion series from Blowtorch scenarios http://www.blowtorchscenarios.com/

[noxnoctum]

I like the Peipers Blowtorch Battalion series from Blowtorch scenarios http://www.blowtorchscenarios.com/

Thanks for the recommendation. It looks awesome!

Quick question though, on that page there's a download for a modified Peiper blowtorch SPW. Where do I put it to ensure it's used in the scenarios/operations?

Also, I'm having trouble understanding static operations. Are the green boxes where I can setup my units the "frontline"? And how do I tell what direction the enemy is attacking from since I start sort of in the middle? (in "Chariots" the first one) Or is that part of the surprise of battle?

Apologies for my noobery. I've almost exclusively played simpler scenarios and am just trying to move up the chain so to speak.

[George MC]

Hi

Cheers for playing Chariots. If I mind the brief tells ya where the Soviets are coming from - but basically assume that they could come from any direction so set-up accordingly. For this op I strongly recommend you read the brief (and use the attached command map) it'll make your life a tad easier Good luck

With the SPW mod there are several threads about installing mods that go into the subject in great detail on this forum. Do a quick search and you should find em. Simplist and easiets option is to unzip the mod file, copy all the enclosed BMP files in the folder and copy em to your BMP file in your CMBB install. This will copy over any other similarly numbered files. Note: this means that all your SPW used in winter will be Blowtorch SPW.

Other and better option is to install a Mod manager (see threads) and use this to manage your mods. It's a slippery slope though modding

Cheers fur noo

George

[noxnoctum]

Hi

Cheers for playing Chariots. If I mind the brief tells ya where the Soviets are coming from - but basically assume that they could come from any direction so set-up accordingly. For this op I strongly recommend you read the brief (and use the attached command map) it'll make your life a tad easier Good luck

With the SPW mod there are several threads about installing mods that go into the subject in great detail on this forum. Do a quick search and you should find em. Simplist and easiets option is to unzip the mod file, copy all the enclosed BMP files in the folder and copy em to your BMP file in your CMBB install. This will copy over any other similarly numbered files. Note: this means that all your SPW used in winter will be Blowtorch SPW.

Other and better option is to install a Mod manager (see threads) and use this to manage your mods. It's a slippery slope though modding

Cheers fur noo

George

Thanks man. All of the Peiper ops looks amazing and hugely complex. Are there any other user made ops of this quality out there? It's gonna be awesome I can tell.

Could someone explain static ops though? I read both the explanations in CMAK and CMBB manuals and still don't quite get it. How do I tell where the frontline is??

[umlaut]

You can find other user made ops at:

http://www.the-proving-grounds.com/ (for scenarios that need a bit more testing)

and

http://www.the-scenario-depot.com/ (for scenarios that has been tested)

But not many of them will be of the quality that blowtorch makes

Cheers

[noxnoctum]

Wow George. Very nice first scenario. I'm on turn 18 (out of 30 +). Spent an hour setting up my forces in a nice defensive ring (most of my infantry are in the factory buildings right next to the road) covering the road south of that hill with some reserves keeping an eye on the north a few hundred meters farther north west in the town.

I've got MGs hammering the Reds from every direction, my halftracks are almost all out of ammo already (Not good!). I'm bringing the mortar SPW out of the reserve pool so they'll be getting shells rained on them in a few turns.

A T-34 popped out of nowhere and took out one of them but I had a Stug hidden away for just since a contingency and took him out in two hits.

Great fun! Definitely will be playing all the blowtorch scenarios/ops.

[noxnoctum]

George maybe you can help me out with something. Just finished the scenario. Very intense.

I concentrated my entire force to the south of hill 138, along the road (except for one platoon which I left to guard the north flank, though they were not very far north, leaving the cemetery open to capture). It worked beautifully, but of course left the north exposed, a risk I was willing to take as I figured I could deal with them later. I didn't want to split my already limited forces.

But now I'm a bit confused about the "front line". It's been redrawn as the entire WESTERN half, including the cemetery and that entire north western area up there (that I know for a fact had enemies in it because I sent a SPW to scout it out and it got nailed in the cemetery by I don't know what).

Does this mean enemy forces could possibly be inside my deploy zone???? (which includes the entire western area of the map like I said)

[George MC]

Hi

Glad you are enjoying it. re your comments above - ammo is an issue so be careful with how you manage it.

re set-up zones. This is one of the issues with operations when playing the AI. I explain what happens in the opening brief for the scenario. How the lines are drawn in operations does depend on a variety of variables - main ones appear to be how far you or the enemy have pushed across a wide front and the size of that force. This means units can be in your deploy zone. Now if playing H2H there are ways to manage this but if playing the AI I would suggest you pull any advance units back to your lines. Not very accurate but the AI will deploy right next to these units. So best to pull stuff back to your lines and have em in cover. Two if the AI has pushed units forward and into your lines you'll find sections of your set-up zone ringed by your set-up zone colur. this means enemy units have pushed into there. I think in such a case the AI will not set-up it's units in these zones but will pull all it's stuff back it's own lines.

