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aleader

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Posts posted by aleader

    Best order for building entry

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted · Edited by aleader

    6 hours ago, Erwin said:

    When traveling fairly long distances thru woods or areas where enemy is expected it can be useful to have your split squads use a combination of QUICK and HUNT so that if one team is shot at while moving QUICK, the other team(s) using HUNT will stop and fire back immediately.  (Each team uses multiple waypoints alternating HUNT and QUICK.  EG: QUICK move for 20 meters followed by a HUNT for the minimum distance.)   Obviously one has to coordinate so that all units keep within support range of each other.

    I use this method too, and always use hunt with my AFVs obviously, where it does work well.  I'm just saying that in close quarters with automatic weapons, hunt only served to chew up all my troops (even with supporting cover fire and arty to soften it up).   Quick works much better, which again, really isn't very intuitive.  They would return fire with Quick, whereas with hunt they just stopped and became panicked right away.  Are the Germans really that fragile? 😉  I'm going to do it over again a few different ways to try some other things.  

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    Best order for building entry

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted

    17 hours ago, SimpleSimon said:

    It sounds to me like common sense would dictate this structure be bypassed and left for follow on forces to deal with. Aiming to capture an occupied factory size structure, like the size of say Stalingrad Tank Factory or Chernobyl NPP, within the time span of a CM scenario would be considered ambitious by real military men, reckless by some of them even. Clearing developments of such size and density could be a major effort that spans hours, days even. 

    Ok, I'm specifically referring to the way things are working in the 'Break the Bank' battle.  It's obvious that most haven't attempted it yet.  There is no way for 'follow-on forces' to access the inner buildings (and this is no reinforcements in this one either), and it would be very stupid to run AFV's down those narrow corridors.  Thus, all this firepower at your disposal is only useful down the flanks, which presents it's own difficulties obviously.  The issue in this one is if you do attempt to take the middle buildings, even with overwatch, yada, yada (I've been playing this series since 2000 😉), there does not seem to be a good way to enter occupied buildings in this one...and I HATE taking casualties! 😠   

    Pausing outside the building doesn't work because the second you enter a building (after pausing), the one ACROSS THE STREET from it starts mowing you down immediately like they have x-ray vision.  In a real life situation I would assume infantry entering a building would hug the walls and duck and not run right up to the windows and expose themselves.  This is my question, how do you keep them from doing this?  I've had three full squads enter three adjacent buildings at once, take fire from smaller squads across the street, and immediately take enormous casualties and run away (not panicked though). I do not recall this situation in the original Shock Force or in Black Sea, although I do tend to avoid these urban-heavy scenarios because I know the tendencies of the TACAI in the CM games sometimes.

    Someone else in another thread made a good point to not get fixated on clearing out every building, and I think that's my issue from a planning standpoint.  The flanks seem like obvious deathtraps in this one, but it's the only way to get your AFV's anywhere unless you are brave (dumb?) enough to go right up the middle.  I like c3K's suggestion too to use smoke, but you don't have a lot of arty (or ammo overall) in this either, and it needs to be reserved for the objectives.  Blast wouldn't work so well as you'll run out of charges in the first few buildings.  I;'m going to try it again until I get it with minimal casualties...

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    Best order for building entry

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted · Edited by aleader

    2 hours ago, domfluff said:

    I don't think I'vee seen a scenario where I put a team an order outside of a door, then another inside, and they've used a different route, but the answer is still really the same as the above link - your priority is creating the safe avenue of approach, not the the actual entry. If you create a safe path, then it won't matter which doors they choose, since they'll all be safe.

    In terms of tips, urban combat is traditionally something which western armies have done pretty badly, and the British TO&E doesn't have some of the tools that the US one does (MGS Strykers and MOUT strkyer infantry can both be amazingly useful - there's a reason why UK infantry started to carry shotguns, but I think that's just after the CMSF period.

    It's not a 'choice' of entry issue, it's a bug or engine limitation...there are no safe paths in this battle.  Common sense would dictate (in real life) going in the rear door, not down the side or in the front of the building exposed to fire from buildings across the street.  There are other recent posters (in other threads) having the same issues with pathfinding.  Urban combat has always been the achilles heel of this series.  And yes, the Brits are definitely underpowered compared to the US forces, thus the need to enter in force (not split squads as they just get chewed up piecemeal).  I've learned that the hard way...

