Erwin

+1

The map looks beautiful. Would love to see a campaign from you, that would rekindle my interest for this whole series.

Good articles all.  Re listing for sound this works well in CM2 as (IIRC) the sound contact gives an accurate idea of the location.  When CM2 came out this took me a long time to get used to as in CM1, a sound contact gave only a vague idea of location.  Not sure if this is an example of things being less realistic in CM2 or if in RL, sound contacts do in fact provide a more accurate idea of the location than they had been in CM1.

A great example of how useful a new "Shoot & Scoot" command would be for AT (and sniper) teams.  ie:  Hide in ambush until you shoot, then run and hide.

I have Kieme_s_Modular_Buildings_Add_On_Pack in my Z folder.  Have sent all the mods I have to Bootie for CMMODS IV - so you should be able to get it soon.  

I have Kieme_s_Modular_Buildings_Add_On_Pack in my Z folder.  Have sent all the mods I have to Bootie for CMMODS IV - so you should be able to get it soon.  

Good idea.  I turn to Grigsby's almost unplayably massive WITPAE (War In The Pacific Admirals Edition) or a sim like Wolves of The Pacific etc.  

Should be called the Entire European Union Guard of Honour...  or EEUGH.

Testing just started.  The good news is that after over an hour in, the scenario plays well "out of the beta box".   But, MOS always keeps improving his designs so...  the wait will be worth it.
In addition to novel concepts that MOS has perfected and enhanced from the TOC scenario, the new item that his most exciting is the ability to call upon "conditional" reserves - (conditional on losing Victory Points).  This has been the Holy Grail since CM2 came out.
In CM1, one could specify Battalion, Regimental and Divisional level reserves to be released if the game AI determined that the player was struggling.  This was a huge help in making sure that a game was pleasurable by avoiding the dreaded need to stop and restart after large losses that could mean the scenario was unwinnable.  This feature was not included in CM2 and many have asked about it
MOS has figured out several ingenious ways that enable just that sort of voluntary reinforcement - simulating the player asking for reinforcements at the cost of VP's.
As with the concepts in TOC one can only hope that other designers will be inspired to utilize these novel ideas.
And if you have not yet played TOC, get on that!  That will ensure that you will be ready for the challenges of Coup d'etat when it's released.
 
 

Aw man, they wanna use my toilets again?!

If no one has it for you, it will be on CMMODS IV when Bootie has time to load up the 300+ GB of mods sent to him. 
 

Was going thru old CM files and found this which may be helpful to those still learning CM (as we all are actually).  This hasn't been edited so may have spelling errors etc.  Sorry for not crediting the author, but I don't know who wrote it. 
 
REAL WORLD TACTICS THAT WORK IN CM
 
Below you will find some real world tactics that we use in the military that will work in CM games.  Most of these tactics can be used with Infantry and Armor, but some are Infantry or Armor specific.  What you are about to read IS what I was taught when I was in the U.S. Army.
 
MOVEMENT TECHNEQUES
 
 
There are 3 types of movement formations:  Traveling, Traveling Overwatch, and Bounding Overwatch.  These movements are written with a 3 squad platoon or a tank platoon (at least 3 tanks or H/T’s) in mind, but you can adapt them as you see fit for the unit you are moving.
 
     Traveling (CM= Fast Move): This is when contact with the enemy is NOT likely.  Or you’re moving up to the battle area.  Use this when you have no LOS to the enemy from the position YOU are moving to.
 
     Traveling Overwatch (CM= Move or Advance):  This is when one squad or platoon sits in an overwatch position while another moves forward to the next covered or concealed position.  Once you are done setting up the moving unit, you move the unit that was in the overwatch position.  Use this when contact is likely, but you’re not sure.
 
     Bounding Overwatch (CM= Contact or Assault): This is when you use one or two of the 3 squads to lay down a base of fire to pin down the enemy and use the remaining units to flank the position by using all available cover so that the flanking unit can get to a favorable position to assault from.
 
