One thing I would change...............

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Disrupted, clearing mines etc should have a white background behind the message like in PzCs. I don't know if anybody else is having trouble seeing them. I keep running Engs through minefields and not seeing it and following troops hit mines. <slaps forehead> Just looking at making it easier to see.

[Dog Soldier]

IIRC, engineers do have a yellow text that appears on their counter when they encounter mines. The game engine automatically sets them to clearing the mines so you can choose to leave them in the hex to do so.

Now, if you are running them around in trucks, you will not get mine attacks, but neither will you mark those hexes a mined. Stay in the trucks and the mines will not be cleared. The hexes you passed through to discover mines will still appear normal on the map not revealing the hidden mines. Not a bad trade off for a free pass in trucks for the engineers, IMHO.

BTW, your engineers sitting those trucks are now isolated in the opponent's turn and very vulnerable to destruction. I hope this debunks the myth that running through minefields in trucks is a good thing to do with your engineers. Minefields are only useful if covered by firepower.


Go ahead. Run engineers through my Soviet minefields in trucks in a PBEM game. Be sure you have lots of stationary to write those letters that start...

Dear Mr & Mrs So and so,
We regret to inform you....

I know where the wooden crosses grow.

Dog Soldier

[ComradeP]

I hope this debunks the myth that running through minefields in trucks is a good thing to do with your engineers.

That depends on whether they are covered, and on how many engineers you have. If there are 3 minefields that your men wouldn't be able to move into by foot, whilst you also have 3 engineers, it can be worth it if the minefields are either not protected or you can blind the protection with smoke.

Obviously, simply driving your men around the map in trucks straight into the enemy defenses will get them killed like you say, but there are situations where it can be useful to do so.

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

Running through is not intentional in this case. The white background makes the message standout better so it is easier to see.

[Dog Soldier]

Oh, I see OJW,
You are saying the yellow lettering in the images I posted above are not enough. Sorry I missed that point. You might want to contact Strela directly in this case as he was in charge of most of the graphics we see in the game. He might be able to do something there.

ConradeP,
Yes smoke would definitely be required and would be helpful. It would not provide absolute protection as there could be enemy units between the mines defending in a 'box' defense. They would still shoot you up if you moved next to them in travel mode. The smoke could prevent some losses during the approach by the engineers. That would be good.

Engineers clearing mines are very vulnerable. Direct fire is not the only way to hurt them.

Mines with out covering fire are useless anyways, so in that case it would not matter as the fight has most likely moved on from this sector where the mines are being cleared. In this case, your troops are running into other mines without engineer support, so, I would say there has to be a really pressing reason to be clearing these mines that are now in the attacker's rear.

Cardinal observation from PZB: Kursk. Neither side has enough engineers. Players will have to get used to that.

Dog Soldier

[Outlaw Josey Wales]

I figure the messages of clearing mines, disrupted etc can keep the color they have, just add the white background like in PzCs, if it doesn't take a massive amount of work of course.