Is this game completely broken?... it seems to be...

[d3v]

Hi all.

I bought this game a few days ago, installed it, patched to latest v1.3.1, read the manual fairly thoroughly, played the tutorial and finally started the main campaign as Germany.

The first mission was pretty easy, but the second mission was unbelievable.

After spending 20 minutes grouping my units and painstakingly organizing them during deployment, as soon as I started the battle many of my vehicle units had a mjind of there own and can never keep still for more than 1 minute. How the hell can I use my SPG's and self propelled guns in a sustained bombardment when they insist on constantly moving???

Another things is casulties. Why the hell do all my units eventually get wiped out no matter how carful I am in keeping them out of sights using the terrian to my advantage? They just seem to inevitably always either get immobolised or disabled no matter how careful I am.

Another things is man portable 80mm mortars. These guys always get wiped out within the first 10 minutes from god knows what. They could be concealed behind a large building shelling the enemy trenches while my infantry and moving to contact them, then all of a sudden something kills them???

Just what exactly zeroed-in on them when they were behind COVER?

And lastly why the hell is there constant attacking? It's like as soon as the game starts I'm being bombarded with everything under the sun.

****ing impossible game to play

[Nokturnal]

After spending 20 minutes grouping my units and painstakingly organizing them during deployment, as soon as I started the battle many of my vehicle units had a mjind of there own and can never keep still for more than 1 minute.

To my knowledge, the Kursk manual does not contain all the information needed, as the GUI/Engine didn't change much between ToW 2 and Kursk there was little reason to re-write the whole manual.

So i suggest you take a look at the online copy of the "original" manual, it can be found here on the BF site, which should help you understand the buttons/commands a bit more.

Link: http://www.battlefront.com/index.php?option=com_flippingbook&book_id=11

This current issue you are having can be solved by clicking the button on the bottom left corner of the orders section. It should look like a soldier standing with an arrow pointing up (some see it as a house..). When selected, a little red line will appear across the arrow.

This instructs the unit to only move when and where you order him to.

Keep in mind, this means when you order the unit to attack an enemy, if they lose LOS they will stop attacking and will not pursue it. You will need to either disable the "don't move" order, or manually move the unit closer.

There is also the button to the right of this which will stop/start the unit from attacking at will.

Oh and..

How the hell can I use my SPG's and self propelled guns

SPGs are self-propelled guns... (sorry, couldn't help myself)

Another things is casulties. Why the hell do all my units eventually get wiped out no matter how carful I am in keeping them out of sights using the terrian to my advantage? They just seem to inevitably always either get immobolised or disabled no matter how careful I am.

If you are talking about infantry, yes ordering them around can get rather frustrating. They tend to be quite quick to die, but considering most missions only require the player to use infantry to take trenches or capture a town, it's not that hard to work your tactics around vehicles and only use infantry to take and hold a position. Once in cover they do quite well.

People have argued about whether or not it's realistic how quick and easy they die, personally i've never been that concerned. I know at times i find myself claiming the computer has cheated But at the end of the day, i am aware how fragile a human is, these are the pre-body armour days, and a couple of (or even just one) well placed bullets is all it takes to end a life.

Because of this, i make sure never to move all infantry at once or deploy them in the same location and always remember to keep a reserve for any take/hold objectives.

As for vehicles, well it's a case of hit or miss (pun intended). I've played a mission in which i lost more than 50% of my vehicles in the opening minutes and then restarted and with a slightly different approach, only lost one or two vehicles. I guess it largely depends on knowing what you are facing.

For example, the first mission as Germany (assaulting from the hill, i believe?) I tried to rush my tanks up over the hill and lost quite a few to the huge line of AT defense facing the hill.

Next time i played i only used 2-3 tanks with ample HE rounds and just continued to fire at the suspected AT positions. After a few minutes i had lost one tank but disabled a few of their guns and it was safer to move the rest of the vehicles closer and in range.

Another things is man portable 80mm mortars. These guys always get wiped out within the first 10 minutes from god knows what. They could be concealed behind a large building shelling the enemy trenches while my infantry and moving to contact them, then all of a sudden something kills them???

Just what exactly zeroed-in on them when they were behind COVER?

I have never, once, in all my hours of playing Kursk, lost a mortar team. (well.. to be fair, i have on occasion sent them out into enemy fire as a distraction once they run out of rounds...)

More often than not i never even move them from the starting position, which is generally on the safe® side of a hill.

I can't recall any missions where the mortar teams start off within enemy sight and are at risk of dying in the opening minutes.

