RockinHarry

I think I have never figured out how to 'aim' the commands properly, at least without cross-hairs. Think it´s just the center of the screen (where you look at), but crosshair is more exact. Hmm, I don't think so. I usually control the gunner, since you can drive the tank at the same time, anyway. Controlling the driver is also an option when hunting infantry. The gunner does a good job in these low-risk situations. Yeah, WASD and mouse move does both of it quite conveniently. Hehe... you can actually crush/overrun enemies? That´s some evil fun for sure. I´ve read that all AI react halfway clever in most situations and apply some self preservation as well. This is promising! What I don´t that much like is animations, which are way too "agile" for my personal taste. But developer says they´re still working on them, but not what details in particular. Also considering that each infantry guy can carry various weights. I once carried 35kg of stuff I placed in my test squad leader´s inventory (in editor) and you can grab more from the battlefield (there´s at least ammo grab points). IIRC there was no difference for my PC in terms of speed and agility. But maybe it´s also for me not playing in highest difficulty mode. Sadly documentation is very lacking and I hope they´d release a true manual or at least a game specific wiki.

Compared to ARMA3 i.e, controlling a squad is fairly "easy" IMO. Of course if you´re a seasoned ARMA player (beeing quick at key commands), it´s easy there as well. Key is knowing how the AI squad mates react under enemy fire and generally. That I´ve to figure out for ER2 yet. ER2 "command wheel" (Tab makes it pop up) is far quicker, also due to rather limited options, although the "essentials" are there. (2 formations, follow leader, occupy and hold objective, assault, attack from a flank and various support commands like i.e calling for tank, Arty and air support). Assault will be interesting as you can engage in close combat like with bayonet and rifle butt beating. Thus far I´m now feeling almost fit enough to attempt on both, infantry team/squad and tank crew in real mission with enemies. Tank crew will be interesting in particular. Taking crew stations is both rather simple and effective. Can play from 1st and 3rd player views generally. No idea if when playing "commander" if one can assign an AI gunner particular targets or turret postion. Here´s where many tank sims fail. ER2 tank gameplay impression. https://youtu.be/0TrkwpgIups

Spent another ~2 hours with ER2 in tutorials and self made training mission on "Stalingrad" map. Where applicable I changed key binds to the ones I´m used to in ARMA3. So beside memorizing rather few new ones, I´d almost no learning curve there and could play like it´s ARMA3. Will see how much this pays off once I start playing a real mission. While squad handling is more of a dumbed down ARMA3 version it´s still some good fun. Wished for more squad formations, as well as direct "Into cover" command and assigning particular enemy units to be targeted. But it´s not ARMA3 (yet). I also like that you can climb in and out through the windows (which can be opened and closed) and that you can jump from balconies at low heights. That´s not even possible in ARMA3 unless using some mods. Another gimmick is that you can light up fireplaces by using the "Activate" command. No idea if that has an actual purpose or is rather sort of an easter egg. But I´s somewhat surprised. There´s lots of possible inventory items of among them is food items IIRC. I´ll likely see if playing some the missions. Driving a tank and switching to available crew positions is fun too. A number HUD options seem unavailable, but that might add to realism level maybe. Next I´ll test commanding (commander position if there´s any like in ARMA3) a single tank and then see if the crew doesn´t do stupid things, like in ARMA3. That´s among the things that interest me the most ATM. So far, so good (fun).

