handihoc

****SPOILER***** Elmar, I have to disagree with you on some of your points. >>What struck me with the 1st mission is that just about every squad is lying in ambush in some backroom, only targetable if you walk right in.<< Which, given the force composition and balance, is pretty much how I would have set up against a human player. For the enemy Specials, seeing all that heavy metal rolling towards them, it would've been senseless suicide with very little return to try to fight it out in direct line of fire. At least in the back rooms they can inflict major casualties on infantry trying to enter, and if undetected can cause severe damage to vehicles driving past. >>Apart from the ATGMs I had the run of the battlefield (town excluded) and could go pretty much everywhere unhindered looking for the ATGMs.<< That may be so, but those ATGMs were very well placed and certainly caused me a heck of a lot of problems. On pair had to be rooted out with infantry as I had too many friendlies in the near vicinity to risk an artillery bombardment. It was a tense, painstaking process, and I lost several men completing it. >>Please get some interlocking fields of fire and add a few machineguns as some sign the enemy wants you to stay out of their turf, this setup felt really gamey and silly.<< MGs would've died the instant they opened fire, blitzed at long distance by the mass of armour facing them. Not gamey or silly at all. It was a search and eliminate mission, with a relatively small, modestly equipped specialist force trying to delay and inflict as much damage as possible on a much larger and more powerful one (more like US v Syria, I'll admit). Under the circumstances the enemy had little chance of a win, but for the attacker it was a case of 'advance with extreme caution if you don't want to lose half your force'. When I completed it first time I was, I will admit, a little annoyed at first that, after clearing the village, I found a small unit of special forces had crept in behind me and re-taken the crossroads and road, thus depriving me of a victory. But when I thought about it I realised that was exactly what I would have done against a human player. It would have p***ed my opponent off no end, I have no doubt. And maybe some players, too, would've abandoned the campaign at that point. But it was a legitimate and entirely logical manouevre which, in real world warfare, would have created major disruptions and delays to the advancing force. In short, I think Paper Tiger is giving us in the main some really well thought out, and very varied missions. Tactics that will work well in one may be unsuitable to another. Enemy forces act pretty intelligently and make me work for a convincing victory. In this one they employed guerilla tactics for the most part, staying well concealed while systematically delaying and hampering my advance. I have no issue with that. Ah yes, and the artillery. I took note of the briefing, and hence only used two of my arty units as I wanted to preserve them for later battles. Possibly, had I used them up in this mission, I'd have had a much easier win but, as PT cautions, it's likely to cost me dearly later.

Yes, Red Rage, you had the fabled luck of the Irish with those ATGMs. Maybe in Veteran they are a little less accurate, but in my experience they rarely miss, particularly against a static target. I certainly had no such luck. Of course, once they'd given away their positions I was able to hold off a little until I'd blitzed them with artillery. Paper Tiger, that is truly devious. You will suffer in the next life for that. Frustrating to have to start again after doing so well, in real terms. But it makes perfect sense for the enemy to retake a crucial location by stealth and hence command the road again to disrupt supplies/reinforcements etc. As The Who famously sang: 'Won't get fooled again!'

*****BIG SPOILER ALERT****** PT, I have a query. Just completed the first battle. Lovely map, and thoroughly enjoyable, with some nasty ambushes along the way. But I only got a draw, which meant I lost the campaign. I was baffled by this because I completely cleared the village and the two hill houses, with 15 minutes to spare. But when I subsequently checked the map I found an enemy Sp Forces HQ occupying The Crossing, and 2 rifle squads and an rpg team in the Road House. However, I had previously occupied and cleared these buildings, so these guys must've slunk in later, after I'd moved on. Is that so? Red Rage, your results are impressive. What difficulty level were you playing at? At Elite level I found it very challenging indeed. There weren't a vast amount of enemy troops, but the ones that were there were extremely tough, and very well-positioned to inflict maximum harassment on my advance.

