Doug Williams

Interesting (and educational, for me) discussion about the halftracks, and yes, I'm sure I have been guilty of using them in a "gamey" way. Like dieseltaylor pointed out, CM isn't an operational game, so we the players don't really have to worry about transporting our troops after the battle. We are given (or purchase) certain assets for each battle, and I'm sure we all try to use those assets to "win" the battle. But anyway, the main point of this thread is whether or not there is a bug that may have been introduced with version 2.0 that is causing halftrack gunners and unbuttoned tank commanders to be more vulnerable than they should be to small arms fire. I have little time for extensive testing, but I can say that I have lost what seemed to me to be an excessive number of HT gunners and TCs recently. So much so that I've pretty much given up on unbuttoning my tanks. Thanks bisu for bringing the subject up, and Baneman for the extensive testing.

Dunno. I have no idea why BFC has this policy, other than some heavy handed attempt to cut down on software piracy. As someone who hasn't pirated any software since my shoebox of Commodore 64 floppy disks in the mid 1980s, I share your annoyance with this situation. Buying a couple of thumb drives is trivial to anyone who lives near a Wal-Mart or a Best Buy. Personally, I use Dropbox to backup my files, because, unlike Ranger33, I find it to be efficient and fast. Yes, I upgraded beyond the free version.

At the risk of a derail, I am seriously considering purchasing the .45 caliber version of that weapon. The internet provides me with mixed reviews. What is your take?

Just save the file to a thumb drive, CDR/DVR, external hard drive, or an online service such as Dropbox.

Yes, something is amiss here. I did notice that I seem to lose unbuttoned tank commanders at an alarming rate recently. Nice work, Baneman.

Great post, JasonC. I've never fired an SMG. There is a local indoor shooting range that will rent out Thompsons, Uzis, and maybe some others for customers to shoot in their range. I've been meaning to go have some fun one weekend. I imagine one would go through ammo rather quickly.

It plainly says on the order screen when you purchase a game from BFC that you should backup the file because the download link will expire after 10 downloads or 365 days. The good news is BFC will give you another download link that will be good for another 10 downloads or 365 days for $5, if you submit a ticket to the help desk. BFC does not follow the Steam, GoG, or Blizzard business model in that they will not offer unlimited digital storage of the games you purchase from them.

Well, I'm convinced. It does indeed sound like stone bridges are too easily demolished with "small" HE fire.

Well, how did the U.S.A. counter back then? We all know the answer. Germany was fighting on two fronts. U.S.A. was an economic juggernaut. For every Sherman the huns destroyed, we produced three more. Meanwhile, Stalin was sending "human waves" + myriads of T34s. The war was already lost for the Axis even before this AAR plays out. Germany was "on the ropes", the Italians were truly "hollow legions", and the Japanese were about to learn about particle physics, the hard way. However, CM is a tactical game, and I will be interested to see how this battle plays out.

I feel sorry for you guys that travel a lot. I build my own desktops and my current one is as big as a small car (exaggeration, but it's big) and the clicky keyboard I am using (vintage IBM type M) is probably bigger and weighs as much as your whole laptop, plus I run dual monitors, main is a 27 inch and secondary is a 19 inch. Edit: However, in order to make a useful suggestion for you jetsetters: http://www.dell.com/us/p/alienware-m11x-r3/pd An 11 inch laptop that should certainly run CMBN/CMFI. Pricey, though. Also....Windows 8 sucks, IMO. Try to get it with Windows 7, if you still can.

Just don't eat the yellow snow. It's not yummy.

I can't say that I pay much attention to Matrix/Slitherine, although I did enjoy playing their Panzer Corps grand campaign, until it became so ridiculously difficult that I had to start using cheat codes to "win". As for the price of wargames, I agree with Redwolf. As far as Battlefront, I want them to charge whatever they need to in order to keep putting out great games like CMBN and CMFI. Obviously, their is a price point that they cannot go beyond before they start losing customers, and it is up to them to figure that one out. They are nowhere near it right now, as far as I am concerned.

Hi Squatter. Your best bet for finding reliable opponents is to join a club.

How strong were stone bridges in 1940s Normandy compared to modern rebar reinforced concrete bridges?

Good points. I can tell you from experience on the firing range that firing full auto has a tremendous negative impact on the accuracy of small arms. Back when I trained with the M16 (full auto version), I was pretty good at hitting the man sized pop up target at 300 meters from the prone position on semi auto. On full auto, it was difficult to keep rounds on a man sized target at 50 meters.

I imagine things were much simpler back in the CM1 days when Moe, Larry, and Curly as well and the effects of being in buildings or trees were much more abstracted.

Best of luck, GaJ! I expect this AAR to be very entertaining, as well as informative. Plus, as a fellow WeBoBer, I hope you kick his arse....in a very kind and politically correct way, of course. :-)

Yep, I posted in the wrong thread, Duh. Looking forward to this, no matter how it goes. And, for what it's worth, I admire people who use their actual names here.

The thing about UberTanks in CM2 is one lucky hit to the gun can turn them into rolling machine gun bunkers.

It's probably time to just forget about the 20th century notion of optical disks and printed manuals, when it comes to software anyway. Just remember to backup your digital downloads on a thumb drive, external hard drive, or an online service such as Dropbox.

Welcome aboard! Now find a good club (ahem, We Band of Brothers), and you will be hooked for life.

No mods are must haves. The game will play well and look very good without any mods at all. I applaud our modders, and do plan to install some mods once the base game is stable enough that I don't have to reinstall mods every time a new patch or "update" is released. My CM1 game graphics were highly modded. With that said, the WW2 CM2 (CMBN/CW and CMFI) graphics are well done and quite sufficient, IMO, to play the game.

I don't use any mods, and I think the games (CMBN/CMFI) look great. If you decide to purchase, I recommend CMBN+CW for starters, with the 2.0 update (probably a bundle now, haven't checked), then patch to 2.01. Like others said, steep learning curve. Having experience with the older CMBO and sequels doesn't help as much as you might think, because the CM2 engine is very different from the old engine. Play some scenarios and QBs until you can beat the AI fairly consistently, then you are ready to move on to the real game: PBEM. Although "Play By E-Mail" is a bit of a misnomer these days because almost everyone uses Dropbox for file exchanges. Join a gaming club to find decent opponents who won't drop games, and enjoy! CM isn't a game you play for two weeks then uninstall and throw the box in a rubbermaid container in your basement, it's a game system that you will enjoy for years.

Like womble said, my feeling based solely on my play experiences since the 2.0 patch is that on board mortars take longer to "zero in" on targets, but once they do they are still quite lethal. Machine guns, however, are much more lethal. Where I used to spend my extra QB points on mortars, I now split them 50/50 with machine guns.

East Tennessee here. Tri-Cities region.