Armor inaccuracy and bug

[tankmanlefront]

First of all, I want to say how much I am enjoying The Longest Day, especially the aggressive AI - when playing the GC as the Germans the Allies managed to kick me off the beach in a few sectors, something that never happened in the original CC5. Great job!! [&o]

I would like to address a couple of concerns with British armor (I suppose that should be armour) I don't think anyone else has mentioned in these forums. The Achilles tank destroyer in the game is identical to the Wolverine tank destroyer, i.e. it is still armed with the 3 inch gun and not the 17-pounder. To put it mildly, the large difference in armor-penetration capabilities between these two guns is a pretty big deal if you're facing down Panthers or even Mark IVs, as all of you in CC-land probably already know. Also, the graphic in both the battlegroup screen and the actual map should show the 17-pounder's longer barrel, muzzle brake and the counterweight attached to the barrel just behind the muzzle brake (this was correct in the GJS mod):

The bug that I found concerns the Churchill AVRE. It will only fire its 290mm spigot mortar if the gunner gets a fix on the target. The totally devastating area fire that you can get with this tank (or other tanks like the Sturmtiger or SU-152) when you have LOS to infantry, say, in a building but no target ring is not possible - the tank just fires its coaxial MG and in the crew listing the gunner is listed as having no target. I just tried this again in the single battle on the Port en Bessin map with the 50th Division against the 30. Schnelle Brigade after installing the beta patch and it cost me my AVRE, since I couldn't effectively return fire against against the Panzerschreck team in the church tower that had immobilized me. Their second shot was a direct hit...

I hope there's still time to fix these problems in the update that's coming soon - thanks for all the effort!

[advo]

I do not understand. In CC LTD parameters armor, for example, Panthers (Pz VD) are again specified such what were in CC WAR up to a patch. Patch CC WAR for them have corrected and have made much more realistic. But in CC LTD again all have returned back. In what sense?

[panzerlehr62]

I bet the tankers were pretty amazed when they saw there first Achilles tank arrive on the battlefield. That puppy looks pretty impressive in your picture.

Gz...

[tankmanlefront]

advo, to answer your question, I can only guess that maybe it has something to do with the fact that no British armor appears in WaR and wasn't covered by the patch. All the German and American (and all the other British) AFVs are accurately modelled both visually and for gameplay, as far as I can tell. 

I agree, panzerlehr, the Achilles and Sherman Firefly were impressive - they packed the only guns that had a reasonable chance against German armor on the Western front, at least until the M36 Jackson came out later in the year with its 90mm.

An interesting difference between the way the U.S. army used the M10 (and later the M36 and M18 Hellcat) and the way the British used the Achilles was that the Armericans had their aggressive tank destroyer doctrine, where the Sherman tanks were only supposed to be used for infantry support and avoid enemy armor and the TDs were supposed to seek out and destroy enemy tanks (not that this neat division ever corresponded to reality very much).  The British Army assigned their Achilles (and later their Archer TDs) to the Royal Artillery, who used them in a purely defensive role as mobile anti-tank guns - not that we should stick to this doctrine in CC!

[mooxe]

The main gun on the AVRE has a max range of around 90meters or something. The Centaur has a max range also, dont know it though.

[tankmanlefront]

Thanks, mooxe, for setting me straight! Since the Centaur and other SPGs in the game have a much longer max. range, I didn't think of consulting a range table.