Dust

[PoorOldSpike]

DUST AND WIND DIRECTION AWARENESS IN CMAK

From a cmak game, (the tank at top left is dead)

[PoorOldSpike]

DUST FROM DEMOLISHED BUILDINGS

There's no dust in cmbb except when buildings are demolished, the smaller the building the less time the dust will last, possibly just 2 or 3 turns, but large buildings dust lasts much longer, around 5 -6 turns..

[PoorOldSpike]

[PoorOldSpike]

BELOW - More dust trails (hit shift-I to cycle density)

[Copper]

Its a good way of spotting where your enemy armour is moving around.

I sometimes use Rommels tactics. Rommel used to tie huge bails of wood to the backs of Italian lorries and made them drive around brewing up huge clouds of smoke which the Allies thought was mass armoured movement.

You can replicate this and put your opponent of balance by driving trucks back and forward behind cover on one side of the map while executing a shwerpunkt on the opposite side.

For his first battle in early 1941, Rommel used mobility and ruse to magnify his slender strength, and this helped win the psychological battle with the British. The Germans even deployed lines of trucks to create dust clouds to give the impression of greater strength, and by such a ploy surrounded and captured the commander and a brigade of the British 2nd Armored Division at Mechili.

[PoorOldSpike]

Yes...cough...cough...splutter.... gosh it's getting dusty in here...
Cmak dust looks really neat and realistic but sadly it messes up the game a little too much for my liking because it can wreck lines-of-sight too much and puts a spanner in the works of your cunning plans..
I mean, not only is it kicked up by movement, but also by the blast of your gun firing, and enemy shots hitting the ground etc so lines-of-sight can vanish and reappear all the time as the dust appears and disappears.
For that reason I'd advise newcomers to CM to stick mostly with cmbb at least until they've learnt the game, because there's no dust in cmbb, you can see for miles and miles in the crisp clear air, and your tactics must also therefore be crisp clear and precise..

[Copper]

Depends how you see CM...as a game or a simulation?

[MGK(FGM)]

and there is another important "dust" in this game - in dry conditions after every missed (to short) shot, cloud of dust cover target

[Copper]

I think POS mentioned that.

[PoorOldSpike]

and there is another important "dust" in this game - in dry conditions after every missed (to short) shot, cloud of dust cover target

Yes, good point.. :)
For example your tank might 'lock on' to an enemy tank and fire with a strong red target line, but if it misses, the impact of its shot hitting the ground near the enemy tank can kick up dust that will break the lock, causing your tank to look around for another target.
Then when the dust clears you might now find the enemy tank has had time to point its gun straight at you, and zammo!!

In fact that happened to me in a game (below) when I sent my 5 x Sherman 75mm's racing down a road to execute the Starfleet Academy 'Hook Manoeuvre' and get behind 4 x Tigers to hit them in the pointblank rear.
As the pics show, I got behind them perfectly, but so much dust was kicked up that I couldn't see the Tigers through it when I arrived in firing position.(I've toggled the dust off in the top pic or we wouldn't see most of the tanks)
Then when it began to dissipate, I found myself staring down Tiger muzzles because they'd had time to turn their turrets towards the Shermans while the dust was clearing, and I lost all the Shermans and the game, and he lost no Tigers, the Shers got off a few shots which ricochetted but stood no chance..




Carnage after the dust clears..