Pak40

You need to purchase the Halftrack to AT gun extension module. It's available in the Battlefront Store now

Yet without it we'd all be playing Xbox instead of PC games. It wasn't that long ago that PC games were being hacked or copied at such an alarming rate that it became very unprofitable for companies. Usenet and torrents were rampant with just about every game published. There's no denying that current current DRM methods are making PC games profitable again. Steam is evidence of this, their game library is astounding. And by the way, "DRM only causes trouble for legitimate customers" is an erroneous statement. DRM rarely causes trouble for legitimate customers is more accurate.

Lacroix, I found this in the Battlefront Helpdesk: http://battlefront.mojohelpdesk.com/help/article/127985 In a nutshell, in addition to the 2 initial activations and the 2 "overflow" activations, you get 1 additional activation per year, for ever. These additional activations have to be added via the Battlefront Helpdesk.

Exactly, and it seems he was under a rock when they charged for the 2.0 upgrade. He obvisouly has been on this forum since 2006 and knew that they charged for it, so why act all surprised now? I don't see anyone complaining when a big developer releases an upgrade or add-on DLC and charges for it, e.g. Civ IV. Why should BFC be any different?

No holiday here in the states that I can think of.

Montanaza, If you're on the borderline FPS wise, then maybe graphics mods aren't a good idea. They may increase the load on your GPU, I'm not sure. However mods are easily implemented and easy to disable, so you should give it a try and if it's a major impact on your FPS then you can just remove it. The two most important mods for me are JuJu's Interface Mod and just about any of the major sound mods out there because the default sounds are IMO the weakest aspect of vanilla CMBN. The default graphics I can live with but the sounds are blah. JuJu's interface mod is a vast improvement on the more modern look of the stock interface and actually adds to the immersion of the game.

Yea, the AI force choices are utter crap. This has been one of the biggest disappointments to me in the CMx2 engine. The initial pre-made maps for quick battles was also utter garbage. They've been improved but I've been so put off by the quick battle experience in CMBN I haven't looked at it since the year that it came out. CMBO quick battles were fun at least, although the tactical AI was predictable. This is one area of the game that has regressed IMO.

Pzk is easier than "Mark"

I'm currently reading a book about the Metz operation. I'm not exactly sure if it qualifies as a defeat but I'm guessing the 3rd Army didn't expect it to be the debacle that it turned out to be.

I'm not sure how you can compare the two. CM is a realistic combat simulator, and CoH is a typical RTS with base building and where resource gathering is in the guise of capturing territory flags that earn you points to buy more units. Probably CoH is a slicker presentation with smoother gameplay, that's about it's only advantage. There's zero realism - it's a typical RTS where each unit has 'hit points' and can be automatically healed by medics. Specific buildings must be built to build specific units.. typical old school RTS. The game itself is fun if you're into that sort of genre but it can easily get to be a repetitive click fest like any other RTS.

Bulletpoint, I've been bitten by this many times. I think the best way to think about it is that these units are only suppressed, not routed or panicked. A suppressed unit will certainly respond to a danger that's close to them if it sees the danger - it becomes a do or die situation. My big question about these types of situations would be: If a squad is supressed (lying on the ground) behind a hedgerow how can it see over the hedgerow wall to see the incoming assaulting squad? Probably a good way to test this is create a simple map in the editor with two opposing forces behind hedgerows. Have one force dominant in size so that it suppresses the other. Play the scenario in test mode so that you can see if the suppressed unit keeps their head down while your units assault them. Maybe one of the suppressed enemy actually pops their head up from time to time. All it takes is one to see the oncoming assault and warn his squad.

What we really need is a convoy order specifically for vehicles on a road. The way it would work is: 1. Select the first unit in the convoy 2. Select the convoy order from the menu 3. Hold shift while selecting each successive vehicle in the convoy (each successive vehicle gets a 5s delay from the previously selected vehicle.) 4. Release shift to plot waypoints. All vehicles will follow the same waypoints.

Yes, What Phil and womble said. I've done this many times although never with armor and a reverse order. The best way to prevent this is to turn on the movement paths of all your units. This wont prevent you from doing this again but it will show the orders off all the units affected and if you're paying attention then you can correct the situation before disaster strikes. I can't remember the specific hotkey but look in the hotkeys section after pressing the Menu button.

and don't forget they are working on engine 3.0 upgrade as we speak

lowflyer, Just out of curiosity, did you purchase just the CMBN base game? If so, make sure you have all the patches. Also, I advise you to purchase the 2.0 upgrade. Camera navigation, shadows and many other things have been improved. You can also purchase the 2.0 with bundles of the Market Garden and/or Commonwealth modules.

What the game really needs is the ability to target non-action spots: vertical walls and bocage OR actually make these vertical elements into action spots. I can't for the life of me understand why this hasn't been done. It would make area fire so much more easy to do and cut down tremendously on players' frustrations.

Well, don't I look good

and if you go back one more to http://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/USA/ref/FM/ then you can see what each document actually is.

Do you mean the arrows and icons used to show the basic plan of attack and suspected enemy locations, like the photo below:? http://www.armchairgeneral.com/wordpress/wp-content/image/2011/Games/Combat-Mission-DDay-AAR/mission%20briefing2.jpg Or do you meant the typical NATO style military unit symbols? for example: http://army.ca/wiki/images/3/37/Map_Symbols.jpg

C2 is only to the chain of command, ie. The squads in the platoon should have C2 to it's platoon leader. The platoon leader should have C2 to it's Company HQ if it's on the board and neither unit is moving, or possibly they will be within sight of each other. The tanks will be in C2 to it's platoon leader or HQ that is above it, if there is one.

Antmf, It works kind of like how it works in real life. To request an artillery barrage from an on board asset, the spotting unit needs to be within shouting distance (about 50m or less). If the distance is greater than 50m then both the spotting unit and the mortar unit need radios to communicate. Since mortar units don't carry radios organically, they need to be within shouting distance of a unit that does or within a couple of action squares of a jeep or halftrack that does have a radio. Radios also operate by networks. For example 1st Battalion net will be different than 2nd battalion net. I don't think radios will work across nets.

In addition to Sburke's tips, in the setup of any battle, you can move your forces around in the setup zones. You can experiment with the C2 status of all units by moving the units near or away from each other. The changes in C2 will be shown in the info panel. Also, I'm not sure if this was mentioned, any leg unit with a radio will not be able to use it's radio while it is moving. Therefore it will lose C2 temporarily while moving. Radios in WWII are also finicky and unreliable - this is somewhat modeled in Combat Mission. They don't work 100% of the time. It seems kind of random. There are also some quirks in the C2 system regarding mortars - I posted these in an old thread: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=108440&highlight=mortar

It sounds like your Platoon HQ is within shouting distance of your mortar team but your Company HQ is not. Your Company HQ will have access to the mortar if it is within shouting distance of the mortar OR if the platoon HQ (with it's radio) is within shouting distance of the mortar. The mortar unit can also use radios that are on jeeps or other vehicles - I think it needs to be within two action spots of the vehicle.

Well, if you have no choice but to defend certain areas and you have access to foxholes, then use them. You'll need to split up your squads to use them properly but they definitely help reduce casualties.

I've only seen some minor variation in FFEs but nothing that I would call 'way off'. I do agree that the so called bracketing sometimes looks suspect but I always get an accurate FFE if as the last spotting round was visible to the FO. I've never had much of an issue with smoke, the FFEs have always been fairly on target. I tend to smoke a wide area to make sure the enemy LOS is sufficiently blocked - never or rarely have I smoked a pinpoint strike.