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    Best order for building entry

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted · Edited by aleader

    The scenario in question (for those that have played it) does not give you lots of opportunity to hammer buildings with AFV's or use demo charges....you'd run out real quick, and it would do nothing to prevent ambush fire from across the street.  The two outside approaches look like the only way to get through this one, however that will leave lots of enemy behind you that still need to be rooted out.

    I also see two different opinions here on splitting squads and conversely NOT splitting squads as that leaves your forces outmatched.  After playing it now (with the Brits at least), I go with the latter...entering in force.  I'll try that enter with quick and then fast to get away from the ambush across the street before getting shot up.  As you stated, that's not realistic or intuitive at all, but I'll try it.  I moved my German infantry up through the woods in the Alamo scenario with hunt commands and that was also a colossal failure as they almost immediately became suppressed and ran off.  I then tried moving them en masse with quick commands and mowed right through them. 

    Which begs the question, what is the hunt command useful for?

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    Concerned over rare pathfinding problems in SF2 demo

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted

    18 hours ago, Lt. Smash said:

    I have seen a lot of wonky pathfinding in the demo. I have played both Wilcox and the Bank. I have seen the example you describe as well as armor avoiding passable albeit roughy terrain and infantry looping around buildings even though a door exists that could conceal their approach.

    Concerned.

     

    Smash, out!

    Yes, I've seen this too.  I posted it in another thread.

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    Best order for building entry

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted

    The bigger issue I'm having in the 'Breaking the Bank' battle is getting destroyed by forces on the other side of the street once I cross into the 1st building.  I wish there was a way to keep them back from the windows once they enter the building.  There's so many buildings in this one, and you don't have any AFV support unless you go around the outside edges, which I always assume is a death trap. 

    Another thing I've run into a few times now is infantry entering the side and front of a building instead of the rear door, which is a much safer option obviously.  I've had a few squads chopped up by fire because of this (happens even when I split the squads).  I do give shorter orders outside the rear entrance, but they still spread out and go in three different ways.  I'm assuming this is a 'feature' of 4.0?  I do like that they spread out better now, but it causes some dumb behaviour if that's what's going on.  I have also had a few squads run away at the first hint of fire coming their way even though they aren't panicked or routed.  

    Anyone have tips for these issues?

    1

    Demo crash

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted · Edited by aleader

    18 minutes ago, Lethaface said:

    Strange. I encountered the crashing problem with CMBS a while ago, but managed to fix it by tweaking the Nvidia settings. However for the CMSF2 demo I haven't setup an nvidia profile yet and I am on the latest Nvidia drivers. So far no crashes and I have spend a couple of >1 hour sessions in the Alamo battle.

    I changed my settings (yesterday) based on one of your older posts and it hasn't crashed on me at all.  Seems to look a little better too. I think I'm on the 398 drivers, have to check later.  I only had issues on the tutorial mission though.  I'll play that one again today and see if the issue persists.  If you can, maybe link that old settings post of yours in here (or did you already?).

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    BMP 1p (4c) Main Gun

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted

    35 minutes ago, Erwin said:

    Not sure if this is relevant as I haven't looked at this scenario yet.  However, in CMSF1 play, it was common for vehicles to use their guns rather than missiles when encountering enemy armor at relatively short ranges.  I recall that AT vehicles were only effective with missiles when shooting missiles at well over 1Km ranges.  

    That's very likely it as the way I played it the first time, they didn't get to the battle until the armour that was left was pretty much right in the fortress and ranges were well under 400m.  Am I correct in assuming that they need to unbutton to use it though?

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    BMP 1p (4c) Main Gun

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted · Edited by aleader

    On 10/19/2018 at 6:00 PM, db_zero said:

    Even the newer BMPs in Black Sea seem to suffer the same as the old ones on SF. I've run numerous QBs as well as h2h. The newer ones don't have a cannon fired ATGM. But in general I agree that the ATGM is more of a secondary weapon. Even on Bradley's they don't seem to be used often. I have another simulation Steel Beasts Pro 4.0 where you can fire the ATGMs on both and as I recall there is a set procedure you must follow to employ the ATGM and the cannons on both are much easier and faster to use.

