Erwin

Lovely. Thanks.

And this is one of the many features that make CM2 more of a sim that a "game" as CM1 was. (And also why CM1 is still going strong.)

Plz don't misunderstand... I would enjoy playing rebels vs AI. It's just that while I play CM1 pretty much exclusively H2H/PBEM, I find the workload of CM2 to be too great and therefore the game too slow for H2H - and that was for a small scenario, not the large-huge ones that could take 2 hours or so that I most enjoy.

Maybe, but at least one designer write his briefing using German terms and as a non-German speaker, I had a hard time figuring it all out.

Or, just do em in the order that is most fun for you, Aris. PS: Don't forget some black soot etc around MG and main gun barrels from firing.

Excited that you'll do an AI version for your incredible map. Thanks.

Re the HQ icons... can you do a Brit version? That way we can simply swop em out when we play the Brits.

Would love to get that as a mod if you have it in a single folder. Would save a LOT of time.

The map looks amazing. Am very flattered that you think of me for playtesting. I loved playing your JOKER 3 I think it was 3 times. But, that's cos it was vs the AI and cold zip through it fast. For some reason I really didn't enjoy the one (small) H2H game I tried. Just too slow and complex to be much fun. Also, in CM1 you can easily recover from a few errors. But, in CM2, you can be screwed with one error. And the thought of having to play on for weeks with all the hard work that CM2 entails in a PBEM game is like a horror film. But, if you do a version vs the AI... plz think of me.

This sounds like a very common LOS complaint. The standard explanation is that a mortar crewman (or 3rd gun layer, or an HMG ammo bearer) can see the target for using small arms, but the mortar triggerman cannot. Yes, this phenomenon is silly and frustrating. However, also check that the mortar isn't too close to an obstruction that could obstruct the mortar's actual trajectory. This is quite an impressive feature. In CM2, buildings are not all equal. So, for example you could fire mortars over a church roof, but not over its steeple.

I do not recall ever seeing multiple minefield markers "on top of each other" even when one knows there are multiple fields in an action square. AFAIK a marker means there is at least one mine in that one action square.

Good review. Altho' he doesn'r say what experience level he was playing. Reviews can often be a double-edged sword as he also says: "...I’d have traded new Axis AFVs like the Lynx, Wespe, Marder I and Tiger II for the most obvious absentee in British tank ranks – the fire-breathing Churchill Crocodile. ...no amount of ‘It’s a coding nightmare!’ special-pleading from Battlefront will change that... silly GUI deficiencies like unhelpful icons and a non-existent reporting system... I dream of a day when CM’s impressive ballistic, spotting, and C2 realism is tethered to an AI as elastic and adaptive as the Command Ops one...I won’t be dismantling my CMx1 shrine just yet..." As a former reviewer myself one rarely has time to get too deep into a game b4 having to test out another one.

Would he also be raped by nubile (preferably female) virgins during?

I can hardly wait to crush those rebels! Long live Pres whatishisname...

I tried both your (useful) dealership scenarios and I got only the bunker both times. Had to ceasefire and then look at the map to see all the units. No biggy... but strange.

As an entertainment GAME, I completely agree that it would be more fun if engineers could locate mines (as they could to some degree in CM1), and clear em. And there are lots more items in CM2 that could be abstracted/fudged for greater gameplay enjoyment. However, some feel that this is supposed to be an accurate sim of RL that could be used for training.

That's what I got too. You have to press Ceasefire and then look at the map for some reason.

I suppose if one is not penalized re victory levels for losses and they are replaced in subsequent campaign missions one can afford to be very aggressive. The heavy friendly losses may not be such a big issue in individual scenarios. However, imo campaigns are the best way to enjoy any CM game as the future exists and it matters what state your units are in and their ammo levels at the end of every mission but the final one. CMSF did a great job training us to be very conservative of friendly losses (compared to CM1) AND conserving ammo as well. I recall that it was quite common to have to restart CMSF campaigns if one took too many casualties as future missions became impossible. I recall even being "kicked out" of a campaign by the system cos I didn't have enuff units left. This may be why it's hard to accept heavy friendly losses in CMBN - even tho' the designer said a player would never get kicked out of Scottish Corridor campaign for losing. Hopefully, he has provided sufficient reinforcements so that one has a reasonable chance of winning future missions. The worst non-fun experience is having to restart a campaign and replay missions just to ensure sufficient units to have a fun game further into the campaign. However, tight time limits for the Brits seems counter-intuitive compared to the US, since it tends to increase the friendly losses and the Brits were far more likely to worry about their irreplaceable inf losses than the US. That was an important reason Monty was rather slow and cautious. Now, I may be imagining it, but it certainly feels like the time constraints became tougher in CW compared to base CMBN. I dont recall time being an issue in the base game as much. (Also, in Scottish Corridor, I was surprised how little arty the Brits had in the first missions. Again, I thought they relied on arty more than anyone to reduce losses.)

That's kinda what CM Campaigns was going to be for CM1. Unfortunately... And thanks for the link RockinHarry...

error post...

+2 to all the above... and Vein made a LOT more mods from tracers to flames, smoke, explosions, skies, sounds, support chatter, etc etc. Plus Scipio (flames and muzzle flash), Lt Smash (WW2 icons), Dietrich (German voices), EZ (uniforms), Bil (improved rank icons) and the many others I found in my Z folder whose names I couldn't locate. Your amazing volunteer work is all much appreciated.

CMSF became an xnt game after it got its final patches. You won't be disappointed. I find it fun to go back to CMSF when I get burned out with CMBN.

A bit of semantics here. Scout, Recon... I guess some of us have been using the terms interchangeably. Apologies to the purists and milpros. However, the game does feature "Recon" units. The issue however is still the same. While clearly some players feel ok about runnning quickly right from the start, many of us like to first "scout" to locate primary enemy assets, and that is what eats up time especially at the start of a mission - and makes some scenarios' time limits seem overly tight - esp when playing WEGO.

I was also thinking get East Front here faster, or North Africa, so we can have some longer range maneuver warfare. (Or, the Ardennes at least.) And there is a WW2 mod for ARMA??!! D/L link?

Yeah, this LOS issue has been a bone of contention since CM2 was first released. However, some of your issues are explainable: 1) Just cos you are in a 3rd floor, does not automatically mean you can see over a neighboring 2 floor house to the ground on the other side. Try it in real life. 2) LOS tends to be from standing guys, so it seems common that MG's cannot see over walls. Annoying? Yes. 3) When you have a team of any kind have LOS to a target, you do not actually know WHO on that team has the LOS. In other words, in your gun example, the 3rd gun layer could have LOS, but the gun itself does not. Even though the gun cannot see or fire at the target, one "assumes" that the target could see enough of the gun or its team to fire HE and that blast will KO the gun. Even more irritating/annoying? Yes. It may not be possible, but imo the solution would be to have the team's primary weapon move (under AI control) automatically to be able to shoot at the target, or over a wall etc. Alternatively, have the game just give the player the primary weapon LOS so what you can see you can shoot at. The current LOS system is overly complex imo and spoils gameplay fun since there is not much one can do about the issue.