Quark

I do not get your point when you say explosions are goofy. Why do you say it is slowly expanding ? It expands fast enough on my computer. The shockwave is just as realisic as anything in CM. Just look at an artillery barrage from the topmost view. It looks exactly like bomber runs in WW2 footage. You perhaps point to the slowly expanding dome when builings shatter. This is not an explosion. It is the dust cloud. Pretty good effect, but could last longer.

Houses DO NOT EXPLODE. What we are seeing is the representation of the DUST CLOUD forming when a building collapses.

Civilians could be abstracted so that one side could gain intelligence about enemy forces in the same way as the sound contacts currently work. Only the rough location of ennemies and approximate type would be known. This addition would be only useful in scenarios like the one featuring the battle of Paris so I do not think it is a priority.

It happened to my units too. It reminds me of the board game Advanced Squad Leader in which units under heavy fire could become "berserk". In this case they ran towards the enemy in mad furry, trying to attack them in close combat. So when I saw this happen in CM, I said to myself: this game is incredible! I did not think it was a bug.