    I played through the Alamo mission in the demo and noticed that the Marders do not fire the ATGM, even at tanks (T-62's)?  They were able to knock out/immobilize the tanks with their MK20 after several rounds, but I'm guessing they need to be unbuttoned to use the ATGM?  A cursory search shows a limitation of the MILAN 3 is exposure of the operator, which does seem surprising for a modern IFV.  Or maybe they figure it's not necessary against a T-62?  Is the TACAI able to reason to that extent?  In my experience, Bradley's almost always fire as expected in Black Sea, but maybe just because the operator isn't exposed?

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    Demo crash

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted

    4 hours ago, Sgt_Grunt said:

    Demo crashed on me also, this was from a save of Alamo. Crashed after action phase when clicked on the red button. I am running a Mac.

    Edit I had changed the setting to best in the options, setting them back to balanced stopped the crash.

    That's when mine has been crashing too, after the action phase.  Worse on the tutorial mission.  I don't think I've ever had a crash in a CM game before.

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    Demo crash

    in Combat Mission Shock Force 2

    Posted

    7 hours ago, Chops said:

    Demo crashed on me twice while playing the training mission.   Installed on updated Windows 10, with demo installation in a non-standard directory.  However, it was installed in the same way as other CM games and they do not crash.

    Game locked up while watching the action, and then completely closed after a few minutes.

     

    Same here, except I'm on Windows 7.  I downloaded the demo at noon today (central time).  Has it been fixed since then?

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    Naughty or nice... here's some bones!

    in Combat Mission - General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by aleader

    On 12/24/2017 at 8:49 AM, Battlefront.com said:

    We'll hopefully be wrapping things up in January.  More news at that time.

    It's all the original CMSF1 content (forces, art, scenarios, etc.) in the Engine 4 environment.  That means all Engine 4 game features, including QBs, are a part of CMSF2.  There's a lot of updating to the original CMSF1 stuff to make it work and look as it should, but we're not adding anything per se except the things which are fairly obvious (soldier models, QB maps, ground to air, on map mortars, bridges, water, etc.).

    Steve

    So, just so I'm clear as I don't spend a lot of time on here anymore as the news has been pretty sparse of late, CMSF 2 will include the Nato, British and Marine modules or just updates to those modules which will still be sold as a package in addition to the base game, or will there be an option to buy all of the content at a discount?  And FYI, yes, I've already seen this:

      Since nothing shows appreciation better than discounts, we're offering discounts :D  The specifics will be announced as we get closer to release, but for sure it will be far less than theoretical $165 it normally costs to purchase a brand new Base Game ($60) and three $35 Modules. Though I do know for sure the discount price will be a bit more than a $10 Upgrade ;)

     

    For those of us that own Shock Force (in 2007 - prior to it being sold in the online store) but did not buy the other modules, will there still be a discount on CMSF 2?  Will the Engine 4 upgrade also be included or will it be part of the $25 Engine 4 pack if we purchased that?

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    Gustav Line

    in Combat Mission Fortress Italy

    Posted · Edited by aleader

    On 1/13/2017 at 3:57 PM, Kevin2k said:

    I figure the bundle is only good deal in case you upgrade at least 3 Combat Mission games to v4.0. For 1 or 2 CM games it is still cheaper to just buy the separate upgrades.

    Though you never know in hindsight. Like in hindsight I could have saved myself money by purchasing the CMBN complete bundle, instead of gradually paying for modules and packs in the past year.

    This is why I'm waiting.  I paid $95 US ($132 CDN) for the CMBN/Commonwealth bundle when it first came out.  Now to buy Market garden I'd have to spend another $35 US ($48 CDN) for a total of $130 US ($180 CDN).  I could do it, but would feel like I missed out.  Same reason I haven't bought anything else in the CMx2 family but Black Sea (and previously pre-ordered CMSF).  I know modules are coming for CMRT and CMFI, so I don't want to pay individually, especially since the base prices were increased again.  I like the Steam model for several games where you get credit for previous purchases in the series (i.e. Panzer Corps).  Add in all the engine upgrades, and you're likely limiting the series to the diehards.  BF could also bundle a few games together (CMBN/CMRT/CMFI/CMFB) with DLC at a decent discount to entice people to buy them all, likely spending even more in the process, but feeling that they received better value.  My 2 cents for what it's worth...

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