Ales Dvorak

£20K?
That’s nothing! Mick Jagger has spent way more on models. 😉

First, yes, the title is a pun.  As this is foundational data, but it was also drawn from playing around in the CMBN first Basic Training Mission. 
I realized that one of my biggest problems is time and space.  Like last night, I was playing a small scenario of 45 minutes with 5 spatial objectives.  I realized I was running into trouble when the clock said +28m remaining and I had only completed objective #1.  Too much cautious recon (night mission).  So, I pulled out a Major Victory, but it required me for the rest of the scenario to double time it with split squads moving in leap frog bounding over watch.  And I truly finished, right as the clock struck 0m.
Thus, today, I decided to do something about my playing style.  One YouTuber had said he plans based what it would take to just walk the map.  Realizing that I had no concept of time and space, I decided to do some analysis which I will share here.  I realize that most of you ubermensch, do much more rigorous data collection, but I think this should be sufficient to get me started.
 
**********************************
***** MOVEMENT (Scout/Squad) *****
**********************************

RESTED/FIT/REGULAR SCOUTS (MIXED/OPTIMAL CONDITIONS)
Walk:     50M
Quick:   120M
Run:     140M (1t tired)
Hunt:     40M
Slow:     15M (2t tired)
RESTED/FIT/REGULAR SQUAD (MIXED/OPTIMAL CONDITIONS)
Quick:    80M (complete in 1 turn) (same final dispersion as assault)
Assault:  50M [lead team] 0M [rear team] (for long assault)
          20-25M (completes in 1 turn) (same final dispersion as assault)
          100M (completes in 3 turns)
          (linear spacing is very much a function of the waypoint placement)
          (at 30M/min, it is slower movement than manual player bounds)
---
* Squad movement standing seems 66% of scout movement.
* If there is overwatch, and the enemy is suppressed.  QUICK is probably your best way to cover ground.
* HUNT is too slow to cover a map in most time frames, and is in the same class of commands as RUN and SLOW.
* RUN is best used to sprint between cover to cover; especially as teams which find cover easier.
* ASSAULT is probably a toss up between manual squad command and TACAI coordinated.  An ASSAULT should probably be no more than 100M to avoid the squad from getting too spread out.  Additional suppressing fire advised.

(I'm starting this as a new topic since the links to even the old pdf files will be changing.)
I just finished the pdf which shows all QB maps for CMBN. It is a huge file -- nearly 400 pages and 330MB -- and is HERE. (A smaller, lower quality version for CMBN is HERE.) Since Assault, Attack and Probe versions of the various QB maps usually vary only slightly, I only included Assault in these pdfs. Those and (I believe) all Meeting Engagement maps. 
Also, the old dropbox links for the other 3 titles will be expiring, so I'm moving everything to this newer account. Here are the new links for pdf's for the other 3 WW2 titles:
CMFB is here.
Here is Red Thunder.
And here is Fortress Italy.
 
 
 

You destroyed my tank? Now you will pay the price

There will be also a special delivery of Elvis's guitar on the stage.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wca1021aisq3rsu/Jazz-Ad_esczoo.jpg?dl=0
Ok, right model, wrong color.

It is an interesting question, but I can't imagine many people who have never played CMx2 before even reading it.
Although I was chatting to a guy in The Groucho last night. And he told me that Elvis is putting The Attractions back together with four backing singers, Miss Brazil, Miss France, Miss India and, Miss South Africa. They will be performing in front of a video wall made up of screenshots from Rome to Victory, and doing a striptease during "Oliver's Army", all in an attempt to drum up trade for the new title.

Okay. I guess we have reached a parting of the ways. That is a fact of life and I have had more of them than I can recall, let alone count. Well, good luck on your new course, and if you ever come this way again, the door will still be open.
Michael

Hats off to the BFC crew; another great new title.  My favorite added feature: a tie between the French and the Indian Army.  (And I love that both have different uniform options to toggle between).
Thank you for bringing us such a content-rich multi-module Italian campaign!

