CommanderC

great, thanks, the allies in that scenario did have a few boats, I'll take them out. They're useless anyway.

Help, I have created a custom scenario and saved in the scenario folder, but when I go to play it and choose to play the axis, the single player option for the computer the play the allies doesn't appear. When I choose to play the allies, the computer plays the axis, no problem. Anyone know how I can fix this?

I just took a major loss to the AI, normal experience, neither side with an advantage, playing the Westwall as the Allies. The AI seems to do best on the defensive. I also lose badly to the AI on the scenario, I forgot the name, where I play the poles. It was the first time I had played it, so I didn't know what to expect. It was a challenge but a little irritating in that it was ahistorical, i.e. the Germans had nearly as many troops as the Allies, 88s all over the place, etc. The arty and mortar operations nearly drove me buggy.... no targeting unless LOS... targeting non-LOS units is the whole point of mortars and arty... if you had LOS you would be using a direct fire weapon. Rant over

The most complex game of all time was Third Reich.

BTS, Don't think this question has been asked before, but if it has, apologies in advance. But would you consider licensing the CM engine to a third party so that they could develop a version of CM for modern battles, since apparently you guys are tied up with CM2 and the eastern front etc? I realize the engine would have to be substantially modified to accomodate longer weapon ranges, etc. Thanks

19 Echo: Thanks for the reply. Interesting post. However, the Gulf War is not completely irrelevant to SB. During the war, one of our M1A1s (not sure if it was an HA) became bogged in the sand. After it survived an attack by three Iraqi tanks, US commanders decided to destroy it. So one of our own M1A1s attempted to destroy it by firing DU APFSD rounds at it. After several attempts, it could not be destroyed, finally they went around were able to damage it by a point blank direct rear shot. Even then, the tank was finally recovered and repaired by replacing the turret. Admittedly, this is anecdotal, and I don't know if the shots fired included hits to the hull, but it still serves to illustrate the point that our current modeling of M1A1 armor might be inaccurate, skewed to making it too vulnerable. I don't think any modern Soviet tank round is superiour to our 120 mm DU sabot rounds. Hence my frustration with the eagerness of the NTC and modern tank sim designers to give T80s and T90s souped up power in regards to M1A1 armor penetration.

I appreciate the effort that Shrapnel Games has undertaken to make SB a realistic modern tank sim. If the armor model were fixed (and it apparently has been), I think it would be a very interesting game. I hope they will release an updated demo. Sure there were some quirks with the interface, etc. but these would be minor points if the overall round penetration/armor model was done right. I never have thought that the M1A1, HA or A2 were invulnerable and never said that. They all would certainly be vulnerable to immobilization, and to some damage from rear and top down attacks, and to a lesser extent to side shots. I only said that their frontal armor was inpenetrable by kinetic weapons and ATGMs. The facts are still trickling out, but from what I understand, in the Gulf War the worst that a M1A1 suffered was immobilization of several from side shots in the Fright Night battle. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I don't think any country has a man portable or ground vehicle-launched top attack ATGM except the US or other NATO countries. The US Javelin and perhaps TOW IIs I think are or can be top attack weapons and are the only ones in existence. Perhaps SB models a hypothetical Russian top attack ATGM which could knock out an M1A2? A helicopter or air launched ATGM may be presumed to sometimes engage in a top attack.

I played the SB demo and M1A2s were repeatedly destroyed by long range shots to their frontal armor from T-80s and ATGMs. This is totally unrealistic. As shown in the Gulf War, NOTHING can penetrate the frontal armor of an M1A1, not even our own 120 mm gun at point blank range with DU sabot rounds. ATGMs haven't got a prayer of penetrating either. So I am less than thrilled with SB and all the other modern tank sims which all suffer from the same problem. They should at least have a setting that you could toggle to make the M1A1 armor model realistic. I tried all the settings available in the SB demo, nothing helped. When are these tank sim producers going to get it through their thick heads that we want an accurate model of modern armored combat, not some kid shoot-em-up game?!!!! ------------------ "He tasks me!" - Captain Ahab, referring to the great white whale in Moby Dick

Yes, you are going to want all the video card you can get. ------------------ "He tasks me!" - Captain Ahab, referring to the great white whale in Moby Dick

Even better would be a formation command.... select multiple units, then select "column" or "line" or "wedge" etc and the selected units would move to the indicated location whilst maintaining the indicated formation.

In my recent 71/29 victory with 1.05, I only held the one original flag at the Axis reinforcement point. I've never even tried capturing the other flag in town. It seems like you shouldn't be able to do better than a draw without capturing both flags, but you can if you destroy enough Allied equipment. ------------------ "He tasks me!" - Captain Ahab, referring to the great white whale in Moby Dick

After numerous losses as the Germans in Villers-Bocage with version 1.04, I was finally victorious in my first game with version 1.05. Tank AI was superb. I scored a 71 to 29 victory, playing as the Germans, full FOW, force levels and experience normal. Has anyone done better than this? I won't say here how I did it, but I will if anyone asks... with the proper spoiler alerts, of course. It may still be too early to tell, but I would say that 1.05 solves all the major tank AI issues. ------------------ "He tasks me!" - Captain Ahab, referring to the great white whale in Moby Dick

I cast my vote for a modern CM. And I have another radical idea: perhaps heresy,... I think BTS should develop the Eastern front, mediteranian, African and early battles as scenario add-ons to CM1.X... to sell for roughly $20 each and instead of CM2,3, 4 as outlined should focus on CM2 which deals with modern combat. Just my $0.02 ------------------ "He tasks me!" - Captain Ahab, referring to the great white whale in Moby Dick

Michigan, USA ------------------ "He tasks me!" - Captain Ahab, referring to the great white whale in Moby Dick

"The Bradley is only intended to protect occupants from shrapnel and light small arms fire. It was not designed to deflect main gun rounds and direct artillery hits. Being "multi-purpose" it may encounter heavier guns, but that was never its intended role. It's just a lightly armored transport for infantry to a (modern) fluid front. Check out the "I" in IFV. If you put it in front of ATGMs and tanks, you're the idiot, not the designers. Whaddya want, a 60-ton high-speed troop transport? Fries with that?" Well, if the M2 or M3 Bradley IFV wasn't designed to go up against tanks, why is it fitted with TOW missiles?