rogue189

Really? I never do the scenario design stuff so I don't know how those rules work. I should probably thumb through them to understand the game play better.

Can the vehicle immobilization rule be changed in a future patch? When SF2 released, I thought this was a good move to make immobilized vehicles unavailable as it reflected the fast drive through Syria. But I noticed during my first run through the TF Thunder Campaign that it seemed like vehicles are more prone to getting bogged than they were in the original SF. It was frustrating to have my Abrams or Strykers get immobilized through bogging in the first couple of missions, then not have them available for some time. I understand not having a vehicle available if it loses a track, wheel, or engine, but I just don't see a bogged AFV taking more than a few hours to get unstuck. Yes I am sure there have been times in real life that something has become hopelessly bogged down, but for the purposes of game play, there doesn't seem to be many opportunities to get your guys that stuck. The terrain is usually dry to very dry and only a few times you are in rainy or muddy conditions. Unless the campaign missions are considered to be within a short time frame of each other, a bogged AFV should be made ready for the next battle.

I have a question, why is it so easy for drones to get shot down? As I understand the rules, the stealthy drones are supposed to be difficult to spot as long as they are not used to attack. However, my experience seems to be the opposite. Whenever I deploy a drone during the setup of a mission, it is usually shot down within the first 5 minutes. If I get a drone to last 10 minutes I feel lucky. I have been working on improving my game play started up the Bridge of Kharalyk. However, my RQ-7B Shadow was shot down within the first 3 minutes. My understanding was that this a a more difficult drone to detect. Am I wrong? Am I just unlucky? Should I expect these things to not last? Is there anything I can do better? Update: My Raven was shot down at the 5 minute mark. ugh!

Thank you for the response VSL Veteran. I wasn't mad about any of it, just surprised mostly. I have never attempted to contribute to the SF or SF2 community but is there anything I can do to help? Typing is not too hard, generally, and I have no clue as to how to create missions.

I have been playing SF2 for awhile now and have noticed that there are briefings do not accurately reflect what is actually delivered in game. For example in the Semper Fi Campaign mission Highway 2, the briefing (specially the tactical map) stated that I was supped to receive 60mm mortar support immediately and a CAAT elements after 10 min. However, I didn't get any 60mm mortars and after 30 min, the CAAT had not showed up. I also noticed in scenarios like Baker 1-1, the briefing started that you would receive a second platoon of reinforcements, but the game notes stated otherwise. I found myself wondering, "where are they!" as I was playing. Are these bugs? Am I just being impatient? Are they briefings that slipped through quality control? Is this an attempt to say, "no plan survives contact?" I don't mind if it is, but I just want to know if I should or should not expect additional reinforcements.

Its is odd that marking a mine doesn't guarantee safe passage of infantry or vehicles over the mine. Yes I understand marking a mine doesn't make it safe, but the limitations of the game mechanics can make close quarter maneuvering difficult. It would be nice if there were MICLIC systems available in the game that could more reliably clear a path through mine fields.

I never expected the mark mine button to be a magic mine detector. Rather, I believed that if I moved my engineers to a suspected mine field, I could get them in position then click mark mines. My expectation was that they would spend the next minute or two looking for mines. I did notice that my group did detect one mine, but there was nothing I could do about it. It made me assume they only mark mines and not disarm them. But I also noticed that the engineers don't always detect mines in their location. I had a squad in one position of the suspected minefield for about 3 or 4 minutes. No mine detected, so I moved on. BOOM! My stryker found a mine right where the engineers had just left. Is this a game mechanic? A bug? or did I do something wrong?

How do you mark mines? I am playing the first TF Thunder mission and put my engineers in the suspected mine filed and the Mark Mines button stayed grayed out the whole time. Now a stryker just hit a mine, killed everyone, and panicked the engineers. What do I have to do to get them to look for mines? I had them in position for almost 10 minutes without moving or getting shot at.

It sounds like it. I wasn't using the hunt command or moving one or two hexes. Sometimes the vehicles just want to drive in a semi circle in order to reach a way point and the infantry guy did run through a wall and not around it. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't so obviously a problem. Sometimes it seems to be worse than others and makes me wonder about the Tac AI.

