Erwin

My only thought is that video of RL tanks in the ME at least, seem to move slow when entering new territory - presumably relying on their speed of target acquisition. They only moved fast when doing convoy down a road to try and mitigate IED danger.

Good battered-looking uniform mods.

"The only other time things were changed that effected older mods was the grand renaming of uniform textures that happened with the 2.0 upgrade. Other than that mods that worked in one version work in the next version." That's helpful, Ian. To clarify: Does that mean we can discard all uniform mods that are older than this date? What date would that be? And does that mean that all other CM2 mods whenever made, should work no matter what latest version of CM2 one is running? (I don't generally use mods from one game family in another - unless directed to do so by the mod-maker. eg: Some sound mods and UI mods seem to work across several games families etc.)

I notice that in your Stalin mod set there is "Umlauts Factory Mods Horizon Patch". Is that patch to be added to Umlauts Factory Mods set, or was his mod updated so this patch is no longer needed? All you folks involved in this set of mods did an amazing job. Ok, I peeked. It looks like one needs the extra patch mod.

I agree... I do the same: C:/SIMS/BF/CMXX etc. One issue this creates is that some of the updates/patches/modules I forget which - do not load to the correct folder and have to be moved there manually. For some reason, BF doesn't always have the BROWSE feature in their install routines. "Aside: This is actually really nice because it means that you can place version specific mods in the Program Files sub directories (such as the version specific animated text mod) and the mods that work with any version of a game in the My Documents sub directories. That way if you have to have two versions of a CM2x game running for a while you can share the mods that are shareable and have version specific mods for each version too." Sounds wonderful - but my brain is already exploding with the mod management challenges. I have two new systems and have been copying over all the mods for all the CM games from the last (17?) years!!!! Copying them is one major project, but it will be a nightmare figuring which similar mods are the best and/or which actually work with the latest versions of the games. Currently my BF games folder is about 90+GB including "current" mods, with another 177GB in my "UNUSED CM MODS" folder - and all will need examining and testing. If BF doesn't figure out a simple/automated way to ensure old non-working mods can be identified and deleted eventually mods may have to be abandoned by us long-time players, or the game family system will fall apart under its own weight and complexity.

Lovely work. Question: Does your Stalin Mod download include ALL the relevant mods? I hope so. Am sure I have most of them, but it would be nice to have them all in one folder that one can install when needed (it slows the loading of the game otherwise). PS: I like the music mod. (Hans Zimmer?)

"Not exactly Ukrainian but feels right to me." That's the spirit, lol.

Oh jeez, just when you think someone has given definitive accurate and tested information... Well... who has proof either way???

I thought that one can still place mods etc into the Z folder in the original location and they work. I am just too beat up fighting with MS to bother putting all my mods back.

The GAME folder is in Program Files (x86). The Data folders are under the DOCUMENTS folder as stated above. Why are they separated like that? No idea, other than to confuse folks.

"You lose 80% of his spotting ability if you dont detach a scout team from its infantry squad and leave them in the vehicule." That's critical info. Thanks...

It looks amazing. However, you may need to set up a scenario to get more interest.

I would expect a hit on exposed TC and/or halftrack gunner (or at least they button up). The Jeep driver is harder to hit. The FO would crawl/be suppressed.

Yup. Thanks...!

The race to the center "flags" in ME's has been an issue ever since CM1 days. This must have been an auto generated QB map. Most designers know to place the "flags" away from the center, so each side has to attack and defend.

I have all Aris' mods but not sure which is "Zugkraftwagen 8t Flakvierling 20 mm" in my CMBN/MG folder. The mod is not called that - any idea what it is called?

Nice summary PK. Helpful tool re philosophy of deployment.

The important thing is that you are having fun. I wasn't being critical, simply commenting on the different ways different people approach the game, or maybe the "philosophy" of how realistically one uses the sim.

I try to think what would the RL guys do if I ordered them to run down the road at full-speed towards an enemy. Would they simply obey like our pixeltruppen, or would they find a way to be more "careful"? "...driving a halftrack forward until it gets spotted and blown away. Hopefully then the Shermans will be able to spot..." Again, that's playing a game - I have a hard time seeing RL guys doing that. Nothing wrong with that in this game as it's all entertainment. But, it kinda spoils the point of CM2 trying to be an accurate sim.

"The SNAFU with the HMGs might be a good thing..." I agree. It's often too tempting to use a halftrack for fire support at too close range and they get snuffed fast. About 500m is the min range I would use a halftrack for support fire. Otherwise, use em like they are merely sexy-looking trucks.

Bootie: I probably have all the CMSF campaigns, scenarios and mods ever produced if required. (Ditto with all other CM titles. I always downloaded everything.)

And did the terrain mod ever get completed?

The above makes me wonder if I am doing everything wrong: My SOP in the sort of maps we nearly always get in CM2 (lots of trees, hills/cover) is to lead with inf to scout for armor - the inf get into firefights and deplete regular load quickly. Usually, it is dangerous to bring an ammo vehicle to the inf as the vehicle then gets exposed to AT fire that the inf has not triggered. So, the inf always runs back to safety where the ammo carriers are located. (That's why I would load up with ammo at set-up.) My experience is that the Javelins get used first vs enemy armor at longer ranges as the inf spots em. I try to cover the ground with AT weapons before sending in tanks. If any enemy armor or AT weapons pop up, they are targeted by both AT missiles as well as my armor. My SOP seems effective. However, is it "wrong" per RL? Am I instinctively playing vs the "game system" as opposed to applying RL tactics?

There is no way to detect minefields other than 1) walking into one and getting blown up - so use inf for that not valuable engineers, or 2) if you KNOW where a minefield is, an engineer can mark it by sitting next (or in) it for a period. The more experienced the engineers, the faster the sign goes up. But, no one can clear a minefield other than a mine-clearing tank.

Thanks. I think of the Javs as a different type of weapon as it's long range fire and forget. But, I always wondered whether there was any significant (in-game) difference between AT4 and LAW other than range. But since AT4 has the bigger warhead as well, that's the one I'll load up first in future. (Am thinking about infantry missions like this one - where buildings are the only target. So, AT4 would be the most effective vs inf in buildings, yes?)