Erwin

An Axis vs AI campaign covering the 1943-1945 era would be welcome as most are from the Allied POV and the Axis has little opportunity for attacking. Thanks for all your work. I know that Paper Tiger said it's not uncommon to put in over 1000 hours work for one of his (xnt) campaigns.

Wonderful news! Thank you Steve.

And in other related news re the "big picture" of how the Ukraine war is part of a larger strategy to replace the USD: https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-brics-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman-israel-china-russia-25b511d7?mod=opinion_feat1_editorials_pos2 Saudi state TV said the Kingdom has officially joined the BRICS bloc. BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the group’s longtime members. They began as developing nations bent mainly on growth. But in recent years, led by China and Russia, the BRICS have evolved into a diplomatic bloc bent on countering Western influence. The bloc would like to create an alternative system of global finance that is less dependent on the U.S. dollar for transactions and would be less vulnerable to Western sanctions.

Reality finally settling in - very predictable: https://www.wsj.com/articles/ukraine-may-have-to-accept-a-cease-fire-putin-orban-congress-aid-89f9932a?mod=opinion_recentauth_pos3 Ukraine May Have to Accept a Cease-Fire The word “crisis” is overused, but it accurately describes what Ukraine faces as 2024 begins. According to a recent report in the Washington Post, troops on the front line are running out of ammunition. Artillery shells are being rationed, forcing the Ukrainians to cancel planned assaults and making it hard to hold defensive positions against Russian attacks. A press officer for a Ukrainian battalion recently said that ammunition shortages had forced his unit to reduce its rate of firing by 90% since the summer. “We lack everything,” a member of another unit said. Although his comrades are highly motivated, he added, “You can’t win a war only on motivation.” He doubted they could hold their position much longer. This is an all-hands-on-deck emergency. If negotiators can’t reach a deal by the time the Senate reconvenes, President Biden must get directly involved. Even if aid for Ukraine is renewed, it is essential to consider a realistic ending for the war. Ukraine’s insistence on regaining all the territory Russia has seized since 2014 is understandable and legally impeccable, but events over the past year have made it clear that this goal can’t be achieved anytime soon. Ukraine’s vaunted counteroffensive failed as Russia’s reinforced defenses held. Russia’s economy has proved more resilient than expected, and it is ramping up military production much faster than Ukraine and its allies. The conflict has exposed the hollowing out of the West’s defense industrial base... ...But it is the only realistic path to a lasting peace in Europe. Adv

The shock one feels going from CM1 to CMSF will probably be similar to the shock going from CMSF to CMBS. One can afford hardly any mistakes in CMSF. One cannot afford ANY mistakes in CMBS. Good game tho'.

LOL I thought we were using the new politically correct math - which could add up to anything one "feels" like.

Maybe helpful to discuss (what I think are) good reasons for replaying turns: 1) Very common: The TACAI does something really stupid and gets guys killed. Eg:Troops are not sent through a "safe" door or destroyed building wall but instead go out in full view of enemy and are slaughtered. 2) Stupid TACAI #2: One's heavy weapons unit/AFV fires close to friendlies and you lose a bunch of troops. 3) Enemy unit is able to fire through an impossible to see 1 pixel wide gap through tens of meters of dense woods and buildings and kills a vital friendly unit. 4) In a campaign mission one loses vital FO "leaders" or (in modern titles) Javelin "gunners" and in the next mission, these guys are not replaced so one may find it hard or impossible to call in air or arty even tho' the FO radio operator and/or "Javelin assistant" may still be present as useless one-man teams. 5) In a campaign mission you lose too much so that several missions later, it is impossible to proceed and you may even be kicked out of the campaign.

This may have something to do with an examination of who over the pat decade or two has been responsible for most of the suicide bombings, beheadings on video, burning, drowning and burying people alive etc.

Aside from 60+120 = 200, your are assuming that people only want to play certain years in a Western Allies game series? That seems weird to me. CM1's CMBB was great cos one could play from 1941 to 1945 in one game. Of course it is understandably much more lucrative to break up the years and sell them as individual modules. It's just a shame that the CM2 WW2 series cannot be combined.

This would be most topical and hopefully get a lot of players.

