phil stanbridge
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Posts posted by phil stanbridge
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Are you guys sure this is a bug? I've been able to use my Wespe just fine. I haven't tried the Hummel yet since the patch. However, if I select HEAT or some other round other than HE you must have LOS otherwise you will not be able to fire.
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I just opened the first mission in german campaign with the mission editor and added two units of each new tanks types in the reserves and added crew. then when you start the first mission you can play through rest of campaign with those new units as part of your reserves. i did same thing for russian campaign. The campaigns seem to be running better than before patch? much less stutter i think.
Oooh what a sweet idea - can you modify the allocation roster as well? I hate only being able to have this vehicle or that vehicle. I'd rather be able to choose whatever I want.
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Was the sniper facing the right direction at the time out of interest. I've still had men change their orientation themselves. I think spotting is generally better but maybe could do with a tweak?
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Hmm I'm running it on a quad core AMD and so far so good - in fact, it looks like they've fixed the memory leak that made it unplayable. I can't comment on differences between dual and quad, but I doubt it will be noticeable. It does slow down a tad on double speed however.
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Yes, it's a 'feature' that you can disable. You see the 'prone' or action button or whatever it is - if you left click it will turn it off. That will stop the AI controlling your units basically. I think it does this to help a little in tight spots, but I find it suicidal in almost every case I have seen it used. I group select everything before I start and turn the bleeding thing off!
As for help surviving, it is a pretty frustrating game. There is always a chance of losing a percentage of your units regardless of how well you play due to the triggers in the missions. Also, I find enemy air assets are now lethal since the latest patch. They seem to be able to find all your little infantry guns/AAA assets even if they are hidden! Those pesky IL2's!!
I would basically use infantry more now - they are far improved. Use them in force to scout/advance, keeping prone, and keep your armour back hull down if possible. Use armour like the Tiger in support roles only on vast expanses of land. Use your smaller armour units in with the infantry. You cannot really afford to lose Panthers/Tigers.
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I restarted the German campaign using the latest patch - but I couldn't see the new units in the roster - I realise they might not be available every mission but are they available in any or is it just custom missions?
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What is this memory leak? and how does it work?
Don't know exactly, but it seems to occur at some point during the campaign when there are a certain number of units on the screen, or when the map is particularly complicated. I have also discovered that running with the high intensity shadows and max graphics is a resource hog in the extreme. It should really run better than this!
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Just got my download delivery today. I've been struggling all the evening for making it working. No way...It freezes up right after the mission has started. Here ar my specs.
Win Vista, Home premium, 64 bits
Intel core 2, P7550@2.26 GHz
NVIDIA Geforce 9600m GS
4 Go RAM
Any tip ?
Thx.
It could be something to do with your video card - have you tried running on minimum settings? When you say freezes up, does it lock up too or does it spring back to life if you wait for a few minutes?
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Very sad.
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My two cents here as I started the original 'Bug thread' post which is where a lot of these performance problems have been listed. If you find new ones please update that thread!
The game is playable to a degree. The German campaign is reasonable, the Russian campaign is shockingly poor. There are a LOT of little issues with this game that do need addressing in due course, but the biggest bug is the memory leak. This is what people are running into at certain points within the campaign. It doesn't matter what system you have - You will hit this memory leak which makes the particular mission unplayable. Whether or not you run into this memory leak seems to be somewhat random however. The only way to currently rectify the problem is to save the current mission, exit the game, restart the PC and try again. Just exiting the game is not good enough. It's a pain in the backside. I virtually completed the German campaign, and didn't get further than mission 2 in the Russian campaign before I uninstalled.
People also feel somewhat aggrieved at the issue with the printed manual in the pre-order for what it's worth.
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bit of a shame really. As others have pointed out, Kursk is known for the epic tank battles so you would logically expect to see some of these battles in amongst the campaign. I'm not even going to bother playing the Russian campaign. The German campaign was quite well desgined I thought, and enjoyable to an extent.
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How do you find it? I'm going to have to bite my tongue with this one. I think it is dreadful
My first battle was over in 26 minutes. Okay it was a victory for me as the defender, but not through my skill. You aren't allowed time to control any of the units really, and you just have to hope and pray the trenches and guns do the job necessary. It's all over too quickly, as I guessed it would be. This game is not one for the defenders! It looks like the whole campaign will be one of defending too. -
What cpu you using again Deputy? Wonder if its a dual core versus quad core peformance problem - I have seen similar things with other games where they are not optimised for quad core. I've got a quad core and I get the slow downs.
