Doug Williams

Anyone have a link or PDF to the ASL version of Guards Counterattack? P.S. Good points, Macisle.

Well, sh*t. Good advice, I'm sure. I *may* go ahead with a direct conversion anyway, just for the hell of it, and to practice. It may be total crap.

Thanks, Pete. In my copious free time, I will do as you suggested in your e-mail and learn how to add doors and windows to the interior of the building clusters on your map so as to allow movement between these buildings without the troops having to exit the buildings into the street to move within the clusters (which actually are supposed to represent a single, much larger, building). Been meaning to mess with the map editor anyway. This is a good starting point.

Wait. There's a manual? ;-)

Also, curious how you superimposed the image of the actual ASL board onto your CM map editor screenshot?

You bet I want a copy of that, Pete. PM sent. Is there a way in the CM2 map editor to differentiate between stone and wooden buildings (like ASL), or between buildings that offer greater protection from small arms than others?

I forgot about sewer movement.

Yes, you can install on two different PCs.

So anyway, found these images of the half of (A)SL board 1 that pertains to "Guards".

Since I have no idea what you are talking about......care to give more info on "LockNLoad Heroes of Stalingrad"?

Yes, from my notes, that is the correct install order.

Might try reinstalling the 2.12 patch if you installed MG after the patch.

Thanks, I'll check it out, though I don't think I ever played that one in ASL. If I still had a scanned copy of "Guards Counterattack", I might try converting it, since it was so simple, IIRC. Was the first SL scenario I (and everyone else, I imagine) ever played. Edit: Drat. I forgot I don't have the board either.

Hope this isn't breaking some rule, but is anyone on here doing any amateur conversions of the old SL scenarios to RT, such as Guards Counterattack? I sold all my SL/ASL stuff several years ago, including my scenario cards...

LOL, Aquatica, probably best to create a new user name at this point. Just kidding. :-)

That's strange. Are you picking your own forces, or letting the AI pick your forces?

Well, as for me, I have faith, based on my years of purchasing and playing the CM series, that BFC will continue to put out products that I enjoy at prices that I will pay. For the benefit of PP, I will attempt to explain what I mean. It makes little difference to me, within reason, what a particular computer game costs me to buy, as long as I receive value for the dollars I spend. Value for a computer game equals how much time I spend playing it VS how much money I spend on it. Let's take CMBN, for example. I preordered CMBN on the day the preorder was first offered, and did the same thing with the CW module, the MG module, and the 2.0 upgrade. I really don't remember, and don't feel like looking up, the total amount of money I have given BFC for CMBN, but let's just say it's around $150, for the sake of argument. The release date for CMBN was May, 2011 (from Wikipedia). CMBN has never left my hard drive, from initial release until today, and I have played it (meaning at least done one PBEM turn), I would estimate, probably 3 days out of 4 that have passed since May, 2011. I would call that a pretty good return on my $150 entertainment investment. OTOH, and again just an example, I purchased Elder Scrolls Skyrim upon release for (can't remember for sure) around $50, played it a couple of weeks, didn't like it, and deleted it. I'm out $50....total entertainment value: not very much. Or, to use an example of a game that I actually did enjoy, I purchased X-Com Enemy Unknown upon release for (can't remember) $40(ish), played it all the way through a couple of times, and was done with it in a month or so. Great game, once or twice, IMO. Done and gone now. Now let's take an MMO. I started playing Everquest back in December, 2001. Played it for about three years, very seriously. Hardly a day went by that I didn't log on and play for a while. What did that cost me? Well, initial purchase of the base game: $40(ish). Monthly subscription for three years: $15 a month. Buying expansions: $30(ish) each, every six months to a year. So, those of you who know basic math may understand that, while the CM series may be somewhat daunting when you see the initial purchase prices, once you begin to understand the play value you get from these games, you will grok how inexpensive they are, in the long run. Or not.

