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Patch Bugs in School of Hard Knocks


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I never played "School of Hard Knocks" in 1.00, but in 1.01 there are a few issues. Good scenario by the way. The constant rush of incoming mortar rounds has scarred me for life.

Bridge movement is still terrible:

I know this is somewhat of a BFC tradition dating back to the earliest CM1, but there is definitely a zone of frustration surrounding bridges. It is very hard to select units near a bridge, and once selected, it is very hard to plot waypoints near a bridge. In a battalion-size battle like this little honey, one runs out of curse words trying move units across that single damn bridge. Have mercy on us.

On map mortars firing smoke:

My US 81mm mortars direct-firing smoke would sometimes fire only two rounds (out of ten) before ceasing fire. Even though they had eight rounds remaining, the "Target Smoke" option was greyed-out for the rest of the game. The mortars had taken no incoming fire, so what gives?

Marking Mines:

In this scenario, the aforementioned bridge has AT mines at both ends. One mine I discovered when it blew my engineer team to bits. I brought up another engineer team to mark the AT mines, which it accomplished in a few minutes (red mine flag turns white). So far, so good. I then moved a tank through these "marked" mines at SLOW speed. BOOM!

This was a bit upsetting, so I loaded a save file from a few turns back and repeated this procedure several times. 3/4 times these "marked" mines blew up, disabling the tank. This result was no better than if I hadn't bothered to mark the mines in the first place. Is this a new feature of version 1.01 or am I confused about how to pass through marked mines?

EDIT: For marked mines I tried the following: the tank is paused for 15 seconds in the action spot adjacent to the marked AT mines before proceeding at SLOW speed through the mines. This seems to work most of the time. In my version 1.0 experiments, it seemed that all that was necessary was to drive through at slow speed, but maybe I was just lucky(?).

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The AT mine thing is no bug appearently. I've asked this myself a couple of times but no one could tell me how to make minefields traversable for vehicles.

I did some rough testing on passing through mines in version 1.00. It seemed at the time all you had to do to pass through marked mines was to move through at SLOW speed with a waypoint plotted in the action spot just before the action spot containing the mines.

Like this:

SSSSWMSSSSS

where each letter is an action spot, W is a waypoint, M is the mines, S is the movement path at slow speed.

In version 1.01, at least in School of Hard Knocks, it appears you need a Pause at the waypoint. I will try more detailed testing.

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I ran some tests on Version 1.01 with marked mines. As you can see below, the game manual is a bit off when it says "After a minefield is marked by an engineer unit, other units may safely (but slowly) move through it without the risk of setting off additional mines."

I tested Regular unbuttoned Shermans in daytime, dry ground. The mines were in short grass and had turned White, indicating they had been "marked".

There were three test groups of 49 tests apiece.

Test 1: Tanks moved at Slow speed through the mines.

45% struck mines (22/49). Two that struck mines were still barely mobile (track condition one step above red X).

Test 2: Tanks moved at Slow speed with 15 second pause in action spot just prior to mines.

51% struck mines (25/49). Two still barely mobile.

Test 3: Tanks moved at Move speed through the mines.

67% struck mines (33/49). None still mobile.

I also ran these three tests with unmarked but spotted mines. I only ran seven tests per test group, so the data set is questionable.

Test 1, Slow: 71% struck mines.

Test 2, Slow with Pause: 43% struck mines.

Test 3, Move: 71% struck mines.

In one test the mines being Marked turned Green, which means they are safe, I believe. The tank driving through struck a mine anyway.

Am I doing something wrong here with my "mine passage" tactics, or is there something wrong with "marked mines"?

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I suspect it is working as intended.

It could be that the scenario is designed such that moving the tanks across the bridge is not desirable. If you act as though that is correct, you may actually be helping yourself. And the whole bridge might be thought of as a trap for your engineers. Some people might find that frustrating, others, enjoy the slap. You can win, I can attest, without them.

The Campaign is relatively strong in its attack channelling.

[Edit: The WAD is only a guess, in that I doubt they would mis-code this. There seems, per your data, to be a slight advantage to having a minefield marked, but not as nearly impressive as one might expect/want/badlywant/computergameplayexpect. One also cannot remove mines, again, as I understand, a realistic expression of the time available.]

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I suspect it is working as intended.

