Erwin

It could be he is lumping in the "sympathizers" who provide support but who may not be "operational". However, I suspect that number could be huge. Re the UK attacks, it's finally being discussed openly that while there are a relatively few dedicated suicide/martyr warriors, there is a much larger segment of the Muslim population which is quietly applauding and not doing anything to stop radicalization or the violence - while still staying within the law. The sad fact is that things still haven't gotten bad enough for societies to take the sort of steps needed to protect themselves when "at war".

Are there any scenarios with Pz 1's and II's? That would be fun.

If force and ammo preservation are a major issue (which they should be) then a generous amount of time should be provided - it's just more fun to have time to sneak around being very careful.

I remember that the SMAW's were useless at destroying the bunkers. I wasted 3 or 4 and missed them when the Red forces attacked as they were much more useful vs vehicles, and without em the US paras took heavy casualties - even tho' they were successful in stopping the attack. A well-designed scenario and entertaining to play. I very much enjoyed the mix of NATO units that "Helluva Road Opening" (loved the small German contingent and the way the US had to support the ANA) and "A Helluva Take Over" featured. Hope you do more for CMSF and CMA with a similar mix of nationalities.

Nicely filmed.

Silent Hunter was great for that. One could choose all crewmembers individually, award promotions and medals etc. Very good for immersion and caring about your men. A typical CM2 scenario features so many more men, so not practical. However... If one could do that only for one's Squad Leaders and HQ CO's that would make the numbers manageable. Of course it would be a different type of game. Not holding my breath...

The resolution will only "go up with a larger monitor" if that larger monitor is capable of higher resolutions than your smaller monitor. If the "larger monitor" is only capable of the same resolution as the smaller monitor, then the text will get larger just as with your TV example. And of course you can reduce the resolution of a monitor to get larger text. I play on a 30" 2760 x 1600 res monitor. But I reduce res to 1920 x 1200 just so I can read the text. Am dismayed that BF can't provide scaleable text options after all these years.

Thanks mate...

Ha ha... Good one Sloth... I think BF should put the games on Steam and charge MORE for a Steam version lol.

The original CMSF demo was terrible. Not sure if the demo has been updated. But, the original version of CMSF was almost unplayable and a huge disappointment for us CM1 fans. However, BF worked very hard on improving the game and CMSF greatly benefitted from numerous updates and improvements over the 5(?) years before CMBN came out. The latest CMSF version is 1.32 and I find it to be an excellent game. True, it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the latest CM2 games. But, I honestly rarely notice any omissions as I switch from CMSF, CMA and the latest CM2 games all the time. I predict it may be years before CMSF2 is released. In addition, from what I understand BF saying, the massive quantity of xnt scenarios, campaigns and mods available for CMSF will not be compatible with a new CMSF2. We have seen how the quantity of scenarios. campaigns and mods for all CM2 titles has steadily decreased with each new title. So... the original CMSF patched up to v1.32 provides such value for money fun that I unreservedly recommend folks buy the entire bundle.

Brilliant. Is this true for the other titles? And why not just tell BF quietly instead of announcing it. I like cheating vs the AI cos am convinced that Ai is a dam cheating liar and it says mean things about me behind my back to its pixeltruppen. Am sure I see them sniggering at my tactical moves sometimes, and I so much want to give that bastard AI a bloody nose!

Am always amazed at the work good folks like you do to make CM more realistic. My concern is that using your method would slow down a game which already takes a long time to play due to its existing complexity - especially when one takes on a larger scenario with more units. In addition, by making it an "accounting" challenge it strips away the "fun" parts (for me). Of course for those with that sort of mind the accounting aspect of your system may be fun. And there is no reason why players who enjoy this sort of analysis shouldn't play using your system. It's just a question of what players enjoy.

OMG - love it...

I understand chickens perhaps not having the sense to retreat, but the Romans might have suffered morale loss. Also, what's with the unlimited ammo for the US WW2 troops vs 20,000 zombies? Where is the conservation of ammo? Penguin vs Medieval horde... Lots of fun... But, the point...?

Rather blurry if views fullscreen unfortunately. But, always interesting. Did they say if this is (very rare) colour film or colourized B/W (which can be very good these days).

Every scenario of yours (snake_eye) I have played has been excellent. In addition to "Blood On The Tracks", I especially enjoyed "A Helluva Road Opening" for CMSF and "The Road Of All Fears" for CMA. I want to try "A Helluva Take Over" (CMSF) again. I recall having problems with enemy air and hopefully I now know how to better hide my tanks from air attack.

