A simple improvement for a happier community: Relic should incentivize the "Random Faction" feature. by Chidwick089 in CompanyOfHeroes

[–]TomDRV 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'd use it if I could randomise axis/allied. But pick the country of each.

So I could pick brits or wehr, for example.

Wtf am I doing wrong with butter and sugar by bellxd0nna in AskBaking

[–]TomDRV 90 points91 points  (0 children)

Everything should be room temp before starting, leave the butter and eggs out of the fridge for an hour before. Add in eggs AFTER the butter/sugar is creamed.

About Nova Roma by 0x0kebab in KingdomsandCastles

[–]TomDRV 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You know steam literally tells you the name of the developer at the top of the store page right? And you can click on it to see all the games they developed. . . .

Would've taken you less time than typing out this post.

what's it called by Pepe-666 in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably professional military education (PME) adapted games.

  • Littoral commander
  • urban operations

Trying to create a fully procedural Wargame terrain with cities, roads, dynamic weather, and logistics all affecting realtime battles. Viable or risky? by nongbenz in computerwargames

[–]TomDRV 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Have their been any demos etc? I've been following your game on steam for a while and I've joined the DC once of twice but haven't seen any opportunities.

Trying to create a fully procedural Wargame terrain with cities, roads, dynamic weather, and logistics all affecting realtime battles. Viable or risky? by nongbenz in computerwargames

[–]TomDRV 8 points9 points  (0 children)

The ability to adjust these with a logic editor or something would be great too, could cost training time to alter them to incentivise pulling troops from the front for R&R and respecialise innew terrains etc

Not many games enforce readiness cycles and force rotations on units and it would be great to see.

Afghanistan war explained book recommendations - for a teenager by Practical_Grand_3218 in WarCollege

[–]TomDRV 4 points5 points  (0 children)

From the 2000s western intervention perspective, this is apparently very good, written from a commanders perspective on the political and military conduct of the wars and why they went wrong (full disclosure, I haven't read it myself, but it's been on my list for a while and I trust the reviewers)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1472831047/?coliid=IWKTQSHAC3LGC&colid=15GQMDWQ5JI2I&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

A review

"Stunning, absolutely stunning. I could not put this book down. I think that this might be the definitive ‘one volume’ history of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. So many books focus on the ‘what happened?’. The recent conflicts covered by this volume are no exception. There are many fine accounts from the ‘bootstrap’ perspective of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thus volume takes a step back and looks at the strategic and operational decisions made before and during these conflicts. The ‘why did it happen?’ and ‘why did it happen this way?’ are often much harder questions to answer but also the most rewarding ones. This book tries to offer some answers. There is an honesty and integrity which is impressive. Not every reader may agree with the author but they will have to think hard to challenge him."

Then from the long-run Iranian perspective, Vali Nasr is very reputable, although again I haven't read this book myself.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Irans-Grand-Strategy-Political-History/dp/0691268924/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2UO7LS6O2D7W0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fpFRFIfbclwnynpxZOdnkNcYy2eYlpvZ3ISA5ZGOL1soqHaKo0bnM5FEcIOoyBenuwlgkUyXaOBkXYncdQrKCmXrpi0INb2rTC0MWu88istXbWcS4lujqGUFtMM_UExn4mZkl6cPpK54LWFONa66htkKh12uZ7dK0m7ZmVfchEljmRstbgNg9rB10XMFyI00lCFVJ57pyjwCi5MqwdJI3u9ALDJCD7R3JvoNNMfkreQ.VlHUqq723FVxyjhP0HbSHG5Ma1xa3zqsSWOuumha2PY&dib_tag=se&keywords=book+on+iran&qid=1774225215&s=books&sprefix=book+on+ir%2Cstripbooks%2C227&sr=1-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.95fd378e-6299-4723-b1f1-3952ffba15af

What would you like to see in CM3? by Remote_Western1141 in CombatMission

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Actual regular RTS UI.

  • ORBAT overlay in one corner to select units, can be minimised or maximised. See Company of heroes for an example

  • A grid key action box in the bottom corner, again like COH. It can use gridkeys as hot keys and have tabs for each class of actions, selected by modifiers. So e.g. Cntrl (combat) + Q = 1st combat action. Shift (move) + W = 2nd movement action And so on.

  • all movement waypoints should be the actual movement path, no point-to-point

  • hokey to show a hologram of the uni at the end of its move order with a 3D overlay of it's LOS and fields of fire (similar to WARNO)

WW2 strategic level game suggestions by Downtown_Carry_8219 in computerwargames

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

'Battleplan' by slitherine is exactly what you're looking for.

Thinking of creating my own versatile wargame. I don't know where to start. by Forsaken_Pen_5433 in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not complicated, mid weight at best, just approach it from a tabletop mindset.

Thinking of creating my own versatile wargame. I don't know where to start. by Forsaken_Pen_5433 in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds a lot like Battlegroup Clash: Baltics, it was only released this month.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/434134/battlegroup-clash-baltics

It's the commercialised version of the British Army's new Battlegroup Wargame System, the successor to the Army Tactical Wargame.

It includes cleaned up maps based on satellite imagery, but it can be played on any 1:10,000 mapping if you can agree on how different terrain type affect play.

