Profile of Dappy

Sorry about this. This was my first attempt at posting a picture and I clearly skrood it up. I have searched and searched but am unable to find any instructions on how to do this. Will post some pics when I figure this out.

Thanks so much!!! I have counted on the people in this forum several times to get me out of a bind, and I have never been let down. This forum is the best!

QuaD,
You describe a computer and symptoms that were identical to my own. The problem just might be your "NV" drivers. I am running an NVIDEA GE FORCE video card as many of you are and my system was crashing in just about every other game, just as you describe here. However, my problem is now fixed and I no longer crash... ever. Also, my PC runs much quieter, and also much cooler. For those of you running an NVIDEA/GE FORCE card... try this. My game was crashing for weeks. While researching, I found this link. I tried it, and it worked like magic. The bottom line is that NVIDEA created a new toy called SHIELD and they want all their customers to buy this shield. So... all their driver updates now include an executable where the updated driver looks for SHIELD. So, when you update your driver, your new driver automatically looks for SHIELD, and it does this several thousand times per minute. It is a resource hog and it drives up your speed and heat and memory a great deal. The result... another crash. Just disable this file and the crashing problem goes away. At least it did with my unit. Here is the link to explain the process:
http://systemexplorer.net/file-database/file/nvstreamsvc-exe

I have been offline for these last 3 weeks. When I try to select a map in CUSTOM GAME..... almost all of the old maps I have been using for the last year have now vanished. In fact, almost all of the maps I am subscribed to are not showing when I try to begin a game... when I go to SELECT MAP, they are all gone. I have gone into STEAM and un-subscribed many of them and then re-subscribed, yet they are still missing. I have spent several hours trying to solve this dilemma. Does anybody know how I can get my subscribed maps back?

