ASL Veteran

It all depends on how you like to play. If you prefer to play 'blind' then looking before the battle starts would be ungentlemanly. However, I don't really mind if someone looks. In fact, I encourage it because it helps my opponent and I to select good scenarios. If you are playing blind you are selecting scenarios blind (unless you have someone else recommending them to you). The way I would do it is whoever selects the scenario doesn't select which side they want to play as. This forces someone to select a scenario where they think they can win as either side since they don't know what side their opponent is going to pick. It also makes it a good idea to look at both sides before making a scenario selection if you are the one choosing the scenario and it makes it a good idea to look at each side before choosing the side you want to play. It's more of a 'chess' mentality I suppose. Just because someone doesn't play blind doesn't mean the scenario is any less tense. You may have some familiarity with what you are up against, but you don't know how your opponent will use what they've got. There are so many different playing styles and skill levels that having glanced at both sides in a scenario prior to playing it is probably one of the smallest factors in determining victory or defeat in my opinion. That's just me though. If you play the same scenario against five different people, you will most certainly get five different battle experiences.

Shogun 2 has been out for at least a year or two now and Total War has released several DLC for different factions. I've been playing it a lot lately and I have to say that the naval battles are completely broken. How did this state of affairs come to pass with a game company that has a budget so large that they have their own motion capture studio and they could hire a programmer who did nothing but code water for an entire year? The problems with naval battles? Let me list a few of them 1. Enemy ships line up on the opposite side of the map, but don't move until your ships get into bow range. This allows me to move my ships all up to one flank and put the whipping on the enemy because they don't react until I've already taken my time and set up my trap. 2. Frequently, enemy ships run for the map edge even though they are in good order. For some reason the ships get 'stuck' on the map edge and can't leave. I typically let them sit there while I finish off all their friends, then I send my entire fleet to the map edges to pick off these stragglers who are stuck on the edge. 3 The Sengoku Bune, the sailing ship with no oars, when choosing to board one of my ships after I've positioned my ships UPWIND seem to travel at speeds appropriate for ships with an engine and a propeller shaft in them rather than a sailing vessel going upwind. They move at this speed in any direction when routing as well. 4. The pathing is pretty suspect at times. If there are a lot of surrendered or burning ships littering the sea (or even when there is open ocean this happens sometimes) then many times if you want to move a ship a few meters in one direction they end up doing a circular motion sailing around in a circle for, like fifty meters, before getting to that location that was originally about five meters away. The ironic thing is that they allow the ships to turn in place sometimes. 5. Ships will auto target when an enemy ship gets in range, but I've noticed that there is a lot of target 'fixation' where they will target the first ship that gets in range and they will continue to fire on that ship even though another ship might be approaching with the intent to board and is now closer than the first target which might be routing away. 6. If your ships aren't moving (these are oared vessels so you can just sit in place if you want to) then after they auto target the first vessel that comes in range they will stop shooting when that ship gets out of range. Those ships will then not auto target any other vessels that get in range, and this forces the player to manually target enemy ships or move your ships a little bit if you don't want to get fired upon without returning fire. How naval battles got past the testing phase is a complete mystery to me. Anyone who went in and played one could have seen all the problems with them. They haven't even fixed this problem yet either, and this game has been out for a while. They are now mostly working on Rome 2 I guess and creating new DLC faction packs and skins to charge people for. I suppose having working naval battles just isn't a priority for those guys. I wonder what that guy who was coding water for a year is doing now? Maybe he could do some bug fixing instead?

Always trying to slip something in there under the radar eh? The 2.0 upgrade was $10, but patches to anything in version 2.0 will be at no charge. So now you will have version 1x patches at no charge and version 2x patches at no charge (after making the initial upgrade purchase of course). Sure, the upgrade had some problems in it, but you shouldn't be conflating the 2.0 upgrade itself with any subsequent patches that will be applied to the 2.0 upgrade. Of course, you claim to be in favor of that 'scheme' though so I guess we shouldn't think that you are taking another back handed slap at the BFC crew should we?

You pretty much have to get a direct hit with any indirect fire to KO a wooden bunker. If you do get a direct hit though, even a 60mm mortar will take it out, but I think it takes more than one hit with the 60mm.

All you have to do is get within hand grenade range and your truppen should knock out the bunker pretty quickly. It looks like you can run someone up there fairly easily, unless there is something else covering that open ground that's not showing up in your screen shot. Oh, and from the screen shot it sure looks like your troops are aiming their rifles right at the bunker. That's probably not the best way to try to take a wooden bunker out with infantry though.

