Pete Wenman

Yep that should work. Coloured set up zones don't have to be contiguous. But as you only have 16 AI groups and 27 zones (3x 9) there will be an element of random placement for those groups that have more than one AI zone allocated to them.
This can be good, but it can be bad if you want a certain weapons system in a specific location. For key weapons a degree of control is often better so as to get the keyhole or LOS that is wanted.
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You have no idea 😉
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You have no idea 😉
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My God, you understood what I was asking 😳! You need help worse than I do   !!! THAT is exactly what I was trying to solve. And, I'm pretty sure I do have 1 group spread across a couple of map zones. Ok, now I need to go in and do some editing. I'll do that and come back with the results or ask a couple more questions (is that the sound of a couple of people buying airline tickets to a deserted island I hear???). Thanks!!!!!
 
Yep, I have a group spread over at least 2 and sometimes 3 map zones in several instances. Ok, off to fix that and then we'll see what happens. Man, you guys are life savers. Can't wait until I get this down so I can start firing these things out to the (poor, unsuspecting) members  .

I may see what you mean - Some units start heading for one zone or another once the Go button is pushed. That is due to the Setup Zone AI areas that are painted being split between two map setup zones, so when the AI gets it's first AI order, it needs to regroup itself (into the entire AI Group assigned) to move on to the next order.
Assign the Setup AI Plan to one zone or the other, and you should be good.

A couple of random piccies 

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Lets try and cover this for you.
Lets call AI Blue for ease of description. 
No initial AI set up zone (yellow square), No Blue setup zone (map editor) will mean the AI unit will start in the location you last placed it in the editor deploy Blue tab. (also should the player chose to play as Blue, he will not be able to alter the position of the unit at game start). No initial AI set up zone (yellow square), but unit is within a Blue setup zone (map editor) will mean the AI unit will start in the location you last placed it in the editor deploy Blue tab. (however should the player chose to play as Blue, he will now be able to alter the position of the unit at game start, but only within the specific Blue set up zone that the unit is already in). One AI set up zone created, no Blue set up zone  will mean the unit will always move to the AI set up zone at game start , but note the move does not occur until the game start button is clicked for the first time. (Blue Human player will still be unable to move the unit at game start. More than one AI set up zone created will mean that the unit will randomly choose which AI  set up zone it moves to.  However if you have units within a Blue setup zone (map editor) despite being able to paint AI set up zones outside of the Blue setup zone the AI unit will not move outside of the Blue setup zone if that is where it starts. So once a unit is in a coloured map editor set up zone the AI placement is also locked to within that zone (the coloured zones show in the AI editor to help with this) This stuff is easier to do in the editor than to explain.
Try creating really small test scenarios with only one or two units and play around with the two types of set up zone so you get a feel for what you can and can't do. What Ben says above is good advice.
Hope this helps
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A couple of random piccies 

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A couple of random piccies 

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About 250 square kms worth for the US and Soviet campaigns, if I recall.  A lot of very big maps and they are all avail in the Master Maps folder....the really good ones are Pete’s, the less-so are mine.

Absolutely! And the maps are very accurately built, if you compare the places to their real counterparts with Google Maps. 

I've only had a chance to play with Killing Time at Kirtorf in detail so far and am having a blast. Everyone has done an amazing job and deserves all of the kudos. I'd like to say it feels like we've come a long way, every CM title has better and better maps. (Plus, I'm a sucker for really big maps)