MOVEMENT FORMATIONS
 
 
The movement formations below can be used for tanks and H/T’s.  But generally we use ONLY the first one for Infantry.
 
 
WEDGE –   In this formation you have one unit up, and one on either side, but back some.  It will look like an arrow.  The HQ unit will be behind the center unit in the middle.  If you are attaching units like MG’s or AT weapons, then you make another arrow with the HQ unit as the point.  This is the most common formation for moving cross-country.  It also provides the best all around defense and the MG’s can be brought up quickly. 
 
 
DIAMOND – This is a tank and H/T formation.  It provides the best overall coverage 360o.
 
FILE – Use this one when moving down a road when you have to get somewhere fast. Basically one behind the other.  Place the HQ unit as the 2nd unit so it can direct the 2 or 3 units behind it to the left of right as the situation dictates if or when contact is made.  This formation is generally used when traveling to the Line of Departure (LD) or Main Line of Resistance (MLR).  It has the least amount of firepower forward, but the most on the sides.
 
ECHELON LEFT or RIGHT – This is a tank formation.  Place the HQ unit, then the rest of the unit to the left or right of it.  A variation of it is placing the units on an 45o angle to the HQ unit instead of on line with it.  Usually you use this formation on the flanks when moving.
 
 
REACTION TO ARTILLARY STRIKES
 
General rule of thumb is that Art’y will fall AWAY from the direction it is traveling.  So, if your FO is looking South, then the rounds will fall in a North to South pattern (I’ve noticed this in the game, but the game does not take into account of WHERE the guns really are).
 
What you can do is once the first rounds start to land, is on your next orders turn, take what good order units are left and RUN them TOWARDS THE ENEMY!!  Yes, I know this doesn’t sound right, but it does work for some reason in the game.  The real doctrine I was taught was to pick a clock direction AWAY from the falling rounds and AWAY from the original direction of movement.
 
COUNTER MEASURES FOR THIS
 
The counter for this is to have another FO or a unit’s organic mortars have a LOS to a spot the would be 1 or 2 turns of movement from the falling rounds.  You can then start dropping those rounds as the running unit enters the new area.  Thus bracketing that unit and causing even more casualties.
 
 MACHINE GUNS
 
Rule of thumb here is basically for defense only.  When setting up a defense we used an acronym called O.C.O.K.A. this will be explained later.  In short you set up the MG’s first and build your defense around them.   This applies to ALL MG’s that are separate units not organic to a squad.  MG’s are the majority of your infantry’s firepower, so they need to be strategically placed.  They are also  just about the only weapon in the infantryman’s hands that can get out to 1000 meters or more, so placing them where they can only see only up to 300m would be wasting a lot of firepower, unless that is what the terrain dictates.  I’m not going to give any hints here due to the too many variations of terrain.
 
In the offense, keep the MG’s close to a leader, so they can get to use some of his pluses if he has any.  Move them behind the squads so they can be brought up to the firing line where you need them.  Do not bring them any further forward than necessary.  As soon as they have a LOS stop them.  Get them firing first, and then start your maneuver to take out the enemy.
 
50mm & 60mm MORTARS
 
These are the organic mortars of most standard Inf. Company’s.  Use these to cover dead zones.  Dead zones are places that the regular infantryman cannot fire into with his rifle, like behind buildings, creek beds, ravines, behind hills.  In today’s military we use Grenade launchers to accomplish this task.
 
 
AT GUNS
 
In the defense the same rules for MG’s apply here as well.  But my thoughts on their use are this:  They are for use against tanks and H/T’s.  I do my best to not waste them on Infantry targets, unless they need to defend themselves.  To solve this problem you may want to provide a security force of a MG or a squad to take care of any Infantry threat that may present itself.
 