Solved it. The culprit was a hidden Kornet missile team, firing from the other side of the map, which I hadn't spotted before. The missile was aimed (I believe) at a BMP-1 about 50 metres away from my engineers. It missed the BMP by a whisker, skimmed on past it and slammed into my guys who were, quite inadvertently, directly in the lof beyond the BMP. The missile blast happened at virtually the same moment as my two engineer blasts, which made it look like the damage was caused by the engineers themselves. Interesting situation. Of course, the Kornet may have actually been aimed at the engineers, but as far as I'm aware it's far more likely to have been aimed at the vehicle. Devastating effect on infantry, though.

Hmm. Strange. I've been unable to replicate it. Yesterday I had four Engineer squads on two walls of the same compound, quite close together. Two of them blasted holes and virtually all four squads were wiped out, bar a few men. Tonight it doesn't happen that way. They blast the wall and survive unscathed. So something else must've killed them, and it happened at virtually the same moment as the wall blasts. Trouble is, it hasn't happened again, so I can't determine the cause. Bizarre, but we can stand down on the bug alert, I think. At ease, soldiers!

I'll re-run it a couple of times tomorrow, see if there's something I've missed. If not, I'll send it to you, Dima, for bug-testing.

Just discovered (in Perdition campaign) that Syrian engineers blow themselves to smithereens when Blasting a wall. Anyone else aware of this?

"You would be surprised how many people choose the Mail option (about 40% of all orders)." Yeah, I've just done it. It's kind've like with music: I'll regularly listen to loads of stuff, but if I find I really like the artist or band, or if it's someone I already know and admire, at some not too distant point I'll buy the cds. I don't actually need 'em, but it feels more real somehow, plus I want to be supporting that artist with a view to more great music in the future. Same thing here. The mail cd will most likely sit on my shelf untouched (though if there's a hardcopy Marines manual, that'll get used), but it just feels better to have it, even if I have to pay more, and I have no objection to supporting a company that makes such absorbing games. Just a personal thing, really.

I'm actually a bit worried about the AI artillery and air strikes now. I've kind've grown comfortable in the knowledge that after the first strike there'll be no more. Suddenly, comfort zone no more!

Finally completed it, with an overall Tactical Victory. Excellent stuff. That last battle was really hard won. Looking forward to the updated version when Marines is out. It's one I will definitely go back to. Now, I think I've just got time for Perdition before the jarheads arrive! PS. PT, are you planning a Russia/Georgia campaign?

One for Paper Tiger, I hope!

Thanks for the update on inf smoke, Steve. It's a pity it's not there, but great that it's on the list. And I certainly wasn't trying to rain on anyone's parade by bringing it up straight after the Marines announcement - Marines and the ongoing updates look awesome. I know I'm one of the many who really appreciate all the work and dedication that you guys have put into continuing to develop this game. I'm pleased to be able to say that I've always had faith in you, and have said so here more than once. SF really is an extraordinary wargame, and it just keeps getting better! The potential for the CMx2 engine is really exciting. (Directionable inf smoke would be cool, though!)

Can't get my head around this. First page tells me the price is $25 Next page adds delivery method (download and mail), raises price to $35 minus $10 discount, = $25 total. This is confirmed in Checkout But then I go to another Checkout page where another £20 is added for shipping and handling (Europe), which I thought was covered in the Delivery Method. So now my total is $45. Am I getting shipping charges twice, or am I missing something here?

I'm pre-ordering, without a doubt, soon as I've posted this. The improvements are really impressive - but I have to confess to a slight sense of disappointment that directionable smoke for infantry still doesn't seem to be in. I would have thought that was a relatively simple addition to code (treating smoke grenades like other small arms, basically). And it would make a significant difference to play, particularly in WEGO, where its omission has made me swear like a trooper more than once. Any plans for future inclusion? Whatever, I'm really looking forward to Marines.

