handihoc

Have to say I'm surprised by that negative review. I can't tell which scenario/s the writer is complaining about, but upon analysis his complaint actually seems to boil down 'I don't like this campaign because the enemy seems to be doing everything it possibly can to stop me beating it!' Hmm. Yes, the battles are very tough in places. For me that's one of the big attractions. I feel really challenged in just about every battle, and have to use my wits and resources to their best to get a favourable end result. I'm still on Saudara 2, replaying it because a) I got my ass whooped, and its a fantastic battle that demands a lot of thoughtful tactics. I believe it's winnable with the forces at my command, but there's a lot of scouting/recon and careful positioning of troops and vehicles required. Anything less, and the player will die miserably, it seems to me. Because, surprise, surprise, the enemy plays like it doesn't want me to beat it! I'll do a review when I complete the campaign, and based on experience to date, I'll be rating it very highly indeed.

I'll be on it soon as I finish Hasrabit - which I'm still thoroughly enjoying btw.

Any chance the Marines module will be released before July 31st so that we (or me, at least) can take advantage of the 30% discount?

I noticed this evening that both members of a Syrian crew, when exiting a destroyed vehicle (in this case a BMP2) are shown visually to be carrying AKs as small arms (I couldn't tell which model), while the GUI at the bottom of the screen shows them having pistols. I haven't tested this widely, so I don't know if it applies to any or all crews, or what happens when they have to defend themselves. But on-screen they are definitely carrying automatic rifles, not pistols as shown beneath.

I really like these alot, Mord, but I agree with Cpl Steiner. My first impression is that some of them are a little quiet and can get lost in the noise of battle. I would suggest turning them up just a touch, if that's possible.

I'm hugely impressed. SF is a game I was not originally intending to buy. Loved all the CMx1 titles, but the Syrian theatre held little appeal and I thought I would just hang out for the WW2 game when it eventually arrived. How wrong I was. I've been playing this game consistently since release. Seen so many initial problems ironed out, and so many improvements, and now the first add-on is almost here - with what appears to be major AI improvements as well as everything else. Brits to follow, and a completely separate WW2 game after that (and presumably, add-on modules). . . Extraordinary work, BFC!

Wow, those last two pics are amazing.

Damn! Double damn! That's plainly it. Doh!! How stupid can one man be? I just checked, gave deploy orders, and lo! They start firing missiles. Could've saved myself three lost vehicles if I only had a brain.

Yeah, each of them has five missiles. None of them fire. Strange thing is, one team is carrying rpgs as well as Saxhorns, and it fired all those, even though it had no chance of hitting the enemy as the distance was far too great. The rpg's landed a hundred metres or so away, nowhere near anything. But the Saxhorns, which should have been highly effective at that range, have done absolutely nothing. Something of a similar nature happened in the previous battle. The Saxhorns there were initially very effective and took out several enemy vehicles. However, in the latter stages one team still had three missiles left. I put them in the tower, where they had a perfect view, but couldn't get them to loose off those last three missiles.

I'm close to completing Saudara Pt 1, and it looks like I'm heading for a decent victory. One problem, though: I can't get those AT13 teams to let off a single missile. I've got them positioned on the ill, on the edge of the treeline with no obscuring trees or terrain. All three of them have perfect views of the approaching armour, but they do nothing, whether I give them target orders or just leave them to make up their own minds.

Dima, How'd it go?

Get Paper Tiger's Hasrabit Campaign. It'll keep you happy for weeks!

Yes. Alot of it is new to me, having limited familiarity with modern military tech (before Shock Force I was almost exclusively a WW2 nut). Apart from the article itself, following some of the links leads to insights into a world that was pure sci-fi only a few years ago.

Yes, it was a hard earned result, but it shames me a little to admit that I did have to go back to previous saves two or three times. Still, it didn't spoil the enjoyment, which is the main thing. I always tell myself I'm gonna play straight through - but invariably, a couple of minutes later my mind is changed by the pesky enemy getting the better of me.

Dima, I've opened a You Send It account, (cheers, Mord. Preferable to rapidshare, I think. No waiting, or guess the effing cat puzzles!!!) You should get a download notification soon.

Dima, Problem. I hadn't realised that, even zipped, the file is almost 35meg. My email won't take such girth, so I don't know how to send it. Do you, or anyone, have some webspace I can upload it to temporarily?

Am I right in thinking there's no way to edit a message now, once it's been posted a certain time? There seems to be a timeout. Not sure how long.

It's good to be back after the forum hiatus! I finished Breakout, and got a draw, which I was happy with under the circumstances. Loved the battle - once again, very challenging and a lot of fun. Got a v strange bug towards the end, which I've posted in the general forum. I'm now twenty minutes into the next mission, Sadaura. Wonderful, so far. This campaign is excellent.

Here's a fascinating article from The Guardian Online about US development of battlefield robots. Seems like its virtually upon us. Be interesting to see if these get into the game at some point. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jun/26/robots.weaponstechnology

Great to have you back. It's been hell out here, and lonely too! I've discovered a lovely new bug. It seems to be unique, never had it before, and it's quite spectacular. Playing the Hasrabit campaign in WEGO elite, thirteen minutes before the end just after start of turn, I got a huge camera shake, like an earthquake or like I was sat right next to a bombstrike, except there were no bombs. When the shake stopped I found that every single low wall on the map had been reduced to smoking rubble, and the landscape had been denuded. Every single tree and bush (and there are many) had vanished from the entire battlefield! It stayed that way till the end of the battle. Also, after that, my artillery got a bit erratic - missions cancelled for no apparent reason. New missions also set up then denied. Don't know if that's connected. Luckily, I'd just saved, and it's reproducible, at least on my machine. So if anyone there on high wants to take a look, let me have your email. As I said, I've never encountered it before or since, so it's fairly minor, but you might want to investigate all the same.

C'mon Steve, you know we're all chomping at the bit like rabid crackheads out here! That's great news, but your teaser is just too little. . . Can't you give us a bit more info, such as improvements/fix list, release date???

Beautiful!

Red Rage, that's impressive. Were you playing at Elite (I was)? Did you have full complement of troops and reinforcements (mine were reduced due to losses in previous encounters). I didn't move my original reserves offsite, but with hindsight I should have because, as you say, we get warning of the barrage in the briefing, which I consider a legitimate heads-up intel. Yes, it IS an excellent campaign, and one I'm sure I'll come back to. It does have a very different feel to Blue/Red, and I simply love what this SF game engine has to offer. And this is just the beginning!

I completed Buying the Farm a few days ago. Very, very tough, particularly with depleted forces and the lack of those reserve tanks. With those tanks I think I might have had a chance of winning. Without them, after several attempts, I had to call for a ceasefire. *****SP0ILER!!!***** I did think I'd done enough to achieve at least a draw, but then came the enemy counterattack, which took me completely by surprise and which I simply didn't have the forces left to resist. It's a very absorbing battle, and I'd like to replay it with the full complement, but I'm not sure it's winnable with the forces I had at my command. Anyway, Ceasefire (Total Defeat, IIRC) took me into the interesting Barracks scenario, and then on to Breakout, which I've just started. I'll report back later.

And I should add, that's not at particularly long range. I'm not sure what the precise range was in the most recent example (in the Hasrabit campaign), but it was certainly less than 100 metres.