First Time CM Player Impressions

[Citizen Snips]

So, I bought CM: Final Blitzkrieg last week, and am extremely impressed! The attention to detail, the WEGO, the mission design, the fidelity, etc... It's all outstanding. Had a nail bitingly tense sequence where I was desperately trying to sneak a bazooka team to a nearby house to take out a PIV, the only tank in the entire scenario, to which we had no other answer. Glorious to watch the squad make it to the house under fire, then launch a round at near max range into the tank's side armor that knocked it out. I then took guilty pleasure watching my men gun down the hapless tank crew that abandoned and tried to get away. Incredible experience.  

Anyway, I do have some questions I hope you all can help me out with:

- When I try to set up a quick battle, the cost of units quickly maxes out my budgeted income, even when I set it for very large battles. Like, one tank will use up my entire budget. What am I missing? 

- Where is the best place to get graphical mods? 

- Is there any way to know more effectively whether your units have vision of something? I'm used to newer games where they have a vision cone (Steel Division, Graviteam Tactics games, etc...) that pretty clearly tells you what a unit can and cannot see. Is there an option in CM? 

[ratdeath]

15 minutes ago, Citizen Snips said:

- When I try to set up a quick battle, the cost of units quickly maxes out my budgeted income, even when I set it for very large battles. Like, one tank will use up my entire budget. What am I missing?  

My guess you have the Rarity setting on Standard or Strict, set it to loose or none and you should be able to buy more tanks. Some tanks/vehicles have a rarity cost added to them for realism.

[rocketman]

Get your mods here (for all CM games): http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/

 

[domfluff]

37 minutes ago, Citizen Snips said:

- Is there any way to know more effectively whether your units have vision of something? I'm used to newer games where they have a vision cone (Steel Division, Graviteam Tactics games, etc...) that pretty clearly tells you what a unit can and cannot see. Is there an option in CM? 

Not really, for a couple of reasons. Main one is that each soldier in a unit spots individually, so one dude might be able to see, whilst the rest can't.

You can get a good idea of LOS by using the Target command, either from their current position, or another waypoint. You can also gain an awful lot by dropping the camera to eye level and having a look around.

It's definitely something which is an issue with CM's UI, but there isn't really an easy solution, given what's being simulated.

[Citizen Snips]

Great guys, thanks for the answers! 

[Glubokii Boy]

4 hours ago, Citizen Snips said:

 

- Is there any way to know more effectively whether your units have vision of something? I'm used to newer games where they have a vision cone (Steel Division, Graviteam Tactics games, etc...) that pretty clearly tells you what a unit can and cannot see. Is there an option in CM? 

IIRC as far as what enemy units any particular friendly unit can se can be checked with the floating incons.

To do this simply select a friendly unit and any enemy units that this unit can see will have a brighter shade on its floating incon..

A quick way to get a feel for what enemies your individual units have eyes on...

[Swervin11b]

Pretty new to it as well. Using the fire command is best to determine LOS. Also, zoom in completely on the unit you’re using and look around from its perspective, that way you have a good idea of their field of vision.

Watching guys do tutorials on YouTube gave me a really good primer on the UI and such. There are plenty out there, some better than others. (It’s how I learned, for instance, that you could order an MG team to deploy their weapon once they reached their destination. Also, you could have them “move” to one waypoint, then “slow,” or crawl to the next. Really comes in handy.)

Force size - you can up the percentage too. 

Enjoy!

Edited December 4, 2018 by Swervin11b

[MOS:96B2P]

3 hours ago, RepsolCBR said:

To do this simply select a friendly unit and any enemy units that this unit can see will have a brighter shade on its floating incon.   

@Citizen Snips This is how you know what OpFor units one of your fire teams or vehicles can see.  Welcome to Combat Mission. 

[sburke]

4 minutes ago, MOS:96B2P said:

@Citizen Snips This is how you know what OpFor units one of your fire teams or vehicles can see.  Welcome to Combat Mission. 

You can also use this by selecting the opfor unit and your units that can see it will be highlighted.  That may be an Iron mode item, not sure as that is the only way I play.   

[mjkerner]

Same in Elite Mode, too.

