stikkypixie
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Posts posted by stikkypixie
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I'd much rather have naked dancing girls.
Michael
Didn't they promise us an Alizée unit back in the days?
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Wicky, I like it... I'm waiting for the animation of a Syrian running forward, arm windmilling, bowling that grenade (RGD-5?) at the head of the unfortunate Marine he's spotted. "Thunk" "Boom" "Aaaaaahhhhhh, I'm hit!"
A bit of sluething turned up this: "The M67 can be thrown about 50 to 60 meters by the average soldier." Now, it's from Wikipedia. 200 feet? Average? C'mon. Go grab something that weighs a pound and see how far you can throw it. For example, an average baseball weighs around 145 grams and the M67 grenade weighs 400 grams. Take 2 3/4 baseballs, tape them together, and let me know how far they go. Have you ever seen someone who is not a pitcher try to throw an opening pitch? It's only got to go 60 1/2 feet (about 18 meters). A lot of one-bouncers out there. For a visual, the distance from home plate to second base is 127' 3 3/8". So, look at a ball field and image the catcher throwing, not just to second base, but adding the distance from home to the pitcher's mound BEYOND second base; 127+60=187 feet. That's how far the AVERAGE grenade thrower can throw? Sheesh.
The M67 weighs 14 ounces: mash 4 quarter pounder burgers together (after removing one bun), that should be about right. Can you throw it 200 feet...ON AVERAGE? How about a decent wrench? Don't spin it like a stick grenade, that'd be cheating. Hurl it. Do it while you're lying prone. 200 feet?
Ken "If you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball!"
I'm not very familiar with baseball, but pitchers tend to throw straight right? Couldn't you get more distance if you arc the ball at 45°?
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In CMA the floating icons are greyed out when not in command, if I'm not mistaken. It brings across the same kind of information.
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I am in the same boat with c3k on this. The CM2 C2 system seems needlessly complex for very little gameplay benefit.
As you say, "if you're Blue, you have C2 no matter what you do."
How many man-hours of programming went into the depiction of C2 when it doesn't even matter? Think of the many other neat features that would have enhanced gameplay/fun that had to be cut because of this.
There are several other examples where BFC committed resources to making some aspect more "realistic" or detailed when most players may not care about that particular feature, but may have wanted something else - eg: telescoping observation poles for ATGM vehicles. Of course there are not resources to put everything in, and even if one could, it would result in a more accurate simulation, but an unplayable game.
However, as much as I admire BFC for sticking to their guns... er... principles, there is a sort of schizoid (probably wrong term) BFC decision-making re what features are in and what features get left out.
They put effort in it because it's the only way to have units share information realistically. You could of course artificially increase the spotting ability of all Blue units, but then that would not work if different formations take part in a battle.
This WILL matter a lot when we get to Normandy or now already when playing Red vs Red where the player that keeps his C2 links best, has a spotting advantage + all the other bonuses. It's a must with the relative spotting system.
Not to mention the forest of false contacts you get when your C2 links are not well maintained.
Having telescopic masts without the ability to share information (in other a way than borg spotting) is kinda useless. As for gameplay, all it boils down to is keeping your HQ units close to your guys. Having all this stuff explained in detail in the manual would be great though.
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i would not consider it work at all. i mean what are you planing to do? and what you think you gain after you found out whatever it is you want to find out?
from my point of view there is nothing to gain becouse you cant help C2 anyways. blue side will have its C2 means no matter what, and red side will lack them no matter what, although you can manage C2 links a lot better with red side as the ranges are a lot shorter. but thats it, there is nothing more to optimize or to gain in the information transfer process.
If you keep the HQs near red squads (shouting distance) they will be in command. So are there is something you can do. Or try not to get the HQs killed. I believe in CM:Afghanistan the icons grey out when a unit is not in command, so that is a visual help. No doubt this will be carried over in the next iterations of CM.
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My main obstacle is camera control - any way to slow down the movenment? I can't keep the whole battfield from shifting too far and can't zoom in on a unit. Any way to do that without fishing around and around?
2nd - how do you turn off the icons and where is that in the manual?
- finally - I've never owned a game where I didn't turn off or mod the music - any way to do that?
Much thanks.
I believe the shortcut to turn of the icons is ALT+I, near the timer there is a menu where you can see all the short cuts.