It could be that the scenario is designed such that moving the tanks across the bridge is not desirable. If you act as though that is correct, you may actually be helping yourself. And the whole bridge might be thought of as a trap for your engineers. Some people might find that frustrating, others, enjoy the slap. You can win, I can attest, without them.

The Campaign is relatively strong in its attack channelling.

You are quite right about the scenario. I did manage to get two tanks across, but one had severely damaged tracks and bogged/immobilized soon after. The remaining tank, plus two platoons of infantry and a little 105mm love were enough to force a German surrender. I am not wanking about the scenario itself at all.

My complaint is that marking mines seems to be somewhat of an exercise in futility. If spotted AND marked mines still have a 50-50 chance of taking out tanks moving at slow speed, at the very least the game manual is incorrect.

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My complaint is that marking mines seems to be somewhat of an exercise in futility. If spotted AND marked mines still have a 50-50 chance of taking out tanks moving at slow speed, at the very least the game manual is incorrect.

It doesn't really help, but this fact has already been established for CMSF. Marking mines is not worth the time basically, just try to go around and use your valuable troops on some other task.

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Re: School: In 1.01, I got 4/4 (surviving) tanks across the bridge after the first AT mine had been gotten rid of by sympathetic explosion when my engineers were clearing wire, and the infantry had detected the one at the far end by 'Size 9 minesweeping'. You can drive round mine squares relatively safely. Or maybe I was just lucky.

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It doesn't really help, but this fact has already been established for CMSF. Marking mines is not worth the time basically, just try to go around and use your valuable troops on some other task.

I didn't know the marking mines issue was a CMSF holdover. It seemed more effective in CMBN version 1.00, but I don't have enough data to prove that.

*** Spoiler Alert***

Unfortunately, in School of Hard Knocks, the first AT mine field is right at at the entrance to the only bridge. You can't go around it. There is a strong motivation to get some tanks across that bridge in order to pound the reverse-slope German foxholes 600m distant. I did manage to get one tank through undamaged, which turned out to be enough. Even the immobilized tanks were still useful for suppressive fire, so they weren't a total write-off.

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Re: School: In 1.01, I got 4/4 (surviving) tanks across the bridge after the first AT mine had been gotten rid of by sympathetic explosion when my engineers were clearing wire, and the infantry had detected the one at the far end by 'Size 9 minesweeping'. You can drive round mine squares relatively safely. Or maybe I was just lucky.

Heh-heh. My engineer team was vaporized by the same "sympathetic explosion" while trying to clear the wire at the bridge entrance. This explosion revealed the underlying AT mines, which another engineer team then marked. A Sherman at slow speed attempted passage of the marked mines, but the mines went off, immobilizing the tank and decimating the second engineer team.

My remaining three tanks (the fifth tank was killed earlier by two 75mm AT guns) managed to squeeze by the immobilized tank and onto the bridge. From my later tests with marked mines, this was either very lucky or else the mines had been completely expended. Expended mines turn green, but I couldn't tell since they were directly under the immobilized tank.

The first of the remaining three tanks promptly ran into a mine field at the other end of the bridge (Doh!), but somehow survived with only severely damaged tracks. This tank limped 100m further down the road before it's tracks gave out completely.

The second of the three tanks avoided the new minefield, but caught the edge of yet another minefield to the right of that one, immobilizing it.

The third and final tank managed to run this gauntlet unscathed and went to work blasting Germans out of their foxholes while dodging Panzerschrects fired at ridiculously long ranges.

I am amazed you got four tanks through. Excellent job. What is your secret for passing marked mines? And I think you wrote earlier that you only took 15 casualties in this nasty scenario!? I was quite happy "only" taking 110! (Elite, turn-based)

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I am amazed you got four tanks through. Excellent job. What is your secret for passing marked mines? And I think you wrote earlier that you only took 15 casualties in this nasty scenario!? I was quite happy "only" taking 110! (Elite, turn-based)

First-off, I mistyped like a donkey when i said "in 1.01" when I meant to type "before 1.01". 'Pologies.