I've had the US Radio Chatter mod running for a week or so now. I still love it. I've got Soundsurround, which gives me voices and effects coming from all over, sometimes several conversations simultaneously in different speakers, and with bullets flying past my ears and engines and gunfire, the immersion factor is extraordinary. The repetition hasn't yet begun to grate, but I guess there may come a time when it will. So, as already said, if you can lengthen it with 'more of the same but different' it would be just about perfect. You've really come up with something quite brilliant here. Thanks for the time and effort you've put in. Please keep 'em coming!

I like this one a lot. I've got it on along with the US Radio Chatter. Excellent. You're doing great work here, Mord.

Yeah, it's WEGO. Years ago, with CMx1, I prayed and prayed for RT because I found the constant pausing in WEGO irritating. With CMx2 I was so pleased to have RT, and played along quite merrily until I discovered how much I missed the replay aspect of WEGO. I can spend long minutes going over a turn, viewing the action from different perspectives, checking the results of certain manouevres etc. It's not very realistic, but it is absorbing and, for me, part of the fun. Having said that, even in RT there are moments when you don't have time to keep checking back on every unit and move etc. The ability to move, drop, 'n move would still be very useful

Combatintman, I can't help feeling that your dark bar tactic contains an inherent flaw, ie the women go there for the same reason! Me, I dye my hair jet black, add a quiff, gold medallion, some tight trousers, Raybans and a false Mexican moustache, and approach them in broad daylight in the park. Never fails!

OK, so I was confusing Dismount with Bail Out. I've never found a reason to use either. Dismount allows passengers to exit the vehicle, and presumably deploy near it? A move order will have them get away from the vehicle (always a good idea, as if the vehicle takes a major hit it'll incinerate anyone nearby) - which actually makes Dismount redundant. Huntarr, your tutorials are excellent, and taught me things I wasn't aware of a while ago, such as the fact that you CAN give differing orders at differing waypoints, but you have to click on the waypoint itself, or the line to it. Alot of what you cover is lamentably badly covered in the game manual, as are other aspects of the game. HOWEVER, back to Rich's main point: passengers will ONLY leave the vehicle at the final waypoint (and I'll be very happy to be proven wrong. PLEASE, someone show me how), which I feel is a big disadvantage that should be addressed as a priority. It'd make a huge difference to be able to dismount a squad and then have the transporting vehicle move on, without having to give new orders.

rich, you don't give the inf a dismount order, you give them a move order. eg, plot your vehicle move to, say, a building. Then plot inf movement (quick, fast, whatever) into the building. The plot/waypoint lines will show from the infantry's current position (inside the vehicle), but they will actually only leave the vehicle after the vehicle has completed its move. I believe, but am not certain, that the Dismount order is for vehicle crew only. I've never used it, though.

I'm pretty sure you can't have troops leave a vehicle between waypoints. They'll only get out when the vehicle completes its entire movement order. So in WEGO you have to plot the inf movement for the end of the vehicle movement only. Even if you have the vehicle pause, the infantry won't get out unless it's the very end of the vehicle's movement order. That's been my experience, anyway. It's a disadvantage. No idea if BFC are planning to change this, but I hope so.

It's the only game on my Hard Drive too. Still playing, single player, one year on. I think that's a first. The only thing likely to divert me from SF for any length of time in the near future is the apparently near-imminent and long-awaited Combat Mission Campaigns. Blogfront indicates its almost upon us!

I agree with RedRage on both points. Random radio chat, vehicle sounds, would be fine. Can't speak for everyone, but my rig's pretty fast so a larger file shouldn't slow loading too much.

Thanks for that, Moon! That really is a good bit of news. All we need now is a date (of release, that is; not me and you on a date).

This is great. Really adds to the immersion factor. Even though I'm playing RvR atm it still works - just having it in the background gives a very authentic atmosphere. My only concern is that, being a relatively short loop, after a while it may become a bit irritating as one becomes aware of the repetition. If you can lengthen the loop and add more varied chatter, plus radio gibberish, that would help. Also, as already mentioned, an alternative Red chatter for Syrian scenarios, would help. But a great idea, and really well implemented. Love it!