LongLeftFlank

Hey Sublime, hang in there brother. This unusual stream of consciousness style is telling us already that things are not well with you. You have a first class mind (there are many on this board and we know our own), and a depth of soul to go with it. Don't let that Celtic darkness (I know it too, believe me) eat you. This world needs you, just don't become a prisoner of your own expectations. There is no trap you can't walk out of, no world you can't enlarge around yourself. As the Russian proverb goes, "tomorrow will be better." Swim with the tide.

Would love to see a form of "follow" command available to infantry too (5.0?). Dangerous if misused if course, but handy for route marching / advance to contact. Perhaps it simply discontinues once an infantry unit becomes Alerted (receives incoming).

The fortification scheme I can live with. But there's no "kill" in that "kill zone" out front. Where's the (lethal) flanking fire from the similar hedgehogs to right and left? Minefields, anybody? That probe (tank plt. + rifle coy.) shouldn't even make the foot of the hill before being forced to ground, then chewed to bloody pulp by 81mm for the next few hours. While whatever track the tanks approached on gets plastered by Regiment.

This phenomenal thread from 2005 goes deep into the economic-bureaucratic foundations of both Nazi and Soviet war machines.

Said this before, but I'd advocate an "Arc Ablaze" (Crescent Ablaze being non-PC) battle pack for CMBS, rather than an all new game family. USD50. Recycle as much CMSF/CMA terrain and NATO/Uncon/Muj/ArabArmy TOE and skins as you can without putting large bootstrap burden on Charles & Co. Don't sweat content: the community will provide. It's a mother beautiful bridge and it's gonna be there! I will personally come out of CM retirement and forward port my Ramadi and Homs urban master maps if this happens.

Tactically, I think the chronically understrength German units used snipers largely to observe, harass, interdict movement, hinder observation, and otherwise cover areas not properly covered by regulars, rather than sending them out man-hunting. Movement is pretty high risk at the front, including for snipers. And that's probably also their best use in game. In defense, their highest value mission would be delay, forcing enemy troops to ground, rather than racking up kills. I'm reading the Green Book on Saipan and it's amazing how a few shots from a hidden shooter could halt an entire platoon for the duration until leaders rallied them, even if nobody was hit. Which could then halt the parent company due to gaps on the flanks. They'd pick out enemy leaders and FOs in preference if fortunate enough to get such a target. Of course you do have specialists, but they are rarely encountered and I doubt they stick around a fluid combat environment. Except maybe in the 1945 Volksturm period, which might have given rise to some GI legends, I personally doubt sharpshooters were specially selected for fanaticism or murderousness, or fought to the death any more often than their comrades. I imagine they'd ditch their scoped weapon and surrender if bypassed at least as often as they'd attempt a killing spree behind the lines. But because they are feared opponents - don't fight fair, can strike at any time, shoot medics etc. - infantry legends grow up around their ruthlessness. One nonvet's speculation, anyway.

Thanks very much - I just reread this thread for the first time in years! Quite a time I had doing this project! I just had to step away from gaming and game design for work reasons - (living the dream though, developing power plants here in the exotic Orient). I hope I'll be back someday.

Nice work!

Timely. BARBAROSSA erupted 75 years ago today. Prokofiev, anyone?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-05/stunning-images-ramadi-show-devastating-impact-war photos of damage: not graphic, just sad. Note, I don't endorse ZeroHedge or anyone who posts or comments there, although there is occasionally an interesting clip

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-05-05/stunning-images-ramadi-show-devastating-impact-war photos of damage: not graphic, just sad. Note, I don't endorse ZeroHedge or anyone who posts or comments there, although there is occasionally an interesting clip

Schrodinger's Bunker....

Hey Sublime, I'm going on a road (flying really) trip with a French friend to visit Dien Bien Phu. I have been digging through all my research material for that CMBN scenario series and mod set I had to abandon in 2012. And rereading Windrow. We had some fun discussion on the boards, lol.

Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like there's been some refinements.

Great thread here, very informative both on performance issues and the industry economics. Thanks to all.

Kids, I'm visiting Dien Bien Phu in a few weeks and it's entirely possible that will bring me out of CM hypersleep. I haven't played CM since early 2013 and have no experience playing with engines 2.0 and 3.0. Just curious: did the far too easily spotted and far too flimsy fortifications (bunkers, trenches, foxholes) get any love for the issues I flagged in this old thread? Or can you still basically shoot dug in infantry out of their emplacements at range with light HE or MGs over the course of a few minutes without ever having to assault? Because that would make a DBP series kind of pointless. Merci bien!

Nailed it. That song started in my head the moment I saw the new forum.

Silly rabbit, that's why God made Mexican day labour. Funny that this would really be a problem for you in India. You can't turn around in a railway station without being besieged by bloody porters. Haven't you got a facilities guy at work who is local and will take care of you using his extended family on the side? Or else ( *shudder*) log off BFC and find a local expats chatboard.

Guys, I've been reading this board for 15 years, mostly lurking. there is no better place and group to talk military history. But it loses a huge chunk of its value to me without JasonC. And yeah, I've been on the receiving end of his lovable bedside manner too. There was a distinct 'contempt of cop' air about this particular suspension. And some of the cops here can get pretty dismissive and nasty as well. Bring him back please.

I was thinking of picking this up on Google play, but even for USD3 7 missions seems too few. I saw some gripes that the in game expansion purchase didn't work, but they date 2014. Has this been fixed since? Thanks.

....As for modding the terrain sets, no worries. I (and others) did a reasonably convincing PTO mod for CMBN back in the day.

Flat rooftops with parapets seems like the key absent CMSF feature that can't be repped into CMBS via texture modding (most postwar structures in Europe above 3 stories would have them). Dust clouds too, fine, but also a signal feature of the summer Ukrainian steppe....

CMSF2 reboot just seems like it would make no commercial sense as a standalone game. "What if" games get stale very fast. You might get marginally more interest with a historical game covering OIF1/2 + Syria 2011-14. As a terrain/force pack to reinvigorate CMBS in ~2016-17, following on a NATO module, a lot more sense. Although I have no idea how well the CMBN force pack sold....

Well, it makes a pretty good case for a CMBS "Burning Crescent" arid terrain and forces pack, even if they can't manage a full on CMSF reboot.