Knife.
( close, but no cigar. ;))

Welcome back @Pascucci I remember you from a thread in Fortress Italy.  Also some good news for you.  Battlefront does not charge for patches.  Patches are completely FREE!!!  Sorry if someone mislead you or maybe you just mis-remembered.  Also Battlefront has the new all in one installer now that greatly improves downloading and installing a game with multiple modules etc.  The hassle of installing multiple games and modules and packs on a new computer was a valid complaint back in the day.  But as Battlefront continues to be responsive to the community and make improvements they have taken care of that problem.  So when you buy CMFI R2V it should install very easily.     
 
IMO there is some validity to this point.  I think the reason we are disappointed with late releases is because we like the games so much we can't wait to get our hands on them.  There are probably many reasons for later than anticipated releases of some games, modules & packs.  I like to think one of the main reasons is that Battlefront is trying to get the best product they can out the door.  I am also frustrated with the wait at times and think there is room for improvement here.
 
More good news for you on this front.  @BFCElvis is now assisting with communications with the community.  So this has also improved.  He also works the help desk and continues to keep BFC as one of the best product support companies in PC gaming.  In fact there is a thread around here about Elvis providing customer support on his laptop from a hospital room.  Not to mention on holidays.  So while your eating turkey on Thanksgiving Battlefront will be there to support you holiday missions................  
 
I hope you didn't take my reply in anyway as being hostile because it was only meant to be friendly and informative.  And in the interest of being friendly I'll completely ignore when you told me where I should not stick my head  .  Now that you are better informed on a few of your concerns I hope you will eagerly follow developments for CMFI R2V.  This is looking to be a really great release with new nationalities, TOE, equipment etc.  It will take the CMFI game from July 1943 to the end of the war.  Very cool game.  I look forward to playing a PBEM with you after the release, my friend.   
 
 +1.  Don't be annoyed my friend.  Look on it as an opportunity to point out all the positive aspects of the game.  You are always at an advantage in this regard because the positives out way the negatives by a significant amount. 
 
 +1  Hold my beer ..............   
Now I have to go eat turkey while @BFCElvis handles the support desk . 

A groundhog day type scenario lets you revisit your past actions and correct your mistakes. Do not see the wait for the module purely as a trial of faith or even torture. See it as an opportunity.

I think that you are referring to when many years ago "back in the day" when they used to give away the new modules. That was when it was just Combat Mission before CMBB.  They don't charge for patches, just for the new modules. They can't really afford to give away new modules anymore as they do take time to program and with all the games out there now some players naturally gravitate to different games and some like me come back after being gone for a while.  The amount of posts is not an indication of sales or how popular the game is. It's usually means that there are no problems with the game and no one is complaining. Only a small percentage of people generally post, in some sites you would think the game is dead but there are actually quite a few people playing.  As far as deadlines go it's better to have some people complaining about how late it is than to have everybody complaining on a poor product that came out on time.  

Knife.
( close, but no cigar. ;))

Knife.
( close, but no cigar. ;))

Knife.
( close, but no cigar. ;))

Does anyone actually talk about CMX2 anymore.
Not really, especially if on another site.
Face it , its a system that now has been around for many years. There is not going to be any great new or major changes.
For those of us that like the game and the system, its a time where us die-hard players get some new toys or features to let us
play around with a new scene as to area of the conflict, but no, its not a brand new toy that is going to pull in a bunch of new enthusiasm.
 
Until a CMx3  engine comes out with all sorts of new approaches to the same old challenge of how best to reflect combat as to how it actually plays out will we see any massive wave of forum discussions and tons of debate and discussion on how that system could be improved to do it even better.
But when a new engine ever does come, it will be as different as CMx1 was to CMx2
and I am sure that magically there will be plenty of activity on the forum from long lost players and new players that we have never seen before.
 

