America's Army 3: Overwhelmed Servers, Underwhelmed Newbie

America's Army 3 has been released yesterday.

I downloaded and installed it late at night yesterday. Then I got to register an account and create a soldier character. All this data gets sent to a server somewhere, I think it's called an authentication server. Then I went into training and afterward lost all my achievements , I don't know why.

Although I couldn't get past two training sessions, I like it and it looks like the most fun lies ahead.

Graphically, the game is appealing and runs at decent frame rates in my aging system. Funny enough, entering my data the interface was a lag-fest. After I quit the game, it took like half a minute for my mouse to respond again. They say the servers were overwhelmed by traffic last night. Maybe this game communicates with those servers a tad too much.

I'm afraid I will leave this one for the future.

Cheers,

Combat Mission Shock Force: British Module Featured at "Rock, Paper, Shotgun"

The guys at "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" have published an after action report of "Combat Mission Shock Force: British Module".

I like the guys of RPS. They write very concise and full of humor articles. This after action report was no exception.

If the RPS guys got a review copy, does this mean that the module is near release?

Going through the article, I remembered one of the things I didn't like about Combat Mission Shock Force: scenarios are almost always a cake walk. Look how well the author of the AAR did. Sure, he got some men down, but have you seen the Syrian casualties? Is not only the abysmal casualty figures, is also about the silly ways virtual soldiers get killed. Like walking right into a kill zone, with the corpses of their comrades in plain sight.

I wouldn't know where to point regarding which is the critical thing missing or wrongly modeled in CMSF. Maybe is a combination of several things.

I am under the impression that the grogs waiting for the new CMx2 Normandy game are in for some utter disappointment.

Cheers,

Horse and Musket: Volume I, Two Articles at Wargamer.com

Well, if these two articles don't get your 18th century wargaming juices flowing, nothing will ...

William Trotter, prolific writer, historian and wargamer, has written two wonderful pieces for Wargamer.com:

Historical Article: The Seven Years War

After Action Review: Horse and Musket Vol I

Cheers,

Horse and Musket: Volume I Released

This may be the best computer war game out there for the age of Frederick the Great.
I have very fond memories playing the previous version, "The Prussian War Machine".

A new revamped war game by Boku Strategy Games, is now available from Matrix Games.

Cheers,

DCS Black Shark, Patch Delayed Until August

In this thread at the official DCS Black Shark forums, Matt Wagner has stated that the much waited-for patch will be released around August.

From that thread:

Eagle Dynamics Update – 15 June 2009
It’s been a little over a month since the last update, so I thought it time to bring you all up to speed:
1- DCS: Black Shark Update/Patch. The update/patch is still in work but many more of the training tracks are broken due to update/patch changes than we first expected. Moving forward with DCS: A-10C Warthog, it is unlikely we will continue using the track file system for training missions! Between this and a couple of high-priority, time-sensitive tasks that have come up, the update/patch will probably not be released until August 2009. We understand that this is disappointing news to some, but believe me when I say that we want to release the update/patch even more than any of you.
2- DCS: Black Shark Printed Manual. Regarding North American distribution, the manuals have arrived at the distributer’s warehouse and will be sent to both GoGamer.com and Amazon.com. We apologize for the delay on this.
3- DCS: Black Shark Localization. Our localization manager and the dedicated Spanish translation team are working very hard on finalizing the Spanish version and are now at the release candidate stage.
4- DCS: A-10C Warthog. Not much to report here other than progress is good and it we will go into alpha testing after the Black Shark patch is released. Probably starting in August we’ll be discussing this project in more detail and I will start the Producer Notes soon after. We appreciate the PM beta tester application, but please note that we are not accepting beta tester applications at this time.
5- Lock On: Flaming Cliffs. As mentioned in the last update, we are working on a further evolution of this product line. However, until the software is essentially done, we will not be discussing this in any detail. Sorry.
6- 3rd Party Tools. As some of you may have noticed a Tool Wiki is available here: http://en.wiki.eagle.ru/wiki/All_about_land and forum discussion here: http://forums.eagle.ru/forumdisplay.php?f=89 In the near future we will be adding an additional 18 documents regarding terrain construction (kudos to Hawg11). Later in the year we will be adding additional plug-ins and instructional documents to create new aircraft.
Matt Wagner
Producer, TFC/Eagle Dynamics

