Erwin

Thanks. I have the mod. It's the special instructions for FB I was asking about.

"earthlings vs marsians..." Is that the bonus mission? I missed it.

Hopefully a version of CMSF that updates it with some of the new features. My only hope is that we can still play the existing scenarios and campaigns as imo some of them are the best that have ever been made for a CM2 title as designers were fresh and highly motivated and had several years of CMSF enhancements before any WW2 titles were released. It would be a real shame if those became unplayable.

The best designers provide specialized units with factors that encourage the player to use them for their specialized purposes. Eg; Make snipers Crack or Elite and Recon and Engineer units at least one level more experienced than the other troops. Otherwise there is a temptation to use all units in an interchangeable manner - like using Recon troops and/or Engineers as weaker regular infantry.

"... cheaply rush the last victory location in the final fifteen seconds of the game!" Who said RL war is fair or not gamey?

Not sure how to locate that specific post (Fuser's terrain mod post). You have a link? Thanks...

Alex: Perhaps look at the way you are calculating "Victory" as the issue. As Sgt S says, if the Brits lose 5 tanks that is a tactical disaster even tho' they may win the war. So, Syrians should have a big victory in that situation. Need to assign Victory levels based on the specific mission/scenario, not on the overall war. Eg: In Vietnam the US/UN may have won every battle - lots of tactical victories - but US/UN still lost the war.

I thought they would work automatically. What did you have to do?

Like: "The ersatz coal driven tank makes its smoky debut."

Well, all the examples above feature the dastardly Hun. Of course Allied crew would act in a braver and less gamey manner I am sure. (heh)

Also, generally the AI does a good job deciding when to fire with highest hit likelihood. Best is to have a small arc covering the target and let the unit's AI do the thinking.

I can understand burn-out issues. I couldn't face playing CM for a few months and went to Grigsby's WITPAE. But, just picked up my Ardennes campaign (mission #5 Stoumont) and having fun again. Am appreciating the v4.0 improvements. Have noticed some weirdness: I had a full strength Fallshirm squad but the "Combine Squad" command was active. So, natch I tried it. The command turned the squad from a three column squad to a two column squad. ie: I can no longer divide it into 3 teams, only two larger teams - despite it being a full strength unit. Another time, a unit's waypoints showed "HIDE" at every waypoint and I couldn't get rid of that without deleting all waypoints and starting the waypoint orders again. Unsure if these are bugs or not.

Very cool. looking forward to it.

That is what one needs to do I agree. My point is that it would have been convenient and user-friendly to have that info presented on the BF "My Account" area in an easy-to-use format. In our busy stressed out lives, most of us want to be able to do things convenient, easy and fast. Ditto with the CM2 UI. It requires unnecessary and time-consuming work which is not fun and which, if corrected would enable games to be played faster (with less mouse clicks and more efficiency etc). Have repeatedly said that the game itself is already good and detailed enuff. It's the speed and efficiency of play (ie the UI) that needs addressing so larger scenarios with large nos of units are more practical to play. But, we'll probably have to wait for CM3.

+1 Mord did a lot of xnt mod work from the early days of CM2 which was/is much appreciated. In addition to modders who have vanished, it seems that most of us players from the old days are no longer here either. I thought we'd lost Aris recently. But, he seems to have revived for another set of vehicle mods.

is true...

Have done that now. But, wouldn't it be more convenient for customers to have the name clearly stated in one's account info? Then all one would need to do is copy and paste the correct code(s). I am a big believer re trying to alleviate irritating issues like that for customers and making things as easy as possible.

Whether the rights of a "tribe" should override or be subservient to international law is an interesting question. If the majority of the people/voters of a nation (defined as a "tribe") vote for option "A", is that an inviolable decision? Or, is there some higher authority that could disenfranchise the tribe? Europe is facing those sorts of decisions now and for the foreseeable future. In the above example, what if the "progeny" continue to be subversive and to work to sabotage the nation that is supposed to be home and the nation which the progeny are supposed to be integrated into? This dovetails into another controversial current issue elsewhere re people who perhaps do not "love the host country and its people".

"Bluntly put as you estimate 40+ years you mean children and grand children of Russian speaking people resettled to Baltics by Stalin must have been ethnically cleansed for "passive participation in the repression". I'd suggest the term "complicity in reprehensible acts by virtue of one's DNA"" Hmm... Sore point since most of my family comes from Estonia and were refugees escaping from the Soviets, suffered terribly, and some still live there. (And my wife's family come from neighboring Latvia.) The issue is the Russians who were settled in those nations by Stalin with the same concept that Hitler had when he tried to "resettle" all the Nazi's conquered territories. Many (not all) of these Russians have not "integrated" and want Russia to come back. This somewhat traitorous sentiment is greatly resented by the Estonians (and Latvians and Lithuanians btw) who would be happy for these unhappy Russians to go home. We're already engaged in lengthy BS about Ukraine. Now we have to start on the Baltics?

Thank you for the concise and informative answer.

I definitely would play at an easier/lower level than Elite or Iron if you are a noob! Otherwise, good advice.

I understand that. But, if it was a successful design, one would see more of that sort of AFV in future versions. Am curious why the concept was abandoned.

Generally, in all CM2 scenarios one should lead with inf scouts and not/never vehicles. (Most CM2 scenarios are relatively short range battles with short LOS due to relatively small maps, so inf are best to spot what is ahead.) The more time (a few minutes) a scout can simply sit quietly and observe, the more it will observe.

Hope you get to do something new (and good).

"if I am correct, the XO can serve as a liaison to a formation with a different chain of command." It would be good if the XO's and Brit 2IC's actually have a mission other than being a back-up for CO. Anyone confirm this? Generally XO's and 2IC's get used merely as recon or medics which seems wrong.