LongLeftFlank

Hmm, I hadn't noticed that specifically. It may have to do with whether you've set the waypoint into a square that is totally vs partially covered by the building. In the latter case it *seems* like the TacAI favors entering at the square you selected, if you follow. In playtesting AI plans, I also rediscovered something I'd forgotten (haven't played this game since 2013 remember). Each unit in an AI group gets one destination square assigned at random, and if that square is not passable or reachable, it just "dumps" the order(s) and sits there. It doesn't seek another square. So for vehicles, it's important to give them clear squares, not containing buildings, walls or other impassable terrain. Don't recall if this changed for the WW2 engine iterations.

http://cmmodsiii.greenasjade.net/ But yes, it looks like most CMSF isn't on there.... yet. Paging @MikeyD, restock in aisle 3 please.

I know you let players worry about providing their own mods, but there is an Africa mod pack out there from long ago. Come back safe!

Been a while since CMSF had a caption contest... Umm, Abdullah, when I said disarm the warhead, I didn't mean it literally.

Oh yes, whatever they ultimately decide to do I will happily support with my wallet. I just want a profitable company creating CM for years to come. ?

Erwin, as a veteran scenario designer, I just have a feeling that a lot of the pre-NATO CMSF scenarios and maps are either going to need to be totally redesigned or else replaced (and frankly, some of them sucked). If that proves true, they may as well do new content at that point (thus, B), with updated forces and a more contemporary storyline. For example I'd love to see Turkish forces - very easy to imagine them fighting all comers, not just Assad and Uncons/ peshmerga. And having done the work for Brits, NATO, Marines etc., it's easy to port them over to Black Sea. And also to bring the Russians to Syria... or Turkey. CMSF: ARMAGEDDON **** Also, the core subject of original CMSF was Stryker brigades. This force concept proved deficient in practice, as did the vehicle. The world has moved on. Wargaming it today is kind of like a warbird simulator featuring 1930s aircraft like the Brewster Buffalo, Mitsubishi type 97 and I-16 Rata

A SEAL friend of mine used to say that if spec operators are fighting as infantry something is badly wrong. If there is to be shooting, they expect to start it, end it in no more than 2 clips, then vanish, leaving the bad guys shooting at empty air. Ranger and other commando actions though could certainly be appropriate to the CM scale.

Mexican 3 way standoffs or a "Third Force" able to shoot Red or Blue at will is pretty far down the priority list, methinks. Cooperative play (multi players a side) has been a top fan request for years though. I'd personally like to see features where you can program AI both sides then watch the movie. But not holding my breath....

Ok, after about 7 hours of troubleshooting I can finally get most of the JTJ fighters intact to their debarkation points. But then instead of occupying buildings they dash through alleys and... sad heap of butchered meat. Another 2 hours of tweaking, and finally DEVIL SIX has to pick up his own rifle. Things getting tense for GI Joe....

You can absolutely fight RED on RED if you like. There's a couple of campaigns floating around. As to noncombatants, I don't want to see them in game, still less see them dead. This isn't Grand Theft Auto. Their tactical impact is nil once shooting starts. BLUE Spy units can stand in for civilian officials being guarded, hostage rescues*, etc. quite nicely. As noted elsewhere, they'll even pick up weapons if their escorts get hit. * appear as reinforcements, which means BLUE needs to secure their location by the time they appear, then escort them to safety.

Yet more AI testing. "When are these buttheads gonna learn?" Sergeant Henry mutters as he puts more .223 rounds through the Hilux. That route don't work neither, turd blossom. .. Yup, it would be *really* nice to have the "avoid these zones, act like they're marsh tiles or sumfink" map paint command for AI orders.

.... It would seem to me that the primary purchasing market for (A) would be the same gamers who bought and liked original CMSF, and to a lesser extent European gamers eager to see their own armies represented in a game. But these same groups would also like options B and C. Where's the *new* buyer group who will shell out up to $200 to beat up a 2008-vintage Assad army using a slightly dated NATO force set?