Scouts: If available in a given force I prefer using small otherwise unused HQ teams with binocs and a radio. The binocs give a considerable sighting/spotting advantage and radio relays back info back to higher HQ´s. It then can be decided if spotted targets are to be taken under direct (sniper, HMG) or indirect fires (mortar, Arty). During advance the "HQ team scouts" receive a short 360° target arc so that they just spot and never shoot. High experience, good leader (+1 or +2) and rather low morale makes particularly good scouts. Lower morale helps them throwing their heads down into the dirt (and thus maybe into conceilment and cover) faster. Move mode can vary, depending on available cover and other factors. Sneaking up a vantage point preferably in crawling mode, but short distance only. Other modes (move, hunt or quick) depend on terrain, available cover and the scouts tiredness level. These scouts make certain watch stops at intervals and remain at their vantage points for at least 2 minutes. (more time for spotting attemps and if needed for removing some tiredness level) If I´m interested in a particular area I give these scouts a short target arc of maybe 30 to 60° and point it toward that area. Improves spotting chances toward that particular area some more. If terrain allows I let follow the scouts some overwatch units(s) in case scouts get into troubles. Snipers: Should be at least veteran or better yet crack experience. Absolute minimum for sniper engagement range is 400m. Preferably 500m or more (upto max engagement range) Otherwise snipers get discovered quickly and then are dead meat. I rarely let them engage their own targets unless at greater ranges (500m up to max) and with a good assortment of enemy targets available. That greater range also has a more demoralizing effect on enemy if sniper remains undetecte. If I want get taken out a particular enemy, I use a very small angle target arc "\/" on him. This way I can eliminate i.e an unbuttoned tank commander (on currently non moving AFV), a HMG or AT gunner or any leader if he reveals himself by using a binoc. A radio operator is another nice choice. Sniper morale level should preferably be lower again. If he gets disovered and beeing shot at, he should rather dive down to cover quickly, instead of shooting back or keep watching. Best time for position change in crawl mode, preferably to a preselected switch position that can be reached under concealment and cover. Should be at least couple AS away, so in case the original position keeps receiving enemy fire he won´t get suppression levels. That also means away from friendly units. That sniper can be helped in this effort by opening fire with another yet unengaged friendly unit that is less vulnerable due to larger size (at least team size or another yet hidden sniper).

have a look at this as well? Thanks. https://community.battlefront.com/topic/135200-cmbn-v402-us-on-board-mortar-penetrate-concrete-pillboxes-repeatable/

A Front Too Far seems beeing an earlier (or first) game from that developer. Stalingrad is Easy Red 2´s first and thus far, only DLC. I purchased both at 12 Euro and it can only be more inexpensive when going for...erm..warez. But of course we don´t go for anything like that, do we?

Just tried an hour with first 2 tutorial parts and I´s surprised It plays like ARMA3, key command wise, which is great. Felt beeing at home instantly. Will try next creating a self purpose training mission, so I can learn without beeing interfered by that virtual training Sgt.. lol Unsure about squad mates AI. I surely appreciate ARMA3 squad member commanding which is more detailed, but I´ll see how far ER2 goes in this regard.

thanks mate! I´m just checking some vids (yeah, no manual to be found) and after I played some games later today I´ll likely go editor mode and stay there for "a while" lol (oh..we can refine looks even more by using Reshade! ) Last but not least, a developer that responds and communicates with his customers properly

It´s SP, coop and pvp. Single player is said to be quite good and way better than RO2 in example (not a big achievment though lol). Some user review: "Highly approachable, simple, and most important: fun! Gameplay Don't let the graphics fool you, this easy-to-approach World War Two shooter is highly realistic and has some of the most fun and enjoyable gameplay from any FPS that I've played. It does a fantastic job depicting large battles with intelligent AI that will seek cover, return accurate fire, and generally hold their own. Rushing a well-defended AI objective is an easy way to die. Content Easy Red II also includes easy-to-use Map and Mission Editors as well as Workshop support for never-ending content. The Map Editor is highly approachable and includes the ability to import .png height maps - allowing players to easily build their favorite terrain depictions from real-world data. The Mission Editor is also highly simplified - placing a few AI spawn points and objectives is a quick way to build a fast and fun battle. Developership This is also a highly dedicated developer who is constantly improving the game with frequent patch updates and is closely tied with the community - often personally taking bug reports and implementing fixes and new features at players request. What I'd Like To See I'd like to see the developer branch out beyond World War Two. Korea, Vietnam, and a hypothetical early Cold War Europe would be great and totally fitting settings for the scale of Easy Red II. Improvements to the sound design are also much needed. Sound effects are still lacking and I think the best way to improve this area is to just let players mod the sounds. Bottom Line Easy Red II is a MUST buy. It is a fun and approachable FPS that does a great job depicting real-world tactics, and we should continue to support these types of developers that are working so hard to deliver quality products." and it still looks better than any CM game "pro modded":

Why shouldn´t it be ok? 70-80% of ongoing forum activities is ukraine war and while it interests me personally (the actual war), it´s a big YAWN from BFC games player perspective. With BFC apparently almost exclusively busy with their "pro" version, there´s nothing that interests me as CM player. Soooo..... ....checked Easy Red 2 on steam and read the user feedback, then wondered this shooter never appeared in any my steam lists! Took me few minutes to decide purchasing it! (game + DLC for 12 Euro!!) Read (and saw) it´s Orchestra 2 quality content that can actually be played and enjoyed single player! Just what I needed! Download now at 60% (6GB overally). Thanks Thomm!

