Three Towns (Stafford vs Drifter Man DAR)

[Blady]

Yeah that's pretty much how I'm doing it now. Though I have to admit I've not had enough guts to swallow my pride and surrender (that is not to say I've lost more then a few times! ) very often. Usually I just find (small) things to keep harrassing my oppo up untill the time limit.

 

[KGBoy]

Stafford disappearing into holes brings us back to my point about TacVic versus MajVic but I leave that aside.

Next Q for me is how do you think Stafford finds his wonderful LOS? @Drifter Man has noticed this competency on several occasions. Is there a trick? I'll show my idea but am curious as to others.

 

[Blady]

Stafford disappearing into holes brings us back to my point about TacVic versus MajVic but I leave that aside.

Next Q for me is how do you think Stafford finds his wonderful LOS? @Drifter Man has noticed this competency on several occasions. Is there a trick? I'll show my idea but am curious as to others.

Great question, would love to hear the answer...

 

[KGBoy]

This is imperfect as I am trying to figure why my tank doesn't know the Panthers have moved where 1 LOAMS HQ knows and is in contact but that's another story.
The yellow would be LOS on the Panthers and no go for my plain duck Shermans but the red target line on either side gives me LOS on the tower where I figure a FO is bringing hell to my troops with a TRP. The left target is 1 floor up and a bingo and right is lower floor with a nasty HMG clipping heads off.

The blue waypoints are all the waypoints in that line.

 

[Bulletpoint]

This is imperfect as I am trying to figure why my tank doesn't know the Panthers have moved where 1 LOAMS HQ knows and is in contact but that's another story.

Because there's a bug in the game that makes contact markers not getting shared if the enemy tank has moved from the location where it was first spotted.

 

[KGBoy]

I also did this study over at BF.

Boy's vs Men Ambush Spoiler!

As a musician I like to do drills. As I have no military experience (I know how to march) I have had to invent my own. I loved CM from the moment I first played it 20 years ago. For a drillI I started making small maps like this one from my favourite scenarios and run them. I find the game to be ...

community.battlefront.com

 

[KGBoy]

Because there's a bug in the game that makes contact markers not getting shared if the enemy tank has moved from the location where it was first spotted.

So does this mean they know but don't show it or they don't know and won't know until they see it for themselves -- ie too late?

 

[Bulletpoint]

So does this mean they know but don't show it or they don't know and won't know until they see it for themselves -- ie too late?

Fortunately it seems the problem is only cosmetic. If your tank has received a contact marker for the enemy tank at some point in the battle, it doesn't matter that the location is not updated. Your tank still gets the spotting bonus against that tank.

 

[holoween]

Next Q for me is how do you think Stafford finds his wonderful LOS? @Drifter Man has noticed this competency on several occasions. Is there a trick? I'll show my idea but am curious as to others.

The fastest way is to simply zoom to ground level and check out possible positions. If you want to find an angle on a specific point move your camera there and look towards your troops to find possible firelanes to use.
Crosschecking from both sides and testing the final position with the los tool makes it quite reliable. It doesnt account for weird cm los sometimes.

 

[Drifter Man]

Hate when that happens.

But it's one of the things I notice in a lot of games; at one point (often sooner then later) it's obvious where the game is going. The dilemma for me is always; offer cease fire or not? Offering a cease fire feels like giving up too early, or maybe spoiling the fun the other guy is still having, but also shows you have no plans anymore. That means for the other guy to not accept the cease fire it means he still has plans and thus you're forcing him to give away something, even if it is just the fat that he has a plan....

It's his choice. And I still have some options - not to change the outcome but to stir things up a bit. At the very least, I still have 150mm ammunition.

As @Bulletpoint said, cease fire should be put in when you don't intend to do anything and see that your opponent does not intend to do anything, either.
I would only surrender if I saw that my opponent is going to wipe me out without me being able to fight back.

 

[Drifter Man]

Stafford disappearing into holes brings us back to my point about TacVic versus MajVic but I leave that aside.

Next Q for me is how do you think Stafford finds his wonderful LOS? @Drifter Man has noticed this competency on several occasions. Is there a trick? I'll show my idea but am curious as to others.

I don't mean there is a trick. He is very experienced in CMx2 - far more than me - and probably sees terrain in a different way. Once I see how he chooses his positions, it is obvious. Great positions tend to have a small hill on one side facing the enemy, protecting the flank of the unit, which can then focus on a narrow arc forward. I have found a few positions of this type myself.

Checking for LOS in CM is another topic - yes, often it is very hard to know for certain that you can see and shoot from A to B. Since we usually want our unit to be exposed as little as possible, invariably we find these positions with marginal LOS, and often end up disappointed.

 

[Bulletpoint]

Once I see how he chooses his positions, it is obvious. Great positions tend to have a small hill on one side facing the enemy, protecting the flank of the unit, which can then focus on a narrow arc forward. I have found a few positions of this type myself.

Yes, it's funny sometimes how when you see an opponent use a position, it seems so obvious that you wonder why you didn't notice it before

Speaking of not-so-obvious positions, I don't know if you noticed that some of my AT guns on the hill in our last game were actually positioned in a tiny dent in the ground so that fire from the valley would either go short or pass overhead.. I took a long time to find those positions and it actually worked quite well for some of them, at least against direct tank fire.

