panzermartin

Better AI? Well this must be the hardest part for programmers. Personally I don't play anymore against the CPU, it gets a bit boring after a few games. I wish there was a way to make units hunt for you and not just stay motionless behind a building once they run out of orders. Since you can never have perfect AI, i think the next best solution is to play online. I'm having great fun playing people H2H. Its another world compeltely.

I think I've seen this on the host side as well.

It is a wargame...It is natural to try to imagine that our troops do something honorable like defending their country, beliefs or something. I know we are just fooling ourselves, killing has little to do with honor but I think it is more healthy to add an ethical extension on our side, even if it is made up. With mercenaries this is a lot harder. They represent an aspect of today's society that I personally don't like and their behaviour in Iraq is questionable. I last heard Iraqis didnt renew their papers following some civilian murdering incidents and at least blackwater is leaving the country.

I dont like playing either. But I admit, since Rambo III I have a somewhat iddylic picture of them

I think the game doesnt need more COIN or police missions. It's still a wargame in a traditional sense, would be a mistake if BFC narrowed their scope that much imo. And I'd rather play the Talibans than corrupted corporations like blackwater. Militaries are not corruption free either but hey, these guys make a living out of it

Please don't forget the multiplayer bug, the one with the passengers losing their weapons!

Have you tried the 2nd network? name: CMSFLOBBY pass: damascus

Lobsters have strategy?

LOL...and I was wondering why it is so hard to find opponents online.

I think we have to get back to WW2 to make a direct comparison between CMx1 and CMx2. I try to imagine CMAK with CMSF units and I'm not sure I would enjoy it. At least with a PZIV against you, you have a sporting chance to go hunting on the hill crest and survive after a minute of exchaning fire. In CMSF even a T-55 gets a first hit 95% of the time. No need to mention the death of wargaming, the gamey javelin I also think rifle infantry battles in CM Normandy will be a tactical chess and we will see the return of improved cover/concealment- or maybe decreased weapons lethality? Also, isnt a fact that today's soldiers shoot more to kill compared to WW2 where most infantrymen only wanted to scare or wound the enemy? I think book "on killing" has some insight about that, on how drills and even FPS games are used to literally turn a soldier into a hitman.

Why not. Shouldnt infantry be able to shoot and scoot? Take a look over the hill crest and then put their heads down, without showing their behinds to the enemy? It can be done as easy as letting your body slip, if the hill is steep enough.

Yep, CMBO had simple, bordeline crude, yet perfectly working solutions. You dont want to go through the protected front door? Go through the transparent back wall CMSF can't do that because coding and animations will require quite a few extra weeks to add.

Thats true MikeyD. The problem is, CMSF is 1:1 now but it still cant compete with our imagination. When you have animations for reloading a rifle and shells ricocheting of the turrets and then landing on the ground, you ask for this detail in every corner of the battlefield. You want infantry formations, hit marks on tanks, tracks blown off, soldiers being thrown by blast waves, bullet holes on buildings, variety in environments, dead holstein cows and the list is endless. BFC has picked the what you see is what you get but it is entering a world very demanding in visual representation, in which our imagination cannot help. It's like a photorealistic painting with exhausting level of detail that its very demanding to finish and you cant cheat with abstractions here and there because they will look out of place. So, in a way the game is always in WIP mode. It feels very different compared to 1.00 release and I bet in 2 years time it will feel quite different from 1.11. I have started to think that the flexibility and the easy way to add new things with the new engine is both good and bad. On the other hand, I do like seeing our favourite game shaping and improving with our input here.

Heh and I was questioning your idea due to the horrible lag in pre 1.10 online. Multi is mostly smooth now, even in large armor clashes and I'm getting optimistic that at least 4 players are possible to handle. HistWar system sounds brilliant, I would love to see something like that. My ideal CMx2 multi would have a pausable RT, a dedicated lobby/server with a sort of ranked system, and a possibility to link the results with a sort of meta-campaign ala Il-2. Maybe just like CMC, BFC could let a 3d party make an "online module" that will have these goodies. I would gladly pay for that, even more than a NATO or British forces add on. I just hope the game will grow big enough that BFC will be able to implement some of the above someday.

Game is shaping really nicely patch after patch and I have started to wonder if there is a ceiling really, apart that defined from the limited resources. I know that statistically those who play on the internet are no more than a small % of the customer base but it would be nice to see the multiplayer aspect of the game taking a step forward beyond the basic H2H IP hook up function that it was introduced ten years ago with CMBO. Some new multiplayer modes might attract more players and create more buzz on the net. CMSF has already attracted some players from the COD4/Arma FPS genre, games that their popularity is largely based on the net interaction. I'm thinking that a 2v2 mode for a start will skyrocket the interest in online games and make them more manageable as well. CMSF cries for injection of a teamwork aspect that is now possible with the realtime engine. How cool would it be with the new QB system that team mates who communicate will pick their own forces and coordinate them in battle, using a team chat or a voice software or basic teamcomms signaling provided by the UI? Like signaling attack/defend or passing intel about enemy units? A dedicated lobby would probably be necessary for that kind of thing but I'm hoping the community with the quite possibly more popular and critical acclaimed WW2 release would be able to make a "Hyberlobby" equivalent for CM.

