CMSF Marines - Your First Impressions

[Thomm]

I haven't seen units peek around corners though, as was mentioned in this thread: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=75317&highlight=corners&page=1. Was this feature taken out?

I think there was an internal misunderstanding back then. Peeking around corners is not simulated explicitly so far.

Best regards,

Thomm

[Melnibone]

Just got through my first battle. Nice work. New sound effects are excellent.

[Inkompetent]

After having played the first mission on Elite I got to say I *love* it! Incredibly more immersive, radio chatter for fire/air support helps a lot, and the general survivability and fighting ability of the infantrymen seem to have increased vastly in FIBUAR.

To als have some real snipers with M40 is wonderful for the feeling.

I got really impressed with the first mission, where I'm for once far inferior in number of soldiers and firepower (total fire power, that is. Individually these Marines seem twice as good as the Army dudes from vanilla) and can't just roll over the enemy, but actually have to pick my encounters carefully and move slowly with good use of fire support.

[handihoc]

Significant improvement in framerate, too. Cool.

Just played Mark Ezra's Blues For Allah (playing at Iron) and got a big surprise and a pasting from the AI, just when thought I was in control. Great scenario - will be back for more another day.

[mazex]

Played first battle. Bad Moon Rising. M1 vs T90SA. I have only one thing to say.

COOL!!

Well, I'm not that sure about "Bad Moon Rising". Flat map with a bunch of tanks in one corner each and almost no briefing at all. Some kind of "hello world" scenario to test the engine I guess, and in that case it failed to impress me. Drove my M1:s straight across the map (real time - veteran) to the enemy corner, stopped when I got in contact with the enemy and got one tank immobilized and one destroyed - the Syrians lost 30 T-90:s and all crews accept 3 survivors that where hiding in the carnage. I would have expected more from the T-90 I guess...

Having said that, Marines still feels very good - especially the infantry combat! Lot's of improvements there!

[cabal23]

I was doing a mission involving a sniper and my sniper was in a tall building and he had LOS on an trench with 10 + bad guys hiding in it. I have never in all my time playing CMSF seen what I saw happen and I can only chalk it up to the fact a Marine was behind the rifle now and stellar changes to the engine itself. I wish I could have created a video of it.

Each time on of them stuck his head up and became unpanicked, he got his head blown off. It was hilarious in a sense. One would stick his head up and get shot, a few moments later another would life his head up and BOOM! One by one they went down in a line. I eventually had a trench of bodies. I had another unit recon the trench and lo and behold they were all dead. Amazing. It goes without saying I was able to clear the board in that fashion and had a total victory. That is most likely the most bad ace moment in a game I have ever witnessed.

[ChrisND]

Is it just me or are the missions past number 2 freaking HARD? I've had to restart twice now.

[Lethaface]

Thanks Everyone for this GREAT enhancement!!!

Didnt even took any time to post my appreciation, I was busy playing the game

Well, I'm not that sure about "Bad Moon Rising". Flat map with a bunch of tanks in one corner each and almost no briefing at all. Some kind of "hello world" scenario to test the engine I guess, and in that case it failed to impress me. Drove my M1:s straight across the map (real time - veteran) to the enemy corner, stopped when I got in contact with the enemy and got one tank immobilized and one destroyed - the Syrians lost 30 T-90:s and all crews accept 3 survivors that where hiding in the carnage. I would have expected more from the T-90 I guess...

Strange, since I basically did the same as you, only I chose Red. Drove my T-90's up in two big groups and there was a big armor clash (nice performance!). My two companies were almost destroyed with around 4 immobilized T-90's left when my 3rd Company game as reinforcements. The US still had some 3 abrams. I moved in the third company and they just took out remaing abrams with no real difficulties.

I guess the biggest difference between the T-72 TURMS-T and the T-90SA is that the latter has got more staying power and targets much faster. It can absorb quite a number of M1 main gun rounds and so has more time to shoot of that deadly 125mm apfsds.

In another level my T-90 took out abrams from the front while the abrams failed to penetrate it a couple of times.

[Moon]

Is it just me or are the missions past number 2 freaking HARD? I've had to restart twice now.

Some of the campaign (and standalone) missions are definitely harder than you're probably used to pre 1.10. Partly because of the engine changes, AI tweaks (arty) etc., partly because the Marines' force mix is different, and partly because the amazing group of scenario designers / beta testers is getting damn' friggin' good at what they're doing

[BigDork]

Is it just me or are the missions past number 2 freaking HARD? I've had to restart twice now.

It took me about four tries to get a satisfactory result out of the third battle.