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1) yes, alt+I i believe
2) only 2 player real time, no coop
3) ?, the battefront.com repository seems to have most of the mods
4) they're different beasts, you have to try the demos to see for yourself
main advantage of CMSF: no borg spotting, more detailed hit models, better modelling of command chain
main advantage of CMx1: more feedback (unit stats, kill stats), more straightforward to judge the effects of terrain, weapons etc... (because some things are less detailed and more averaged out)
hope this helps
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yes, stikky... (r u sure you want that name btw?) one can easily see the green lights. but, unlike CM1 I have not experienced a clear ADVANTAGE of keeping in C2 regarding performance of the units.
It was a LOT easier to see C2 in action via the C2 lines between HQ and units in CM1. However, I appreciate that CM2 has C2 with higher level HQ's etc. But, I rarely notice the little green lights in CM2. It's just one more little detail that I find hard to remember to check all the time.
Actually, I don't fully understand the parameters whereby units stay in C2.
You should have a look at the test from TheVulture (post # 29). You get faster spotting and better or worse morale/fighting ability/etc... depending on the modifier of the HQ unit. It's the same as in CMx1 basically + spotting.
Units stay in C2 depending on the equipment they have. Voice, visual + electronic gizmos. Some of these gizmos only work if they unit is not moving and has time to deploy. Farly intuitive.
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I just hope that we can see the effects of HQ's and C2 more easily than in CMSF where it's all so subtle I don't find much point in paying attention to it.
How so? It is as easy to see as in CMx1 no? Click on a unit, look at the green light next to the higher echelon unit. In some way it's even better because you can see whether a squad is in command of its company HQ and battalion HQ. Unless I'm missing something?
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It is of course hard to judge how much effect is combat power, and how much is simply spotting so much more quickly. The side that fires first will suppress the enemy, which reduced their spotting and ability to return fire. This tends to snowball as casualties mount up, one side continues to get suppressed more and more and can put out even less return fire (reduced by casualties and suppression). Needless to say the red Brits got to nervous / shaken states and were pinned by the end of the 1st minute and stayed there.
Would it be possible to repeat this with mirror troops? Syrian platoons vs Syrian platoons. One platoon out of comms and the other with an HQ unit with a small cover arc?
[Edit] Oops, misread the test. Ignore this.
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I would imagine technology to have advanced a bit since WW2 making these kind of shots more likely. Remember also that 1.5 km is not that far and it can be just a fluke
. Maybe the main advantage of having a laser is the speed and accuracy of acquiring the distance, but with optics you can still get the accuracy (with enough experience) but it takes longer to take the shot?Any way, no gun depression is not in (apparently a TacAI nightmare) and I'm from what I've noticed the flight of ATGMs seem about right.
No expert of course
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Sorry for the errors, iPad auto-correct produces weird results.
The reason I was asking is I tried putting AT/MBTs far back but with good Los but they weren't spotting the enemy. I had the same issue with snipers in the original campaign, so didn't know if I should bring them to the front lines or keep them up on the high ground.
Also would like to know if comm gear impacts spotting at all.
In this mission, I delta with the second wave and I am moving reinforcements to take overwatch positions over the town in the valley, and the road to the base. I am banking on the enemy not appearing in the same spot for a 3rd time.
There is another thread about this very subject right now
. As I understand it the effects are subtle and because the command of control of Blue forces are very good you rarely notice these things going on. It's more apparent as Red. Having HQs makes it easier and faster for your guys to share information. It also works if they are near each other. You can see this when you have guys behind a hill but they "know" where some enemy units are. But they have to part of the same formation or whatever you call it. Squads from different companies will share information slower than squads of the same platoon.
Also knowing more or less where the enemy is, is not exact and it can still take some time before they are actually spotted, but it should be faster than without this info.
And last but not least (although I haven't seen this quantified) squads that are in command of a good HQ team will have better cohesion and perform better.
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Someone else mentioned this in their truck ambush thread and didn't receive much comment, but in that scenario my Sovs were nicely set up with hide commands and fields of fire. Out of nowhere they are getting picked off by the Afghans and they apparently can't see the muzzle flashes (can't spot the unit.) . I've tried replaying and redeploying several ways and the same thing always happens.
Is this intentional, were the Afghan's that good at nightfighting or is this a spotting error in the code. It just seem like troops in hid should have the spotting advantage over advancing troops at night.
I've just hit the second mission of the campaign and am not to excited about seeing this happen again.
If they were all hidden they're spotting ability goes down quite a bit. Have you tried unhiding them?
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I would like the popup menu to stay open, so you can acquire everything in one go.
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Bad formulation, my fault (I'm not a native english speaker).
