Erwin

I enjoyed Omega Games boardgame "Ranger" which simulated patrolling in Jungle-type terrain (and I recommend checking it out if you haven't already). Perhaps Pacific Theater is more suited for FPS since the perception is that it's nearly all point blank combat in dense jungle and you really want to be able to see through the eyes of the troops on the ground to a greater extent than one currently can in CM2. Secondly, it's also mostly infantry and small unit combat and not every CM fan is interested in that. Thirdly the game would have to simulate tiger traps, tunnels, a better ambush model, and for Vietnam, Claymores etc. Also, Vietnam was not about military ops but political-social maneuvering. The game would have to show how you can win all the battles and lose the war.

Do Aris' uniforms also work in CMBN?

I agree that formations are not the priority, but my point re the PITA in making 180 degree arcs in several different directions still stands - it's not something you can do swiftly. And the thing is that making 180 degree arcs seems like such a simple add-on feature.

As you may know I have a thing about overly bright/new looking insignia. But, if you dull/dirty em and the uniforms up a bit, your mod is pretty good and releasable.

Can't wait to try em out and compare with the "olde worlde" WW2 type icons. Thanks Aris.

Jon: Forgive my ignorance re modding, but in the example I gave, you could simply deprive the main gun of ammo. I know a tank can't carry passengers (dammit, dammit!) but I thought it would at least make a decent bunker. And you never know, east front CM2 may allow for passengers (dear god on high I hope so... along with flamethrowers).

"The group selection function allows you to assign multiple cover arcs..." Understood noob. However, if you want to make (for example) a classic armored wedge you'll have arcs facing right, left and straight ahead, even to the rear in some cases. In fact this also is supporting argument for the introduction of formation commands. A formation command, say a wedge, could automatically place your armor in such a formation with all the arc facings in place with one command. Then you could order echelon right or left and the arcs would also automatically change. This sort of feature would save a lot of time/non-entertaining "make work" and help make larger (multiple company) scenarios playable more quickly and easily. But, I would be happy with the simple reintroduction of the 180 degree arc command. I would prefer it to be an addition, but given the choice I would get rid of the 360 degree arc if that was the only way. In CM1 I virtually never wished I could have 360 degree cover, and I find it rarely useful in CM2.

Wondered if any designers might find an Egypt rebellion scenario or campaign doable. Don't the Egyptions have M1 Abrams and a lot of other US equipment?

If you enjoy Red vs Red you will really enjoy "Dinas". It is a big campaign. But, it's a good example of what feels like superior scenario/campaign design that was more evident in CMSF. Be always conscious that you have to take minimal losses to successfully progress. The scenarios are mostly large and long and you do not want to end up 6-8 scenarios into the campaign and unable to continue (you may even get kicked out) so you have to restart (like er... "some of us" had to). It was a PITA to replay so many complex scenarios just to make headway again. BTW: I posed questions on the Tactics Forum about actual tactics combining the elite Guards, the Mercenaries and the Green Militia we get in Zawiya. Hope someone can help with RL suggestions. I don't want to just use the Militia and Mercs are cannon-fodder simply to save my core Guards troops.

I admit I have no idea what is and isn't possible with mods, but could one use an assault gun instead of a halftrack to make it more survivable? ie: make the main gun invisible?

Not too bad. Just mess em up a bit. Maybe you are being too critical of your own work?

Yeah, Paper Tiger's Red vs Red campaigns like his xnt Road to Dinas got me hooked. I can't remember the last time I played Blue. Well, aside from LLF's "A Helluva Road Opening" which is also xnt btw.

+1 to the 180 degree arc. It is essential for having vehicular turrets pointing in a certain direction as they move. It's a real PITA to have to do 20+ 180 degree arcs for a company on the move (in addition to having to do all the waypoints individually as well!). These two items are the most time-consuming and non-entertaining aspects of CM2 which mitigates against large scenarios being as playable/fun as they could be.

I sincerely hope other people have been playing this xnt and fun campaign. The mix of units, the situations and the maps are all very interesting. Am curious as to how to use the Green but motivated Militia/Irregulars/Volunteers who come to help out the crack and elite Guard Troops. I figured that regular soldiers don't want a bunch of untrained yahoos running around when he's attempting an operational move, so I don't mix em, and try and keep the Irregulars separate. I do the same with the Mercenaries. They're better quality than the yahoo militia, but generally still only Regular with a few Veterans. However, how would they cooperate with the Crack Guard troops in RL? And how would the Mercenaries work with the Militia? Any suggestions as to how these various Libyan formations might function in RL would be helpful. Thanks.

Re a CMSF modded game, wouldn't it be easier and take up a lot less HD space simply to swap Z folders over?

gameplay is not changeable in the way you seem to mean. If it were, it would make PBEM a cheater's paradise. All mods do is improve the look and sound of the product.

Looks great. It took me a while to realize there were engineers icons. It think they're a bit confusing with regular inf. (Was hoping to see a big "E" for engineers and a target scope or something similarly dramatically different for the snipers to make em VERY easy to recognize.) Do recon get their own icon as well?

Yes, GAJ's site is usually worth a first look since it's a lot easier/faster to use than Repository. However, there is something amiss with the dating of uploads on GAJ's site, sometimes older mods are listed higher while newer mods are buried in other pages. He knows about it. Not sure if it's fixable or when.

Finished Battle 1 and starting Battle 2. So far am really liking this campaign. Interesting situation to be playing Ghaddafi's Loyalists vs the rebels. It's entertaining to be playing Veteran to Elite units vs mostly Green rebels so the Victory Conditions require very few friendly casualties. And it's nice to have enough time to be careful. Questions: In Battle 1, even though I have the Arabic language mod that should make my Red on Red forces speak Arabic, I didn't hear any talk at all. I didn't hear any arty VO like "Shot", Splash, FFE" etc in any language. Any ideas why that is? Also we get a mix of RPG 29's and RPG 7V's. I think that all the ammo in trucks is 7V. However, the rocket icons look identical. So, it was confusing to figure out if the rockets would be fired regardless of the launcher type. Can anyone clarify if (in the game) the rocket ammo is interchangeable? Or, should the AT teams stop firing when they have exhausted their supply of the correct rocket ammo.

Thanks for the note DARoot. Apparently, it didn't come on my disk as I have nothing like that under HSG and I have accumulated over 540 CMAK scenarios since the game was released. (Altho' as a v3, I thought that sounds like a scenario that came later as a d/l from someplace.) Is is a good/fun to play scenario? If so, I would appreciate getting a copy.

Thanks. Haven't had time to play very much CMFI. Am still trying to get through CMBN, CMSF and CMA heh.

Did you ever figure out if it's possible to give engineers/pioneers or even recon & snipers their own icon?

Is the scenario at depot II?

I will give em a go in CMSF and CMA as well.

Wonderful! Are ALL these lastest "FX" mods of yours compatible with CMBN, or only the ones you say are?