As I have been gearing up for Shock Force 2, I have been playing the demo and Black Sea. During the last couple of games I have played, I have noticed some really odd infantry pathfinding. I played the Assault in Wilcox In the Shock Force 2 demo and noticed that when I used my engineers to blast into the water pump station, they would always pile up on the blindside (as usual), but after the blast, take different routes to the interior. Sometimes they would all go in through the backside, but sometimes the guys would run around the sides of the building and get killed by the infantry hiding in the foxholes. While playing Crossed Gauntlets, I had a squad move to a breach in a wall I created, then assault into a building. Half moved to the breach and the other half ran back to the street and proceeded to run along the street parallel to the waypoint. Needless to say, the rest of the squad followed and all were killed running down the middle of the street. Another odd thing was having my HQ element move to the large 3 story building near the start. I gave quick move orders for them to start behind the wall, move along the wall to the front, enter on the 1st floor, then go to the roof. All made it to the initial wall start point, but only one guy followed the rest of the movement commands. After he reached the roof, he ran back down, through all the buildings, ran through the wall, and rejoined the other two guys that did not move at all. I did this twice before giving smaller movement commands. I saved the mission at this point thinking it must be a bug. During my last couple of games with Black Sea, sometimes I will put out waypoints, in a grassy field near a road, but the vehicles swing out to follow the road instead of the direct path I laid out. Has anyone else noticed something like this? Is it a bug? Has it been addressed? Is there something I can do to fix it?

I am running through Black Sea missions and I notice that Strykers are no longer the number 1 go to vehicle in the game and they seem to function differently. I remember the remote operation of the .50 or MK19 was huge, but now I see that they fire with a person manning the weapon now. As a result, I keep losing my gunners. When a gunner dies, but the vehicle is ok, is there a way for the weapon to be re-manned if I have some spare people? Question also applies to HUMVEEs.

Thank you for the help akd! Glad to know I wasn't crazy!

It gives the color or the quick move and performs a quick move without blasting.

So I have been trying to give the quick battle a try since I have played the campaign and a lot of the pre-installed battles. After a couple of missions I find the AI...lacking. Generally I play the US attacker with Russian defenders. I have stuck to automatic unit selection as I am still figuring out a proper battle group. But it seems like the AI doesn't move from its starting positions. When I come across defending units or cease fire, they are often just laying in spots that are terrible. The units are often placed outside buildings generally with the hide command, tanks don't move, etc. It seems the AI doesn't try to setup in good ambush or firing positions and only engages me one of my units come across them. Otherwise it just sits there. Am I doing something wrong?

I just loaded up the game and my troops are regular troops (not engineers) but they have a breach kit. When I click quick move to the side of a building and click blast with to the first floor (level 1) it just gives me another quick move. I don't know how to record or screenshot the problem.

Ok, this time I have the game saved. The quick battle is new, using the 4.0 engine.

After playing around with some quick games I noticed that teams with a breach kit act differently. In the past, they would blast into a room as if they had demo charges. Now I have noticed that if I use the blast command, they just do a quick move into a building. If all they are going to do is quick move, how do I use the breach kit and what does it do?

MOS, I didn't save the game so I will replay it and see if it happens again

Yes, my guys didn't even try to blast through but ran around the whole complex since the door was on the opposite side of the blast command.

I downloaded the engine 4 today and started up Objective Delta. Usually I start the mission doing some prep fire on buildings with infantry icons in them prior to hitting the start button for an immediate "free" artillery attack. I did a heavy, point attack on a building but the rounds acted like area fire with only one or two hitting the building. Is this new? In the past, prep fire artillery rounds are pretty accurate and do not require LOS from whoever is calling it in. The other thing I noticed earlier was trying to get my Breach team to breach a wall/building in Crossed Gauntlets. I gave them a quick move, then breach command into the first floor of a building that was butted right up to a wall. I thought the structures were close enough the charge would blow both. But in the end, 2 or the 3 guys actually moved (one guy was stuck in the starting location) and when the team reached the breach point, they just ran around the whole complex and ran into the room instead of breaching.

Good to know! Thank you!

