Gpig

I did a Sahara battle myself, many moons ago. Did you factor in the effects of dehydration on the Axis attacker? In my test battles, I was able to hold off the Germans, but sometimes it got close. Playing as the Germans, it was pretty difficult to win but flanking was always the answer. Also, did you notice in the movie that the Tank was firing all it's guns but everyone was out on the line in trenches and behind walls? Who was firing all the guns inside that tank? Hee hee!

Welcome! This is how I do it. 1. Once you plot your moves, laying down waypoints along the way, you can then select the actual waypoint (it turns bright white) and apply an order to THAT SPECIFIC WAYPOINT. What I like about this is that you can plot a move and select any waypoint along the way AND apply a target order to that waypoint. It's another way of knowing weather or not a unit will have LOS/LOF to a specific building once they gain a specific piece of ground. 2. Send your men in first to find the enemy. Keep your armour in overwatch to supress the enemy. Also keep infantry/HQ's in overwatch to help SPOT any enemy. Once they are found, move choice pieces of armoured support up to remove the enemy threat. Rinse, repeat.

Wengart, that seems like a pretty cool idea. It could be tied to IRONMAN mode of play, if unpalatable to the mainstream players.

Adam, reading from the sidelines, I read where Steve agreed it's an issue. He agreed it was an really important issue. He did not say it sucked, but that it was unavoidable. He gave many reasons why it was unavoidable. It seems from your above post that you want him to tell you he will do whatever he can to fix the problem. But he already knows that with the limitations he's facing (staff, game engine, what have you) the answer to FOW trenches is NO. So would you rather he lie to you and say "we'll do whatever we can?" Or would you rather hear the truth? Gpig

Good to know that the A.I. does indeed trip IEDs. So far I've been lucky enough not to have stumbled onto one. I'm not sure what happened in the game I was playing (Baker-1), but I rather think it was the out of LOS item. Now that I think about it, the Syrian operator was in a location where he would not have been able to see the IEDs. Also, I was sending some moderate suppressive fire into and around his location. Thanks Ken! Mystery solved. Gpig

Playing "Baker-1" as the U.S. side, I never encountered any IEDs, despite the threat mentioned in the briefing. As the Syrians, the IEDs are there. They were never triggered even though my troops walked right over them. They never went off. Does the A.I. target (activate) "wire" operated IEDs? Or do they only function with human players? Gpig

Thanks Rune, Looks like I'll have to try it again as the BLUE side to experience another RED plan. Love this game. I'm having a great time playing as the red forces. Doing quite well, despite the spotting frustrations at night. Grrrrr! Gpig

Hey folks, Anybody play the battle that comes with CMSF called BAKER-1? It's at night, in a built up area. You've got to secure a site where one of your Abrams was damaged by an IED. The onslaught commences. I had a good time playing the battle, but ultimately was left dissatisfied. I was wondering if some of you might have some feed back. (I did a search but could not find a previous discussion about Baker-1.) ***SPOILER ALERT!!!*** . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I loved the map. I was excited about the force mix and the tactical challenges faced by the commander, right up front. Which route to take. Which forces to send. How best to defend the isolated position guarding the unlucky Abrams. How soon could I get help to them. The IED threat. ((!!) I chose to ignore the approach route advised in the briefing, around the old city and past the Mosque. Instead, I went immediately East and through the palm groves, into the south portion of town. The enemy began arriving and the excitement started. But eventually, so did my discontent. As though it was thrilling to engage the enemy BMPs with my immobilize Abrams, I made short work of anything that moved. Soon there were 10 or 12 BMPs blown to bits and I knew they were likely to have contained squads of infantry. So by the time my lead squads arrived in town, a big part of the fight was over. All thanks to one single Abrams. My first relief platoon secured the North Eastern edge of the Palm grove, making sure no baddies came wandering out of the Old City. Keeping an eye on the Mosque. My 2nd relief platoon (and third) infiltrated the city south of the objective and manned rooftops and ground floors looking for an attack the never came. Well, an extra attack DID come in the form of T-72s. But as my infantry was armed with Javelin's and up on the rooftops, soon there were no more T-72s. Half an hour into the battle, there was no more enemy activity. I think I lost 4 dead and 8 wounded. I reviewed the map and could see no IED's anywhere. But I did find LOTs of troops (4 platoons at least) still sitting in their set-up positions. I never knew they were there. Afterwords I started the game from the Syrian side (and half way through it's an immense challenge). I have some questions for the designer and the forum (especially scenario builders). As the Syrians, the IEDs do indeed show up. In fact, by default they are in an area of the Palm Groves where two of my U.S. platoons had previously wandered through oblivious to the fact. They never went off. Does the A.I. target (activate) "wire" operated IEDs? Or do they only function with human players? As I'm playing the Syrian side, their spotting at night is HORRIBLE. Even though my ATGM team has a blue LOS/LOF bar into an intersection, enemy vehicles can drive in and park there without my team ever noticing (let alone firing). What portion of the Syrian side has NIGHT VISION? Does experience count towards spotting at night? I would have expected my T-72s do spot better at night and they did. But not by much. If the designer is reading this I'd like him to know that I had a great time playing the scenario, but I'm curious if it played out OTHER than was intended. Was there an A.I. Plan that didn't engage for me? Thanks!!

I think the M5 would make a great screenshot.