The only other way they are lost is either to air units, or enemy mortar teams. Is it possible the enemy got lucky with a few mortar rounds?

And lastly why the hell is there constant attacking? It's like as soon as the game starts I'm being bombarded with everything under the sun.

You seem to be exaggerating the issue, i have of course played missions where you start off under attack, but the missons all have a briefing screen, and in here they inform you of the current situation and (usually) what to expect, so it shouldn't come as a surprise.

This is a game remember, personally i'm glad that the action tends to kick off instantly and lasts throughout the mission. It would be quite dull to start a mission and have to sit through an hour of text-based mission planning and map inspecting.

Again, that's what the briefing screen is for. Just imagine you are reading the briefing while sitting atop your tank and riding to the battleground.

One last thing, the title of this thread is, other than being wrong, quite unnecessary.

You could of simply said you are new to the game and then asked for help. Claiming the game is broken and then admitting you are new to the game, makes little sense.

Anyway, i hope this helps you to realise the game is far from broken.

My only other suggestion would be, practice practice practice...

[sand digger]

Don't use your infantry to attack, use them to hold ground once it has been secured which can be done with a combination of artillery and vehicles. Once you work out how to play the game to win infantry are hardly needed at all which is a bit of a pity but they are just too vulnerable for anything much more than clearing trenches which have already been blasted by artillery and AFV's. Even then its best to micro manage them and use them in conjunction with a light AFV at least.

[Knokke]

Infantry is very vulnerable (as it should be) when in the open. Infantry should never be used on its own to capture a position. There should be ample support with them. Their advance needs to be covered by tanks, guns, SPGs, and heavy machineguns. It's good pratice to shell the area you want to attack before sending the infantry (hopefully, some of the opposition will be killed, but most importantly, after a while, they'll be forced to keep their heads down under the weight of your fire). When attacking a position, you've to rush your infantry there as fast as you can (preferably under smoke cover), but you must not rush too early, or the defenders will not be pinned down and will retaliate mercillessly. Trying to get to the ennemy position unnoticed by crawling is usually inviting desaster, as your men will spend a longer time in the dangerous area without protection. To take a position with infantry, you need to have superiority in numbers (or very well trained troops) as well as an overwhelming superiority in fire support. With both conditions fullfilled, you can take a trench system with almost no losses.

Infantry starts to get killed more easily when they enter villages, because they're very likely to get ambushed, the terrain offering endless possibilities for the defenders. It's very important to use good scouting units to try to spot any hidden soldiers that might ambush your advancing infantry. You must also have at least one team covering the advance of an other team. Here, a lot of micro-managment is often neccessary (checking LOF of fire of the covering infantry, choosing the best positions to cover the advancing team). It's the same during clearing a trench system, having part of your team set ready to fire at anyone showing is head (carefully placed so that there is less chances of friendly fire), while some of your men are carefully progressing inside the trench.

As to the mortars, I've never lost a single of them. I never put them in a position where they can be shot at by the ennemy (always setting them on reverse slopes, hiding behind houses, or inside mortar trenches)

Why the hell do all my units eventually get wiped out no matter how carful I am in keeping them out of sights using the terrian to my advantage?

It could be that a lot of these casualties are caused by minefields. As soon as you have men dying unexpectedly and you can't tell how they get hit, stop the advance immediately, have your men lying low, and back-up while still crawling. They are probably in a minefield, and they've more chances to escape the mines and even deactivating them if they're advancing at a crawl. Soldiers without scouting ability will be at a disavantage trying to find their way through a minefield.

The trick to reduce losses is to use all your assets at the same time. Don't attack only with infantry, or only with tanks. Both should be used at the same time. Use your infantry to detect threats to your tanks (they are better at spotting ambushing ennemies , and use your tanks to protect your infantry (they're less vulnerable, and can easily wipe out an ambush with a combination of HE shells and MG fire). When playing the germans, I find that the lightly armored SdKfz-251 type of vehicles are very effective in supporting infantry advances, staying a bit behind the foot soldiers to avoid being hit by AT-grenades (my prefered one being the SdKfz-251 with 37mm gun)

[sand digger]

Only from the time when personal AT weapons improved is it necessary to combine infantry with armour in attack in this game. In urban areas it can work and infantry losses can be held down to a reasonable level using micromanagement, out in the open with good visibility it is pointless and only leads to infantry losses for no good gain.

Basically in this game infantry should be used to hold captured ground only if significant losses are to be avoided.