76mm

Elmar, I'm pretty sure that you need to create the underlying maps yourself--they are not autogenerated by CMC. I thought I read somewhere, though, that the 2x2 maps are divided into 4 1x1 maps--not really sure how it works yet.

Even better if I don't have to host it. I do, however, think that it's important that everyone who posts maps there agrees to free use by anyone, to avoid the pain of figuring out whose maps you've got, getting their consent, etc. Free the maps!

Sounds like the main challenge to setting up your own campaign would be creating the necessary (good) CMBB maps. I think it would be a good idea to set up a "Map Depot" website where people could post and share with other players the 2x2km maps that they've created. While you will always have to create some maps yourself, it would be great not to have to reinvent the wheel for every square meter in a campaign. Ideally, we could come up with some kind of "isomorphic" map convention (similar to Squad Leader maps) in which roads, rivers, etc. would exit the maps at specific points, so that it would be easier to mix and match maps created by various people. I may be able to host such a site, although I may need help getting it set up. What do you all think?

Sergei, How did you make a 7x9 map for CMBB--I thought max size for battles was about 3x3 km and 4x6 km for operations?

I said that I had a bunch of questions... --How does stacking work? --How does artillery work which is not represented "on board" within CMBB--ie, how can my Soviet recon platoon attack that nebelwerfer battery? More coming...

Denwad, In the FAQ it says that initially only Germans and Russians will be included.

Well, this should definitely keep us East Front fans busy for quite a while, so thank you much. But this doesn't totally let you guys off the hook for coming out with an East Front game for CMx2 at some point (for God's sake, at least before a game with elves and trolls)!

Martin, What's the max size of the operational maps? And is there any way to include CMBB battle maps bigger than 2x2 km?

Hey, why don't you CMx2 guys go talk about IEDs or something over in your forum? This is a forum about, you know, important East Front WWII stuff...

Another question--I see that it's written in Python--will there be AI scripting?

I have several questions: --what is the maximum operational map size? --how are units created during the operational game; how are replacements & reinforcements handled? --Leader improvement--do leader attributes improve during the campaign as well (ie, command, stealth, etc.)? --In player-designed campaigns, can players choose particular maps for use in the CMBB battle underlying an operational-level battle? --Can CMBB battle maps be bigger than 2kmx2km? --Can games be modified via text files, data import/export, etc.? Didn't see any of these issues addressed in the site; sorry if I overlooked something.

Very exciting--many questions to follow!

Dear Shmavis: You should be able to advance the Log Date, but not move the Log Date backwards (ie, you can change it from 1 August to 1 September, but then you can't move it back to 15 August. If that is what you want to do, you could change the Log Date from 1 September 1941 to 15 August 1942, for instance, and just keep using one of the 1941 Equipment Sets. The log date is only for reference purposes (and for determining weather) and does not effect which equipment is available (which is governed by Equipment Sets). Or you could just start over with a clean data file, but that would require re-entering all of the units... Hope this was helpful.

Dear Zalgiris: Is TO THE VOLGA an operation or a battle? Either way, I'm not sure if CAMPAIGN TRACKER would do you much good, because it is really only useful for tracking units BETWEEN battles or operations, not within them--basically CAMPAIGN TRACKER allows players to take the data from the units at the end of the battle [manually ] and enter unit kills/casualties into the databse, which will then calculate experience points gained, if any leaders are WIA/KIA, etc. The bottom line is that you would probably only want to use CAMPAIGN TRACKER in conjunction with TO THE VOLGA if TO THE VOLGA consists of a series of related CMBB battles (which I don't think is the case). Let me know if you have any more questions.

I would do it for CMAK if someone gave me all of the data in Excel or Access. It is a huge pain to pull all of the data (unit availability, unit costs, unit OOB) out of CMBB/CMAK, and I'm not willing to go through that brain damage again. For the same reason, not all units from CMBB are included in the current database (Finns, etc.). If someone is interested in providing CMAK data, please look at the manual (which describes basically what the database needs) and let me know.

JasonC's post is interesting, but reminds me why this game still fails to really pull my trigger--I think "ambush and flee past the IED" scenarios would get dull pretty quick. And yeah, I know, there are lots of other possible scenarios, but all the chatter on this forum is focused on MOUT settings, and if that is the focus of the game I personally will probably lose interest after a certain number of iterations. Jason does have some good ideas on how to implement IED in CMSF--it will be interesting to see how BFC does it.