Let see if this works

aircon 3, 4 & 5 are your friends
 
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mods.zip

Let see if this works

aircon 3, 4 & 5 are your friends
 
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mods.zip

That's very kind, but kudos to all the usual suspects who also contributed. I'm only responsible for the US campaign maps and two scenario maps. Plenty of good stuff all round.
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That's very kind, but kudos to all the usual suspects who also contributed. I'm only responsible for the US campaign maps and two scenario maps. Plenty of good stuff all round.
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First off, thank you and welcome to the game.  This post is really a place for you guys to Q&A with the game designers.  Questions on features, campaigns or scenarios can go here and we will try to get to them to help you out.
So if you are new to the CM you probably want to start easy and small to get the feel for the game.  Check the scenario notes as designers often will highlight which side may be easy or harder.  For example, "Valley of Ashes" is by-design, pretty easy for the Blue side as an opportunity for beginners to get a feel for a larger scenario.  While the Red side of this scenario is pretty tough.  I will let the other scenario designers chime on on their babies.
I will say that the Soviet Training scenarios by Cpt Miller are a very good place to start for a lot of people as full Cold War Soviet formations, in all their glory, are a bit of a new thing for the series.
For the Campaigns, I highly recommend people start with NTC.  Bil and GeorgeMC did a really good job in putting together some very good scenarios that can get people into the groove of maneuvering in the context of a Cold War battlefield. 
Then I would suggest moving onto the US Campaigns.  1982 was designed to be the primary but 1979 turned out to be really interesting, so players choice really.   1982 is probably a little easier as 1979 can be challenging with the older equipment set.
Finally, I would then suggest that players can gird their loins for the Soviet Campaigns.  These are designed to be tough and a challenge to manage.  Every battle is battalion sized and frankly pretty tough.  The March or Die version is designed to be downright unfair to the loins, but also probably the most realistic....you have been warned.
Anyway, enjoy and have fun!   

I'm going for April 30.

If I'm following the actual question, then that's essentially "Why do troops react differently when moving and they come under fire".

The design intent is really part of the underlying logic. CM offers you a number of orders, and they all have some underlying logic to it, which might not be entirely intuitive.

As a simple example - "Face" isn't just "turn in that direction", it's more like "be prepared to fight in that direction", meaning that the Face command cancels cover arcs, turns the troops to face, and they'll shuffle into covered positions where they can, taking up positions against a wall, behind trees, etc.

The movement commands then are a trade-off between speed and caution. "Fast" isn't just "move over there quickly", it's "Your priority is to move to that location as fast as possible, to the exclusion of all else" -  Fast moving troops should rarely stop to fire, and instead they're focused on sprinting. "Fast" then is ideal for crossing open streets, or getting away from incoming mortar rounds - anything where being precisely here is a bad idea.

The movement orders then all represent this trade-off, speed for security. Hunt-Move-Quick-Fast represent the spectrum between maximum caution (and stealth) and maximum speed. "Slow" is really "Crawl". It is the slowest and most cautious, but the crawling is the thing, since it maximises stealth and minimises exposure when cresting a hill or whatever. This control is really important - there are situations where you really need one or the other, and having these options is important for simulating real behaviour.

Now, wherever you draw the line it's going to be wrong in some way - there's arguments to be made about whether the AI is operating reasonably for the incoming stimulus. What makes that more complex is that what you see and what the squad are aware of are not necessarily the same thing.

I find it interesting watching different play styles. From a design POV it's also useful to see how some players might approach a scenario I've designed.
I watched one previous a while back where the person streaming spent around five minutes trying to guess what they were meant to be doing in the mission (in the 3D view) without once checking the Op map, Tac map or the briefing... Like 10 seconds looking at the Op and tac map would have told them the key info. I was, shall we say, puzzled...
My personal preference is watching the videos that have been created using edited footage. I generally find them more engaging and interesting to watch.
Horses for courses though I guess.

For the 22nd consecutive time.  

Guess who made their Imber Village map and scenario (image of the map in the fourth tweet from the top).

Bloke I took over from in HQ 2 Infantry Division in 1988 went to 70 Intelligence Section to become the artist for Threat Magazine and associated publications like the one above using that 'brand.'  I have been trying to find images online of the cartoon character Olga who was a scantily clad peace loving young lady from the USSR who featured in said magazine.  I haven't come up trumps yet but have seen some very interesting search results ...

Glorious March to Victory Post #12 - "We Try Harder" (25-31)
So based on observation, I am seeing quite a few "likes" (thank you btw) but few comments, which tells me that I am probably telling you all something that Bil has already posted.  So for fear of getting left behind in the narrative I am just going to pull you all the way to where we are as of today.
I want to say up front that no matter how this ends, this is a really good game.  This is one for the books.  You can tell when everything feels so finely balanced and you and your opponent are fencing on a tightrope.  every PBEM turn gets the heartrate up!  
When I left you things were not looking so good for the brave soldiers of the Soviet Union.  But like the superior communist system, Soviets know how and when to pick themselves up and get back to it.

So not much but re-positioning in Turn 25 as I scramble to re-establish a parameter up on the ridge, Bil pulled back so that all proceeds.  The only interesting thing happens here near the end of the turn.  Looky here comrade the corrupt capitalist system thinks that they are so clever...looks like Bil is taking the deep left option after all.

