markshot
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Posts posted by markshot
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Alas the zook team did not get to take the shot as they got nailed by an HMG-42 burst.
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CMBN(v4.03): I have a zook team which I want to take out an HMG in a wooden pillbox.
Will giving them a TARGET ARC ARMOR be the right command as pillboxes are actually treated by the engine as an immobile AFV?
Thanks.
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Well, this isn't about merits, but as a CM player it took me a lot of experimenting to work out the rules of indirect fire.
It is like being Spanish speaking, you naturally want to be speaking Spanish in Brazil, but it ain't so (despite how close they are).
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There are some huge differences on and off map arty between CMx2 and MIUS (which includes Tunisia and GTOS).
* In CM, pretty much any officer/FO (on the net) can call in a strike (and spot) for on or off asset regardless of organic TOE. Of course, if you are low in rank and in the wrong company, then you are going to wait longer. In rare cases, like for naval guns, you must be the right FO.
* In MIUS
** Only the FO associated with the given offmap battery make call in a fire mission. Tough **** if a sniper puts a bullet through his head; goodbye battery.
** For on map batteries (most commonly mortars or field guns), you have your section firing officers and battery officer. ONLY the battery officer may call in indirect fire or command direct fire (other than gun spotting direct).
** The above battery officer (or platoon officer for tanks). Must have comms. Either voice (not very safe for mortars), radio (rare), or phone.
** Phone is a big deal. You must have the right organic phone company, not just any Tom/Dick/Harry with a spool and wire splicers. If you are on defense (in an op you have not moved 2 turns), then phone wires are assumed. Note: you still must have the right organic unit, but you don't need to wait 20 minutes for the wire to be run. If it is a custom scenario, you can set whether it is "prepared defense or not" (if they get to dig-in, then it is prepared).
** If you are on attack in the op or set it in the scenario editor, then you must run wire which could take 20 minutes. Also, note if you are on defense, and decide to relocated because some spotting rounds just fell on your position or battalion orders a counter attack, then you will need to RERUN wire. -
Okay, I think I got it. I did a LOS to the pillbox from the unit most likely to have eyes on, and I got light blue with the text saying "hull down".
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CMBN v4.02 (warrior/wego) - I have an enemy pillbox which keeps popping up as a solid contact on the movie. But when I click on the pillbox to determine who has that spotting contact all my units remain dim? (BTW, the pillbox did not fire this turn.)
Thanks.
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I just finished some MIUS. CM handles psych states better. Which is not to say they are ignored in MIUS. But playing CM feels like an emotional roller coaster where as MIUS feels like a simulation of mental states. I don't think you can get both a human like simulation of emotions without getting some of what appears senseless activity. (It is only senseless when seen outside by a player who knows its a game.)
The thing that used to bug me was a few guys always finding stupid places to stand or go. Like your buddy just got hit standing on the sewer cap. So, where should you stand? Of course, on the sewer cap. I think 4.02 is doing better with that. I remember posting why do 2 guys always have a death wish when fire is coming across a wall, and they always want to check out the other side.
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Personally, I like a point to LOS fan. But I can see why they definitely would not include that, because in RTS CM (I am a WEGO guy), I think that would put a big load on the CPU. But you can spend a lot of time probing with a point to point tool where as a fan, tells you what want to know fast.
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I think the idea of keyhole LOS is perhaps an overdone tactic going back to CMx1 as distance, camouflage, and low profile should make ATGs hard to spot. Why was it such an essential tactic in CMx1? Borg spotting.
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Granted perfect LOS from kneeling to a 3rd story window may be a bit much, but the tool makes up for weather, dust, fog, wheat ... stuff in real life which is obvious, but not in a game world.
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Hey, in real life, what did they before GPS and when topo maps were not available?
I remember reading in Gettysburg, there were no maps, but each family proudly had the county framed in their homes, and officers were running into homes to get maps which only had building, roads, and land features; not topography.
Thanks.
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Clipping terrain ...
Besides clipping through trees, you actually need to clip streams to see if there is a ford present; as unlike CMx1 there is no ford graphic. If the camera get submersed you are not crossing without a snorkel and fins.
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Thanks for the info. I does seem WP is fired before smoke rounds when they are listed.
A friend who fought in Nam said getting any on you or breathing the fumes was really bad news.
(You may want to see if there is a possible text bug. Targeting smoke from a 51mm mortar produces an area fire message "out of range", but they fire just fine on target.)
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And of course, there is just simple the clear approach used by Graviteam where on the tool bar you could set the height of LOS POV from prone, kneeling, standing, and tank.
To anyone from BFC read (if reading), I am not knocking the game. I am truly grateful that programmers and artist are making CM who probably have the skills/credentials to make more($) with broader titles or even as I did on Wall St. trading floors, but instead you are dedicated to your craft. Salute!
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Maybe it would be more intuitive it if it radiated from the point it was being measured.
Another reason it is not intuitive is that I often use it to check LOS from a position that unit will never be going to.
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CMBN was the specific for which I raised the question.
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There is no way to use these directly? (They are just smoke rounds as the game lists them separate.)