There is one update that will be available sooner than August and that is a new version of the Georgian Oil War campaign. Again, Matt Wagner in the same thread as above:

Given the unfortunate delay in getting the 1.0.1 patch out, the one item I could released early is an updated version of the included Georgia Oil War campaign. This version includes many adjustments based on user feedback.
Primary changes:
- Various identified scripting errors fixed
- Player killed point penalty removed
- Cold start on all missions that do not have fixed timing issues
- Vista warning removed
- Mission titles based on mission type removed to avoid confusion
- All offensive missions now are rated between 51 and 100 to provide more random mission assignment due to players always trying to max score at 100
- Force on force missions now start player at 50 pts.
- Radar SAMs in third chapter removed
- Recon zones increased to 3,000 meters
- AD systems at route points have even lower random variable settings
https://www.digitalcombatsimulator.c...oducts&lang=en

Please follow this link to the new Georgian Oil War campaign (v1.1).

This patch better be worth the wait ... Just kidding.

I've just browsed the official forums and there are some disgruntled virtual pilots. Not many.

Waiting ... waiting ...


Cheers,

An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Plt in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 5)

6:55, Time to move the two M3 CFVs from team 2-A (north flank) out as "hunters".

I want to find out where the enemy tanks are before moving forward the already mauled team 3-A (south flank).

The two M3 CFVs from team 2-A leave the M1 tank behind and move cautiously in separate directions. All those trooper skills will come in handy right now. One M3 CFV (vehicle 2/2-A) moves some 500 meters south and finds no trace of the enemy. The other M3 CFV (vehicle 4/2-A) moves west. At 7:12, vehicle 4/2-A finds two Iraqi T-72s some 1.2 km south of its position. We finally found where the enemy armor is.

Vehicle 4/2-A finds the enemy.Please click the image for an expanded view.

Having accomplish its task (find the enemy and report) I should have pulled out this "hunter" out of harms way. I was in the commander's seat of this vehicle at this point and I have to tell you, the view shown in the previous screenshot chilled my spine. When the spotting of enemy armor happened I had this M3 CFV in an un-covered position, with a ridgeline behind me.

Not the best of places to find out enemy armor with an M3 CFV. The view from vehicle 4/2-A when the enemy armor was spotted. The enemy tanks are somewhere far in the background.Please click the image for an expanded view.

I threw smoke in front and panicked. I could have pulled out moving to my right but I didn't have the guts to leave the safety of the smoke curtain. As usually I couldn't remember about the smoke generator. I was not going to retreat my M3 by moving backwards and cresting the small ridge behind. Sequentially showing the top and then the belly of the vehicle to a couple of enemy tanks is not a good idea.

The it became obvious that the two tanks haven't seen my M3 CFV, so I engaged both tanks with TOWs. Two enemy tanks destroyed. So much for "hunter", this M3 CFV just became a "killer".

Situation at 7:12. We found enemy armor ... and killed it.Please click the image for an expanded view.

A view of the two Iraqi T-72s killed with TOWs.Please click the image for an expanded view.

I bugged out from the area and returned back to the safety of the hills near the M1 tank.

We found and killed two tanks already. The other enemy tanks should be nearby but cannot be spotted from our northern flank team. It's time to move forward team 3-A (south flank).

To be continued ...

P/S: I am sorry the story is trickling down so slowly. Flooded with stuff both at the office and at home.

Cheers,

US Army Command & General Staff College Wargames at the Origins Convention

In this forum thread at Wargamer.com, Dr. James Sterrett from CGSC confirms he will be holding staff war games at the Origins game fair.

Scheduled war games are Flashpoint Germany (Matrix Games), TacOps (Battlefront) and Battles from the Bulge (Panther Games).

On a side note, the mighty David Glantz is scheduled to lecture during the game fair.

I want to attend to this fair, but I'm afraid I spent too much of my leave with job interviews lately.

Cheers,

An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Team in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 4)

Around 6:51, all teams are at the edge of the palm trees, scanning west before moving on.

An artillery barrage falls over team 4-A (center group, 2 M3 CFVs). Team 4-A pulls back to safety un-harmed. The enemy has seen us. There must be some infantry OPs somewhere.

