Vergeltungswaffe

Now, I won't name any names yet, but 'this guy you all know' yet again came up with this neat new concept. New to CM, that is. The entire gaming world outside of CM has been saturated with it for years. What am I talking about? Achievements! Obviously for use in campaign games only.
Since I'm the go-to-guy for 'this person you all know' for this type of odd-job, I happily sank my modding teeth into this one.
 
I've been playing around with the idea for an evening. It's just a bit of fun, and nothing too serious. I just thought this was too cool not to share straight away:
 
 

Another scenario conversion is up http://cm.1540.info/cmbs_maps.php
 
I'll take a look into the requested interface mod now, but you have to be very patient!

The Hill is a 3 battle mini-campaign of a semi-historical action of the 6. SS Panzergrenadier Regiment (Totenkopf) during August, 1943 near the Mius River. The regiment Totenkopf is tasked with holding Hill 203.4 southeast of the town of Marinovka against the assault by the 40th Guards Rifle Division during the 3rd, 4th and 5th of August.

Under the command of Sturmbannfuhrer Hansen your orders are to hold the hill at all costs with the resources available until relief arrives.

Very little intel is available so you must allocate your forces and anticipate where the attacks will be concentrated. The setup zone allows for you to reposition all forces available except for the command bunkers and associated support units at the very top of the hill. Choose carefully in your positioning and consider having a reaction force available if things get "exciting".

This campaign is designed with the latest game version and is playable from the German side only. Due to the map size and units involved it may play slowly on older systems. It is designed primarily as a infantry engagment though armor will play a role for both sides.

The campaign showcases tagged mods from Vein and Umlaut. All the required mods and tags are included in the download. Simply put the mod folder in your data z directory and the .cam file in your campaign directory.

Make sure to read all the briefings as they drive the storyline as well as information for each scenario.
 
The entire campaign takes place on a single map that is my first map creation attempt. However in my infinite wisdom the map was 95% completed when I realized my orientation was wrong. So during the campaign ignore the compass. North is south and east is west so let the imagination juices flow.
 
I hope you enjoy the campaign and any comments or suggestions are welcome on this thread.



Units involved in the campaign are as follows:

Germans (Totenkopf)

1. 6.SS Panzergrenadier Regiment
2. 3.SS Panzer Aufklarung Abt.
3. 3.SS Panzer Pioneer Kompanie
4. II/SS Panzer Regiment 3

Russians

1. 40th Guards Rifle Division
2. Elements of the 37th Guards Tank Brigade
 
Here is the link at the GAJ site. 
http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/mods/5557/details

Yep, it's now official. You've all finally talked, whined, badgered, nagged and begged me into it. I will -at last- be updating TweakedUI v4 to be fully compatible with CM:FI (including GL). That means Italian silhouettes, branch icons, and -I haven't looked into this yet, but if at all possible- the Italian rank structure. Heck, maybe even portraits!
 
It won't be a separate mod, but rather a complete mod pack that works for both BN and FI. That way things that are already in place in BN, but not FI, are ready from the get-go for any upcoming module that possibly includes them, as I won't guarantee quick future module updates just yet.
 
Stay tuned!
Juju
 
 

"You don't know where you're going til you know where you been."
 

Hi guys
 
If anyone wants to playtest this campaign its a 5 mission campaign complete v. 1.03, but no text yet, but I can say this :
 
Coreunit - Panzerbrigade 101
 
Panzerabteilung 2101 :
36 x Panther Tanks
3 x Company each 11 Panther Tanks and 3 Tanks in Bn. HQ
4 x Möbelwagen
 
Panzergrenadier Bn. 2101
2 x Panzergrenadier Companys
1 x Heavy Company
 
Panzerpionier Company 2101
2 x Platoons
6 x 251/16
 
Panzeraufklärungszug 2101
Recon Platoon
 
Mission 1 - Clearing the Way
No. 1. Pz. Coy. (11 x Panther Tanks)
No. 2. PzG. Coy 
Recon Platoon
Flak Platoon (4x Möbelwagen)
 
Mission 2 - Obstinate Russians
No. 3 Pz. Coy.
No. 1 PzG. Coy. 
Recon Platoon
FlaK Platoon
 
Mission 3 - Throwing Down the Gauntlet
No. 1 Pz. Coy
No. 2 PzG. Coy
FlaK Pl.
Heavy PzG. Coy.
 
