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Give the Russians a Halftrack

Sichartshofen

Grizzled Veteran
Nov 21, 2005
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The one thing the Russians have been lacking is a suitable troop transport.

1. The clowncar was too silly.
2. The UC was too slow and impractical.
3. Tank riding is something you do to get to the battle. Not while in battle.

In RO the German half-track has always been the best troop transport. The Russians had received over 1100 lend-lease M2 half tracks. It was the first halftrack to be delivered to the Soviet Union around November 1942 and mainly supplied to the southern fronts. It holds up to a crew of 10 and could have either a DP28 or M2.

m2halftrack.jpg
 
Red Orchestra is about realism, not 100% balance.
I'm not talking about balance. I'm suggesting to give the Russians a more appropriate troop transport that they had at the time of Stalingrad. In the history of RO the Russians have had a Zis truck, clowncar and UC. None of these were ever suitable for the role they were intended for.
 
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I'm not talking about balance. I'm suggesting to give the Russians a more appropriate troop transport that they had at the time of Stalingrad. In the history of RO the Russians have had a Zis truck, clowncar and UC. None of these were ever suitable for the role they were intended for.

I know it sounds stupid but what the :IS2: is the clown car exactly?
 
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I'm not talking about balance. I'm suggesting to give the Russians a more appropriate troop transport that they had at the time of Stalingrad. In the history of RO the Russians have had a Zis truck, clowncar and UC. None of these were ever suitable for the role they were intended for.

Unless I'm mistaken those were all provided in far more significant numbers than the halftrack you refer to...
http://www.axishistory.com/index.php?id=5275

1000 is literally an inferior quantity to the number of Tiger I tanks supplied on all fronts by the end of World War 2, that is not a substantive enough quantity to justify worrying about its inclusion in my opinion, particularly considering the late date of its introduction relative to the narrow event-scope of the game.
 
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3. Tank riding is something you do to get to the battle. Not while in battle.


The thing is though, you don't ride a halftrack into battle either. They're transports, not combat vehicles. You dismounted in a protected area and then advanced on foot to the battle. Haltracks on both sides had very weak armor and could generally be taken out by heavy machine guns (like the DsHK or M2 Browning), AT rifles, light AA guns, etc.

The way that halftracks are used on many RO maps is highly unrealistic. Think Smolensk Stalemate. Rushing a trench and hopping out into an enemy position? In real life that would be suicide (as it is in game, often enough). Risking an expensive and vunerable peice of equipment would be disasterous in the long run. Think about it, if a mechanized unit looses it's transport, after the battle is over they're walking, which defeats the whole purpose of having a mechanized unit.

In RO, transports should only really be on larger maps where it's actually nessecary and useful. Otherwise the transport should be simulated by manipulating the spawn zones for infantry. In these cases the Zis truck is fine.
 
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The thing is though, you don't ride a halftrack into battle either. They're transports, not combat vehicles. You dismounted in a protected area and then advanced on foot to the battle. Haltracks on both sides had very weak armor and could generally be taken out by heavy machine guns (like the DsHK or M2 Browning), AT rifles, light AA guns, etc.

The way that halftracks are used on many RO maps is highly unrealistic. Think Smolensk Stalemate. Rushing a trench and hopping out into an enemy position? In real life that would be suicide (as it is in game, often enough). Risking an expensive and vunerable peice of equipment would be disasterous in the long run. Think about it, if a mechanized unit looses it's transport, after the battle is over they're walking, which defeats the whole purpose of having a mechanized unit.

In RO, transports should only really be on larger maps where it's actually nessecary and useful. Otherwise the transport should be simulated by manipulating the spawn zones for infantry. In these cases the Zis truck is fine.

Yeah but what about for special missions though, like say a squad wanted to flank the enemy by moving around them, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be used for an all out charge straight into enemy lines.
 
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Yeah but what about for special missions though, like say a squad wanted to flank the enemy by moving around them, it doesn't necessarily mean it has to be used for an all out charge straight into enemy lines.

If the map is large enough where you could flank safely around them, then yes, as I said that's reasonable. Most of ROOST's maps though, aren't this big. Hedgehog, Smolensk, Rackowice, heck maybe even Ogledow, all use the transports basically as combat vehicles, which they're not.

If I recall, the squad that was using the transport, at least in the case of the Germans, often detached the mounted MG and carried it forward with them.
 
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the m2 in the game? highly doubtful. the universal carrier? possibly.

my guess is that the Zis truck will be the transport for the russians.......they've already got statics modeled into maps and if they follow the same pattern they did with the pIV, those statics will eventually be drivable.

plus, tank riding right up to the front lines actually was very common, at least there's actual video/photographical evidence that would support it, so i'd hope to eventually see that ability added.....if not by TW then by the community in the form of a mutator
 
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