Pak40

You can't intentionally fire WP rounds from armored vehicles, to my knowledge. You'd need a specific order for that. Also, if I recall correctly, the American tanks don't carry WP in CMBN, but my memory could be a little hazy. Also, canister would be a welcome option for close hedgerow fighting.

One tactic that wont work in CMBN is the one developed by GI's during the hedgerow fighting: Use of WP rounds to silence enemy MGs in the corners of the next hedgerow.

You should have made Microsoft pay for all cost development of the patch. Hell, just for $hits and giggles I'd send them the bill and see what happens. The worst they can do is say no, or cancel your developers subscription

Well, the realism depends on how this is implemented. 'Theater of War' used reinforcement triggers based on casualties and it was certainly not realistic. In certain scenarios, for example, the very second that you lost a platoon of tanks then you would get a fresh new platoon as reinforcements. Replaying the scenario yielded the same results and made the battles predictable and led to bad player habits, i.e. players would just let that last tank die so that he would get his reinforcements. Using randomized reinforcements & strength and randomized arrival times might help with predictability problem and force the player to preserve his original forces as best he can.

I'll be glad to take your place

Landings can be randomized easily by placing many tiny setup zones in various areas of the map. The pathfinder mission could be the first mission in an Airborne campaign. If the pathfinders are successful then the next mission will have 90% complete airborne units. If not successful then the next mission will only have collections of ad-hoc units available and be tougher to complete.

I would suggest that the pause be automatically granted but when either player wants to resume play then the other player would have to agree. That way, the game wont progress while someone is still on the throne. It might also be a good idea to have an agreed number of pauses that can be set by the game host. Sort of like having a set number of time outs, but flexible for the size of the battle.

Well, it's not just vehicles and models, TO&E would have to be heavily redone for most units.

And IIRC, armored infantry squads have 10 men only and I assume at least one of them has a BAR but I'm not sure. Towards the end of the war it was common to have 2 BARs in a 12 infantry squad but I'm not sure if it was an official TOE change or not.

Triggers are a slippery slope. Certain kinds of triggers can ruin the game. For instance, Theater of War had triggers that would give you a fresh platoon of tanks as soon as your current platoon of tanks was killed. This is neither realistic or desirable. We already have triggers based on time. What CM really needs is a trigger based on area but it has to be implemented so that you can set parameters on it. For instance, trigger that is placed where a lone unit can set it off will be easily duped by a human opponent. Parameters such as X number of units or Type of Unit will add a little flexibility and brains to the AI trigger. In other words, one could create a trigger that wont fire until a total of 5 visible units have entered it. Or a trigger that wont fire until a unit such as a tank enters it.

So no M-10s? I know I've seen lots of pictures of them in Italy generally performing as artillery. I guess I always figured that they were there from the start of the Italian invasion. What's the time scope of CMFI?

Yea, but at least Market Garden will have all of these new upgrades. Hey, Steve or Moon, will this mean that blowing bridges will be implemented in CMx2 v2.0?

I started a campaign on the entire 3 day battle but lost interest when it came time to do the battle intro/art work. I've made maps of the entire area: La Fiere, Cauquigney, and the orchard where Timme's men where pinned down. Without a doubt, the best resource on the battle is Robert Murphy's "No better place to Die". Google Maps and streetview have really good images of the area. 1947 imagery is downloadable at the french site referenced in this thread: http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=100059 Use Google street view to get a really good idea of the topography around La Fiere manor. There are "feudal mounds" just east of the manor that rise up quite a bit. They are typically noted on topography maps but not with contour lines. Use the 1947 photography and photos from Murphy's book to get an idea of how vegetation has changed when compared to modern photos. Murphy's book http://www.amazon.com/Better-Place-Die-Robert-Murphy/dp/1929307004 Note: doing a google search it seems that Dale Dye is directing a movie based on the same name due in 2013.

I think Moon or someone else said that Market Garden will be in the next module release of CMBN, after the Italy game is released.

And you will be able copy/paste AI plans. This is really going to help designers be able to quickly add a lot of variety to a battle. HUGE time saver.

See the Upgrades Q & A thread:

I think I just peed my pants.

Come on Mike, we know you ran that picture through photoshop.

Just so I have this right: 1. In the command phase, you target the Panther 2. In the replay phase at some point the Panther vanishes and the target line resets to an area fire? I've never seen a direct target order remade into an area fire order. Either your original target order was never placed on the unit or your seeing things. If you've saved the replay I'd love to see it. As for the Panther disappearing, it happens quite a bit. Units gain then lose LOS sometimes even while both vehicles are still. Usually when I zoom down to the eye level of my unit I discover that there was something obstructing LOS to some degree, almost always vegetation.

John, Please answer a couple of questions for me: 1. Are you playing RT or Wego in the above examples? 2. When exactly does the target vanish? Does it vanish when you select your firing unit, or does it vanish when you select the target command, or does it vanish when you place the target command on the target? 3. Are there any vegetation/smoke/dust between your firing unit and the target? Is it day time or night, rain or fog? Also, before you complain any more that the AI is unfair, keep in mind that AI does not use area fire, that's one advantage a human player has. Also the AI cannot see the battlefield geography as a whole, nor can it reform tactical plans like humans can.

If they are indeed considered to be camouflaged then they really need to look into improving it. I'm currently on mission in Scottish Corridor where I have a 17lbr setup behind a low bocage overlooking a road. On the first turn a MkIV comes up the road and stops about 400 meters from the AT gun, which has trouble spotting the tank due to other low bocage that are in the way. However, on the next turn the MkIV spots the AT gun and easily dispatches it. I reloaded and put the gun in the same spot with the same result. I will test this a few more times but I fail to see how a tank can spot a camouflaged AT gun behind a bocage while the gun cannot spot the tank.

Well, I'm a Windows guy, but I don't see why you wouldn't get the Mac version in this case. You didn't say what your Windows specs were, or if it's a laptop or desktop. Anyway, the MacBook specs are more than ample and the fact that it's laptop means you can play CMBN anywhere.

Ooops, my bad. I only remember one stream crossing but then again it was about a year ago when I played RTB campaign. Oh, and Euro 2012 is in full swing so I'm quite distracted.

?? you mean Pershing?

SPOILERS Ditto what Paper Tiger said. IIRC, when I played this one I forced the left flank because it offered the most cover until you reach the stream. But it's a trap because there's a bunch of barbwire that you have to go around. I used direct fire with my mortars to try and take out or suppress known enemy positions. By this time I had my assault units down by the stream and charged around the wire. They got chewed up pretty bad but 1 or 2 units made it to the gap in the hedgerow eventually. Once the enemy was flanked they were pretty much done for because they had been weakened or eliminated by mortar fire.