Macisle

Best: 1. Unit splitting options. -Just love this. Such great features here! 2. Weapons recovery, buddy aid and re-crewing. 3. Shooting from HT's. Worst: 1. Low frame rates on high end systems. -Would really like multi-core support. 2. Lack of an armor only target arc. 3. Can't designate sniper only fire from sniper team.

Thanks for the post, Antig3n. It's good to get feedback from someone with a similar rig! EVGA seems to be the most respected/popular make of cards using our chipset. I went with the GTX470 because it was the best balance of price and power that was also fully certified to work with Adobe CS5. I found the ASUS card for a hundred bucks cheaper than the EVGA. Otherwise, I would have bought it instead. I haven't OC'd my CPU, as this is also my work rig and I don't want to take any chances. I have no experience in that area. I did accept default configuration when doing my first boot up, so there may be some beneficial tweaking to be had in that area. It may be awhile before I have the time to deal with it. Again--I'm nervous about doing anything that might fry my system. The Sabertooth X58 is supposed to be a great MB for OC'ing. I can't recall from my component research if the i7-950 is, though. When first experiencing the frame rate issue, I wondered if I should wait for price drops and throw in another GTX470 under SLI, but from what I'm reading on the forum, it seems that that won't really help with this particular game. I see that new drivers are available for the GTX470. Here's hoping for something good from that... I'll be sure to post if future tweaking bears any fruit. Please do that same. Thanks! Macisle

Thanks for starting this thread, Mord. I know the reasons (massive calculation work under the hood beyond other games, no multi-core support, etc.) that CM:BN puts out low frame-rates on current high-end systems. However, being honest, I can say that for me, this is the one aspect of the game that I am a bit disappointed in. I did my first DIY build at Xmas this year and my system is as follows: Intel i7-950 Quad core 3.07GHz GeForce GTX470 (ASUS ENGTX470 GDDR5 1280MB) ---Engine Clock 607 MHz ---Shader Clock 1215 MHz ---Memory Clock 3348 MHz ( 837 MHz GDDR5 ) ---RAMDAC 400 MHz ---Memory Interface 320-bit 6 GB Kingston RAM ASUS Sabertooth X58 motherboard W7-64 Ult OS So, still a beefy system by current standards. My monitor is old (and about to be replaced) and only goes up to 1280x1024. On highest settings the game runs a bit sluggishly. I've experimented with in-game settings and Nvidia CP settings and nothing makes much of a difference, save turning off shadows. The game doesn't run butter-smooth under any circumstances. There are no glitch issues--just low frame rates by my taste. I need to clock things with FRAPS, but I don't have it yet. At this point, IMHO, I'd be happy if Battlefront did nothing else to the game going forward, other than add multi-core support to significantly increase frame rates. After that, I'd have them add armor target arcs. Everything else is a minor quibble not worth mentioning. I love the game, I'd just like to have it take full advantage of my system. -My current thoughts. Macisle

CMx1 was WAY better than the Close Combat series. I had CC3 and 4 and they felt so unrealistic in comparison. Yes, the infantry units were abstracted graphically in CMx1, but what happened in game was sooo much more believable than in CC. And, CMx2 is WAY better than CMx1. My humble opinion. Macisle

Thanks! That's goin' right in my SOP bag o' tricks!

ASL depicts smoke grenades. Some units have a smoke exponent on their counter, giving them a chance at using smoke grenades during the movement phase. They can expend movement points to try for smoke by rolling a single six-sided die. Roll less than or equal to the exponent and you've scrounged up some 'nades. Some units can be classified as Assault Engineers and get a +2 to their exponent. Battle events can cause a drop in unit quality, however eliminating the exponent and IIRC, no split-squads or teams have smoke grenades. As an example, German 1st line infantry squads have a smoke exponent of 1 (1 in 6 chance). American 1st line have a 3 (50-50). WP is also modelled. US can try for WP by using a reduced exponent (2 for 1st line). WP provides less smoke, but causes any units in the target hex to take a morale check. Most nationalities don't have WP, except for US.

Very well said, Mord!

As someone who comes from a CMx1 (all titles) and ASL background, I thought I'd throw in my two cents... First off, I'm loving RT. In fact, I haven't tried WEGO yet, as the thought of only being able to issue orders every minute is very off-putting. So much can happen in 60 seconds and I like to micro-manage with extremely liberal use of the Pause button. I have only played on Elite level and, against the AI, have won all but one (a draw) of the seven battles played so far. -Most with light casualties. I play S-L-O-W, but I win and have usually inflicted 2 or 3 times the casualties on the enemy as I'm losing. Now, against a human, I might well get my arse royally kicked. I'm just saying this to point out that people coming from CMx1/ASL backgrounds can have very different experiences with this new game. I actually dropped CMx1 in favor of ASL, as I felt it to be a much deeper, richer game experience (in terms of giving the player juicy battlefield decisions. For the record, prior to the release of CM:BN, CMx1 was still the best video game I have ever played). With CM:BN, however, the gap is greatly narrowed. With unit-splitting ability (LOVE ma' Scouts!)weapons recovery, and a few other things, infantry play is now as rich, or even richer in some ways than ASL. The only area yet lacking is modelling of close combat. On the tank side, individual control of weapons/defense systems would eliminate the gap with ASL. As far as CMx1 vs CMx2, the only thing that I would really like added back is a target armor arc. That would really help with AT asset control. I'd love the option to record a RT battle and watch it over at the end, but I don't need it for actual game play. I probably wouldn't use it for that even if I had it. On command lines, I'm getting the hang of the new system and don't really need it, but a (perhaps) relatively easy to code improvement might be to build on the current system by tweaking the icon highlight feature. So, for example, when you click a unit, icon colors could show you the same info as command lines using different hues of icon. The system already shows you which units are connected, but icon hues denoting C2 status could elegantly satisfy the desire of some players for command lines. As far as demo charges and bocage, I've had no problems. I have to end here, but two points of advice for CMx1 players who are having less fun than they anticipated: First, learn to use the mouse drag for camera control. For large movements you can use the screen edges, but for most needs, use click and drag. After a short time, it's not bad at all. Second, learn the key shortcuts. It's a bit of a pain, but well worth the effort and will speed things up a lot. Oh--and try RT! Give it a fair chance. Like me, you may find that you have a lot MORE control in RT than in WEGO (in SP mode with pause, anyway). Lots more to say, but my lunch break is over. Last thing for now... watch out for smoke barrages! I lost 10 guys coming in too close under a rolling smoke barrage last night. Ouch! Yes, CMx2 has way more tension than CMx1-fer sure! Macisle

Now I know why my guys spotted an infantry gun in a trench right away in one of the battle scenarios the other night. I was surprised, as the trench had just appeared on the map and no other enemy units were yet spotted in the area.

In Platoon Patrol, I only used the target light setting. In Closing the Gap, I tried to take out M10's with my 81 mm mortars. I dumped a lot of rounds and didn't take out any. -May have damaged them, but I'm not sure. Panthers got 'em later. They never moved, so maybe I had immobilized them earlier. Dunno.

Very true. When I went back and played the demo tut in hotseat mode, I knocked out the AT very quickly with mortar fire (like...2 rounds).

I noticed this right away. To my eye, the Germans have been given quite a lot of TLC, with lots of noticeable variation. While all the inf models look very good, the Amis do have noticeably less variation in comparison. So, my vote for first work on mod enhancements would be to add variation to the Amis. (And Gawd aren't the vehicle models exquisite! -Best in any game I've ever seen.) Macisle

For many (most?) players, the ROI in entertainment value will be astounding on this thing--pennies to the hour (or a even a fraction of that as time goes on). I'm a small business owner myself and nothing pleases me more than supporting another small company that produces such a great product with such incredible value. Thanks, guys! Macisle

In Platoon Patrol last night, the mortar absolutely rocked, despite starting under ammo shortage. Twice, large amounts of small arms area fire couldn't silence some pesky defenders behind bocage on the high ground. Then, I got to watch with joy as my tube stepped up to the plate to become Johnny Problem Solver. -Total victory on Elite with no dead and just a few wounded (unlike the last QB...ouch!). I know what you mean on the ATG's Steve. In the demo tutorial, the ATG took a massive amount of area fire from three Shermans and was about to rise from the "dead" and score some payback, just as my inf overran it. Had they not done that, I probably would have lost some/all of my tanks!

Played my first QB last night--my Germans making a probe into a small (bocage) village held by airborne. At one point, I needed to have a squad make an L shaped maneuver to cross a road and then dart into a building across another road (T-intersection right in front of the building. I popped smoke and got them across the first road. After that, they had bocage on their left, ending at the T intersection. So... ...just as they clear the bocage wall on the left and enter the road an Ami prone down the road drops my lead squaddie. The next two surrender and the rest hi-tail it back down the road with the safety of the bocage wall, now on their right. It was such a cinematic moment, I was amazed!

Ahem...perhaps with the British module? He-he.

I've always been as careful as possible, but yes--now even moreso. So far, I've been very meticulous about giving buddy aid. I don't like to see those red circle crosses going unattended. -Top tip somebody gave on using your XO for buddy aid for units that can't be reached by others. -Am also loving being able to recover weapons. Last night, I had a crew that bailed right before their AC was knocked out (saw it coming). I was just intending to use them for buddy aid after that, but after a bit of med work, they became quite the little commando unit (3 smg's and a rifle!). I didn't want to be gamey, but I just had to let them clear a building. Kept em' on guard duty after that. Thank you guys sooo much for your superb work. -Just got the full game installed (used flashget for the download). No issues. Macisle

A very cool designer tool!

tyrspawn's vid made this one look easy, but it in practice... On my first attempt (both on Elite), I had trouble coordinating my arty and both panthers lost their optics within a few shots of first contact. I was very conservative and took only light casualites, but the clock was running out and I asked for ceasefire and got a draw. The second time, I was much more aggressive and hit the town with a pre-ordered barrage and smoke, rushing my all my inf and armored cars straight up the center. This threw the Amis out of the facing buildings with light casualties to me and I brought my panthers in for close support, hoping to have the Marders provide long range overwatch en masse. Well... the Marders were useless and I quickly lost three, withdrawing the last to safety. The panthers found maneuver difficult, needing to keep front towards the enemy, but dealt death to anything they could see (optics held out). Things got rough for me when Shermans pulled up opposite my buildings and started to hammer my inf (oops forgot--no fausts from inside a building!). I had to quit for work. As things stand, it's a Mexican standoff with a Sherman holding the town area and my panther on the other side of a building. M10's are in over watch and there is another 76 behind the town on the Amis side. I have a plan, but won't be able to play until the weekend. May do some screenies and post in this thread after the game. This is a great scenario (kinda' wish I hadn't seen the AAR before, though.)

Blackcat and wombie, Interesting! -Makes for very intense games, huh! AT guns being so easy to take out in CMx1 was actually somewhat annoying and unrealistic, so things seem likely much improved here and perhaps very realistic in that "odd things happen in war." BTW, another hotseat test of Shermans drifting in from different places at different times left all Shermans dead--usually on the second or third hit each. Let's take nothing for granted, gentlemen.

In the training scenario, the AT gun took a ton of area fire from three Shermans and was never knocked out. When my infantry overran the position, there were still three healthy crew members manning it! AT guns were way easy to knock out in CMx1. After winning the trainer, I went back and hotseated it. I had one of my mortars direct fire on the AT position. It knocked it out with two shells. The second hit took out three crew members.

It's amazing how much things can change in only 30 years or so (people were still generally that thin back in the late 70' and early 80's). Human genetics don't change this fast. It's all lifestyle--which includes diet, exercise and all the frankenstein stuff making its way into food these days--noot to mention steroids/body supplements and the like. I'm very glad that the body shapes in CM:BN are period. Those in CM:SF are also accurate for the time frame, but boy do I prefer the older, sleek look over the modern square-o hulk look. For my part, I'm pushing 40 but still look like I could be one of the guys in the hedgerow shots (-wear 32 jeans with room to spare). I'm able to do it without dieting, because I live in Japan, love healthy Japanese food and mostly eat only that. Back when I lived in the States, I was exercising regularly, eating very healthy by current US standards (which are insane), and was still gradually getting middle-aged doughy (just comfortable in 34 jeans). It's not uncommon at all to see men of any age here as thin as those in the pics. And, not uncommon at all so see women in their 50's and beyond with figures that US high school girls would envy. It ain't genetics. It's the food, dude!

I really noticed this too in Closing the Gap--particularly when trying to get massed fire from my Marders (on Elite). From what I could see, I should have had four guns firing on one tank, but it was usually one or two out of four.

Just finished my first battle--the training scenario on Elite. Total Victory! Whoot! 22 KIA, 18 wounded and 1 tank lost (shreck near the end). I only had 4 minutes left on the clock, though. -Was being super-cautious until time stress kicked in. Man, that AT was ROCK. It took a ton of area fire from multiple tanks and still kept in the game. I thought it was knocked out, but saw it spring back to life just as my inf was closing in. They got it. Had I not noticed that when I did, it might have taken out two or three of my tanks at that point. This ain't yer paw's CM! Luvin' it, luvin' it, luvin' it. It's a massive improvement over CMx1 in most every way. The only annoyance was my inf getting a bit lost on bridges at the farm and near the crossing. I had to cancel accurate, but long (multi-WP) paths and make single waypoints to get them safely across. Alrighty, on to the next battle! Macisle

I am sooo lovin' the Scout Team command!