 

[KGBoy]

Yes, it's funny sometimes how when you see an opponent use a position, it seems so obvious that you wonder why you didn't notice it before

Who does seem to notice are the pixeltruppens. If I have positioned almost correctly after a minute just one man who I thought was a little too exposed but couldn't alter because of being attached to a squad will get up and move. In this case it was from left flank of the squad to the right. A real pleasure to see!

I have to say the British airborne have a very robust weapons array. Mostly a 3 man (sometimes 4!) Tommies and do they pack a wallop at short range! But they do burn bullets.

 

[Drifter Man]

Yes, it's funny sometimes how when you see an opponent use a position, it seems so obvious that you wonder why you didn't notice it before

Speaking of not-so-obvious positions, I don't know if you noticed that some of my AT guns on the hill in our last game were actually positioned in a tiny dent in the ground so that fire from the valley would either go short or pass overhead.. I took a long time to find those positions and it actually worked quite well for some of them, at least against direct tank fire.

I did notice - the gun nearest to Harfleur. The terrain wave protecting it from the front was properly cratered.
The one on your right side was on a small hilltop rather than in a dent, which gave it good field of view. It paid out because it knocked out two of my tanks if I recall. It was easier to take out, however.

 

[Drifter Man]

Who does seem to notice are the pixeltruppens. If I have positioned almost correctly after a minute just one man who I thought was a little too exposed but couldn't alter because of being attached to a squad will get up and move. In this case it was from left flank of the squad to the right. A real pleasure to see!

I have to say the British airborne have a very robust weapons array. Mostly a 3 man (sometimes 4!) Tommies and do they pack a wallop at short range! But they do burn bullets.

That's right - they have a reasonably working AI brain that is able to find cover with respect to incoming fire from a certain direction. This does not stop them from running towards the enemy when panicked...
About British airborne - I am especially impressed by those squads with Marksmen. I'll try them out one day in a QB, but for some reason I don't like combining them with armor. I keep imagining they just got parachuted behind enemy lines, so they can't have armor with them

 

[Bulletpoint]

they have a reasonably working AI brain that is able to find cover with respect to incoming fire from a certain direction.

I must say I have not noticed this. I think it might just be a matter of interpreting semi-random movements - noticing the movements that make sense and forgetting all the times they didn't move to cover..

 

[Drifter Man]

1409 hrs, Turns 75-79. The fighting dies down and we are back to the old pattern, shelling each other. I managed to kill Stafford's FO I think - a guy with binoculars who did not register as a HQ, and was in the place where I thought an FO would be. Nailed him with a mortar round. I am now fishing for a 3in mortar position south of Louvoy, with 150mm.

One thing that Stafford does not do well in our battle is guessing where my troops are, for his mortar strikes. Long barrages of 3in mortar fire keep falling on nearly empty areas. 270 rounds, 10 casualties. I hope I have a better success rate...

Turn 79 and some action. A British sniper picks a fight at 75 m with an infantry team from 3rd Platoon, 6th Company - the one that tried to get to the immobilized Cromwell, but was spooked by British infantry appearing in the smoke and driven away. The sniper is taken out by the team leader with a scoped Kar 98K, but not before he hits the gunner.

On the southern end of Hill 36, another infantry team spots a single British solider at 20 m and leave nothing to chance. Needless to say, after this grenade throwing extravaganza they are nearly out potato mashers.

Apologies for the strange background noise in the videos... I don't know where it is coming from.

Another Cromwell is spotted north of Louvoy, probably covering the right side of Hill 36. I thought Stafford would not keep this position without a tank, but I don't think I have seen this one before. In fact, I now believe my opponent has 8 Cromwells, including one immobilized and one with damaged gun - but working MG's.

Another British soldier is seen hit by mortar fire on the hill. A 2in mortar team takes position on the hill in one of the craters and tries to pick off some survivors from 6th Company.

My sick mind is preparing another offensive. Better organized than the first one, of course. I can't change the outcome of the battle, but we can have some fun. Stay tuned

 

[Bulletpoint]

On the southern end of Hill 36, another infantry team spots a single British solider at 20 m and leave nothing to chance. Needless to say, after this grenade throwing extravaganza they are nearly out potato mashers.

I think they misunderstood orders and were literally throwing potato mashers.. surely he wouldn't have survived six actual hand grenades.

One of the silly things about grenades in this game is that at ranges where you can throw a grenade, it's usually more effective to fire a shot from a rifle anyway. Just as we see in this example; after throwing six grenades, they finally decide to just shoot the guy.

 

[Drifter Man]

I think they misunderstood orders and were literally throwing potato mashers.. surely he wouldn't have survived six actual hand grenades.

One of the silly things about grenades in this game is that at ranges where you can throw a grenade, it's usually more effective to fire a shot from a rifle anyway. Just as we see in this example; after throwing six grenades, they finally decide to just shoot the guy.

Exactly. The guy was hit by a rifle shot.
I probably made a mistake by giving them a direct target order on that guy. They gave him everything they got. If it were an infantry team, it would have been effective - they would get suppressed by the grenades. But in this case I am quite confident it was an one-man team, from the position of the icon. Either an infantry team that lost everyone else or a 3in mortar ammo bearer used as a scout.

 

[Larsen]

I am surprised you went with StuGs. They are hugely overpriced for QBs. I created a thread about that in Battlefront forum.
They should cost 140-150 points for what they do. Getting the cheapest Pz IVs is optimal in most cases.