Erwin

I have one machine on 7 and a new one on 10. I hate the (expensive) one on 10. Feels like it was made for kids who only want to do social media, have their personal info stolen, and be marketed to. Every time I have to log on to 10, it tells me that I have to do something with my Windows something in order to get apps, which I couldn't care less about. Then it tells me I need to accept cookies... Haven't even bothered loading any games on it. Am seriously considering for the next super machine to pay extra(!) and have Win 7 loaded. 7 does everything that is needed. I can't believe that I am the only one who feels this way... Reckon that MS support will continue due to demand.

I was simply responding to someone's else's comment to explain why our CM2 games seem to favor SMG's when longer range rifles are what used to be used more commonly. Sorry that these forums are not your personal playpen. Why don't you take your attitude and go play with the other kindergarteners. Oh... you probably already have...

Just thought I'd report that I saw this at my local IMAX last week and it is an xnt movie - highly recommended. Not a conventional war film, it shows same events from different viewpoints. So, almost like an art war film. But, amazing FX, emotional ****, and wonderful Hans Zimmer score etc.

Yes, very nice tactic. Is that a RL tactic btw, or just a trick for the game?

While that is "normal" there are exceptions. I am not 100% sure which vehicles/crews can use external ammo. But for example IIRC the Brits have an Auto Grenade Chucker vehicle in CMSF. One can dismount the crew and ACQUIRE grenade ammo from a supply (land rover) vehicle and then remount and use the ammo.

One has to differentiate what the AI troops can see and what you the player can see. The player has much shorter LOS with which to make plans or waypoint orders. One can only trust that the AI troops do what is appropriate, when appropriate. Playing WEGO becomes much harder (riskier) in darkness. Am I the only one actually playing this game??

I remembered that in Mission 3, only 3 casualties were suffered by the "cavalry" rescue force - all vehicle crews as they reconned forward. The other 13 were from the trapped Brits in the "fort". However that was cos I had em on the roofs firing at the Taliban. They killed a lot of Taliban, but suffered... It occurred to me that since the AI can't breach walls, one option to greatly reduce friendly casualties could be to have the trapped Brits hunker down in the "fort" at ground level protected by the walls. If any Taliban try to enter via the only "gate", they would get shot to pieces. That would make the cavalry force much more important as they would have to do the work of assaulting and killing Taliban. That would certainly require more time and be more challenging once night fell and the allied long range fire advantage disappeared. As it is, the rescue forces did hardly anything. I think the vehicles shot up a few Taliban, the 81mm mortar KO'd a 12.7mm HMG. But, neither the heavy arty, the air support, nor the "cavalry" infantry units played any role at all(!). And the battle ended with a Total Victory after 30 minutes rather than 90 minutes as allowed. Victory Conditions need tweaking imo.

Thanks... will try it out. (Altho' I vaguely recall trying FRAPS when CM2 first came out and couldn't get it to work.) Any security issues re spam/bots etc?

I never seen vehicles share ammo. Occasionally it's possible for a crew to dismount, board another vehicle and AQUIRE ammo they can use once they return to their own AFV. But, that only works for a very few vehicles IIRC.

The issue is at the "3 corners" area which represents a very tenuous line of supply from India to its NE region. China is trying to threaten that link and isolate India's NE province. In addition, China has built the world's largest gold statue of Buddha in Bhutan as a "gift". (I bin there and it is very impressive.) Of course that means that tens of thousands (millions?) of Chinese will flood in to see it. Of course that requires good roads. The sort of roads that armored divisions need. And pretty soon little Bhutan will be overrun and lose independence. One can see it coming... Combined with China's outrageous attempt in the South China Sea to control world sea trade and grab potential offshore oil from Vietnam, the Philippines and several other countries, and their using client state NK to embarrass and humiliate the US, this makes Russia's adventurism look trivial.

Sounded like rural Utah to me lol. (I did spend some time in southern Utah amidst the Martian landscape.)

