hobo

Through bad luck and some leadership ineptitude I managed to get most of a scout company wiped out by an unexpected Syrian tank attack. I did have 2 AH64 air assets available so I called them in to save the bacon of my remaining troops. I called one apache on an area target and another one on a point target of 1 tank. The tanks were out in the open so they should have been easily seen by crack pilots. My expectations were that the Apache's would be able to easily destroy the 4-5 remaining tanks. What I got was some chain gun fire and a few explosions off in the distance. The tanks remained uneffected I am now hiding in a gulley hoping for a miracle. Questions for the forum: 1. Should I have expected two apaches to deal with these tanks? 2. If the Apaches see tanks, would they attack anyway even if they are slightly out of the target area? 3. Can I assume they would have some hellfire missles? 4. Should I have point targeted or area targeted the tanks (The area target was probably not a good idea as tanks tend to move when attacking) Thoughts? Hobo

AMD patch fixed the problem. - Hobo

Thanks Rune. All is well now. - Hobo

Help Please - I really would like to play this game this weekend. Any suggestions? - Hobo

Rune and BFC - I have a AMD Athalon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ 2.21 Ghz w/ 1 GB memory. Any suggestions? Thanks. Hobo

I cannot get CM:SF to work so it has to be TOW by default right now. However, with that being said, if you could combine the best of the two you would have the best ever by a landslide. - Hobo

hey Guys - Bush was right. There were WMDs in Iraq and they did find there way to Syria during the invasion. How do I know? Every time I play a game, within the first 5 minutes the game freezes for 30 minutes or so. When it starts to move again there is an explosion and roughly half of the battlefield is nothing but A smoking crater. Has anybody experiened this effect? It happened to me in the training scenario and during the first battle in the operation. - Hobo

GrAL - Thank You. Folks - Don't know about you, but that little message really makes me feel good about this game. - Hobo

Guys, I hate it when people mix up mission/campaign problems with game issues. The problems you mention are not with the game, but with the mission design. Yes, it would have been nice if they spent more time crafting better missions and campaigns. But if given the choice, I want them to get the game right. We can build better missions and campaigns over time. We cannot fix the game. - Hobo

OK, so you start a campaign and play a couple of battles. Somehow a few of your tank crews manage to survice the carnage and the supreme leaders's incompetence (that would be me). They gain experience and are crack gunnars, dirvers, and leaders. They are now ordered to take another piece of France from the hated huns. Alas, their steeds are shot out from under them by some ATG guns on the left flank. Luckily they are OK and cowering in the bushes. As the battle swirls around them your air support kills all the germans that were manning those ATGs. Expecting a German counter attack from Panzers, you send your tank crews with a squad to man the German guns even though there is about a kilometer of un-scouted territory between them and those precious guns. Somewhere between the US and German lines the squad and your beloved crews get completely wiped out by another battery of ATGs further to the rear. Now the ethical question, you will probably win the battle with one or two live soldiers, do you hit the magical replay button? - Hobo

Use the retreat. - Hobo

Here is an idea for you. Add the capability for a computer vs computer game and sponsor a tournament for the best scripts. Have BFC run the battles and post the videos on the net for all to see. The winner could get a free CM2 game or something. The rest of us would gain a library of scripts that we can use to improve the AI. Thoughts? - Hobo

I agree with Normal Dude on time limits in CM. I want time to scout the area and then perform my mission. With CM it was guess the best axis of attack and go without any real clue what lay ahead. - Hobo

PFMM - You are 100% correct that Infantry is extremely dependent on scouting skill. One of the mistakes made by BFC and 1C is that the campaigns (at least French and Polish anyway) start the infantry out with very low scouting skills (most seem to be zero). The same is true with Marksmanship skills in the French campaign. I am sure this was done with the idea that the soldiers needed experience to improve. Unfortunately, a lot of the initial player mistakenly drew the conclusion that infantry is broken. The reality is that the average soldier was just bad and through the use of experience points they will learn and be much better soldiers if you can keep them alive. The great thing about this game is that it attempts to model this issue. - hobo

Sandy - When you post an inflamatory and childesh topic header, you are going to be treated like a child. I don't care how old or experienced at wargames you may be. First of all, the game is absolutely not awful. So no matter how valid your criticisms may be, you have lost all credibility. If you had simply posted something along the lines of "reasons why I am not enjoying this game" with a coherent list of what you perceive as problems, you probably would have been treated respectfully. Not sure what your problem is, but is certainly is not this game. - Hobo

Martin - Thanks for the quick response. I am going to beat this damn battle this weekend if I have to spend 48 hours straight playing it. - Hobo

I forgot to add that my setup is always on the other side of the hill with no possible LOS towards the Germans. I suspect that there are several layers to the AI algorithm. A strategic level that determines where the troops will attack and a tactical one that guides the actual aiming and shooting. That is why units will not shoot at a non-spotted unit but seem to know where my troops are when they attack. Just to be clear, I really love the game and this is not intended as a flame at all. Add a PBEM feature and this will be a non-issue. - Hobo

I have played the second battle in the Polish campaign at least a 15 times trying to win it. I noticed that wherever I put my guys, the Germans attack directly at them. When I sneak a group across the field, the AT will not shoot them, but the German attack is oriented directly on them. They will not shoot until they get close enough to really spot them. - Hobo

SoaN - It is pretty clear to me the AI knows where you are at all times. It might not fire on you if it has not "spotted" you, but it knows where you are. Can you comment on this?

Moon - "It is not unlikely" Did you mean not likely? - Hobo

Agree, there should be a manual and forced retreat for the human. The key is what happens next? Could you still fight over that hill tomorrow or would you be forced to teleport to some other pre-determined battle. - Hobo

First, I really like the game. I will admit some frustration with lack of waypoints and general control issues but these are minor when compared to the beauty and depth of the game. Many thanks to 1C and BFC for bringing it to market. My biggest wish is that the campaigns were more fluid and not just a set of linked missions. If I am about to get killed by an unexpected attack or botched an attack myself, I want to be able to do a fighting withdrawal and save my men for another day. As far as I can tell, there is no way to end a battle unless there is a complete victory for one side. In the polish campaign we had a Mexican standoff. The Germans would not press their attack and I was too weak to attack them. The gamne idled for an hour or two while I ran some errands and nothing moved. It would be nice to have ended the battle in a draw and let both sides re-equip and go at it again. In CM we manually created a campaign system where we tracked experience points and played a series of random battles to simulate a campaign. It was clunky but it worked and was a lot of fun. I eventually stopped playing CM because I got tired of the single missions and grew weary of all the manual spreadsheets. TOW seems to have all the elements that CM missed for a great campaign with the exception of random battles. Does anybody else agree with me and do you think the game has the flexibility to create a fluid campaign? - Hobo

Franz - The value I got from the CM series will exceed whatever money I spend on Battlefront games going forward. I would be excited if they came up with a tiddlywinks game. - Hobo

42 with two daughters in Greensboro NC. Played a little squad leader but really caught the bug with Battle For Normandy (SSI) on my Apple II. Been playing ever since but as with most here found the most fun with the Combat Missions Series. Been out of it for a year or so but am eagerly anticipating TOW. - Hobo