well I took the leap from a 24" 1920x1080 to a 27" 2560x 1440 IPS gaming monitor and I have to say CM has never looked so good. I did a full upgrade on graphics card and cpu etc as well, to be fair, but the UI is still VERY readable at this particular native resolution. Years left in the current engine IMHO. cheers!
well I took the leap from a 24" 1920x1080 to a 27" 2560x 1440 IPS gaming monitor and I have to say CM has never looked so good. I did a full upgrade on graphics card and cpu etc as well, to be fair, but the UI is still VERY readable at this particular native resolution. Years left in the current engine IMHO. cheers!
Battlepack 1: The Great Swan
Northern France and Belgium
September 1944
In just two months, between 6th June and mid August, the Allied armies in Normandy destroyed the cream of the 1944 German Army. Following this resounding defeat the Allies bounded across France in just a few days. It is during this period of stunning advance that Battlepack 1: The Great Swan is set, following the advance of the British 2nd Army from the Seine River, through Belgium, and all the way to the high water mark of the advance along the Meuse and lower Rhine.
The first phase of the Great Swan occurred when the 43rd Wessex Division seized a crossing over the Seine at Vernon in an opposed assault crossing. The battle here lasted several days, and the first 24 hours in particular were considered to be very dangerous for the British troops. However the bridgehead was stabilised and then gradually expanded to make room for follow-on forces. Prelude, the first battle of the Campaign Amiens Tonight, is a semi-historical examination of the difficulties of pressing back the determined German resistance which was able to make good use of the thick forests along the Seine river banks.
Shortly afterwards the British forces exploded out of the bridgehead and began racing across Northern France and into Belgium. From the first German resistance to the breakout was weak and disorganised - they were too busy fleeing back towards France to form a cohesive front. Engagements during this period tended to be small scale, and highly confusing. The Copse is a tiny scenario that takes a hypothetical look at one of these minor engagements. Overnight the advancing Allies generally rested, and prepared for the next day’s advance, while the Germans continued their relentless withdrawal. Celer et Audax and Nulli Secudus look at what happens when small British force disposed in hasty defence finds itself in the path of some withdrawing Germans in the middle of a rainy night or on a misty morning.
During the advance to Amiens the 11th Armoured Division was ordered to advance through the night without rest, culminating in an astonishing advance of 48 miles in just 24 hours. Tallyho follows the vanguard of this drive as they approach the location of a temporary halt at dusk. The next day found 11th Armoured at Amiens, embroiled in bitter city fighting (The Somme), and then pushing out of the city into the open ground across the river (To the green fields beyond). This was not the end of the war, and the Division soon found itself heading east once more (And the beat goes on).
Within days the lead elements of XXX Corps, made up as always by the armoured cars, found themselves in the region known as ‘the Crossroads of Europe’, a place where famous battles to decide the fate of nations have been fought since time immemorial (A crossroads near Brussels).
Soon after reaching Antwerp and the Belgian boder the advance petered out, stopped more by the logistical strain of leaping forward 200 miles in a few days than by increasing German resistance. Field Marshal Montgomery famously tried to kick-start the stalled advance with Operation Market-Garden. Those battles have been dealt with elsewhere in Combat Mission. However, in the weeks prior to the launch of Market Garden there were about a dozen planned airborne operations, all opf which were cancelled when they were overtaken by events. But what if the advance had been halted in the vicinity of Brussels?
One of the planned and cancelled airborne operations was LINNET II, which was to seize bridges over the Meuse west of Aachen, and open a route into Germany. A group of “what if?” fictional scenarios looks at how this never-fought battle might have played out. The flat ground between the Meuse River and Albert Canal would have provided excellent landing grounds (Drop Zone CHARLIE), while securing the river crossings was dependant on holding the high ground just east of the Meuse against counter attacks (LINNET II). As this operation was never launched, the exact details of Operation Linnet II are vague, and this vagueness has been exploited to look at the effect of differences in the detailed organisation of British and American ground and airborne forces when given the same ground and objectives, fighting against the same enemy.
Following the failure of Market Garden the British made a concerted effort to close up to the Rhine along its lower reaches before the onset of winter. This phase of the campaign saw a partial reversion to positional warfare, and the re-emergence of deliberate attacks against strong defences (Swansong). Often these attacks were supported by the specialist armour of the 79th Armoured Division (Hobart’s Funnies). With the onset of bad weather at the end of September the frontlines became static, and the heady days of The Great Swan became an increasingly distant memory.
In total Battlepack 1: The Great Swan contains over 25km2 of brand new, highly detailed handcrafted mapping.
Steve, can you tell us some more about the progress regarding the Bulge? Show some screenshots perhaps? You were going to at the beginning of this year, but something went wrong at the last moment. Give us some bones to keep us busy for a couple of months please.
I have the pleasure to present you HQS 2.0 - huge modification for CM Battle for Normandy/ CM Red Thunder/ CM Fortress Italy - adds or replaces almost all the sounds in the game. That's more than 2,100 sounds, a lot of improvements and modifications really improve immersion in the game.
Changelog 2.0
1187 additional sounds
- Italian voice
- Americans voice
- Russian voice
- improved Poland voice
- new air support
- new background
- new explosion
- improved soldier movement
- new incoming artillery
- new bullets and shells/impact/penetrations/ricochets/zips
- new air weapons
and of course lots of other fixes and improvements
I've finally upgraded my CM:BN game all the way. Work on the final (huge) update to "TweakedUI v4 (final)" -to bring it up to "Red Thunder UI" standards- is already well under way. I'm gonna need a couple of bug testers to iron out any problems. Anyone game? PM me!
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