Erwin

Am simply trying to recall how foxholes function from very old posts when CM2 first came out in order to help understand their limitations in the game. In the game they sit on top of the ground and are not flush with the ground like they should be. It's (yet) another WYSIWYG "exception". The way LOS works in CM2 is a hornets nest of weirdness.

Yes, in modern war one needs a much lower unit density. One has to split everything into teams asap. And due to quick response arty, you have to move units regularly so they can't get targeted. When CMSF came out I got indoctrinated quickly with the need to keep casualties to the absolute minimum or you could easily lose the game even after winning all victory locations. I now find it very hard to accept heavy casualties in WW2 or modern war games. And that often makes playing CM2 stressful. It's also a major reason why I almost only play campaigns in which force and ammo preservation is important (ie: one only gets a % of your losses and ammo replaced in each mission, if at all). That seems the most realistic mode to play.

It's probably a generational thing but us older dudes value our privacy and can't stand having intrusive programs like STEAM on our clean machines as we don't know what info is being taken from us in order to sell to marketers so that they can send us more spam. Same reason I don't partake in "anti-social media" where you invite ID thieves and burglars to steal your stuff when you tell everyone about yourself (who the hell cares?) and when you are on vacation etc. I suppose I may be xtreme, but security was always an issue in my world. As I said to Putin last time, "You aint hacking my computer, pal". Hell, I still have an old flip cell phone as I detest texting and actually like talking to people using full words in the elfish language! It's so degenerate, I know.

IIRC foxholes (and presumably trenches) are regarded by the system as "buildings" that sit on top on the ground. So, I think that the troops are regarded as on top of the ground, but the ground itself where the foxhole/trench is located is regarded as having better cover and maybe concealment(?) The above ambush example makes sense re not having LOS blocked. A wall is a "building" (that you cannot occupy of course) so just like a house building, it blocks LOS. This is just one of very many interesting foibles of the game that nobody explains to us mere mortals.

Wonderful images. Wish there a computer game of this we could play.

TMI. Don't need to know that. But, thanks for the thought. Fortunately I will have forgotten all about this by the time I press "Submit Reply".

Just asking: Do the Poles have equipment that differs from what is already available for US and Ukraine armies? Are their helmets different? This could be a user-made mod.

"I am talking about the green soldier status text, not any 3D animation." Ok, got it. Are we sure that actually/accurately represents the troop's actions (or just a mathematical approximation is what I mean)?

Yeah that's been my solution as well... undershoot (or overshoot if that seems closer).

sburke: Yes, sorry about leaving you out. I should have said "I am not senile like sburke!"

That assumes that WYSIWYG is true, and am not sure if it is in all circumstances. There are visuals like the one you mentioned that are purely for graphical effects. With CM2, so much of how the engine and AI actually "see" the world is kept hidden from players. Phenomena like this require extensive testing before one can trust one's eyes. I do agree that units ordered to HIDE are capable of spotting enemy units dozens, perhaps hundreds of meters away. So, something has changed from the way HIDE used to work. I recall that one used to be able to walk right over an enemy unit on HIDE and shoot em in the back. Also, that ambush by a HIDING unit was almost impossible. Hopefully that has changed.

It's not uncommon for a Hiding unit to spot an enemy some distance away. So, some spotting is going on. It's unclear if the spotting ability of units on HIDE have been altered in patches. BF used to say that a unit that HIDES is burying its head in the dirt and is not looking around - is effectively blind. So, that may now be different.

I swear by SSD's now. I have a 500GB in one computer and a 2GB SSD in my laptop. Am sure they improve game performance and cheaper than a new more powerful computer. Great investment.

Fun to watch. But, stay away from the game for a while. It's like sex... The longer you abstain etc...

ME was referring to the frustration about not being able to target things that are in unobstructed sight. It may be an understandable compromise when developing a complex game, but to have any claims of high fidelity or realism or WYSIWYG, that will need to get fixed in CM3 at least.

Har har... I wuz right godammit!! I am not senile!

IIRC CM1 had that feature. But, it was removed when they did CM2. Probably wasn't used much or didn't work too well. I played CM1 a lot and don't recall using it more than once. I think there was a good probability the units would never be seen again. (Or am I getting confused with "Squad Leader"...?)

Have to be careful extrapolating from graphics "tricks" to what the engine is actually doing.

...and highly recommended by all! Thank you again, Koh!

Yes, a big peeve...

Well other than a few people and a couple of forums, it seems pretty quiet. Most discussion is political.

Well there ya go... I realized that I have been using CMRT winter mods to fake winter. Thank you for the clarification.

Although one has very unrealistic "god-like" capabilities in the game, because it is a game, players also suffer from very unrealistic limitations. The LOS system is often misleading for example. Units can't be moved a few inches to allow a support weapon to fire at a target that the 3rd ammo bearer can see and shoot at... So, it seems not too gamey to cheat a little re locating units by their sounds.

With about 40 minutes to go. Several ambushes located and destroyed. But, I got a T-90 pranged. My fault, I shoulda used AGL teams to deal with the target instead of moving up the tank. Also, got a team of 3 shot up when I approached what seemed to be unoccupied buildings. But, I guess the enemy had very short target arcs. Yes, I shoulda hosed down the buildings first, dammit. My problem is that, coming from a poor immigrant family, I am hard-wired to save every penny or bullet. It's very hard for me to order speculative area fire/recon by fire as I hate wasting ammo - even in a game! Instead, I wasted 3 loyal troops instead. Should I relieve myself from command for incompetence and restart the campaign? (Um, no thanks...) Perhaps a therapist to change my stingy attitude?

It would be hard for us old-timers to adjust to a totally new UI. But, there are clearly ways to make the UI much more intuitive and useful/streamlined, and in the longterm it may be needed.