Team 4-A pulls back to avoid the artillery fire.

With the certainty that the enemy has seen us, I order everybody to wait for a couple of minutes, and scan the terrain west. No victors out there.

I am a bit scared of letting both teams 2-A and 3-A to start moving west. I choose team 2-A (north flank) as the one to move on first because its avenue of infiltration/penetration is closer to the limit of our sector. If something nasty happens during their approach, they can move north to safety relatively fast.

Team 2-A moves up

Team 2-A advances northwest through a small valley. Formation column, with the tank up front. Because the terrain now is a bit more closed, I want to make sure that if contact is to happen during the march, a tank is the first thing the enemy faces

Another artillery barrage, now on team 3-A (southern flank), produces the first loss. An M3 CFV falls prey to the fire from the sky. This is not a good start.

Team 3-A suffers the first loss.

Fortunately, team 2-A (northern flank) advances unopposed.

Another view of the advance of team 2-A

It’s now 6:55 and the time of deploying the “hunters” of team 2-A has come.

Situation at 6:55. Note team 2-A's advance.

To be continued ...

Cheers,

An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Plt in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 3)

The Execution

A side note: I played this scenario jumping from one vehicle to another. This may not be of the liking of simulation purists out there, but I wanted the whole hunter-killer experience for this report.

From 6:30 to 6:49

All teams move forward. Teams 2-A and 3-A, move in a spread out “vee” formation, with two M3 CFVs forward and an M1 tank behind. With the new mixed units feature of v2.146, it was just a couple of mouse clicks to have the M3s and the M1 moving as a formation. I wish it would be an option to spread the formation even more, to have the tank 300 meters behind the M3 CFVs.

Passing through the wreck of an Iraqi recon vehicle. Click on the image for an expanded view.

We scan the terrain ahead, but no victors are found. We cross the only place of our sector where there is some green vegetation.

Situation at 6:49 AM. Bug report: teams 2-A and 3-A show as a single tank icon in the AAR section of SB ProPE.Click on the image for an expanded view.

Team 2-A emerges from the palms in a "vee" hunter-killer formation.Click on the image for an expanded view.

To be continued ...

Cheers,

An An M3/M1 Hunter-Killer Plt in a Hasty Attack: Learning to Punch with the Fingers Spread (Part 2)

The Plan

We are deep in the desert. Right in front of us there is a small valley, oddly scattered with palm trees. West of that valley, the hills we have to clear. Once we get inside this hilly terrain, long range engagements (in which we have such an awesome edge) will be impossible. Whatever happens in the hills, it will be a knife-fight. It's early in the morning and a moderate sandstorm has limited the visibility to 1 km.

Based on the light resistance we found in the last hours and the lack of prepared enemy defenses, the enemy forces are likely conducting a mobile security mission. One hour ago, our Sqn command group has destroyed two PCs and one tank (see reference points in the map). At least 4 T-72s and 5 BMPs were seen hastily moving west.

Our task is to clear the enemy from the sector indicated in the map and restore the screen line.

Forces available for this mission are a US Cav Plt (6 M3 CFV, 2 M1 MBT) which I organized as a Hunter-Killer Plt (see previous post). The Squadron's aerial component is grounded until the climate conditions improve. We have no indirect fire support available for this mission.

My scheme of maneuver is, sequentially:
1) Clear the valley with the whole Hunter-Killer (HK) Plt
2) Infiltrate or force a penetration of the hilly terrain via small valleys/low terrain at the north and southern extremes of the sector with HK teams 2A and 3A
3) Teams 2A and 3A conduct mutually supported HK missions to find and destroy the enemy forces. Team 4A (2 M3 CFVs) stays back in the small valley, alerts of any enemy movement in the west part of the sector and stays ready to reinforce HK operations of teams 2A and 3A

H-K and HK: Hunter-Killer tactics; click the image for an expanded view

The infiltration/penetration of the hilly terrain of 3A HK team (southern flank) could have been made a bit more down south, near the southern edge of the sector. I opted for a small low terrain entrance a bit north than that because I wanted to make sure that team 3A could support team 2A.

Coming up next: the execution

Cheers,