Slitherine

• I could verify and repeat the following a few times:
  
  The map Elsenborn ridge:
  
  The attacking US troops start on the ridge in the North West corner, while I can place my troops around the corner, with some cover in the North East (2 buildings, trenches), but with no trees as cover south of the ridge line, so I have to pull back these troops to a trench line further south, and to the woods south east., near the bridge.
  
  My Inf BG had no tank units left, just some 5 armoured scout units, like the 234/1 (heavy armed car w/ 8 wheels, they are somewhat like Greyhounds, but their armor is thicker - and their main guns [20mm] are weaker compared to the 37mm guns of the greyhound), 1 mortar halftrack, 1 inf gun HT, and plenty of infantry.
  The enemy, a US armored BG, splashed all my armored scout units and armoured mortar/inf gun units as this game doesn't care about the fact that these 8-wheel tracked vehicles had excellent off-road capabilities and that they could go up to 90 km/h on paved streets, so I couldn't just gun and run.
  The AI tanks finished my infantry (after they managed to take out 1 or 2 tanks in close combat - using lots of smoke screens .. hmm ok and sweat ,hehe ), then, after the first 2 objectives had been taken (the hill south of the ridge and the trenches north east), the AI just sits there for 5 mins, then moves like 30 meters, then stops again, then moves again, the same drill for half an hour.
  The problem for the AI was, that only my vehicle crews survived: Some searched for cover next to the vehicles, some hit the dirt out in the open, but the enemy AI had no LoF/LoS. So i could see them moving or better: Being idle then moving a few meters south, over and over for about 30 mins.
  Clicking on the Truce-button didn't do the trick here, as it seemed that my casualty rate wasn't sufficient to end the battle, with so many surviving crews.
  
  My settings: Green, always obey orders, no time limit. Basically, there was no way to end this battle before the game "decided" that the losses were sufficient to end the battle (which took way over an hour - [of me watching and cussing]).

• I might have missed something, but I don't know any other way to keep a mortar squad from fireing mortar rounds at a target in LoS than to issue an ambush order. This may result in the group searching for better cover, so some of its members often start to crawl and if i have really bad luck, the guy operating the mortar moves as well. It then takes the guy ages to set up the mortar again, literally rendering this squad useless for quite a while.
  The same happens to MG squads. So, in WaR, i usually have to issue the "defend" order to MG squads and don't touch them anymore after that, to get the most of their suppressing fire until they are wiped out.
  
  In CC4 (and the early installments), the process of setting up heavy equipment takes around 20 seconds, maybe 30-40 secs max.). I don't know why this had been changed (or overlooked?), but the current behaviour is anything than realistic, especially since a single (badly aimed) tank round or bazooka round may result in restarting the whole procedure, as the gunner crawls to a different spot with better cover.
  
  I hate to say it, but this isn't an improvement, it's pretty much the opposite.
  

• The speed of these units is and was ridiculous, it's a detail which is really disturbing.
  Some of the german AT guns or Inf guns had a weight of up to 760 kg, so they could be pulled by 4-6 men, especially the 37mm and 57mm (US) guns. Given, the bigger guns, like the 75mm PaKs weighed up to 1.7 tons (PaK 36, 1710 kg), they had to be towed by vehicles and could only be adjusted or moved around a fire position. Most IG guns (inf guns) were rather lightweights: the le IG 42 (7,5 cm) weighed 560 kg, way less than today's civil passenger cars, so 5 ppl could move them in an appropriate manner. I've seen german newsreels where crews pull these IG guns in Russia, and they were hastily moving them to keep up with infantry squads assaulting a Russian village. They didn't move the gun at walking speed, they moved it on the double.
  
  Check out the 3rd picture in the right column:
  This is an infantry gun designated 7,5 cm Gebirgsgeschütz 36 (mountain gun), towed by a Krad (NSU Kettenkrad) - a mix of a motorbike (front) and a tracked vehicle, with 36 HP.
  How about adding something like this to tow guns/heavy mortars with these vehicles? I don't know if it's possible without re-writing the engine, but this would make re-deployment (during a battle) fun.
  
  http://www.lexikon-der-wehrmacht.de/Waffen/gebirgsgeschutze.htm
  
  At least the movement speed of the light guns (up to 760 kg) should be reviewed.
  

• It's a pity that, in support gun/weapon units (like HMG, mortar), once the soldier who operates the particular weapon dies, the crew loses the gun. In real life, the loader/assistant would take over the gun and proceed to suppress the enemy. I can't remember if it's the same for AT units, I am too lazy to test it now, and I don't feel like playing this game right now, with the constant overheating of my card.
  If this weapon issue could be solved, the game would be more fun and more realistic, no doubt.

