Myles Keogh

What about the people who do really gamey stuff?
There is a video by a once-prominent CMx2 YouTuber in which his opponent used trucks to both scout and be "bait" for the TacAI.  He was placing trucks near his armor in the obvious hope that opposing tanks would choose to fire at the trucks and thus open themselves to a retaliatory fire by his armor.  (It also appears he dismounted the truck drivers in order to keep TacAI from retreating the trucks (i.e. keep them in place as bait.)  Of course, that's allowable by game engine and maybe even "smart" gameplay, but it's a total cheese/gamey tactic.  (Frankly, if an opponent did that in one of my matches, then I'd never play that person again.)
Do people make house rules about the "appropriate" use of trucks/jeeps/damaged vehicles?

What about the people who do really gamey stuff?
There is a video by a once-prominent CMx2 YouTuber in which his opponent used trucks to both scout and be "bait" for the TacAI.  He was placing trucks near his armor in the obvious hope that opposing tanks would choose to fire at the trucks and thus open themselves to a retaliatory fire by his armor.  (It also appears he dismounted the truck drivers in order to keep TacAI from retreating the trucks (i.e. keep them in place as bait.)  Of course, that's allowable by game engine and maybe even "smart" gameplay, but it's a total cheese/gamey tactic.  (Frankly, if an opponent did that in one of my matches, then I'd never play that person again.)
Do people make house rules about the "appropriate" use of trucks/jeeps/damaged vehicles?

What about the people who do really gamey stuff?
There is a video by a once-prominent CMx2 YouTuber in which his opponent used trucks to both scout and be "bait" for the TacAI.  He was placing trucks near his armor in the obvious hope that opposing tanks would choose to fire at the trucks and thus open themselves to a retaliatory fire by his armor.  (It also appears he dismounted the truck drivers in order to keep TacAI from retreating the trucks (i.e. keep them in place as bait.)  Of course, that's allowable by game engine and maybe even "smart" gameplay, but it's a total cheese/gamey tactic.  (Frankly, if an opponent did that in one of my matches, then I'd never play that person again.)
Do people make house rules about the "appropriate" use of trucks/jeeps/damaged vehicles?

Your pixeltruppen are soldiers, not robots, so yeah, sometimes they think "That order? That's nuts," and do what the Tac AI thinks is the best choice.
Same reason they'll break and run, or go to ground when receiving incoming.

A follow-the-leader/convoy-like command was announced as a possible feature inclusion for the 4.0 upgrade.  However, somewhere between that upgrade's announcement and its release that featured got shelved.  Apparently, BF couldn't get it to work within their code.
A shame because plotting vehicle road movements has got to be one of the worst parts of the game.  All the waypoint setting and using the pause key to both keep vehicles on the road and to avoid traffic jams.  And It's really annoying when playing scenarios/campaigns that feature waves of reinforcements on a large map.  (When playing such scenarios, I often save and quit upon receiving a company plus of armored/motorized reinforcements because I usually have to feel pretty energized to spend all the time plotting their road movements to "the front."  So, I take a break from the game then until I feel more in the mood to do so.)
Since, unfortunately, they've already tried but failed to fix this issue, it appears we're stuck with it until maybe CMx3, if that ever happens.

It is and always has been. There are things you can do to stack the odds in your favor, and it sounds like you did that to a degree. But in Combat Mission, and I would argue in real life, doing everything the right way doesn't guarantee success. Of course, the corollary to that is sometimes you can screw up and still win.

Here's the Morris C9B SPAA. A slightly reworked version of my mod for CMFI.

While we wait the modding master to perhaps arise once again, I couldn't help myself.

So here's the first of a few mods of weathered vehicles for the Downfall module. Don't know how many I am going to make, but it certainly won't be all the new Downfall units.
Here's a Dropbox link for the Pershing - but it will only be temporary until the files have become available on https://www.thefewgoodmen.com/cm-mod-warehouse/



 

Experience and fatigue can improve or degrade spotting.
Conscript/green troops don't spot as well as elite/crack ones.
Exhausted/tired troops don't spot as well as rested/ready ones.  (One of the bigger reasons of why NOT to run your pixeltruppen ragged without reason.)
And, as already stated, units equipped with binoculars have improved spotting. 
I don't believe there is any spotting "bonus" for units labeled as being scouts or recon.  They spot only as well as their fatigue/experience levels allow them and whether or not they're equipped with binoculars which they usually are.

It's on the list of things to do. Already started. However, CMBN Battlepack has my full attention for the moment.

What all of those don't have that CM does is 3D WeGo with replay.  No other game seems to want to even attempt it.

CM 1939-40 would be very fun, but I don't see any reason to doubt BFC's assessment that it's not the profitable option, so the debating feels fairly pointless: it's unlikely to change anything, the arguments against it have been repeated over and over and there's no reason to question them.