Played WEGO ELITE. ********** SPOILERS ********** This is an interesting premise (90 minutes). One has to defend an ambushed formation holed up in a village. Just like a beleaguered French Foreign Legion fort surrounded by bloodthirsty Arabs in the desert. Low on ammo etc. Meanwhile the cavalry (some US and more Brits) attacks with strong reinforcements to rescue them. First thing is for the isolated patrol to empty their immobilized IFV of ammo. Then run for the safety of the "fort". After that however, the defense vs the AI attacks is easy and the natives massacred in their attacks. The surrounded unit never was in danger of running out of ammo. The Brit "cavalry" is very strong and includes arty and airpower. It seems that the key is to go left and cross country near the LHS map edge. The only obstacle is an uncon 12.5mm HMG which can shred one's Humvees and Land Rovers. But as soon as arty is available 25 minutes into the mission it's pretty easy to kill the HMG, and one can overrun all the way close to the "fort" outskirts. The other wrinkle is that around the 30 minute mark just b4 the Taliban surrendered it suddenly gets dark. If I hadn't assaulted quickly, this would have been a limited visibility nighttime attack which may have benefited the Taliban both in defense and attack. Taliban surrendered after only 30 minutes(!) (with 60 minutes more to go). Total Victory: US/Brits - 120 OK; 1 KIA; 15 WIA. Taliban: 20 OK; 34 KIA; 35 WIA. A easy mission if one bypasses the villages and doesn't engage in unnecessary conflict. But, I liked it cos as with Mission #2, one is rewarded for good planning and tactics. And again was very happy to not encounter mines or IED's.

I Am PC guy not Mac. Have only ever used Picasa for photos. What is Paint? I couldn't see it in my MS programs A download? And FRAPS? Any crayon level guides? Normally I don't bother posting pics. But some of the sunsets in CMSF with modded vehicles are amazing pics - as good as any photo I have taken - very realistic-looking.

I didn't realize you'd spent time in Utah, Michael... Good times...

We do have mods for Pakistani troops - which would be similar to Indians. (Not sure what weapons they have.) BTW: I wonder if the Brit uniforms and specifically the Brit helmets in CMSF could be modded to look like either Chinese (or Russians in Syria)? They seem similar. Weapons of course would again be the problem.

What is the procedure for taking pics? It was so easy in CM1 but have never figured it out for CM2.