Yes like womble pointed out, if your goal is H2H (head to head or human vs human) play, you want to remain as compatible as possible with other H2H players, and we generally keep up to date on modules, upgrades, and patches. Now, there is nothing wrong with just buying the base game, whatever modules interest you, and playing campaigns, scenarios and quick battles against the AI. The AI is sufficiently advanced to give a good challenge to even experienced players, especially when it is on defense in quick battles, or in well designed scenarios playing either side. I still occasionally lose to the AI. To me, though, there is nothing like playing against another person, crushing him, and hearing the lamentations of his women. Conversely, getting crushed by a human opponent opens you up to all sorts of humiliations that are never experienced when you lose against the AI, because, after all, you can always just pretend it never happened. ;-)

OP, since you seem interested in the multiplayer aspect, I feel I should point out that only purchasing the base game will severely limit your multiplayer options. I don't know for certain, but believe that you would not be able to play any multiplayer games with anyone who has upgraded to 2.0. Even if you do buy the base game and the 2.0 upgrade, you may still run into some PBEM issues, especially if you like to play Quick Battles and your opponent purchases units from the Commonwealth or the Market Garden module, it can cause the game to hang, which is rather frustrating. This is the biggest weakness I have found with the modular approach that BFC is using with the CM series. Now your opponent could always do a second install of CMBN, base game only, but I find that to be a PITA. Long story short, if you liked the demo, and liked what you saw on the videos, I recommend you just save up and buy the big bundle. You'll still be paying less for the whole package than most people on this forum, who bought each piece on the day it was released, or preordered.

Not much chance of that. The Combat Mission series is BFC's cash cow and, thanks to us, I very much doubt they are going to abandon it any time soon. I predict, by the power of my Magic 8 Ball, that Combat Mission will be around for many more years.

Hello and welcome. (1) I'll let someone else answer, because I don't download very many user made scenarios. (2) Yes, the game has two kinds of multiplayer, PBEM (file exchanges) and TCP/IP. PBEM is something of a misnomer, because hardly anyone that I know of uses e-mail attachments for the file exchanges any longer. Most everyone these days use a shared Dropbox folder, and many players use a free app called CM Helper which is very helpful when you are playing multiple PBEMs. As to how active the multiplayer scene is, I would say very active. The majority of my games are multiplayer and I seldom play against the AI any longer. Best thing to do is join a club so you can find reliable opponents, play in tourneys, etc. Sorry, but I still haven't tried TCP/IP (live) CM yet, mostly because my free time doesn't come in large enough "chunks" to devote to long games. (3) Actually, if you want everything released so far for CMBN, it will cost $95 and the best deal is the "Big Bundle", which includes CMBN, both the Commonwealth and Market Garden Modules, and the 2.0 upgrade. Yep, that's a big chunk to invest, so be sure to play the free demo first. Keep in mind that BFC is an independent developer and they cater to a niche market. Also keep in mind that even though CMBN is a couple of years old, they are keeping it "fresh" and up to date with new modules and engine upgrades. The 3.0 upgrade is due out any time now, and yes, it will cost an additional $10. If you buy and enjoy the CM games, you may find, like many of us, that the amount of entertainment "bang for your buck" that you get from these games will be very high. Most computer games that I purchase I play once or twice then delete. I have played CMBN almost every day since the day it was released. It never gets old, because there is always something new to do, some new scenario to play, some new quick battle to try with a new or old opponent, or some new tourney is starting. (4) There is new content planned for CMBN and CMFI. CMRT (east front) was recently released and I'm sure there will be new content released for it. There is also a new modern era CM that should be released "soon".

Are you still fooling around with the Combat Mission AI? No, you not need "single player game". You need to play against human opponents.

Since I don't currently have the time to read the 3+ pages of responses your question has already generated, I will go ahead and give you the best answer: You haven't really played Combat Mission until you have experienced H2H (Head to Head or Human Vs Human). That is it in a nutshell. All those campaigns and scenarios and quick battles against the AI are merely the prelude to playing against another human being and crushing him beneath your bootheels while hearing the lamentations of his women, or, conversely, being crushed and shaking your fist against the die rolls that unfairly made you lose. Not much else to say, IMO, except join a PBEM club and learn for yourself.

Short answer: If you want mounted infantry, choose from the Mech Infantry Formations, not the Infantry Formations, and even then, pay attention. Yes, this can be confusing.

Well said, sir.