Are you doing the same for AMD products? It's their change that caused this not BFC's.

The only mod to my knowledge that ever caused issues when patching is Vin's animated icons, the one with icons that replace the text that tells you what each soldier is doing at the bottom left of the screen. There was also my Afghan army mod which used a modified string file to replace the displayed names of the weapons (AK to M16). But I removed that bit when I realized it was troublesome. Both messed up the UI and caused you to see the wrong label/name on units or equipment after a game update or something like that.
There might be few others but really 99% of all mods are fine and there is no need to remove them when patching in my experience.

This but more. I was playing a massive PBEM many years ago and noticed I had a whole platoon routed and couldn't figure out why. I loaded up the last few turns and watched just that platoon until I could see what happened. 
I had smashed one of my opponents units and then sent in a whole platoon to go clear them out. Rookie mistake but I sent them all to move at once figuring they would cover each as they ran, no need to area fire to keep the fleeing enemy fleeing. As my platoon was filtering into his postions, the squads got a bit bunched up. One enemy stopped fleeing turned and fired a single shot. It hit one of my guys who was about to throw a grenade. He falls, the grenade bounces into the pile of friendlies. It goes off and down go a bunch of my men, including two others who were also just about to throw grenades. As they fall, their grenades also land at the feet of their comrades and a bunch more guys drop. One single bullet and he took out half a platoon.
I watched that single turn so many times because I just could not believe what I was seeing. Had we been playing real-time I would have missed it but instead I was able to go back a few turns and see what I had missed. WEGO only ever since.

What Centurian52 said. 
WEGO also facilitates the learning process.  In real time you will often miss something that happened on the map.  2nd Platoon lost two tanks while you were concentrating on 3rd Platoon.  With WEGO you can rewind and observe every platoon for their minute of action. The turn can be replayed until you hopefully understand why/how those two tanks were destroyed. Then with that lesson learned you adjust your tactics and play on. 
Also replay facilitates screenshots. Replay, change the angle, zoom in until you get a cool screenshot of the action. 
A screenshot from each game since, as a CM addict, your going to eventually get them all.....😎 
CM Battle for Normandy

CM Red Thunder

CM Afghanistan 

CM Shock Force 2
 
CM Fortress Italy

 CM Final Blitzkrieg 

CM Cold War

CM Black Sea
 
Goood luck!  

Hi All, 
First post here, I'm a 44-year gamer who plays a bit of everything but my main interest is anything WW2. I've been playing Gary Grigbsy War in the East, Steel Division, Panzer Corp, Hell Let Loose, and pretty much anything related to WW2.
Took me until 2 weeks ago to actually hear about Combat Mission (probably did but never took note). I took the plunge and picked up Battle for Normandy and have already clocked up 120 hours and barely seemed to have scratched the surface. 
I am so amazed at how low profile this game is considering how addictive and rewarding it appears. I am already installing mods and now pay little interest in graphics, UI, and presentation. It really takes me back to a golden age when you actually bought a good game, book, or film and indulged yourself in it, and keep going back to it! 

27th Canadian Armoured Regiment (The Sherbrooke Fusiliers) clash with the 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend around Authie.
 

12th SS Panzer IV's knocked out by shermans of the 27th Sherbrooke Fusiliers of B Squadron.
 

27th Sherbrooke Fusiliers B Squadron firing on advancing Panzer IV's in Authie.
 

Two shermans of 27th Sherbrooke Fusiliers B Squadron knocked out in the field outside of Authie.
 

Sherman tank has taken multiple shots to the front armour until it was knocked out, crew bailed out to find safety.
 

2 seconds later when the crew bailed out their sherman got struck on the left side by a Panzer IV and exploded, the crew did to survive.
 

12th SS Panzer IV moves into the town of Authie, gets knocked out by shermans of the 27th Sherbrooke Fusiliers.
 

Two shermans of 27th Sherbrooke Fusiliers B Squadron knocked out in the fields.
 

Sherman VC  Firefly of the 27th Sherbrooke Fusiliers B Squadron knocked out inside of Authie, the crew member is bailing out of the burning tank.
 

Heavy fighting in and around Authie, aftermath of the battle.
 
Special bonus shots trying to make them look like old WWII photos.



 
Sherman skins are my upcoming 2nd Canadian Armoured Brigade mod.
I hope you like the battle shots!
Damian45

It's a side effect of a fix for a worse problem. In an earlier release if you gave a mortar team a target command they would start to aim the mortar but the guys doing nothing would fire away with their small arms. This had a tendency to expose the mortar team's location and was generally viewed as a bad thing(tm). They will fire their small arms on their own but at close distances than normal infantry because the mortar team is tasked only with local defence of the gun.
Moral of the story don't use mortar teams as infantry.