"Bunker 24, known as a “silo” bunker by the Americans was a fighting bunker of the general construction plan Type SK/6a or Kampfbunker. Built in 1938, the same year as Bunker 27, it was slightly smaller than the troop shelter, but boasted an armored machine gun turret on the roof. Protected by walls 2 meters thick, it could accommodate a crew of nine, though more could fit inside if the situation warranted. Impregnable to even direct hits from the largest shells then in use, it suffered from the same weakness as Bunker 27 in that its northwestern orientation also left it vulnerable to an attack from the sides and rear where its main entrance lay. Riding atop the tanks in order to avoid bouncing betty anti personnel mines the Americans quickly reached bunker 24 and 25, a smaller troop shelter 100 meters to the southwest and began to methodically assault both structures. One of the tanks was equipped with a bulldozer blade, which it used to push dirt over bunker 24s firing embrasures and exits, while infantrymen placed shaped charges on top. After several of these charges were detonated, two Germans rushed out of the exit and surrendered. Although bunker 25 fell quickly to a team of infantrymen and combat engineers supported by one of the tanks, bunker 24 proved to be a more difficult challenge. While engaged in placing shaped charges on bunker 24, heavy German artillery and mortar fire as well as small arms fire (probably from the positions of the nearby 3rd platoon) forced the men of company B to withdraw to their line of departure at bunker 27 to seek shelter after they had suffered heavy losses. While the infantry pulled back to safety, the four tanks from Company A, 709th Tank Battalion continued the attack against Bunker 24, and it’s adjacent trenchline with cannon and machine gun fire. One Sherman was soon knocked out by a direct hit caused by the intense German artillery fire. The bulldozer tank attempted to use it’s blade to bury the occupants of the bunker alive, but it slipped over the edge of the ice covered embankment at the rear exit and became wedged against the door. The crew’s frantic efforts to place the engine in reverse and back out of their predicament proved unsuccessful. Undeterred, the Gis inside the dozer tank decided to do as much damage to the bunker as possible and fired all of their ammunition, about seventy rounds of 75mm high explosive and white phosphorus against the armored door, scarcely ten feet away. While they were eventually forced to abandon their tank, the crew at least could boast that “We didn’t get in, but the Krauts didn’t get out.” When Wegner arrived at Bunker 24 at 2000 hours, he noticed that there were ten sacks of American high explosives and shaped charges stacked along the entrance side of the bunker. He couldn’t help but notice the dozer tank partially blocking the right entrance door and saw that the outer walls of the bunker were heavily damaged. On the steps by the left entrance lay rubble and he noticed metal reinforcing rods sticking out of the concrete at the corner that completely blocked the entrance. Near the right entrance lay two seriously wounded soldiers who had just been brought out of the bunker. A step or two inside the entrance he stumbled on two bodies that had just been laid near the door. Inside the right side of the bunker, Wegner saw a dim light burning and noticed several soldiers engaged in caring for the wounded and clearing out the interior. In his words, the interior of the bunker presented a tragic sight. From the roof hung steel reinforcing rods and metal strips. The interior walls of the bunker were also cracked and shattered, evidence of the American’s use of the new “beehive” shaped charges. Bits of concrete and equipment lay upon the dead and wounded. Wegner found the body of Oberleutnant Kold underneath that of another dead Volksgrenadier. When he lifted Kolb’s body, the smell of phosphorus filled the air, already chokingly thick with the smell of gunpowder and concrete dust. Except for skin abrasions and bruises, none of the dead or wounded had any marks on them; evidently they were killed or injured by blast overpressure and concussion. Another survivor of Bunker 24 was Unteroffizier Kurt Klein, who had accompanied Kolb as NCO in charge of the company’s command group. Klein was found covered in blood and babbling incoherently, evidently having suffered a mental breakdown from the strain of being trapped in the bunker while artillery, shaped charges, and tank shells were detonated within feet of him and the others. It was Klein who had found the body of his best friend, Heinz Kolb and though wounded himself, had tried to shield the body from further harm. In addition to his psychiatric injuries, Klein also suffered from phosphorus burns on his face and neck that required extensive treatment. After receiving first aid, Klein was evacuated to a military hospital in Plauen, where he was beset by nightmares and crying fits. Shortly thereafter he was moved to an Army mental hospital in Rodewisch, where one doctor wanted to use shock therapy to treat his depression. A kindly staff doctor, who also had a son in the Wehrmacht who was Klein’s age, took a liking to him and had him put to work in the hospital telephone exchange as part of his therapy. Here he worked as an operator until the end of the war, when he was taken prisoner. Classified as a combatant, Klein was forced to walk to the nearest POW camp while still dressed in his pajamas." That passage compliments of "Victory was Beyond Their Grasp: with the 272nd Volksgrenadier Division from the Hurtgen Forest to the Heart of the Reich." If only those foolish Americans would have known that just one or two AP rounds from any of those four tanks could have taken care of bunker 24 in a few seconds. They could have left the engineers with their demo charges behind and a lot of lives could have been saved since they wouldn't have been hit by that artillery fire. It should also be noted that the tanks were not subjected to any AT fire and had the freedom to drive around at will. Here is an example of that bunker type that I found after a quick search http://en.tracesofwar.com/article/7877/Westwall---Regelbau-SK-Bunker-Aachen-Forest.htm

Bunkers aren't made out of just regular poured concrete - you know that right? There are layers of steel reinforcing among other things within the concrete. Many small concrete bunkers begin life as a steel shell.

