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Battlefront, Great news, I also look forward to some Nasiriyah scenarios. Didn't see it mentioned or maybe I mentioned it, there will be one module for all game versions right? i.e. I have the Paradox CD, so I would buy the same version as a Battlefront download? Just wondering. Thanks

Steve and Mark, thanks for the OS X update. It is my personal opinion that the G5 will soon go the way of the Mac dinosaur, so although some folks will get upset, many Mac game developers are going Intel only...just a thought. So, since I have CMSF for my bootcamp, I will chug along and wait for good things to come. Looking forward to the Marine module

Steve and Mark, thanks for the OS X update. It is my personal opinion that the G5 will soon go the way of the Mac dinosaur, so although some folks will get upset, many Mac game developers are going Intel only...just a thought. So, since I have CMSF for my bootcamp, I will chug along and wait for good things to come.

Apologies, but I did a search on the entire forum and didn't see anything on where Mac fits into the long term plan. Any bones on where you are in the process of porting CMSF to OS X? Will there be a simultaneous release of the WW2 version of Mac and PC? Mark, is there anyway to email an update...my email is in my profile or I can send it to you?

Are you talking about the download version? I have the version on CD and it works fine...other than it is 1.0 But I got it patched up to 1.08 with no problem and it runs fine. However, I agree the manual is kinda out of date and not that great.

I have also found the 1.08 patch to be great. When did the space bar become an orders menu pop-up? That was great, I found it by accident Anyway, seems a little more stable than 1.07. Played a couple of scenarios and a QB and only crashed once....so far.... How does this buddy aid work? Is that in the manual? Thanks

I have also found the 1.08 patch to be great. When did the space bar become an orders menu pop-up? That was great, I found it by accident Anyway, seems a little more stable than 1.07. Played a couple of scenarios and a QB and only crashed once....so far.... How does this buddy aid work? Is that in the manual? Thanks

I have also found the 1.08 patch to be great. When did the space bar become an orders menu pop-up? That was great, I found it by accident Anyway, seems a little more stable than 1.07. Played a couple of scenarios and a QB and only crashed once....so far.... How does this buddy aid work? Is that in the manual? Thanks

Good evening, Major, sorry I forgot to read the bottom of the PDFs and give credit to George Anyway, a couple of questions: * If you could host it on your website that would be great. I remember the old CMBO tutorials and they were great. I printed them out somewhere but I think they have been lost to the sands of time. I put together my starting stuff in Word and then saved as a PDF..which became a 6.5mb file. The MS word doc is only 704Kb, so go figure. So I don't know if folks would prefer that or a long post...either way. I think the graphics are easier in word or PDF. Also, I agree with you Yankee Dog, that some Syrian tactics would be good. I would love for this to be a real living Lessons Learned document somehow. I also thought some AARs for scenarios would be good for folks that just can't seem to get through them (as I suspect I will be). Finally, I remember for the CMx1 games someone posted an xls file with a simple series of OOB for all the units. I really found this helpful for understanding the myriad of different German units and their weapons. Has anyone done something like this for CMSF? That would be great for scenario design. Well, that's my two cents. I have played a couple of games with mixed results...almost scared the Sh-- out of myself when a T-72 "appeared" out of the middle of nowhere in the middle of my Bradley formation. (those pesky narrow side streets) Fortunately, my TOW gunner was little quicker on the trigger, but that was an unpleasant five seconds of combat!