I've only dealt with mines prior to the patch, and had assumed that since engineers couldn't detect AT mines, any 'marking' would only apply to infantry movement. So the only secret to passing vehicles 'through' mines which I knew about was simply to avoid driving on the APs where I knew there were mines. I think one of the shermans took some track damage from mines on the verge of the road, in School, once they'd crossed the bridge. I'm sure there are different AI plans which might have some of the mines in different places, and I probably just got lucky that I managed to dodge the sitting bullets :)

Noo. I took a lot more than 15 casualties here. I was, IIRC, about 3 short of the "Casualties" parameter when the Germans surrendered. I took 15 casualties or thereabouts (or was it 15 KIA? - it's been a while) in "Road to Berlin"... I play Warrior, WeGo.

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I've only dealt with mines prior to the patch, and had assumed that since engineers couldn't detect AT mines, any 'marking' would only apply to infantry movement. So the only secret to passing vehicles 'through' mines which I knew about was simply to avoid driving on the APs where I knew there were mines. I think one of the shermans took some track damage from mines on the verge of the road, in School, once they'd crossed the bridge. I'm sure there are different AI plans which might have some of the mines in different places, and I probably just got lucky that I managed to dodge the sitting bullets :)

Some of the mines I ran into were "Mixed". Both infantry and tanks could "discover" them.

It never occurred to me there might be alternate AI plans for this scenario. For re-playability, I suppose. Having survived it once, I'm not in a rush to have another go. Besides, I hear there are even tougher scenarios later in the campaign.

Noo. I took a lot more than 15 casualties here. I was, IIRC, about 3 short of the "Casualties" parameter when the Germans surrendered. I took 15 casualties or thereabouts (or was it 15 KIA? - it's been a while) in "Road to Berlin"... I play Warrior, WeGo.

I was quite worried about staying under the casualties limit, too. Fortunately, the "torture by mortar" seemed to taper off after 45 minutes or so, and really slowed down after my infantry tossed a few grenades into the German FO's trench on the hill. The mortars still got 80+ of my guys.

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It's a shame CMBN doesn't have AT and AP mines

It does.

Until my tanks started getting broken, I assumed that if inf triggered a minefield then it would be safe for vehicles.

It also has mixed mines, and the ability to overlap different mine types.

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It's a shame CMBN doesn't have AT and AP mines (like CM1 had) rather than the generic mine. Until my tanks started getting broken, I assumed that if inf triggered a minefield then it would be safe for vehicles.

Agreed. "Death by Recon" seems to be the primary method of detecting whether the mines are AT, AP, or both.

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Some of the mines I ran into were "Mixed". Both infantry and tanks could "discover" them.

I figured the same. I think all the mines in School are mixed, and made sure that my tanks were never the first over any given AP. Where the infantry had gone and been safe, at least I knew there wasn't a 'Mixed' tile...

Having survived it once, I'm not in a rush to have another go. Besides, I hear there are even tougher scenarios later in the campaign.

I'm right with you there. Tougher scenarios? I don't think so. RR is 'crackable', though if you just go with the straightforward approach, I think you'll risk gimping yourself for La Haye.

I was quite worried about staying under the casualties limit, too. Fortunately, the "torture by mortar" seemed to taper off after 45 minutes or so, and really slowed down after my infantry tossed a few grenades into the German FO's trench on the hill. The mortars still got 80+ of my guys.

The mortars slowed down for me once I started popping smokescreens to advance tanks and infantry "in perfect harmony" down the road once over the bridge. And they stopped for a while, or at least stopped hitting anywhere I couldn't handle, once the 105s started shellacking that trench complex. I don't think it would have been so, were it a human opponent, as they would have thrown missions at 'best guess' TRP locations, even if they'd got no confirmed sightings, whereas I think the AI won't shoot into smoke. Or maybe the mortar ammo isn't actually inexhaustible...

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I figured the same. I think all the mines in School are mixed, and made sure that my tanks were never the first over any given AP. Where the infantry had gone and been safe, at least I knew there wasn't a 'Mixed' tile...

I don't know how to tell if mines are mixed or not, except by the obvious method. The after action map views don't help.

I'm right with you there. Tougher scenarios? I don't think so. RR is 'crackable', though if you just go with the straightforward approach, I think you'll risk gimping yourself for La Haye.

Do all paths lead to RR? How can you be sure to get to that scenario?