This is an attempt to start a thread that will focus only on Dragonwynn's xnt CMSF campaign. Have reposted some my earlier posts here for anyone interested in how the Missions play out. PS: I play ELITE WEGO. ************* SPOILERS ************* MISSION 1 I really like this sort of "sneaking around" missions. The Brit force features all the light Land Rover-type vehicles as well as their "Desert Rat/LRDG" fast recon vehicles. Snipers, 7.62 mm, 50 cals and AGL's that can be removed from the vehicles and mounted on top of buildings. Love all that. The Brits are however, a bit light on infantry - only one platoon of engineers (27 guys) and the rest are all HQ chaps, drivers and crews - so about 70 guys total maybe. A bit frustrated that I lost 3 guys to mines quite early. Problem with CM2 is that the only way to find mines/IED's is for someone to get blown up. I thought that the area of IED's was indicated by barrels and other eye candy. But, apparently there is no indication. Also, I made the village to the left and close to the set-up zone as my HQ and was surprised to find a whole bunch of Taliban pop up literally under their feet. Lost a 2-man FO team and the sniper guy from the sniper team but wiped out the Taliban. Same thing happened a few meters in front of a couple of armed vehicles. Fortunately all Taliban immediately killed with no loss to crews. 60 MINUTES TO GO: Just about to take the first objective in the LHS town. 6 KIA and 6 WIA. Seems too high % for this operation. Can't help feeling that in RL, the Brits would pull back and have an inquiry at this point. But, since it's a game I guess must soldier on. 55 MINUTES TO GO: Still cautiously clearing the buildings around the first/closest objective (on the left). I could have popped smoke and ran a guy into the "green" and out and got the Touch Objective. But, I think that would be "gamey" and it's in the spirit of the mission that the buildings around the market be all cleared b4 we can declare the objective cleared. I have committed the entire engineer platoon to the left flank plus a 2IC, so there is a reserve in case of more IED's, mines or ambushes. Hopefully have flushed out the defenders of the market place. Also a grenade thrower vehicle plus a 7.62mm vehicle are working their way down the left map edge and have flushed out an enemy HQ and uncons situated between the objective village and the Mosque objective. I recall that Brits don't do much recon by fire to save ammo. So am not firing at anything unless there is a target or a known enemy contact. Someone plz correct me if I am doing this wrong. On the right flank, have committed a couple of vehicles (one 50 cal and one 7.72mm) plus an FO, a 2IC and the Recon HQ to recon the approaches to the RHS village objective and also to clear the depression area, securing that flank. Killed about 8 Taliban with arty in the trench. Not sure if one should be using the 2IC, an FO or an HQ in this role. (Plz let me know.) But this force seems to be rich with HQ's, 2IC's and FO's and short on infantry. All other HQ's and vehicles are in or around the small centrally located group of buildings. I may run out of time. But, this pace seems right for this operation since friendly casualties are to be avoided. Still 6 KIA and 6 WIA b4 even getting the first objective represents about 15% of my starting force(!). So, in RL, one wonders if the operation would have been called off at this point. Losing 3 to the mines irritates. And it was strange to have Taliban pop up literally under the feet of my HQ and rear units causing me another 3 casualties. But, I can understand that more. 34 MINS TO GO: Things moving faster thank goodness. Taken the Mosque objective. About to take the 2nd village objective. Also using choppers to degrade the uncons on the other ground objectives. My only beef is that I had a recon vehicle out in the depression in the middle of nowhere and it hot a minefield! Lost the vehicle and one survivor. One expects mines around locations like roads, bridges, chokepoints etc. But, in the middle of nowhere where it's incredible "luck" that anyone would ever find it?? Lots of charges and ammo left. I wonder if I should be using more ammo on "recon by fire?"... Taliban surrender with about 30 minutes to go. Got a Tactical Victory. The Brits were literally a couple meters away from the 2nd road objective, and didn't get anywhere close to the trench complex objective. One issue: Even tho' the Brits occupied the Mosque, we didn't get any points for it. The "green area" remained even tho' it was a "Touch" objective. I think I recall the same thing from the first time I playtested this scenario. What's up with that? (Jeez I hope I don't have an earlier buggy version of this campaign!!) However, lost another vehicle to an RPG - that was plain careless. 18 guys KIA or WIA, or about 20% of my force. That seems like it should be a loss, not any kind of Brit win. My preference is to be penalized more heavily for friendly losses, but give the player a chance to win with minor losses. In this Mission I seem to have "discovered" every minefield. At least my guys didn't stumble into the 2 IED's. MISSION 2 My std SOP is that Recon units and long range weapons should not be used for assaults. The snipers and recon have no business in the villages as clearly there will be restricted LOS. From the RHS hills however, they can shoot into the villages from those hills. So, will send the recon platoon plus the two snipers with at least one FO plus a mech platoon for back-up over the RHS hills. (Maybe plus one engineer squad?) Since dragonwynn is such a cunning SOB, I suspect there will be enemy defenses there. With any luck, this force can swing left at some point and enter the center of the villages instead of fighting their way thru from the end. The assault into the town will be conducted by the engineers, the ANA platoon, and one mech platoon. The third mech platoon will be in reserve to go into the town or into the RHS hills. (What the hell does the one man "Operations" unit do btw??) Already being shot at by multiple snipers situated in the LHS hills. Since there is no arty (why is that?) have to call for air support to sort the sniper nests out. It makes me nervous that there is no ammo resupply. I would like to do a lot of recon by fire, but since in CMSF we don't know how much ammo everyone carries, one can't budget bullets effectively. Suggest that if you load up troops with extra ammo, you mention that in the briefing. Otherwise, one has to assume regular (approx. 