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RAMADI (Iraq): Mother of All MOUT Maps


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Me thinks someone needs to make map converter for CMSF

Wouldn't help me unless the map converter also knew how to convert the building shadows into proper height buildings. Most of my mapbuilding time is not spent in plopping down buildings in their proper footprints, it's in configuring the compound walls that surround them, harmonizing the interior layouts and eliminating all those damn extra windows.

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I think you're thinking of mapping mission, that never worked on mine but i heard it was a pretty useful tool.

Map Converter was a program that let you convert maps between all 3 CM titles, it would copy the map and then you could paste it back into any version, so if there was one for CMSF you could just paste the new master map into your scenario, sounds just like what you need. Alas I'm guessing the CMx2 code is a lot harder to make it with so doubt we will ever see it.

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Here's a FRAPS Kiowa door gunner flyby of the newly expanded Mulaab district, E to W. The easternmost 150m (everything to the right of the water tower, that tall brown thing in the background) and southernmost 80m (front four rows of buildings) didn't exist this time last week. I must say I am getting really good at cranking out Arab tenements en masse. Now back to scenario design.

th_CMShockForce2010-08-1418-06-10-85.jpg

I'm totally psyched that the "Easy Street" boulevard now runs in its correct southeast direction from the Saddam mosque, and the neighborhoods on either side are a lot "deeper" than before (they were too easy to get into and interdict from the main roads before).

In RELIEF OF JOKER THREE, your QRFs must locate and relieve 3 isolated Marine squads heavily besieged somewhere within the area shown in this video. And you have to do it without sustaining more than about 25 casualties in 90 minutes.

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A shameless self-bump of my Ramadi thread really, but I thought this screenie of the mean streeets of the Mulaab was pretty cool. (roadblocks made of burning cars was a real insurgent tactic, btw, although it just slows down enemy vehicles instead of blocking them). Playtesting continues. I want players to feel like they've been in a friggin' firefight. Love those Ryujin weapons sounds!

Roadblocks.jpg

P.S. Burning stuff adds a lot of atmosphere for systems with enough jam to handle it. I'd love if BFC could come out with burning/smoking buildings/rubble for Normandy.

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Correct, the wrecks don't move, but other units, including vehicles, can move through them, although it does slow them down a good bit (the better to RPG you with, my dear). You can supplement the wrecks with a stone wall, although that can be blown away by ordnance. The only effective and indestructable roadblock I've found is a marsh tile, but they look silly on my map so I don't use them... I don't need my roadblocks to be indestructible (they were seldom that good in Iraq)

I place these wrecks on the map as units, but mark them "Destroyed" or "Burning" at game start. They appear on the map as reinforcements (i.e. they get set alight as Blue is moving into the area).

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Correct, the wrecks don't move, but other units, including vehicles, can move through them,

Why is that? Seems like a step backwards from CMx1.

My god, man, this is gonna go down as the most anal retentive map & scenarios of all time (and I mean that in a good way)!

Mord.

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I don't mind in this case, since the wrecks are civilian vehicles which ought to be able to be pushed aside (or crushed) even by a Humvee and certainly by an AFV. I considered putting the roadblocks in a mud tile to replicate the chances of bogging but decided against it.

Yes, this map probably takes the cake for detail. But I say again, I run scenarios successfully on this map using 2 6 year old PCs with only the occasional "chug". The 99% flat terrain helps a lot.

Another screenie, this one of the (mythical) war memorial park at the southern end of the main Ramadi cemetery. The display T-54 is of course non-functional but may give an unwary US player a jolt...

1991WarMemorial.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nothing too special about this shot, a view up "Easy Street" toward the Saddam Mosque. I'm using it as an aid to remember which buildings have terraced rooftops, so I can tag them in the map editor as a destination for counterattacking/infiltrating AI forces.

EasyStreetNW.jpg

The AI editor is very hard to work with, hence the 3 month + delay in finishing this scenario. I have divided the RED forces into "static" (numbered) and "mobile" (lettered) forces. Getting the latter to maneuver and fight even semi-effectively in the Ramadi environment is extremely challenging and requires a lot of testing and tweaking.