The next turn I immediately start repositioning my remaining T64 on the left in order to form a blocking position on my left (that poor BMP got nailed by a second Cobra before I scared it off).  Bil could try and hide in the that wood line but we are past that now, he is going to try and roll me up (more on my logic later).  Meanwhile back on what is now called Red Knoll:

My intent here is to establish a hard point and pull Bils forces in, this time however, I am pushing infantry up front.  Note that an ATGM duel is forming up with that M150 and a BMP on the right here.

Which we win.  That should be about 4 out of 6 M150s killed.  Another sign of a really good game is the emergence of all the micro-dramas.  Here there are literally a hundred small stories all unfolding simultaneously, here is one:

So that brave little infantry squad breaks out of that tree line and sees a M60 monster...do they run and hide...nope they open up like it is the last thing they will ever do (and literally is).  Those are both the RPG 18 and RPG 7 firing simultaneously right at the turns end.  Finally on back on the Hwy:

So yep, pretty much as I expected this is an attempted roll up...oh Bil, you tired foolish old man, did you think I would leave the door open?  So here I am re-positioning another T64 and BMP to bottle up that Hwy ploy.  Onto Turn 28 and things start to turn:

My brave little squad misses, and then die in a hail of glory but they spook the crap out of those M60s, who promptly back off buying time for my T62s.  You can see here another T62 I snuck up from the village in the woods, so I have got a pretty good bead on this.

Meanwhile back on the Hwy, Bil's M60 here get spooked by a lone Recon Pl HQ and I start hunting that T64 forward.  I am starting to feel a bit like we are getting back up and then this happens:

Back in the center, Bil still has some armor with eyes on the objective (note: he is still pounding that nearly-empty suburb like it slept with his wife).  My poor immobilized T64 nails this M60 in a single blistering 125mm of bad-love.
Onto Turn 29.

 So on this turn is a positioning turn on the Red Knoll and Hwy, Bill has brought up at least one M60 to reinforce up here, so a lot of micro-drama potential.  And on the other side:

The bottleneck force is shaping up nicely..so the stage is set for another showdown.  
Turn 30 and things start to click:

It starts with this showdown at near-point-blank range.  The M60 fires first but (I like to think my little infantry squad (now all heroes of the Soviet Union) killed the crew commander and rattled that tank so badly that..) it misses.  My T62 does not, because cold steel runs in Soviet veins

Ok, now this is a Balls Game!  Back in the center:
 
DPICM, the last refuge of the desperate (seriously I think we may have overloaded on arty, and of course EW makes most of mine near useless).  But again Bil doubles down on that lone squad and MG team (who have taken a single casualty after all this)  A hint for anyone who plays Bil...he has problems with artillery.
But all is not good news:

This one hurt but it is a straight up "war happens moment so deal with it".  I start to push that T64 up a bit to try and snipe that M60 and he gets killed...gotta admit that one hurt.
Turn 31 and we are nearly caught up.

So up on the Red Knoll, Bil is stubbornly pushing with his 3 M60s (counting the dead one, that is a full third of his armor)  A second squad wins the Hero of the Soviet Union here by fearlessly opening up on two M60s and here they get an RPG 7 off before also being chopped up.

Which hits but I have no sight on the tank so I can only hope it at least rattled them up a bit.  The back on the Hwy:

My other T64, cooly drops that M60 like first period French (swear to god if I had all T64s this game would be over by now).  Back on Red Knoll the turn ends with this: 
Both barrels are lined up and loaded.  This screenshot pretty much captures this entire freakin game!
Ok, my assessment with 9 mins left on the clock.  So, Bil is seriously considering ceasefire right now cause even int guys can do math.  My force on the objective is still very solid with the better part of an infantry Coy and 2 x T62s (I sent the other one back), so the odds of him taking it (which were never great given his force) are low.  He could try a gamey sneak in the last minute of the game but I doubt it.  
So his problem here is one of points.  The US get points for cutting me down past 50% but they need to keep their own force above 50% and based on losses so far he has to be concerned about that buffer.  I am definitely closer (I may be below 50% right now) but even-losses at this point would be fatal to the US side.  And in the last 4 minutes I have lost a single T64 and BMP to at least 3 x M60s and an M150.   By my math Bils armor is precariously down to 50% (and I suspect at least one tank is gun-killed)...and I still have a lot of those nasty BMPs on the board who can all kill Bil's...well, anything.  
Regardless, even if we ended it now, I think this game is a Draw (at least right now).  In reality both forces are at a standstill (even if the US side has not realized it yet) in what has been a see-saw battle that has left me with scars and some therapy requirements.  The Blood-Red Dice still will roll, so we will see.
Capt's AAR Battle Theme Song
 

