CM: Black Sea Strategy Discussion Thread

[jomni]

I get artifacts when I try to capture screenshots with Prt Scr and load them into GIMP from memory. And there isn't a shortcut in-game that I am aware of, so I am curious to find out how others make good screenshots of their CM games?

Anyway here are two I managed without too many artifacts:

Here we spew fire from a concealed position to the tower housing a sniper.


And here we see our rifle squad assaulting the building. An IFV is on overwatch just outside the viewpoint of the camera.
Result; 2 hostiles dead and successful capture of the building. No casualties.

The soldiers running towards the building show some serious artifacting around their legs and backpacks. Not so in-game. :S

I use fraps and the jpeg quality is also bad.

[jomni]

I have no idea how I can clear these areas out. I just don't seem to have the firepower. I've got kind of bogged down and losing interest rapidly. I could do with a few platoons of infantry and a tank or two.

I'm currently doing this mission as well.  Let's see how far I get.  So far so good.  Eliminated a sniper team but I lost one man and a vehicle gunner.

[Zonso]

Getting back to the OP discussion, here is the start of a youtube playlist on CMBS by Tyrspawn (did some excellents playthroughs for CMSF). The embedded video begins meaningful analysis around the 14 minute mark. I always like to see others thought processes, even if just to reinforce what not to do. :)

http://community.battlefront.com/topic/118015-walkthrough-and-lets-play-of-the-black-sea-campaign/

[jomni]

I have no idea how I can clear these areas out. I just don't seem to have the firepower. I've got kind of bogged down and losing interest rapidly. I could do with a few platoons of infantry and a tank or two.

I'm currently doing this mission as well.  Let's see how far I get.  So far so good.  Eliminated a sniper team but I lost one man and a vehicle gunner.

Looks like I'm bogged down. 40 minutes to go and I am ready to assault the Horse Shed and I have gotten to the beaches yet. :/

[JudgeDredd]

How did you deal with the Quarry??

[jomni]

How did you deal with the Quarry??

Note: directions are relative to my axis of approach.
One squad and sniper up the south hill provide overwatch. Pretty good in killing most infantry in the area. HQ in the house (Entrance of quary). One flanking squad up  behind the east ridge to get to the grenade launcher and attack the BTR.   But I bombarded the BTR with mortars and it got destroyed.  I even got the sapper ready for action and picked up some RPGs from their  APCs. Probably better with pics.

[JudgeDredd]

I put an HQ unit in the house you speak of and brought some arty down on the inside of the quarry, but they couldn't get eyes on the APC so I put another HQ unit up on the hill and they were engaged by a unit from across the ridge you are talking about (the ridge behind the house where it decends at the north end).

There's also a Ukrainian machine gunner there that I can't get shot of.

I've been there for more than 10 minutes. I've got 2 spotter units (one in the houses in the quarry), 2 HQ's and a Sapper unit, 2 Jeeps and an APC. I'm stumped and times a-moving on

Have you looked for the OP to the East? Lost a squad there too.

[jomni]

Yeah don't think time's enough.  But replaying is a cheat as I  know when to rush and when not to. Took a lot of time maneuvering to the hot spots in this round.

[JudgeDredd]

Yeah don't think time's enough.  But replaying is a cheat as I  know when to rush and when not to. Took a lot of time maneuvering to the hot spots in this round.

Yeah - I think I ate 15 minutes hunting up the road towards the quarry.

I was hoping I could move on...kind of hoping this was a recon mission but it's not. I just wish I had a couple of decent APCs and a couple of squads or - even better - platoons

[jomni]

Judge I got a tactical victory.  I think it's a bad result but the mission was tough.






My biggest disappointment was the quarry. I did not capture it!!!!  The MG guys are right below me.  But how could I have missed them when I blasted the wall and climbed up the roof?  I didn't bother clearing the place since I thought it was clear.