 
 
ENGINEERS & FLAMETHROWERS
 
 
Do not waste these valuable troops fighting Infantry in foxholes.  That’s not what you got them for.  These units are for taking out hard targets like heavy tanks and bunkers.  If you waste them on the foxholes, then they will not have anymore demo charges to use when you do stumble on a bunker, and you’ll be forced to waste valuable time maneuvering around it.
SMOKE
 
Smoke is used for concealing yourself while moving.  And it can be used to block the observation of a bunker or other targets while you’re maneuvering around them to take them out.  Use it wisely, as you only have a limited amount of it.  If you know what type of terrain your going to traverse, especially in a QB, then you may want to buy an extra FO just for this.
 
PRIORITIZE YOUR TARGETS
 
Believe it or not, this does work, so listen up!!  Prioritizing your targets means using the least amount of firepower over the least amount of time to achieve the maximum results.  There are usually 2 ways to win a game, capture the objectives and destroying most of your opponent’s combat power.  The game gives you a choice, unless the scenario designer set it up that you have to do one or the other.   In the real world Patton’s ideas of closing with the enemy to destroy him so he can not fight another day is NOT the way to do it.  You waste a lot of ammo and will incur a lot of unnecessary casualties.
 
What you do is use your enemy’s morale against him.  You want to eliminate the following targets basically in this order:
 
HQ platoons = makes the unit break and rout faster.
Co. HQ = Same result once you get rid of the Plt HQ’s
MG’s = less firepower he can throw at you.
FO’s = Same as MG’s
All other tanks = Again, take out the heaviest firepower
H/T’s = Means he has to walk more, wasting a lot of time.
 
You will notice I’m leaning towards the Infantry side of things here.  That is because no other units have the ability to hold ground gained like an infantry unit can.  This was learned the hard way, and so is pounded into our heads over at Ft. Benning, and at every service academy that trains leaders for the combat arms.
 
Basically in a nut shell, it really doesn’t matter if you get a total vic or a minimum vic.  A win is still a win and a loss is still a loss.  And I believe the game does take into account for routed and captured units at the last turn.
 
Ok, so now I gave you some good information.  So, how do you employ it?  There are 2 formulas that we use one for attack and one for defense.
  
METT-T (OFFENSE)
 
Mission – What is your mission?
 
Equipment – What do you have to accomplish the mission with?  You need to        know its capabilities and limitations
 
Terrain – What types of terrain are you going to have to traverse to get to your objectives?
 
Troops - What type of troops are you going to come up against?
 
Time – How much time do you have to accomplish the mission?  General rule of thumb is to divide the number of turns by 3.  If you can’t divide it evenly add extra turns to the 3rd set.
 
1st set – maneuver to the location you want to launch your attack on the objectives.
 
2nd set – Attacking the objective.
 
3rd set – Finishing the attack and defending the objective against any counter-attack.
 
Another variation to this is the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where & Why)
 
We all know that a plan never survives the first shots fired, but a good commander can think on his feet and will find a way to Charley Mike (Continue Mission)
 
OCOKA (DEFENSE)
 
 
Observation – pick good LOS for ALL your units.
 
Cover & Concealment – Don’t put anyone out in the open if you don’t have to.
 
Obstacles – Barb wire, mines, and road blocks.
 
Key Terrain – What is the most dominant piece of terrain on the map?  This would be the largest hill or that one town.  Most scenarios are built around this, as that was what the battle was for.
 
Avenues of Approach – Terrain the enemy will use to move his forces without you seeing them.  In other words, ravines, woods, and other terrain that will mask his approach.
 
 
 

