QUOTE(ScrapyardBob @ 02/23/07 3:57am)

Just to clarify - the map was designed to make long range "pak" shots impossible. If you know how to hit a base with a pak from across the map, it's something I want to know.
We did tweak things a bit to make long-range tank shelling difficult (but not impossible). For instance, a defender in the tank scrape at G3 can shell across the map and hit R1. Which is why that one 3-sided shelter building was added on the west side of R1. But the long-range tank shots require a bit more finesse and are impossible to prevent without drastic map changes.
Another example is the design of the terrain around G1, where G1 is in a valley. Or the shift in vehicles in front of R2. Or some terrain changes inside of treelines (that aren't visible, but block shells).
It was a mildly contentious issue during alpha testing. There are some big fans of long-range pak shelling (I did a lot of it myself on Barbarossa). But after watching the pak gunners on Barb make it nigh impossible for germans to defend G3, I decided that fixed guns needed to be prevented from hitting bases on Tuchola. It was simply too easy and too overpowering. As a compromise, I didn't completely eliminate the ability to long-range shell with a tank.
What I think (if I remember vaguely) was that you had to at least MOVE a tank out of the starting position in order to get into a firing solution. That introduces errors into the equation and makes it less of a sure thing. So if you know of a tank on Tuchola that can shell a base without leaving its starting position, then that's something I'd want to address. One issue with Barbarossa is that a lot of the tanks could be used as long-distance artillery without moving the tank from the start point.
Tuchola isn't my cup of tea, but I'll chip in this opinion. Firstly, I know you can hit bases from tanks in starting position. For a scrim we practiced and I could hit R1 from a German P4. But anyway, here's the thing. It really only works to pop a base, AND it takes a long time with one tank. So, it really isn't that big of a deal. The power of the paks is using them to cover plants. Tuchola has that eliminated, and I doubt there is hardly ever an instance that a player is able to get himself in just the right tank to fire across the map at a point that kills defending infantry in Tuchola. A few people might learn to pop a base or two, but that's it. Not a biggie IMO.
OT a little, I would have liked if Barb could have been created in such a way where all paks could attack each other, so that yes, a pak could pop a base, but every pak could be hit by at least one other pak. Unfortunately, the only German pak that can hit a base can be hit by two Russian paks, but NONE of the Russian paks can be hit by German paks. The key is BALANCE, and that is something that is very unbalanced in Barb.