I played several QB in IP with CMSF (1.10 IIRC), and each Blue VS Blue or Red VS Red we played was cancelled due to this problem. We were attacking the same village starting from the same hills, or starting from the same side of the map.
/QUOTE]
Just to be clear, you are playing with the latest patch right? 1.21?
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iron i believe givs an unrealistic advantage to the enemy, and gives you less. so its bascally making it unfair for you, you should try playing on veteran or elite btw what each difficulty setting does is in the manual
Iron doesn't give the anyone an advantage. It just changes how you interact with your forces. Unless I'm sorely mistaken of course.
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That's an impressive quote you got there
.I know, but he's got a beginner's FAQ as well
. Just thinking that a collaboration might be more fruitful. Of course the choice is entirely yours. -
You should contact hcrof about this. He's already got something similar going on.
I'd like to assemble as much information as possible in this one thread to then be consolidated into an easy to read .pdf or stickied post as threads can quickly become convoluted.So feel free to comment and contribute in here and it'll all be condensed into something easier to read when we have the a good chunk of material.
About the guide
It appears that new players could use a guide of CMSF(and even CMA) basics to ease them into the game. The goal is not to provide an advanced or highly technical guide, but try to boil it down to the basics needed to get started and learn the game. As such, if you contribute material (of any length, all comments and additions are helpful), try to focus on primarily conceptual information that is concise and easy to understand. The manual provides much of the technical information and basics, I think we need to fill in the gaps and practical application. Screen shots/graphics can help.
I'll start by picking up where I left off in the "marine AT assets thread". Please let me know if I miss anything or make any mistakes
.Ammunition types
Ammo often goes by it's acronyms for it's warhead/type and caliber(dimensions). The name of the corresponding weapon is generally not listed, so be sure to check the caliber of the weapon you want to acquire ammo for (sometimes possible in game, if not, you can check a manual).
Learning the acronyms will make it easier to understand the roles of each type of round. When acquiring rounds, "ATM" at the end of the name stands for "Anti Tank Missile", “ATGM” is “Anti Tank Guided Missile”.
-No acronym/size 14.7mm or less = "standard" bullet. Unremarkable solid metal round used in machineguns and small arms. Best employed on soft targets. Note that rounds under 12.7mm (.50 cal) and hand grenades will NOT cause friendly fire (game abstraction). All other rounds should be employed with much more care INCLUDING ARTILLERY SMOKE AND THE CHALLENGER 2's CANNON FIRED SMOKE ROUNDS!
-WP = White Phosphorus, an incendiary used in smoke rounds used to create a concealing smoke screen. Note that large WP shells for artillery and cannons can cause friendly fire on impact. However, it is not dangerous to then move through the smoke or over the point of impact. Smoke grenade discargers on tanks or thrown smoke grenades ('pop smoke' command) are not dangerous to your troops.
-AP-I = Armor Piercing Incendiary. Generally used with heavy machinegun ammunition, a dense/hard bullet combined with an incendiary element for "after armor" effects (causing internal fire/setting off ammo).
-HE = High Explosive, just explodes on impact, lots of shrapnel and blast effects, good vs infantry, light building walls, in windows, and other soft targets. Not good vs armor or hard targets (think of throwing a water balloon at a wall, the explosion, like water, will take the easy route and "splash" off the surface). Related round type is HE-I, high explosive incendiary. However the incendiary seems to have little effect ingame.
-PPHE = Programmable Prefragmented High Explosive, anti-personnel round that can be programmed to air burst at a certain range (generally over the target so as to be render most cover useless) and is designed for effective fragmentation.
-HESH = High Explosive Squash Head, a variation of the HE round where the plastic explosive “head” of the round “squashes” on impact. Much like throwing clay at a wall, the explosive flattens and spreads across the impacted (hard) surface before detonating. This sends a powerful shock wave forwards into the target. As a result this rounds is more effective against structures and armored vehicles than standard HE. Against buildings the powerful shock wave directed into the target has devastating effects on walls, making it one of the most effective rounds against hard concrete structures (it'll do much more structural damage than the armor piercing HEAT round or plain HE). When employed against armor it relies primarily on internal spalling to cause casualties, it will not penetrate most armor (spalling is the deadly spray of armor fragments thrown into the crew compartment, in this case caused by the shock wave impacting the outer armor and being transmitted through the armor, causing spalling on the inside). This is only effective against older tanks without spaced armor or internal “spall liners”.
-HEAT or HEAA= High Explosive Anti Tank or High Explosive Anti Armor. Shaped charge warhead with metal pentrator cone (short version, explosion liquefies and propels metal penetrator in warhead through armor). Also known as a Chemical Energy (CE) or Explosively Formed Pentrator (EFP). The combo of shaped charge/pentrator makes it good vs armor and though buildings.