Also, in case anyone from BFC is listening, I have two suggestions for the AI editor:

1. Let us rename the AI groups and the different Plans assigned to each in the same way we can rename the reinforcement groups and the units. At present, I need to keep this info on a spreadsheet on my laptop, which is cumbersome.

2. Provide slots for more than 8 AI groups. Up to 15 would be ideal. Just warn scenario designers if this creates a lot of memory problems.

Furthermore, not giving a distinct number or letter designation to the RPG and sniper teams in the Uncon HQ elements is annoying. I have had to do this myself so I can identify and place them later for AI purposes.

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That town is the most detailed one I have seen up to now. Tha is an awesome job that you have done.

Guess that you should now provide the TL with a street map, if you don’t want him to get lost in the numerous alleys !

Just a question. What did you use for making the graves in the cemetery? Looks like a real one from these countries.

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Thanks! I'm at dead stop now owing to work and family stuff.

The cemetery is a mod that replaces the rural low stone wall texture, using transparent alpha channels to create visual gaps between the crypt "segments". I also sprinkle an assortment of craters through the cemetery to further improve the cover values.

As I noted earlier in this thread, orthodox Muslims bury their dead promptly but simply, wrapped in white cloth and placed in unmarked graves, crypts and cairns of rocks, just enough to stop animals digging them up (that's also the main job of the cemetery keepers). In fact, the crypts would be even more crudely finished than the ones I show.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just played out the first 30 minutes of RELIEF OF JOKER THREE, and for the first time in my CMSF life, I am really feeling like an infantry captain leading Marines in a friggin' urban FIREFIGHT!!!! against a ferocious but not terribly skilful enemy. The bastards are crawling all around me.

At one point, the Joker One platoon leader and 6 Marines got hung up on a flanking maneuver by a solitary sniper on a rooftop with grenades, and the frustration and uncertainty took me right back to reading the back of the Squad Leader box at age 12: His orders leave no leeway for delays by a single sniper. He gives the signal to rush the building. Obedient to their training, his men spring to their feet. Seconds later, the sharp staccato retort of a Russian machinegun concludes with the assertiveness of death itself that this time Kruger was wrong... That's what I'm talkin' about.

To get any more immersion, I'd need to fill a Hibachi with cheap briquets, gasoline and some dog crap then sit next to it while playing.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Wow. Just wow!

One of the most gratifying aspects of making Combat Mission games is seeing what people can do beyond what we original conceived the game could handle. And I'm telling you... we never thought about a map of this size AND density! Fantastic.

I saw the Editor suggestions. Good thing is they are amongst the top few general requests we've seen over the years. I don't know when we'll get to making significant improvements to the Editor (probably on the road to Bulge), but for sure more AI Groups and customized names for them will be amongst the first changes we make.

Steve

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Wow. Just wow!

One of the most gratifying aspects of making Combat Mission games is seeing what people can do beyond what we original conceived the game could handle. And I'm telling you... we never thought about a map of this size AND density! Fantastic.

I saw the Editor suggestions. Good thing is they are amongst the top few general requests we've seen over the years. I don't know when we'll get to making significant improvements to the Editor (probably on the road to Bulge), but for sure more AI Groups and customized names for them will be amongst the first changes we make.

Steve

IMHO...I think one of the strongest aspects of your fantastic game is the editor. A strong editor in any game multiplies the variety and creativity of user made missions along with the long term playability of the game itself.

Any improvements in the editor(s), again IMHO...would come back 10 fold to you and your customers.

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Thanks for visiting, Steve and others. I have some annoyances with the game engine as designed, but understand the need to make compromises to get a widely playable product out. Obviously, the system is pretty versatile and unique for someone like me to basically make it my hobby.

As to status of Ramadi scenarios, I am leaving very shortly for a one month trip to Asia and will have no access to gaming during that time. Sept-Oct have been extremely busy for my company and so further progress has been minimal.

But then, you all have NATO and CMA to play around with in the meantime. Let's see what I can do over the quiet Xmas season when I get back.

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