Rocky Balboa

My personal observations are that CMBN soldiers will return fire while moving if they are being fired upon. To maximize your soldiers moving without firing, try the following: Issue a fast move command. When moving fast your soldiers have a reduced spotting ability and are less likely to return fire. Use caution with fast as your troops will tire quicker especially if running for long distances. Personally, I very rarely use fast and primarily use quick for F&M. The next two suggestions are more important than what speed you move at. Use shorter bounds from cover to cover. The longer your troops are exposed while moving, the more chance they will be fired at and want to return fire. Make sure you have a good over watch element covering for your moving troops. Have them suppress known targets and use area fire on suspect enemy locations or target arcs to maximize spotting so that unknown enemy contacts can be quickly suppressed. Again the idea is if your moving troops aren't being fired at then they are less likely to return fire.

Yep, I know you can plot another way-point and then reset your arc which is a fantastic addition and there are times when this is required such as when you want your unit to focus on a totally different area than before but the downside to way-points is that the unit must pause to reorganize at each way-point. I suppose we have to work with what we have but it would seem to me, especially when playing RT, that having to have multiple way-points for the sole purpose or resetting target arcs could be handled much more efficiently (from the players pov) just by letting the arc stay fixed on the terrain, providing of course the unit wants to stay focused on the same area during the entire course of movement. Perhaps its too difficult a thing to code, but I actually see much more reason to have the arc stay fixed rather than moving relative to the units movement.

When and if BF gets around to revamping the UI. I hope they will take a look at target arcs and how they work. Currently target arcs are fixed on a units movement path and move as the unit moves. This is fine in some situations but other situations might require the arc to stay fixed on the terrain it was originally placed. For example: I suspect an enemy squad is set up in a building so I set my arc to cover the building so as to maximize my opportunity to spot the enemy. Currently as I move closer to or move parallel to the building, the arc will move off the building. In these situations I would like the arc to extend or modify itself but stay fixed on the building. Ideally the user should have the option to set the behavior of the arc either way.

I'm not sure if it works this way currently but hunt should only work within the target arc. Anything spotted within the arc causes the hunt to cease. Outside the arc and the unit keeps moving.

CMx2 is different from CMx1 in that the AI doesn't know what path it will take until the combat resolution has begun. For all intensive purposes everything is calculated RT even if you play WEGO. For example, A real soldier running across a field suddenly sees a stream. Maybe he didn't see the stream when he started his run but now he has to determine can I cross this ditch or should I detour. I believe a more realistic approach for the game to take would be to give feedback to the player only on terrain that they can see at the time a move was plotted but terrain outside of their LOS is left up to the AI or the brain of the individual soldier. I'm hoping BF will add this capability when they revamp the UI but providing they agree that this needs to be addressed we probably wont see it until CM:EF....

Yep just started this one myself. Its still too early for me to comment on the scenario design, but I'm really enjoying the way i'ts put together and the narrative approach FMB has taken. I hope BFC will take note of this and give campaign and scenario builders more options to tell a story with their designs in the future. I will give some feedback on the narrative at least for the first battle. The story is plausible but the dialog needs some work, it should be more natural and less forced. The swearing is fine if that's what your characters do but in some cases it seems as if a character says something for no other reason other than to drop another fbomb as if its just being added to shock the reader. All and all I applaud and thank you for your effort. For what its worth, I'll provide more feedback as I progress.

@Slowmo, When something like this happens its much easier to fix if you have a save game file. This will allow BF or one of the beta testers to see the problem first hand ...

Outstanding!! I'll definitely give it a try... Your terrain looks much more realistic than whats delivered with the game....

Are you sure the mortars are deployed?

Ahhh yes I didnt think about the AI, I figured no human player would attempt to cross those fields but I suppose the AI might give it a try ...

The map looks great! But I'm curious to know your thought process on making the flooded fields all water instead of marsh? I assume you want to restrict all movement to the causeway but wouldn't making the fields all marsh give a better impression of a flooded field as a opposed to one large lake?