-T-HEAT = Tandem High Explosive Anti Tank. Two HEAT warheads, one behind the other. In front is a small "precursor" charge that is designed to set off any addon-armor like Explosive Reactive Armor (ERA) on the tank. The main charge then reaches the armor unhindered.
-HEDP = High Explosive Dual Purpose. Generally a HE warhead warhead with a smaller HEAT warhead at the front. As the name implies they can be used against armored or soft targets, but does not excel in either role.
-NE or Therm: Thermobaric (aka Novel Explosive for SMAW) warhead. Fuel-air explosive (mixes a huge cloud of fuel vapor into the air and detonates it), kills via overpressure and blast effects. Deadly in enclosed areas like buildings where pressure reaches massive levels.
-APFSDS = Armor Pricing Fin Stabilized Discarding Sabot, it's essentially a big solid metal armor piercing dart, relies on kinetic energy to penetrate armor. Also known as a Kinetic Energy (KE) or sabot round. It's sub-caliber and has a 'sabot' to stabilize it in the barrel, falls off on exiting muzzle. Two things to note, sabot rounds rely heavily on their velocity and contain no explosive. This means they lose penetrating power over distance and kill vehicles by a direct hit on a vital component or spalling for the most part. They can pass through thin surfaces with little effect and are really only useful against vehicles. Some of the highest quality western ammo found in CMSF is made of depleted uranium. DU is not only a good penetrator as it's self sharpening, it's also pyrophoric (short version, small particles of DU thrown into a vehicle after penetration of the armor will catch fire on contact with the air, increasing chances of a vehicle fire or ammo detonation).
That should be all the ammo types to start, giving an overview of each type without going into specific rounds.
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Ok, I googled and found this solution:
Error Message:
"eLicense Control
In order to finish initialising, this application must first be run by a
user with administrator privileges.
Please contact your system administrator for help. 5"
Solution:
Check your permissions on the files, lcmmfu.cpl and mmfs.dll, located in the root of your %Windows% directory. The usergroup "Everyone" should be able to Read Data, Read Attributes and Read Extended Attributes.
Additionally the file lcmmfu.cpl, which implements the eLicense Control under the "Control Panel" or "My Computer" and the shell extension when you right click on your application icon or shortcut, should also include the Execute attribute for "Everyone".
For instructions about setting up permissions and auditing see your Windows online help.
So I went to my Windows folder and saw that my user had no permissions whatsoever. I went and changed and now no more UAC prompt. Hopefully this will be useful in the future.
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Check your inbox and/or spam.
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Is CMSF installed in the '\Program Files' folder ? If it is not, then that is why UAC isn't requiring you to have 'Run as administrator' rights to play the game. UAC protects the '\Program Files' (or '\Program Files (x86)') directory from being written into by any program. You have to specify specific administrator rights to a program in order for it to do that. Otherwise files are written to a hidden 'Virtualstore' directory that supposedly fools programs into thinking that they've made writes to their directory within the '\Program Files' directory. It usually works, but sometimes it doesn't.
The games are installed in a folder where I (regular user) have all rights to. And like I said before installing CMA, I never needed admin rights to run them. CMA is also installed in the same folder, but now all my BFC games needed special permissions.
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You may have a low UAC level. Go check it. If so, see what happens when you raise it to one of the top 2 levels.
When I start CMSF I don't get an error that I need admin rights. When I start CMA, I do get that error. I don't see how raising my UAC levels will change anything?
[Edit] Ok, I checked my other games and now everything requires UAC. This is quite annoying. What has changed? Can't it be put back the way it was?
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Actually, it applies to all other games, and always has (well, since Vista came out). It's required for the eLicense activation to work properly under Vista/Windows 7 due to their new UAC.
I can play CMSF without having admin rights, that's my point. Is there anything different? (on the same Win7 pc obviously)
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I never had this with the other games?
. Maybe the main advantage of having a laser is the speed and accuracy of acquiring the distance, but with optics you can still get the accuracy (with enough experience) but it takes longer to take the shot?
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Target order
in Combat Mission Shock Force 1
Posted
1) what you can do is, give a movement order, then select the waypoint, give a target order and a short pause order (10-20 seconds), then another movement order (this can be a very small one) + a face order
this way your tank will go the first waypoint, shoot and after 20 seconds go the second waypoint and stop shooting because of the face order
2) this can't be done in one turn