Sirocco

You had 1:1 in CMx1? The question I have with 1:1, is if LOS is more a group check on an action spot, what happens if an individual has group LOS but not individual LOF? Will he re-position to gain LOF?

And not necessarily even LOS. Think about night battles or smoke. One unit may have night vision equipment and see opponent from a long distance. The other side with worse equipment can't. </font>

If red squad is firing en masse at, say, half of blue squad, I'd expect the rest of blue squad to get on line, too.

An individual can be facing in the right direction but not have LOF.

As I understand it, if blue can see red, red can see blue, based on these action spots. But if only one member of blue has LOF and all members of red have LOF, red will gang up on blue while the rest of the blue squad won't adjust it's position as they already have LOS as a group, unless the engine adjusts individual positions based on a combination of LOS and LOF.

Actually, this makes a lot of sense, since spotting does not kill, but firing does!</font>

I must admit I don't like the idea of having LOS and LOF handled differently. If an individuals LOS is clear to a target, but his LOF is blocked, how can he re-position himself to clear LOF? I'd like to see that explained.

That's apples and oranges, though. In these tactical situations you want your squads to put out firepower. It's no use holding onto ammo while you're being decimated.

I don't know if you can compare the longevity of CMSF with the CMx1 titles. In fact BFC are on record that we were spoiled to get so much out of them. As far as the incomplete nature of the product is concerned that was pretty much inevitable when BFC signed a contract with a deadline. Personally the money isn't an issue as much as the fact it's gone straight to the bargain bin. The reasons for that are what should be of concern.

This isn't about buying it more cheaply, this is about CMSF being in the bargain bin a mere few weeks after release. No one expected it to be full price forever.

Perhaps the company level isn't ideal for modern weapons? It might be that the operational level would work better than the tactical. When you combine modern optics and sensors with heavier hitting firepower you lose the subtlety that, for me, makes WW2 much more interesting on the tactical level. [ September 25, 2007, 10:09 AM: Message edited by: Sirocco ]

The price of £4.99 is nothing short of astonishing. If they are shipping at that price it's gone straight into the bargain bin.

I wouldn't expect miracles with infantry handling in CMx2. Expect to continue to have gripes about this or that behaviour as was the case with CMx1. The rougher edges will be knocked off it, but there's a limit to what can realistically be achieved.

I would imagine that code changes to the base game will be made available in patches. You won't need to buy the modules to benefit from the base game updates.

The modules are more content, with code changes being made to the base game.

With CMx1 I liked to split the unit into three; a heavy holding group, a more mobile flanking group and a reserve. The plan being that the heavy group pinned the defender frontally, taking the heat off the second group as it exploited good ground and flanked the defender. The third would ideally exploit through the breach gained, or it would pass through the first group, depending on how the situation developed.

QB's were fun in CMx1. Scenarios felt too pre-planned. But that was the great thing about CMx1; something for everyone, whichever you preferred.

CMx2WW2 will be a much more mature product. That in itself will be a huge plus point. The QB's, I have no doubt, will be fixed because CM needs the longer legs a good QB system gives it, and limited maps out of the box and no force picks is as flat as a pancake for replay value. The modules will also really broaden the base game in a manner I don't think the CMSF modules quite will, because of the greater nuances in equipment.

With CMx1 the dread was walking into an AT gun ambush. You'd have your tanks and infantry chewed up in no time at that point of contact. With CMx2 you're always in an AT gun ambush because of the lethality and accuracy of modern weapons. In effect CMSF distills CMx1 into those really sharp and lethal moments.

I think CM is too complex for a full playback function. But I stated before that having a one minute rewind facility has the potential to streamline the game as well being a good feature in general. I'd like to see it in CMx2WW2.

The Battleground Europe books are compact and good reads, focussing on small parts of the Normandy campaign and beyond. Beyond the Beachhead is also a fine read, and one I'd heartily recommend.

Patches to enhance, yes, commended, patches to fix, expected, if not demanded.

The "unique" selling point of CM isn't WEGO, or RT, for that matter; it's a higher fidelity representation of small unit combat combined with a simple interface and good, if not cutting edge, graphics.

You accuse people of wrongheaded thinking, but honestly, Steve, if you think better presenting titles wouldn't help with sales, even after the botched release of CMSF, there's no hope. The five years is a bit of a strawman, too.

Well, we're kind of short on facts, given the very fact that we don't have access to sales data, or what might have been if things had been done differently. Ergo it's all opinion and speculation, and some of that speculation is your own, I might add, informed speculation; but then some of us are also informed, too. Anyway, not my bat and ball.