LongLeftFlank

You can use a hex editor to repoint the tree model to display a tree from another CM game, but the effect is purely visual. For example, for my PTO project, I swapped in CMSF palm trees for the (taller) poplar, but for all game purposes it continues to act like a poplar. You can't create your own wireframes (i.e. change the overall tree shape and LOS effect). You can of course retexture the bark and leaves (e.g. colours) and with some alpha channel skills, you can also change the shape and size of the leaves and branches.

I would love to see a "banzai charge" / berserkergang feature with Fanatic infantry, where once the unit hits "Panic" morale, they instead FAST move to the nearest enemy Location and engage in CQB. But put that one on the pipedream list.

Thanks for posting, John, although relevance to CMFI is tenuous. This documentary seems fairly typical, though, of documentaries made between the time the War Office authorized the showing of US dead ("the Price of Victory") and the end of the war. I've watched a fair amount of these docs, but I've found nothing yet that gives the particularly nasty flavour of PTO combat better than these unedited 2-8min clips from Peleliu and Okinawa: No dramatic bayonet charges or hand to hand Spielberg theatrics here. This unedited colour footage (consisting of longer takes so you can see what they're actually doing) shows the slow, systematic advance of small combat details, supported by armour, to isolate, incinerate and entomb an enemy who rarely showed his face. Suitably creepy music as well.....

On the lighter side, from my PTO Makin scenario.... The only recognition Pvts. Lovelace and Tiplady-Jones got for their painstaking recreation of the steamy beach scene in "From Here to Eternity" was a posting to Bahrain* * evidently that's where the US sent servicemen suspected of "deviant" behaviour or "poor moral character"

A stalwart Japanese defender faces the American first wave* Pinned down in the surf Moving on to flush out the next sniper.... * I have swapped in halftracks for the Carriers as Alligator surrogates owing to the higher passenger capacity and the .50 HMG mount. I used Canadian M5s because as of late 1943 bazookas were still specialized team weapons not yet issued at squad level in the Pacific. So I don't want them aboard the HTs.

Amen. This from the Makin Atoll battle history: "Thompson grabbed the unmanned machine gun and swung it around to face the trench where some stupefied Japanese began to stir. Behind him, a soldier who had been crawling also jumped in, only to shout 'I've been looking everywhere for one of these!' snatch up a Japanese officer's saber from the floor and disappear. Sgt. Thompson never saw him again." Btw, I'd support being able to police up enemy casualties via buddy aid, to ensure they're listed dead or captured for VC purposes and prevent the enemy from recovering their weapons later. But I can imagine allowing capturing weapons to be subject to abuse.

I suggest Rombauer (Silverado Trail). Their tasting room is filled with signed photos of USAF test pilots, including Yeager. And their cab and El Dorado zin both rock -- huge and lush in the classic Napa style. (and no, I don't work there)

The Nero d'Avila (ancestor of Zinfandel) and Primitivo grapes that form the basis for most Sicilian wines have extremely sturdy, gnarly rootstocks; "old vines" can be as thick as small tree stumps. Add to that the vines, stakes and wires, and you have some pretty sturdy obstacles.

Yeah, just found that out playtesting in a Heavy Haze. Oh well, I'm compensating by pushing back the arrival time of the tanks. Just need to keep it in mind when laying out the defenses.

Technically true, but also a red herring really, since in high summer the temperate regions of Europe offer numerous vegetated areas every bid as lush and impenetrable as most jungle (and most "jungle" isn't triple canopy rainforest -- depends on rainfall and season). I was just in very dry Tuscany, and took careful note of the density of the vegetation adjoining backroads, tracks and fields; plenty dense and tall enough to hide a tank in many places. Look guys, at <200 meters, with a TC out, I could buy a tank fairly promptly spotting a solid manmade object like a bunker that's shooting and taking other fire, even when camouflaged. The TC lights him up with the .50 for the gunner, fine. But at 400+, rapidly picking out 2 men 16m back in Heavy Forest, trees and bocage firing single shot rifles at somebody else? While the tank is also moving through difficult ground? That's just too much! I took away the bunkers. It now takes the tanks about a minute on average to start lighting up -- very accurately, including main gun shots -- the unfortified infantry targets in Heavy Forest and bocage cover. Forget Pacific, a tweak is needed here. In the meantime, I'm giving strong consideration to setting my scenarios in ahistorically Foggy conditions. Wondering if there's a way to switch off or alpha channel away the visual artifacts....

