FinnN

I was wondering that too - I didn't mind the sounds initially but some (not all) of them are very poor indeed (I hate most of the sounds in IL2). I noticed one of the moderators suggested to someone that if they didn't like the dog sound maybe they could just delete the file. I took a look to see where the sound and texture files live - and it seems to me that they're in SFS files, just as in IL2. Now IL2 is notoriously unmoddable in most respects without the assistance of the developers who integrate (or used to anyway) 3D models into the game. Will ToW be the same - or do we have to wait for patches to see extra content other than missions and so on? Have fun Finn

I've only had a chance to dabble a little in the first mission of each campaign, but from what I've seen so far the enemy AI seems pretty good. I have some issues with 'friendly AI' or whatever the correct term is. Pathing was a bit dubious at times - tanks on roads, stray infantry men heading off into the open because I'd sent a movement order to the group rather than trying to keep themselves in cover. I found it very hard to gauge how much cover my units were in had during both initial set up and play. I guess experience will lead me to get used to both these things though as I attune to the amount of unit management required, so it's very pleasing that the enemy seems very competent as that would be something that would get very annoying quickly. Have fun Finn

Bah! Mass as many troops together as possible and precede your full frontal assault with a heavy bombardment (if available, not forgetting to cease fire soon enough so there's no chance of any friendly fire incidents). Once you punch a hole through the front line your cavalry can mop up the retreating enemy who simply don't have the nerve for an old fashioned bayonet charge.

Same here, was one of the first to pre-order, no confirmation e-mail. Oh well, downloading now anyways. Have fun Finn

Once you make it past the first wave the second wave appears to attack that trench, along with a fresh set of troops. I haven't tried the hide in the trench idea yet, but so far haven't made it to the end. I've tried positioning the AT guns all over the area where the trees are, holding fire/position and they get spotted and slaughtered almost immediately 9 times out of ten. So far only shooting straight away and hoping for a couple of lucky shots has got me past the first wave. The other AT guns usually get hit before I can even click on them, never mind hide or shoot back! Getting past this one seems to be more down to luck than anything else. Holding fire with the AT rifles until the last minute works though, and I've had some luck with sneaking around with grenades once the tanks get really close - but there are just too many to deal with once the 45mm guns go. Being force to setup in the open on the front of shallow rise certainly doesn't help at all! Have fun Finn

Here we go: G - 15 S - 16 U - 18 P - 20 O - 18 86/100 Comments: G: Vehicles are spot on, and the animations and models for soldiers seems fine for the zoom levels that I generally use. I have no issues with performance. I find the terrain very cartoony though - (a) grass colours aren't terribly believable, quite washed out when zoomed out and too bright when right up close and ( foliage cover looks very fake - uniform trees, not much in the way of scattered bushes, etc. For me, those are the two things which make the game look dated. I'm guessing if the game maps are moddable at all (a) will be quite easy to fix. ( should be straight-forward too - providing a range of trees and bush sizes are available for use. I remember when the original CM came out some of the most generally useful mods for improving graphics did exactly the same sort of thing, so I'm hopeful that this will improve soon. I like pretty much everything else - dead farm animals are a nice touch. S: Not outstanding, but certainly adequate I don't see what the major problem is with them for some people. The dog seems to be attached to the farm which happens to be just where your eyepoint is more part of the scenario, annoying but a nice touch regardless and I quite like it! U: I found this to be much better than I was expecting, lots of options, clear and well presented graphics. Not had a problem with this so far, but I can see the lack of multiple waypoints could be a big issue and in some circumstances result in an unnecessary click and drag-fest. P: Excellent, no issues here. O: Seems to be a great game and a good foundation for future developments. Multiple waypoints and better terrain and I'd be happy to give it a 20. I am still waiting for a game that combines strategy and rts in the way that 'close combat: a bridge too far' did (none of the rest of the series managed it). Maybe this one will one day! Just one last comment - the manual is great, much better than the usual for a game these days. One thing I'd like to have seen more of would be tips on handling various situations and combinations of equipment. The online walkthroughs are exactly what I mean, and I'd love to see more of these - ideally integrated into the manual, even if it's as a PDF only appendix. Have fun Finn

Eep - that would be a big ommission! Came here looking for an answer to that exact question. Only played a little so far, and really enjoying the game - multiple waypoints being the only thing I've noticed as 'missing' from the basics so far. Performance is fine on my 3 year old 2.8G P4 with ATI X800. Have fun Finn

Time yes, the day though? Well too late now I guess. It's not a particularly big deal for me, but I can certainly see where the people complaining are coming from. I agree office hours are likely, as the people responsible will likely want to double check that everything is going smoothly and unlike the people running the servers probably not working late at night. Have fun Finn