Well BFC always has the Space Lobsters card standby in case something goes horribly wrong with the current realism direction

Well insurgent army types like Hamas cannot be literally beaten with military force. It's like Hydra's heads. You killed one and then ten others pop up to avenge and continue the fighting. Gaza has way too many young people and it must be rather easy to recruit some new blood after what happened. So, while Israelis think they have achieved victory and now can sleep better I suspect this victory will be short lived. It is the law of the universe, action brings action and violence brings violence. They just gave the palestinians more reasons to die for than to live. Israel showed its teeth to the enemy but what were their goals really? To cease the rockets? These are not scud missiles, these are even homemade rockets that can be easily launched anytime agaisnt Israel. Using your state of the art army against these threats is like trying to kill flies with an AK-47. And I wouldnt bet against numbers palestinians have reported about the relatively small number of dead Hamas fighters. Civilians are far more vulnerable than them. Or the warehouses hit? Literally every building in Gaza has a basement with a cache of weapons. Domestically it may seem like a victory but internationaly it just filled papers with cartoons of IDF soldiers with star armbands executing unarmed people. And UN and amnesty international are directly accusing Israel for crimes agaisnt humanity. So, what is left really? A good election result? At that price?

lol...love the mail pigeon

I was in search of inside info from the Gaza strip. Here is a blog I found : http://gazatoday.blogspot.com/ "Tens of drones hover over Gaza"..I would freak out if I was a palestinian and had these things watching me all the time. And they can perfectly kill too.

Of course I don't imply that IDF action is purely driven by revenge instincts. I said that partly the boldness of the attack is due to their desire to restore the image of the invicible army. Not the reason of the attack itself of course as I didn't say anything like that. About the difference with the West Bank, well one look at the map is enough to highlight the strategic and economic importance of the Gaza strip, the whole area being a big port, an important link with the meditarranean and the rest of the world. Israel never really allowed this link to the palestinians, controlling literally every drop of water entering or leaving the strip even after the 2005 pull out. So, it's not that simple as "taking a look at the West Bank". Why doesnt Israel take a look at the West Bank too?

Most of Israel's significant victories were achieved some decades ago when war was still largely conventional. Asymmetrical threats are much harder to deal now as the war in Lebanon showed. And despite the damage inflicted, still the outcome came as a shock to Israel. I believe the current aggression shown by IDF is partly due to their hurt ego from the clash with Hizbullah two years ago.

Yair, I do appreciate your sincerity and your effort to be objective depsite being on the one side of the fence and your people at war. I admit I've never been in your position and I dont know if I would be able to handle it like you. Last night I saw Ari Folman's "Waltz with Bashir", which is a fine piece of art btw, and I appreciated the tone of self criticism in the story. It also enlightened me about the confusion Israel faces and you talk about. Btw, Folman, a former IDF soldier who fought in the 82 Lebanon war, spoke against the current offensive if I'm not mistaken. About the article, you know, when I first wrote "facts" I thought of editing my post to "thoughts" but when rereading the article, I asked myself, which of these points about Gaza strip is not true? Most of the info in it appears accurate and valid to me. Maybe the last line about Yaloon's quote is more of an opinion but you have to understand that Israel to the rest of the world looks really like it has decided to finish off the palestinians for good with this fierce offensive. As to what I would suggest for an alternative action, I don't know really but I think the strict blockade was a wrong move to start with. As Steve said above, Israel is the more powerful state, has the upper hand in the situation and the flexibility to offer more than the "might is right" solution. It once again picked the military way that proved so effective in the past but now seems out of place in this asymmetrical era and makes Israel look as bad as ever. Palestinians have far fewer alternatives and are in a desperate situation. Those people need some breathing space. Being constantly with the back on the wall just leads to more desperate violence.

Some facts about the gaza conflict on New York Times: "This war on the people of Gaza isn’t really about rockets. Nor is it about “restoring Israel’s deterrence,” as the Israeli press might have you believe. Far more revealing are the words of Moshe Yaalon, then the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff, in 2002: “The Palestinians must be made to understand in the deepest recesses of their consciousness that they are a defeated people.” http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/opinion/08khalidi.html?_r=2&em

I just saw this great docu-animation. I loved the artistic side of it with detailed and atmospheric visuals and the storytelling regarding the Lebanon war was brilliant. And it tries hard to be objective despite coming from the one side of the conflict. Highly recommended. Trailer:

Apologies accepted ;-) Well, you see sometimes we all do the same, I used the "n" word before thinking twice and I was automaticaly put in the same bag with the extremists when its more of an emotional reaction than an established political bias. I do admit it was a bit extreme but I got carried away responding to rather black and white comments here like "UN is a Hamas collaborator" for instance. My apologies too then.