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First Impressions (CM:BN Full Release)


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"you cannot purchase a single company of infantry, much less platoon"

I haven't had the nerve to look int the editor yet, but I found that statement to be astonishing. Everywhere I read that CM2 is designed to be for smaller unit combat, and not for the larger battalion-level battles that were normal in CM1. So, why would the editor be set up for battalions only and then you have to cut em down?

Re waypoints I recall that in CM1 one could set a waypoint far away and the next turn all the waypoints that the AI figured out would be automatically done for you. You could see exactly the route the AI would "recommend."

If you didn't like it it was easy to move the existing waypoints around a bit to get a better route, or simply cancel and set your own waypoints. Units in CM1 pretty much went where you expected. Not so in CMBN. It's tremendously frustrating to control CMBN units - esp in urban environments. They tend to run places for no apparent reason and get slaughtered. My house rule if this happens is to replay that turn (and I have gotten used to saving every turn - why isn't there an "autosave" function?).

I can still win ok, but all the above makes the CMBN turns take a lot longer than CM1 and they are mentally exhausting.

I have played and created some very large scale Battalion sized battles. yes it does take some effort. The game really does not support Battalion vs Battalion with a lot of Urban, grass and trees.. I have a really fast computer with state of the art graphics card. My work around was this.

I use Company sized deployments for large scale battles, this is easy as the editor is for battalion size.. you can name the battalion and the companies for Historical accuracy etc.

I do this by:

1. Writing out the units I will be employing to organize what I need in the TOE

2. Re-name what I am using for historical purposes but this is not neccessary.

3. I will space out Battalion sized battles by using the Reserves function... this has been the saving grace for large scale battles... deploying Company size at a time with Armor etc.

4. You need patience when controlling Company sized battles, sure there is lots you can do but do not let it frustrate you. Make sure in Urban areas and even other Terrain areas that your Pathing makes sense... sending them inside a building is tricky.... They will use the shortest way if you do not use way points to the DOOR. If you have Breachers, Pioneers.. you can make your own door.. and if the enemy is inside you will SHOCK and AWE there Arse!... its fun actually.

5. It is true I beleive they tested for small unit actions... however when we get to the Russian front.. it was pretty large scale Battalion sized conflict.

6. "HINT" when deploying large forces in the editor.. it can create a mess on your 3d map.. too many units to manuever and organze.. just do it by Company.. its faster and less aggrivating to deploy. Simply create your battalion, then delete the companies your not going to manuever either through Initial deployment or reserve... when your ready to deploy the next group, simply re-activate it.. then deploy... and repeat.. its alot simpler.

Lastly... (Since I have made about 6 HUGE battles) Since they fixed the memory leak the game does run smoothly if you have the system for it.

My last game I had a German Battalion of 4 Companies, supported by 2 squads of Recon, and 3 squads of Pioneers not to mention 2 other Platoons of HMG with some ATG's. and the equivelent of 2 Panther Platoons and 1 Tiger... Arty support was 105's and 75mm Guns with the onboard 2 Halftracks of 81 mm Mortars.

VS

1 Battalion of Glider Infantry with another 2 Companies of US Airborne... There arty support was made up of 1 P-47, 105mm guns, and all the Mortars that come with their TOE.. which was alot. They also had the equivelant of around 60 Shermans, not including around 10 other Armored cars and roughly 6 MMG Jeeps.

Although the Battle took 3 days to play... LOL the time of the scenerio was 2 Hours... and within that time Reinforcements came from both sides... and I never had any issues.. although I did test the game starting both sides with battalion forces on screen in the begining and the game would crash after 2 turns... ???? however thats why we test... and after taking a week to make the AI do flanking manuevers and setting up different Group actions in the editor.. it was a good fight..

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I think that the largest CMBN battle I have played is the LA HAYE final scenario in the COURAGE AND FORTITUDE campaign. Seemed like more than a battalion of inf plus support, 12 tanks and a couple dozen trucks, jeeps etc. The Germans didn't have so much, but it was a terrific scenario.

I haven't tried it again recently, but I had problems with the FIRE BRIGADE scenario. I could load it ok, but once I saved, attempting to load the saved game froze my system - which should be plenty powerful enuff.

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I think that the largest CMBN battle I have played is the LA HAYE final scenario in the COURAGE AND FORTITUDE campaign. Seemed like more than a battalion of inf plus support, 12 tanks and a couple dozen trucks, jeeps etc. The Germans didn't have so much, but it was a terrific scenario.

I haven't tried it again recently, but I had problems with the FIRE BRIGADE scenario. I could load it ok, but once I saved, attempting to load the saved game froze my system - which should be plenty powerful enuff.

Hello Erwin, say I did notice that too on extremely large scenerios... about loading a saved game. I did see the game load after about 2-3 minutes... the progress bar then proceeded to continue until finished, I had thought it was locked. This being said though, I test my Large scenerios just for this reason.

In my experience I have only seen this issue when there were battalion sized formations on both sides, I told all my troops to grab ammo (During that save) dismount etc.. and Artillery was raining down... Alot of these issues for me anyway went away when they fixed the memory leak. I have a great processor and 6g Ram.. not sure if it uses it all anyways.

Anyways like in my previous posts I have run what would be considered HUGE maps with more then 2 Battalions of equipment and roughly around 80+ AFV. Not all at the same time, but over the course of 1.5 hour scenerios. I think alot of the lock ups with large or Huge Scenerios would have been extensively, or should be extensively tested before distributing them. It is my opinion that the game can not initially work, or work well if the scenerio begins already with more then a Battalion + the other sides equipment.. and depending on your system.. may crash, or take forever to load.

Anyhow my solution when designing large scale battles was to use the reinforcents and then using the AI (Groups) to enhance the combat and scenerio into a fluid continuous action. I pretty much only so far have designed HUGE Maps with Battalion size forces engaging each other.

Map size is usually 2000m x 1500-1800m+

Bocage, small forests here and there, Hills, lots of high grass etc, at least one small Town, and maybe 1 or 2 villages, depending, a road network with sometimes a rail system as well. I have used bridges, swamps etc. I also use a TON of Flavor Objects for realism, posters, Benches, gas stations, light posts (Wish they would light up at night).. pretty much everything under the sun. :) One day I will get one to the Repository

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