Well, after reading several posts, I decided to put together a compilation of FNG files. I have collected and edited some of the tactic discussions from the forums and put them together in a Word Doc. However, I don't have anywhere to host it. I also collected the PDFs of scenario design put together by gibsonM So, is there any way to host this doc and let people add to it. Some of these posts were pretty old and a some of the "tactics" seemed more to be bug workarounds rather than real how-to guides. Here is a sample of what I have so far, I have tried to give credit to the original authors: ToadMan BASIC FAQs Q) How can I quickly select units/multiple units? A) The options include i) Left click on a single unit ii) Shift Left-Click to drag a box around multiple units iii) Shift Left-Click on each individual unit in turn iv) Double left click on a HQ unit (this will select all units subordinate to the HQ) v) In the HQ unit Information box, you can click to select a subordinate unit (this will jump the camera to that unit) vi) Use the '+' and '-' keys to cycle through units Q) How can I quickly select the relevant order tab? A) You can cycle through the selected orders tab (Movement, Combat, Special and Admin) with the 'T' and 'Y' keys. Q) How can I make my units move somewhere and hide, or change facing etc? A) Place a movement command as normal. Once it is placed, left click on the waypoint of interest. Now, with the waypoint selected, choose the relevant command (hide, adjust facing, pop smoke etc) and the unit will execute that command on arrival. Q) How can I make an APC move somewhere and then have the squad dismount (and move on foot) A) Give the APC an appropriate move order. Then either select the APC waypoint and choose the dismount command (will have the squad dismount and take up defensive positions around the APC), or choose the squad that is riding in the APC and give them a move order (e.g. QUICK to a buidling). Once the APC reaches the waypoint, the troops will dismount (and move) as ordered. Q) Can I edit a path and or waypoint? A) You can select an existing movement waypoint and change it's type. For example, if you have a QUICK move specified, you can select the QUICK waypoint and then click a different movement type (e.g. "NORMAL") and the movement type will change. If you wish to change the waypoint position, then the waypoints will need to be deleted and recreated. Q) How is the Blast Function used? A) Firstly, there appear to be some bugs with the Blast function which limits its usefulness at the moment. However, this is how you can try it out now even though it is of limited practical use : i) Make sure your selected unit has more than 4 satchel/explosive charges (see the manual for the icon and see below for why 4 are needed as a minimum) ii) Move them close to the wall you wish to blast (not all walls can be blasted) iii) Place a Blast movement order in to the building you wish to blast and choose a floor as per the usual building entry procedure. iv) Your units will go prone, wait a few seconds and the wall will be blasted. Having made a hole (or possibly not, see below) your units will stand up and move to the blast waypoint (inside the building). Q) My units won't fire Javelins at bunkers or other targets? A) For an infantry unit to fire it's Javelins a few steps are required : i) While they are inside an APC, go to the Special Orders Tab and choose the Acquire function. ii) A pop-up list appears, from this list choose the Javelin Launcher Unit iii) Now YOU MUST aquire again just as for step (i) iv) From the pop-up window choose the Javelin Ordnance (Javelin T-HEAT rounds in 1, 2 or possibly 3 missile quantities). v) Deploy your troops and consider giving them a Hide command to stop them firing their Javelins before you're ready/have selected a target. vi) Give the Javelin Unit an Area fire command on the appropriate target and wait. Notes : The infantry and Javelins are not always 100% accurate. Javelins may miss short or long (possibly even flying off the battlefield map). It's possible, particularly in RT gameplay mode, to miss the Javelin flight path and assume it has not been fired. Q) Why won't my tanks and/or IFV/MGS etc fire their last few explosive rounds at my designated target? A) It appears that the AI makes a judgement call when they get to a low ammo state and will not use heavy ordanance on targets they feel are not sufficiently threatening. For example, an M1A1 will not fire it's final few rounds into an area targetted building. That is the rationalisation of it, it could be a bug... Q) I have some wounded soldiers - can I heal them? A) This is done automatically by the game, but the squad must be in good order and remain near the casualty. You'll see that one of the infantry will attend to the casualty. More testing is needed to determine if this will return the casualty to fit status or in any other way affects the battle outcome. Q) How can I set up an ambush? A) Move your squads into suitable ambush positions and have them Hide. Once the enemy is in the "killzone" unhide your troops and if appropriate provide suitable targetting commands. NOTE : If you provide a combat order to a unit that is currently Hiding, it will stop hiding and open fire.I have not tested enough to determine how to set up an ambush in WEGO mode - it may not be possible at this stage ASSAULTING BUILDINGS metalbrew I usually dismount outside of RPG range, in the game this seems like roughly 150m. I attempt to align my assault on the building to lessen crossfires from the enemy. Then using 'assault' or 'quick' move towards the building with infantry while the Stryker provides overwatch. The Mk19 equipped Strykers (40mm automatic grenade launcher) are just awesome for infantry overwatch, they easily suppress enemy infantry as long as you've picked a reasonable approach (stay out of crossfires). If you find a particular building makes your life tough, drop it using a Javelin team. Obviously, if the enemy is inside they die quickly. For instance, I found the final tutorial mission really easy once I dropped the tall center building. With this building gone