The mortars slowed down for me once I started popping smokescreens to advance tanks and infantry "in perfect harmony" down the road once over the bridge. And they stopped for a while, or at least stopped hitting anywhere I couldn't handle, once the 105s started shellacking that trench complex. I don't think it would have been so, were it a human opponent, as they would have thrown missions at 'best guess' TRP locations, even if they'd got no confirmed sightings, whereas I think the AI won't shoot into smoke. Or maybe the mortar ammo isn't actually inexhaustible...

Heh. The 81mms sure seem inexhaustible at any rate. You had more success going straight up the middle than I did. The platoon I sent up the middle didn't fair so well.

My main infantry push was two platoons along the river bank to the West (right) and then up the West map edge, with smoke. One platoon flanked the west-side German foxholes and the other platoon plus some engineers flanked the hill. The hill platoon took no casualties clearing the trenches, but they only had to mop up the gibbering survivors of a creeping barrage of 105s. Gotta love those 105s, damn accurate.

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Do all paths lead to RR? How can you be sure to get to that scenario?

No, they don't

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1298881&postcount=24

but I've not heard anyone ranting about how hard Bolleville and N803 are :) I've gone back and 'thrown' Crossroads so I get to see the alternative approaches to La Haye and the different final battle; Bolleville is the next scenario I'll play.

You had more success going straight up the middle than I did. The platoon I sent up the middle didn't fair so well.

Once the tanks were across the bridge, I could use their smoke pots to give the infantry some cover once the 81mm smoke was gone.

My main infantry push was two platoons along the river bank to the West (right)...

I never managed to get a platoon in working order away from the bridge in that direction. I wasn't ruthless enough in pushing them laterally and started wasting movement time firing back at the forward german positions too soon, so their mortars caught me... :( Without the tanks support or using 105s there was no way I could generate a smokescreen to cover the geological epoch it takes to get troops through the gloop, or that was my thinking. And the 105s were far better used hammering the trenches at the back.

Gotta love those 105s, damn accurate.

Indeed. I used a couple of short missions to kill smaller infantry positions before I let 'er rip on the trenches. Seeing foxholes turned into shellholes was quite sobering, even if I couldn't see the Germans sitting in 'em cos they'd cowered (or scarpered).

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No, they don't

http://www.battlefront.com/community/showpost.php?p=1298881&postcount=24

but I've not heard anyone ranting about how hard Bolleville and N803 are :) I've gone back and 'thrown' Crossroads so I get to see the alternative approaches to La Haye and the different final battle; Bolleville is the next scenario I'll play.

Thanks! Good to know I didn't take the wrong fork at Crossroads. From your chart, it doesn't seem to matter which fork unless Crossroads beats you. I'm midway through Bumper Cars. It is another highly bottle-necked scenario. The armor has only two narrow channels to the other side of the map (maybe less if there are more tiddly-wink obstacles than I can see so far). Probably well covered by German AT, I'd wager.

Once the tanks were across the bridge, I could use their smoke pots to give the infantry some cover once the 81mm smoke was gone.

That's a good use of the Pop Smoke command for this scenario if you were able to get enough mobile tanks across the bridge, which you succeeded in doing. One of my 81mms refused to fire smoke after two rounds- hence the title of this thread.

I never managed to get a platoon in working order away from the bridge in that direction. I wasn't ruthless enough in pushing them laterally and started wasting movement time firing back at the forward german positions too soon, so their mortars caught me... :( Without the tanks support or using 105s there was no way I could generate a smokescreen to cover the geological epoch it takes to get troops through the gloop, or that was my thinking. And the 105s were far better used hammering the trenches at the back.

My two platoons + engineer squad hugged the river bank very closely. Some of the troops were actually wading in the river. Lost three men to mortars, three to MGs, and one idiot to mines when he took a very original interpretation of the waypoint path. I used some 105 smoke to exit the swamp and dash to the 50mm ATG woods. Lost very few men after that.

Absolutely, it took a "geological epoch" to cross the swamp. Quick tires the troops quickly and Move is only 16 meters a minute. Still, the first platoon exited the swamp with one hour left on the clock.

Indeed. I used a couple of short missions to kill smaller infantry positions before I let 'er rip on the trenches. Seeing foxholes turned into shellholes was quite sobering, even if I couldn't see the Germans sitting in 'em cos they'd cowered (or scarpered).

