sfhand

IIRC, the green dots gradually turn red when the tubes/guns fire to provide feedback on overheating. The tubes/guns will slacken fire if/when overheating occurs.

Heh... I'm not the one to put a value on playing the scenario, admittedly I am very biased. But, given the size of the battlefield and the varied terrain I can see playing this scenario h2h many times with it always being new and different depending on the opponent. Now, if you were to say "testing the scenario for force balance" isn't worth $20 I would agree... The larger question, of course, is whether the vehicle pack and modules are worth what BF charges for them. As one who has purchased them I think they are. Creating a scenario that requires them is one way to insure people who bought them get more return on their investment.

Yes, there are vehicle pack items on both sides (no crabs of doom though, minefields are out). What are your machine specs womble?

A quick note about the initial battle. The defender is totally outclassed in many ways but also has a few small advantages. One can do a lot with a little in this game sometimes as Ken is. The defender also has a large setup zone to place the forces in any way he/she chooses on both sides of the waterway. Ken told me he went with the stock setup, which is great and which probably needs tweaking (I went with a tweaked version of it against Ian). When I looked at the turn Baneman (also Ian) sent me I noticed he made some pretty big changes to the stock setup. None of this is to say the Allied player is in a cakewalk. In the game with Ken, where I'm attacking, I am nervously looking at the clock. I need to balance speed with caution because any force advantage I may have now will be gone soon when reinforcements start arriving. I really hope someone can step up and take the plunge with Baneman. Not for me, not for him, but because I think you will have a blast. So far we are talking only about the first battle, which is like an attack/defend scenario, the other four battles are supposed to be evenly matched "meeting engagements". Three out of the five battles are between reinforced infantry companies, the other two battles are between forces that are ~twice as large and are the last two battles of the scenario.

That sounds like when I'm the attacker...

Here's the thing about the videos... I don't think watching them gives one an advantage. One of the remarkable things about CM, IMHO, is how situations can play out differently many times. In the battle with Ken one of my soldiers fired a rifle grenade into an occupied building and put a major hurt on the guys in there. I managed to take control of the building after that, but prior to the rifle grenade my guys were in a dire situation. If that rifle grenade hadn't hit when and where it did the battle probably would have had a different outcome. I knew there were guys in that building, btw, and that didn't really help me because I played as though I didn't know. Also, I'm playing this scenario against 2 people, one from each side. As the creator of the scenario I know (generally) what their force is and in Ken's case what his initial deployment was. Since we're playing "iron" it is easy for me to ignore enemy units my units don't have contacts for. Also, 15+ minutes into the battle I know Ken has moved a lot of stuff around, so really only his support stuff is where it was originally, which means I am going to be willfully driving into AT gun kill zones, but I will do so the way I would if I didn't know they were there.

A tale of two fly-overs... Mine (stuttering commentary included): Ken's (c3k):

Chris, Thanks for the response... I hope you have a Great New Year!

Baneman, email sent. Hopefully someone will step up and volunteer to help you test this.

Michael I was asking about the version of the CMx2 engine... version 3 (what we have now) or version 4 (new and exciting features). On release CMBN was version 1 of the CMx2 engine, CMFI was version 2, while CMRT and CMBS were/will be version version 3.

Thanks for the information, Steve. Is the new game going to be version 3 or version 4 of the game engine?

As the Allies continue to move down Wolf Grade road they get a sound contact on the other side of the hill. A team is sent to investigate. Here is what they found. Fortunately for the Allies, the tree branches only stopped the German grenades... This is not to say Allied trucks weren't also challenged this turn. Everyone heard planes approaching the turn before and all motorized units were ordered into the concealment of the trees. At a centralized staging zone one truck driver had other ideas (maybe a quick bite in the kitchen?). No red crosses can be seen in this video, but a few guys in the back of the truck were killed. So far, against this opponent we've seen light tank duels, light tank knife fights, and general light tank bushwhacking. We've seen careless recon cut down in their prime while crossing a road. We've seen an assault on a house full of German infantry. We've seen convoy pile-ups due to long range AA and AT fire. We've seen Allied tanks advancing with no infantry screen (that deserved a video of its own - very nice faust/schreck ambush from the woods) I'm sure there are some things I'm leaving out as well (like: we've seen a truck drive through a house). The thing is, the battle is only 10-15 minutes old with another 3:45-3:50 hours and 4 reinforcement waves to go. (The turn is available if BF wants to examine the truck going into the house)

Looking forward to it SLIM.... thanks for stepping up (into the breach?)!

I'm thinking that by the time we finish you will agree the AI plans will be massive undertakings. It is going to take some time to finish the balance testing so I will continue thinking about how I think each side should proceed. I also think since the game will allow for 3 different AI plans it would be nice to have 3 different people make them. So far I've asked you and another about interest/willingness to consider So, no need for an answer now just know there will come a time when I ask "for real". But don't let that stop you from committing now if you're interested!

The search function is your friend... http://community.battlefront.com/topic/102036-new-file-at-the-repository-battle-for-carentan-hth-battle-2012-03-09/?hl=carentan

Ian, the real challenge with the bridge will be with single player. It is easy enough to tell h2h players to keep the bridge intact or it will destroy the scenario. Do you know of a way to stop the AI from attacking units on the bridge? I haven't started messing with the AI yet; I'm waiting for the forces to be balanced prior to trying to cook up an AI plan. Actually, since there can be 3 AI plans maybe you would be interested in putting one together when the time comes?

I'm all for it... but it is a huge commitment for a battle that is being balance tested... so far I'm doing one to two turns a day and if things go pear shaped because one side is over or under powered the impact on my daily routine will be minimal. I'm going to put an updated scenario file in our dropbox with fords on either side of the bridge if you want to play with the idea you don't use them unless the bridge becomes blocked or destroyed. (still, please try to keep the bridge open as it is important to both sides that it remain open).

My guess is sometime before you send me another turn...

I have a hard time imagining playing a 4 hour scenario using tcp/ip (no replay)... but different strokes I guess. Are you going to play real time or wego?

Well, I advocate getting everything... but if I were to go the CMBN route you describe I'd get both updates with the MG module rather than the CW module. Not only do you get most of the CW force but you get Holland terrain and buildings as well. As far as CMFI + GL + v3 upgrade goes, well it is every bit as good of a choice, IMHO. CMRT is also very good. It all really depends on what you want to play and I find I enjoy playing all of them equally. They each present their own challenges and wonderment.

Central road network: good things happening! Right flank road: bad things happening!!! More in depth descriptions on the youtube page.

If no one hooks you up send me a pm... thanks for being willing to help!

IIRC, when MG came out there was no 2.12 so I would install the 2.0 upgrade followed by MG followed by 2.12.

Baneman, thanks for the save. There is good news and bad news. The good news is all of your guys survived the first minute of battle, the bad news is I opened the file with no problems... Seriously, thank you so much for being willing to check this out. If you manage to figure out what the deal is with your rig please try again. I can report that at least one of the people I'm playing this scenario with is really enjoying the challenges the map presents.

I suggest getting in touch with the helpdesk... As I understand it none of your additional activations should be used. I am assuming your CMBN was not v2, in which case I doubt the v2 Commonwealth module would upgrade the base game even though it is v2.12. I would start over from scratch and install CMBN, 1.11, v2 upgrade, MG, 2.12, CW(v2.12 already),v3, 3.11. Then see where you stand.