I agree. I'll be happy to get the game whenever, but I have to say it's more than a little puzzling that we haven't been told when the downloads will be available...surely they know now, and have known for at least a few days. It's quite exciting...errr...well, fairly exciting anyways...waiting for a new game to come out and you see the release date getting closer, being left in the dark like this right up until the last moment is just frustrating and not fun at all and has taken some of the anticipation away for me. Oh well, all will be forgotten in a couple of days I suppose and it won't stop me buying future games, but I think it's definitely something to be kept in mind for future releases. Have fun Finn

Just got my order through - took several attempts but it worked just as I was about to give up! Have fun Finn

Yep, CC2 for me anyways had the best campaign I've ever played. The tension as you desperately hold on to a few crumbling buildings that progressively provided less and less cover whilst holding out for reinforcements was amazing, not to mention the bidding for ceasefire times. The whole thing was amazingly well balanced with almost every little thing having some sort of knock-on effect to the campaign. Later ones in the series seemed to refine the tactical side a bit, but dropped the ball when it came to the strategic side. Have fun Finn

I think it might be worth mentioning why XML is a good thing. Basically XML in itself doesn't do anything, all it is is a standard way of defining how something is described. Once something is in XML format it becomes easy to reuse and connect to all sorts of other systems that can understand XML - even if the description is different it can be 'transformed'. Let's say you had a strategic game, it could use one definition for all its bits and pieces, that could then be transformed into a definition that could be used to generate games for a tactical level game - or into an engine that calculates results or whatever. This might sound a bit theoretical at this point, but I'm aware of at least one other strategy game in development that uses XML and I bet others will follow. And it's no more difficult to write an XML file than it is to write any other text file - or to get it working. If you're not having a good experience with XML then it's a problem with whoever wrote those files. It's a bit like saying HTML is responsible for all the rubbish error ridden websites out there...well...maybe... Have fun Finn

For your text files, can I strongly recommend you produce them in XML format. This would be ideal for computer processing and the sharing of this data across different systems, but still be readable for humans too. Have fun Finn

Mark: I see there's no escape from Flight Sim people even here! If you ever fancy a quick battle PBEM game between pushing vertices around let me know! BTS: Thanks for the response, I too began to lose interest in CC after #2, although I bought them up to #4. The key thing about #2 was the balance, and the way that the terrain you defended gradually changed as walls got trashed and so on. CC as an RTS got better in each one, but the overall feel went backwards (especially in 3, where you basically couldn't lose). The simple nature of the campaign system in CC2 would be quite easy to recreate if, and this is a big if, there was a file that could be manipulated outside the tactical game. Of course if the game engine isn't designed for that then retro-fitting it is potentially not an option...and if it meant compromising the CM side then it simply wouldn't be worth it. More and more games are getting campaigns bolted on or included as standard, and I hope that one day some future edition of the CM series will have one too! Have fun Finn

Oops I missed this when I posted in a different thread. I couldn't agree more, import/export of battle results would be easy to implement and I don't see how on earth it could threaten Battlefront - after all the engine itself is their game. I can only see it generating more sales with people who are more interested in campaigns. Of course you can run campaigns in other ways, but getting a computer to run it has to be good way to go - after all look at how much easier to play CMBO is compared to a traditional wargame? Have fun Finn

I love Combat Mission, it's my favourite multiplayer experience to date - although a flight sim called IL-2 Sturmovik comes close on occasion. One thing I do miss though is the supply tension in Close Combat 2 (which I realise was a very different game) - where do I put my resources, can I cut that supply route, etc. Why not add an option to CMBB that at the end of a battle it will dump the full status of all elements (map, units, scenery, buildings, etc) to a text file. Likewise allow the game to import a text file in this format. There are people out there willing to work (or already with working) on Meta-Campaigns - why not further open up the possibility for them? I realise that this might have implications for cheating, but it could be an option that you tick so people couldn't capitalise on it or maybe some sort of encryption method. Either way a simple dump/import to/from a text file at the end of a battle probably isn't that hard so if it was never used then it wouldn't be too much of a waste of time. Have fun Finn

Just to make it clearer what my position is, there are elements of truth in what both of you are saying. Tiger you are very close to being correct, except that you are using 72dpi and 144dpi. In these types of images these terms have no meaning, what you've done is 'double the resolution'. Or you could say I'm using a '256x256' rather than a '128x128' texture size or something. Although your paint program will say 72dpi (eg Photoshop will have that as the default) that would only refer if you were putting it to an output device with a measurable size such as a piece of paper in a printer or a notional monitor or something similar. In this matter 'maximus' is 100% correct. Just to repeat though, if you *do* use those technically incorrect terms no-one is going to be confused about what you really mean. Essentially in real time 3D graphics you are always trading off between texture size (and thus frame-rates) and quality. A higher resolution texture size will generally allow for greater detail, but sometimes you'll be in a situation of diminishing returns where doubling the resolution will not double the quality. Also if a high resolution picture has too much detail for the screen output and the rendering engine isn't anti-aliasing (I don't think CMBO does this) you'll lose pixels which allow for sharp details to blend in with the background they're set on. I'm not saying that a higher resolution is bad, just that you have to use it sensibly and watch what you're doing. In certain circumstances no matter what you do you'll always get either slight blurrines or slight pixellation no matter how high or low resolution your texure is. Tiger is correct though in saying that things like the variation in colours/contrast are far more important providing your resolution isn't way out of the acceptable range. And to my mind both of your are very good at that! Have fun Finn

