Mud

With regards to ruining the CD -- the Battlefront version of CMBB has a CD check, but I don't recall if it's there's any actual /copy/ protection involved. An 80 min. CD-R backup made without anything special (t'was either Linux's 'dd' {for creating an .iso image, to be written with 'cdrecord'}, or Ez CD-Writer or whatever the heck it's called -- the software that came with my PlexWriter) let me play just fine. That should rather drastically cut down on worries about scratches or other CD damage. CDV versions may be different, as I've never owned any game distributed by them if memory serves.

If there can be an engine that flexible while still retaining authenticity... that would be pretty damned impressive. Something tells me that the technology gap would seriously mess with any attempt at an AI that could handle everything from WWII-style battles to more modern scenarios where accuracy, lethality, range and response time get improved so greatly. And if you want to go back to ACW, well, the technology and tactical theory would again mean drastic changes -- reliance on lines, squares and cavalry, for instance. It'd be rather nifty, but I'd rather the engine come out this decade without the only potential customer being governments, large businesses and the wealthy.

If it's a 5000-point scenario, then possibly. If it's a Quick Battle... are you playing with a non-zero casualty setting?

'sides which, the enemy armor might NOT be on the move until your opponent decides where to commit it, and even if it is moving, it may be moving where the aircraft has difficulty spotting them. Consider that these aircraft lack, say, sophisticated radar and modern target-acquisition / identification systems. It's not always easy for them to spot things. If you see sudden otherwise unexplained thick, black "vehicle burning" smoke plumes in the distance, however, it's probably time to smile evilly.

nVidia's "Detonator" drivers, version 30.82 or 30.87 should work; if you encounter problems with unreadable / missing text with full-screen anti-aliasing on (FSAA), you may want to snag one of those versions. A P4 1.5GHz is more than sufficient for most battles. "To the Volga" will be an exception, but because of its immense number of units, you'd have to spend a **LOT** of money to get a machine that could play it snappy. A GF2 32MB -- *shrug* don't expect super-smooth scrolling amidst all the lovely explosions ala a flight sim, and you may not want to use maximum trees, but it should be quite playable.

Mortars (and other crewed weapons) do have a setup time. Select the mortars and have a look; it should mention the setup time if that is in fact the problem. Other issues might include minimum / maximum range and whether or not the HQ is unhidden, but if those were the problem I don't think the game would even let you target the building.

I'd suggest CMBB due to all the engine improvements, including but not limited to vehicle crews now having morale, better modeling of suppression and varying rates of fire from machineguns, better modeling of cover versus movement (the last two combined make infantry charges a lot less viable than in CMBO, as they should be), modeling of physical conditioning, et al. If maximal realism matters to you, I'd side with CMBB. On the CD, you'll get a more varied set of scenarios, units and tiles than was in the demo, of course, ranging from nasty urban firefights to armor assaults over steppes.

matt8260 -- Well, what sort of games do you like to play? I'll try to rattle off some positive and negative points about CM:BB... in no particular order. -- Positives include: The developers have a habit of listening to the users, and aren't under the thumb of some huge publisher. It's a 3D tactical game in which terrain, elevation, ground conditions and weather ALL matter. It also goes pretty far with a multilevel fog-of-war model; even once you notice that a unit's there, you might misidentify it -- if you even see enough to guess. There's pretty extreme attention to historical detail when it comes to modeling the units. History is seldom sacrificed for gameplay (other than, say, the ommission of incredibly lop-sided and therefore not-fun battles). It's an unusual mix of turn-based (so there's no time pressure when giving your orders, unless it's a TCP game with a time limit or your opponent's getting angry) and real-time (since turns are evaluated in continuous time, there's no need for hackish "interrupts" or abusive tricks with "opportunity fire"). A scenario editor's included, and numerous scenarios have been created by fans. There's also a quick-battle generator. While you CANNOT add, remove or change unit statistics or 3-D models, you can retexture them. Likewise, sounds can be replaced. Mods vary from the fairly sane (grimier versions of tanks, for instance) to the truly bizarre (an Xmas-and-Coca-Cola-themed mod for CMBO, for instance). Realistic tactics will get you far; fast clicking won't. Nor, for that matter, is it a "puzzle" game. You need to worry about suppression, ammunition, the physical and mental health of your men... It can be VERY satisfying exacting revenge on an irritating enemy. It's delicious getting ready to nail an immobilized, helpless assault gun, really. The people here tend to be clueful, if perhaps a bit strange at times... -- Some negatives include: It can require a substantial committment in time. Realistic tactics need realistic amounts of care; this is not a particularly fast game. The larger your forces and the map, the more time you'll probably need to spend per turn to be remotely competitive. If you're tired or simply not in the mood for the effort, this can hurt badly. CMBB is solely Eastern Front; CMBO is solely Western Front, and has fewer refinements and certain weaknesses that were fixed in CMBO. If you're not at all interested in the Ostfront, that might be a minus.