That bits of sound like my bunker "mod" as described here https://community.battlefront.com/topic/135382-custom-3d-models-and-mods-compilation/page/28/#comment-1962034 is beeing used maybe?

Related to my previous post there´s an interesting reader comment from dailymail article above: "While we in the West were focussing on privilege theories, trans rights and open borders, China was quietly buying up the natural resources of the developing world and taking control of Western companies and institutions, including Cambridge University. They used research from our most elite colleges to develop the most advanced and devastating hypersonic missile in history and they now have the most advanced conventional military in history too. As we speak ex-RAF personnel are teaching them how to gain air supremacy over us and our Government is doing nothing whatsoever. Our Government is asleep at the wheel. China is about to become the world's policeman and things are about to change." In some ways, he may not be that far from the truth, but who really knows. https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/feb/04/brexit-causes-collapse-in-european-research-funding-for-oxbridge-universities (Sorry if this may have all been covered before in this thread.)

Hahaha. Get your point, dude. Did you read the whole dailymail article btw? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11710721/Chinas-spy-balloon-120ft-helium-powered-airship-equipped-snooping-tools.html Well, what´s more ridiculous. China (rather russia or coop) sending couple dozen balloons along the jetstream and china pretending it´s all peaceful science stuff or these guys checking something particular the US ain´t aware of yet out? Can be anything from carrying (ABC) weapons payloads to Electronic jamming stuff. Imagine our little eastern friends picking up something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb and develop something with 2023 tech capabilities. (for whatever purpose as said) Then a question of mine: Can the jetstream effects in any way influence accuracy of ICBM? Whatsoever. Maybe the Chinese/Russians just want the U.S. to think they´ve something like that in mind (second or third strike when we´re back to low tech) to distract a bit, or one of those subtle threat measures to keep the West from supporting Ukraine beyond a certain degree. IDK but find the topic quite interesting. Edit: Two related articles https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WS-124A_Flying_Cloud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken-backed_war_theory as food for thought (while we´re waiting for the russian offensive and ukrainans crushing it.)

Apropos that bolloon thing. No idea if it got postet yet: " "Worryingly, defense analysts have previously claimed that a balloon could be used as a 'delivery platform' for nuclear weapons. The Pentagon said the balloon was floating at around 60,000 feet on Friday afternoon A 2015 report for the American Leadership & Policy Foundation said balloons launched by rogue states could carry nuclear payloads over the United States which could be use launch strikes or interfere with the electrical grid. Report author Air Force Major David Stuckenberg wrote: 'Using a balloon as a [weapon of mass destruction] platform could provide adversaries with a pallet of altitudes and payload options with which to maximize offensive effects against the U.S." https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11710721/Chinas-spy-balloon-120ft-helium-powered-airship-equipped-snooping-tools.html

Just spent an hour with Gunner, HEAT, PC! Just bits of driving around with various vehicles (truck, T55, Abrams and a Bimp), shooting at things that don´t shoot back (training mission). It all looks fairly unfinished and graphics quality is roughly comparable to ARMA3, but with yet far less overall detail. Since it´s "early access" that was to be expected. But thus far I like what I´ve seen. Performance was between 30-40 FPS on my medioce PC, but there wasn´t much AI involved. No enemies and a dozen friendlies present in that training mission (among selectable "missions"). Steering vehicles is pretty simple (WASD and few more) and available key commands (F1 makes a small screen pop up, showing all available) can be fairly easily memorized. Gunnery is equally simple (guns and MGs). It´s mouse left and right button clicks and drawing for coarse and fine aiming. Pretty cool actually. For actual combat I expect quick reaction ability when things get hot. https://gunnerheatpc.com/news/articles/getting-started-in-ghpc Sound and FX is fairly well made although not perfect. ATM it all looks more like a "shooter game" but in fact all the sim elements are under the hood. After quitting that training mission I got a ballistics results screen showing ALL shots that hit any vehicles. (since there wasn´t an enemy AI active I shot up every vehicle that was present on map. Both russian and US). Ballistics results were shown both on the 3D map and a text window. Similar to GT but way more detailed. So that 25$ seems like a good investement considering the game is just at the beginning and the roadmap is extensive. https://gunnerheatpc.com/news/articles/ghpc-early-access-roadmap