200 rounds/man for rifles?) and be very economical in its use. 18 charges does not feel like enuff for so many buildings, esp since the Brits had 24 charges in Mission 1 and I may have only used about 7. 90 MINUTES TO GO: The trickiest part was getting a foothold in the relatively protected buildings of first village without taking serious losses. US and ANA troops have now captured the first 4 or 5 rows of houses, maybe about 20%-25% of the first village. Am focusing on limiting friendly casualties, so the going is very careful and slow. This would be MUCH easier in RT. However, casualties are low so far - maybe 5-6 from the village force and 3-4 from the flanking force. Ammo conservation may be the biggest challenge. One ANA squad has half a bar left and will have to be pulled from the line soon. Other units are still ok. However, one encounters enemy units that no matter how much firepower is directed at them, they don't die and Allied units can waste a lot of ammo firing at them in one WEGO turn. And of course in CMSF one doesn't know how much ammo a unit has until it gets low (its ammo bar starts dropping). The village is protected by snipers and MG's on the hills on each side. These enemy units harass the Allied force from both flanks. A couple ANA hit by sniper fire. A recoilless rifle on the deep far area of the RHS hills has taken out about 3 ANA as they advanced up to the first village. Helicopter and fixed wing strikes have killed the recoilless rifle and an MG in the RHS hills. Other strikes are degrading the MG's and snipers in the unreachable LHS hills. Since we have to limit damage to the village buildings, all heavy aircraft ordinance is being used on the enemy units in the hills on either side of the villages. Once the aircraft only have MG's, they can be used on the villages. The LHS hills are impossible to reach due to terrain. But the RHS hills have easy access. A hillside "Task Force" comprising the recon platoon, a US inf platoon plus a sniper and an FO (with an engineer squad in reserve) has overrun several trenches - a couple were enemy occupied and a couple unoccupied. Progress has been good - better than in the village. The plan is to eliminate the flanking fire from the RHS hills and then turn the force and enter one of the villages from its side - thus enabling a 2nd assault on the villages instead of having to fight all the way thru in a linear fashion. One inf platoon and an engineer squad and HQ's are all in reserve in their set-up positions. So far, so good... 80 MINS TO GO: Advancing through the village and reached halfway point. No further casualties(!) since last briefing. The RHS hill force is now level with the 2nd village and about to take out another enemy trench. It doesn't seem worth using airpower to hit the enemy dug into the LHS hills, since with the right flank now secure, the troops can go around the buildings on their right side safely without worrying about enemy fire from the RHS hills. 55 MINUTES TO GO: The US and ANA took the entire of the first village, and are closing in on the 2nd village from both ends. The main force successfully attacked linearly through the first village and is at the walls of the first house of the 2nd smaller village. At the same time a flanking force of the recon platoon, one mech/airborne platoon, the snipers, an FO and one engineer squad attacked through the RHS hills and took out about 6 Taliban flank guard positions which consisted of a series of earthwork trenches manned by snipers, MG's and a recoilless rifle. Very satisfying operations as friendly casualties were low (below 10%). (Terrain made it impossible to reach the LHS hills where there were another 8 or so snipers, MG's etc. These flanking defenses harassed the US/ANA forces but were not a significant problem.) In the last minutes the RHS flank recon units took 4 casualties (carelessness on my part due to prior attacks being relatively easy). This took the friendly casualty level to about 11%. Still a satisfying result for this kind of op. However, the enjoyment of the endgame was spoiled when at around 53 minutes to go(!), the Taliban unexpectedly surrendered even though the small village was only just about to be breached and the Taliban had about 20 defenders in it. Results were US 155 OK; 4 KIA; 15 WIA. Taliban: 28 OK; 61 KIA; 33 WIA. The Allied force won everything - all objectives including for casualties. The Taliban lost everything. However, they got points for ground/terrain objectives ("Acceptable") which presumably are secret and different from what the Allies' objectives are. As a result this was only a Minor Victory. It doesn't seem that any points were lost for friendly casualties, so not sure how the scoring was calculated. What worked: The flanking attack took out the Taliban RHS harassing fire, enabling the Allied force to go to the right of the village to get around buildings. The ANA are good for support fire - even the Green squad - they all seem to have plenty of ammo. By luck, I completely avoided the one IED and minefield (thank goodness). I was able to keep an entire Mech/Airborne platoon and an engineer squad completely unused and not required. Only needed to use 6 charges to demolish building walls(!) So, my earlier concern about not having enuff charges (or enuff small arms ammo) were unfounded. What didn't work so well: Airpower was disappointing. Repeated attacks on enemy entrenched positions degraded but did not kill. Same with enemy on top of buildings. Had to demolish a building once, and there still seemed to be defenders in it afterwards. I wonder if air power is even needed in this mission. Perhaps is we had one less US platoon and one less engineer squad, the airpower would have been more appreciated. Overall one of the most fun scenarios I have played. Good tactics & planning as well as careful play were rewarded. One didn't get the feeling that traps were constantly being set to thwart the use of good tactics just to make it harder for the player. Only disappointment was the early ending. Very happy to have kept friendly casualties down to under 11%.

