Could this be the best yet?

[BletchleyGeek]

I'd like to point out that there has been a thread like this for pretty much every release since Market Garden, when some massive optimizations hit loading times in general.

The 3.0 patches have really brought CMBN and CMFI a long, long way forward. CMRT with the 1.03 patch is being also awesome.

What I think has changed a lot is the map making in most scenarios and many QB maps that feels more... artistic? true to nature?

Regarding shadows: just go and find a game where you find shadows to be realistic and also 1) allows you to make your own "levels", and place objects mostly arbitrarily, 2) allows the same degrees of freedom with the camera, 3) features such a wide variety of lighting conditions.

There are not many, really, and there are good - technical - reasons for that.

Edited February 1, 2015 by BletchleyGeek

[TAKODA]

I just had a quick play and must say it is brilliant, great work by all those involved in the development of this game, you guys should all be proud of yourselves.

[Cpl Steiner]

It's nearly 2 am in the morning here in the UK and I am debating whether to go to bed or fire up CM:BS for another game - so yes, I think you could say I'm enjoying BFC's latest offering very much indeed. Lots of posters have mentioned the increased lethality in this game and I have to agree, it is very brutal and unforgiving. Whereas in previous titles you could take some risks and get away with it, 9 times out of 10 you won't in CM:BS. I've seen whole squads mowed down in literally a second when they got caught in the open. This has the effect of making you think really long and hard about the best way to tackle an enemy position, so much so that the tactical planning aspect is almost like Chess.

 

Oh what the hell, time for another game!

Edited February 1, 2015 by Cpl Steiner

[Capt. Toleran]

For me, it is the best yet.  I always loved CMSF, and this is CMSF done perfect.  I really missed the kind of efficiency and ability you had with the modern C&C and tech, and this is so exciting to have T-90s, T-72s, and basically modified T-80s slugging it out with eachother and M1's.

 

Battlefront, thank you so much for this, it is smooth as silk and rich like butter, pure tactical heaven.  Now looking forward to mods and other UGC.

[Stagler]

Dat lethality. I had two BMP-3M ERA destroyed by a single Mk19 on a hmmwv. Ha.

 

One of which was a catastrophic kill.

Edited February 1, 2015 by Stagler

[Agua]

I'm highly biased towards WW2, but this is very, very damned good.  Remarkably polished and the new weaponry is nearly off-putting in its diversity.  Lethality is over the top - getting my ax waxed on the first mission against what appears to be a squad and a couple of heavy weapons teams.  It's going to take a while to figure out the rock/paper/scissor aspect of the weaponry here.  Very impressive title.

[Frankster65]

For quite a while now WW2 Combat Mission was my preference. And, I do still love WW2CM but I gotta say I am blown away by CMBS! It is just so deep in terms of weapon systems modeling and the modern environment. I am already putting away money for future modules in this particular series.

[panzersaurkrautwerfer]

 

 

Dat lethality. I had two BMP-3M ERA destroyed by a single Mk19 on a hmmwv. 

 

They are pretty awesome.  40 MM HEDP sneaks up on you.  Back in CMSF I spent the better part of 10 minutes sneaking a dude with an AT4 into position to knockout a BMP-2.  BMP-2 moves a little, hits LOS for a rifle squad with a few M203s.  Goodbye BMP.

[Wodin]

Gauntlets Crossed is a scenario to try if your finding it lethal. You'll be surprised how intense and long Inf firefights last when in buildings. Feels very realistic. Really recommend the scenario as a starter.

[Wodin]

Another huge plus for me is that we have a good selection of low unit count scenarios  ( Even the first campaign scenario I tried has eased me into it)! Something I found lacking abit in Red Thunder esp the campaigns which straight away put you into big battles with a fair amount of units.

[bodkin]

I can't remmeber having this much fun with any BFC release, watching an ATGM glide over the landscape to take out an enemy vehicle is something I get great pleasure in for some reason. However watching my T-90 that I thought was safe get taken out by a precision artillery round reminds me I'm not in Normandy any more.

 

CMSF was great but the asymetrical nature of the battles meant scenario designers often put tough casualty restrictions on the US/NATO player which didn't make for enjoyable gameplay for me especially in MOUT operations.

 

Great game so far and will only get better with mods and expansions.

[Nike Laos]

Good job Battlefront! I'm enjoying all your products, especially Combat mission titles and Theatre of War collection. I wish you the best for the next years.

Great community and a lot of great mods. Awesome!

[MarkEzra]

...and this is CMSF done perfect....

Well said.  My sentiments exactly. 

[Sarjen]

Yes, i like this CM version very much. Well worth the download trouble. I see me getting many hours of exciting battles from it. Thanks battlefront.

[Reiter]

This is very good game. It sucks me in, even I prefer ww2. I maybe must admit, that this is best cmx2 game to date. Great work, battlefront, but don´t forget to give us modules for red thunder etc.

[dams-fr]

To my mind, it is the best CM, like every CM i played .

 

Gameplay is faster than WW2 CM'S but it is realistic (modern conflicts). 

Dying is faster ^^, first to see => most of the time first to kill...

Loadings are optimized.

All factions seems capable to win and inflict big damages if well played...