Glad Petraeus said that. The fact is that "we" have been doing the same as the Israelis in our own conflicts... but they were never reported in the same way as the Israeli-Pal conflict has been. So when "we did it", it was understandable and applauded. As folks have noted earlier in this thread, there is an ugly double-standard applied here compared to the US reaction after 9/11 when Iraq (which had nothing to do with 9/11) was invaded and reportedly hundreds of thousands of "innocent men women and children" were killed. There is a big difference between deliberate cruelty/torture/terrororizing and unfortunate/regrettable collateral damage to eliminate an evil such as ISIS or Hamas.

Both the above solve 90% of the challenges. In CM1 one could make a lot of errors and still have an enjoyable game and win. CM2 is MUCH less forgiving and requires a higher skill level. CM2 can be a lot more boring than CM1 as many times one needs to recon and wait (and wait) for arty and air to do its job and only get into the "fun" assault stage in the last quarter of the Mission. It depends on the skill of the designer as to whether the level of "fun" is maintained all through the mission.

That is my understanding as well. (Same for Personnel MF's for leg units.) IIRC Minefields can only be neutralized by blowing em up with heavy arty. However... there have been so many updates that could have changed things.

Next on the list after PT's revised "Gung Ho!" campaign.

Great job Laurent. Lovely New Years gift.

Well. one can split of a two-man scout unit. Seems more realistic than sending one guy alone.

I had a vague memory that one used to be able to re-embark TOWS in the same was that one can reembark the 50 cal and the grenade chucker. Thought that maybe a bug has been introduced. But then, after 15+ years of updates, it's hard to remember what is what in the CM2 series. Same issue with the useless 50 cal carried by sniper with a rifle that takes 7.62mm.

I just noticed that after disembarking the Humvee TOW teams, they cannot be re-embarked. Can't recall if that was always the care, or if this is a new bug. Also, has there been any explanation re Sniper Teams with rifles that take 7.62mm also carrying useless (to them) 50 cal rounds?

Generally, the same tactic works for all CM2 games. Recon and lead with inf. Locate the enemy's primary threats, ATGM's or ATG's (more WW2). Kill them with arty. Then the AFV's can blast away at buildings and troops. In CM2 the tanks seem rather delicate. While we read about geat tank assaults, leading with AFV's etgc. designers usually make that a suicidal tactic since the designers create defenses specifically to make that tactic suicidal. It seems common that one spends perhaps 75%+ of the game prepping the battlefield and the last 10%-20% actually rolling out the assault. So, patience is critical. - much more so than in CM1 games.

It is usually quite possible to accomplish CMSF missions with minimal casualties. It takes practice and an understanding of how the game system works, and that takes experience. CMBS is much worse in that one error can cost you the game. I found CMSF be be a huge "shock" after playing CM1 games for 7-8 years. The CM2 games are all very "sensitive" and errors are heavily punished.

You have a link for us to d/l??

In the game, it does not appear as if scouts (not sure about snipers) have any special training that makes them better as scouts. Generally it's best to have Crack scout and sniper teams for that reason. They are quite good. Otherwise, the lesson that CM teaches us is that scouts tend to be expendable who find the enemy by getting shot.

Good catch, Laurent.

My sense is that experienced players rarely, if ever, use the "Hull Down" command as it is uncertain in what direction your AFV will be hull-down to. I find the best method is to use several waypoints around the location you want the tank to stop and examine the TARGET line from each waypoint to the target (direction) you want the tank to be facing. The end of the target line will tell you either no hulldown at all, or "PARTIAL HULLDOWN" or "HULLDOWN". It becomes 2nd nature with practice... Note that for some reason it is often impossible to get hulldown as you can move the AFV a meter and the target iine will go from "No Target" to "Partial Hulldown" with no "Hulldown" at all. Obviously, vehicles are higher than the surrounding ground. Your tank may have no target to the ground at a distant location. But, if another vehicle is that that same location, it would be seen by your tank as it is higher than the ground. In order to see if your tank will see an enemy tank at a location, you should place your tank's waypoint at the potential enemy target location and then click on that waypoint and see if one can "see"/get a target on your own tank. "If another unit can see your unit, your unit should be able to see that distant unit." Hope that helps.

You should look at Koh's Crete and NA mod sets. He's done a fabulous job creating those for us. BF has shown little interest.