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!

I finally figured it was better to hold your fire until the got close in. Everything was going great until the tanks showed up. Then it went down hill. Thankfully I was able to get the jav team into a good position but I lost a lot of men in the mean time. Damn hard, lots of fun... loving it!

[mazex]

Thanks Everyone for this GREAT enhancement!!!

Didnt even took any time to post my appreciation, I was busy playing the game

Strange, since I basically did the same as you, only I chose Red. Drove my T-90's up in two big groups and there was a big armor clash (nice performance!). My two companies were almost destroyed with around 4 immobilized T-90's left when my 3rd Company game as reinforcements. The US still had some 3 abrams. I moved in the third company and they just took out remaing abrams with no real difficulties.

I guess the biggest difference between the T-72 TURMS-T and the T-90SA is that the latter has got more staying power and targets much faster. It can absorb quite a number of M1 main gun rounds and so has more time to shoot of that deadly 125mm apfsds.

In another level my T-90 took out abrams from the front while the abrams failed to penetrate it a couple of times.

Well, maybe I was lucky? Takes a lot of luck for 30-2 in tank combat (and one of them was only immobilzed as you can see from the losses of only three men and one wounded). Here's the after action report:

/Mazex

[Other Means]

Is it just me or are the missions past number 2 freaking HARD? I've had to restart twice now.

Arty smoke is your friend.

[SgtMuhammed]

Is it just me or are the missions past number 2 freaking HARD? I've had to restart twice now.

In a word, yes.

I spent a lot of time kicking my own ass and having it kicked by the other designers.

Wise asset alocation is the key. Most of these missions don't have a hard shell and a creamy center, they are rough from beginning to end.

[Peter Panzer]

Here are some quick points after spending a little bit of time with

CMSF:M...

The Bad:

• USMC Infantry lack "idle" animations (there's a joke here somewhere). How did that make it through months of testing?
  
• The M16A4 hanguard is too short. The barrel and gas tube of the M16A4 are not exposed the way they are depicted in CMSF:M.
  
  
  
  
  The primary small arm of the Corps is misrepresented? Tsk, tsk. On the other hand, every rifleman has apparently been issued an ACOG, bonus.
  
  
• Vehicle movement playback is sometimes choppy. This is typically accompanied by a stutter in the vehicle movement sound effect (save game file available).
  
• WEGO playback still needs work in terms of infantry models sliding (no run/walk animation) into final positions and vehicles hitching vertically when moving over uneven terrain.
  
• "Face" commands still cannot be issued to units that are hiding.
  
• USMC Escort Platoon "Equipment" rating is backwards (Mk19=Poor, M2=Excellent)
  
• User entered names ("Rename" function) for HQ units do not appear "in-game."

The Good:

• Capturing the essence of the combined arms doctrine of the USMC - more than just new hardware, the game delivers a sense of the differing tactics and organization between the US Army and the Corps. That's big, good job!
  
  
• The Abrams testicles finally dropped, area fire with the 120mmm is now possible - thank you!
  
• New US Army AFV's - ERA and TUSK, two great tastes that go great together.
  
• Off map cover arcs - much easier to use and more effective.
  
• Secondaries - fabulous touch
  
• The ability to check LOS in the scenario editor
  
• Action spot markers - more information regarding pathfinding is a good thing.
  
• New sound effects, especially the CAS/Artillery - informing the player of in-game activity while adding to immersiveness in a convincing way, very well done.
  
• New vehicle models - a strength from the very beginning, CMSF:M continues the trend

Questions:

• Could some of the obvious points like the M16A4 handguard and lack of idle animations be added to the upcoming download version of v.1.10?
  
• Will the Mk.19 Humvee variant be avilable to US Army units in v.1.11?

Mod Request:

• Would someone be willing to mod the USMC infantry helmet to remove the googles? The opaque, black eyewear makes the infantry look too uniform and robotic.

Someone did a fantastic face mod for the BLUFOR infantry way-back-when, perhaps that fellow is still around?

[M1A1TC]

[*]Would someone be willing to mod the USMC infantry helmet to remove the googles? The opaque, black eyewear makes the infantry look too uniform and robotic.

Someone did a fantastic face mod for the BLUFOR infantry way-back-when, perhaps that fellow is still around?

That fellow is me,thanks, I am still around Ill see what I can do

How about this?

[Peter Panzer]

That fellow is me,thanks, I am still around Ill see what I can do

M1A1TC:

Thanks for the lightning reply!