The shed was tough to capture as it was guarded by 3 APC's.  I blasted through the walls to get behind them then attack them at close range.  When I ran out of RPG's I got back to the vehicles to pick up some more.


I got both beaches and tried to send my guys through the water to the Blocking Point.  I thought it would be a safer route.  But the Ukrainians have helicoper and I cannot counter it.  I lost two APC's.  The blocking point is well defended so I did not attack it but I got close to the defenders without them noticing since I went through the water.

I lost a full squad of sappers due to some automatic grenade launcher.  Those stuff are nasty.

The next mission is scary.  An amphibious assault across the vast river.  Might lose a lot of men there.  It will be epic.

[Boggit]

I am playing a pbem game and already made a big mistake.  The intel told me the town was clear and I rushed a Ukrainian BMP and squad to a point where I could overwatch the bridge leading into the town to hopefully stop any Russians from making it over.  Of course Mil Intel is known as Green Slime for a reason (their motto is We bet YOUR life) and I guess Ukrainian is even worse.  Result one sniper half squad took out my entire squad before my BMP either killed him or suppressed him.  Its a different world with modern weapons for sure.

I also wanted to add something about immersion factor  I have changed my tune on the flavor objects in the game.  Seeing modern bus stops, stores with banners outside (similar to IKEA etc) and other modern European touches have really made me feel like these battles are happening today.  Its sometimes the small things that make the biggest differences and there is something very unsettling about watching rifle fire and modern arty ripping up homes that look like where I lived in Europe.

Con

You should try some of the mods already released - the background one that adds electricity pylons and a TV antenna are great - such a small change such a big difference.

I also recommend MikeyD's red spot mod - bright red for serious wound and dark red for dead, also Veins base markers and tracers. The shorter Veins tracers are more realistic, but I prefer the medium options. You can get them at the Battlefront repository in the CMBN Base area. Just put them into the Data/Z folder (or add a Z folder to /data if you haven't got one for your mods).

[Boggit]

Just been playing another Quick battle, and getting fragged for the most part! This time I've been playing a US Bradley Infantry company. I had to add +10% on medium to get enough points to buy it - they are really expensive, but boy are they good units. I've taken out quite a few 30mm BTR's with them where they seem to get the drop first. The only downside was that I ran into an ambush after being held up by an arty stonk at a bridge I had to cross to get towards my village objective (I'm playing a medium size village map with a couple of rivers near my deployment area), which left one burning and another with serious equipment damage (TOWs, and optics all gone). Still all good fun. Jarhead's point about getting the squads out of the vehicles resonated, but luckily I was able to bail with only one squad member and one crew casualty - luck most likely! Edit:It didn't last - a Saxhorn I thought I wiped out has just toasted a Bradley in the side armour, wiping out the squad within - yet the crew got out without a scratch - costly. :(

[mikeck]

I think this is my favorite Combat Mission game to date. Just plays really well as it really seems to capture the pace and lethality of modern warfare. I've never used smoke so much in my life. Bradley's with the improved "top down attack" TOWs are deadly. Pop up, fire, pop smoke (they are radio guided) and reverse back down. I enjoy using the Bradley's and infantry with Javelins more than tanks which is a change from previous games. I used to be all about the armor

[jomni]

I think this is my favorite Combat Mission game to date. Just plays really well as it really seems to capture the pace and lethality of modern warfare. I've never used smoke so much in my life. Bradley's with the improved "top down attack" TOWs are deadly. Pop up, fire, pop smoke (they are radio guided) and reverse back down. I enjoy using the Bradley's and infantry with Javelins more than tanks which is a change from previous games. I used to be all about the armor

The Javelin is a cheat.  The Russians don't have an equivalent weapon.  >:(  Wonder if people complain about it in PBEM or are there "no Javelin" house rules.
If there aren't any restrictions, I will use Javelins all the time.  Haven't done PBEM yet.

[Staggerwing]

Is the Russian Metis/Saxhorn-2 ATGM available in game?