Jump to content

Bogging and mechanical failure


Recommended Posts

Can't seem to remember any mention of bogging and mechanical failures in the recent AARs.

Bogging was certainly an item we had to live with in the original CM. It just made life more interesting.

Is bogging still modelled in CMBN? And while we're on bogging, how about mechanical failure?

Was mechanical failure a common risk immediately prior to and during action in WW2?

I can imagine the drivers of tanks keeping up a zealous maintenance regime on their tanks because their lives depend on it but there must be sometimes where parts just fail.

Dan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some tanks despite the best maintenance efforts were quite unreliable, famously the early Pz V's had a tenancy to stall or even burst into flames because of their over worked engines, the Cromwell too could shed a track easily if the driver was not careful.

Even the best of tanks and drivers can still run afoul of bad ground or panic that leads to a bad decision. I for one would love to see a fairly detailed model of the perils of manoeuvring on the battlefield. Another aspect would be the simulation of poor supply and hence bad maintenance thus degrading the performance of your 500 pointers, would make you think twice about putting too many eggs in a particular basket

Link to comment
Share on other sites

However frequently it may or may not occur I hope it isn't really included.

The randomness of it occurring would impact scenario balance and I don't think this would enhance the game.

The time most vehicles spent in combat compared to transit should mean that your average breakdown would have occurred before the battlefield. Shouldn't it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Werent many German tanks during Kursk lost due to mechanical failures? Namely the new tigers and pathers. Also i seem to have it in my head that many broke down during the bulge, thinking i read that in "A time for trumpets" maybe? Not just fuel shortages either but bad roads making for overworked machines.

Dunno about simulating breakdowns in game, I am bad enough without losing an afv from anything but enemy fire lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That is in as well, just see the AAR.

Track damage from fire is very common.

In Shock Force there is also effect from weapons that generally cannot kill a tank, but being sprayed by machine gun fire results in degradation of optics etc.

All components have a whole range of damage states.

At the end of a battle most vehicles have some form of minor damage.

(spectacular effect I saw recently: one tank shot piercing two BMP's that were right next to each other: the shot went right through both vehicles and destroyed them both)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think the point of original post was questioning if mechanical failures not related to enemy fire were possible. Haven't seen this happen in CMSF.

Bogging was in CMSF so it should happening again.

All sorts of stuff can go wrong on a tank after taking enemy fire under CMx2 and that won't change for this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How about disabled due to a fluke shot that knocked out the drive wheel on a tank or simply the tank happened to be in the middle of a heavy artillery barrage?

How often did this happen in real life?

The dreaded "top hit" that was arty or fighter bomber attack was in CMBB (possibly CMBO) so arty damaging tanks will happen again but as with everything else there will be a greater fidelity from not damaged to KOed.

How often did this happen in real life? No idea. But in this game I wouldn't recommend leaving tanks parked in the open in the one spot for too long.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Judging from the responses so far, it's bogging then.

How about disabled due to a fluke shot that knocked out the drive wheel on a tank or simply the tank happened to be in the middle of a heavy artillery barrage?

How often did this happen in real life?

It happened in both real life and CMx1. One of my fondest memories from CMBO was when Fionn Kelly and I were engaged in an AAR being published on the old CombatMissionHQ website. He had a PzIV(70) parked at the end of a long road bordered on both sides by woods, completely stalling me.

Then a miracle! A lowly 60mm mortar round immobilized the bastage. Unfortunately the game wound down after soon after that and I was unable to crush his forces, drive them before me, and hear the lamentation his women.

Cheers

MRD

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The dreaded "top hit" that was arty or fighter bomber attack was in CMBB (possibly CMBO) so arty damaging tanks will happen again but as with everything else there will be a greater fidelity from not damaged to KOed.

How often did this happen in real life? No idea. But in this game I wouldn't recommend leaving tanks parked in the open in the one spot for too long.

If you have a quick look at this small AAR from Liverpool preview you can see how scary the AI is getting with mortars.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The dreaded "top hit" that was arty or fighter bomber attack was in CMBB (possibly CMBO) so arty damaging tanks will happen again but as with everything else there will be a greater fidelity from not damaged to KOed.

How often did this happen in real life? No idea. But in this game I wouldn't recommend leaving tanks parked in the open in the one spot for too long.

Arty top hits on tanks will be in am sure , have used 120mm mortars on top of T55s in SF a few times to take them out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've currently playing a PBEM (testing a scenario) in CMBN. My opponent had a Stug parked up covering one of my attack lanes (down a hedgerow bordered road) which had shot up my lead Sherman. I dismounted some armoured infantry from their HTs and managed to sneak them with a FOO Team into some farm buildings which overlooked this tank. The FOO got eyes on the tank and called in a an arty strike (using 105mm Howitzer battery). This strike was dead on, the Stug had stayed put. Through the smoke of the arty impacting I soon saw black smoke rising into the air at the same spot the Stug was. So if the arty is heavy enough and accurate enough you can make a mess of tanks. On the other hand my opponent in the same action called in some mortars on a troop of Shermans sheltering behind some trees. Several of them were hit on the top deck but with no major damage (although several bits in the damage panel indicated some minor damage had been sustained). Oh, in the earlier example it did not take long for my opponent to clock where the spotter must have been. Not long after he keyholed a PzIV which then nailed the house and FOO team with several rounds of HE...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...