Erwin

+1 to that.

Well, slowing the game down is no good, I agree. Shame that buildings can't be improved. From a distance the lack of realistic-looking foundations makes em look not much better than a well-modded CM1 building.

However, many wish BF would decide to cut CM1 loose and let 3rd party developers have a bash. I mean, we keep hearing it's a dead and obsolete game from BF's POV, and then it's treated like a valuable asset when others want to improve it.

The wear on the building walls looks good. Anyone thought of graphically inserting vines growing on the walls, things leaning against em, bric a brac etc?

Just a suggestion: Since there is no separate area in Repository for H2H scenarios perhaps we could have a convention that all scenarios designed solely for H2H start with "H2H_SCENARIO_NAME". People are always asking for H2H scenarios and it's hard to know what I have in my game folder without starting the scenario.

It would be great if dedicated H2H scenarios were in a separate part of the Repository from scenarios that can be played vs the AI. People are always asking for great H2H scenarios and it's hard to know.

Great stuff!

Thanks... It's definitely an improvement. Any way to create a graphic to surround building bases that includes (say) wheelbarrows and the normal bricabrac one sees leaning against walls?

In this case "minimal" refers to the differences in % probability of spotting with or without a CA.

I agree that night battles are a different sort of animal. However, I still use the same technique. I much prefer to have 2 recon guys go down at night rather than half my platoon cos the whole lot of them stumble into a trap. One of my favorite tricks in defense was to have a light screen to figure out the enemy approach and then have a large nasty ambush force waiting. So long as they fired first, the attacker was mincemeat. Then retreat before the numerically superior attacker could mass more troops. Rinse and repeat.

For what it's worth I have found the best strategy for all CM2 games since CMSF came out has been to spend the first 50%+ of the game sneaking around ("recon") to find where the enemy is and then using arty first wherever possible to KO his most threatening units. In CMSF these were the long range ATGM's, in CMBN, they are the ATG's (and to some degree his armor). Once those units were neutralized, the rest of the scenario is/was usually easy. If you want to do fast moving armor assaults and maneuver tactics, those work better/are more fun in CM1.

"i often use them with very short range with scouts just to prevent them to give themselves away by firing at any target." Same here. But it is hard to do 180 degree arcs and easy to do 360 degree "arcs". So, if the difference re spotting is minimal I will be thrilled to give everyone I don't want to shoot a quick 10m 360 degree arc. It will probably save me hours of irritation over the course of a campaign But, I would really like to know what "minimal" is defined as. GAJ: Steve said earlier: "The bonus for spotting within the arc isn't huge, therefore the penalty for spotting things outside of the arc isn't huge either. If you're noticing something significant I am going to suggest CAs are not responsible for it. Controlled tests are the only way to prove or disprove that theory, BTW, since anecdotal stuff inherently means no apples to apples comparisons."

I have always used 180 degree arcs (a real PITA when you need to change the arc's direction during movement) on all my units set in the direction I wanted them to look on the assumption that this would improve spotting in that direction. I always thought it logical/realistic that a scout team of two guys would be more effective if their attention was focused on the direction of threat rather than 360 degrees around them. (Esp. when all their buddies are a few dozen yards behind them, so their rear would be safe.) So, it's very interesting to find out that setting arcs for LOS is unnecessary.

IIRC the receiving unit has to be completely out of ammo before ammo sharing occurs. Plus, the giving unit only does so while in 8m proximity and the receiving units will be left with no ammo if the giving unit moves away. CMBN C2 is complex like God and works in similarly mysterious ways.

From Steve in another thread: "I think the spotting bonus aspect is getting people off track here. Yes, there is a bonus. But far more factors go into whether you spot something fast, or at all, than Cover Arc. As I said, put your unit in a good position and Face it in the direction you want to observe. If it's an armored vehicle, unbutton it. An unbuttoned vehicle without a CA will outspot a buttoned one with CA. A unit with only 20m of view in front of it will likely spot just as quickly with CA or without CA. A unit at night is likely to spot crappy either way. A unit that has a naturally narrowed field of vision (street fighting, for example) will likely spot just as well as a unit with the same narrow field of vision using a CA. Which is why I advised above... do not use CAs to get some sort of spotting speed increase. It is not what the Command is designed for and if you don't want to limit your engagement area you could be very unhappy with the results. Should we include a "Spotting Covered Arc" Command? In theory, we could add that and a couple dozen other Commands that micro manage the Hell out of your unit's behavior. But we're not going to do that because that would not be a good idea." You may have to leave the unit (not hiding) just looking for a few minutes before they spot things - esp at night.

Thanks for your explanations Fuser. I didn't realize it was so much more complex than CM1, so forgive my ignorance. Re vehicles that have not yet been modded, take a look at the Axis and the Allied "used car lot" scenarios from the Repository. They include all available vehicles and guns and I see that there appear to still be a few on both sides that do not appear to have been modded (unless there is some conflict problem in my Z folder). http://www.battlefront.com/community/showthread.php?t=100359

Other campaigns available: Assault on Lucherberg Courage and Fortitude (Warning: don't attempt until you think you have mastered CMBN.) Panzer Marsch Task Force Raff Road to Montebourg From other posts here and at BoB re difficulty levels: Easy: Barkmann's corner (Axis) Medium: Bois de Baugin (Axis) Difficult: Crossroads at Monthardrou (Allied) Bloody Dawn (Axis) Extreme: Courage and Fortitude (Allied campaign) Best vs AI CMBN: Assault at Hubederie is particularly nasty...but great! Spam and Jam Das Dorf des Todes At Another Crossraods Objective Eisenbahn It's Just a Bridge The Crossroads at Monthardrou Pointe du Hoc

Very helpful. However, I wish there was a way to "rough in" the bases of the buildings with shrubbery or other garbage. They still look like train set models placed on a flat surface.

Also recommended: Force Specific BG for Red and Blue (vastly increases the B/W pics that cycle when you start the game). Dietrich's German voices Lt. Smash WW2 Floating Icons (better than the default) Different music options for INTRO, SPLASH and END OF BATTLE Mord's Ravaged German Faces Mord's Immersive US Voices Vin's Animated Text

Am excited to get another version. But, your d/l site is a bit of a pisser. One clicks on the slower free d/l and you get an ad and heaven knows what else tries to "get" to you. I really hope you'll upload to the Repository or CMMODS. I think I will wait for that. These third party d/l sites scare the crap out of me (security-wise).

Of course there is the question of what is the point of programming for computers that will be standard issue in 4 or 5 years when the current game technology itself will be obsolete by then. Ideally, a commercial co wants to program for systems that the vast majority of their customers have right now or will have within 12 months.

Been using this a lot to check on how my mods are looking. It's v useful to see every unit side by side. Any chance you would do a similar dealership for inf units - it would be v useful to check on the effect of the various uniform and helmet mods.

Ooops, I didn't mean reboot... I meant to say: "Restart the game..." Oh, and if you are using Win 7 the version of "display size.txt" may be found NOT in the primary CMBN folder, but under AppData (along with saved games etc.). That stumped me for a bit when I first got CMBN on my Win 7 machine. I find it best to load all games to a SIMS folder under C:\ as that avoids the UAV security and other Win 7 weirdness.

IIRC I read something definitive from BF that tank crews can NEVER occupy tanks other than their own under any circumstances as that was to stop gaminess like putting elite crews in Green crewed tanks etc.

How about getting a satchel charged unit and BLAST the wall down?