Heh heh. Yeah. We're usually busy (and the pay's not bad, to be sure.) But up here in Vancouver, there's been quite a few layoffs of late in the animation industry. Perhaps the timing is just right . . . I'll ask around some. Gpig

I'm a fan of how the animations are working in game currently. They look pretty damn good. As an animator myself, it's always fun to imagine how some new and interesting animations could add a layer of immersion. Headquarters teams on the radio. Team leaders yelling (hands up to mouth), pointing out targets, waving troops forward. Mortar teams. Men kicking in doors. Hand to hand combat (rifle butts, bayonets, two men on the ground locked in a "death wrestle," ala SPR.) Men looking skyward as the JABOs streak over. Full out sprinting versus quick runs. You know, the sprint for cover like your life depended on it? One hand holding his rifle, the other keeping his helmet on. Jogging, versus crouch running/walking. Stalking. Death animations. Nothing gory. But realistic in it's implications. The immersion can only get better. It's already excellent. I'd love to be able to help out in some capacity. My life is pretty busy these days but I'll do what I can to try and help (or find help). Gpig p.s. Keep up the great work, BFC. Happy 10th!

WhooooHOOOOOO!!!! Game on!

Hmmm . . . we *may* be talking about 2 different scenarios. The one I was talking about comes with the Marines Module.

This mission comes with the Marines Module. It's quite a good mission. Extremely tough.

Thanks for the Byte Battles. I downloaded and played 3 last night. Byte Insurrection, Byte Orchard and Byte Convoy. (That last one where you shepherd cargo trucks through the city.) ****SPOILERS ALERT!!*** Byte Convoy FUN. When I first started it things went VERY badly. Within 5 minutes I lost 2 trucks and 2 LAVs to some very lucky RPG shots. But I was also being a bit stupid tactically. So I restarted and dismounted my scouts under overwatch. I moved them in bounds, with the LAVs using recon by fire. My scouts would spot the enemy and my LAVs painted the building. Soon the scouts made it to the high ground and my trucks started inching forward. I started to get confident I'd be able to get through the city using the methodical approach. Then I hit the hornets nest and started to feel some pain. I tried to call in the Cobra's but the would never engage. But the insurgents ended up surrendering anyways and I never had to expose my trucks at all. Really liked the map. Liked the units and forces involved. Couldn't get the air support to work. Neither of the gunships would actually fire, despite "ingressing to target" twice each. Perhaps my infantry were too close? Nice one! Byte Insurrection Really great map. Fun forces and story idea. My troops hiding in the woods were easily spotted for some reason by the enemy in the prison. My artillery was fun. Smoke mission was inaccurate. I did not like the arrival of the enemy reinforcements as they spawned right in amongst my men. But, I could explain that one away as an ambush. Had a lot of fun with this one. But I wish I could have gotten into the prison. So many enemy units in the prison that I decided just to sit back and paste it with everything I had. There was no need to ever really leave the tree line as the enemy surrendered under ARTY, BMP-3 fusilades and small arms fire. Byte Valley Another nice map. Those T-90's are terrifyingly fast and aggressive, but I managed to deal with them without too much trouble. The map is quite difficult to approach the enemy. You have to expose yourself as you crest the ridgeline and that's trouble. My U.S. artillery took way too long to ever drop. Not sure what I'm doing wrong with my arty . . . Still, I'd like a slightly bigger map as well. Maybe just 1 tank, too. I think I might try my hand at building some BB's as well. Thanks so much for providing the sight and the docs to put these together. Gpig

Just played that one (and re-played it) last week. You may very well have tried all of the following, but this was MY experience. I found that the LOS is very tricky on those low ridgelines approaching the orchards (on both sides). The Jav teams need to be Un-hidden so they can then take a kneeling position. I found that this helped gain them a tad of visual elevation. (As they were hiding, and lying low to the ground, they couldn't see over the ridge top even though they appeared to be at the top of said ridge.) I could confirm this by using the Target command to verify weather or not there was a BLUE line to the target. Often, I thought my teams would have LOS/LOF, but the targetting line was grey, or there was no LOS/LOF to the other side. They same thing may have been happening with your M1. It happened for me. I had a devil of a time getting the hull-down position on that map. Good luck!

Just had the game for about 2 weeks now. I love it. The only issue I have with it is you can't place infantry "exactly" where you want. But the more I play, the less that bothers me because with experience you CAN get them where you need them. And all the other goodness far outweighs that niggle. Last night I destroyed the lead Syrian tank attacking along a tight urban street and effectively blocked the advance of the follow on tanks. Nice! GPig

Looks amazing. Can't wait to play it. Thanks for your contributions PT. Gpig

Deitrich, sounds great. Thanks for working this up. Can I ask you where did you get your map reference?

Woah, what a shocker. I was lucky enough to get a tour of his amazing collection. That was in 2005 I think. Never met Mr. Littlefield, but we heard some great stories about him. RIP. They were in the process of rebuilding a Panther tank when we went through. I wonder if it's finished yet . . . ? Gpig

I'm looking for an on-line RT battle. CMSF/Marines v.1.11. A small, quick battle would be good for the first time round... This would be my only my second CMSF game versus another player, but I've been playing CMx1 for many a year. Gpig

Good points. Hadn't taken into account the vehicle kills. Still, I've played a fair number of battles where vehicle kills were rare yet the disparity between WIA and KIA remained. (And I always try to do buddy aid.) Anyone play infantry only battles and notice this? I'd expect a 3 to 1 ratio of WIA to KIA. Unless I'm far off . . . Thanks! Gpig

I searched, but couldn't find the thread I was thinking of. I noticed that there are usually WAY more KIA than WIA at the conclusion of my CMSF/M battles. Especially in comparison to CMx1 battles. It is my understanding that historically, as most of you know, wounded men vastly outnumber KIA's during your average battle. There was a thread that touched on this topic but I could not find it. I'd be interested to read the discussion and Steve's comments (if any). Anybody recall it? Thanks, GPig

something to be feared in a cow that can go 100km/hour and call in Airstrikes!

Little known fact: G.I.'s often trained with cowbells in order to up their killer instinct. NOt sure how well it worked . . .