Sounds like a job for flamethrowers or quad-20mm to me. It's a shame the HMGs don't sweep across multiple targets like they would in reality when attacked like that. Oh well nothing like a lick of flame to send green troops scattering! Have fun Finn

I think the game as it stands works pretty well. You can get a fairly reasonable idea by going to view level 1 and moving the viewpoint to the location you want to move to (though I admit I find the trees a bit troublesome to work out). Possibly an idea would be to extend the tank hunt command to certain infantry units - perhaps calling it 'sneak/crawl/move to contact' or something, so that as soon as they spot the enemy they stop moving (but not open fire like with the hunt command). Hopefully the enemy won't have spotted you too of course, but with the sneak and crawl commands it shouldn't be too much of a problem. It wouldn't elminate accidents completely, just enough so that it wasn't embarasssing! Have fun Finn

As I understand it the HMG is mounted on a tripod with a better gunsight, and could also be fired semi-remotely using a cable whilst the crew remained prone and the gun panned left and right. The LMG had a simple bipod mount, apart from that I believe they were the same gun. Have fun Finn

The Germans were responsible for huge crimes during the war, but I think it's a bit misleading to pick out the Waffen SS (the units that are in the CMBO game) from other German units as being the ones solely repsonsible for war crimes. Certainly the more infamous crimes were committed by them, but the Wermacht was also responsible for the ill treatment of civilians and POWs, in the East especially. The issue has been subject to over-simplification as certain other criminal units (such as concentration camp guards) were also within the SS structure under Himmler. I'm not saying that the SS didn't commit crimes, just that they weren't the only ones. On the subject of political indoctrination although SS units were obviously the most 'nazified' within the German forces, both the Luftwaffe and the Navy were regarded as highly politicised by the Nazi leadership. Partly this was because their leaders were staunch Nazis themselves, but also because those branches had gained the most from the pre-war rearmament programmes. Finn

I think a good way of accommodating weapons like these would be to add an optional rarity multiplier to the points value (for all units). This would mean that you could have two sets of points values - one for units based solely on their armour/speed/etc and another penalising players for going for rare/specialised equipment. In contrast very common units could have a multiplier that would make them slightly cheaper to partially offset the points loss. You could even vary the points multiplier by time too - so purchasing an item at the very start of its availablity would be more costly than when they were fully in production. I'd imagine it would be really easy for the programmers to add this to the game. To take the idea further you could have a situational multiplier where units designed for use in street fighting would be penalised slightly if bought on a map that's predominantly open countryside. I guess that would be harder to decide on, but just as easy to program as it's just a minor alteration to the points tables. Have fun Finn

Hi, I'm a 'modder' as you'd put it for CFS2 (combat flight simulator 2) although I much prefer actually playing CMBO! I'm also a graphics professional and the painting/textures moderator at the busiest CFS2 forum site. Just so you know I'm not just making the next lot up... Firstly, I think the mods are great, and to me (as I usually play at height 4) I'd never notice small problems such as the ones you mention. But even close up, from the screenshot above I'd say it's a very nice texture. I also think that Tiger's mods are fantastic too. Now for some theory... The term 'dpi' has no meaning in 3D texture graphics, the important part is how many pixels there are. The term for this (as you probably know) is resolution. However, providing you don't refer to specific numbers, saying something along the lines of 'it's a higher dpi texture' whilst technically incorrect isn't going to confuse anyone about what you mean. Note that final image quality isn't just based on the resolution of the texture though: it also depends on how the texture is applied to the 3D model, how the game engine handles the rendering process and also the level of detail in the texture. Oh and did I mention artistic ability... Have fun Finn

Interestingly the British were preparing an expeditionary force to send to Finland when the Finns capitulated at the end of the first conflict between the USSR and Finland. Have fun Finn PS - it's my name not my nationality!

I know this would be a much bigger task, but I expect at least some people here remember Close Combat 2. I think that prior to CMBO this was probably the best WW2 game of its type (I enjoyed, but wasn't as impressed with its sequels). There were a series of battles going on simulateously and you had to carefully judge who was going to get which supplies and when, as well as where the 'rare' units were best put. If the CMBO save game file format was decodable then you could hang an engine on the top similar to the one talked about above, but which maintained all the damage and casualties etc. Have fun Finn