I flanked left with infantry while the Strykers tore the remaining defenders to ribbons now that the center building was gone and they had long lines of sight. Normal Dude There's no easy way to take building without risking casualties.. unless you can just drop the building. If you can estabilish a base of fire with strykers and other elements. Once enemy return fire has decreased from the target building (and others for that matter), move them into a corner of the building preferably far away from your suppressive fires and masked from fire lanes. If you can't move in a hidden area pop smoke from the vehicles. Once you have a foothold in the building, move forward SLOWLY, and "lift and shift" your supressive fires as they move along the building. Ideally, the occupants will have no recovery time from when the suppressive fires shift to when the assault element engages. Better to just level any pesky buildings (if you are allowed to) that out of the way and have good lanes of on your target building. Key things: LOTS of suppressive fire, take plenty of time, use smoke and hidden routes. Cpl Steiner The way I did it in the end was to use small teams to draw fire. I started with a squad split into two teams, each mounted in a separate Stryker. The Strykers then pulled up at the PL and disembarked one team of 4 men. They were ordered to sprint for the first building using a "Fast" movement order. Sure enough, the enemy opened up on them and they all went down (sorry guys). Having revealed a few enemy positions I hosed them down with the Mk19 and the MGs. The Stryker with the other team then popped smoke and this team did the same, legging it for the first building through the smoke. A good point to mention here is that smoke drifts on the wind in CM:SF, so if you attack up-wind, it helps a lot! The second team were more fortunate than the first, and only lost a single man. Any newly revealed enemy positions were then hit hard again, before I repeated the process for the remaining squads (this time unsplit). I think I also had the platoon HQ grab a Javelin and blow the top floor off of a building where enemy had fired from. By this time I had the whole platoon occupying the first and second floors of the first building. They had noticed enemy fire coming from a building to their right, so they hosed that down for a minute and then popped smoke through the windows before "Quick" moving into the next building towards the objectives. This went very well and I don't think a single man went down. Once in the second building they had a clear view of the objectives and just hammered them until the "Total Victory" screen appeared. Phillip Culliton The tricks: 1) (As Chad said:) Suppress, suppress, suppress. Time and ammo are on your side. Use them. I found that the positions I spent the most time suppressing were the positions with the most dead / wounded enemy inside when I cleared them (go figure). 2) Split your teams. The Assault command works well in particular situations, but when things get complicated it helps to micro your guns-n-assaulters a bit. Explicitly position your support teams and sit on the Hide / Smoke buttons for your assault teams. Multiple support teams seem to multiply the effectiveness of a particular assault. 3) Strykers are scary. Use four of them at once to pound the most likely enemy positions around an assault. And that's how I got into / cleared buildings. A caveat: I'm usually very bad at tactical wargames in general (CMBO, Steel Panthers, etc). Either my casualty counts are very high or I concentrate too much on force protection and never reach the objectives. However, this worked for me. Cheers, p Surviving Urban Ops #1- long post The_Capt But before we get into the CMSF "drills" let's start with some fundementals of urban combat, The_Capt Commandments if you will; #1 Cover is King. I cannot stress this enough, keep your guys under cover at every opportunity. If you don't believe me set up a quick test with a squad in a building and one outside at close range..say no more than 50m. Let them go at it...the outside one will always get cut to pieces. #2 Firepower is currency. You need to make sure you have the worst exchange rate in the world. The other team hands you a dime..you give em back $20. This is key as a big part of urban warfare is also ensuring your troops and vehicles are placed in positions that will let them fire effectively. In every situation you need to ask yourself "how can I get more guns going at X" #3 Reckless movement equals dead. In the post on the main board I went on about this at great length. If you are moving troops up through secure lines sprint them til they puke. If you are advancing to contact, Hunt is just about the only movement you should be using. Move is not working as it should just yet so again I say "Hunt". This command will give your troops the best chance to spot an enemy and do something about it. In urban combat the side that is static and under cover will always kill the poor fella moving. #4 Urban warfare is a deliberate operation. I know the cult of speed is very big in modern militaries and I have even seen some of this on the forum. Let me assure you that urban warfare is a slow and deliberate process. You need to maintain the initative, limit OPFOR mobility wherever possible, but at the tactical level any dream you may have of running through a town like Delta's will quickly be shattered by a determined opponent. Speed and initative are more applicable to the operational level of warfare in this context. #5 Micromanage. Yup you heard me. Urban combat in CMSF is very complex. You are going to have to manage your troops very closely. The AI is really decent if your guys are not moving or covering a field of fire but when on the move you have to become the big brain of the operation. The word doc has The Capt graphics on assaulting around corners. Anyone want to contribute? BTW if you want to read actual Lessons Learned and other interesting info go to http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/csi/RandP/CSIpubs.asp I found this an interesting and indispensable source for my Masters classes

