Erwin

Womble: It wasn't supposed to be a "dig". I just wanted to point out that many of us enjoy the challenge of accomplishing missions with minimal casualties - and completing objectives is fun. CMSF was full of one-sided scenarios. You knew you could win. The challenge was to win with minimal casualties and economic use of ammo - esp in campaigns. Maybe there is a flaw somewhere if it becomes too easy to win a scenario by simply killing the enemy but not actually accomplishing objectives.

I think that is what is covered by the minor wounds. If you have a WIA, that's supposed to be serious.

Womble, it's still fun to do mop up operations where the goal is minimal or zero further friendly casualties. Some of the most fun CMSF scenarios I played were ones where your side had overwhelming superiority, BUT the tricky bit was to ensure minimal or no friendly casualties. If all one cares about is "winning" regardless how, then presumably one could have a good friendly AI and simply choose a tactic or strategy, press GO and the game immediately tells you if you've won. You win, but was it fun?

From the days when I was a DoD contractor making "realistic" sims I still think that it is impossible to have a sophisticated wargame that is "realistic" in the sense that is accurately models the real world without zillions of dollars, super computers and a staff of techies supervising the wargame. "Realistic" sims of that nature are also not fun. I think that the CM2 series is already nerfed in many ways and the only argument is how much is sufficient to provide verisimilitude - the illusion of reality. CM2 offers the most verisimilitude of any competing COTS game available and that's why they enjoy a fanatic following including myself. However, it is still primarily an entertainment product and needs to constantly answer questions like "does this feel correct", "do I believe that what I am seeing/experiencing reflects what I think should be happening". Inevitably, this leads to "heated discussion" between players who get their "experience" from watching war movies vs the military professional. Accurate simulation of reality is most often boring. BF has done brilliantly imo to maintain a balance between those competing markets/philosophies.

Enjoying playing your Railyard scenario with the new mods. Excellent work! Thank you.

Shadrach: You will find that if you are efficient in killing the enemy you will often end a game early with an enemy surrender and a Total Victory even if you did not gain all objectives. This happens often when a main objective is to exit units off the map. And I agree it is frustrating to have a game abruptly end early as one doesn't get the satisfaction of attaining objectives. Kinda like premature ejac. And it's certainly one of my "bones" to pick, heh. As Fizou said, to prevent the AI from surrendering, one has to encourage designers to add reinforcements that never actually arrive.

"...literally sitting around doing nothing for over half the scenario length is not enjoyable..." Yeah, this happens in too many scenarios imo. That's the simulation aspect of CM2 winning over the fun game aspect. Many players seem to enjoy the sim aspect and have the patience to sit around doing very little while they wait for an arty strike, or for reinforcements or for scouts who are sitting immobile to see/locate enemy positions. I am less patient and like a bit more action (and that's why folks like us are still playing CM1 as that is more of a fun game and less of a sim). Of course there are many CM2 scenarios that do have more action and less sitting around waiting. Maybe one should treat a CM scenario like a book. If it aint working for you in the first 10-20 pages or 10-20 minutes, then put it away?

All good ideas. Thanks...

I would never have thought to chang the settings on my NVidia controls to give that blue-ish tinge, but it works.

My interpretation was that Buzz was just being sarcastic...(???)

The lighting and shadows in your pics are exquisite. They look like real photos, or that you touched them up.

Thanks for the clarification, JuJu...

Hmm... However, Rolls Royce and their competitors continue to do quite well with customers who appreciate quality. Seriously, maybe BF doesn't feel that they have to appeal to the lowest price market like a 99c Store or somesuch.

It would be great to toggle grid lines. I hate seeing them all the time as it spoils the look of the game. But, sometimes they would be valuable.

Ok, just completed the last few minutes. I got Reinhart (tired but unwounded) to an exit zone in the last seconds, but I guess I was a few seconds too late for the actual exit and so only got a draw. ******SPOILERS******* I loved the graphics and mods. The map is interesting and at first glance the mission seems really interesting. I didn't know what to do during set-up other than load up on ammo from the truck and put a few of the crack rescue SMG teams into the buildings close to the road by the bridge where I thought Reinhart would need to cross. I covered the open area between there and the river with the LMG's and the remainder, including the pioneers, were placed around the Reinhart entry area. I didn't realize that ALL stragglers would appear at the same entry area so I didn't have any plan to deal with them and they were of little help. I was planning to put the initial truck out of enemy LOS and use it for resupply later. No point since the Russian arty killed it quickly so no other unit could resupply. So, best to load up on ammo with the units than can embark immediately b4 it's killed. The SMG units I place in the building beside the road leading to the "Reinhart" bridge were very useful in repelling enemy attacks and the enemy never crossed that road. (However, a T-34 placed itself there later.) Anytime I moved other units to reinforce, they got killed quick, so I got no use from the engineer's satchel charges. So basically, after initial set-up I could just as well moved nothing and simply have all other units defend in place - they did a good job stopping the Russian attacks. This is a bit of a problem imo. When Reinhart appeared 10 minutes before scenario end in his truck, I simply dismounted him and ran him along the edge down to the river, crossed at the canal and run him over the surviving river bridge to the nearest exit zone (road on map edge). (A T-34 on the other side of the canal killed his truck immediately after so it was no use for ammo supply.) I wasted a couple turns doing something or other, so he was a few seconds late to get points - the scenario didn't give me any extra time. In retrospect, I should have used the engineers to blast holes in the walls so the Reinhart could have more safely hugged the map edge as he ran the route. I was holding them in reserve in case the charges were needed elsewhere. But, with the poor visibility, Reinhart made it all the way without incident. So, once initial set-up was complete it was unnecessary to do anything more until 10 minutes b4 the end where one has to literally run Reinhart off the map. It would have been more fun if the player had to do more. Maybe one should have to counterattack to create a clear, safe route for Reinhart to travel through?

