Campaigns

[37mm]

The Forging Steel campaign is not set in Syria... it is a hypothetical "Blue vs Red" high intensity, Mechanized war campaign (perfect for a Euroscape conversion).

I agree that TF Thunder is a good starting campaign. I'd also recommend In Search of a Ghost as it provides some decent infantry only fights at the platoon/company scale.

Zawiya Uprising & Guardians of the Homeland are good Red vs Red campaigns & are at the platoon/company size.

[landser]

1 minute ago, 37mm said:

The Forging Steel campaign is not set in Syria... it is a hypothetical "Blue vs Red" high intensity, Mechanized war campaign (perfect for a Euroscape conversion).

 

 

Ah thanks, my mistake.  Those enemy troops are rugged

Thanks also for the recommendations, just the sort of thing I was looking for. Are you the same 37mm who's posted at SimHQ?

I think I'll dive in to Task Force Thunder and it should keep me occupied for a while. Appreciate all the help so far.

[Pandur]

I suggest the Task Force Thunder campaign because it start with some simple scenarios where you have vastly stronger forces, so they are beginner friendly if you want to call it like that.

If you want to play some scenarios to get into the swing, maybe play Al Amahra(small scenario) and Allahs Fist(tank scenario). Once you got these done, you should be fine in TF Thunder campaign.

[landser]

Thanks Pandur, that sounds good and I think I'll kick it off tonight. I've fooled around in SF2 enough now that I think I can make a proper go of it.

Still curious if UAVs have been added in to it? I'll know soon enough I reckon.

[37mm]

13 hours ago, landser said:

Are you the same 37mm who's posted at SimHQ?

The same... you may also like to check out my CMSF1 Scenario & campaign collection.

Edited October 25, 2019 by 37mm

[Vergeltungswaffe]

12 hours ago, landser said:

Still curious if UAVs have been added in to it? I'll know soon enough I reckon.

If you mean SF2 in general, then yes, there are UAV's.

[JulianJ]

Hi @Vergeltungswaffe are there really? I haven't come across them anywhere except BS. Which scenarios? Can you add them to QBs?

[George MC]

18 hours ago, landser said:

Ah thanks, my mistake.  Those enemy troops are rugged

Thanks also for the recommendations, just the sort of thing I was looking for. Are you the same 37mm who's posted at SimHQ?

I think I'll dive in to Task Force Thunder and it should keep me occupied for a while. Appreciate all the help so far.

Yup what @37mm said. Forging Steel was also based on the concept of the US National Training centre where you face peer enemy troops (OPFOR) in challenging tactical situations. It becomes pretty tough as the OPFOR has excellent kit and trained to terminator levels. Its designed to truly test the US player.

[landser]

I thought the first battle was excellent George, thanks for making that campaign. Great map, cool objectives, a manageable force and I like the briefing style. I actually did just fine in the first mission, forty minutes in I was at the first phase line. It's just that perhaps the enemy was too resolute for my first taste of the modern CM battlefield.

Vergeltungswaffe, I meant had UAVs been added to Task Force Thunder, and can confirm they have, as I finished the first battle of the campaign last night. Good stuff, and a brutal introduction to combat on the modern battlefield. A few folks suggested I take my time and ease in to it, which is really good advice, and in the end perhaps I took more casualties than I am really comfortable with

 

Edited October 25, 2019 by landser

[George MC]

17 minutes ago, landser said:

I thought the first battle was excellent George, thanks for making that campaign. Great map, cool objectives, a manageable force and I like the briefing style. I actually did just fine in the first mission, forty minutes in I was at the first phase line. It's just that perhaps the enemy was too resolute for my first taste of the modern CM battlefield.

Vergeltungswaffe, I meant had UAVs been added to Task Force Thunder, and can confirm they have, as I finished the first battle of the campaign last night. Good stuff, and a brutal introduction to combat on the modern battlefield. A few folks suggested I take my time and ease in to it, which is really good advice, and in the end perhaps I took more casualties than I am really comfortable with

My pleasure  Ah i see - yeah if not played much modern stuff this campaign could become a tad frustrating. As others suggested worth playing some scenarios to get a feel for things. Good effort on the first mission though - so bodes well for your modern combat career.

Cheery!

[landser]

Yes, I bought SF2 three days ago (big bundle) and it's my first modern CM title. Thanks to all for the recommendations, Task Force Thunder seems right up my alley and I had fun playing the first battle, even if it's a bit lopsided.

After the briefing I had a look at the map, and it's fairly self-evident how to proceed. Get your M1s up on the berm and let 'em rip. And that's what I did. Of all the hundreds of Combat Mission battles I've played, I can safely say that I've never caused more casualties in the second minute of any. Just brutal. It's awesome how fast an Abrams can acquire and kill.

But the star of the show was certainly the venerable M240, and these were singing for every turn non-stop. The enemy lacks motivation and with enough persuasion are keen to seek new positions to the rear. Each M1 got over 50 kills, and the artillery was lethal. I successfully bypassed the minefield and the infantry got involved toward the end, storming the complex and bringing it to a close.

I've played WW2 Combat Mission for a long time, and I'm glad I decided to try a modern one. It's fun and different and I am having a great time. Thanks for all of the help.

[sburke]

TFPanther is another good one. It is not updated for CMSF2 but doesn’t really need it. (You have to accept some difference as Chris modded some forces in the snitch for example to have a combined airborne special ops mission but those mods won’t work in CMSF2.). It is mostly sub company size, airborne oriented.  