[db_zero]

Gauntlets Crossed is a scenario to try if your finding it lethal. You'll be surprised how intense and long Inf firefights last when in buildings. Feels very realistic. Really recommend the scenario as a starter.

I started this after going through the training. Wicked battle. I'm playing on elite and it's tough. I'm trying to figure out the best way to move forward without suffering casulties. Do I send a couple of scouts forward to see if there are enemy hiding in buildings and draw fire while another element provides covering fire or should I use smoke to block LOS from potential enemy fire lane? I know in previous games once a unit uses smoke its gone. Would it be realistic if squads have the capablity to produce 2 or 3 smoke screens?

 

I haven't gotten that far but I suspect I'm going to be using the breaching teams to make my own covered avenues of approach.

 

This game is freaking good. I know some h2h player who were not going to get this because they really are not into the modern stuff, but really even if modern warfare isn't your thing you should consider trying it out.

Edited February 1, 2015 by db_zero

[agusto]

db zero, try recon by fire.If you expect a building to be occupied but no one is shooting at you from there yet, set a target light order on that building. They may simply havent spotted your units yet or they might have a covered arc.

[db_zero]

db zero, try recon by fire.If you expect a building to be occupied but no one is shooting at you from there yet, set a target light order on that building. They may simply havent spotted your units yet or they might have a covered arc.

Ah yes recon by fire that would work...I was just in the mindset that I don't want to anger the civilian population by randomly shooing up their beloved dwellings we may need their support or at least their grudging compliance in the future....

 

I know BF doesn't want to go there, but civilians wandering around would really all alot to the game.

 

I didn't get into SF that much but I thought there were times when you couldn't just go shooting up buildings in some battles. Does that exist in Black Sea?

[Blueonblack83]

My only tiny complaint is that I wish the campaigns were a tad bit longer. Maybe 8-9 missions a piece instead of 5.

[Mr. Yubby]

I've been playing CM2x games since Shock Force version 1.0. The game engine has come a long way and the quality of the maps and 3D models in CMBS is up to BFC's usual high standard. IMHO, this title is the pinnacle of the series,

 

I've been experimenting with WeGo vs real-time, and though I like both, I've settled into real-time as my preferred mode, it just seems more immersive (and pretty darned hard to keep up with).  To my surprise, I've been holding my own in the scenarios, have been playing mostly as the U.S./Ukranian forces. If one is patient and uses good tactics, you can survive, though the U.S. is noticeably short in effective anti-air defenses. My vehicles have been getting creamed by Russian air-to-ground support aircraft and trying to hide your vehicles in the trees is not a valid tactic, at least that's been my experience so far. Keeping vehicles moving seems to get the best results.

 

It's a stark contrast to CMSF, where Blue casualties were fairly low, in CMBS, casualties can be horrific, as I expected. To the folks who are new to BFC games or did not play CMSF, check out the Strategy and Tactics section of the CMSF forum, there's some great hints regarding survivability on the modern battlefield. 

 

Great job Battlefront, I've been waiting for another modern title for a while, this one meets my expectations. I hope there will be modules for UK and German forces.

 

Also, FWIW, I spent a little time last night tweaking my video card drivers, the textures in the game on my system just did not come up to the quality of the screen shots. I resolved that issue with the following tweaks:

 

Create a profile in Nvidia control panel for the CMBS executable

Anisotropic filtering              set to 8x

Antialiasing                          let the app decide (turned on in game video settings)

Negative LOD bias              set to allow

Texture Filtering                  set to Very High Quality

Texture filtering - trilinear optimization    set to On

Triple Buffering                  set to On  (this may improve choppiness for OpenGL)

Vertical Sync                      set to On

 

On my system, this significantly improved the texture quality, especially the vehicle textures.

[RCE_Spr]

Well I am enjoying it.  Other than the slaugher fest I'm experiencing in "Going to Town".  This battle, is my, Kobayashi Maru .

[db_zero]

Took fire from a building and when I zoomed in I saw an ATM machine. Nice. All we need now is a Starbucks, McDonalds and KFC. I'm sure American capatalism has penetrated deepely into Russia the past decade.

[Sergei]

Well I am enjoying it.  Other than the slaugher fest I'm experiencing in "Going to Town".  This battle, is my, Kobayashi Maru .

So you're going to do what James T. Kirk did?

[Michael Emrys]

Very well done. Its also a very stark contrast to the WW2 games. Makes you wonder that if somthing like this did happen just how long it could last at full intensity. I get the sense that after a few weeks both sides would be pretty beat up and neither would be very enthusiastic to continue, unless one side broke.

 

In addition, you might consider this: Back maybe 40 years ago the thinking was that if war did break out between NATO and WARPAC it would have to be decided one way or the other in the first 72 hours, because that is about as long as NATO's ammunition stocks would last at the expected rate of expenditure. If the issue was still undecided, there would then settle in a long pause while the warring countries got their factories producing again and their product to be transported to the war zone. BTW, I don't know what the expert thinking was on this matter, but it seems to me that WARPAC would enjoy some advantage in at least the transportation of fresh munitions since at least they would not be shipping across the Atlantic with all its hazards and delays.

 

Michael