I played that battle in warrior mode against German AI and got a Major US Victory. Yes the Panthers shrugged off quiet a few hits but in the end the AI just makes too many mistakes and is not as capable as a human opponent. Play and win against a capable human opponent, then you will have something to crow about ....

Maybe it has more to do with the unusual shape and signature of the Marder. Also locating them after they fire the first shot shouldn't be difficult due to a smoke signature. Once they are spotted even a hull down Marder will be easier to kill than say a hull down Panther...

In the case of losing LOS due to smoke then this would be preferable however if I move the unit without clearing target first, especially when playing RT, its an extra step to make sure you clear target otherwise your unit keeps firing and wasting ammunition.

I noticed while playing a battle this weekend that that if I target a location (piece of ground) for which I have LOS then I move that unit to a location where LOS doesn't exist without clearing the target, the unit still remains targeted even though they have no LOS. This is not a huge issue other than the until will continue to fire at that location even though they have no LOS. I was thinking a cleaner solution would be to have the target clear when a unit loses LOS to that location. I know this could cause some issues with something like smoke which could cause a unit to temporarily lose LOS such as smoke, however with the possible exception of smoke I can't think of why you would want a unit to keep a target once they lose LOS.

I was playing around with the QB setup the other day and I'm pretty sure I did just that, I selected a BN then deleted everything except 1 Co including all the BN leaders and support units. Then added some individual stuff. Don't have the game in front of me at the moment but I'll check it out later.... I will admit it took me a few mins to figure out that I had to select the BN first then delete what I didn't want but I was doing it without the manual and just trying to figure it out on my own.

I believe you can also delete the HQ's so this would remove the excess leaders ....

Coop would be great but I would like to see them make some big improvements in the Strategic AI as well as the ability for mission builders to script the AI first.

Don't judge yourself by others standards. Enjoy watching those replays and deciding different options with movement speeds and LOS, this is what learning is all about. In time most of this will become second nature or maybe it won't but the point is if your enjoying the game then play at your pace. I've been playing CMSF since 07 and now CMBN and I still like watching replays. If you ever get to the point where you can play RT, you'll finish that 45 min game in ... Oh what? 45 Mins ..

To The OP..... It seems to me that playing RT may be part of your problem. You said in a previous post that you are a CMx1 vet yet you seem dead set on playing CM:BN RT. When Steve says "try a different approach" why don't you try WEGO? I'm not dumping on RT play some people do it and do it very well others don't and that's why CMx2 supports both styles. Have you watched the AAR's? I think the AAR's this one in particular will show that RT can be played in this game and I didn't see this player having the problems that you are having. For me personally I've tried RT but with the exceptions of the smallest of battles PLT to CO-, its just too hectic for me. Playing WEGO may give you more time to manage your troops and increase your enjoyment.

Some have already gotten emails saying their package has been shipped. Depending on when you ordered, I'm guessing the ones that ordered first were shipped first.

I'm still finishing up Closing the Pocket in the demo but my results vary quiet a bit with yours. My M10's must have hit a Panther 7-8 times (range ~800m) with at least 2 of those hits where penetrations and it still kept moving forward and firing. Eventually a 75MM Sherman hit it from ~350M away with an oblique shot (right front hit with penetration) and that stopped it. With my M10's burning from the exchange I held my breath waiting for the hatches to open and see the crew bail but instead it started to back up. Thinking to myself, that thing still can't be battle worthy, the start of the next turn the Panther fired and put a round through the Sherman's turret .... Huge explosion and no crew got out alive ...

Yep, looks like shipping has begun, can't wait to get my Steel Box so I can set it on my desk and watch it spin around. Moon, are batteries included with the Steel Box?

Come now, no sense in cracking the whip so soon, the boys have earned a well deserved rest. I say let them take tomorrow off!!!

I feel confident that flamethrowers will be added in future versions but incidental setting of fires by others devices might not be.