I’d have to check the campaign script (on hill today so be later tonight). I recall I gave a small option for replacements to allow wounded men, vehicles and some men left out of battle to take cas places. Like it was a very small chance but not after every mission. 
 
As far as I know the game engine does not override FOs being replaced. If the player loses their FO and it screws up the player playing the campaign that’s on the player. Sorry but that’s the whole point of a campaign. Player actions have consequences for the rest of the campaign. 

Yup its a design feature not a bug.
As it says in the READ ME:
"This campaign covers a short and sustained period of combat operations taking place over a period of less than 72 hours, in Poland, on the Eastern Front in early August 1944. Although fictional it is heavily based on actual events."
AND
"It is worth noting that the player receives no reinforcements and little in the way of refit in the 72 hour period.
Therefore you, the player, have to use your forces wisely, especially your panzergrenadiers. Keep your casualties as low as you can, for as long as you can. The key to success is close co-operation between your SPW, panzergrenadiers and panzers.
Key characters, including platoon leaders, are all named individually and are tracked throughout the campaign. You’ll notice, as casualties mount that key names slowly start to disappear. Don’t get killed yourself though early on, as it may lead to you ending the campaign, like your life, prematurely."
So given the tight frame no chance of having key assets replaced.
Lesson - don't get key stuff killed (especially von Schroif) as it ain't coming back... 
 

FO died. George explained the premise. You have a rifleman remaining. Use him as a scout. PL or CoCdrs will have to CFF from now on. Them's the breaks, but not a bug.
Dave

Stop being so damned obstinate - no one but you thinks the FO thing is a bug which should have been a sufficiently obvious combat indicator that you not getting a new FO after the original got killed is the game functioning as it should.  Added to that we have confirmation from @George MC the campaign designer that there are no reinforcements and limited refits due to the short 72 hour span of the campaign, which by the way is entirely realistic.  Campaigns work on a pretty simple premise, which is that you get given a bunch of forces at the start and you have to achieve your missions with that core force.  Any casualties to that force mean that subsequent missions get harder.  In this instance, you took casualties in an early mission and your subsequent missions are now harder.  This was a point helpfully reinforced by George in his campaign briefing.  Why is this so difficult for you to grasp?

Yes, subbing the old captured French tanks was the first change I made. The original Montebourg campaign was developed while the base game was in development so I wasn't able to use them first time around. IIRC, there was no allied air support when the game was first released either which is why there's no air support in the base campaign either. That's changed too. 
The Vehicle Pack will be necessary because I'm using flamethrowers this time as well. The Airborne and Glider Infantry both get them in their missions in phase 2. I've yet to see these in action as I've been importing the new core units and placing them but that work is all done now and so proper playtesting begins today. 

Some of you may have noticed that I've poked my head up again after a very long absence. I've just been very busy with real life and wanted to spend some time playing games rather than designing content. But this game is a bit like crack for me, it's just so addictive and watching Usually Hapless play this campaign on Youtube got me back into it. (Yes, it's ALL your fault Hapless  )
I've done a bit of work fixing things and now want to turn my attention to my first campaign for CMBN, the Montebourg campaign. It's the oldest and was made using v1.0 of the engine meaning that there are only 8 AI groups and no air support. There have also been a number of changes to the game which mean that I can experiment with some of the new stuff while reworking this one.
It's not going to be a total overhaul but it will no longer work for players with only the CMBN base game so it's a Repository jobbie. I'll let you guys know what you'll need but it will probably require the full Monty as I want flamethrowers in it. It's also worth saying that anything new in it will be historically accurate and not just added in for the laughs. So no SS with JgPZIVs. Pity.
So, I'll keep you up to date with my progress on this. I'm not looking to do a LOT of work. It's mainly to reacquaint myself with the scenario designer and writing AI plans.
 
Mission 1
I have no plans to change anything at all about the opening mission at all. It's fine as is.
Mission 2
There is a 'new' short 'Brecourt' mission. It's not really new though as it was in the revised version on the Repository. I'll need to tweak this one as the game seems to have become more lethal since I last played it but otherwise, it's good to go.
Mission 3
The first mission to get a full rework is Turnbull's Stand. I'm reworking the AI attack as there were only two AI plans and they were terrible. I've made a number of revisions to the map itself to reflect the reality of the day so it's a bit more open with less bocage and more hedges.
I've spent pretty much all morning and most of the afternoon learning how to script an AI attack using the new tools and the first AI plan is almost done. I want a second one with an entirely different focus but it should be much faster to do as I'm not 'learning' anymore. Then, I'll mix it up so that there's four attack plans.
 
And that's where I'm up to. There's no timetable on this. I'm not in any hurry but by posting about it here, I've kind of declared my intentions and am far more likely to stick with it.