Hpt. Lisse

Yeah, the SPW 251/9 Stummel needs some attention. In the final battle of the Panzer Marsch campaign (taking the town of St. Jean De Daye), on 3 separate occasions I watched them expend their coveted HEAT rounds on soft/speculative targets instead of HE rounds. This was manually targeting a house or building. The first time I was thinking, uh, I guess that could happen. By the third time, I was thinking, bug. Thanks for listening.

Didn't say I was any good... seriously, the Warrior setting may have been a little adventurous for my first outing (old-school CMx1 player). Jerry's had a couple of lucky mortar strikes, too. Of course, the solo Sarges were part of the 'core' company, so they keep coming back. I think after this battle we'll get re-supplied, but who knows. The first couple of battles had a steep learning curve, but I'm doing better now... <gets fragged by his own troops>

No kidding, Womble - I'm mired in the Courage & Fortitude campaign, and am embarrassed to admit that, after 4 or 5 battles (due to my mis-management) I have a couple of solo or semi-solo squad leaders on the field. But I keep them slightly behind other squads, then use their SMG's at short range to good effect when appropriate. They do rail through the ammo when pressed, tho - where's the nearest jeep?

Man, I always considered the Winchester M-97 12-gauge shotgun to be the original WWI 'trench broom', although Mr. Thompson himself did label his submachine gun a 'trench broom' weapon. Hold that trigger down & rack the slide to watch the buck shot fly... Oh yeah, I have also tried to scavenge Thompson .45's from fallen squad leaders to no avail...

Rune - you know perfectly well that I would have referred to it as 'footy' had I been discussing soccer...though I doubt Premier League would be welcomed with any more enthusiasm by Wife 1.0 than American football

Thanks, Steve, but I hope you're referring to partial/complete penetrations. The non-penetrating hits...well, I suppose if the crew experience level is 'green' perhaps... Now, how 'bout the Wife ver. 1.01? Don't make her too CMBN competent...I don't need my ass kicked virtually by her, too...

aka_tom_w - Opinion noted - but strongly disagree w/you on this issue. All I'm saying is that Steve & Co. got it right the first time with this. I don't think you grasp the deafening noise a high-velocity 75mm AP shell makes when it enters the turret of your Sherman... Or in another instance, a M-10 76mm shot hitting a Panther side turret (clean penetration) only to be followed by it's rotation (maybe 10 degrees) and one hit kill shot (700 meters) of a Sherman tank (not unusual, but no bracketing, etc.) within 3 seconds of impact. (Closing the pocket demo scenario). Pretty unlikely, I'd say. Don't mistake me for a disgruntled player - the new game is phenomenal, and I look forward to playing it for a decade, just like I did w/ CMx1 series. But the lack of 'penetration stun' in armor combat is (so far) my biggest realism complaint. Thank you for your time.

Steve et al. - Just. Freakin'. Fabulous. As a measure of how enamored I am of CMBN, my wife is truly pissed off, even more so than during football season. To make matters worse, she speaks fluent German, so I'm always trying to get her to translate the Axis snippets... Oh, yeah, the tank bit. In CMx1, when a tank suffered a full penetration (esp. to the turret), it would be stunned for a bit, depending on its experience level (I'm guessing). Not so in CMBN. In the demo, I've repeatedly observed both Allied and Axis tanks fire off world-class shots some 2-3 seconds after having an AP shell smash through their turret. Even if the hit is non-lethal to its inhabitants, I can't imagine a tank crew recovering that quickly. Just trying to help - it is an instant classic, and sure to place my belongings on the curbside by the months' end.

'Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue...' Nice, Z, you beat me by a nano...

Try the 'Inception' soundtrack... esp. 'Time'.

Hilarious, Rocky. At least your 'dead minkey' is getting buddy aid...

"Desperation is a stinky cologne..."

Glukx - agreed. They eventually made a 512 MB version of the 7900GT at some point. Perhaps we could get Schrullenhaft to contribute here, with his years of CMx1 tech experience. As I recollect, many of the technical improvements of the 8/9 series GPU's over the 7 series wouldn't serve a game built on DX5/DX6. Vergeltungswaffe - If there's one thing Dell has going for it, it's an extensive customer support network. There was a time when their gear was decent, too, but that has long since passed. As previously noted, by employing proprietary equipment, Dell's are often harder to modify/update than standard PC's. And yes, they manufacture a mean LCD monitor.

Redwolf - The old-fashioned way - saved turns in a CMAK large battle. I swapped out the 7900GT (256 MB) and 9800GT (512 MB) cards several times (same drivers), always recalling the discussions concerning more advanced DX9 or 10 not really helping older titles (such as CMx1). It wasn't small potatoes - the ability of the 512 MB 9800GT to retain graphic info (esp. all our modded stuff) made a clear difference. No FRAPS test to submit, apologies. Does this not scale with your own experience, sir?

