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Cull

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Everything posted by Cull

  1. Glad I saw this thread, as it's pointed out some things of which I was totally unaware. I was really starting to wonder how designers made the AI as good as it has been in a few of the battles I've played. The bit about mortars etc as separate groups is especially helpful. Not sure why that didn't occur to me, but I guess I've just been locked into thinking of "groups" as being the same as "units"---obviously they don't have to be. Question: someone earlier linked to a Mac version of the design "manual"; can someone point me to a PC version? TIA
  2. "Hey, I think that's a StugIII getting ready to...OH S***!" Talk about lucky. Must've just grazed his helmet. "It's just a flesh wound!" By the way: is it possible to hide the UI entirely? I can't find it anywhere. Or is everyone just chopping it out via editor? (admittedly a pretty weak effort....just got fraps going, along with new image host....test post, tbh )
  3. Not gonna lie, that video's a real tearjerker for me. Thanks.
  4. Yeah, long-time, popular wishlist item for CM. The fact that the tedium of moving columns/groups of vehicles didn't make me quit this scenario is actually quite a testament to how good it is; sadly, I usually avoid battles with lots of vehicles that require column and/or road movement because it annoys me so much. That said, once you learn some "tricks"---plotting waypoints accurately at turns, using the "pause" command, etc---it's tolerable. Still, thinking about the amount of time/tedium that a "column" feature would save....I'll keep dreaming
  5. Just wanted to add my positive endorsement of this scenario as well. Very well done George. And I'll say that having AI plans in CMx2 is obviously a big improvement, but yeah, the AI still tries to force it's way to the next order area regardless of how much of a death trap it's facing. Limitation of AI indeed, and not much to be done, I suspect, until the next "leap" in AI. Unfortunately it's especially highlighted in CMBN due to the multitude of narrow lanes and bocage, and I've seen it in varying degrees of in just about every game I've played. I've played "Huzzar!" once as German, and while I was delighted that the AI tried to take the ford crossing (as opposed to the more obvious main highway route), once they got there I had them in a deadly crossfire of Panthers, Stugs, and artillery...but they just kept trying as the burning tanks and halftracks piled up on the river banks. Nonetheless, it was great that I did have to do some quick maneuvering to get set up for the ambush. In CMx1 a meeting engagement just boiled down to a race to the best position/victory location, and whomever got there first could usually just sit back and shoot fish in a barrel. At least now there's some anticipation---and occasional surprise---at least early in the engagement. Anyway again, thanks George for one of the better scenarios of CM I've ever played.
  6. Just finished Balkoski's "Beyond the Beachhead: The 29th Division in Normandy". What hell they went through on D-Day, crossing the Elle, capturing St. Lo, and otherwise. Feeling pretty reverent today...
  7. Yeah not sure why they don't list those details on the product page. IIRC there are four (pretty lengthy) campaigns, a couple of dozen scenarios, and +- 300 Quick Battle maps. If I had to take a moderately wild guess, I'd say there's probably 400 hours of game play into the initial release, varying by how methodical your play style, and whether you play WEGO or real-time.
  8. SS are scheduled to appear in the first module released, along with FJ and "Commonwealth" forces (as mentioned in the 3rd post of this very thread) Yes, the 17th SS counter-attacked toward Carentan on June 13 but was repulsed, largely by Combat Command A of the US 2nd Armored. So no...out of the box CMBN can't accurately model the battle for Carentan at the moment, or various other actions in Normandy. But we sort of can via scenario designers (with the unit renaming features), and some uniform and vehicle mods.
  9. Quick question for one of you Logitech types: (I actually lied earlier---I have the G5 not the MX518) Anyway. I grabbed the latest SetPoint software and dove in, but I can't seem to get any mapping to stick. In the Advanced Settings (where you customize for individual apps/games), do I select the CMBN.exe as the app to modify (which is what I did), or....something else. I'll keep messing with it but I'm wondering if I have to fiddle with the settings in the Data file as well, per the manual instructions.
  10. I've only specifically ordered tanks to fire smoke a couple of times so far but it worked fine. One instance was to blind an AT gun. That said, my guys weren't taking rounds at the time, so.... *shrug*. I'd agree though that they're just overriding your orders---for better or worse---just as all units will do in certain circumstances.
  11. Thanks for pointing this out Sergei. I'm slightly appalled at myself for not even thinking of mapping some controls to my (MX518) mouse. , but I'd bet I'm not the only one. Guess I just haven't played many games lately where it would occur to me, but there's definitely some utility for CM. "Next Unit" comes to mind immediately, as I need to get in the habit of checking all my units each turn; I never fail to miss at least one during the (WEGO) orders phase, especially in larger battles.