Three? I only remember two -- the one you've already listed, Citadel Schwerpunkt; and Yelnia Stare. If there were a third, it might have been the tutorial scenario "The Iron Roadblock" but I don't recall that being in the demo.

cbb -- Those aren't concrete bunkers you were using, were they? If they were, perhaps substituting softer targets would help.

It's happened before. If you have the turn file, send it to Madmatt.

...and also, there's the fact that the German high command rather underestimated how long Russia could put up a fight, apparently believing that it'd be a pushover. After all, practically every previous opponent had been, and the Slavs were thought to be mere untermensch who got a bloody nose taking on a far smaller opponent in Finland; how could they be expected to last for long?

Hmmm. Just tossing out random thoughts, but (a) Suppression can't be good for mine clearing, (which accounts for the first couple of turns) ( Nor could night, and © Since removing AP mines requires a demo charge, and those cause rather significant explosions (*), I wonder if your pioneers refused to use the charges because of the presence of friendlies -- assuming that you hadn't had them crawl out of the field first. (Did it even offer an explicit option to use demo charges when targeting the minefield?) (*) Capable of severely damaging buildings and their occupants, for instance.

Schoerner -- Glantz in _Clash of the Titans_ cites the Russian:German force ratio over the front as only reaching 4:1 in May '45. In fact, starting November '41, the force ratio was 1:1.9. It took until Feb '43 for the ratio to become 2:1, after which it dropped until July-Oct '43. Glantz shows 3:1 only after October '44. So, if the Germans ever faced 12:1 odds against, it wasn't because they were thusly overwhelmed over the entire front.

Nikke should, perhaps, search for the numerous threads on the board suggesting books to read. Anything by Glantz or Erickson would probably be a good start, and both would disabuse the reader of any "Russian human horde" misconceptions.

The reason they're unbuttoning is that they just can't see worth a damn from inside, especially if the AFV doesn't have a cupola. They figure that maintaining situational awareness is worth the risk, so you're not supposed to be able to keep them buttoned up permanently IIRC. I suppose you might be able to influence their behavior through area fire nearby, but, er, that'd be wasteful, and depending on what you use, very possibly risky.

I think that asking about how to facilitate your copyright infringement on the company's own forum reflects on your wit, or lack thereof.

Not modeled. ISTR that, according to previous dicussion, that it wouldn't be unless research uncovered enough information to do it realistically -- for instance, for each and every type of round what percentage were duds, a value that might change with time and place due to manufacturing glitches.

Nidan1 -- There are two types of AT mines in CMBO and CMBB: regular and daisy-chain. Have a look at the differences.

It would have made for a rather interesting recruitment poster, I'd figure.

CMBO should definitely be the 1.12 version; by the time I bought it many months ago, both the CD and manual had already been changed to that level. CMBB... in a recent post Madmatt noted that you will, in fact, need to have patched to 1.01 before applying 1.02. I'm guessing this is at least partly because the 1.01 patch was fairly large due to additional vehicle models and textures (esp for the CDV folks), and it would be a bit cruel to the users and the servers to require that everybody redownload those as one monstrous cumulative patch.

Elevation/depression limits aren't reflected in the game, IIRC. It would be another bit to fix, but perhaps it'll have to be paired with finer-resolution terrain as well, and maybe a true "gunner's perspective" viewlevel.

"Reset target" is meant for the cases where you adjust fire, but before proceeding to the next turn decide to cancel that adjustment; that way, you can target within LOS and closer to the original target without losing the "it's only a tweak" speed bonus versus "whole new fire mission".

I recall reading on this forum that t'was "Night on Bald Mountain".

I hear that once you beat all the CD scenarios with both sides and giving the AI maximum handicap, it unlocks the ability to buy a platoon of Dire Wolf mechs. They easily eat up all your armor points, however, due to both impressive power and extreme rarity.