As i said I attempt to expalin how the AI sets up after battles in each operation in the opening brief. This is one of the limitations of operations in the CMX1 game engine but I must admit I can live with it. best bet is make sure you save your set-up battle then when you start it looks like the AI has done odd stuff you can always re-start without to major a re-deploy.

Keep us posted

Cheers fur noo

George

[Heinrich505]

Nox,

You've definitely found some high quality scenarios to play. If you really want to get crazy, don't pull back your troops and watch the fur fly as suddenly you have T-34s right next to AT guns or infantry in houses. In one of GeorgeMC's Bäke scenarios, I'd fought so hard to take the village, and then the next part of the operation called for me to set up outside of the village I'd just taken. I figured the enemy would be in the village if I left my troops there, but they'd fought so hard to take it that I took a chance and left my troops in their positions. It was pure pandemonium and I came out on the worst end of it, as it was literally enemy forces set up right in the midst of my guys. It wasn't the right decision, but I managed to make up for it as the battle played out.

Good luck. I know you'll enjoy the fight though.

Heinrich505

[noxnoctum]

George maybe you can clarify the orders for battle #2 a little bit for me.

Should my ONLY priority be to establish a perimeter around the Andrewjka (sp?) flag itself or attempt to defend every flag on the map? I'm a bit reticent to give up the flags I fought so hard to defend on the South Eastern side of the map (near hill 138), but at the same time I want to follow the battle plan.

Heinrich: Yes I'm tempted to leave my troops where they are, as they're in a good spot, but I'm not sure yet . Half of them are out of ammo so I'll probably have to pull them back and use them as backup reserves.

[George MC]

George maybe you can clarify the orders for battle #2 a little bit for me.

Should my ONLY priority be to establish a perimeter around the Andrewjka (sp?) flag itself or attempt to defend every flag on the map? I'm a bit reticent to give up the flags I fought so hard to defend on the South Eastern side of the map (near hill 138), but at the same time I want to follow the battle plan.

Heinrich: Yes I'm tempted to leave my troops where they are, as they're in a good spot, but I'm not sure yet . Half of them are out of ammo so I'll probably have to pull them back and use them as backup reserves.

I don't want to give too much away - you have your orders but they give you a framework to work within There is an old saying that he who defends everything defends nothing so take that into account. One of the advantages with the SPW supported by the Stugs is you can mount a flexible defence so I would use that to your advantage. As you are playing the AI I would pull back units to your lines to avoid having the AI set-up right next to them. Might mean giving up flags but you can always retake em

Cheers fur noo

George

[umlaut]

Hey, this sounds like fun. Guess I better play this scenario soon

:-)

[noxnoctum]

George I can't praise your work enough. Truly outstanding. How historical is the landscape and OOB? From the brief it sounds like you guys did a ton of research. Kudos.

I'm having a blast! Finished battle 2 a few hours ago. Very frenetic, lots of hand to hand fighting, even a little bit of grenade chucking at tanks by infantry . One of my grenadier squads took out a T-34 track with 3 rifle grenades to the side and then dropped two grenade bundles through its hatch, dispatching it.

I managed to flank a large chunk of Red armor as well, caught them in the open and killed about 13 tanks to the loss of two of my stugs. (unfortunately one got bogged down and immobilized as well while trying to flank off road). Stug armor is damn good in the front, a lot of shells bounced off my armor. That said even a light tank can take them out easily if you show your side.

Really wish I'd been taking screenies all along, would make an epic AAR . I will for the next blowtorch op.

[George MC]

The map is based on the actual landscape using a Soviet 1:100 000 scale map. We created the CMBB map at half the scale - basically the map in CMBB should twice the size. Still the features and what have you are as the actual battlefield. Also used lot's of photos from Agte's biography of Peiper to get the feel for the landscape.

OOB for the Germans is spot on - based on actual unit retruns for the day. We've also got lot's of eyewitness accounts of how this action played out, so the scenario concept is true to life. Of course there are limitations with the CMBB game engine but I hope, think the scenario captures the feel of the actual action. Soviet OOB is a good guess based on Soviet OOB, and returns from both German and Soviet sources. Ideally we would have liekd to have the same amount of detail re the Soviet OOB as we had for the Germans but there is just not the same amount of info. Shame as the Soviets fought very hard during these operations - all kudos to them.

Stugs are a tad overmodelled in CMBB but as you say on this scale of map it is easy for them to be outflanked (even an anti-tank rifle can take em out at close range from the flank or rear with several shots). Glad you are enjoying it