  12. I'll admit to not having considered our lefty brothers, or larger monitors. I am an insensitive lout. I'd forgotten about the number pad thing. Seems like a nice solution/addition once keyboard controls get smoothed out in general. No reason it wouldn't be easy to remap the WASD controls to there, unless they're already in use for something else. I don't think they are?
  13. Gonna disguise this bump of a thread about bumps by saying that I will likely use some form of terrain tile in combination with strategically-placed trees to try and hide the disfigurement as much as possible. I refuse to simply get rid of my RR bridge on this map as it's kind of integral. I mean, the map is already named "The Rail Line"
  14. Because, inexplicably, both sides failed to train cows to become deadly roving herds of suicide bombers.
  15. Me too, please and thank you! blackjohnflint @ gmail dot com
  16. I can't argue with that, but I chose the wrong word. "Acknowledged" is the right one. I think---and I'm totally guessing here---that they were so content with the mouse camera scheme that they let the WASD scheme issues slide, in the interest of working on higher priorities (like bouncy tanks ) . Not excusing that out-of-hand, but I can understand it. The mouse controls really are that good, IMHO.
  17. "...like the guys inside always standing at windows and exposing themselves" Which can not only be dangerous, but is illegal in most locales After a decent amount of time with the game I too would like to add my voice to the "buildings aren't providing enough cover" theory. I wonder if it is indeed a fact of occupants being exposed in windows and the 1:1 thing (which, I would imagine, would require some significant coding to tweak) or if there's not just a "global" cover setting that could be dialed up a notch for buildings to improve it. For me, so far, it doesn't seem that small-arms fire is too out of whack in it's lethality, but more HE and whatnot. I've seen 60mm mortar rounds land outside a building, say fifteen to twenty meters away, and take out half the building's occupants. It seems (I'm no WWII-era French building expert by any means) that that's a pretty extreme effect on a heavy/thick stone building, and even if the occupants were all loitering in windows like idiots it still shouldn't get that many of them. EDIT: I do agree with ^^^Wiggum^^^; moving within the building does seem to increase the lethality of enemy small-arms fire by a significant/unrealistic factor.
  18. ^^^Actually, I need to break down and get me one of those. The controller, not the recliner. Oh, and the Guinness.^^^ That would be me. It took a little getting used to but now I love it, and I hardly touch the keyboard but for a couple of movement order hotkeys. It's pretty widely accepted that WASD is clunky in CM; just forget it exists, join us on the mousy side, and never look back. One of the things I like to (do is) click any unit and TAB to get Unit Lock. Puts you right in that location focused on the unit facing in the right direction. Gerry This is a very handy method that I often forget about.
  19. Thanks mj. Accepting that "limitation" of the design process helps me move forward. I guess in the end a well-designed map is one where the designer has accounted for the variables of the QB system---and tried to limit opportunities for "silly" situations---to the greatest extent possible. And making full use of the designer notes is a good idea; offering recommendations to the player (even down to unit types) will help limit "bad experiences". I've started a new map and I'm going to set up 2-3 simple plans---with no more than say, 3 orders per group---for each side, followed by copious testing. I think that'll give me a better feel for the full range of "what might happen", then I can go from there.
  20. I'm under the impression that the railroad tile isn't really flat, hence the problem. Yeah that's what I was thinking as well. If that's the case I'm guessing it can't be fixed with a mod either. Unless maybe someone comes up with an entirely new file to replace it. BF please fix or do somefink! I suppose I could learn to ignore it but I'm kind of obsessive and hate having broken visuals in maps
  21. Whoops, I'm slightly embarrassed that I spelled it the way I did without thinking it might be wrong.
  22. Alright cool, sounds like we have an issue here that needs addressing. To be honest it's not like you do a whole lot of AT gun shuffling in the vast majority of scenarios so it's not (as mentioned) "game-breaking" by any means, but it's bad enough to be immersion-killing and potentially, in some instances, quite harmful to your chances of victory.
  23. I'm starting to get the hang of AI plans and whatnot, but here's my question for veteran map-makers: When designing AI plans, how do you account for what random units might show up when a player loads your map for a QB? In other words, I may design AI plans with the general composition of the groups in mind, but the forces may be entirely different on any given play, rendering my carefully-laid AI plans....silly. In other words, I can design a map and AI plans that would make for a great infantry fight, but what happens when a bunch of armor shows up for the battle? The answer seems obvious: you can't account for it. So is the answer just to make your designs quite "generic" and hope for the best?
  24. Same issue here. It's driving me mad.
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