BDW

Wondering if a simple user-controlled toggle would be do-able? For AT guns, the toggle would be "fire on infantry". Would work the same as other toggles in the game, such as the hatch toggle for armor (i.e. AI can override the toggle by necessity). Likewise, for small arms, the toggle would be "fire at armor". This would avoid the labor of having to do covered arcs for all the troops. You could simply select all your troops, hide them, and then toggle them to not fire at armor. Of course, AI could always do the self-preservation override so no unrealistic effects.

+1 for covered armor arc OR default behaviour AT gun does not engage infantry w/o direct order to do so. Likewise, +1 for small arms does not engage armor w/o direct order from player.

I agree with SMLE-Bloke. Feels liek I have less control over my tanks than i did in CMx1, which is really suprising. I read in the demo CMBN manual, for the Hunt command: "Vehicles - orders vehicles to advance slowly and observe the battlefield for enemy contacts. Upon spotting a threat, such as another enemy vehicle or tank, or when fired upon (even if the enemy is not seen), the vehicle stops immediately. Note: in combination with a Target Arc command, Hunt is restricted to only the area within the arc, and ignores enemy units outside the arc." The descriptions of the other movement commands Slow and Move, do not mention that the unit will stop and engage. Therefore, it seems to me that it is impossible in CMBN to order a tank to hunt armor only, even with a target arc. However, I trust BFC did this for a very good and realistic reason. I'm eager to hear the rationale behind this. I am missing the control I had over the tanks in CMx1.

I was wondering about this, too. I'm confused now. Does CMBN "slow" = CMx1 "hunt"? I was using the "hunt" command in the CMBN demo and my tanks kept stopping every couple of feet and doing nothing (not even firing). Sometimes I issue a "hunt" commant and the tank doesn't move at all. Kind of confusing. I was trying to "hunt" it to a hull-down position to take out the panther, but it would not work. So I tried using the move command and got taken out. need to figure out how to control these tanks better. understanding the commands would help. can a beta-tester chime in here?

Good point. There are lots of more important features on "the list" for sure. i wonder what the top 10 features are... Thanks MikeyD, that is helpful!

No replies? :-(

Is there a way, or any plans to add, so that you can go "back" a step in the artillery process, to make a small tweak or adjustment, instead of having to cancel and start the request over? I keep having to start from scratch. For example, I get to the Confirm/Cancel step and I realize that I want to change it rom 2 guns to 4 guns, but instead of being able to go back a step or click on guns and change to 4, I have to start all over again from scratch (which can be a pain when LOS to those two end points of the carefully placed line target is hard to find). Also, is there a way to adjust from Light to Heavy in the middle of a fire support mission, without having to redo the entire process and have LOS, etc?

The anti-DRM people seem to always base their arguments on two false assumptions: 1. that they have a divine right to consume other people's copyrighted work on their own terms 2. that the copyright holder desires to do business with them The reality is that the copyright holder can restrict the use of their work as they see fit through the use of the EULA and DRM protection. There is a strong incentive for the copyright holder to find the best balance of ease-of-use and protection, in order to enjoy the largest possible market for their product. The companies that get this right are the winners, and the ones that don't are the losers - and the market will determine the outcome. For someone who finds it a deal-breaking hassle to play CMBN because of the DRM, BFC will probably find that person to be too much of a hassle to do business with. BFC has to draw the line somewhere with DRM; it has nothing to do with right and wrong, it is just a business decision. Sometimes people need to get their head around that fact not ALL companies want to do business with them. Companies that identify who the "bad" customers are do well to create systems that eliminate them before they are forced to engage with them via customer support (which almost immediately consumes the profit from the sale of that single license). Just my two cents, as an attorney and someone in the business world - and someone who has been a BFC customer from the beginning and knows that they have the best interests of their customers in mind.

This thread makes me feel old! I used to play SL as a kid, and watched computer gaming evolve from pong and somewhere along the line (late 90's) I thought that surely someone must be doing a computer version of squad leader. So I looked on the web and found a company called Big Time Software collaborating with another company to do this, but then there were problems, and they split off to do their own thing, then they announced they were going to do it in 3D, then there was an uproar, and then I finally got my favorite game ever in CMBO! On the edge of my seat for CM:BN. Amazing how far these guys have come with these games! Thinking of the dice and charts, etc of SL, it seems like the friggin' stone age.