I have a question on a topic I was thinking about. Is it possible for the game to feature the ability to clear a room? From my experience, attacking troops don't generally have much of an advantage going into an occupied room unless it has already been suppressed, the attacker is using the assault command, or you have good overwatch. I have seen (on occasion) my guys stack up outside the door and engage an enemy before moving in. But will there ever be an ability or command to clear a room by tossing a grenade or flashbang prior to entry? I know the blast command will act similar to a flashbang if people are in the room, but not everybody has breaching kits. I was simply thinking of a room clearing command or just adding it to the assault command if you give an order to assault a building. Thanks.

Greetings all- I know this is an old topic but the other day I dusted off my old CMSF (due to some computer issues, I am only playing the base game and not the modules at the moment) and I really had some interesting observations playing the game. I have played CMSF since the 1.01 days and had not played it much since CMBS came out. I have never been a great player of the combat mission series, but after watching ChrisND's videos, Krause, and others, I finally figured out things like how to employ over watch and discovered the movement command that has completely changed my game play....the assault command. Plus I am now far more liberal with the area fire command. Before I only shot at what I could see, but now its fire at will! But some observations of the two games: *I never realized just how dominate the US is in CMSF. All too often I would get hit by RPGs or stumble into close combat with the Syrian troops. I used to get killed all the time, but now I can end missions with 10% or fewer casualties. As I said earlier, the assault command and overwatch really help keep the casualties down. I now see just how one sided combat can be with less developed armies. *Its amazing how much has changed in 10 years. You look at the Abrams or Bradleys, and they have so much less protection in CMSF than they do in CMBS. Heck, if they had APS back then, the US would have been even more dominant. *Fighting a near-peer enemy is MUCH harder. It seems like an obvious statement, but man, the Russians are tough! It seems like the Syrian's buy their RPG's by the gross or at the comer market and the Russians don't have them quite as plentiful. But even though they don't have as many RPGs the use of artillery really brings the battle back into balance. *CMSF seems more like training now. If you play the two games back to back, CMSF seems like training since you can be make mistakes and get away with them. Syrians will break and run, but Russians are more likely stand their ground or fall back. The only exception is the Syrian Special Forces as they will also stand their ground. *Drones. Still having trouble with them. They are nice to have and help shape the battlefield, but the Russians knock them down so fast that they aren't really useful in my tactics. *Warfare is more deadly. The use of new ammunition really make combat more difficult. Trying to move my troops through open territory does not work as well. For example, I could do short Quick or Assault commands in CMSF and be relatively safe from enemy APC or Tank fire. Sure if they hit your guys it sucks, but they may also miss. The Russians have the airburst round which really makes it hard to move through open ground. Even woods aren't as safe. I would love to hear some ideas of how to cross open ground in First Clash or some of the other big maps. Thank you Battlefront for the great game and everybody to has posted videos of how to play the game! You have taught me the fundamentals! I continue to enjoy watching them and learning how to improve my game play!

Actually that is kind of interesting. Being in the Coast Guard, I don't always understand Army tactics but I try my best in the game. Since the Combat Mission games were based on the old Squad Leader and Advanced Squad Leader series, I have been trying to take that approach to my recent game play with some exceptions. I try to put infantry in woods and buildings to give them cover. Unlike the board game, I have been willing to put tanks in woods to give them better cover too. The last American mission, Vanguard was a huge eye opener to the usefulness of trees. I don't know how many trees I killed trying to knock out the T-90's. But I do find the game's LOS a bit wonky when it comes to trees. Krause has a good example in his lets play video where a T-90 is hidden from an M-1 simply because its behind a skinny tree. It seems like overall if a tank sees another vehicle using thermal sights, it will engage regardless of what is in the way.

After FINALLY making it though the American campaign, I found myself with a couple of questions about vehicles. 1. What does the hide command do? Does it actually do anything or is it there just to mess with you? I would assume it would turn the engine off, but I figure it would also make the driver turn off the radio and/or hide under the dash board. There has to be an answer out there. 2. Fences. Ok, I get that they are obstacles and not necessarily the barbed wire or split wood fences shown. But still....when I see a multi-ton tank take it slow going over one I can't help but think, what is that fence made out of?! Why is that Abrams going so slowly over that wooden fence??? Is it like in the movie Signs where an advanced alien race can be stopped by a simple wooden door? Heaven help us if Battlefront put working signal lights in the game! I would spend half a battle sitting in traffic!