Did you find the US 81mm a bit ineffective against the foxholes? I did in version 1.01. I think I will be adding the 105mm to my QB buying list, especially against defenders who put everything in foxholes or trenches. The 6 minute delay (Elite difficulty) used to scare me off, but foxholes can't run away from spotting rounds.

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Thanks! Good to know I didn't take the wrong fork at Crossroads. From your chart, it doesn't seem to matter which fork unless Crossroads beats you.

Indeed. The decision mechanism AIUI in Crossroads is set up so that if you leave via the 'direct' route, you don't get any VP for exiting (though the Germans don't get any VP for the units you do exit). So if you don't hang about and eliminate the opposition (which, though your orders are to disregard 'em, you can garner 100 VPs for), the Germans end up with some VPs for holding their terrain objectives (? and for some unexited units like the mortars ?), and you end up with very few, so you 'lose' and head to Bolleville. It is entirely possible to make your recon pull towards Bolleville and drive off the Germans, killing enough to get a victory so that you 'win' and end up going to Bumper Cars anyway.

I'm midway through Bumper Cars. It is another highly bottle-necked scenario. The armor has only two narrow channels to the other side of the map (maybe less if there are more tiddly-wink obstacles than I can see so far).

It's certainly a bit of a maze. My recollection was that there was no way to get the Stuarts past a certain point anywhere on the width of the map, but their guns (popguns though they are, they have a lot of ammo and useful MGs) can reach useful targets.

Probably well covered by German AT, I'd wager.

[Whistles innocently] You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment... :) A tip, if you want: go at it quickly down the right. I got a surprising result by siezing the initiative... Hopefully, that's not so vague as to be counterproductive.

One of my 81mms refused to fire smoke after two rounds...

Did it have HE left? Arty 'smoke' shells are better thought of as 'Smoke Options' for an equal number of HE rounds. So if you only had 2 x 81mm HE at the start of the Smoke mission, even if you had the standard 10 smoke rounds per section, you'd only get 2 smoke rounds fired.

Absolutely, it took a "geological epoch" to cross the swamp. Quick tires the troops quickly and Move is only 16 meters a minute.

Do they actually get those 2 APs per turn in swamp? I was "Quick"ing with a minute's rest when they hit "Tired". Too long ago now to remember how far they got on a moving turn...

Did you find the US 81mm a bit ineffective against the foxholes? I did in version 1.01.

No, it was pretty good in 1.0. I only used 105mm for the last couple of strongpoints because I'd run out of 81mm, having not gotten resupply for my offmaps between firing them dry in Over Hill, Down Dale and School.

...foxholes can't run away from spotting rounds.

No, but their inhabitants can. One of those foxholes that got turned into 4 shell holes had had an LMG team in it that ducked out early, and caused me an amount of grief when I finally got infantry within small arms range of the trenches.

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Indeed. The decision mechanism AIUI in Crossroads is set up so that if you leave via the 'direct' route, you don't get any VP for exiting (though the Germans don't get any VP for the units you do exit). So if you don't hang about and eliminate the opposition (which, though your orders are to disregard 'em, you can garner 100 VPs for), the Germans end up with some VPs for holding their terrain objectives (? and for some unexited units like the mortars ?), and you end up with very few, so you 'lose' and head to Bolleville. It is entirely possible to make your recon pull towards Bolleville and drive off the Germans, killing enough to get a victory so that you 'win' and end up going to Bumper Cars anyway.

I tried to be a good boy and do as the man said, so I only shot as many Germans as necessary to get off the right fork exit. That amounted to four small German units for the price of an MG jeep. I got a tactical victory, so that must have been enough.

It's certainly a bit of a maze. My recollection was that there was no way to get the Stuarts past a certain point anywhere on the width of the map, but their guns (popguns though they are, they have a lot of ammo and useful MGs) can reach useful targets.

So far, I haven't been completely blocked off, but new tiddly-wink barriers pop up on a regular basis.

[Whistles innocently] You might think that. I couldn't possibly comment... :) A tip, if you want: go at it quickly down the right. I got a surprising result by siezing the initiative... Hopefully, that's not so vague as to be counterproductive.

Heh, heh. It wouldn't be properly evil if there wasn't something nasty waiting for my armor, but no exploding tanks just yet.