They're at level 5, sitting on a bridge held up by Shallow Ford tiles. The Japanese would all be pretty much at level 6. The beach grade on the lagoon side of Makin, an atoll almost totally devoid of hills, was not very steep relative to some other storied Pacific landing beaches; hence the elongated and "shelflike" reef area just offshore. And irony was intended. I know you tolerably well by now, at least the digital persona.

The redraw distance doesn't allow display, but this IS dense foliage.... a bunch of bocage and hedge tiles create an impenetrable series of thickets (as actual thickets or 10-20' stands of young trees regrettably are not part of the CMBN terrain set -- that's my other hobby horse). The snipers are in there pretty deep. See the Makin thread for more if you care. I generally agree with the rest of your post, except the hyperbole part. I am in already in the process of retesting with the Japanese defenders not in bunkers or otherwise entrenched, since as you observe, bunkers are especially easy to spot. I believe this is because the game engine seems to treat fortifications as vehicles for many purposes (e.g. bunker occupants will bail out, they can burn), presumably including spottability. Another workaround may be to reduce visibility (simulate Fog or twilight conditions). "Recon by fire" can absolutely be effective for forces with the necessary firepower. And I agree with Rev. Burke that a lot of my force quits of CMSF and CMBN scenarios have been a simple function of overly sparse map design. It's made me a right picky bugga when it comes to maps.

Terrific story, C3K told with great, ummm... FLARE!!!! But that said, it is simply indisputable that spotting the exact locations of infantry in cover is FAR too easy. It is by far the biggest flaw in the only game I have played for the last 6 years. And with much respect, this has little to do with playability or "fun".... quite the reverse in my opinion. This game differentiates itself from the shooters in that it rewards using both period authentic weapons and tactics. Moving forward additional troops to put more eyeballs on a troublesome area, or hosing down areas from which fire has been received with copious suppressive Area Fire is no less "fun" than needing to use any other kind of RL tactics, even though it doesn't deliver instant gratification or certain results. I am afraid I have quit all too many CMSF and CMBN scenarios where an incredibly crude infantry "fire superiority" dynamic rules supreme: you locate some tactical high ground, induce the enemy to reveal himself, and then proceed to shoot him out of his holes at standoff ranges with superior weapons. Or if his weapons are superior, he does it to you. No need for close assault, intelligent use of ground, etc. A couple of mad minutes with all weapons blazing result in total annihilation and walkover. Here's a concrete example. I am playtesting a historical beach landing on Makin Atoll. Second wave reinforcement consists of a dozen medium tanks (I'm using M4s, although they were really Grants); by the time they arrive the first wave is already on the beach and engaging the defenders -- mostly snipers in dense jungle and bunkered MGs. The Shermans arrive on the edge of a broad reef 200-250m offshore; in the real deal, they had to carefully pick their way across, and even then only a couple of crews reported "seeing" any living Japanese; they basically Area Fired terrain all day on request from the infantry. What happens in the playtest is that within seconds their massed guns are systematically laying waste to the entire Japanese shoreline defense, snipers included, at ranges from 250-650 metres. The entire affair is concluded in under 3 minutes. > (EDIT: yes, no Orders were issued; I didn't get the chance. Green crews too) Were that anything remotely close to their RL capabilities, WWII beach landings would have been completely different. Screenshot here:

Agreed. I've sunk a lot of time into my Ramadi maps and related research; it would be a pity to lose all that.