[landser]

Added to the playlist, thanks man. I wanted the first campaign I played to have the new toys of SF2 like drones, so TFT fits the bill. But SF1 level campaigns are perfectly fine too. Looks like this one might take a while to get through, but lining up the next one is good. TF Panther is not at TSD III, got a link?

 

Quote

You have to accept some difference as Chris modded some forces in the snitch for example

What's the snitch?

And about Forging Steel, apologies as it seems i either misunderstood or more likely glossed it over, but the description for the campaign includes this informative bit

It should be borne in mind that these Syrian forces are not Syrian as such – think of a highly trained and well equipped force such as the Russians. The missions are designed to stretch the abilities and tactics of the Bluefor. Question is are you as the commander up to it?

Edited October 25, 2019 by landser

[Vergeltungswaffe]

7 hours ago, JulianJ said:

Hi @Vergeltungswaffe are there really? I haven't come across them anywhere except BS. Which scenarios? Can you add them to QBs?

They're in a number of scenarios.

In QB's look under Air Support to find them.

[landser]

I found the TF Panther campaign (and more) on 37mm's dropbox. Thanks man, that's quite the treasure trove.

[landser]

I'm burning right through Task Force Thunder, ten missions done and dusted.  I wondered though if the version of of SF2 I bought has all the latest, most up to date versions of each stock campaign? If SF2 was purchased and downloaded in the past two weeks will it have all the latest versions, the ones re-worked after the main release of SF2?

TFT is fun,  although the small maps mean tactical freedom is limited. A good introduction for me anyway. I loved the Dar al Abid as Sul  and Screen battles, hated the Objective Normandy mission, and the rest are shooting galleries

Not certain how many missions remain. Depends on the outcome of each perhaps? I had a peek at the Task Force Panther campaign, maybe I'll give that a go next. Any recommendations for a second campaign? Ideally, I'd like more room for maneuver than TFT allows. That first battle from Forging Steel was just about right, and maybe I'll return to that one at some point. A version of that with the enemy skill reduced would be great, as they might actually get out of their own holes instead of needing to be dragged out kicking and screaming and shooting.

Edited October 30, 2019 by landser

[landser]

OK, I'll approach it from a different angle. Is there a way, in the selection screen, or in the initial general briefing, to identify the re-worked campaigns that were done after the release of SF2 so I can determine if these are included in recently purchased SF2 copies?

[Ithikial_AU]

On 10/30/2019 at 9:33 PM, landser said:

I wondered though if the version of of SF2 I bought has all the latest, most up to date versions of each stock campaign? If SF2 was purchased and downloaded in the past two weeks will it have all the latest versions, the ones re-worked after the main release of SF2?

Honestly unsure. However if you download the updated campaigns from the BF website and then paste them over the existing files you will defineatly be playing the CMSF2 revamped versions. Only the British and Dutch campaign updates are yet to be released.

On 10/30/2019 at 9:33 PM, landser said:

Any recommendations for a second campaign?

Interesting sidenote, I've actually generated a spreadsheet that organised all the individual campaign missions into chronological order. (Along with the individual scenarios). Some are a little off but it would be interesting to play all the stock campaigns missions 'in order.' Whether it is intentional or not I have no idea but NATO forces striking from Turkey jumped off their start lines the day before Taskforce Thunder.

[landser]

I considered doing just that, but wondered, if it didn't overwrite, could I end up with two copies of a campaign that share the same name and have no ability to know which is the updated one in the selection screen? I can just rename it before installing it I suppose to avoid that. I can work this out, but thought someone would know whether these were included in current downloads of SF2.

Ithikial, how did you determine the dates for each mission for your spreadsheet? If each mission has a a date in the briefing I must skim right over that.

Task Force Thunder is an interesting campaign, and I'm glad I gave it a go. It's a mixed bag for me, but as my first Shock Force campaign it's new and novel and I'm having fun with it. I'm about 13 missions in to it, and whilst there have been two or three missions I did not like, there have been more that I really liked and a few somewhere in the middle. The maps are nicely done, but too small in my opinion. It's too focused for me on the Strykers, only a few battles have featured M1s and fewer still, Bradleys, which are one of my favorite armored vehicles ever. But I understand that the Shock Force game concept was centered on the Stryker Brigades so it makes perfect sense that the accompanying campaign would showcase this.

I reckon I'm just a few missions from completion, and I'll add it to my campaign reviews thread over at SimHQ when done

If anyone's interested, you can read my thoughts on various CM campaigns here

Campaign reviews at SimHQ

Please be aware that it is nothing but spoilers, so proceed with caution if you prefer to play campaigns without advanced knowledge of them. And I do not own all CM titles, so there's plenty missing, but it's growing, and with my purchase of SF2 another gap is filled.

Edited November 1, 2019 by landser

[Ithikial_AU]

15 hours ago, landser said:

I considered doing just that, but wondered, if it didn't overwrite, could I end up with two copies of a campaign that share the same name and have no ability to know which is the updated one in the selection screen? I can just rename it before installing it I suppose to avoid that. I can work this out, but thought someone would know whether these were included in current downloads of SF2.

Ithikial, how did you determine the dates for each mission for your spreadsheet? If each mission has a a date in the briefing I must skim right over that.

http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=7766

And a bit of playing around with the extracted data in Excel. I'll probably release it following the final CMSF2 campaign revamps are released.

As for the revamped campaigns downloaded from the website, they should be the same names when copying you should get a confirmation to overwrite the existing file warning on your desktop. As long as you haven't started a campaign before you do this you should be fine.

[landser]

Thanks Ithikial, I see.

The link for the updated German campaign in the pinned threads at the top of this forum does not work for me (invalid link). Anywhere else to grab it? I don't see it at SD III.

The link to Khabour Trail updated version works.