Hello, I have also had mixed results with crashing. I have XP Home under OS 10.5 Bootcamp with a MBP 17" 256MB X1600 and 2 Gb of RAM. I have had at least one crash each scenario I played (mostly the training campaign) with the ATI compatibility both on and off. GibsonM, I have updated my drivers from the ATI website and done the Dual Core patch as well as whatever upgrades and patches MSoft sends through the auto update. Does using the balanced and ATI Off keep your MBP from crashing? I turned my settings up since the graphics were so cool to watch but I guess I will put them back to balanced if that keeps it from crashing. Does playing in RT or WEGO have any affect on the stability? I am also still pretty jerky with the camera controls, does a lot of camera movement affect stability? I am really getting into the game and can live with a FEW crashes..after all Windows is as Windows does... BUT OYYYY, I sure hope the Mac version, whenever it comes out, doesn't crash this much.

Thanks for the replies and the patience, I know there have been quite a few FNG posts. http://www.battlefront.com/discuss/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=52;t=003481#000000 has the most comprehensive explanation of using mods I guess that's what the search tool is for Thanks Major, thanks for the tips on shadows, I think that's a good idea.

Took the plunge and I have to say, it's the best $11 I ever spent! Yup, got the Paradox version off Amazon for about $11..and in 48 hours...patched and played it today with no significant problems..although the game crashed on the second training scenario (the one where you blow up the tanks and bunkers with javelins) Still getting used to the camera controls....slow but steady learning curve Couple of questions, don't know if they have been asked and answered so here goes A) I am playing under Bootcamp with a MBP 17" ATI x1600 w /256 MB VRAM. Any opinions on game settings? I think I am playing with ATI option off. I downloaded the latest drviers from the AMD website for bootcamp (1/08). Also, can anyone mod the actual ATI card settings under bootcamp...I can't get the Catalyst Control Console or whatever the things is to work... Does anyone play with shadows off? Does that make things better or faster? Is there a newbie guide for tactics and unit employment? I searched the tactics forum and didn't see a consolidated one. I am especially interested in assaulting buildings, since I have read a lot of posts on how tough that is..I know there's a couple of threads... C) Wasn't there some upgrade to show lines and paths and LOS (like in CMx1) or was that a future option? D) Is there a guide to installing mods? I know there's a lot of good ones..but how do you use them? Thanks, sorry about all the questions, but I am very excited to finally have it in my hands after 4 years (and 6 months of waiting for the 1.07 patch). I have to say, although there is still a lot to learn (or unlearn from CMx1)...this is going to be great...and since I only spent $11, I won't feel guilty about buying the Mac version when it comes out :cool:

gibsonM, I have a 17" MBP with the x1600 ATI card and 256m VRAM. I have tried the ATI left click both ways and played around with the other settings, I thought you said you have a MBP, what settings do you use in options to get the best gameplay? I use the up and down arrows, but they aren't very smooth and I occasionally end up in a top-down view and need to use the number keys to reset the camera...which of course is very frustrating when you're taking incoming....

I remember seeing a post where BFC described the smallest units that could be selected for a scenario in CMSF...I think it was a company, at least from the US side...they definitely said that you could not pick down to a platoon or vehicle level like you could in CMx1...I guess that was the post I was asking about....thanks for the pointers though...

gibsonm, Thanks much, I will give it a try

Howdy, as I was playing the 1.07 demo, I noticed that the only way to right-click using Leopard and Bootcamp running WinXP Home is to hold 2 fingers on the touchpad of my MBP and click. I know on some applications you can control-click to achieve the right-click function. Does someone know how to rig it so you can control-click? I find the 2 fingered method a bit awkward. Also is there another work around for the elevation since I obviously don't have a mousewheel on my track pad Can those functions be reassigned to other hot keys. I think once I figure out the camera control, I won't get waxed so bad because I just zipped to maximum elevation....

I was playing with the new demo, which is excellent, the night fight was great with the new graphics. I was also playing with the scenario editor and I was wondering if there is a unit list similar to the old XLS spreadsheets that were put together for the CMx1 series? I looked at the manual and it didn't really say. Or better yet is there a thread that lists the TO&E for the available units in the editor? Thanks, sorry if this has already been answered, but if it has a point to the thread would be greatly appreciated.

Sigh, I guess Majors never change Okay, point taken, won't ask again. Just wanted an update on where CMSF is going now that 1.06 was done..saw the excellent models for the Marine Mod...should be excellent addition. Now if there could be a full blown amphibious assault scenario

gibsonm, any update on the OS X version now that the 1.06 patch is completed. Has serious coding begun? I am having a tough time deciding if I want to hold out for Christmas or even Father's Day to dive in? BTW can you say how 1.06 plays under Bootcamp using XP? I am waiting on the improved demo to try it out......

Guys, thanks I agree with you YankeeDog, the only thing is, to play CM1 games I have to reboot anyway, so a Windoze version would only be a little change...I like the idea of supporting OSX development though...I guess I will see how the 1.06 demo goes and decide then....

YankeeDog and gibsonM I was reading the post in the Tech Support section... YankeeDog, did you mean a pool for when the OS X version will be out or started? So is your bet of July a release date or the date when work will start? I am about 75% convinced to just take the plunge and get the PC version because I fear I am missing out...the Ghost Campaign is really calling me I am thinking that once I play the 1.05 demo (hint, hint) that I will have an uncontrollable urge to plunk down my $$ and get started

Any update on when the 1.05 Demo will be out? Would like to give test drive on my MBP before deciding to wait for OSX version Thanks

Happy New Year Battlefront! I have got my new 17" MBP all set up awaiting the OS X version of CMSF? Any bone you can throw on when it might be done? Or if you need help beta testing in OX 10.5?

I know OSX would be the thing to buy...but how long...I need to know...the itch to buy is strong....must .....not....click ....yet.....MBP should arrive tomorrow.....