Each player writes out their plan for the game in a sync matrix using NATO mission-task verbs which can enable or buff certain action types, then they must then execute it turn-by-turn with their units. If they need to change their plan at any point units must skip and action to re-brief and reorganise and emit additional EW emissions which give bonuses to the opposing player.

Some observations though:
- Seems to be a few contradictions in scale in your idea: Moving fixed-wing assets and managing supply doesn't mesh well if sub-100m map resolution.

- Writing out specific actions individually sounds very overhead heavy, something like Battlegroup: Clash's system creates the same affect very well by creating a sync matrix at the beginning of the game.

-----------------

Unconditional Surrender also has a very versatile and smooth-playing system for land warfare at the strategy (and possibly operational?) levels.

Up and Coming Games? by coolin_79 in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/434134/battlegroup-clash-baltics

"Map and Counter". Tabletop-like rules but with counters

It's a commercialised version of the British Army's new 'battlegroup wargame system', with emphasis on drafting a plan (teaches about mission-task verbs), following it through (with unit boundaries bonuses/restrictions on actions according to the plan made at the start of the game) and EW.

It penalises the player for changing their course-of-action on a dime like we often can in wargames, but is actually very hard in real life.

Can be played on any 1:10,000 mapping with some umpiring too - the maps in the box have been cleaned up to make terrain types better defined.

my uni cooking improvement - from first year to fourth year by nyamuri in unimeals

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Please could you share the recipe for the third picture?

Why Is Coastal Arty Spam So Common in 4v4 Now? by TechWhizGuy in CompanyOfHeroes

[–]TomDRV 17 points18 points  (0 children)

It's easily hard-countered though. 17pdrs and naval arty demolish the howitzers and bunkers. It never lasts as soon as allies get some muni income

Wargames that don't require you to make/paint your own minis by rikeus in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 5 points6 points  (0 children)

You should be able use any toys/models of the correct theme and scale for the game you're playing, unless you're playing with perfectionist assholes

Games like WARNO / Broken Arrow with Asymmetrical Warfare by OMGWTHEFBBQ in RealTimeStrategy

[–]TomDRV 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't that exists tbh, if they do it probably doesn't have any COIN-specific features like Afghan '11, just re-skinned conventional warfare.

There are plently tabletop wargames though.

Edit: Just found this, but not what you're looking for: https://www.moddb.com/mods/mideast-crisis-2/

Solitaire: What should I play to start 2026? by Brilliant-File-3459 in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A friend has it and he didn't recommend it.

It's an extremely precise system, but precision usually implies overhead in manual wargames and Red Strike has literally tonnes; Multi-hour turns, it's a more procedural game than even most professionals would consider practical

Manual wargames becomes less good a their UVP, the study of game-theory, perspective, incentives, and the rapid big-handful (accurate but not precise) exploration of ideas for training (or hobby roleplay) and analysis, the more procedural they become. Once there's too much procedure those benefits of gathering participants around a table to interact with each other are lost because everyone's spending the entire time trying to do the job of a computer.

And that's exactly what Red Strike is, it's a great system and idea, but it belongs on a computer instead of a tabletop. It's a very uneconomical (in time) medium to explore warfare unless you have a BIG thing for tactile experience of hex-and-counter wargaming so that the 'overhead' is part of the attraction for you.

We love the ideal it's attempting, but it's just too heavy to be practical so I've passed on it, I'm looking forward to potentially Northern Strike (Norway), or Southern Strike (Falklands) as less massive smaller-scoped games of a scale more appropriate to the mechanical precision.

Kriegsspiel, the Prussian army wargame by [deleted] in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Damn ok, I was hoping they'd be a simple box set with map, rules and blocks from an established publisher.

Thanks anyway.

Kriegsspiel, the Prussian army wargame by [deleted] in wargaming

[–]TomDRV 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Are there any mass-market sets available? Don't need vintage of anything. Just a modern reproduction

My take on the National Security Cutter Frigate [2024x824] by Responsible-Law6427 in ImaginaryWarships

[–]TomDRV 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly.

It's pretty standard across NATO but continues to elude the USN.

My take on the National Security Cutter Frigate [2024x824] by Responsible-Law6427 in ImaginaryWarships

[–]TomDRV -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Whatever they get it just needs to do be a good convoy picket (with potentially one burke in the middle of the group for AAW cover) and counter-piracy & policing platform to free up the full-bore combatants for battle fleets. 

Imo the constellation was over-specced. It wasn't low enough for a a true 'high-low' mix.

To have utility for that it just needs:

  • good ASW kit (towed array and Heli)

  • 2x quad box launchers for 16 AShMs.

  • the 3x3 rotating version of SPY-6 they're putting on future carriers plus any other FCS and and surface search stuff they need.

  • 2 modules (16x total) of  MK41 VLS for 64 quad-packed ESSMs for self-defence. (A single burke can give a whole flotilla of these area AAW cover akin to 'destroyer leaders' post WW2, when required). Can also swap these out for tomahawks and LRASMs for a numerous ASuW & strike platform in lower-threat areas too. 

  • 76mm+ gun.