I am continuing to mull over the recent (unofficial) reconfirmation by Steve that BFC is up for the effort of: (A) re-releasing CMSF v4.0 with the 2008 vintage mythos and TO&E, as opposed to (B) an all new Mideast game family with new content and updated TOE/backstory, or (C) a CMBS module + unit packs with modest new scenario content, but adding dry terrain and NATO, Uncon, Syrian army TO&Es I continue to wonder about the commercial wisdom, as well as the workload involved, in that choice, and am keen to hear your views.

Sorry about the weird fonts in my posts btw. Android phone. Workload is the issue. And, to put it kindly, some of the CMSF content and maps won't age well. The design community has come a long way since 2007....

This old thread is worth a reskim, although you need to ignore a lot of the bigger flights of fancy. But Steve has now very lately reasserted the quote above, that BFC's intent is indeed to redo all of CMSF using the new engine. http://grogheads.com/forums/index.php?topic=19156.0 Steve told me:“2017 is Battlefront’s official 20th year of existence and our calendar for this year contains plenty of good stuff. For the last 5 years or so our plan is to release one major and several smaller releases within a calendar year. For 2017 the big effort is a full revitalization of the entire CM Shock Force Family to current game engine standards. For the smaller releases you’ll soon see a Battle Pack for CMBS and not long after that a second Module for CMFI. The first module for CMRT might make it into 2017, but might be just over the line in 2018. Those of you who have followed us over the years know that there’s always more going on than meets the eye, therefore it is safe to assume there’s more for 2018 that we’re not talking about yet.” Ergo, no CMBS mideast module, a whole new game family, albeit recycling older content.

Core concept: every residential compound is a fortress. Blue doesn't get to stand off with ranged weapons and deathstar Red shooters. In Mosul, you also have IEDs and mines. Lots of 'em, everywhere. So every place you enter is a potential death trap even if it's quiet as the grave. On the other hand, the locals have fled such areas and are probably happy to point them out to the CTS -- "Badrists" or not, they're happy to see the back of the Da'esh. So low pop density. Another tip, Uncon solo snipers come with a large supply of hand grenades. These guys are as dangerous planted deep inside buildings as they are up on rooftops plying the SVDs. For example, start them up there then fairly early on (before counterfire can start picking them off) issue a Sniper Group AI order to change floors. Then wait for the enemy to come calling.... Another sniper trick I like to use: have a Spy collocated with a sniper, but Hiding and facing away from incoming. If the sniper gets it, the Spy will eventually unhide and Medic his mate, then retrieve the rifle and begin to use it. So now BLUE thinks he's neutralized the threat, only to have it arise again while he's moving. Spy doesn't grab the grenades though, alas....

Well from a pure gaming POV I don't correlate fun with body count or number of loud bangs per minute (not implying you do here although our tastes differ). I have more 'fun' with the tactical problem of winkling out a single sniper using a deployed squad than I do madly scrambling to stop a full company of pixelgrunts from banzai charging or crawl-of-deathing the moment I turn away. And truth be told I just dont have the patience for endless WeGo turns - the novelty of that is long gone for me. For CM WWII, company and battalion combined arms actions are still interesting and authentic, and I can live with the ahistorical body counts (e.g. most of those guys didnt actually get hit, just bugged out). For CMSF Mideast, actions at that scale are largely either cakewalks for BLUE or else play out as utterly ahistorical bloodbaths due to the limitations of this game engine and AI - pure games that bear no relation to history*. JOKER THREE is a rare historical exception, where 100+ troops a side engage on roughly equal terms. WICKED WEDNESDAY is about half that size, and I hope playable in (paused) RT in a single sitting while maintaining reasonable control of forces (and losses). * By the way, JasonC is sadly gone from these fora but still holds forth periodically on many of these same topics at BGG. I more or less share his views. https://boardgamegeek.com/spsearch.php?objectid=1&objecttype=region&q=&searchauthor=JasonC+&searchfield=all&displayresults=full&B1=Submit

In some spots I can also solve it by laying rubble or marsh (sewage) tiles or walls to obstruct the road. But that blocks BLUE movement too, unless the walls are then demolished (eg with IEDs). It is also visually ugly.