I agree that the workaround works (sorta). But, it is a workaround. I still prefer the way CM1 calculated who held a particular VL.

Question re installing the JuJu mods and how Mod Folders work... JuJu's instructions say something like "remove other mods first". I created a mod folder called ZZ DESIRED MODS in my regular Z folder. If I put the JuJu mod folder in that folder will that ensure that the JuJu mods are loaded last and so I don't have to actually remove any existing mods? When I did this and loaded the scenario I could immediately see new JuJu mods. However, I didn't seen any "railcars" on the tracks. So, am unsure if all JuJu's mods are appearing which I use this method.

Yes, this a game... an entertainment product... gamers want verisimilitude - including ease and convenience of play. That means all the boring, annoying bits stripped out, leaving the fun bits. 100% reality is very rarely fun.

you have been busy... thanks...

Ok, I understand the concept... So, really what we're debating is the identity of the single guy hiding in town and the fact that the AI can't tell a real threat from a non-threat. If he's a WIA desperate guy with a pistol or rifle he's not realistically "contesting" that town. However, if he's a sniper or an arty spotter he is dangerous. (Although, while a sniper is an irritation, I still wouldn't say he is "contesting" that town that may be occupied by a large number of one's troops.) However, do arty barrages mean control is really contested? Just cos a town is being shelled doesn't mean it's not controlled by the side occupying that town. The FO doesn't even have to be in the town after all. I am talking about a RL situation not so much the way the game works - which in this case is a bit silly due to AI limitations. And that gives rise to unrealistic and often frustrating victory results.

My whine is that the games don't cost enough. I want BF to do well financially so that they can hire the people needed to do things faster and more swiftly implement the features that are often called for in these forums. If one calculates the man-hours of playing pleasure that every CM title has given us, there are very few, if any, other computer games that can compete in terms of hours "lived" on our hard drives. In the past I considered that each CM title from the days of CM1 was worth over $300 when compared to the cost of the games I used to purchase and discard a few weeks later. My only beef with the current system of "families" and "modules" is that they are a PITA to upgrade and patch individually compared to the enormous convenience that CM1 provided by having an entire theatre and in the case of CMBB the entire of the WW2 era in one single install. The majority of us here in these forums would pay more for faster releases, improved/additional features etc. On the other hand, I have no idea of the demographics of the majority of BF's CM2 customers, and it's possible that they are nothing like those of use who frequent these forums.

I am not certain, but I think that mod bmp files can't be renamed as they wouldn't work. So, am hoping that any file in a Z MOD folder would load last and appear in the game - assuming there is no other Z MOD folder in the main folder. In addition to having a folder full of (mostly) Aris mods, I also have ZFX, ZSOUNDS, ZUNIFORMS, ZTERRAIN, ZUI etc. folders. But, then I have a ZZ DESIRED MODS folder where I put all the mods that I want to test. I am hoping that everything in the ZZ DESIRED MODS folder is what is loaded last and appears in the game. I hope someone more knowledgeable can confirm this... My follow-up question is what about subfolders that are inside the ZZ DESIRED MODS folder? Will anything in one of those subfolder also be loaded last simply cos the folder is inside ZZ DESIRED MODS, or does one have to also rename the subfolders to ZZ SUBFOLDER etc???

"Simple solutiuon: several small VLs. Then one "straggler" can't determine control of the whole stick of terrain VPs." In game terms, that certainly helps. But by your logic, you could have a whole division occupy the town and one guy cowering in a cellar makes the "town" insecure. That just doesn't make sense. By that logic, none of us are "secure"... ever... Since in all of our communities TODAY there is probably a nutcase cowering in a cellar with his rifle.

Really amazing, JuJu!!

Sometimes, it seems like the AI can spot an enemy unit if there is a pixel-wide gap that is invisible to humans through trees. Sometimes, this benefits the player and one sees one's unit shooting through what looks like impenetrable woods to kill the enemy. Sometimes, it's the enemy AI killing you. So, on the whole this balances out. It is frustrating however, that the AI can see things that the human cannot. Sometimes, (too often), you see tanks firing off one precious round after another cos the unit thinks he has LOS to an enemy, but every round impacts on a tree and the AI isn't smart enough to hold fire. LOS is still a problematic area in CM2. It is an almost unfair advantage that one can put a waypoint anywhere on the map, and check LOS from that waypoint. However, this is often negated by the fact that when your unit actually reaches that waypoint, for some reason it can't get that LOS that you previously checked. These are some of those non-WYSIWYG features of CM2. I would guess that LOS is an extremely complex programming issue, so it's doubtful that we'll see any improvement and one needs to just figure out strategies to deal with the current issues.