Congrats Borg! Soon you will be a professional poster and time waster like... well not me of course. And yes, CMSF photos are the most beautiful I think. It's the sun, the desert, the shimmering HEAT rounds...

I also wish there were tons of healthy threads about CM2 tactics and how to become a better player. But, if you take away the political and also the grog tech stuff like how many rivets are on a <date> <version> <military equipment> <whatever> there is very little else going on in these forums (regrettably). Ref to Ukraine type situation: I mentioned some time ago that another potential flashpoint is India and China via the Himalayas. Today in WSJ I read that there is already conflict in lovely but tiny Bhutan (piggy in the middle) where Chinese moved in people to construct a road (helpful for invasions) through part of Bhutan. Bhutan sent troops to stop construction and called India (a nuclear-equipped country) for help. The Chinese sent troops to the region, and there they all sit staring at each other. Bhutan has called China's actions "a direct violation" etc. But, (presumably thanks to our corporations' investments in China) we don't hear as much about this potentially much more serious confrontation between 2 nuke countries as we do about Russia... Deja vu...?

I know how that cat feels...

Same issue with terrain features like buildings etc. as well as UI mods Some work as is, some need extra work. I think that Sound and FX mods are the only ones that seem to work in all titles.

The point was that almost all CM2 games feature maps which are smaller than what was normal in CM1. As a result, map designers generally restrict LOS so that it's rare to get long range combat opportunities. In these scenarios where ranges are in the 100m-300m range, SMG's are most useful. If this were true in RL all RL inf units would have a much higher % of SMG's. It has been pointed out in other treads however that in RL, most combat is at longer ranges, so rifles are more useful.

Unfortunately, I found this not always true. Sometimes the occupants are amazingly not stunned and fire back with effect. Other times, the enemy has units just outside the building and fire back at the breaching team thro windows. So, my SOP now is hardly ever let my breach teams go in - unless I have eyes all around the building so I know there are no enemy lurking around the back, and also try to have other units TARGET LIGHT on the area/wall to be breached. Check out CMSF's "Mullah Fayed" for some good examples of the above and how much trouble one can get into by allowing a breach team to enter and stay.

The challenge is that for every interesting POV you have another one that exposes it as biased: https://www.newsbud.com/2012/11/08/the-real-news-vs-the-real-truth/ It is true that ordinary people in the US are frightened by the concept of decline, by losing control of their own country, by seeing a decline in living standards for themselves and especially their kids. Desperate people do desperate things. That's why Trump got elected. In retrospect (or course) it all seems so obvious. Re the interesting interview with Col Wilkerson about how we need to be more accommodating, I kept picturing him saying similar things in the 1930's about Hitler. But am impressed by his bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Wilkerson Best sound bite (paraphrased and edited): "The Chinese are not looking for war. The Chinese plan to beat the US economically. They only have a military to protect their economic interests." Well yeah... Economics is a form of war and using military to protect those "economic interests" is what ALL countries aim to do - or they are destroyed.

Yes, am impressed with d's work. However, am focusing on CMSF and CMA games due to CM burn out. The great thing about CMSF and CMA is that the weather is always lovely, lots of sun and heat, and it's usually daylight. So those games actually make me feel better. The Eurocentric WW2 and CMBS games feature most scenarios that are gloomy or at night and easily burn me out.