Glorious March to Victory Post # 10 - "The Nadir" (21-24)
  So in every engagement it is normal to have a low-point and for my troops this was right here.  Everything that can go wrong, does, and nothing really goes right.  Worse, it is the point that you can clearly see your mistakes...after you have already made them.  I have found that in this position it is where the true mettle (and metal) is tested and one must 1) admit the errors and 2) come up with a way out, cause no one else is not going to do it for you.
   So the decent started pretty innocently enough in turn 21:

That brave little BMP that is responsible for probably half the damage I have done to Bil thus far did not make it out.  It was completely out of AT3s by this point but I wanted that little crew to make it...sadly...

So at this point I am still pushing up that ridge in pursuit of Bil's forces.  My aim here is to keep the old man on his back feet in order to make sure he does not collect enough combat power to re-take the objective...and to kill as much as possible with a pretty potent force.  But then badness started to happen:

Ok, despite being on the wrong end of things, this shot is really cool.  That is a newly modeled Dragon missile about to take out a T62...oh, yes that's right, Bil has Dragons.

And they work.   Then down in the village:

Bil's creeping tank platoon sees one of my T62s first and well...ok, I can live with this.  Going to have to break a few tanks to make a tank omelet.   But as we move into Turn 22 it is time to admit that I have a long standing problem:

Yep, I am an over-extender always have been.  I do not know why the siren song of the offence always pull me in but it does.  And here it is in action.  My armor is taking off on my infantry in the best blitz tradition...and it is not a good thing.  But all is not bad news:

Down in the town, my second T62 takes out another M60.  So all in all, I tell myself, it is not that bad....oh foolish past The_Capt....so foolish.  Turn 23...sigh:

Right about here it dawns on me that maybe charging forward was a bad idea.  That is a second Dragon kill.  So I am thinking about holding up and letting my infantry catch up, right about here.  It is not all bad news though:

As the Soviet player, that is a very happy screen shot.  My MANPADs are doing their job.  But then I notice this:

Ya, so all those other icons up on the hill I have been tracking...but that is a new one and it is very bad news.  So I swing a couple T62s and a BMP over because maybe Bill is scratching around the backdoor.
Turn 24: as with most of these things...just a little too late.  An extra 30 seconds maybe but Bil's last tank platoon looks to have finally showed up.  Of course I suspected there was another one up here and of course it shows up in exactly the wrong place, at the wrong time.  And from here it just get uglier:

This is an interesting shot actually, first that is a second T62 (so 4 lost on that hill in about 3 mins) dying, but that is also a 73mm BMP 1 round actually hitting and penetrating an M60 (I think it was HEAT)...but not enough by a long shot:

So here the gods of war clearly are punishing me.  That BMP died for trying but those two explosions are AT3s that both miss (seriously?!)
Ok, so 'new plan' cause the old one clearly was not working.  I am going to have to swing what is left of my Teeth (now with quite a few knocked out....see that last BMP dying on the far right) and consolidate on the hilltop.  I will fend off this tank platoon, while at the same time really dig in on the objective.  The sad part is that right about here, I am out of offensive options.  I will need to play defense from here on out and am basically fighting to hold the objective.  
By this point I have a couple M60 kills, Bils M150s are pretty depleted, a couple M113s and a some scouts...oh and a Cobra.  That is not enough for 5 x T62s (half my force) and 2 x BMPs.  At least my screens and infantry are intact.  A side-note, Bil is really obsessed with the outskirts of the objective (that hashed blue line) and for the life of me I cannot figure out why.  Seriously, we are quite a few turns ahead as of writing this and he spends the next ten minute pounding the same  peice of real-estate, that basically has a single squad and MG team trapped in it.
Anyway, live, learn and love and all that.  I will post up the next series tomorrow...things do get better.