Mission 4 - Turning North
No. 3 Pz. Coy.
No. 1 PzG Coy.
Pz. Pionier Coy.
Kampfgruppe Gross (not core)
 
Mission 5 - Breakthrough to 16th Army
Complete Brigade.
 
No text so you dont know when reinforcements arrive !
 
Situation :
 
18 August 1944
 
We are part of Operation Doppelkopf.
The soviet 51st Army has reach the Bay of Riga and cut Army Group North from Army Group Center (whats left of it).
Our job is to reach 16th Army to make connection between the two Army Groups.
 
ENY Forces
417th Rifle Division
3rd Guards Mechanized Corps
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The fixed version has now been uploaded!

nah that is a super secret Ovaltine handshake way of saying CMSF 2 is coming. 

Is there an ignore feature on this site? Works great on other forums...

But with Upgrade 4.0 still using the outdated CMx2 engine i doubt we will see much improvement in key areas.
Instead on focusing on keeping the old car driving through the addition of a new oil filter, a spoiler and new tires it would be time to move on and invest into a new car.
If money or know-how is the problem...well there is kickstarter, i think we all would support you.

Another thing i dont like is that we now have it Official, the bulge game will only include "minor" changes.
No new trench/foxhole system. No significant gameplay enhancements, no fix for long standing technical issues.

Sorry, iam disappointed !
(But thanks for the heads-up Steve)

Capturing the bridge at Rolling Thunder
 

Hmm i dont have to work today...so i am kinda tempted to try it. But then there' s that Otto Carius scenario as well and i dont have time to play through two 120+ turn scenarios on a single day, hmmm...life is full of difficult decisions!

Hey could be worse... there hasn't been one reply to my post at The Blitzkrieg Wargaming Club.  

Welcome to the last hobby you'll ever need.

Welcome to the last hobby you'll ever need.

Hey brother, welcome to the first day of the rest of your wargaming life. You got here just in time.
 
 
Mord.

37x base tiles = 37
plus 1x brush = 74
plus 44 x foliage = 3,330
plus 9 x road = 29,970
plus 374 x wall/fence/hedge = 11,208,780
plus 16 x modular buildings = 190,549,260 (I'm going to ignore independent buildings)
(I'm also going to ignore flavour objects, which do affect concealment)
(I'm also going to ignore elevation, which affects quite a bit)
plus 22 x bridges = 4,382,632,980
 
Roughly 4½ billion different terrain tiles. That's why there's no tool tips.

Ok so I revamped the Scenario Clash of Titans.  It now works 100% and has about 3 different AI plans for the Russian Attack.  I appreciate everyones patience with the Single player aspect, it was my first large scale massive AI work.  Anyways practice makes perfect.  Thanks to my friend Jeff, for additional play testing, everything now functions as expected.  Its wonderful knowing how far you can stretch the AI. 
 
Anyways you can find the revamped version here  http://cmmods.greenasjade.net/mods
 
I hope you enjoy the final version, I think it compliments both JS-2 and King Tiger in their long range lethality capabilites.
 
J.

I also agree with the OP and Ken describes it beautifully above. It's a mixture of table top wargaming and ASL with a level of detail that creates numerous immersive and amazing vignettes almost every game.
 
I do wonder having read a good number of these post over the years, which draw up the battleline between (and my tongue is in my cheek here) the fanbois and haters what the correlation (if any) is between those that really think the CMx2 games are the bees knees and the number of computer games played by them.
 
I only play one set of games on the PC - CMx2. The kids have an Xbox which I occasionally use, but otherwise it is CMx2 all the way. I suspect that many of those that don't regard CMx2 as highly play a lot more games and just see CM as another game in a wider pool. Nothing wrong with that but I do wonder if it goes someway to explaining why views sometimes get polarised.
 
just my 2p
 
P

Yes, I agree with the OP.
 
Single best moment of gaming (going back to the mid-80's) was a beta-test of CMBN. Two US squads were flanking a German team. The right squad got the drop on the Jerries and opened up on them...hard. Heavy woods, short LOS. The two surviving (visisble) Germans surrendered. As they surrendered, the left US squad got a "?" contact and area fired...killing the men who had their arms raised. Gobsmack moment. A very visceral gaming result which I had never anticipated or seen.
 