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I hate this fixed slot idea, in my opinion the slots should be open to all types of units and it is up to the player what he choses to take into battle.
We need a free slots mod to get rid of this unwanted feature.
AL
+1 to that, great idea. Although I can see why 1C have gone down this route. One, it's a tad more historically accurate to operate with a mixed force, and two, it's more balanced against the AI. But the whole idea of 'battlegroups' needs working on. Because you are so limited with the force make-up you should be given as much freedom as possible. So open slots is a real winner.
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This is why the editors are so important. I have been playing the CM series for years and normally (although some scenarios are excellent) I just edit my own or use the generator (better in CM as you generate both sides and have more flexiblkity).
But I use the editors almost exclusively in the 3 TOW's (hee, hee, until I got Vista64!! I'm still still struggling with Vista issues in TOW and TOW Africa).
I adore the QB generator in CM games - and I love to give myself a huge advantage over the enemy because it is so much fun. Like 5000 points to 1000 or something like that. It might sound unbalanced and to a degree it is, but when you are playing large assault battles the enemy AT guns can be really difficult to knock out. I never choose the enemy force make-up either! Having said that, the weakest part of the QB generator is the maps and thats where it lets the side down. Scenarios and operations were much better in that respect. The maps in TOW Kursk are pretty decent. I just wish everything else was on par!
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Yup, it's totally buggered for me too! Ridiculously so. I selected tank battalion, vets, and specifed weather, map etc. I was given 4050 points, with 4 tank slots the rest were infantry, and armoured cars plus a couple of mixed filters. I tried it again, exactly the same settings, and was given 650 points to spend with 1 armour slot!! It's plain not working. I don't think I've ever seen a new release with as many bugs!!
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How weird! Random bug or what. Let me see what it does for me. I'll report back in five.
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I haven't tried it myself but if you choose an armour OOB you may still get some infantry - unless it is 'armour only' - I don't how the game determines this. It's the same with other regiments, they may still field some infantry and light weapons in support roles. This was historically accurate, and especially so as the war progressed and elite armour units became somewhat of a rarity. Problem you have with this game is the narrow field of vision it offers in terms of units - you basically have at your disposal a 'battlegroup' which is by default made up of a varying array of mixed units and I'm not sure if you can change these in user generated 'quick battles'? You only have a few 'slots' allocated which is a bit of a shame. I think it does the best job it can under the circumstances. If you want to see accurate (as possible) OOB's then you really need to stick with Combat Mission. I'm hoping the Normandy game will feature (or possibly as an addon anyway) a pretty decent generator.
In my opinion, these type of games lose scale as they become more detailed
I don't think we will ever see the depth of scale seen in CMBO/CMBB and CMAK again! -
Isn't this a known bug? I thought I have read someone else complaining of the same thing.
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There's a definite pattern as I am finding also. It's a little predictable to be honest, but I don't like the counterattack 'trigger' system either - it doesn't really give you enough time to prepare your defenses in a structured way, especially if you accidentally walk one soldier over the line as I have done many times.
I haven't even attempted the Russian campaign yet, but to be honest I don't like the look of it - it's just a mish mash of defensive battles, holding this trench and holding that trench. You just know the AI will send in everything at once and the battle will be over before you know it. This system has potential but only as the attacker!
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I have been practicing suppression with my little men and it works really well. I countered an AT gun in an emplacement that my armour couldn't get to. I split a squad, flanking the sides. I sent one man forward and hid him behind an obstacle. I then crept another guy around to the side of the emplacement. I then got the man hiding behind an obstacle to lob grenades at the emplacement which he did - one grenade killed a gunner but he couldn't get the others. I noticed the gun crew turning the gun to face the direction of the identified attack - so I then hit the gun from the flank. Machine gunned the crew in the back whilst they were moving! It was a perfect scenario! 3-4 dead gunners, AT gun left in good condition, and no casualties for me. That's where infantry support comes into its own.
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I have only just started on a Simple Editor battle-but find that the Tiger which is my only vehicle in this battle emits engine noise only intermittently ---on for 10 secs -silent for 5 secs continually.
I have both of the other TOW games amd there is no sound problem in either--nor in any other of my simulations.
