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Haha I was trying to think up a wargaming name 12 years ago and happened to see a story on the net about a chinchilla called Spike that got its foot caught in the bars of its cage and needed vet attention, so I called myself Poor Old Spike as a gesture of sympathy and support..:)
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But enough of that, here's a sensational new type of game I've invented called
BLOCKING ACTION!

It's selected as a normal QB Meeting, but is played on a longer map which I've specially created, so that the defender will always arrive at most of the objectives first to block the oncoming enemy advance.
To balance his advantage, the attacking force will have a 25% purchase points bonus.
It therefore bridges the gap between being a Meeting and Asslt/Att/Probe.
Here's the map, I've simply taken the stock Meeting map 315 and doubled it's length so that the Blue attacker has a long way to travel to reach the objectives, and added some roads, trees, hills and buildings to the extended half.
In the meantime, the Red defender is hastily scrambling against time to get into position to form a welcoming committee before the attacker arrives.
I haven't tested it yet, so if anybody would like to give it a go against me, PM or mail me and I'll send the first file, you choose to be Blue (Ukraine) or Red (Russian), 30 minutes, Human-purchase, Vet difficulty, Mixed Force, no rarity. We can play it ladder or non-ladder, your choice. Tiny size would be best for a quick test, that'll give the attacker 4201 points and the defender 3381.
If it plays okay I'll double the length of more stock maps for playing more blocking actions..:)




The view from the Attackers end, it's a long way to the rich farmlands of Tipperary and will test his ability to advance fast..



The Defenders view, lots of good places to set up ambushes but he has to do it fast, and has to decide which objs to defend, all of them or just some..

HELP!!! I've been arranging games with a bunch of members via PM's, but now when I try to send PM's to them to discuss params I'm not allowed because the Blitz message comes up- "you have reached your daily limit of 20 PM's".
Same when I try to send emails through Blitz, I'm not allowed because it says "you have reached your daily limit of 10 emails", and I can't talk to anybody!



EDIT- Raz just waved his magic wand and fixed it by doubling PM and mail allowances..:)

The 1.03 patch was released last week and introduces a whole bunch of tweaks and twiddles including giving the Russian AT-14 Kornet the ability to fire from buildings.
I took the Kornet screenshot below to confirm it works, and I've edited the fact into the chart in post #26.
Incidentally, 1.03 also slightly reduces the purchase cost of all nations ATGM's and I've edited that in too.

Speaking of costs, here are the 1.03 prices of AFV's (Experience=Regular, Motivation=Normal, Fit, 0 Leadership).
GAZNZ suggested setting Rarity to 'Standard' in all games to get a more realistic force and I fully agree with him.
The cost column on the far right is rarity 'Standard', and on its left is the cost column for rarity 'None'
Note how Standard rarity triples the cost of an Abrams (APS) from 862 to 2586.
(Incidentally the costs seem to fluctuate slightly depending on whether you buy Single vehicles or whether they're part of a Formation, the purchase system is a bit complex and maths is not my strong point)

AMERICAN



RUSSIAN




UKRAINIAN

ATGM wouldn't fire while on 'Hide'

It's not a bug, it's normal behaviour. This screenshot is from a QB against Hunter; My Ukrainian Skif has been on 'Hide' in this treeline for most of the game, and I assumed it'd automatically un-hide and engage any juicy targets that showed up, but it didn't un-hide even though three Russian targets turned up and have been there for several turns like sitting ducks, (circled left to right:- Tunguska, BMP-2, Truck)
(Note the Skif is fit and healthy, Crack,with 'high' motivation, +1 leadership and not out of command)




The Skif has clear LOS to the Tunguska..




And clear LOS to the BMP and Truck, but it wouldn't un-hide and fire..




So I have to manually un-hide it and it quickly lets a bird fly at the Tunguska..



..and knocks it out..




Then it turns its attention to the BMP and trashes that with one shot too..

However, although it had two missiles left, it preferred not to use them against the truck, and opened up on it with small arms instead..



..and hit it a few times but the truck reversed to safety..



Eye candy, the fatal hole in the Tunguska..



And in the BMP..

(05-06-2015, 09:24 AM)PoorOldSpike Wrote: [ -> ]The cost column on the far right is rarity 'Standard', and on its left is the cost column for rarity 'None'
Note how Standard rarity triples the cost of an Abrams (APS) from 862 to 2586.

I am a bit confused. If rarity is set to none then there should not be a rarity cost nor a rarity budget. Could you have made a typeo?

(05-06-2015, 09:24 AM)PoorOldSpike Wrote: [ -> ](Incidentally the costs seem to fluctuate slightly depending on whether you buy Single vehicles or whether they're part of a Formation, the purchase system is a bit complex and maths is not my strong point)

There is a decreased cost for vehicles in a formation but there is also a 50 point overhead for a formation. So at some point you are better off buying a new formation but before that you might be better off - points wise - buying single vehicles. Or something like that

(05-07-2015, 12:57 AM)PoorOldSpike Wrote: [ -> ]This from a QB against Hunter; My Ukrainian Skif has been on 'Hide' in this treeline for most of the game, and I assumed it'd automatically un-hide and engage any juicy targets that showed up, but it didn't un-hide even though three Russian targets turned up and have been there for several turns like sitting ducks, (circled left to right:- SPAA, BMP-2, Truck)
(Note the Skif is fit and healthy, Crack,with 'high' motivation, +1 leadership and not out of command)

This is exactly the behaviour I would expect if you give a unit a hide order (and exactly why I don't use hide very much). High motivation helps make sure they obey your orders.

Sweet result when you un hid them. In fact you might have lucked out on this one. If they were not hidden then they would have engaged the first AFV that showed up and given up their approximate position. Which would have given your opponent a chance to direct the other AFV to shoot up the trees around them.

(05-07-2015, 01:05 AM)A Canadian Cat Wrote: [ -> ]I am a bit confused. If rarity is set to none then there should not be a rarity cost nor a rarity budget. Could you have made a typeo?

As I understand it, the far right column is the only one that matters because it lists what the costs are with Standard rarity.
I think the column to its left is simply there for comparisons sake to show what the cost would have been if rarity was set to 'None'.

(05-07-2015, 01:11 AM)A Canadian Cat Wrote: [ -> ]

(05-07-2015, 12:57 AM)PoorOldSpike Wrote: [ -> ]This from a QB against Hunter; My Ukrainian Skif has been on 'Hide' in this treeline for most of the game, and I assumed it'd automatically un-hide and engage any juicy targets that showed up, but it didn't un-hide even though three Russian targets turned up and have been there for several turns like sitting ducks, (circled left to right:- SPAA, BMP-2, Truck)
(Note the Skif is fit and healthy, Crack,with 'high' motivation, +1 leadership and not out of command)

This is exactly the behaviour I would expect if you give a unit a hide order (and exactly why I don't use hide very much). High motivation helps make sure they obey your orders.

Sweet result when you un hid them. In fact you might have lucked out on this one. If they were not hidden then they would have engaged the first AFV that showed up and given up their approximate position. Which would have given your opponent a chance to direct the other AFV to shoot up the trees around them.

The only good thing about Hide in that example was that it meant nobody spotted the Skif for the whole game, I suppose being prone with your face in the dirt makes it harder for the enemy to spot you with binoculars or IR.
And yes the Skif team was lucky that the 3 enemy units stopped practically under their noses because it meant I could order them to un-hide and start flying their birds.
If the 3 units had kept going they might have moved out of the Skifs LOS before I could un-hide it.