If I remember right, all you do is just select the same squares again and the victory location color will disappear.

I read an account where American troops supported by one Sherman tank assaulted a West Wall bunker packed with a German Volksgrenadier platoon. The Engineers were repeatedly placing what they called 'Beehive' demo charges on the roof of the bunker. The Sherman tank had driven around towards the rear of the bunker and slid down into the depression where the bunker door opens out into. There was snow on the ground and they couldn't get the Sherman back out of the depression, so they just aimed the main gun at the door and started blasting away. They ended up emptying the Sherman's entire complement of ammunition into the shut bunker door. Almost all the Germans inside the bunker were killed from blast and over pressure damage from the demolition charges and the main gun rounds, but the Americans never actually broke into the bunker. Eventually the crew of the Sherman abandoned the tank and walked back to American lines.

Full Camo would suggest that I was going to be getting a full can of Camo High Gravity Lager. http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/881/2789

I understand your frustration - sometimes things in games don't work the way you expect and stuff happens to affect your chances of victory in a negative way. No need to excuse yourself. You identified an issue and Steve addressed your post about the issue. You have recommended a solution - maybe he'll take a look at that proposed solution and see if it can be implemented some day in the future.

Yes, that's what he said. Even if he said that they would adjust it today though it wouldn't help you in your current situation anyway. Your game would likely have been played to completion by the time it was 'adjusted' so it would only help you the next time this happened to you. Just out of curiosity how many times has this happened to you prior to just now? Also, now that you know this situation exists do you think you might be able to adjust your playing style a bit to account for this 'situation'? Just asking.

You can play either real time or turn based. You just have to select turn based when you fire up a scenario. Edited to add that I think I misunderstood your question. No, there is no TCP/IP turn based at the moment. Hopefully it will get added some day - I know that Steve has mentioned on the forums that it is a feature he would like to get in there if they could squeeze it in. The forum activity on this particular subject has been pretty intense in the past so they definitely know that it's a feature players would like to have.

Nothing along those lines has been announced. If you think about it, there would be no reason to bundle the upgrade with CW because the upgrade is not required for CW to run. It would only be included at a reduced price for Market Garden because Market Garden can only work with 2.0 so it makes sense to bundle them together.

Ah yes, Chief Ten Bears http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Bears Anyone who has a Steam account will know that every developer who sells product on Steam will sell you far less than what you are getting with the upgrade for far more. They don't call them upgrades though - they just call them DLC (Down Loadable Content). Sometimes they only cost a buck or two, but sometimes the DLC costs much more than that. Many times they are nothing but a few new skins - something that the Upgrade did for every single item in CMBN. Anyone who thinks this isn't the trend for all developers going forward isn't living in reality. For those who are waiting for CMx1 patches .... wow, just wow. :eek: I bought Master of Orion 3 a while back which was functional but essentially broken in many parts. No patches are ever going to be forthcoming for that. I bought Rome Total War and the Barbarian Invasion expansion pack. As far as I know you still can't assault a large city because when the assaulting troops come off the siege tower they simply fall through the city wall and die as they impact the ground. There are still many players who think Rome Total war is better than sliced bread, yet the Total War team (who has enough monetary resources to have it's own motion capture studio) hasn't done squat to fix that fatal game breaking bug. Because of that bug my Rome Total War game has been collecting dust for a long time because for me it's unplayable. I'm sure you are all passionate about how much you love CMx1 and you want to keep playing it until the sun goes supernova, but don't you think your expectations for support are just a little over the top? After all, the game is more than ten years old. Honestly, how many ten year old games are still being supported by their developers? Heck, how many two year old games are still being supported? Don't you think you are being even the slightest bit unreasonable? Most gamers are lucky to get more than one patch after a game is released. Sometimes if we were lucky we would get two patches! Steam is helping there a bit though, but with Steam also comes the DLC.

Many of these shots include mods and would not be representative of the game as purchased. If you are doing a review of the game it might not be a good idea to use modded shots.

