Erwin

The time delay after one issues a BLAST order and the time for other inf to assault thru the breach is rather critical for us WEGO-ers. Is it always about 30 secs, or does their "breaching speed" depend on the quality of the engineers, and or other factors?

Thanks for the useful info Snake. Hope you don't mind more questions re "good recon practices." 1) In the frontage depicted in your ROAD OPENING scenario would it be realistic to have each recon team in a completely separate part of the front - ie totally independent and relying solely on stealth? 2) In this instance would they have at least a squad or more of reg inf following to get them out of trouble?? 3) Or, would the 2 recon teams stay together so as to support each other, but without any other support? 4) What is the role of the single HQ guy? Does he accompany them on foot to provide quick air/arty support, or is he sitting back in his command AFV with his feet up drinking coffee until something squawks on the radio? I know that they have their own AFV's for "support." But, I presume that having a loud, dirty spewing AFV trailing you by a couple hundred meters sort of defeats the point of stealthy recon to find good LOS locations from where to spot enemy units(??) Oh, and so will you add an extra Fennek so the Jerries can have two rocket launchers, or is it a deliberate design choice to only let them have one? (And why is one Marder immobilized - design choice??)

So, who was the first consumer CM player to log 100 CM games??

"BTW, do you know if the Victory Game's board game "Ambush!" was inspired by "Computer Ambush" or was it the other way around?" The solitaire boardgames were definitely first "BC." (Before computers, mate!) I still have the 4 boardgames in the series. Then Victory (arguably the best board wargame publishers of their era) brought out a 2-player version. GMT Games inherited Victory's mantle and their excellent graphics, rulebooks etc. For you young uns, these plus miniatures is what the ancient peoples like wot I am had to play with b4 the CM series. Another HUGE savings in money thanks to BFC and CM is me not buying a dozen cardboard wargames a year plus a similar number of short lived (on my HD) computer games.

IIRC it's SHIFT+ ARC ORDER. In effect, I think that a unit with no arc behaves as if it has a 360 degree "arc" automatically but at max range. It appears that a covered arc is 50% of the time useful simply to stop a unit from firing when it sees the enemy. So, for recon etc. Other times it's only useful if you want a turret to be facing a particular direction when the vehicle moves.

I forgot: Due to the bug in the most recent patch that leaves out the German AT launcher thingy, only the Fennek has one. Suggest that you add a 2nd Fennek so at least both German teams in the Marders can arm themselves with the rockets.

Oh yes... Panzer Elite PE - still a decade later arguably the best WW2 game of its type, but so buggy you practically had to be a programmer to get it working right. I still have a copy - must see if it runs on Win 7.

Wouldn't it be great to have an in-game staff - like the way TOTAL WAR - ROME provided "advisors". Except updated of course, so when you did something dumb, a RSM image would appear and he would swear profanities at you %$&& West Point/Sandhurst &^&^&!!!

Snake: I was traveling so only just now had a chance to look at the new version. Was delighted to see you made lots of improvements that I don't recall anyone even asking for. The mix of units with the Germans etc looks like it will be a LOT of fun! Now, you have really made us feel like the CO of the base and we have many more options re how to proceed down the road. Lead with the ANA or the German recon? Or, maybe with US recon with ANA and Germans following? Do I send AFV's first, or just the trucks with AFV's, MG's and snipers providing cover? Maximizing tactical options and fun decisions is what makes a superlative scenario. So thanks for such a terrific improvement! One question: Am still curious why the recon elements are off on the right flank. Is that historical in some way? I guess it's a question of how one uses recon troops and what is their function (in a CMSF situation like the one you depicted). My thought is that you don't send recon troops where you KNOW there are enemy - like you tell us in the briefing. Instead, you send an assault force (if you want to take that location). My thought would be to either: 1) Send the recon elements down the road to locate ambushes, OR... 2) Send the recon guys along a direction which hopefully has the LEAST likelihood of enemy ambushes so as to get to good spotting positions in the enemy's flank or rear. The object would be to merely ID the enemy strength and composition so they can be neutralized by (ideally) air or arty (or bring up heavier infantry to attack the enemy using the safe route recon has used) while the recon units move onwards to locate other enemy positions. So, what was your thinking behind the placing the recon units where you did??