Looks like we won't have an East Front game with the CMx2 engine for quite a while, so I wanted to bump this thread to encourage folks to keep playing CMBB campaigns!

You forgot: Express disapointment that first game will only feature US and Syrian forces rather than the contemporary armies of Russia, France, Iran, Israel, Turkey, China, Iraq, and Germany and that follow-on modules will not include 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 Arab-Israeli Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, and Saladin's army. AND Complain that Battlefront is deliberately limiting the size of battles to deprive me of the joy of playing regiment-on-regiment scenarios, which are the only ones worth playing. Not that I would ever contribute to such nonsense!

Yeah, I don't think any particular commands would be useful, but you might let US players choose what kind of electronic counter-measures would be available (jamming, etc.). Generally I think that either such countermeasures work for a particular type of IED or they don't, but you need to have some kind uncertainty in the game or replayability would suffer. Moreover, such countermeasures are surely less than 100% effective, or we wouldn't be reading the headlines that we read practically every day. Bottom line is that I am not sure how I would handle these weapons in the game.

How will IED counter-measures and counter-counter measures be handled? I understand that many of them are set off wirelessly, including via cell phones, and the the US has taken to jamming cell phone networks in sectors with patrols and installing some kind of jamming device in convoys. Don't know how common either counter-measure is. And presumably the Iraqis are now using some kind of counter-counter measures, perhaps simple wire. Will people "buy" different types of IEDs and IED countermeasures during scenario set up? And how will detection of IEDs occur? In another post someone who sounded like he knew what he is talking about said that you learn to avoid dead dogs, garbage heaps, and anything with fresh dirt on it. And as detailed as CMSF graphics will be, I don't think it will show stuff like this. Presumably more experienced troops will have a better chance of seeing an IED, but then again a more experienced bad guy would be able to hide it better, and it would depend greatly on the specific layout of the particular street.

Could Battlefront clarify to what extent CMSF will focus on urban combat? A lot of the talk on the forum seems to focus on MOUT and the fact that Syrian forces will have parity with the US in a MOUT setting, etc. But what if we aren't interested in only playing MOUT scenarios? I think in one of our earlier posts you said that non-MOUT scenarios will also be a part of the game, but I still am not sure that I see a lot of fun in non-MOUT settings where the US should have more freedom to utilize its (overwhelming) air and artillery assets. And while you can limit air and artillery support to equalize non-MOUT scenarios, would such limitations be realistic? This is my main concern about this game--while I'm sure MOUT scenarios will be interesting, I want to have other options and so far am not sure that the non-MOUT settings will be fun or realistic (one or the other but probably not both).

Battlefront has stated that for each game it will develop a couple of modules and then move on to new and fresh topics. Doesn't sound like "niche within niche" at all to me. This has been my biggest concern about the module concept from day one--while CMx2 may give Battlefront the ability to develop niche products, it doesn't sound like they have the desire to do so (and the potentially limited commercial appeal of such niche products probably doesn't help). To get really niche products, I think they're going to have to rely on third party developers in some manner.

Sure, urban fights will have very short lines of sight and so map size can be pretty small, but Steve has said that other types of engagements will also be present. I've never been to Syria but understand that parts of it are pretty hilly, so there could be lots of situations where you have lines of sight measured in kilometers. And with modern weapons, if you can see it, you can kill it. Anything from TOW to laser designators to Apaches to M1A1s (to a lesser extent) have enormous stand-off range that they should be expected to use when feasible. I'm not saying it would be fun to do so, but to do away with these stand-off ranges because of limited map sizes would be unrealistic.

While it doesn't cover the (future) period covered by this new game, there is a great military history of the Syrian and other Arab armies since WWII: ARABS AT WAR by Kenneth Pollack. The author does a great job of differentiating the characteristics of the various Arab armies and of addressing the reasons why they have generally not been very successful. For more detailed descriptions, see the reviews on Amazon. Highly recommended!

This might be a good thread to repost one of Hoolaman's (I think) questions from another thread--what will be max map size? Given the extended killing ranges of modern weapons, I would think that maps would have to be huge, although I guess in a purely urban battle the lines of sight would be pretty short.