Welcome aboard.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ6dDlqye9Q
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zHm6FDh1738
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HI4MNt-BtBM
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=fQgFnIW3VtE
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XFc6ge53jZQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zvoKNVDNtVI

So I tend to spend far, far too much time down at eye level. It takes me forever to play each scenario because I'm constantly rewinding the turns and watching them from different units' points of view. I take way too many screenshots as well. I play plenty of other games but for some reason I take far more screenshots of CM than any other game I've ever played. Something about the WEGO system and camera zoom means I can spend ages trying to frame different compositions for screenshots. So I'm glad you like them! 
I took a million screenshots of the last scenario I played from the Blunting the Spear campaign so I thought I'd post one of the parts I thought was cool, with the runaway T-34 that almost broke right through my lines. So there might be some spoilers here for anyone who hasn't played this campaign.
At the beginning of the scenario, I massed all of my tanks on my right flank, and I put my two companies of infantry in a long line across the map in two waves. The first wave was made entirely of two-man scout teams that I sent forward in a widely dispersed skirmish line. I wanted the scouts to just run forward, find the enemy, infiltrate their lines, and then if possible, rejoin the second wave later for the main assault.
I was supposed to be attacking, so I had no idea that a platoon of T-34s were about to come charging straight toward me right at the beginning of the scenario through a smoke screen. My own tanks were all on the right, and the T-34s were charging straight at my left, right toward the masses of trucks and support units I had parked in the rear:

 
Here you can see an overview. You can see my wave of scouts out front and everything else massed farther behind.

 
The T-34s came over a hill, firing a couple of times at my trucks in the rear, but missed. They had to cross a wide open field to get into my lines. My own tanks were out of position to respond effectively, but for a couple hundred meters the T-34s would still be exposed to a few of my Panthers on the right. Two of the T-34s were destroyed, and one of the Panthers was knocked out by a partial penetration that killed the driver.
Miraculously, the third T-34 managed to get all the way across the field in a suicide charge at top speed, running a gauntlet of Panther fire the whole way. Five Panther shots were directed at it, and all missed. The T-34 managed to get out of view of the Panthers and got mixed in with my line of scouts. It stopped to blow up a scout team nearby:

 
Luckily, it stopped right next to another scout team and it was immediately hit by grenades:

 
Seconds later, an AA half-track stationed in the rear opened up on the tank. Most of the shots were ricochets and it didn't seem to have much effect. The T-34 was immobilized after a little while, but I couldn't tell if it was from grenades or AA fire hitting the wheels and tracks.

 
At this point I was panicking. The T-34 had a perfect view of a lot of extremely vulnerable units in the rear, and it would have taken several minutes for my own tanks to respond. Trucks, half-tracks and Kubelwagens were frantically driving every which way to escape. HQ teams and mortar crews were running for cover.  If the T-34 had kept going just a little farther, it could have caused a lot of damage. I sent Panzerschreck troops running ahead to stop it at all costs as AA fire tore through the air:

 
A rocket is fired at almost the far limit of the Panzerschreck's effective range, at about 185 meters.

 
A hit! Right as the T-34's turret was turning toward the AA half-track, the rocket slammed into the far rear end of the turret. If it was just a few inches to the left, it would have missed, and the AA gun would have been toast, along with who knows what else.

 
The driver jumped out of his hatch as more AA fire ripped into the tank. The rest of the crew were cooked inside, as no one else emerged.

 
Confronted by the pissed off tank driver, the cowardly scout turned tail and ran. The driver popped off a few pistol shots at the scout's backside and then comically started chasing after him through the field:


 
The tank driver chased after the guy for quite some distance. A few bursts of machine gun fire from nearby infantry missed the driver by inches. Undeterred, the driver kept up the chase.

 
Eventually, the scout's partner woke up from his stupor and joined the chase, ending it quickly with a single shot from his G43.

 
Quiet once again broke out across the battlefield, and the German advance continued. A lot more death and destruction would take place before the day was finally over.

Somewhere in Russia.

Very very? ✅

https://www.dropbox.com/s/xp2xdtnbsa50hhm/Brexit.jpg?dl=0
👽
 
 

You mean this one?
http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/?p=2942
 
 
p.s. Highest crop in the game (CMBN) is Linum  100 -120 cm 

Warts 'n' all, thank you very much.