I appreciate your points, but we have to agree to disagree.  I have spend literally thousands of man-hours actually playing the CM2 games including hundreds of hours playtesting for designers, and know how the CM1 and CM2 games work as well as anyone.  That is what I enjoy and this is how I choose to spend my leisure time.  That's why I am often asked to playtest new designs.  Along the way I have discovered many bugs and phenomena that may require improvement - items that the average player may not even notice. 
On the other hand, one gets the impression that designers and modders do not spend nearly that amount of time actually playing.  They enjoy designing and modding as a part of their leisure activities.  I have attempted to design and I hate the process, and do not have talent or the hundreds of hours it takes to become proficient at design.  Am happy to pay BF for professionally produced content.
Just because a person loves doing one thing, it's incredibly self-centered to expect others to love the same thing.  It would be arrogant to expect everyone to play thousands of hours of CM2 like I do before they are allowed to make comments.  No one here should be told to keep their mouths shut about suggestions or improvements, just cos someone else doesn't like what is being said.  If anyone does not like my suggestions or comments then they are perfectly free to ignore them or simply put me on their IGNORE list.  No offence taken.  What should stop are personal attacks on people just cos you don't like what they say.
New members on these forums may not know that only a few months ago it was possible to mark people DOWN for the comments (as opposed to LIKE).  At that time, a gang of bullies (who AFAIK still infest these forums) marked down another member to something like MINUS 200!! in an effort to embarrass and humiliate that member and shut him up. 
These cowardly bullies never owned up to who they were.  However, the "mark down" feature was removed, and those childish schoolyard asswipes slunk back to whatever dank hole in the ground they slimed out of.  Meanwhile the rest of us marked up the bullied member with "Likes" so he is now back in positive territory and continues to be a contributing member. 
In summary, it's disappointing that we still have this lingering need for some to shut others up cos they don't like being what is being said.  One would have hoped that we could have confidence that the mature folks on these forums are able to make their own minds up re whether they agree or not with posted comments and not feel the need to make personal attacks on a members credibility in order to discredit what is being said. 
 
 
 

We buy this game to PLAY not spend countless hours WORKING on it. 
I tried creating a huge campaign in CM1.  After about 3 months I gave myself a minor breakdown and vowed never to try that again.  And the CM2 editor is waaaay more complex for regular folks imo.
When a designer creates a scenario or campaign am fine with spending hundreds of hours playtesting it and pointing out its problems and how it could be improved.  MOS's Tactical Ops Centre is an example of a truly brilliant design that has advanced the state of the art in scenario design.  If you haven't yet played TOC then shame on you.
However, some designers don't want to hear anything negative.  Al they want is reinforcement ie: "Wow, your design is so brilliant."  And then when you state otherwise, we hear the same old tired refrain "Why doncha do it yourself?"
Like why doncha repair your own car, and why doncha do all your own decorating or house building, or why doncha build your own computer, or why doncha grow your own food..?   If there is someone here who does do everything themselves and don't rely on specialized folks who can do the job better and faster, then my hat is off to you.  But, hopefully you (finally) get the point and we don't have to go over and over and over this same old tired issue.
 

The thing is why have BF work on such a large variety of vehicles for every title when only the same few vehicles selected from a "pool" of maybe only a dozen vehicles seem to make it into all scenarios and campaigns?  I can only recall maybe one scenario that featured a Brummbar... or a JagtTiger... and am pretty certain that there are many CM2 vehicles that have NEVER been featured... ever...

MOS is singlehandedly coming up with some amazing ideas that are redefining/refreshing the typical CM2 scenario and what can be accomplished with the editor.  Amazing stuff.

Oh yes, it is MUCH more easy to keep men alive in CMSF2 lol.  If a CMSF2 scenario is done right, one can barely afford any friendly casualties at all.

MOS is singlehandedly coming up with some amazing ideas that are redefining/refreshing the typical CM2 scenario and what can be accomplished with the editor.  Amazing stuff.

MOS is singlehandedly coming up with some amazing ideas that are redefining/refreshing the typical CM2 scenario and what can be accomplished with the editor.  Amazing stuff.

"...if the rebels make a rebel broadcast from WTF Radio station while the political prisoners are still in Fisbuk Prison the regime executes the prisoners.  Also there are now two different ways to have a police unit join the rebellion. 
Then at 0600hrs a USMC task force shows up off the coast....."
Sounds like very good ideas.  When I tested it felt to me that there was an optimal/obvious series of actions/objectives that should be accomplished in a predictable order - ie "forced decisions" that were not a dilemma for the player - and that limited replay potential.  (After playing 3 or 4 times, I found myself doing the same things over and over again.)  
Now that making the broadcast asap is no longer an obvious "no brainer" that should create additional difficult decisions for the player.  
The USMC TF is also a good idea, as before, there seemed no point in continuing after 6pm.  
 