Has anyone else experienced this or can anyone suggest what might be the cause---it is an immersion spoiler.....
Yeah I get that - it happens when you zoom in/out. No idea how to rectify it! Annoying. I've just run into a show stopper. MY campaign has crashed at a point where I can't reload it. My save games are corrupted by the looks. Unless I go right back to start of the mission
Bloody CTDs!!! -
Hi Paul
Okay my opinion for what it's worth. I'm quite a way through the German campaign on 'normal' and morale.
There are definitely several ways to go about each mission and that very much depends on your force makeup. I have found without question the only real way to defeat the enemy is to use the heaviest cats at your disposal. So that means using your Tigers and Panthers from the outset. But generally I opt for a tank heavy battle-group, with some infantry support. More about my OOB later. Always, always keep these tanks at distance, and have them hull down if possible, front facing. There is very little in the Russian arsenal that can penetrate the armour of both tanks from a distance in '43 so that is your advantage. If you advance these tanks into the infantry lines they become vulnerable. I lost a Tiger to an RPG! Use the smaller and more mobile PzIII's for close-up in your face infantry support. PzIII N in particular are great anti-infantry tanks with a nice amount of 75mm HE rounds. I think they might even have smoke rounds - or maybe that is the PzIV. But be aware there armour is weaker, so try and soften up the defences first.
Regards the defences, hit them with anything you have - 75mm howitzers are great at softening the blow, and quite accurate, as are mortars although they are less reliable. If you can 'occupy' enemy mortars and AT guns in-game they have huge amounts of ammunition and there's nothing better than knocking out enemy defences with their own equipment. Your ammunition is a precious commodity. Be aware that as the campaign progresses your men 'gain' experience. The mortar and howitzer crews will become better and faster. They will 'spot' better. It's worth looking after your crews in this respect. Same applies to the tank crews. I have one elite Tiger crew, with Knights Cross 1st class, and they are 'uber'. They can spot and knock out in one round now which is particularly handy.
My OOB varies depending on the mission obviously - I do carry some light skinned vehicles which are useful as AAA. I tend to have at least one light vehicle with a 20mm gun set to HE in case of air attack, but he can also be useful in the scouting role, although as you point out, they are next to useless at the outset as they are targetted by enemy mortars and AT guns which are very difficult to spot. If i do carry one of these I use them on the rear lines, near my mortars/howitzers. I try not to expose them, although they can be useful for mopping up towards the end of the mission.
I find the 251/1's and halftracks practically useless in this game. They are targetted by everything from the outset. I tend to ditch them and buy either a AAA or a SP or tank or something with more value.
Focus on one point at a time as you rightly point out. Don't use all your force at one time, and try and keep some armour and some infantry back. You will need them later. Where possible keep all units out of play in cover - this helps prevent them being spotted by aircraft.
I can't use Blitzkrieg at all in this game - it is suicide. You may get a few units to a point quickly, but without any long term plan they are sitting ducks. It pays to play this game very slowly.
Hope some of this helps!
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Infantry play a vital role in this game, but they are very difficult to manage. I think part of the problem is the bugs associated with them, like in the trenches as you point out. Regardless you will lose a certain amount of them. But if you practice you can get better - I tend to lose a quarter of my men per battle now.
Some missions (like the first) are trials by fire for infantry - you need to use the protected flanks and keep them down. Don't attack over the hills as you will stick out like a sore thumb!
You ideally need to micro-manage every sqaud, and focus on the individual men. Keep them prone where possible, and use cover to the best of your ability. Don't use individual men as bait, as this will get your whole squad spanked. Make sure your men don't fire stray rounds at distance from the enemy target as this will (eventually) give their positions away, so make sure they are under control. Disable those 'auto' movement things as I have found them next to useless, and especially so with armour. Use smoke as cover where possible.
I can't stress how important it is to use cover! You can creep a man right up to the enemy position this way if you are careful. I also try to flank, and utilise the squads properly. You can get quite a long way with just infantry, but it takes a lot of practice and you will still lose a percentage. I'm far from an expert but I am doing progressively better with every battle.
Very sad.
Killer Xray Russian Aircraft
in Theatre of War 2 : Kursk 1943
Posted
I concur that the Russian aircraft have received some kind of uber enhancement. They are absolutely lethal now. In the first mission I noticed the IL2's picking out individual AAA and infantry guns/mortars that I had hidden purposely in woods. Quite frustrating!