Well noted Erwin on the 'unfairness' of hidden mines and booby traps to a player whose VC rides largely on minimizing friendly losses. But that is *exactly* the real life conundrum faced by Coalition commanders in "low intensity" ops, and most of the point of my Ramadi series. Racing impatiently along backstreets and systematically kicking down every door carries a tactical risk; a heavy hand is as bad as a passive one. While sending dead or maimed 'Crusaders' home is the core RED objective, and secondarily to demonstrate to sympathetic journalists that 'hearts and minds' is a farce. As IntMan will presumably attest (pbuh), military staffs need to spend *at least* as much time studying Ramadis and Basrahs as they do the Stalingrad week at Falluja or the storming of Mosul. These wars are won or lost a day at a time, a bomb blast at a time. And if you can manage your losses and attrite the enemy snipers, bomb-makers and logisticians, eventually the enemy and its host population runs out of martyrs and patience. The clock of popular support is ticking for them too. Human beings would rather live in peace.

Hmm, is someone suggesting we shouldn't take this road? Withy BLUE and RED starting setups more or less complete, and DEVIL SIX under fairly steady but ranged small arms fire (assuming everyone stays put), it's time to do some AI movement. With local militias having sprung the trap, with IEDs at both ends, but not being strong enough to close assault SGT Henry's Army squad, insurgents truck in reinforcements. They also scramble to block the unexpectedly quick arrival of Marines from the north. But trying to drive straight up Michigan into the guntrucks doesn't work out so well. The ghost of Graebner strikes again.... And the next attempt doesn't work either. Sigh. This also gave me an idea: the AI editor should let us paint zones for moving groups to *avoid* in each order, as well as zones to move to. Add that to the brainjar wish list....

Postcards from Ramadi. First a pano, facing east. The Marines arrive in the lower left corner. I maxed up the settings on my old Dell to take this still of the stalled DEVIL 6 convoy. I toyed with cooking off a small IED to start and letting the player execute his own 360 action drill, but have decided against, for the moment. Plus it has a high chance to inflict BLUE casualties straight off.

Nope, that's how rumors get started.

As previously noted, I will contribute an updated Ramadi and Baba Amr to the cause.

Yup, realized my error fairly quickly. I really just wanted to flag the Ryujin mods for S2.

So much great content for a Middle East Shock Force module for CMBS already exists in various existing game families. If I didn't have a day job I feel like I could knock out a reasonable beta version myself.... 1. CMBS has the basic unit sets for US Army to fight a legacy Bloc army like Saddam's or Assad's. It also has good maps for industrial estates and steppes and the hilly farmland resembles a lot of less arid Mideast upland areas (Turkey, Iran), with some mild de-treeing, shallower watercourses and tweaks to building textures. 2. CMFI has a bunch of tremendous maps. Sicily/ Calabria are much of a likeness to the Levant, with just a bit of texture work, and clusters of postwar construction and doodads added. 3. CMA content is presumably more limited in terms of its access, due to licensing, but the maps are in a grey area and likely could be repurposed. 4. CMSF offers a lot of textures and doodads that are readily plugged straight into the newer engine. Many of the open desert maps would require very little work. CMSF also has the OB, wireframes, textures and basic weapons data for numerous armies. No doubt some adjustment to this data is required to forward port, but ground work is here. I'd advocate BFC include British Army and Uncons in the module (so they can also fight in Ukraine), then offer the additional NATO forces and USMC as separate purchase unit packs.