Yes, I have v1.03 running on Win 10, so it should work.   The only issue is that the resolution options were for old 3x4 screen monitors.  With the new widescreen monitors one will get a stretched image.

Very interesting video.
And good to see Uncle Fester got a new job:
   

This game is underdeveloped and abandoned. You cant even pick formations prior to your missions. Yet, this could've been one of the best historical games. If this game would be upgraded just a little bit as SF2 was - it would beat it. The problem is that you cant even move the "moving" orders so the Faces thing is not the biggest issue.  This is a wonderful theatre and historical moment to play with and it is totally abandoned. Nothing happens. Now modding this game is painful. CMSF2 is hard to mod - its far from CMBS (which is the most comfortable to mod) but CMA is literally painful. Well I mean developers said that they are done with it so our troubles with it will remain ours only. I would mod each and every detail of this game including buildings but because it is not optimized - working on it is very hard. Especially when it comes to infantry. Also time limits of 35 to 45 minutes are not allowing you to play it slow. No modules and no battle packs were added. No water was added. No patches were made. Nothing. Its just the product was abandoned. Hm I dont know what to say. I wish they would make some upgrades for this game but apperantly - people have no interest in it. I dont know. This could be THE game - the best of all (besides CMBS which is the best in my opinion). 

Was going thru old CM files and found this which may be helpful to those still learning CM (as we all are actually).  This hasn't been edited so may have spelling errors etc.  Sorry for not crediting the author, but I don't know who wrote it. 
 
REAL WORLD TACTICS THAT WORK IN CM
 
Below you will find some real world tactics that we use in the military that will work in CM games.  Most of these tactics can be used with Infantry and Armor, but some are Infantry or Armor specific.  What you are about to read IS what I was taught when I was in the U.S. Army.
 
MOVEMENT TECHNEQUES
 
 
There are 3 types of movement formations:  Traveling, Traveling Overwatch, and Bounding Overwatch.  These movements are written with a 3 squad platoon or a tank platoon (at least 3 tanks or H/T’s) in mind, but you can adapt them as you see fit for the unit you are moving.
 
     Traveling (CM= Fast Move): This is when contact with the enemy is NOT likely.  Or you’re moving up to the battle area.  Use this when you have no LOS to the enemy from the position YOU are moving to.
 
     Traveling Overwatch (CM= Move or Advance):  This is when one squad or platoon sits in an overwatch position while another moves forward to the next covered or concealed position.  Once you are done setting up the moving unit, you move the unit that was in the overwatch position.  Use this when contact is likely, but you’re not sure.
 
     Bounding Overwatch (CM= Contact or Assault): This is when you use one or two of the 3 squads to lay down a base of fire to pin down the enemy and use the remaining units to flank the position by using all available cover so that the flanking unit can get to a favorable position to assault from.
 
MOVEMENT FORMATIONS
 
 
The movement formations below can be used for tanks and H/T’s.  But generally we use ONLY the first one for Infantry.
 
 
WEDGE –   In this formation you have one unit up, and one on either side, but back some.  It will look like an arrow.  The HQ unit will be behind the center unit in the middle.  If you are attaching units like MG’s or AT weapons, then you make another arrow with the HQ unit as the point.  This is the most common formation for moving cross-country.  It also provides the best all around defense and the MG’s can be brought up quickly. 
 
 
DIAMOND – This is a tank and H/T formation.  It provides the best overall coverage 360o.
 
FILE – Use this one when moving down a road when you have to get somewhere fast. Basically one behind the other.  Place the HQ unit as the 2nd unit so it can direct the 2 or 3 units behind it to the left of right as the situation dictates if or when contact is made.  This formation is generally used when traveling to the Line of Departure (LD) or Main Line of Resistance (MLR).  It has the least amount of firepower forward, but the most on the sides.
 