Now I'm angry!! Rather than charging the same for CMBN and CMFI and then backporting the features of CMFI to CMBN for an extra ten bucks they should have charged ten dollars more for CMFI!! I'm furious that I underpaid for CMFI!! :mad: CMBN should have been ten dollars cheaper than CMFI because those features in CMFI weren't in CMBN dammit! The obvious solution was to have charged ten dollars more for CMFI in the first place! If they did that, then the price for CMBN with the upgrade would be the same as CMFI. I'm furious that I paid to little for CMFI! BFC should have charged me more!!! :mad: I think the strategy going forward should be to charge each new version ten dollars more than the previous version.

Maybe it's 'possible' that most of those who are downloading patches for CMFI were those who ordered hardgoods. Perhaps many of those who chose download only didn't need to patch since perhaps the items that they downloaded were already patched to the most current version when they downloaded it? Once again though - what difference does it make? BFC has a certain development cost to cover for creating the product. BFC also knows how much it takes in terms of sales to cover those costs. They then create some sales projections that will be required to be met in order to pay for the development cost. If the selling of one copy of CMFI covers their costs and that is considered a success by BFC, then what difference does it make what someone else thinks is successful or not? The bar for success is entirely set by BFC based upon what BFC requires in terms of covering their costs, a little profit tossed in, and hopefully a little cash to pay for the development of future games. Since the bar for success is set entirely by BFC then what possible value could BFC gain from having someone else who is not intimate with their business model, cost structure, or their needs lecture them on what is a success or not? There is no value to BFC. None whatsoever. So what could the motivations for these discussions be? Are people worried that BFC won't survive and if they would only follow this helpful but uninformed advise they would start blowing the doors off the competition? Maybe. Since BFC has been around for a very long time though (in terms of game developers.) that doesn't seem to be the motivation for these discussions.

Because someone may not have wanted to get CMBN since it didn't have the features in it that CMFI had. Once those features are found to be backported they then decide to go ahead and get CMBN because of the 2.0 upgrade. People who didn't have CMBN prior to the upgrade would then purchase CMBN, download the patch, then purchase the upgrade. It seems pretty straightforward to me. I'm not really sure why BFC's sales figures are such a big deal. I'm sure we are all curious to one degree or another, but why the sales figures would be the central focus of a lengthy forum discussion is beyond me. You should have just stuck with "Hey BFC, why don't you have a Christmas sale for all of us fence sitters? I want to get CMFI but the price point is just too high for me at the moment and I would love it if Santa Steve and his elves gave me a big fat Christmas discount." Trying to justify a Christmas sale because of a perception of bad sales figures is bound to rub certain individuals the wrong way, especially when your motivation for wanting that sale is because you want to pay less. It comes across as "See, your sales figures suck because your price point is too high - now you have to lower your price and beg me to buy your product in order to survive. I told you guys that you were charging too much and that your product sucked - neener neener neeeeener."

Yeah, it's not a bug but rather a limitation with how the AI plans are put together. Which side of a wall the pixeltruppen will occupy is fairly predictable, but the designer has to play through the scenario to make sure the pixeltruppen are doing what the designer wants them to do.

Keep in mind that only soldiers that get a 'brown' base after being hit have been immediately killed by whatever it is that got them. Soldiers with the red base are severely wounded and buddy aid will put them in the WIA category. If you don't perform any buddy aid on your red base casualties there is a good chance they will be counted as KIA at game end. You can't just take the end of scenario tally and use that as your guideline if you aren't religiously performing buddy aid on your troops (and it's a lot more difficult to do it when you are retreating). It's been my experience that brown base KIA are relatively rare. Also, keep in mind that wounded AFV crewmen will not exit the vehicle as they could do in reality. Wounded crewmen will simply disappear within the vehicle when the vehicle is hit.

Items that aren't in a setup zone can't be deployed by the player in the set up phase. That applies to everything not just mines. It's just the way the scenario designer set it up. There is no trick and it's not a bug. It's just the way it is baby . Oh, TRPs are the only exception to what I just said

I have found three AARs on YouTube A short but very well done one for Surrender Invites Death A very long one with no commentary for Ramparts of the Palikoi Another very long one with no commentary for Hot Mustard (by the same guy who did the Ramparts one)

If you are a beta tester, then why are you bringing this issue up out here rather than on the beta boards? :confused:

I've got about 40 hours on this game and I never played the original, but this tactic is completely unnecessary. If you don't want someone to come on a mission then you just don't take him / her. Not possible at the moment. The only option to launch when UFO is detected is to launch an interceptor. Once the UFO has been shot down the game then gives you the option to send in a strike team. Not sure if you mean friendly or enemy installations. You currently only have one base and the aliens don't invade it. When assaulting enemy bases you will have to come to the aliens. No laser tanks are in the game as far as I can tell. At least I've never had the option to build one You only have one base - you can't build any others They have SHIVs in the game so yeah, you could do something like that in the game if you wanted to. They have soldiers with rockets so you can fire rockets at Aliens if you want to. There is usually a 90% hit chance although one of my guys managed to miss once! :mad: