Macisle

Charge!

Aris for the AG and Vein's for the hit decals, IIRC.

This AG identified as a Panther. So, I guess it was an ISU. Those are all hits from a close-grouped PIV platoon under 200m away!

Oh? I missed that, I guess. That's an interesting dynamic then. So, the overall firepower is there, just distributed differently. I assume the new formations are more historically accurate and look very forward to putting them through their paces. I just hope I can still get three maneuver teams out of those rifle squads.

Thanks for posting these. Very nice and very excited about the coming goodies like Editor-option damaged walls and various new flavor objects! One question: Has "dynamic damaged wall functionality" been added to modular buildings? By this, I mean when a section collapses, any formerly attached wall facings on remaining sections are dynamically switched to the modular building damaged wall state (the knocked-out building wall state shown in your pics above), no matter what their former state was. Currently, if a section collapses, the remaining sections maintain whatever they were before. So, you get very unnatural things like a vertical row of "doors to the sky" or super-clean lines if the internal walls had been removed by the designer. Given that CMFR is so heavily focused on urban combat, I've been hopeful that BF would finally "complete" the modular building functionality to apply the damaged wall state to remaining, formerly attached wall facings after touching sections collapse.

Thanks very much for posting that. Regular infantry squads losing 2 SMGs is going to have a major effect. Currently, a '44 rifle squad with generic split will usually yield a "reinforced scout team" with 1 SMG and 3 rifles, a "heavy close combat team" with 3 SMG and 1 rifle, and an "LMG overwatch" team with 1 LMG and 2 rifles. That's a super-useful setup in an urban environment. Speaking very roughly, the new TOE moves Soviet infantry from close-range dominance to parity or disadvantage vs. Germans squads with at least on SMG, an LMG42 and perhaps rifle grenades, PF, PS, etc. Does a generic split still yield 3 maneuver teams?

Very much enjoying the AAR. Congrats on getting some nice counter punches in! What's the weapon mix on the regular infantry squads you have here? IIRC, I read there might be a TOE adjustment to some of the Soviet units, reducing the number of SMGs. I ask, thinking that perhaps (assuming the broader armor situation allows it) you can use the buildings and your infantry muscle to force the Panther to commit very close and then take it out with a close assault team. Speaking of which, are you splitting your squads? I know that Soviet units are designed by BF with the concept that they should generally stay together, but I nearly always split them into maximum maneuver units at the point of contact. I only keep them together when in reserve or some overwatch situations. On my dense urban map, that is much, much more effective than using full squads. -Just have to really be diligent with HQ placement and splitting Plt HQs off from their squads for safety, if they are a combined type.

Thanks! It's been a journey, that's for sure. And many miles to go before I sleep. How I wish! But, I have to winterize before I can let folks book for summer stays.

Thanks! It is a very hungry beast and requires heaping helpings of 105mm+ nourishment to keep the stomach grumblings down.

As we eagerly await the coming of CMFR, here's a quick status update: I'm picking up the project again after a super-long break and am pecking away at what I can do without the new module materials. The later release date means that I may or may not make release of my project in 2020. My hobby time is much less than it used to be, but I'm still hopeful and dying to get this baby out. Currently, I'm focusing on updating all the building internals to what I have identified over time as the best design for tactical play and user-friendliness. I'm making good progress there. I had forgotten how detailed some of the early pics I posted were, and so have decided to go ahead and post a current shot of the master map from the same angle as that which started this thread. Enjoy.

Yep. That's what I meant. Excellent. That's going to come in way handy.

Do I spy with my little eye, a new damaged wall feature?

I was wondering what kind of load times you might be having. The master urban map for CMRT that I'm working on is much smaller at 1440 x 1440. For that, loading the 3D view takes 6 minutes the first load and 4 minutes for subsequent loads during the same session. So, doing any kind of work, like elevations, that require frequent back and forth between 2 and 3D views is very slow going and begs having something else to do (work work, a good book, etc.) while you wait. Interestingly, moving from 7200 HDD to SSD had zero impact on loading times.

Thanks very much for doing this. Great stuff! For best presentation, it would be great if you could make sure to tap the graphic settings up to max whenever taking screenies. Also, to assure max LOD, if you tap up to best, then zoom all the way in, then slowly tap to zoom out to your desired framing, you'll nurse the game engine to keep the best LOD it can. That is especially effective for things like damaged trees. They'll keep their branches longer if you use the zoom in and zoom out technique. Lookin' forward to more!

Thanks for doing this. Big excitement! One thing on the screenies... It looks like you've got your graphic settings lowered. For better showcasing, it would be good to tap them up to max when taking screenies. Also, to assure max LOD, if you tap up to best, then zoom all the way in, then slowly tap to zoom out to your desired framing, you'll nurse the game engine to keep the best LOD it can. Looking forward to more!

I added an SSD to my old workhorse a few months ago, putting the OS and apps on the SSD and using my old HDD for the file libraries. That meant a clean windows 10 install. I also moved CMBN to the SSD (Documents folder is on the HDD). I had no issues installing any of my CM2 titles. All work normally. But yes, I also really hope CM3 is on the horizon.

Thanks! I'm finally picking back up on the battle I posted a storyline from way back when. The German arty punished my guys pretty badly, but didn't collapse the building where I had so many troops and commanders (I was being sloppy, 'cause AI). After taking stock, I have enough combat power left to keep going. I can't really show much more though, as it would give away too many map secrets. Yeah, it's amazing how you can tell yourself this stuff over and over again and yet...you still just can't resist sometimes. My spider sense was way tingling, but I ignored it to my tank's misfortune.

Meanwhile, a fresh T-34 moves up to provide overwatch for the next street crossing. It's been quiet there and a friendly assault gun in the desired position has not been attacked. The Soviet tank rounds the corner and approaches its final destination. As it does so, the distinct sound of a panzerschreck is heard from a keyhole position across the street. The German had been patiently waiting in his hiding place. Bye-bye 70 rounds of HE and 3,000 MG rounds. Every time I break the "send the tank with lowest ammo" rule...

After a few point blank rounds are put into the position, Soviet troops make another attempt to take a hard point that has been giving them hell. All is looking good until another defender is spotted deeper in. The advancing Russians quickly dispatch the dazed enemy rifleman. But, suddenly, point blank MG 42 fire from a hidden position rips through them, cutting down two attackers. As the friendly "insurance" team rushes in the back door, the German gunner is spotted loading a new belt of ammo. It's not looking good for him... However, confusion reigns. The first attacking team is stunned and unable to react quickly. The second has not yet spotted the threat. The German machine gunner, on the other hand, is a crack trooper and in the zone. With steel nerves, he finishes loading the belt and rises to fire. He cuts the nearest Soviet in half as the man desperately attempts to flee. Then, with lightning speed, he delivers the same execution to the second-nearest man, who claws the floor, paralyzed with fear. But now, the second Soviet team is closing in. A Russian rifleman peers through the smoke and slowly lifts his weapon...stepping on broken glass as he does so. The sound reaches the German's ears and he instinctively spins around to its location. As the smoke dissipates, the Soviet hesitates, for fear of attacking a friendly. The German, who knows is alone, does not. It is a fatal mistake for the thoughtful Russian. But now, time has run out for the German. He is fast and deadly, but the last two Soviets keep their nerve and aim true. It is the end for him. Another stepping stone is gained at heavy, heavy cost.

I was largely away from first person games for years, but picked up Post Scriptum during the winter sale. Coming from CM, the tank armor and penetration values, along with special ammo loadouts seem rather "stretched" for balance. However, that can be fixed when the sdk comes out and, allowing for the kind of realism compromises that must be made to make first person work, it's the best game of its kind I've seen for a WWII setting (if Darkest Hour had current graphics, it would be #1). I was really excited about HLL pre-release, but have lost interest due to the more mainstream direction the devs have taken it. PS is really, really good -- if, like with CM, you do the work required to play it properly. I'm not a beta tester and so haven't played on the Berlin map. However, I've been spending most of my CM time for the last few years working on and off on a dense city map for RT. With it, I've tried to push the current engine in terms of complex urban layouts and large, connected multi-section building structures. So, I should have a pretty good handle on what combat on the Berlin map will be like. The good news is that, overall, it works well enough and can be damn good -- if you are willing to put in the work to issue the detailed orders required. I've been pretty impressed with how well the engine handles the complex density of a realistic urban environment (I'm generally recreating what I see in GE down to door and window placement) and the kind of close-range firefights and FOW it produces. In fact, with so much cover around, I feel that it often works better than non-urban to keep the casualties down. The bad news is that there are still issues. As of the current build, the TacAI does suicide rout on occasion, no matter how much cover is around. Many of the buildings on my map offer "skulking" cover where a unit has multiple out-of-LOS adjacent action spots that it can fall back to, while engaging from one with LOS to the enemy. However, the TacAI will fairly often avoid these in favor of the most dangerous route. Another big problem is that generally the TacAI's first reaction to taking heavy fire when in a tall building is to drop to the lowest level directly under it. That has the double-whammy of leaving the unit in a potentially vulnerable, "known" position (when playing H2H) and adding a big workload to the player to get his units back into position as they scatter further than they need to. As I said above, on my map, units often only have to move one AS horizontally to disengage from LOS, but the TacAI very often doesn't use the feature. My hope is that the current playtesting on Berlin will yield something good in the way of game updates. However, even if it BF leaves things as is, the combat is still overall good enough. You just have to write off a certain portion of your troops to immersion-blowing howlers, but frankly, not really any more than any combat environment in current CMx2. In terms of CM's development, my position is that the "front end" of CMx2 is largely at diminishing returns. Mostly, it just needs some rough edges smoothed. However, the "back end" of CMx2 has HUGE room for improvement. By back end, I mean the Editor. It is here that I am at a point of increasing disappointment, as time goes by. There is so much that could be added to speed up and enhance content creation and add realism. For example, think how long we've had AI Area fire. But how useful is it really? As a first pass placeholder, it was great. But it's been years and we still can't increase or decrease the fire rate or choose a building level to target. We still can't use the feature with any kind of artillery, other than on-map mortars. Basically, it is only useful for very specific situations with specific units. For example, the only tank that can be relied upon to put fire on a target with reasonable intensity is the T-34/76 because of its high ammo count. I spent about 10-20 hours trying to get a platoon of AI Tigers to offer reasonable fire support on my map and have just about given up. They simply can't be relied upon to put fire on target and the testing time is crazy-long. Now, add the ability for the designer to choose building level and fire intensity -- done, and you've just reduced testing to a fraction. Another big area is AI artillery. So much to be improved there. It's incredibly time-consuming to just try to get AI pre-planned arty to use the right guns in the right place. There seems to be built-in variation, so that you can't actually be sure which asset will be used on which target every time. Couple that with the fact that you've got basically 8-9 minutes to do everything you need to do with opening AI artillery (including smoke) and it's very frustrating and time consuming. Again, for the first few years -- no problem. But by now designers should have the ability to reliably choose which assets goes where, exactly how long they fire and with any desired delays. And, all off-map assets should be available for AI Area fire and the same varying rates a human player can choose. Anyway, I could go on and on (did I mention expanding the number of Groups? Ahem). So, to wrap this up... Stalingrad-like action in current CMx2 is overall enjoyably doable. It's largely a question of map design. There are rough edges and howlers will happen, but actually about the same number as general CM. CMx2 IMO, is largely done at the front end development-wise. At the back end, however, there is a VAST amount of gold to mine that is currently untapped. And, at this late date, it's looking like a head-scratcher as to why exactly. My guess is that BF is in a difficult position from a marketing standpoint. Players want to easily see what they are paying for. Front end features are easy to see and back end features aren't. That makes a paid upgrade offering primarily Editor feature enhancements a tough sell, unless it is coupled with adequate new content showcasing the features. Anyway, in a response to a post from me, Steve very recently said that there is no current timetable for new paid upgrades. That means the back end is staying where it is for the foreseeable future. So... Will combat in Berlin be good? Answer: I think quite, but YMMV according to your subjective taste. What are my feelings on CM? Right now, CMx2 has a few front-end areas that really need smoothing, but is largely "done." However, the Editor has massive room for improvement. If that happens, CMx2 will have new legs. If not, then I'll probably just go into waiting mode for CMx3. However, CMx3 really needs to have an Editor that allows designers to make the SP experience better in less time. Otherwise, I may not spend much time there.

Thanks for the update. That's great news on the new vehicles! Can you give us any word on potential paid upgrades over the next say, 6 months? My big CMRT project is on hold, waiting for the contents of CMFR. Knowing if an upgrade is in the pipeline would be very helpful going forward. If one hits within a few months of FR's release, I'd definitely want to integrate the features. I'd hate to wrap up the project, only to have an upgrade with useful features hit shortly after getting 'er out the door.

Just tried again in RT on a medium map looking from one corner diagonally across to the other corner, but no joy.

I tried this in RT and FB and couldn't get it to work.

Oh, I know. That's the way I am with my screenshots. You probably know it, but a good trick for maxing screenie detail is to frame your shot, zoom in all the way, make sure you're on best graphic settings, and then back out just enough to get the frame you wanted again. I find that allows more detail to stay in the shot than the normal method. For example, defoliated trees that would normally lose their branches at a certain view distance will keep them longer if you use the above technique. I use it for all my screenshots.

+1 to adding the ability to control air strikes during the setup phase. As things stand, I generally don't use air assets in CMRT as either player or designer because you never know when they are going to show up and the risk of attacking friendlies is so high. So, the feature is essentially useless. The only scenario I managed to get them in successfully was a vs-AI-only battle where the player had lots of time before he got any armor, a big map, lots of buildings to put his troops in, and the air assets were friendly Stuka specialized AT -- so they wouldn't attack his own infantry. I'd love to add air to my current project for CMRT, but it's simply too risky unless it can be controlled -- at least during setup. It seems to me the only real use for the current system would be to have some kind of attrition phase for a campaign, where the player's units would have to make it across a map and exit with enemy air in the skies -- but no assets on the ground, other than a hidden FO. But even then, the air might never show up. Seems a shame to waste the feature. Setup phase control (with a guaranteed arrival time) would make it usable.