Doug Williams

Read the linked thread, thanks. So I don't want to fool with a 2nd install. What is that trick that I remember reading about but forgot how to do that shows me which troops belong to which module during force selection? IIRC it's a simple button press.....

If I am starting a quick battle PBEM game with an opponent who does not have the MG module, and I have all the modules, how, exactly does that work? Do I have to be careful not to select troops that are exclusive to MG? Can I select a map that came with MG? I've never had this come up before. Thanks in advance.

To clarify, a few months ago, the only thing I changed on my old core 2 quad system was removing the 7200 rpm hard drive and adding an Intel brand SSD. I noticed very little improvement in CM load times after doing this. I did notice a speed increase in boot up times and I noticed speed improvements in load times of other games. This leads me to the conclusion (similar to sburke) that when you are watching the Loading bar in CM, the bottleneck is not your hard drive. When I got a more modern CPU/video card, the CM load times were very noticeably reduced. YMMV

$1k? I paid $340 for the CPU, $205 for a nice ASUS MB, and $155 for 16 gig of good ram. Are things that much more expensive in Europe?

Try playing the CMFI/GL scenario Kiwi Soldiers as the NZers. It's a tiny scenario so should only take you a few minutes to lose.

My experience with moving from a 7200 rpm regular drive to a SSD was that the SSD made very little difference in CM loading times. Perhaps 10%. When I upgraded to a new MB/CPU/video card (I7 3.5 GHz and Nvidia 680) it probably cut my loading times in half. So, if you want to cut CM loading times down, and you have an older generation CPU/video card, you will get much more improvement from a CPU/graphics upgrade. On a side note, my SSD lasted less than a year before it "bricked". It was an Intel brand. I ****canned it, and bought a 2TB 7200 rpm regular drive for about $100.

The Big Bundle allows a new player to purchase everything that has been released for CMBN with one transaction, at a discount. CreationistDoug

Agree. Good thread.

Congratulations on completely derailing the original subject of this thread, which is the OP's request that melee combat was represented in CM2 as it was in CM1. I'm sure it's very interesting what someone's Polish math teacher did in WW2. I have an uncle who was in the 101st Airborne on D-Day. He landed in a glider behind enemy lines. Not kidding. Now, can we get back on subject, or are we going to hear about someone else's uncle's cousin's social studies teacher who knew a person that read a book about WW2?

It wouldn't have to "look" like anything. IIRC, in CM1 you just heard the sounds of melee combat whenever two opposing units entered adjacent action squares. As it is now, if both units are out of ammo, they just give each other mean looks. To be fair though, I only think I've seen that happen one time.

Agreed. I would also like to see this make a comeback. It would, of course, have to be abstracted.

This thread has gone the way most threads like this often go on these forums. (1) OP observes a game behavior that doesn't seem quite right to him. (2) Various other posters try to explain that the behavior is, in fact, reflective of real life on the WW2 battlefield by making up anecdotes that "prove" that such behavior was realistic. (3) Even more posters join in, telling jokes and funny stories. (4) Someone does a test and proves that the OP's observation actually has some merit. (5) Stunned silence, then "BFC Fix or do somefink"! :-) Thanks for the testing VAB. Sounds like much of the problem is related to the "invisible dust" you discovered.

Interesting. I've just started noticing the usage of gift as a verb in the last year or two. Thought it might have something to do with the interwebz. Guess I got "schooled". ;-)

Whichever one interests you most. CMFI has a lot of mountainous terrain while CMBN has a lot of maps with bocage. The "big bundle" (CMBN+2.0+CW+MG) is a good deal, and I would probably go for that if I were just starting out.

When did "gift" become a verb? This seems to be a recent phenomenon that snuck up on me. Now I see it everywhere.

This is where Steve's idea of a "buyers club" discount would be nice. As we get more and more modules, upgrades, and packs, "bundles" are going to get more complicated and confusing. I'm sure BFC would like to reward their long time customers with discounts. Perhaps some sort of "rewards points" system? Of course, if they started that, then people who have been buying CM all the way back to CMBO would want the points to be retroactive. ;-)

Thanks for the bone, Steve. I will, of course, be buying the east front game. I may even dip my foot in the water of modern combat and purchase black sea. @Erwin Buy the best CPU/video card you can afford. This advice has been true since the dawn of home computers. The sweet spot is usually last year's "bleeding edge".

IMO, many sports fans that I have met are lardasses who couldn't run a mile or deadlift 300 lbs. As for "professional wrestling", well, we all know it just drama, but then again, so is most of professional sports. In the immortal words of Ric Flair:

Well I "have" to have cable, so my wife can entertain herself while I play CM in the other room, otherwise she would never leave me in peace. :-) I do have an interesting anecdote, however. We have one of those cable package deals where I get "expanded" cable w/DVR, 30 mb internet, and a home phone for $170 out-the-door. Like others here, I decided to drop the home phone since we both have cell phones. When I called the cable company and told them to drop it, they decided to give it to me for free for 12 months, and my bill went from $170 down to $140. So, a year from now, I'll call them again and see if they want to give me another free year. If not for my wife, I would gladly drop cable TV and use Netflix only. I don't care about football (gasp!). Edit: Oh, and yes, CM has more than paid for itself, as far as I'm concerned. Yes, the initial expense is more than most other computer games, but if you count the number of hours I've played CM since CMBO was first released, I'm sure it comes out to be a FAR better deal than other computer games, books, movies, or pretty much anything else.

Who says BFC doesn't listen to their customers? Turn your attention to the BFC main page: http://www.battlefront.com/ They now offer two additional bundles, including my requested "Big Bundle" for new players. Thank you BFC.

(1) CMBN (2) Commonwealth Module (3) V 1.11 Patch (4) CMBN 2.0 Upgrade (5) Market Garden Module (6) V 2.12 Patch Grats on your new computer!

I think so, Michael. Oh, and norvandave, I agree with Phil, CW is well worth the money, IMO. You *may* run into a problem if you install CW after you have already upgraded to 2.0. What you might have to do is reinstall 2.0 (and subsequent patches) again afterwards. You might even have to uninstall everything and reinstall in the proper order, which would be: (1) CMBN (2) Commonwealth Module (3) V 1.11 Patch (4) CMBN 2.0 Upgrade (5) Market Garden Module (6) V 2.12 Patch

I have never noticed Cease Fires in CM2 PBEMs taking "a few turns" to take effect. At most, I have only, IIRC, seen them take one or (at most) two turns to take effect. Let's keep this thread alive and look into this. Cease Fires, once both players agree and click, should happen almost instantly.

@kulik I read your post three times and still don't understand what you were trying to say.