Chad Harrison writes is the skinny on SMOKE rounds in CMBN:
- There appears to be two types of SMOKE rounds in CMBN: a general SMOKE round and the WP rounds. As it should, the WP seems to generate smoke much quicker, which also lasts longer.
- Do not assume that all Shermans have WP - in reality only the M4A3(75)W Early and Mid have them, all other Shermans (including 105's and 76's) have normal smoke rounds. The M8 HMC also has WP, as does the US 81mm (on-map or off) and offmap 4.2in mortars. Everything else, including all German rounds, are normal SMOKE rounds.
- In CMBN, WP is definately deadly, as it should be. Dont overlook those shells in your Shermans. In my quick tests, I was seeing casualties against prone, hiding troops in the open up to 125m away.
- In CMBN, normal SMOKE is also deadly - at times it appears more deadly than WP. Even against prone, hiding troops in the open, normal SMOKE rounds were also causing casualties up to 100m away. And these are instant casualties - not from moving from the smoke or prolonged exposure to the smoke.
After this quick test, I wonder if there is a bug with how normal SMOKE is working. For instance, make a quick test and drop a single 105mm artillery normal SMOKE round in the middle of about 100 dispersed men moving in the open - so this isnt some extreme test where you have 100 guys stuffed into two action spots. A realistic, dispersed skirmish line of squads and support troops. A single 105mm normal SMOKE artillery shell lands somewhat in the middle of these moving troops with the following results:
1 KIA (brown base), 6 WIA (red base) and 4 light wounds
And that was not one squad that it landed on top of. One of the light wounds was 130m away. I can imagine that a 105mm artillery shell of *any* type would cause all sorts of rocks and debris to go flying in every which direction, and any of these could be lethal to exposed troops. So I do agree that some casualties could be possible from normal SMOKE rounds. But up to 130m away? Didnt troops follow 100m behind a rolling HE artrillery barrage?
Anyways, as it stands right now, keep the following in mind:
1. Not all smoke rounds are WP.
2. Both normal SMOKE rounds and WP rounds cause casualties - lots of wounds of all types, not just one guy dropping. Up to over 100m away. Dont fire anywhere close to your own troops, especially large artillery smoke.
3. Smoke grenades do not cause casualties or suppression as far as I can tell.
I tried to find in the manual different commands for poppning smoke or WP (if available), but found none. Is it basically situational and decided by the TacAi which to use?
No vehicle or artillery asset has both normal SMOKE and WP - they have one or the other. So if you use the TARGET SMOKE command, they will fire whichever one they have - SMOKE or WP. If you use the POP SMOKE command, that is the various smoke mortars, smoke pots, or smoke handgrenades that units have - there is no danger to anyone from the POP SMOKE command.