Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Thing is... I am not particularly sure if I want to withdraw from this position. Plus as far as I remember, frenchies had to break out from nearly enclosed siege and they did it with help of some Indian unit attacking Germans from the other direction.

So - unless you enjoy to do otherwise - I would make a battle or two out of Bir Hakeim, and then proceed to El Alamein. I can do Africa for a while. Your deployment makes it always interesting.

My tempo may slow down a little bit, as it was now. Running SPMBT tournament steals quite a time. Join if you like, NATO position is open :P

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

No thanks, I'm not interested in modern warfare at all I'm afraid.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

OK, I would be generally back to it. I will do my best with the last save I have and will give you further action shortly.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Cool. Before we continue with El Alamein it would be good to get an idea of how many forces you have.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

You mean percentage strength of entire battalion?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Generally what kind of forces you have and what kind of tanks, I need a refresher on that.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

OK, I have finish that battle once again.
This time my HQ survived.

As I reminder, I currently have French infantry battalion with British gear, reinforced with tank company (Crusader) and sort of recon squadron with armoured cars and motorcycles.
I am currently trying to break out of Bir Hakeim. Losses in my battalion probably exceed 50%, I have lots of wounded squads transported by any trucks I can muster, including captured ones. Due to cheaty AI artillery (please don't use it in such scenarios!) I have lost lot of hardware this battle, including AA and AT guns.
Generally, my situation looks really really bad, but I keep pushing. I have to, there is no other choice.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

What do you mean by "cheaty artillery"? BTW, I think the patching might have desynchronised us, I see some vehicles called "Humber III" that have a placeholder icon instead of proper graphics and french weapons. Any idea?

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

Patch desynchronised indeed. I will upgrade those vehicles later, so it should be OK.

About artillery: AI has "magic eye" when comes to artillery. They will target your units even if they do not technically "see" them. When any sort of arty is available to the AI, it is damn hard - and just annoying/unjust - to use any motorized, non armoured unit. I have lost those guns at the very back of my formation even though these could not be seen by the Germans. AI simply magically sees trucks standing there and targets those. You loose ****load of good stuff, what is obviously not happening in eg. PBEM.
You can test it for yourself. If enemy artillery is not busy with the direct frontline, they will target positions where your units are magically deployed. That way you can loose follow-on fores that did not enter combat etc.

Re: Campaign Scenario Setup Help - France
 

The Developers have been at great pains to point out that this is just flatly NOT the case! There is no "magic artillery". The AI plots based on a slew of stuff which piques its interest: roads, movement, dust clouds, VPs, artillery smoke, etc and occasionally a bit of random guesswork -JUST LIKE A HUMAN WOULD!

If you have stuff being targeted that you are convinced hasnt been seen then perhaps it is reasonably close to a VP, artillery fire, etc or was seen by a scout you havent detected - or you were REALLY unlucky...

Worth reading the FAQ = "WHY HAS THE GAME BEEN PROGRAMMED WITH ALL KNOWING "BORG" AI ARTILLERY" and the release notes.

I certainly dont find that "...They will target your units even if they do not technically "see" them. When any sort of arty is available to the AI..." and whilst I haven't much PBEM experience I would say AI no better than a human opponent.

There is also a reason Napoleon called artilery the "empress of the battlefield" and believed "God is on the side with the best artillery".