Do fires now spread under engine v4.02? Could I use WP to set a building ablaze?
Also, is WP toxic? Like if I blow a cloud over the enemy will they leave their positions or be suppressed?
Thanks.
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I mean you get such a tool by using WAYPOINT+TARGET, but it is not intuitive.
Why not have simple included a point to point LOS tool; which would be intuitive?
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If area fire begins before smoke, then will it continue through smoke?
Thanks.
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I find the few orders for land combat are only good as a default. So, I will put infantry on front or defensive line, but micro armor for the important stuff.
Once, you got a line, it will fill in an progress behind your armor and keep supply open. Finding the weak spot and plains is the key, because the fastest units are 3X the speed of the slowest.
But tactical is just poor and I would rather be looking at a CM map. Unlike the other games, they and sandboxes with many options. This your only option is to win, and who wants to play Bulgaria to a stupid AI Hitler, Churchill, or Stalin?
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Okay, I own more games than I can play including all the CM stuff, but it is my happiness of old age.
So, I have spent months on HOI4 (got all the DLCs too). Conceptually, it is a very linear wargame: politics -> economy -> production -> recruiting -> battle -> settlement.
Now, PDS has tried to make it tactical by including terrain affects, speed affects, strength of defense, armor breakthough ability, and a role for planes and naval. But even still the battlefield is small ... but any more more provinces (hexes) and performance would be horrible. (as everyone begins in 1936)
Now, given that this is a wargaming group and HOI4 is like #50 in the Steam 100, there must be players here. So, what do you see in it?
I was keen on giving it a spin, since I wanted to see if PDS captured WWII, and I think they failed. The game is decent; and it goes without saying that PDS = overpriced.
But I was wondering what others might see in it?
I think games like CK2/CK3 after 2 courses on middle ages capture the flavor of the period quite well, but I think HOI4 is kind of a lack luster exercise with weak AI both strategic and combat.
So, what do you see in it?
PS: If you do seriously like vanilla HOI4, and want to up your game Expert AI 4 is a very good mod for addressing quite a few shortcomings.
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MickeyD,
See that is the problem, I first need to find the originating unit to modify some distant order. In CMx1, I had but to click on the order to get the originating unit highlighted. It was a nice convenience. (It saved much jumping back and forth.)
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I remember when I was playing CMAK/CMBB. I was so excited to get a new PC which could handle huge maps. Until I discovered that it took an hour to plot one turn!
CM unfortunately does not scale well (human wise), since there is facility to delegate command to the AI. Of course, huge armor is far more playable than huge infantry.
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Since you are a beta, I think I will mention that the CMx1 feature of being able to click on a command in order to select the associated unit is very much missed in the CMx2 UI.
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On 2/27/2021 at 11:26 PM, Fatgreta1066 said:
I'm looking at an ASUS laptop with these specs: AMD Ryzen 7 - 12GB Memory - AMD Radeon Vega 10 - 512GB SSD. Does it seem likely that will run this game, or the other CM games? As I understand it, the Vega 10 is integrated graphics, but I'm seeing some things online about using it for gaming that make me think it will likely handle this type of game, and I don't really need anything more graphically intense than this.
Thanks,
Chris
Chris,
From what I have seen CMx2 games are CPU intensive; not really GPU.
So, things which will impact your FPS are map size, unit count, and tree coverage. The worst case even since CMx1 has been a huge map with maybe 200 units. But when you see how much trouble it is to give orders to that many units, you may think being capped out at medium scenarios isn't really that painful.
There is an easy in game control which has like 7 steps for quality, but as best I can tell it impacts render distance. It seems to have the biggest impact on FPS in game. If you are looking for cool combat visuals, render distance is not going to be a big consideration.
Finally, if things really get desperate for you within game, you can remove trees, just go with stumps, or full foliage. Stumps can save you if your FPS falls, and also if you cannot find your troops under the canopy while giving orders.
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The recommendations above to download a demo is excellent. Try to go for the biggest map, most troops, and most trees you can get. Also, especially with tree cover, you should see an FPS drop as you zoom out with the camera, but remember most of your play will be more up close and personal ... otherwise, you would have chosen some 2D game with counters.
So I tried to install CMFI again.... what a mess.
in Combat Mission - General Discussion
Posted
I had a lot trouble being an original buyer of all the games.
At some point, BFC switched their DRM provider. Meaning saving originals which is usually a good idea just results in bizarre problems.
Although, I did get SF2 on Steam via Slitherine out of CMFI trauma. My last 2 CM installs, Rubble and Cold War were as smooth as silk.
But what I think what was most significant was the level of assistance and work John put in to helping my legacy CMFI problems and interfacing with developers.
How far did John go to help me. Well, BFC gave me a refund on it (years after buying it). However, I just did a new WIN10 build, and wanted to give CMFI one last shot.
However to run a credit card charge and then reversing is a pain in the ass. John/BFC did what few companies will do. He gave me the sale first before the transaction so that I could see if my problems were solved. There were and I paid BFC, and got my beloved CMFI back.
Bottom line: John will really work to make things right. I admit being impatient. As a retired software engineer, I often understand problems better those trying to help me.