Also considering western Maskirovka. It´s surely all just information that western supporters want Russia let "know". Figures can be less, but maybe much more instead. Free press in times like these can be real PITA in western democracies. After the war it´ll be really interesting to know about Gepard and PZh2000 success rates. Same for other supplied western weapon systems and oncoming Challenger, Leopard and Abrams tanks.

Well done, bud! Reminds me I´ve at least half a dozen hurtgen forest area maps in various stages of completion. Still got to check CMBN V4.04 patch to see if BFC has fixed the pillbox vulnerability bug. Likely not I guess. That one got me stop further working on related missions. Even did the job for the glorious BFC hamsters investigating that bug (thanks for nothing guys) and figured its most likely cause. BFC didn´t find it worth investigating and fixing it. Well... half a dozen missions scrapped. Thanks again. Hm..... wasn´t there another solution? I recall something right now... https://community.battlefront.com/topic/135382-custom-3d-models-and-mods-compilation/?do=findComment&comment=1962034

Hey Nigel! Looking great! After all that Berlin marathon this should be a great relief to you now...Hehe Is that one based on historical area or "just" hurtgen forest theme inspired? (I guess the latter)

Lots of Maskirovka from western side as well. It´s not just russians who can do that.

ROFL

Apropos Microprose... I could well imagine this to be a tool for map and mission making (viewing a particular historical area in 3D fore reference): https://www.microprose.com/games/outerra-world-sandbox/

yeah, I knew it´s "early access" and at ~25$ I couldn´t resist (again). lol yeah, it bits of suck without infantry and supporting weapons, but my curiosity won again. lol Yep, that´s among things that so far hindering me from purchase. Too little content, but I keep it on my list. Just checked couple cardboxes containing all my games since the 1980ies (Atari 800XL, C64, PC) Those that have some relation to 1st person view tank play in one way or another are: 1. Steel Thunder, 1989 2. Sands of Fire (360), 1989 3. M1 Tank Platoon 1+2,1989, 1998 4. Pacific Islands, 1992 5. Armored Fist, 1994 6. 1944 Across the Rhine, 1995 7. M4 Tank Simulator, 1996 (PC) 8. Panzer Commander, 1998 9. iPanzer '44, 1998 10. Panzer Elite, 1999 11. Steel Fury Kaharkov 1942, 2007 (currently in my Steam) 12. Panzer Killer, 2007 13. Red Orchestra 1+2, 2006, 2011 (currently in my Steam) 14. T34 vs Tiger, 2008 15. Steel Armor: Blaze of War, 2011 16. ARMA 1,2,3 (3 currently in my Steam) 17. Iron Front Lib 44, 2012 (as ARMA 3 Mod in Steam) 18. Gunner, HEAT, PC!, 2022 (now in my Steam) (I neither like true arcade nor online play, thus I never tried or purchased any that stuff) The hunt for THAT 3D Tank Sim still continues (WW2 or modern)..... lol

Hm..... maybe I´s bits too quick and thus unfair. After having played another half dozen tutorial missions, I started having some fun. Maybe also was too much focusing on brand "Microprose" (thinking of Sid Meier and such). In fact SF has little to do with MP (is just publisher). http://www.hexdraw.com/Word/second-front/ I´ll try some real missions and then campaign, then see further... The guy seems also responsible for Tank on Tank Digital https://store.lnlpublishing.com/tank-on-tank-series Aargh... and another push on the trigger. https://gunnerheatpc.com/ Anybody tried that one yet? Nice relation to Microprose again since M1 Tank Platoon was my first tank sim IIRC.

Yeah, from my reading in Hinze´s book it´s all more than dramatic. The infamous "Rückkämpfer" and Fire Brigade period. Yes, having detailed unit histories comes superior.

Great! Very much looking forward to this one! In case you need some helping hand with map or AIP related things (issues), let me know! Did you base the storyline on Hinze´s book btw? I´m halfway through this one.