Since you get five rifle platoons in Bumper Cars, I have them making a broad front push down every available avenue, with the armor and FOs lending a hand where necessary. As you said, the map edges seem to be offering the least resistance.... so far.

Did it have HE left? Arty 'smoke' shells are better thought of as 'Smoke Options' for an equal number of HE rounds. So if you only had 2 x 81mm HE at the start of the Smoke mission, even if you had the standard 10 smoke rounds per section, you'd only get 2 smoke rounds fired.

My 81s had their full load of HE and smoke. One section fired eight smoke and then stopped. The other fired only two.

Do they actually get those 2 APs per turn in swamp? I was "Quick"ing with a minute's rest when they hit "Tired". Too long ago now to remember how far they got on a moving turn...

A while back I tested movement rates on all the terrain types and made a little chart. 16 meters/min is what I get for squad MOVE in swamp, not counting stops for waypoints. It took 1/2 hour from start-of-game to reach the far edge of the swamp and recover from Tired, so it must have taken 20 some odd minutes to cross the swamp.

No, it was pretty good in 1.0. I only used 105mm for the last couple of strongpoints because I'd run out of 81mm, having not gotten resupply for my offmaps between firing them dry in Over Hill, Down Dale and School.

Yep, I had run my offmap 81mm completely dry as well. Lesson learned, I only used up half my 105mm in School. I am sure you will now tell me that the 105mm is completely resupplied before it's next appearance, but them's the breaks.

I wish they would give you a hint in the scenario briefings. Something like, "We don't know when we will get our next resupply, so use ammo sparingly" would be helpful.

No, but their inhabitants can. One of those foxholes that got turned into 4 shell holes had had an LMG team in it that ducked out early, and caused me an amount of grief when I finally got infantry within small arms range of the trenches.

Why, that's not sporting at all. Proper Wehrmacht infantry should take it's obliteration and like it. I was going to say if I waste a few spotting rounds chasing infantry from their foxholes, it's well worth it. But not if they run to even better cover!

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I tried to be a good boy and do as the man said, so I only shot as many Germans as necessary to get off the right fork exit. That amounted to four small German units for the price of an MG jeep. I got a tactical victory, so that must have been enough.

Reckon. Think you just have to get most of your fast-movers off the exit. Don't think any of my vehicles even opened fire, but one got a little confusticated and decided to go for a drive round the square. I Cease Fire-ed once the Greyhounds and other jeeps had exited, and got a tactical.

So far, I haven't been completely blocked off, but new tiddly-wink barriers pop up on a regular basis.

It's entirely possible that there is a way through that I didn't see.

Heh, heh. It wouldn't be properly evil if there wasn't something nasty waiting for my armor, but no exploding tanks just yet.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you find.

Since you get five rifle platoons in Bumper Cars, I have them making a broad front push down every available avenue...

A couple of my platoons were still a bit too beat up for me to think a molasses attack was a good idea, so I used the long field down the right (largely because I felt it got my tanks the furthest forward).

My 81s had their full load of HE and smoke. One section fired eight smoke and then stopped. The other fired only two.

That's a puzzle then :(

A while back I tested movement rates on all the terrain types and made a little chart. 16 meters/min is what I get for squad MOVE in swamp...

What speed does Quick go, if I may ask?

Yep, I had run my offmap 81mm completely dry as well. Lesson learned, I only used up half my 105mm in School. I am sure you will now tell me that the 105mm is completely resupplied before it's next appearance, but them's the breaks.

My feeling is that the arty isn't in your CUF, so will always be a fresh, full, mission. It might just be that I got lucky and always got resupplied. The mortars are part of your CUF, so will be subject to the random resupply between missions under the parameters the designer has set.

I wish they would give you a hint in the scenario briefings. Something like, "We don't know when we will get our next resupply, so use ammo sparingly" would be helpful.

Important note: in the Razorback Ridge briefing it does mention that you won't have time to incorporate any new replacements before the finale at La Haye, but what it neglects to mention is that you will receive no resupply at all before the assault. You get a load of trucks and jeeps in RR, and if you pillage them, I'm pretty sure the ammo carries over. You also get some jeeps and trucks in La Haye du Puits which can top off your ammo. But if you fire every unit dry, including the resupply ammo off the trucks in RR, you'll be using harsh language only at the beginning of La Haye...