ECHELON LEFT or RIGHT – This is a tank formation.  Place the HQ unit, then the rest of the unit to the left or right of it.  A variation of it is placing the units on an 45o angle to the HQ unit instead of on line with it.  Usually you use this formation on the flanks when moving.
 
 
REACTION TO ARTILLARY STRIKES
 
General rule of thumb is that Art’y will fall AWAY from the direction it is traveling.  So, if your FO is looking South, then the rounds will fall in a North to South pattern (I’ve noticed this in the game, but the game does not take into account of WHERE the guns really are).
 
What you can do is once the first rounds start to land, is on your next orders turn, take what good order units are left and RUN them TOWARDS THE ENEMY!!  Yes, I know this doesn’t sound right, but it does work for some reason in the game.  The real doctrine I was taught was to pick a clock direction AWAY from the falling rounds and AWAY from the original direction of movement.
 
COUNTER MEASURES FOR THIS
 
The counter for this is to have another FO or a unit’s organic mortars have a LOS to a spot the would be 1 or 2 turns of movement from the falling rounds.  You can then start dropping those rounds as the running unit enters the new area.  Thus bracketing that unit and causing even more casualties.
 
 MACHINE GUNS
 
Rule of thumb here is basically for defense only.  When setting up a defense we used an acronym called O.C.O.K.A. this will be explained later.  In short you set up the MG’s first and build your defense around them.   This applies to ALL MG’s that are separate units not organic to a squad.  MG’s are the majority of your infantry’s firepower, so they need to be strategically placed.  They are also  just about the only weapon in the infantryman’s hands that can get out to 1000 meters or more, so placing them where they can only see only up to 300m would be wasting a lot of firepower, unless that is what the terrain dictates.  I’m not going to give any hints here due to the too many variations of terrain.
 
In the offense, keep the MG’s close to a leader, so they can get to use some of his pluses if he has any.  Move them behind the squads so they can be brought up to the firing line where you need them.  Do not bring them any further forward than necessary.  As soon as they have a LOS stop them.  Get them firing first, and then start your maneuver to take out the enemy.
 
50mm & 60mm MORTARS
 
These are the organic mortars of most standard Inf. Company’s.  Use these to cover dead zones.  Dead zones are places that the regular infantryman cannot fire into with his rifle, like behind buildings, creek beds, ravines, behind hills.  In today’s military we use Grenade launchers to accomplish this task.
 
 
AT GUNS
 
In the defense the same rules for MG’s apply here as well.  But my thoughts on their use are this:  They are for use against tanks and H/T’s.  I do my best to not waste them on Infantry targets, unless they need to defend themselves.  To solve this problem you may want to provide a security force of a MG or a squad to take care of any Infantry threat that may present itself.
 
 
 
ENGINEERS & FLAMETHROWERS
 
 
Do not waste these valuable troops fighting Infantry in foxholes.  That’s not what you got them for.  These units are for taking out hard targets like heavy tanks and bunkers.  If you waste them on the foxholes, then they will not have anymore demo charges to use when you do stumble on a bunker, and you’ll be forced to waste valuable time maneuvering around it.
SMOKE
 
Smoke is used for concealing yourself while moving.  And it can be used to block the observation of a bunker or other targets while you’re maneuvering around them to take them out.  Use it wisely, as you only have a limited amount of it.  If you know what type of terrain your going to traverse, especially in a QB, then you may want to buy an extra FO just for this.
 
PRIORITIZE YOUR TARGETS
 
Believe it or not, this does work, so listen up!!  Prioritizing your targets means using the least amount of firepower over the least amount of time to achieve the maximum results.  There are usually 2 ways to win a game, capture the objectives and destroying most of your opponent’s combat power.  The game gives you a choice, unless the scenario designer set it up that you have to do one or the other.   In the real world Patton’s ideas of closing with the enemy to destroy him so he can not fight another day is NOT the way to do it.  You waste a lot of ammo and will incur a lot of unnecessary casualties.
 