[c3k]

Don't be afraid of trying Iron Mode. It actually makes it easier to understand what each unit can see and how they'll act.

[domfluff]

I much prefer Iron for this reason.

If I have a squad ahead scouting for a platoon, I want to make sure that the second team remains in visual contact to the first - and Iron is the easiest way to do that.

[Howler]

If you're gaming system allows it,  go Iron as @c3k and @domfluff recommend.

My last few games have been on Elite to see if the larger maps/scenarios become playable on my ancient (10+ years old) system. The consensus seems to be that some computation is avoided on Elite as the various friendly LOS conditions don't need to be represented on play back. I don't know, as yet, if it does in my case.

 

There's a lot of good information to be found already and plenty of members willing to answer any questions you may have.

 

[Citizen Snips]

Uh, what is iron mode? I even read most of the CMFB manual, but don't recall seeing anything about iron mode.

[A Canadian Cat]

Iron is a skill level. See "Skill Levels" in "CM Engine Manual v4.00.pdf" pp 31. Short version is that lower levels make calling artillery and getting intel on enemy units easier. Iron also displays friendly units as ? icons when you have one of your units selected. It is very good for letting you know what a particular friendly unit's perspective of the battle field is.

[Warts 'n' all]

IRON level, and Trees full on, is the only way to play the game for me. 

[Michael Emrys]

On 12/4/2018 at 7:58 PM, mjkerner said:

Same in Elite Mode, too.

And in Veteran.

[sburke]

Yeah to ian’s point, iron mode is the best for really getting a picture on a units view of what it knows both friendly and enemy units  for me this also helps in understanding the C2 situation in that you know explicitly who is in visual range. I use it exclusively, but some folks don’t realky like it. 

[A Canadian Cat]

7 minutes ago, sburke said:

but some folks don’t realky like it. 

I'm not keen on it (but play on iron about half the time because I have opponents who are). My complaint is the extra clicks that are needed and the slight disorientation I feel when I click on a unit and the bulk of my force disappears off the map

But hey you cannot get the benefit that @sburke mentions without the pain that I don't like so there ya go.

[Bulletpoint]

Another benefit of Iron mode is that you get a better feel for the weather conditions - what can be spotted by whom at what distance. I don't use it though. For beginners, I definitely recommend starting on the lower difficulty (actually "realism") levels.

[MikeyD]

Quote

that pretty clearly tells you what a unit can and cannot see.

I tend to play 'Warrior' skill level simply because the longer artillery wait times frustrate me at higher levels. At that level when you click on a unit the only opposing unit icons on-map will be what your selected unit sees. Sound contacts, last-seen (disappeared) contacts, and info being filtered down from other units will appear as (?) icons with imprecise locations. Click off the unit and you get a 'god's eye view' of what all of your units are seeing.

[mjkerner]

Just started using Iron in the last 2 days with SF2 after years of Elite. I do like it for the reason  sburke pointed out.

[landser]

Iron mode for me too, I prefer it because I feel it gives me a better feel for the disposition of my troops, easy to see which formations are 'in contact' with their neighbors, a better idea of battlefield observation, and that sort of thing. We are conditioned to see the highest settings as the most difficult, but in Combat Mission this isn't necessarily true, and Iron could be seen as 'easier' in a sense. Maybe easier isn't the right word, but I think it gives more useful feedback as to the state of affairs on the battlefield, and additional information is always useful.

Occasionally though I will drop it for the reason Mikey said, on call wait times. When I played Kampfgruppe Engel campaign I had read how challenging it was supposed to be (one guy even said don't bother as it's too hard), so I played on a lower setting just to get my artillery faster. I wish the artillery on call times thing was a separate setting and not tied to the other levels.

[Blazing 88's]

On 12/4/2018 at 5:27 PM, Swervin11b said:

...Also, zoom in completely on the unit you’re using and look around from its perspective, that way you have a good idea of their field of vision...

 

I mentioned this several years ago, might as well mention it again...  This is so much easier nowadays compared to my old wargame table days, using a homemade (paper towel roll and angled mirrors) reverse periscope to get the idea of their field of vision. 

Edited December 7, 2018 by Blazing 88's

[mjkerner]

Been there, done that, Blazing88, lol!