Erwin

I think CM1 will be a favorite for many as it's a more "fun" game than the CM2 system - which is more "simulation." I find that after every couple months of CM2, I have to go back to CM1 as it's easier and more "relaxing."

IIRC Wittman started in Stugs(?).

Well it would be VERY interesting if one can spot IED's. And no, engineers cannot sweep mines, only mark them. (But I think that someone unlucky has to "find" a mine by blowing it up, and then the engineers can mark it.) From a game POV this is all very disappointing. But, from the milpro/grognard POV mostly seen here, they will hold that the scale of this game cannot deal with issues such as mine-clearing (or recon, or proper snipers etc.) imo this is what still makes CM1 the better "game."

IIRC, you cannot EVER spot an IED until it explodes. I have read that if one suspects an IED location you may be able to destroy it by firing at that location. But, it's all guesswork. The best tactics is to smoke the suspected IED location. If the triggerman can't see it, he can't activate it and it won't blow up. Since the triggerman has to have LOS to the IED, you can also smoke or blow up any locations where the triggerman may be hiding. Hope that helps. (And if there are any other methods, I also would love to hear about 'em.)

Thanks Toxic. Very valuable info.

Lovely spaceship graphic! Reminds me how much it would be fun to see a weird version of CM - like the previously mentioned CM:ZOMBIES or an Orson-esqe "War of the Worlds" with WW2 technology battling the tripod Martians. Has no one else noticed the irony of a game being dissected and discussed as if we were tasked with solving a really serious situation - like the nuclear power plant crisis in Japan?

That would be really helpful as it's needed to change specs due to differing lighting conditions.

Thank you. This sort of info is very helpful. I have been accumulating all this sort if info and tactical hints at the BoB site: http://webandofbrothers.yuku.com/topic/11168/CMSF-helpful-hints

Could be that your machine is not up to it and just gives up(?)

Darn, I was hoping there was a way to convert CM into a railroad game!

I created a max size CMAK op map using XP (I have not yet tried it on Win 7) and a huge number of units, plus the whole N map edge was water, and did not have crash problems. (Loaded bloody slow though.) The only thing is that I had not yet gotten to putting in a mass of reinforcements. Not sure why that would affect things however.

Anything that would ignite a HEAT round prior to hitting the metal armor would have a big effect. Not sure what sandbags would do vs Armor Piercing tho.'

Uh... I have it on good authority that those are industrial size potato graters for Russian potato dishes. (Used after cleaning potatoes in the wonderful German automatic flushable potato washers in Berlin.)

Can we now pray for toggleable gun and armor penetration windows like CM1??

Is damage from terrain (as in woods example above) cumulative? So, if you insist on ordering a vehicle thru "tough" terrain, it will continue to sustain damage until immobilized? Is driver quality a factor (I guess that would be unit or leader quality)? It was very rare to get an immob in CM1 (unless ground was wet and soft) and any damage in CMSF. So, is this an added challenge for players?

I thought that the M1 driver was isolated. But, it appears there is a hatch connecting to the turret.

Link didn't work for me GAJ.

Is this the same mod Vin sent out a couple weeks ago, or a new version? And thanks again for an xnt and useful mod.

What is the effect of range in the Sherman vs PzIV comparison? In another thread there were stats for 300M (I think). So, that seemed to be advantageous for Shermans. Is there a sweet spot range for PzIV's re their guns?

I see your point. But, gosh, it is a game (NOT a realistic simulation by DoD V&V definitions), so shouldn't even the firefight be fun?

"I bought the full version of CMBO... on: Friday; November 16; 2001" So, maybe CM:BN to be released for the ten year anniversary??? Makes sense.

"I much prefer the realism over the "fun" aspects, in fact I think you could cut fun right out of the equation." Huh? You people scare me. I used to develop realistic sims for a living. Realism = loooong periods of boring with short periods of terror. It's of course simply horses for courses. I really liked the CM1 level of abstraction and I loved the CM Campaigns concept to create an operational/strategic layer that could be used to generate scenarios within a much larger theater of battle. It was a tragic error that the people working on that tried to create a standalone game rather than something simpler like what the Close Combat series offered. I understand why CM1 was a dead end from development POV, but I wish that CM2 was more like an improved CM1. But, as Rune said, CM2 is a completely different game system with similarities to CM1. It will be VERY interesting to see the reactions of the CM1 players who didn't want CMSF and who haven't played CM2 but who are drooling over CM:BN when it comes out.

Another item in my vault is C:\USERS\ADMIN\APPDATA\LOCAL\TEMP\HCG.EXE (labeled as high severity MALWARE). Anyone know what that is and if it can be safely RESTORED?

Thank you daisy. I checked and you are correct. For some reason AVG virus vault also has the Afghanistan .exe in there as well. A simple RESTORE fixed the NATO problem. So, why did AVG suddenly decide to do this after months of trouble free use?

There is no NATO icon on the main screen. So, it is not loading. However, I have v1.31 but that patch was installed when it was first available. Do you still recommend simply reinstalling the 1.31 patch as the first step? Anything else I should check first?