Since the patch there have been lots and lots of posts/complaints about Kharkov Pursuit on the GENERAL level. Like many people, it was the only scenario that I needed to finish all of the Case Blue games. Like many people, I was frustrated to no end. I played it roughly 50 times over the last several weeks, only to be dominated by their infantry with flamethrowers spam. Today, I came up with a new strategy and tried it 3 times. I finally beat Kharkov Pursuit on GENERAL on my 3rd try and completed my Case Blue package. Here is how I did it in the hopes it might help some of you. I have about 500 hours on COH2. Keep in mind that I am no expert and the things I write here are only my opinion/experience. This is what worked for me and it will not work for everyone. Also, there are surely other ways to beat Kharkov… I am simply describing the only way I was able to find. There are some important things to understand right up front:
There are almost no ammo points and almost no fuel points on this map.
It will be an infantry-heavy encounter, and Ivan will outnumber your troops many times to one.
Almost all of the Russian troops will have flamethrowers.
Keep your troops away from the Russian troops. They are good. They have flamethrowers and they will kill you.
Because they all have flamethrowers, do not waste your ammunition on LMG’s for your Grens. Save your ammo for the occasional PFaust. Attack their infantry with your infantry only from long range where the FT cannot get you. For this, the standard issue K98 works very well. Keep your squads alive. Engage at distance, then flee. This will save manpower costs and it will allow your Grens to vet up over time.
Because there are so few fuel points, do not go for tanks. You will never have enough fuel to get to T3.
Because there are so fuel points, the Rus will field little armor as well. In the 50 or so games I played before I finally won, in each game they got a T-70, 2 halftracks, a T-34, and in some of the games they got a KV.
The best way to kill the hordes of Russian flamethrower infantry is with vehicles. Stay away from armored cars because the Russians will have Partisans. Partisans will have PanzerSchreks. Shreks will easily kill the 222. For the same reason, the HT is a waste. This leaves tanks. But you will never get enough fuel to T3. So, this only leaves call-ins. Forget Tiger and Ferds as they come in way too late. The only things that come in early are P4 Command Tank at 8, and the Stug-E at 6. So… select a commander that offers one of these options. For me the choice was easy. I used the Mechanized Assault commander to get the Stug-E. Many people on this and other boards give little credit to the Stug-E and in fact many people despise and ridicule it. I happen to like it, so long as I remember that it is NOT a tank. It is an Assault Gun. It costs a lot less than the P4 and a lot less fuel than the P4 and it comes in sooner (6 instead of 8). It is NOT a tank. It was designed to knock down buildings and bunkers, and take out masses of infantry. And almost anyone would have to admit that it performs these tasks admirably. It is well armored for an assault gun and will even take 2-3 hits from a Shrek. I kept my Ass Grens next to my Stug and we went hunting. Every Russian squad with a flamethrower was easily mown down by the Stug… and I kept my Ass Grens behind the Stug. My Stug went to Vet3 pretty quickly. I ran across 4 or 5 Partisan units with a PShrek instead of flamethrowers… easy easy… I halted the Stug and sent the Ass Grens to close contact and they easily mowed the Partisans down in seconds. We came across 2 halftracks and the Stug dispatched them both easily. The Russian T-70 and T-34 were easy as well… just avoid them since they are tanks and they could both hurt my precious Stug much more than my Stug could hurt them. When my Stug went behind cover, the Rus tanks went for my base and were promptly destroyed by the Pak40 waiting for them.
Another reason I chose the Mechanized Assault commander is for the instant call-in of a squad of Assault Grenadiers. Keep in mind that early game Ivan will quickly control the whole map, except for your base. Do not try to hold the points… you can’t. So, early game it is absolutely crucial that you immediately cap as many points as possible. It delays their hordes of FT infantry. Also, It builds you up a much needed cushion of ammo and fuel. You MUST get as much as possible in the first 5 minutes because after that, you will be defending only your base and you will get no ammo/fuel.
Here is how my game went:
Immediate call-in of Assault Grens. Yes, it took all my MP points. I sent them to cap the center point. My Pios I sent immediately to cap the 2 northern points… one of which is Fuel. In fact, I was able to cap 6-8 points before encountering Russian squads. I built up a nice reserve of Fuel and Ammo. Since neither the Pios or AssGrens could take on a flamethrower… I simply ran from those and went to cap a different spot. While all this going on… escalate to battle phases 1-2. When I finally had to retreat my Pios to the base I had over 1000 MPs available. Built T-1 and ordered Mortar, Gren, Gren MG. Built T-2 and got Pak-40. Sent me Grens out hunting… keeping all Russian infantry at long range. Their flamethrowers were pretty much useless at range. I did not kill many, but my Grens vetted up nicely. Whenever a Gren got in trouble, retreat to base. I built a MG bunker at the south side of my base and got another Gren. I kept sending my Grens out to cap whenever possible. It slowed the Russians down, it gave me occasional boosts, and it kept the vetting of my Grens. All this while, my mortar defended around the base and racked up an impressive kill number and vet 3, as did my MG. About this time my base was getting attacked by some 20 Russian squads and a damned Zis. In all of my attempts at this game there was at least one Zis. The Zis is crucial and it must quickly be killed or you will lose. It is a damned fine weapon. In my experience on my win, it was quite simple actually. My 5-man AssGren squad got there fast and with 5 machine guns easily and quickly dispatched the Zis crew. I captured the gun and retreated it to my base. About this time I went to CP-6. Finally… my beloved Stug-E. Immediate call-in. It took my Stug only a few minutes to get rid of all the Russian infantry near my base. Vet-1. At this point I was down to 100 victory points. Here is where my AssGren/Stug team went a hunting. As my remaining Grens healed I sent them out to cap points again. My Stug killed over 200 troops and made the rest pretty easy. By the time I was down to 67 Victory Points I had re-captured all three stars and I never went below 67VP’s. I rushed my captured Zis gun up to cover one star (south) and my Pak rushed up to cover the other star (north). In the center star I had 2 Gren squads just in case the Russians tried running a tank through the center. A PF from my grens would have forced the tank to retreat with engine damage. I actually bought a second Stug-E and kept it to the south end with my Zis. I stopped advancing and merely defended the 3 victory points to get the win.