Yes, it's like Xmas never ends for us... "Scuse me while I rise slightly from my chaise lounge to motion for another cocktail from my yacht's steward. Ahhh.... (Unfortunately, everything you say is true of course.)

Not sure how imminent CMSF II is. Could be another year or two... or longer... For now, I would get CMSF as it is very cheap - plus you can get the whole bundle of base game and 3 modules in one go for a bargain price, and then d/l the huge number of free mods and additional campaigns and scenarios which imo are more fun than the very few CMBS ones on offer. I burn out on CMBS regularly and always find myself going back to CMSF and sometimes CMA for a more fun experience. Note that the scenarios and campaigns that came with the original CMA game are not so good. However, CMA has recently become much more interesting as there are some very good new user-made scenarios and campaigns that one can d/l.

Thanks for your informative response Combatintman. FWIW: Did you advance cautiously? YES, I PROBABLY AM TOO CAUTIOUS IN ANY CM GAME. RIGHT NOW AM STRUGGLING WITH THE NEW CMBS CAMPAIGN WHERE MOVING SLOWLY LEAVES YOU UNDER HEAVY NATO ARTILLERY. BUT, I FIND IT HARD TO JUST RUSH AHEAD - EVEN WHEN PRESUMABLY IT IS CALLED FOR. Put yourself in Tommy Atkins' shoes - that is exactly what the Paras would have done on the day because they had no idea what was out there. YES. I ENJOYED THAT ASPECT VERY MUCH. ALWAYS LOVE THE SNEAKING AROUND SCOUTING FOR ENEMY. (HENCE MY LOVE OF CRACK/ELITE RECON AND SNIPER UNITS.) Did you make a scheme of manoeuver that had maybe one platoon up and two platoons back (or the other way around) to ensure that you could deal with any problems that might be on the LS? YES, I LEPT ONE PLATOON MOSTLY IN RESERVE - ALSO TO ENSURE THAT AT LEAST ONE PLATOON WOULD HAVE AMMO LEFT AS SOME OF THE OTHER SQUADS WERE GETTING LOW AND I EXPECTED MORE FIREFIGHTS B4 I REACHED THE FINAL LZ OBJECTIVE. HOWEVER, WHEN THE ENEMY SURRENDERED WITH AN HOUR B4 THE SCENARIO TIME LIMIT, MY INF HAD PLENTY OF AMMO LEFT AS WELL AS A FULL BAR OF 81MM. THE ONLY USE I FOUND FOR THE 51MM WAS POT SHOTS AT VEHICLES - WHICH I DID FOR FUN - BUT WERE NOT REALLY NEEDED. Good to know the CMSF limitations re the number of VL's that could be "Touch" objectives. That explains a lot. Also, the AI is always a poor attacker, so not your problem. The main frustration from an entertainment game POV is that the enemy surrendered with about an hour left. (And also that there was no enemy between the last buildings and the final LZ objective. And that indeed that LZ was a red herring since the game abruptly and unexpectedly ended causing me uncomfortable "coitus interruptus" feelings.) I can't believe I am saying this, but I felt it was too easy to get a Total Victory and enemy surrender. With my 1 KIA and 6 WIA, I felt that a Major Victory should have been the best result I could get. A really good scenario that I enjoyed. But the above points make it an unattractive candidate for good replayability. I understand your design philosophy. However, have you considered doing two versions to get more "bang for the buck" out of your work? The 2nd version would have more enemy between the last buildings and the LZ so that the player would have an extra hour of "entertainment" (hope that isn't a dirty word).

Try it first b4 giving up. People have transferred maps from one game to another. But, am not sure if that is possible for all the titles. Hopefully, someone knowledgeable will chime in here.

You can't beat the change of scenery of CMSF - all that open terrain (assuming you are not in an urban setting), those long LOS shots... and the sun...

"If there are two soldiers in the square, then LOS starts in the center in between them, etc." This was the most interesting observation. It explains many issues. (And can be understood without brain hurting.)

Yes, it was VERY time-consuming doing an 8Km x 4Km for an Afrika Korps campaign - and that was with the MUCH easier CM1 editor. Spent months on it to get maybe 2/3 done. That's a reason I soured on doing any such designs ever again. Hence my admiration for you and your colleagues.

I definitely recall playing on em - but we're talking 15+ years ago. . I was designing a map that size as well. But, the sheer work... And that was the much easier to use CM1 editor. My hat is off to CM2 designers.