George MC

Rather than doing the whole lot in one - create your OOB piecemeal - that way you will not be overwhelmed. Also you click on a command unit and it highlights the rest of that unit so easy to move em to another part of the map then sort em out as The Louch describes. Reinforcement units and units with an allocated AI group show their respective group number in their icon in the 3D view (bottom left hand corner).

Hi Tankovyi Desant In December 1944, somewhere on the Eastern Front, a Soviet armoured advance guard encounters a German Aufklarungs unit screening its Division’s withdrawal. Fictional scenario, but based on actions described in “Tank Rider” by Evgeni Bessonov and Vol 1 of “Sdkfz 250/1 Alt ‘GD’ Living History” by Richard Stone. Perhaps not strictly what you are after but it's pretty much based on GD combat accounts and you can download GD SPW from either my website or CMMODS (David Inglett did a GD mod as well). Cheers fur noo george

I'd agree that having triggesr would be a great help. That aside you can still create good AI plans. A top tip is to play the scenario hotseat and see what you would do, that helps to get a feel for both sides and see what happens. It is easier to create an AI defence plan, but keep it simple with some manouver units, whilst you have a large group who are pretty static. In this case I give em commands sporadically that have them hide, thise means that they can break contact for a while then latter on pop back up. You'llsee this work in Hammertime and in Al Amarah. An attack is a bit more challenging - best bet here is either go for multiple attack plans and vary where the AI comes from, again play this hotseat and see what you would do. What behaviours you give the AI also affect how it attacks. Play around with the settings and you'll see which ones work. Whatvere you do keep the plan initially simple then complicate it once you get the main 'concept' and timing correct. Hope this helps. Cheers fur noo george

Thanks for that guys Confirms what I thought might happen but good to hhear it from the horse's mouth. Cheers fur noo george ps Mark: err... I sort of neglected my overwatch which is how/why they were clobbered... I was a bit peeved I must admit especially as I had been admiring my attack plan up and until then...

I'm curious. I'm playtesting a large armoured combined arms scenario on a very large map. I manged to lose several Bradley IFVs to enemy fire, although most of the dismounts survived. The rest of the company was hightailing it to cover and a dismount point to assault their objective. My query is, what would happen in RL if such an event ocurred? Would some of the unit turn back for them and cram everyone on board, or would the guys who have just lost their ride go firm around or near the KO'd vehicle and wait till the fighting was over, or a follow on unit picked em up? I'm sure the answer is 'depends'!

The scenario win conditions vary depending on what you are playing. Some focus on seizing specific objectives (using flags with a points value to simulate the importance of the objective) other actions which are called 'operations' may involve seizing terrain, or reaching the other end of the map. I've not played the total war series so I am not sure how the CM game compares. Hope this helps Cheers fur noo George

You can always download and try out the CMBB demo? CMBB DEMO Cheers fur noo George ps I'd go for it - but then I'm a fanboy!

Hi Guys Just picked up on this thread. Glad to read you have been enjoying Peiper's Nahkampftag It's a real B to play. Not long agao I had my butt handed to me in a PBEM playing as the Germans. Great fight though. Aco4bn187inf: You like Stuetzpunkt Glowaczow? Yup must admit I like it too - Like the tank fighting in it Cheers fur noo George

Raus, although a good read, is pretty much flawed as a reference. He is inaccuarte in every way I'm afraid. As an example of his 'inaccuracy' his account of the Cannae of Pochlebin missies out the fact that although a 'win' for the Germans a compnay from Pz Grenadier Regt 114, and it's attached AT platoon were overrun and wiped out. 11th panzer Regiments 8th Company lost a load of tanks when it ran into a Soviet PAK front and hidden T34s. The losses for the Soviets, whilst considerable were not of the magnitude that Raus talks about -compare his accoutn of Soviet losses with 6th panzer's AAR (hardly unbiased) which talks about 10 Soviet tanks KO'd ( not a brigade destroyed), 14 guns captured, and around a total of about 2000 prisoners (mind this is open steppe there ain't many places for these guys to run, although a load did break out on horseback during the fight), not a corps destroyed. Hardly a 'Cannae'! Cheers fur noo George

It's known about and testing is on-going

I've had the same issue. Try turning off any background stuff working on your PC e.g. anti-virus etc. Just make sure you are not on line before doing that stuff. I've also found bumping up the system cache helps as well.

Hi CommC Glad you like it Not too sure about LOS and units such as BMPs hiding. From what I've heard in other threads the issues surrounding LOS in some situations is being looked into. I must admit in-game it ain't a big deal for me, but it would be nice to have those niggly issues fixed. Cheers fur noo George

Hhmmm... Odd - any chance you could email me a save game either when this happens or just before. Is it in RT or WEGO? Many thanks Cheers fur noo George ps edited to add: just tried it out and the scout bradley and scouts mount/dismount OK for me. Have you tried oepning the game in the editor in 1.05 then resaving it? Not that I've done this with the version of the scenario I tried. [ December 28, 2007, 03:03 AM: Message edited by: George Mc ]

Like what?