• German/US infantry line units equipped with 1 Panzerfaust/1Bazooka won't attack a given tank if ordered to do so, they often keep crawling and sneaking, and if they are ready to fire the AT round finally, the enemy tank has started to move away already, or moved completely out of LoS.
  If the player issues a defend order, the Panzerfaust round will be fired faster, but again, the player has no control (unlike with the Bazooka/Panzerschreck teams) over when a tank is being attacked with an AT round.
  I might be wrong, but the AI infantry doesn't seem to have this problem. Once my tanks closely pass a building that is occupied by enemy inf squads, I can be sure that they fire their AT weapons asap, in addition to throwing all their grenades and explosives.
  

• Maybe the damage values and range values of german AT rockets should be reviewed.
  Panzerschrecks (which looked like the US bazookas) used 88mm rockets, the american bazookas used 60mm rockets.
  Early versions of the Panzerschreck rounds could penetrate 60mm armor at 60° degrees, a later version (1944) with an improved round had a range of 180 meters.
  
  The "Panzerfaust" had a range of 30 meters (1943), and the last version, the "Panzerfaust 100m" (November 1944) had a range of 100 meters. Its warhead could penetrate 200mm armor.
  
  I don't know the specs of the american Bazookas (regarding penetration + range), but I tend to think that the Germans rather used their Panzerschrecks in order to have a better range (180m), as the several versions of the Panzerfaust ("faust"=fist) had ranges from 30m to 100 meters only.
  The Germans tried to copy the Bazooka and its RPG, but they struggled with many flaws in the design (soldiers received heavy burns caused by the beam of the rocket propelled grenade) and suffered of low supply regarding the Panzerschreck rounds, at several points.
  
  While the accuracy was low, the penetration power of the Panzerfaust was superior, it was the main AT weapon in close combat.
  The Panzerschreck could only be used in trenches or fortified main front lines, as the soldiers couldn't even use it in woods, as the grenade already used to go off when it touched branches or bushes during its journey, the operator could not shoot it through branches or bushes - a major downside.
  The barrel of the Schreck was also prone to light damages (mortar fire, shrapnels, bumps), it was rather a fragile weapon that had to be stored in cases - away from the LoF.
  
  4.120.500 Panzerfausts had been produced in 1944, compared to 238.316 Panzerschrecks. Also the constant and high losses of Panzerschrecks starting in July 1944 suggests that the troops in the Ardennes rather depended on Panzerfausts than on Panzerschrecks. I don't think the latter should be used for the AT teams in the game, they didn't have enough punch anyways.
  On the other side, American Bazookas really shouldn't show much effect when hitting German Panther or Tiger tanks. It must be a real lucky shot, to damage a Panther or Tiger tank, let alone to destroy it (nearly impossible imho).

• It's funny, they often cover next to their burning tank or even under it (i doubt a crew would do that in real life, as the wrecks often burned for hours, with red-hot parts).
  I'd love to be able to command surviving crews. I might be wrong, but I think that was possible in the very first installment.
  
  Anyway, is it possible to change this?
  

quote:

4) Weapon assignments.


* It's a pity that, in support gun/weapon units (like HMG, mortar), once the soldier who operates the particular weapon dies, the crew loses the gun. In real life, the loader/assistant would take over the gun and proceed to suppress the enemy. I can't remember if it's the same for AT units, I am too lazy to test it now, and I don't feel like playing this game right now, with the constant overheating of my card.
If this weapon issue could be solved, the game would be more fun and more realistic, no doubt.

quote:


6) Crews of destroyed/abandoned vehicles can't move.



* It's funny, they often cover next to their burning tank or even under it (i doubt a crew would do that in real life, as the wrecks often burned for hours, with red-hot parts).
I'd love to be able to command surviving crews. I might be wrong, but I think that was possible in the very first installment.

Anyway, is it possible to change this?

http://www.moddb.com/mods/cc5-battle-of-surabaya-1945

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6 (crews). I noticed this the other night. This might be so that players don't use the crews in a "gamey" way like for scouting or attacking, which would not be realistic. IMO, they should make the crew scramble for the nearest side of the map ASAP.

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ORIGINAL: squadleader_id

Even the manual recommends 15 min battles vs the AI...so no time limits (especially with the AI attacking) won't give you the best battles.

quote:

ORIGINAL: GoodGuy
My settings: Green, always obey orders, no time limit. Basically, there was no way to end this battle before the game "decided" that the losses were sufficient to end the battle (which took way over an hour - [of me watching and cussing]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Noakesy

Another mention of an overheating graphics card, probably puts me off this (my pc is 3yrs old I think, so presumably wouldn't cope at all).