Deployable mines from an M-3

[8thJinx]

You can already deploy objects from vehicles (supplies or troops), and some of those deployable objects blow up when contacting an object (torps hitting boats).  How cool would it be to have a mine load-out from an M-3, to protect a town or field.  An M-3 could carry 8 mines or so, and give them 30 minute life spans.  Make it so you can't see it, but if you run over it, an HE charge goes off.  It could track a tank or destroy an M-3 or Jeep.

[Arlo]

Why not a slight chance to see them (if you're looking really hard, say high magnification at the right spot)? Nothing should be added to the game without a chance at avoidance or counter-capability. The mines would still serve a purpose, even if opponents spot them (for, if they suspect them, they'd have to slow down to look for them and if they spot them they'd have to have the correct load-out to deal with them):

[asterix]

...How cool would it be to have a mine load-out from an M-3, to protect a town or field.  ...

-1

People actually shooting at each other in a game is a lot cooler IMHO.

[OldNitro]

+1 for Engineer functions in game, using the Halftracks..
Its an old wish, but a good one!

Mine Laying/Clearing, Emplacing Tank Obstacles,
Trenching and Breaching, Bridge Building, and Demolitions..

Instead of just mundanely running Supps to town, maybe
they could and/or build defenses..

Always thought that building Pontoon bridges with
"Bridge Supplies" would fit in this game well..
 

[ccvi]

When you end flight and respawn, do the mines stay where they are?
If so, can you drop more? How many more batches can you deploy?
If not, does this mean you have to stay alive or sit in tower without respawning to keep the mines active?

Do mines cause friendly fire? (do they blow up when friendlies roll over them?)

[Greebo]

I think a better way to employ mines in the game would be to have minefields as an object in the terrain editor for terrain designers to build into terrains.

All players would either have to go round the field, risk going through it (50% chance of hitting one) or employ a mine clearing tank to clear a path through it. The minefield would be clearly marked by barbed wire and "Achtung Minen!" signs on its borders. A cleared path would last for say 30 minutes and be bordered by two white lines, the RL British flail tanks laid two trails of chalk behind them IIRC.

This would allow a terrain designer to create choke points on the terrain in strategic places. Perhaps a minefield between an SP and a town or even two with a narrow gap between them. Defending GVs could then wait to the left of right edge of the minefield for incoming enemies. Attackers could bring a mine clearing tank to get past them.

[DubiousKB]

Main Arena -1

Scenarios and events +100

[bangsbox]

+1

I think a better way to employ mines in the game would be to have minefields as an object in the terrain editor for terrain designers to build into terrains.

All players would either have to go round the field, risk going through it (50% chance of hitting one) or employ a mine clearing tank to clear a path through it. The minefield would be clearly marked by barbed wire and "Achtung Minen!" signs on its borders. A cleared path would last for say 30 minutes and be bordered by two white lines, the RL British flail tanks laid two trails of chalk behind them IIRC.

This would allow a terrain designer to create choke points on the terrain in strategic places. Perhaps a minefield between an SP and a town or even two with a narrow gap between them. Defending GVs could then wait to the left of right edge of the minefield for incoming enemies. Attackers could bring a mine clearing tank to get past them.

[OldNitro]

Minefields as a terrain feature would be great for creating historical scenarios..
The Devils gardens at El Alamein for example..

But at Kursk, the Russians used "Flying Mine Layer Teams", that actually laid the
mines directly in the path of the advancing tanks.. They were very successful too!

IMO, allowing the players, using engineers, to shape the battlefield, IN ACTION,
would be a great gameplay device as well..

[Greebo]

I don't really like the idea of a player driving along and then just blowing up because he ran into an invisible mine, it would cause a huge amount of frustration in the game.

Even if the mines are deployed by player-driven half tracks I think there should be a way of knowing they are there. Driving to a spot and deploying a mine cargo should create a minefield behind the half track complete with a barbed wire border. This would serve the purpose of denying the area to enemy or friendly GVs but without them blowing up for no apparent reason.

However player laid minefields would be more problematical to do than ones built into the terrain because of the possible exploits. For instance mines on runways or in towns. OK no minefields on object groups fixes that but what happens if as the minefield is deployed there are other GVs already in it?  Biggest problem though would be minefield spamming, players could theoretically surround an SP or town with them or just saturate an area making it impossible for anyone to move. You'd have to have "minefield area occupied" or "other minefields nearby" error messages.

Having minefields built into the terrain seems a lot simpler to implement.

[OldNitro]

Agree that there would have to be some kind of visual cue of the presence of landmines.. But a fence and sign would be a bit too much, lol.. A freshly laid minefield is pretty obvious in itself, with the patches of disturbed ground in a geometric pattern.. That would make for a more subtle cue, would be more realistic, allowing for observant GV'ers to notice and avoid, while still blowing up the dimwits! Signage and fences appeared after the battle was over, so units transiting the area could avoid the danger, until they could be fully cleared..

People using mines to grief the game.. I suppose there will always be dikheds in a game like this.. But there were solutions to that in real life too..

Some battlefields of WW2 were mine infested.. Before the introduction of mine clearing vehicles, the solution was artillery, to blast a path thru, and follow with engineers, and it worked.. Most mines would be detonated by the concussion, and it would trigger any boobytraps left for the engineers.. 

Unless you were the Russians, they would blast the minefields with artillery, then march an NKVD penal unit into the gap, and just take the casualties  ..   

[APDrone]

Having minefields built into the terrain seems a lot simpler to implement.

Didn't the first iteration of AKDesert ( original pizza map ) have mines? .. or just boulders that blew up when you hit them.    I remember careening across the map avoiding those dark things.. and failing.   At first it was surprising, then you got used to them.. like trees.

[Zener]

What I think would happen if M-3s could lay mines is at the first sign of trouble, M-3s would be dashing to the map room to lay about 4 or 5 concentric circles of mines preventing anything from getting to the map room without a lot of HE rounds to clear the way.  Mines all over the town bridges and roads between the hills.  Next we'd have spawn mining, hundreds of these bad boys 180° around the spawn points.

I doubt anyone would go set a few out randomly hoping for a hit.

[Volron]

Don't allow mines to be deployed on spawn area's, and not at all on runway.  Have a 1 mile radius around a spawn point where mines cannot be laid.  Give mines a time limit or have it to where who ever deployed the mines, must stay in vehicle until they all get hit, he gets blowed up, or just leaves, at which point just like bombs/rockets/torpedoes, they vanish if he ups something else.  Maybe no mines in town or on field, period.

[BuckShot]

Enemy Mine