Why, that's not sporting at all. Proper Wehrmacht infantry should take it's obliteration and like it.

:)

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Was happy to get a minor victory in School of Hard Knocks. It is a great training scenario for when you think you have the CMBN system down cold and it's too easy vs the AI. I look forward to trying it again.

Of course there is that one trick re blinding the enemy FO once one knows where he is (not too hard to figure out) and am not sure if the "School" scenario is very replayable other than trying to get minimal friendly casualties.

Did anyone lose and get to University? Is it worth going back to "School" and losing just to play University?

Chose to go Xcountry and Bumper Cars is a lot of fun, but as someone said it is primarily an inf supported by mortars (and light armor to some extent) scenario. Not too hard to win a Major Victory. But, again it's keeping friendly casualties low that is the real challenge. Will go back to the direct road option later.

Just starting Ridge. Really enjoying this campaign so far.

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...School of Hard Knocks...trick re blinding the enemy FO once one knows where he is (not too hard to figure out) and am not sure if the "School" scenario is very replayable other than trying to get minimal friendly casualties.

I'm a bit surprised that blinding/suppressing an FO seems to get such a good result (i.e. the almost complete cessation of bombardment) when so much of the chokepoint is in range of TRPs. I guess it's a limitation of the AI that it won't fire at predicted locations that it can't see, where a human player would know that the enemy haven't moved just because there's some smoke in the way.

Is it worth going back to "School" and losing just to play University?

I did that. Can't say it was really worth the trouble, though it's another scenario to play and learn in. It's a lot less pucker-inducing than School, and just a matter of being methodical, mostly. And paying attention to crests...

Chose to go Xcountry...Will go back to the direct road option later.

Bolleville is a verrry different scenario to Bumper Cars. Or at least it looks that way from the outset. If the designers have been very mean, it might even be as psychologically testing as School, since there are some long sight lines that leave your advancing troops very exposed if there are long range assets on the other end of 'em.

Just starting Ridge. Really enjoying this campaign so far.

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Reckon. Think you just have to get most of your fast-movers off the exit. Don't think any of my vehicles even opened fire, but one got a little confusticated and decided to go for a drive round the square. I Cease Fire-ed once the Greyhounds and other jeeps had exited, and got a tactical.

Interesting. I didn't quite "get" this scenario. Maybe it would have made more sense if I took the other fork.

It's entirely possible that there is a way through that I didn't see.

No, you are probably right. There is only one unblocked route left now.

I'm looking forward to hearing what you find.

There is something that smells distinctly vehicle-like near Crossroads Bravo. I leave for Eastern Europe for two weeks, so I will have to be in suspense until I get back.

A couple of my platoons were still a bit too beat up for me to think a molasses attack was a good idea, so I used the long field down the right (largely because I felt it got my tanks the furthest forward).

Heh. That's good, molasses attack. Seems to work in flanking those damn bocage strong points which otherwise take a million rounds of ammo to suppress.

That's a puzzle then :(

Maybe there is some strange interaction when two mortar sections direct-fire smoke (Target Smoke) at the same time. The total rounds of smoke fired were 10, which is the maximum for one section. After that, no more "Target Smoke" was allowed for the mortars in either section.

What speed does Quick go, if I may ask?

In daytime dry conditions, Regular squad, I got 38 meters/minute and the squad went from rested to tiring. Average of two tests, so probably some slop in the numbers. Scout team units seem to go slightly faster than full rifle squads in clear terrain, but I didn't test scouts in swamp. How much ammo the squad is hauling may effect things as well, but I didn't test for that either.

My feeling is that the arty isn't in your CUF, so will always be a fresh, full, mission.

Figures. I guess I should have been less frugal with my 105mm.

Important note: in the Razorback Ridge briefing it does mention that you won't have time to incorporate any new replacements before the finale at La Haye, but what it neglects to mention is that you will receive no resupply at all before the assault. You get a load of trucks and jeeps in RR, and if you pillage them, I'm pretty sure the ammo carries over. You also get some jeeps and trucks in La Haye du Puits which can top off your ammo. But if you fire every unit dry, including the resupply ammo off the trucks in RR, you'll be using harsh language only at the beginning of La Haye...

Thanks for the tip! I will be sure to leave no truck unpillaged.

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