Hey Plugger! Excellent stuff! Just about wet ma breeks reading this. Can't wait till the next bit Cheers fur noo George

One other trick that saves frame rate is to avoid using 'three trees' to a tile. Only use em when you want that sort of cover. I've found that trees and large elevation changes are amongst the biggest killers of framerate. Cheers fur noo George

Hi Bannon I've read a "Writer at War". It's an interesting and extremely well written IMO account and has some useful insights into the war experience for your average Soviet/Russian combatant and civilian. If it's stuff for scenarios you are after there is not a lot there. Only flicked through the latter whilst browsing a bookshop - looked a worthwhile read. Cheers fur noo george

Have you checked that you don't have any old AI Plan set-up zones? It's easy to do, or can happen if you are using say a QB map to work a scenario from. Cheers fur noo George

Editor works fine for me too. Just been it building a large map (4km x 4km). Cheers fur noo George

Anything by Glantzis superb - although it is rather dry, but just the stuff to read if you are after the detail regarding units (divisonal level and above) and what they were up too. So if it's detailed overview then Glantz is one of your men George M. Nipe Jnr has done a superb account of The Battle of Kharkov, and the Soviet counter offensive after Kursk - Decision in the Ukraine. Also Hell's Gate by Douglas Nash about the Korsun Pocket battles. Cheers fur noo George

What sort of stuff you after? In depth strategic/photos/ first hand accounts? I've a whole list but me typing ain't up to it. Let us know Or you could check out using the search function cos there have been a load of other requests along the same lines maybe some of these will give you ideas? Cheers fur noo George

Hi Handihoc Thanks for that He! He! I'm getting onto a new scenario - more of a large mech action. All going well, and if the weather stays crap so climbing is poor I'll have it out for around Christmas Cheers fur noo George

Hi Sarge Cheers fur your comments.Still on my hols but just got access to the internet. I see this scenario has provoked a lot of interesting comment - great to see I've posted some stuff in the tactcis discussion. As to your question - no you only have to secure the ambush area and rescue (hopefull) the live guys, THEN secure the main Highway. For that you have to clear the remaining resiatcne or at least make it less of a threat. Cheers fur noo George Mc

Hi All Thanks for all the above comments and post - leave you alone JohnO and look what ye get up to I've enjoyed reading all the comments and posts about the scenario, it's all very appreciated. I'm just about to fly back to the UK from my hols ice climbing (some brutally cold weather for most of the trip which makes the ice bloody brttile and scary to climb)in Canada. Just been reading all the posts - jings you guys have been busy! I'll get onto them when I get back. Looks like the main issues are: survivability of the trapped guys arty/air support doors (thought I'd done them but I'll check again) OFOR experience - from what I mind there are only a few crack gusy (Chechen fighters) the others should pretty much be green/conscript although all have pretty high fanatci levels. mission objectives - I can answer this one - secure the ambush area with (hopefully) alive guys , then secure the main highway, two missions I guess. I'll post more when I get back to Scotland and come out of my soon to come jet lag!

Thanks Webwing for your feedback on my scenarios that you’ve posted both here and over at CMMODs. Very much appreciated Re your question what I do with the scenarios/maps I build the type of scenario I am interested in using the game as is (although I am beta testing I use the version 1.04 to build scenarios - found out the hard way with an earlier version of "Hammertime" not to mix your Beta and general release versions...). Most of the time I am using situations I’ve read about both in current or recent actions, but also WWII. The stuff I've released recently comes from two main sources. “Hammertime” is based on a map idea from one of the posters here – I think it might have been a chap called Bradley Dick – where he described having to drive along bermed roads and elevated tracks so I thought Ah Ha! "Hammertime" came from that. I wanted a rural type landscape so there we go. The other recent scenario “Rescue” is based loosely on actions that the Brits were involved in around Al Amarah (you might recognise this name as I designed a scenario that was released with the game called this based on some other stuff from the same sources), plus stuff I read about on some US blogs relating to Stryker units in action. I’ve found that creating the map – as it was with CMX1 – is the key. Taking your time to create a believable and detailed map helps so much with the ‘immersive’ qualities of the game. The CMSF editor I think is just simply stunning J It takes time to feel your way around in terms of what you can do (although doing basic stuff with it is possible right of the bat) especially creating detailed maps. Ultimately it comes down to painstaking detailing. I must admit to looking at lots of images of middle east landscapes just to get a feel for what goes on then use everything in the editor for what it’s worth! Hope this helps? As to what’s next – I’m away on an ice climbing trip for two weeks so I’ll be out of the CM loop while I work off some thrill suckers! I’ve a few plans to create a wee campaign following an M1 unit, plus a few other scenarios. I’ll get onto them when I get back in two weeks. Cheers fur noo George