That would be great, your work really adds a lot to the game! If you also authored the Syrian Face Mod, thank you for that as well - talk about raising the bar....

[M1A1TC]

M1A1TC:

Thanks for the lightning reply!

That would be great, your work really adds a lot to the game! If you also authored the Syrian Face Mod, thank you for that as well - talk about raising the bar....

Yeah, that was me as well

[Peter Panzer]

You are quick on the draw today M1.

I was thinking more along the lines of what you did above - that is perfect.

Hell, now that I've got you on the line, I wouldn't mind seeing you retouch the Marines Camelbacks too. Thank you for being game and for lending your time!

[M1A1TC]

You are quick on the draw today M1.

I was thinking more along the lines of what you did above - that is perfect.

Hell, now that I've got you on the line, I wouldn't mind seeing you retouch the Marines Camelbacks too. Thank you for being game and for lending your time!

Thanks

No worries, I am working on the USMC infantry as we speak. They will have new uniform, new TA-50, new rifle texture as well, and finally new faces

[ChrisND]

Some of the campaign (and standalone) missions are definitely harder than you're probably used to pre 1.10. Partly because of the engine changes, AI tweaks (arty) etc., partly because the Marines' force mix is different, and partly because the amazing group of scenario designers / beta testers is getting damn' friggin' good at what they're doing

Well, the fact that the defenders outnumber the attackers in some scenarios, are dug in and keyholed, oh... and ARE ALL CRACK also tends to help them.

[Fat Dave]

...seeing how powerfully armed and hard to kill these Devil Dogs are...you HAVE to give the Syrians these sort of set-ups to avoid a complete walk-over. After having played all weekend as Red, once the Dogs bark up, any Syrian position is usually shot to pieces in very short time. The LAW, the M32 GL and the ripping SAW's really put a lot of hurt down range very quickly and very accurately. I found unless I upped the experience and leadership to Crack level, the Syrians would:

1. Find it seemingly harder to hit their targets in the first place

2. Pin easily by the very reactive return fire

3. Subsequently and systematically get shredded by accurate bursts and rifle grenades.

Seriously, the Syrians need numbers on their side, keyholed positions and Crack experience to stand any sort of chance

[StrykerPSG]

Kudos to Battlefront and their testers. I have stayed off this forum for quite a while after the many arguements with CMSF and am elated to see so many positive posts with the new release. I have just purchased it, playing the first mission and too must admit I am equally impressed with the new improvements. The game is a total transformation from the original release and am glad to see that Battlefront and her supporters have stayed the course to see this module released. I can say without hesitation, I will be looking forward to future releases and providing continued support to Battlefront.

Thanks again. I would also like to render a salute to Meach and JP76er for making such an offer in today's unpopularity with operations abroad and those serving in support of it.

Matt

[Peter Panzer]

USMC Infantry lack "idle" animations (there's a joke here somewhere). How did that make it through months of testing?

I figured out why this "omission" made it "...through months of testing."

Turns out the game is working as intended and I was wrong. Go figure.

Somehow, I got it into my head the idle animations continue between turns in WEGO. This is not the case - they actually stop after the action phase and begin again during the subsequent turn. Viewing the models during the interim between turns gave me the false impression they were "frozen."

Sorry about the confusion. I did note I have only spent a little bit of time with the game, right?

[mazex]

Yep - this is like a new game. Now infantry combat is REALLY fun and with so few bugs it makes it very easy to forget some of the remaining path finding issues with the vehicles. I've just played through the first three missions in the old campaign to try it there - and I've only been really pissed one time, when half of my Strykers refused to go through a hole in the wall at the barracks (mission 2). Had to blow a 50 feet wide gap in the wall to get all of them to do it... In version 1.0, I had cursed the code 10 times before even getting my vehicles around the berm at the first mission to face the enemy!

As good as it works now I'm starting to think that BFC deserves some defense contract... If they could buy the Close Combat engine, this is so much better now (would never have said that until 1.10).

I'm really starting to think that the return to WWII will be a glorious one with palm leaves under the Tigers treads With CMSF 1.0 it would have been a disgrace to the CMx1 heritage!

/Mazex

[theFightingSeabee]

First Impression:

I played the first mission so far. Marines has exceeded my expectations. I love the sounds. The radio chatter is great: It solves problems that I have brought up in the recent past. Now I know if my guys are injured or dead: That's a huge help. Precision airstrikes: All of my JDAM's hit the mark. Smoooth frame rates: bigger battles? Highlighted squares: very nice improvement. Now I know exactly where my guys are going.

Basically, I saw only major improvements. Can't wait until the next mission!