Nothing else comes close. I WeGo so I can find these moments, replay them, and watch them from different perspectives.
 
CM is totally immersive. It's not the graphics: it's the behavior.
 
Ken

I believe he did and he has a perspective on it.  I may disagree with it, but I think his answer to the follow up helps me understand his answer a bit better.  Nothing seems to grab his attention for long. He may feel something akin to what I was trying to express, but it doesn't last.
 
No offense meant to Thewood1, but I pity him.  I wouldn't trade that wonderful exciting chill for anything.  Life is short, it should be full of stuff like that.
 
Like my wife, I am amazed she married me and I hope I never lose that and take her for granted. 
 
My father passed away from Alzheimer related issues this year.  As his memory went he began forgetting things, he lost his sense of taste, he began to lose track of individuals and he eventually forgot how to eat. 
 
One thing that experience reinforced for me is appreciating everything you have while you can.  CM with all it's issues and all the features missing I would love to see it have, is still an incredible game.  There is simply nothing comparable in it's genre.  And it's genre is my favorite.
 
Sure the first time I tried Skyrim and I stood on a mountain looking out over a river valley with an amazing huge moon overhead, I was impressed.  And then I basically walked over the side of the mountain and slithered all the way down into the valley and when I got to the bottom a mammoth popped up several hundred feet into the air... a mammoth I could not even see 5 feet further away.  Okay cool game, cool graphics, no immersion.  For me anyway.  Another player could come along, mod the hell out of it and it is everything they ever dreamed of. 
 
FP shooters just make me think, great visuals for a game of paintball.  Some of the ARMA 3 hardcore teams look pretty neat, but again it just doesn't translate for me to what I want to play.
 
CMx2 fills a spot for me and does so better than anything I'd ever hoped.  I pray I never lose my appreciation for that.  It would be a sad statement on me.

I finally finished off the training campaign.
I have never been a good RTS player since I have very slow reaction times, so I am thankful for the 60 second turn-based option (and the ability to save and continue games!).  Quite a white-knuckle experience (in a good way) hitting the red button every turn and hoping for no major blunders in the plotting for the next 60s.    I will follow the advice posted in another thread where a member recommended playing the training campaign several times to help learn game mechanics.

I would TOTALLY buy Combat Missions: Chaco War.  But I'm a CM slut that buys anything, so my approval doesn't amount to much.

This is not to start a thread saying BF and CM are about, well not above criticism so much as CM has room for improvement.  It certainly does and the folks at BF will be the first to say that.
 
What I sometimes wonder though is how many folks are like me.  I open up a game, I start into it and I have a moment - usually every game - where I just stop and think, I can't believe I am freakin playing this!
 
Like well, now.  I am testing something for another player in CMBS and I am watching a team at twilight rushing across a stream to recon an enemy position.  NV equipment on, weapons at the ready.  I have what I think is a modified version of waclaw's HQ sound mod and I am listening to their gear rustling and the breathing as they rush forward and I get this chill... I envy you 20 and 30 year old players who have this.  I am past 50.  Most of my gaming life I had to imagine this stuff.  There is something to be said for using one's imagination..but this just totally rocks.
 
I have a pbem going on with another player on Pete's masterpiece Breaking the Panzers.  It is this epic of sound and fury and frankly I have no idea how I am doing.  It is far too early, but we are both just clawing at one another with these amazing vignettes of tragedy and triumph mixed with just this overwhelming sense of almost a twilight of the gods.
 
I just watched as a Pz of mine butchered a few of the enemy in a field, finally one isolated guy throws up his arms to surrender.  A few seconds later an artillery round strikes not too far away and down he goes.. one more casualty in a field of them, but for a moment it looked like he would be a survivor even if as a POW.  It is as amazing as any war movie battle scene I have watched and it is 2 hours long.....  the opening scene to SPR as epic as it was is easily surpassed in this game.
 
I wonder some times in reading user comments if folks just don't talk too much about that aspect and just focus on improvements they want to see or if it genuinely isn't something some folks get out of this game.  Is it just because of the years spent wishing for something like this pushing cardboard around?  Even CMx1 didn't grab me quite this way as impressive as it was for it's time.
 
If it is age and having had only cardboard then maybe I shouldn't envy you younger guys.  Does it make the same impression or are you too used to video games in general to get that same chill up your spine?