hoolaman

of course getting clean hi def sounds off youtube is not easy.

That is a good question, is there ANY way to get links from the old forum to point to a location on this forum? Plenty of old and not so old threads heave links to other threads, like some of the "useful posts" threads. Also the search function is not very useful on this software (few BB searches are though). JK, the reason is the forum migration. URLs for the forum as a whole and for individual threads are not remotely the same now.

Nice bit of chaos, except the exploding carnage in that turn woke my sleeping wife.

That is quite true, but I think the Syrian environment and the clunky method of adding "flavor objects" in the editor are 99% of the problem, at least with the maps. Vehicles look great, maps CAN look great, and I expect they will when we get to normandy, but then there is the infantry representation. I think by far the infantry movement and formations, running etc, is the clunkiest part of the game. The way the action spots work also has some unfortunate side-effects on pathing and spotting that break immesrion for me. This is the big difference in the game and one many of CMSFs most passionate haters still cannot get over. CMBO had much finer underlying grid resolution and the infantry model was so simple you could fill in the blanks with imagination. I really wish there was a method of spacing soldiers more realistically, and having them deploy in a better way than the 8x8 squares, having them move in line abreast instead of a stream of single file etc. A few formations orders, a "density" (space between men) selection and a way of deploying in a line or arrow instead of the clunky move then face action spot thing we have now, would vastly improve the infantry modelling.

I was being a bit obtuse when I quoted your post. My point was to show that someone else posted a thread at the same time about this being the best game in its genre in contrast to KellysHeroes' post where he says the game is second best because of xyz. I am not arguing that CMSF is the best game in the world or even in its genre, just that people have a lot of different priorities and opinions.

I think your opinion on the lack of a random map generator and the fact that PC:K "far surpasses" CMSF is a tad subjective. Having said that, there are plenty of things in CMAK that are much funner and maybe even better, than CMSF, but why not wait and see what turns up in the WW2 game?

I love youtube comments (seriously) Take that Ghana.

Yeah if I hear one more rehearsed platitude from Ruddster I'll be sick. I wonder if that is how he talks to his family. Even Obama's platitudinous speech makes me sentimental about old George. Do you ever get the feeling that someone can be elected to the higest office just by constantly spouting utterly meaningless cliches?

Actually I think the best scenario designers are often themost guilty of this. Well tested and thought through AI will meet the player at every turn with a nasty surprise and seem to pop up in just the right place. I guess as Webwing says triggers aren't always the answer. I know ToW has them and I believe the guys that have designed missions for that game would know. Sadly I do pine for the bumling old CM AI. You knew what they would do much of the time, but they were never capable of reacting to something they couldn't know. Of course a good human opponent will also make an assessment of a CM map that will often tell them things about setup zones and avenues of advance that a real commander couldn't know either. So I guess it comes back to where to draw the line in a game sense to create a decent simulation.

I've been thinking about this and I think there is an unfortunate neccesity for scenario authors to script their forces based on exactly where you come from and where you very likely will go to. In several scenarios I've seen them run a bit like a movie script with an enemy unit showing up down a side alley and popping off a shot. My hypothesis is that a good scripted AI is cheating based on the scenario deigner's foreknowledge of where the player's forces start, where they are going and what they are expected to achieve. I know the answer to the question is triggers which BFC are keen to introduce in some form but I wanted to see whether anyone has experinced the things I mean and whether there is anyway around it with the tools available.

One big tip, the better way to add cars is to add them to the BLUE side (assuming the scenario is more likely to be played as BLUE) as attached friendly Syrians. That way they are there on the map whenever friendly FOW is not engaged and they don't appear as killed enemies.

Yeah they are BMP smoke projectors. They are all but useless, but the theory is that russian offensive doctrine called for smoke grenades to be fired well forward to blind your opponent.

Area fire in CM will fire short bursts across an action spot in random directions. I have witnessed MGs in CMSF firing at fairly long range at infantry and missing unless the burst was right on target so there may be some truth in Flanker15's little diagram. Having said that generally the results of MG fire seem ok to me so I don't know if its worth messing with.

So can we have a clue?

I'm not trying to bash macs, it just seems odd to start a thread telling us that a certain model computer is likely to fail after a certain period of time, and knowing yours had reached the end of its life, tell us that you replaced it with one exactly the same. You also paid enough money to buy three secondhand macs better than what you ended up with, and you are limiting yourself to OS9 so you can keep playing CM. You could have bought CMAK, CMBB, CMBO, and CMSF for $100 (even direct from BFC), a PC capable of playing all of them and doing nothing else for $300, and a decent secondhand mac for $300. Not being hugely computer savvy is not a crime, but don't forget you have a lot of geeks here at BFC forums who would love to help you. Friends don't let firends get ripped off and make poor replacement computer decisions.

The manual is not on the CD, but it is installed into your game directory, also accesible through the start menu folder for CMBB. While I would definitely recommend reading the manual cover to cover to get a better understanding of what makes up the game engine, there is not a lot of tips for tactics as far as actually making you more likely to win. For that reading through the forums is a good idea, including the archived 2002-3 threads.

Yeah you'd have to be mental to pay $USD700 to replace an aging obsolete Mac with another the same. Macs are nice if you can afford to pay too much for a slightly cooler and much less versatile computer. If your budget is tight and you want to play CM by an old PC for $100.

My CMAK CD is unreadable though not apparently scratched. Happens from time to time with dodgy media. Being unable to play it makes me want it even more! I may end up ordering BFC originals for CMAK and my lost CMBO as replacements instead of the bargain bin (non-BFC) copy I bought.

Or v1.00? That would be pretty good for a laugh actually.

I for one am curious. The fact that you mention it means there is a story to tell. If you'd like to tell it please do. Glad you are enjoying the game!

1. Often several times 2. No. Lnowing there are three AI plans does not factor in to my desire to replay at all. 3. I would be quite happy with one AI plan when I replay scenarios. I find it mildly frustrating to lose a mission but not be sure of getting the same AI plan to check what works when I replay it. I'd rather six scenarios than one with six AI plans, often moving at a different pace makes a single AI plan appear different anyway. 4. Almost all blue vs red ai.

I agree with your list of issues as it stands. Things like FOW, the way small arms fire spreads and hits targets, and low level infantry behaviour are still problems for me from time to time. I think you'll find people's reaction to your post came from you responding to "It's quite good" with "no it's not". That is very much a subjective thing and most people can acknowledge the problems you mention and still think the game is good. As for BFCs motivation, dozens of things mentioned on this forum have been addressed even just in 1.11 often with little public comment, so don't be surprised if some of the things you mentioned are tidied up in the future too.

Something on that page tried to install a virus on my computer. :mad:

I'd just like to add on the "amazing bit of detail" front that the 20x zoom is one of my favourite extras added in 1.11. Try it today!

Try looking WAAAY off map.