Very nicely done!

Thanks, Zeb, much appreciated! I went ahead and reduced the size of most of the buildings (using those tiny barns); they were just too dominant before. This also lessens the temptation to use them ahistorically as fighting positions, with one or two exceptions (e.g. the stone warehouses near the wharfs). Permanent, I just emailed you the WIP scenario file and map.

Defence Attack Assaulting a bunker ...without flamethrowers or DCs

The silly season up in Port Townsend, is it then? A few days of sunshine making you all frisky?

That is terrific news... it always seemed to me that the cover seeking default behaviours just needed a touch more tweaking. It's very hard to hit a "perfect balance" though (i.e. one that works for all situations), since the more the pixeltruppen keep their heads down, the less spotting and shooting they can do!

Just noticed in a screenie from NormalDude's AAR that there appear to be stationary (non-moving) infantry who are NOT facing up a hill and yet are standing, instead of lying prone / taking a knee. That seems like a behaviour change for infantry. Or is it just something that occurs only during setup phase and I never noticed it before? (I didn't repost the shot itself, since I don't want to create an accidental spoiler for Bil.) In this vein, I am curious whether there are any other tweaks (e.g. not shooting MGs from the shoulder so much, "hit the dirt!" reflex, etc.) to default infantry behaviour for the v2? I don't see them called out in the features list.

Ah, just back from Tuscany after much feasting on gelati and vini! I got the sense that the locals don't worry much about the Euro or immigration or much else; so long as Visigoths or condottieri aren't actively marauding their lands, they've got everything they need for a good life close at hand. On the squad splitting, I haven't gotten CMFI yet and am on the fence about it, but is there any way to allow Italian (half)squads to split a 2 rifleman SCOUT team to carry out various recon, flank guard, medic, etc. purposes? That would remove a lot of the awkward micro of exposing 12 men at a time when all you want to do is peek over a hill, or (defensively) set a picket to cover a blind area in your trench line. I mean, doctrine or not, sending a couple of guys ahead when you don't know what's out there is about as basic and commonsense a tactic as you get in war.

Quick update: I am off to Tuscany on holiday tomorrow (the real one) until mid-August. Alas, poor me. However, I did spend a few hours with Makin today. The medium tanks are now floundering nicely in the reef shallows, just as they did in the real deal.... takes them a good 10 minutes to drive the ~180m ashore and on average 2 out of 12 immobilize (just like in the real deal). Arrivederci!

I used a hex editor to repoint the CMBN Tree B (poplar) type to the CMSF palm tree model and textures. permanent666 and I have both uploaded draft PTO terrain mods onto the Repository. The Repository also contains some preliminary mods turning British Army into Japanese (including voices). Browse this thread for the full story. I don't think the USMC mods were ever uploaded though, which is OK by me since Makin was an Army operation and the base textures will suffice. Also, I'm starting to think about downsizing most of the interior buildings on the Makin map to the smallest footprints. That veranda effect is very pretty and all, but I notice they really stick out on the map (which they did not do in RL). And tactically they were pretty useless except as artillery aiming points; the defenders fought from dugouts and bunkers, not the buildings.

Hmm, maybe I'm taking you too literally, but I'm having trouble thinking of a tactical (CM2 scale) engagement in any war (modern included) where that kind of rethink (cancel current objective, disengage, wheel about, rescue screwed up unit) took place in a scenario timeframe (<3 hours). I know the Red Army claimed to be able to do these kinds of tactical gymnastics at sub-battalion level in their Op Maneuver Group heyday in the 80s, but my BS meter goes off. That said, I endorse the comments above about triggers not being a panacea. But rolling out a limited functionality over time would be good -- I suspect the design community "pietri dish" would surprise you!

And I, for one, will welcome the (evil) corporate hegemony of our BFC overlords! (Prior to this year I might have appended a wisecrack about said hegemony actually occurring in 2065. But I'm sucking up now because I want the cabin on the yacht next to Cherlize).