Surprised to not be reading more comments from players of this amazing scenario (and map). I would hate to think we playtesters were the only ones to play it... It was a real learning experience and has changed the way I play CMSF (certainly in urban environments). Am hoping to see more scenarios using this amazing map.

The original M1 Tank platoon was a classic. That lasted a long time on my HD. I have the newer version as well but as my joystick broke at that time I still haven't played it. Steel Beasts was a more complex version - more like a sim than a game. Steel Panthers was great in its day - also lasted a long time on my HD. Close Combat was good, but I was never a big fan of the RT aspect. But, nothing else has lasted for the 10+ years of CM1. I have saved probably thousands of dollars in NOT buying 5-10 short-lived (on my HD) games a year thanks to BF's CM series. Which is why their games could cost a lot more and would still be a bargain.

Wow, curvy screens. Hadn't seen that b4. Neat!

The Taliban mod for CMBN should really open up the game to whole new scenario opportunities.

The odd thing is that after CM1 I used covered arcs all the time in CMSF... until I played RELIEF OF JOKER 3 where I found the covered arcs were a danger to my own units as the enemy could come from any direction. I learned - at least in the urban setting of JOKER 3 - that it appears to be better not to use covered arcs but instead the FACE command at the end of movement. Am thinking that my policy now is to only use covered arcs in open terrain where your flanks and rear are secure so you want all attention in a certain direction.

That's a really good idea. I agree that all that yellow can hide stuff I want to look at.

"If you don't give them a pause they go to ground." I presume you do not mean that they HIDE? I guess I hadn't picked up the subtlety of "going to ground" vs HIDE. Interesting stuff. Will have to try the above suggestions.

Thanks Cranky.

You should be able to use the FACE command to orient your pixeltruppen to face the desired direction at each waypoint. I can't see why bother using the "Indefinite PAUSE" since since there is no command delays to start em up again.

In RL one has other people to help out. If you're the CO or BN Co you'll have staff. Staff is what play aids simulate. Once again, when one wants to have fun playing a game why make things more complex just to give yourself a headache. That's why I found IRON level to be a joke. Every time you deselect everything you see all your units. So, what's the point? (Well, yes I understand that it increases the C&C complexity.) Or, is the concept that if you do not have a photographic memory, you have no business playing this game?

I'd like to have a copy too please as I have CMBB < > CMAK map conversions I would love to try. (I recall that the process is not perfect and that some terrain features/buildings often change.)

So I just ended the game at 3 mins overtime. You have nice ambushes and minefields etc. But, I felt rushed thru the whole thing and had lots of casualties thru being careless as I felt there was no way I could be careful as normal in the time constraints. To be fair the game went 3 mins+ overtime, when I hit QUIT. But, the briefing should tell one that one has extra time. I did feel that given the scale of the opposition it is just weird not to have mortars and chopper support at least. Why have a fire support vehicle??? I get the feeling that this scenario was for RT players, as in WEGO, one could lose a lot to mines or "impossible to spot" ambushes in one minute. So maybe another user warning? But, if one had another 10-15 mins, I think it would work better. Hope you can do more work on this. Thanks for the chance to test.

I remember how much FUN it is to demo charge or flame an enemy unit in CM1. In fact am still doing that in current CM1 games. Awesome.

I am always amazed that you take the time and trouble to respond to stuff like this, Steve. 99%+ of us here are big fans and will buy your game(s) whether they come out next week or next year. So I hope you can take some time to relax and conserve your energies for the important tasks.

That's really good news if the Assault Command will work better (ie not both teams getting suppressed if one team does) in the next patch. Thank you Steve!

Maybe it's caused by an electronic signal from BFC to remind us it's time for us to send them more money? (I use direct debit heh.)