Adjustable waypoints were "gamey" in that you could do a single waypoint at the ultimate destination of your unit, and the game would automatically break that into many waypoints and plot them around obsticals, etc -- without any command delay. Then, could adjust each individual point - all without command delays. I found this to be gamey as it could be used to do complex maneuvers without any command delay.

I propose that between now and the release of CMBN, every Friday become Boneday; each Friday BF gives us a small bone to give us happy thoughts and put us in a good mindset for the weekend. Doesn't have to be a big bone. Doesn't have to be a femur, even a little stapes bone would do the trick.

How about a bone for this early November in between holidays lull?

maybe not a book - but a dedicated CM:N forum might be cool to get up and running. i propose BFC launch a CM:N forum with a kick-ass Bone

One Bone Vote from me, too.

Thanks guys. I get it now! I can just replace the BG track or delete it entirely.

This is something that i very much appreciated in CMx1: the "background" sounds were a separate track from the game sounds. I downloaded the CM:A demo (to learn the new CMx2 interface; holding out for CM:N to break out the credit card!) and it seems the sounds are all one track, either on or off. I find the BG sounds to be a bit monotonous and distracting (the low frequency muffled background explosions from my subwoofer actually kind of give me a headache). Any chance that we'll be able to turn off the BG sounds in CM:N? Or any way to hack the game files and kill the background sound? thanks!

I'm eagerly awaiting the details here, too. Sounds like the new QB system is what it should have been to begin with. Third time's a charm, hopefully! One thing BF does really well is try new ideas and re-evaluate things, which will likely means they'll be around for a long time to come.

I'll be done with the updated manual soon. Then, once BF accepts/rejects changes, hopefully they will post it on the website for y'all... [ July 29, 2007, 09:30 PM: Message edited by: BDW ]

Hi Moon - still proofreading this badboy. I'll shoot it over to you tommorrow, hopefully. I'm taking some extra time to fix some of the writing style problems. Mainly passive voice stuff. When I am done with this proofread you guys are going to have a SWEET manual. I am actually learning a lot about the game by forcing myself to proofread this entire thing. It is actually a really good manual!!

OK - I think that between all of us who posted here, we should be able to correct all the typos. It really doesn't take that long, even if BF is changing the content quickly - just shoot it out to a few of us in the community and you should be able to get quality proofreading fast and free! In any case, I've started on this guys. I'm actually proofreading the friggin' manual instead of playing the game! Now how is that for loyalty?!?! [ July 28, 2007, 09:07 AM: Message edited by: BDW ]

Seriously. I've been a loyal customer for a very long time. It is painful to me that you spent so many years and so much effort on this great new game, yet the manual is riddled with grammatical errors and typos. For example, the last line of the manual: "You will likely regret forgetting this, do don't." However, I love you guys. Therefore, I am offering to proofread the next manual for you guys for FREE. I am serious. Please take me up on it.

This sounds great! How does this "Plan" concept affect QBs vs the AI? Can QBs create Plans that make sense? Or are Plans left out of QBs?

Universal Soldier by Donovan He's five foot-two, and he's six feet-four, He fights with missiles and with spears. He's all of thirty-one, and he's only seventeen, Been a soldier for a thousand years. He'a a Catholic, a Hindu, an Atheist, a Jain, A Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew. And he knows he shouldn't kill, And he knows he always will, Kill you for me my friend and me for you. And he's fighting for Canada, He's fighting for France, He's fighting for the USA, And he's fighting for the Russians, And he's fighting for Japan, And he thinks we'll put an end to war this way. And he's fighting for Democracy, He's fighting for the Reds, He says it's for the peace of all. He's the one who must decide, Who's to live and who's to die, And he never sees the writing on the wall. But without him, How would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau? Without him Caesar would have stood alone, He's the one who gives his body As a weapon of the war, And without him all this killing can't go on. He's the Universal Soldier and he really is to blame, His orders come from far away no more, They come from here and there and you and me, And brothers can't you see, This is not the way we put the end to war.

Hey guys, Hubert emailed me: "Thanks for the saved file as it helped me reproduce and track down the issue... consider this fixed and hopefully part of a quick hotfix that should be available soon." So there you go. Problem solved!

Actually, maybe this bug is a good thing: in this case, it prevented me from staying up too late yet another night repeating the phrase "one more turn"! This game is way too addictive!