What you do is use your enemy’s morale against him.  You want to eliminate the following targets basically in this order:
 
HQ platoons = makes the unit break and rout faster.
Co. HQ = Same result once you get rid of the Plt HQ’s
MG’s = less firepower he can throw at you.
FO’s = Same as MG’s
All other tanks = Again, take out the heaviest firepower
H/T’s = Means he has to walk more, wasting a lot of time.
 
You will notice I’m leaning towards the Infantry side of things here.  That is because no other units have the ability to hold ground gained like an infantry unit can.  This was learned the hard way, and so is pounded into our heads over at Ft. Benning, and at every service academy that trains leaders for the combat arms.
 
Basically in a nut shell, it really doesn’t matter if you get a total vic or a minimum vic.  A win is still a win and a loss is still a loss.  And I believe the game does take into account for routed and captured units at the last turn.
 
Ok, so now I gave you some good information.  So, how do you employ it?  There are 2 formulas that we use one for attack and one for defense.
  
METT-T (OFFENSE)
 
Mission – What is your mission?
 
Equipment – What do you have to accomplish the mission with?  You need to        know its capabilities and limitations
 
Terrain – What types of terrain are you going to have to traverse to get to your objectives?
 
Troops - What type of troops are you going to come up against?
 
Time – How much time do you have to accomplish the mission?  General rule of thumb is to divide the number of turns by 3.  If you can’t divide it evenly add extra turns to the 3rd set.
 
1st set – maneuver to the location you want to launch your attack on the objectives.
 
2nd set – Attacking the objective.
 
3rd set – Finishing the attack and defending the objective against any counter-attack.
 
Another variation to this is the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where & Why)
 
We all know that a plan never survives the first shots fired, but a good commander can think on his feet and will find a way to Charley Mike (Continue Mission)
 
OCOKA (DEFENSE)
 
 
Observation – pick good LOS for ALL your units.
 
Cover & Concealment – Don’t put anyone out in the open if you don’t have to.
 
Obstacles – Barb wire, mines, and road blocks.
 
Key Terrain – What is the most dominant piece of terrain on the map?  This would be the largest hill or that one town.  Most scenarios are built around this, as that was what the battle was for.
 
Avenues of Approach – Terrain the enemy will use to move his forces without you seeing them.  In other words, ravines, woods, and other terrain that will mask his approach.
 
 
 

Love the game, the most accurate and realistic so far (it is of course impossible to get a computer game realistic with a big R). I am promoting this game to all strategic nerds I know and also to my NCO and officer colleagues. It is only one thing with this game that is really irritating. Why do paper thin wooden walls of a builidng have the protection value of concrete walls? Tanks has so realistic penetration values, why do not building has that too? Will this be fixed in the patch?
I also have my hopes that all the issues with fortifications (trenches and fox holes) are fixed, making them worth the cost and of course that the units do not run away when arty hits them. One of the points of digging in is to resist arty better, then it is quite "fantastic" when the units running away from shelter - out in the open. Strange behavior if the unit are not paniced, then strange behavior are realistic.
There is of course other little things with line of sight-tool and also line of fire vs line of sight (as you see it from ground camera view), but I have understood that it is quite hard to make this work with out a new engine or something (I am computer "handicaped" and are not interested with the technical disucussion what is the difference between engines, patches, DLC and all other fancy pancy names) and one learns the work arounds to the LOS-issues any way.
Lastly, adding to the discussion of waiting for new patches/updates. Better wait for a patch that is good than them rushing it and it becomes ****. I have quit playing Steel Division, not realistic enough (when I found this game) and I would still quit playing it due to their crappy hurry up updates, making the game more and more un-playable.
This game is good because I have noticed that the crew behind it puts down great effort to make it realistic and still playable, of course critic are always good but for my part I rather wait for a good patch then them throwing out crap.