Ken - I remember a big jump in CMx1 smoothness when upgrading my Nvidia GPU from a 7900GT to a 9800GT - I was running 1650x1080 at the time. There were many threads discussing how modern GPU's wouldn't help CMx1 that much, as it didn't employ any fancy DX9 or DX10 calls... then I realized that it was the increase from 256 to 512 MB of video RAM that was helping me in larger battles. I stuck with Nvidia for all my builds, as it continued to have older fog-table support for CMx1. I never played any modern-warfare CMx2; I switched over to ATI (5770) a year ago. At first, as the AMD drivers were maturing, I thought I had made a mistake. But now everything runs quite well. Along with the other excellent suggestions listed here (esp. the high-quality PSU - cheap ones die frequently, so unless the smell of ozone in the morning turns you on...) I recommend your motherboard be either SLI (Nvidia) or CrossFire (AMD) capable. This allows you to run two video cards in conjunction with one another, greatly increasing your graphic abilities. For instance - I now run 1920 x 1080 via HDMI on a 28" screen. If I find that larger battles seem kinda choppy when CMBN arrives, I'll purchase another ATI 5770 (for about $100) and plop it in my CrossFire-capable motherboard to tackle the workload (as opposed to ponying up for a high-end 6000 series card for $350 or whatnot). Secondly - and I could be wrong on this - I'm not sure how much CMx1 you're gonna play after sinking your chops into CMBN. I never played the original CMBO after CMBB and then CMAK came out - I simply lost interest compared its more evolved brethren. I wouldn't be custom-building anything just for CMx1 at this point - but that's just me. Oh, yes, avoid Dell at all cost. My mother-in-law's top-of-the-line XPS tower has been a disaster from the moment it graced her house (One cooling fan DOA, etc). Good thing she got the extended warranty - it's been put to good use.

I'm reading that as Demo first half of next week. I can live with that.

Nah, the performance of ATI (AMD) video cards under OpenGL is on par w/Nvidia (though it's true this wasn't always the case.) I have a 5770, and run 1920 x 1080, so I'm curious to see how well the larger battles look... if I need some extra horsepower, I'll get another and run Crossfire. It's a lot cheaper than getting a higher-end 6000 series card.

Avalon Hill anything, back in those days. Tobruk & Africa Korps, then ASL (tutored by my oldest brother - I'm 41 now.) Heck, he still has the 3-booklet box set that was the original Dungeons & Dragons (complete w/Gary Gygax terrible illustrations.) Vcents - congrats on your boy. Mine are 4 and 2.5 respectively - it's incredible how fast time passes with children. And so little time for CM:BN... but if you're interested in a 'Daddy Time' WEGO battle, let me know... Speaking of WEGO - this may be a repeat, as I haven't read every last thread here - but what the youngsters don't get is the 'quality factor'. This isn't just about micro-managing. While real-time may leverage a reaction advantage over the WEGO's AI, I get to capture all those dramatic, film-worthy moments that click-heads miss. Example: Playing CM:SF demo in order to get a grip for CM:BN, using the 'Going to Town' battle. Defending as the Syrians. Largely getting my a$$ handed to me via the Stryker convoy armed w/40mm grenade launchers. Toward the end of my annihilation, while reviewing some of the small-arm action within various buildings, I see watch a lone Syrian Special Forces squad leader. He's on the bottom floor of a 3-story building, as a US squad comes charging through the door. And he manages to gun down 3 soldiers before succumbing to a grenade while reloading his weapon. Love the tactical element. Love the realism. But those hidden moments of battle-soaked drama that go unseen without WEGO - that's pure gold for this Battlefront fan. It's not just winning or losing, it's the story that unfolds over each 60 second turn.

Duly noted. A) I was simply curious as to whether you have ever assembled/proofed anything like the manual in question or not. As a smaller publisher of a war game niche, there will be some minor flaws like this. They do not have the resources to send it off for professional review. C) All of this is moot, as its already printed. D) If it completely ruins the game for you, then I suggest you wait several months until the 2nd printing, while the rest of us are having a blast playing CM:BN. Have a great day.

Man, I've seen typos in NY Times best seller books. Take a load off. The "next guy" couldn't have created a WWII simulation like this. If you'd like to send me your last published 200 page doc, I'd be glad to rip it up for ya.

Thanks for your feedback - good to hear, Ranger33, as I vaguely recall that CM:SF did not initially support SLI or X-fire configs. User38 - we'll see, young Jedi. At my age w/two small kids in the roost, there isn't much game time. CM:BN will be my only late-night distraction, so if X-fire wasn't supported, I wouldn't bother with a 2nd 5770 card...

Apologies, I could have been more forthcoming in my post... I currently run 1920x1080 via HDMI from a ATI 5770 1 GB. My CPU is a PhenomII 965 BE - it runs stock at 3.4 GHz - but I could invest in a better heat sink and get 3.8 - 3.9 no trouble. Sounds like a good move for CM:BN. The rest is standard fare - Win 7 Pro, 4 gigs memory (had 8 but my accursed Asus mobo fried a pair), etc. It would be much cheaper for me to purchase a 2nd 5770 and run CM:BN in CrossFire (yes, mobo supports it) - do any of you CM:SF jockeys run SLI or X-fire? I have played around with the newest CM:SF demo, and it's pretty smooth, though they aren't huge maps... Congrats to BF for using OpenGL this time around - that DirectX-driver bullocks with CMx1 was annoying as hell (for you guys as well as the players.)

As so many others have noted, it' s great to be back. Quite excited to be tossed out by the missus, etc. When it comes to system specs - Is the new engine better served by a fast CPU (I seem to recall that multi-threading isn't in play) or by a heavy-duty video card? By this I mean, smooth video playback during WEGO battles. Any comments on whether comparable NVidia or ATI (sorry, AMD) GPU's seem to render the battlefield better? Or whether having 1 GB vs. 512 MB of video memory effects frame rates? In the past, it seems that ATI was significantly behind NVidia in their OpenGL performance... is this still the case? Just trying to get my kit sorted...

...just in case you were wondering. That's for my ATI 5770 card & Win 7 64-bit. The release notes DO indicate that it fixes the random 'grey bars of death', however...

That's a no-go on the 10.1 Cats for my 5770 card - patches of black blocks as before. Sigh. We'll have to wait and see if ATI accidentally fixes them with the next release...